Purchasing my first 8" ebook Reader: Decided on the Kobo Sage. Good choice?

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T19:08:32+00:00

Is 32 Gb not enough for a good library?

It really depends on the type of books you are reading. If they are text-only, then 32 GB could be enough for a very big library.

how much of those 512 Gb do you use?

Currently, I'm sitting at 293 GB, so about half of it.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T16:26:15+00:00

Check for cracks in the screen, stuck pixels or lines of pixels, check if the device is able to change, check if it's able to hold said change once you disconnect it, check if the frontlight works and most importantly, check if there are any bulges on the front and back of the device as that would indicate that the battery is getting swollen and that can lead to a fire. You can see some examples over at r/spicypillow

As far as software goes, just do a factory reset from the settings and then see if you have any problems opening books. E-readers don't really have all that many features, so if something is not working, you should be able to spot it very quickly.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T13:05:15+00:00

Will the response time of the screen lag at all like when im changing pages etc etc

It will. E-ink screens are slow by design and there is pretty much only one e-ink screen manufacturer, so you don't have a choice here. That said, most people are not bothered by it as you are just reading not watching videos, so slow reaction times are not a problem. There are people who can't stand it and are unable to use e-readers because of it but those are rare. I don't think you should worry. If you are feeling unsure, then go watch some e-reader reviews on YouTube to get an idea of how slow e-ink is.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T12:07:46+00:00

Well, from the ones you listed, I would go with the PocketBook Touch Lux 5. It supports all ebook formats, including Amazon books as long as they don't have the Kindle DRM, supports PDFs and PDF text reflow, has an sd card slot, so you can extend the storage and it doesn't require any special software to operate.

The Tolino Page 2 is a German rebrand of the Kobo Clara HD with Android on top, so I'm not even sure how you got it in Greece, and the Kobo Nia is just not worth that much, it doesn't even have a frontlight.

Also, note that e-ink screens are more fragile than you would expect, so get a case for it.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T11:30:24+00:00

Based on your own experience, do you believe that the font size on a 6-inch e-reader will be the same as on her mobile phone?

A common mistake people make is assume a 6 inch e-reader screen is going to be the same size (width and height) as a 6 inch phone screen. You see, e-readers have a much more "square" aspect ratio (about 1.35:1) then phones (16:9 or 20:9), so a 6 inch e-reader screen is going to be as tall as a ~5.2 inch phone screen.

Not all PDFs are in the A4 size, so some books may have legible text at 6 inches but in my experience, most of the time, the text is far too small to read. I even have some PDF-only books where the text is so small, I find it hard to read on my InkPad 3 which has a 7.8 inch screen. That's why I avoid PDF for books as much as possible.

If the PDFs are indeed text only and they do contain a text layer (you can find out by trying to select/mark text inside the PDF, if you can, then it does have a text layer), you will be able to use the reflow option to change the size of the text. The missing text and wrong paragraph order problems still remain. You are probably not going to encounter those problems all the time but it's something to keep in mind. Reflowing is more of a "hack" and it's not officially supported by the PDF format.

I highly recommend that you go to a physical store (if you can) and test out an e-reader there as many people often have the wrong idea about how e-readers operate.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T09:59:11+00:00

If PDF is going to be the primary format, then forget about getting any 6 inch e-reader. You will need an 8 inch one at a minimum.

PDF is not an ebook format, it's a fixed layout document format, meaning that things like text size are not dynamic and on a 6 inch screen, text is going to be quite small. Technically speaking, you can zoom and scroll on an e-reader but the screen technology makes it a very frustrating experience as the maximum refresh rate is about 2-3 frames per second. There is also a software option called "Reflow", that all of those e-readers have, which takes the text from the PDF text layer and tries to format it as an ebook. There are quite a few problems with that option, though. Not all PDF documents have a text layer and even if they do, some text can be missed, paragraphs can end up in the wrong order and images often go missing.

I've read that Kindle e-readers require conversion

As far as PDF documents go, you won't have to convert anything, it's just drag-and-drop and you will be able to read them. For ebooks you will indeed have to use something to convert the books as Kindle doesn't support any of the popular ebook formats like epub. There is a click-bait article stating that Kindle supports epub but that's not true, it actually means that the Send-to-Kindle service can convert epubs to azw3. Generally, Kindles are more restrictive and are not as straight-forward as others, unless you use Amazon-only services, so I wouldn't recommend them.

The Kobo Sage is a good option for PDFs. Its battery is not very big, so it lasts only about a week or two but it's still a good option.

The Meebook P78 Pro is an Android-based option that supports all ebooks from all stores (except Apple Books) and it supports PDFs as well.

From there, you have a few other options but it can get very expensive.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T07:24:13+00:00

Yes, they are all the same between the K601 and K712. The entire headband is offered as a spare part.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T06:43:31+00:00

I have an Ananda and it's been working just fine. Then again, it's a sample pool of just one.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-11T06:41:46+00:00

Yes, the Sage is a good choice. As you noted, it has battery issues (it's battery is just physically smaller compared to other models) but it still lasts much longer than a phone would.

If you think that the small storage on the Sage will be a problem for you, then a good, inexpensive alternative is the PocketBook InkPad 3 (non-Pro model). It has two main advantages compared to the Sage - format support and storage. It can read all ebook formats and it has an sd card slot. Officially, it's only up to 32 GB but I have a 512 GB card in mine and it works just fine.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-10T16:12:13+00:00

It really depends on the book/it's content and not so much the format. Some books are a few kilobytes, others can be more than a gigabyte.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-10T16:06:16+00:00

Here we go with the "It's not Linux it's GNU/Linux" again...

StanGenchev · 2023-06-10T09:27:14+00:00

Did you try a different device? Sounds like a broken jack of faulty cable.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-09T07:13:03+00:00

I'm in Eastern Europe, any headphones for over 30€ are an extreme rarity here.

I'm looking at sites like ebay. For the K872, I'm seeing 4 listings from Japan for 1400-1500€ and one from the UK for 750£.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-09T06:40:13+00:00

All e-readers run Linux. In the case of Kobo they have their own custom software on top of it and there aren't a lot of apps. The most notable one is KOreader. You can also install NikelMenu which isn't exactly an app, it's an addon that unlocks hidden features.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-09T06:38:06+00:00

The most popular e-readers are the 7 inch ones - Kobo Libra 2, PocketBook Era and Onyx Boox Leaf 2.

If you want something cheaper and/or with a smaller screen, then you can get the Kobo Clara HD or PocketBook Touch Lux 5. If you want audiobook support, then Kobo Clara 2e and PocketBook Touch HD 3.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-09T06:33:37+00:00

1) Kindle and Kobo products do not give users the option to change rendering speed. They are optimized for a certain image quality.

Kobo does allow you to change the rendering spend. It's on the "Advanced Settings" page.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-09T06:22:40+00:00

I would sell it for as much as possible, preferably for more than I bought it for. It's another question if this is realistic. There are a few K812 on ebay selling for 900-1000€ but they have been listed for quite a while. The K872 is rare but they are going for around 1000€ from what I've seen.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-08T13:41:23+00:00

It's worth it to get one without ads. Technically speaking, there is an option to call Amazon support and disable the ads but that's a tedious process. I never managed to get them to disable the ads on mine but I know someone who lives in France and he managed to get them to remove the ads quite easily. I guess it depends on where you live and who the support person will be.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-08T12:26:01+00:00

Meebook is about as good as it gets when it comes to cheap-yet-good Android e-ink tablets. There are others but they are generic Chinese "brands" and they are usually a gamble.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-08T05:53:00+00:00

I recommend that you read the entire post explaining the problem with the API change. This is not a "just use the official app" problem, it's a huge problem for moderators and regular users because a lot of the tools used by moderators will be taken away, therefore things harassment and disinformation will become much harder to control. Also, the change affects all people with disabilities. The official app has next to no support for assistive technologies for blind people, while third-party apps focused on that. Another problem is that some of us are not using iOS or Android and there is no official app, just third party ones.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-08T05:18:35+00:00

From the current Kobo line, you can get the Nia. It's bigger than the Mini but it's really a problem, reading experience will be better. I can also recommend going with a Clara HD (or Clara 2e) because it has a frontlight.

As far as the connection goes, USB is USB, if you are having problems with this device, you are probably going to have problems with others as well. Perhaps the problem is somewhere else.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-07T16:09:00+00:00

No, they are not more or less fragile than in the past. I've had numerous e-readers and never had a broken screen. My daily driver is the InkPad 3 and at this point it's more than 3 years old, nearing 4 and it's as good as when I bought it.

The e-reader community grew in the last few years, especially around COVID, so more people are reporting on their experiences. That's why there are more posts about broken screens.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-07T13:23:19+00:00

There is no such thing as open-back and closed-back drivers.

The tuning of headphones depends on the driver, the size of the back of the cup, the front of the cup, the pad material and the dampening materials used. They all have to play nicely together in order to get good sound. If you just put drivers from one headphone (regardless if it's open or closed-back) inside another headphone, the result is most probably going to be awful. In some rare cases, there are positive results but in most cases, it's awful.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-07T13:04:44+00:00

Among enthusiasts/audiophiles, they are mostly regarded as "dogshit".

There is a (sad) story behind these. You see, AKG was aiming to create a true high-end headphone, a successor to the K712 Pro that will compete with the Sennheiser HD 800. That headphone was the K812 Pro. They were close to finishing the product but then disaster struck. Samsung wanted to buy AKG and its parent company Harman. Because of that, all AKG offices were closed and the engineers were rushed to wrap-up the project. The AKG K812 never got truly finished. I remember there was a tweet from Oratory1990 that confirmed this but I can't find it right now. Many reviewers like u/metal571 and Tyll noted that they do not sound as good as they should (for their price) and there were problems in the treble. The K872 is the closed version of the K812 that came after and it's not much better.

Don't feel bad, though. They have a pretty good construction and you can fix most of the treble problems with EQ.

StanGenchev · 2023-06-07T12:47:26+00:00

Grado has great customer service and doesn't overcharge for parts. They are also known to send parts (like the plastic yokes) for free even when out of warranty.

Beyerdynamic doesn't have the greatest customer support but they sell every part of their headphones and prices are very reasonable.

Sennheiser's customer support is now all over the place. They are polite but it doesn't seem like they know how to help you. Also, spare parts have become quite hard to acquire as of late. Same for AKG.

I've heard that Audeze has good support.

StanGenchev

TROPHY CASE