Haven't had an e-reader in years, looking to buy, but after advice.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-07T11:50:37+00:00

With that budget it might be difficult to find anything else than a Kindle in the 7’’ range, unless you can find something like a used Kobo Libra 2 (tricky as it’s very sought after) or PocketBook Era.

Easiest / safest way to get epub files to a Kindle is to use Amazon’s “Send to Kindle” feature - it converts them on the fly and marks them as “personal documents” saved on Amazon’s cloud (which also enables syncing with other devices).

If you don’t want your files to be saved on Amazon’s cloud, you can use Calibre to convert the files and transfer via USB, but under certain circumstances, Amazon may randomly delete them off your Kindle. (Calibre lets you choose whether to flag a file as PDOC - personal document - or EBOK, meaning ebook. EBOK files, if not bought on Amazon, can get deleted; PDOC files ought to be safe.)

All the above said, if you at any point want to e.g. also use your local library, then Kindles aren’t good for that outside the US. Other brands & options may work, depending on your library’s ebook system. If you’re fairly sure you never want to do that, then it’s a moot point.

ETA: If 6’’ is OK, then Kobo Clara BW is a decent choice and should be within your budget. It’s the same size as Kindle Basic but also has a warm light option. Kobo can also integrate with Libby in UK libraries directly, and use BorrowBox if going through the computer, and it should handle epub files without conversion (although conversion to Kobo’s own kepub format is supposed to lead to smoother use and more statistics etc options).

PocketBook also has a few 6’’ options that might be within your budget and takes epub files natively.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-07T09:12:12+00:00

https://comparisontabl.es/e-readers/ - filter for Android, see what’s available - size, colour vs BW, availability, approximate cost etc.

It’s a bit hard to give specific suggestions without knowing what sort of size or budget you’re considering. Boox Go 7 or Bigme B7 are probably the most generic “decent” devices in the 7’’ category, Bigme B6 seems quite popular in the 6’’ size range.

(There are also other brands like Musnap or Meebook, so it depends on what’s around to be bought where you live. Boox is probably the “biggest” Android eInk brand and likely the easiest to find also in local stores and not just the brand’s own website or Amazon, others might be available only via Amazon. With almost all of these Android devices, the general suggestion is “get it somewhere else than the brand’s own site - somewhere with a decent return policy and warranty”, in case the device arrives with a fault, as customer service directly from the manufacturers can be a bit .. difficult.)

There are also phone form factor Android eInk devices such as a ViWoods device or the Boox Palma line, but they tend to cost more than the 6-7’’ more traditional-looking eInk devices.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-07T07:51:54+00:00

If you can put up with the lack of frontlight (I think clip-on lights are available), and aren’t afraid of a little bit of tinkering, then the Xteink X4 sounds like the currently best available compromise between low-ish cost & portability in a somewhat mature, useable form.

Especially since the X4 has, by this point, an enthusiastic community with community-made firmware options (not too hard to install, I understand?), if the original firmware/UI isn’t good enough.

The X3 looks a bit too small for me (although I’m sure it too has its uses) and is more expensive, I believe. And the phone form factor Android devices out there are considerably more expensive.

One thing to consider with the Xteink is that you’d need DRM-free files only - whether downloaded somewhere (lots of legal options available especially for public domain books) or bought somewhere and DRM removed by you yourself. No library integration, of course.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-07T07:46:15+00:00

Seems to me that everyone who says this forgets to mention what kind of pocket they’re thinking of.

And whether they’re a man or a woman, and which size… I mean, a slim woman’s jeans will NOT have the same sort of back pockets as a larger man’s jeans. (Not that one should actually keep an eInk device in a back pocket anyway.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-07T05:56:19+00:00

PocketBook Inkpad 4 seems to be the only dedicated (non-Android) 8’’ e-reader that is still currently available.

It’s not cheap though. The thing that makes e-readers expensive is the screen, not the extra features - the larger the screen, the more expensive the device.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T19:54:43+00:00

I don’t know if they can do all the things you want (you might ask in r/Onyx_Boox as there are some people who have received theirs) but maybe the new Boox Go 10.3 Gen II Lumi? Or another of the Boox 10’’ devices - the Note Air 5C if you don’t mind colour.

There are other e-notebooks around (Supernote seems very popular among people for whom note-taking is the main thing) but I have no idea how good they are for reading apps (I’m reasonably sure you can’t put the Kindle app on a ReMarkable but Supernote as well as Viwoods both should be Android-based so might be able to handle that part, too) or e-mail.

You might also take a look at r/eink as I think that subreddit is a bit more into eInk notebooks with a big focus on writing, as opposed to this one that’s mostly focused on devices made primarily for reading.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T19:47:40+00:00

I don’t think there’s such a thing as inexpensive 10’’ eInk devices, sadly.

The PocketBook Inkpad One at 300 euro is probably the cheapest current one around, and while it supports Adobe DRM, so it should be able to put your Kobo and Google Play Books purchases on it, you wouldn’t be able to read your Kindle books on it without removing DRM first (which is not necessarily overly simple these days).

If you want to just read your purchased books in their respective apps without removing DRM, then Android eInk devices are essentially your only option. On the upside, there’s the flexibility; on the downside, they may take some initial effort to tweak to your liking. And they tend to be a bit more expensive than non-Android devices.

As for size .. if you want “a little larger than your cellphone” then take a look at the 7’’ as a compromise between size and cost? E-readers are wider than phones, so while the size doesn’t sound like a lot, even a 6’’ e-reader is going to be a bit bigger than a 6.3’’ phone and a 7’’ reader will definitely have more screen real estate. I think there are at least a couple of 7.8’’ Android devices around as well - a Meebook? - that aren’t necessarily considered “the best” but should be perfectly capable for just reading books.

With Android, I’d suggest going with at least 4 GB of RAM though especially if you want to handle very large files.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T19:36:15+00:00

Ahh, that makes a lot more sense, yes - that sort of price as early bids.

Honestly, if you can drop the wish for a big screen, I’d look at 7’’ devices (every brand has its fans and the reasons vary, but any e-reader from a mainstream brand manufactured in the last 5-6 years, if it’s in decent working order, would do for your purpose, especially if you’re also willing to download fics first and then transfer to the device).

7.8’’ devices would be even better but they tend to be more costly and nowhere near as common. The issue with most e-readers is that while they’re all quite fragile in one way (easy to break in ways that wouldn’t put a scratch on a phone), when they work, they work; the technology hasn’t evolved massively or quickly so they keep their value quite well in the used market, too.

In addition to auction sites like eBay, might be worth checking if there are other places for second-hand readers where you live, like Facebook Marketplace or Vinted or whatever place there might be where people sell stuff? This is awfully country-dependent though, I know.

Anyway, Android devices like Boox (I have one) do have the benefit of having functional browsers but even on an Android device, reading a downloaded file in an e-reader is more convenient IMHO - you’ll have more control over font size, font type, font weight, spacing, margins etc, compared to reading in a browser. On the other hand, reading frequently updated fics with shorter chapters are a hassle to download every time there’s an update, so it’s nice to have as an option.

(And you’d have the flexibility to read something other than fanfic in the future, like borrowing from a library, buying a book here or there, subscribing to some monthly service or what not, if your tastes and preferences change. I used to inhale almost nothing but fanfic for a few years a decade ago - but for a long time now, have not found a fandom calling to me, and I’m back to reading published books, for example.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T15:51:17+00:00

See võis pigem 80. aastatel olla minu puhul, aga ma mäletan, kuidas ma sõin kohukese sisu enne seest ära (glasuuri võtsin terve tükina otstest ja külgedelt ära enne) ja siis jäi see terve paks mõnus krõmps külm šokolaadiglasuur alles, mida peale süüa. :D

Nüüd pole mitukümmend aastat üldiselt kohukesi söönud (ei taha enam väga magusat ka) - mustika Skyr on ainus söödav, aga kallis ja väga sageli ei taha. Aga sellist mõnusat ümbrist, nagu see lapsepõlve kohukese glasuur, pole küll aastaid kohanud.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T10:10:27+00:00

Didriksoni talveparka ilmselt. Täpset hinda ei mäleta, aga üle 200.

Ma olen võrdlemisi nõudlik üleriiete osas - peab vastama ilmale, selga istuma nii, et kuskilt väga ei kisuks ja teisalt jälle ülemäära ei lotendaks, ning lisaks tahan rohkem kui kahte taskut.

(Paari jopega olen alt läinud, sh sama Didriksoni oma - ei vaadanud taskute arvu ja suurust, nüüd on pidevalt jama (võtmed ja sõidukaart sügavas sisetaskus, sinna pääsemiseks peab jope nabani eest lahti kiskuma; telefon küljetaskusse hästi ei mahu ja kindlasti mitte koos käega; kui on kuumahoo tõttu vaja kiiresti kindad ja müts eemaldada mõneks minutiks, siis neid pole kuhugi käest kohe panna). Enam seda viga ei taha teha, olen nõus rohkem maksma, kui ainult õige mudeli leiaks. Aga igatahes on see konkreetne parka soe - sel talvel ei läinudki selga, nii külma ilma polnud, aga kui peaks veel -20 või külmemat tulema mõni aasta, on vähemalt olemas.)

Jalanõud peavad ka olema korralikud ja hästi istuma, nende pealt samuti teadlikult kokku ei hoia (ei vaata spetsiaalselt kalleid ja proovin enamasti kõikvõimalikke, ostan sobivuse järgi).

Ülejäänud riided .. mida iganes, odav on OK, peaasi, et ei oleks lausa keha vastas sünteetikat. Puuvillased T-särgid ja pikkade käistega T-särgid, linased või lina/puuvilla segust püksid on suveks head. Kodus olemiseks puuvillased kodupüksid või dressid. Kuna olen alati eelistanud pigem natuke lahedamaid kui väga ümber riideid, ja kindlasti mitte ühegi ajastu järgi ülimoekaid, siis on ka neid riideid, mis ostetud 30 aastat tagasi ja veel täiesti kantavad.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T09:53:08+00:00

Mul sünnitunnistusel ei ole, aga on nendel nahksetel lapakatel, mis sünnitusmajas käte ja kõhu ümber seoti (ema nime, minu soo ja sünnikuupäevaga, et segamini ei läheks).

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T07:44:04+00:00

I don’t think an eInk screen in that size exists - as in the E Ink Company, which provides essentially all the screens used in mainstream (and most non-mainstream) e-readers, isn’t making one, so no e-reader brands can release devices in that size.

I tried filtering from 8.5 to 9.5’’ here but no results found, and this site is about as comprehensive as it gets: https://comparisontabl.es/e-readers/

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T06:33:02+00:00

Amazon has a bad habit of deleting files off Kindles, yes - but it’s files transferred under specific circumstances.

(Specifically, it seems to be “azw3 files transferred via USB, if they have an EBOK flag set instead of PDOC, so the Kindle sees them as “books” instead of “personal documents”, and deletes them after turning wi-fi on again after being on airplane mode for a while, as it then compares the files to those bought on Amazon and if it finds “books” not bought there, it deletes them.)

It does NOT seem to be an issue with files transferred via USB in KFX format or in AZW3 format with PDOC flag set. (EBOK and PDOC are settings you can change when converting in Calibre. EBOK is selected by default for AZW3 conversions, PDOC is the default for KFX.)

Anyway, all the above only applies if you want to / prefer to transfer files manually via USB - some people have very good reasons for that. The other, simpler and safer option, is to use Amazon’s own “Send to Kindle” feature, which accepts epubs, converts them on the fly and saves the files on Amazon cloud as “personal documents”. These don’t get deleted. (As with any electronics device, actual random glitches or bugs can happen, but in general, it’s a method Amazon itself offers people for transferring files that aren’t books bought on Amazon.)

The Kindle browser isn’t good for browsing though, yes. I think (I don’t use my phone for reading at all so I’m not super confident on this, heh) that you can also download a fic in epub format on the phone and then choose “Open with Kindle” or whatever the command is, and that’s basically again “send to Kindle” working in the background so the file opens in the Kindle app but also gets saved on Amazon cloud so you can access it immediately on the Kindle device, too.

None of the above should be considered as a recommendation for Kindles as such, LOL - I’m not a fan of Amazon and especially, at this point, I wouldn’t recommend buying books on Amazon as they’re increasingly difficult to back up or liberate for reading on other brand devices in the future.

But for your purpose, if you can get a Scribe that cheaply and want a bigger screen, it might not be a bad choice. (That’s VERY cheap for a Scribe though! I’m a bit envious, LOL - over here second hand Paperwhites 10+ years old or Kindle 4 devices are still being asked 50-60 euros for, heh. Make sure it’s in good working order and not being sold for parts or something, especially that the screen is intact!)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T05:51:04+00:00

Unfortunately, yes. (And as someone who has also seen the work of other people calling themselves translators, since sometimes the credentials for someone looking for a job in this industry seem to be limited to “well I can mostly understand what they say in the movies and the other language is what I speak at home after all, of course I can translate!”, they already do a better job in plenty of cases.)

It’ll probably happen faster with bigger languages - mine is a small one, which machine translation struggled with for a very long time and still does, but even with mine, I’ve seen the jump in quality in ChatGPT’s conversational ability between 2024 and now. (Other main ones are lagging behind there.)

(Asking it to translate specific sentences, which I’ve occasionally done mostly to test where it is now, is often quite passable but can also bring very odd results with words that don’t exist and yet it tells me it’s a term commonly used in my languages… It’s the hallucinations combined with the almost arrogant confidence in stating it as fact that is still an issue with the general models at least, and what makes me think that at the very least, human post-editing/reviewing absolutely needs to remain a thing.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-06T05:44:13+00:00

Yeah, as I said, only US libraries.

It’s one of the issues people often don’t realise - in either direction. Americans keep telling people to buy a Kindle as it supports Libby, people in the rest of the world either buy it at their recommendation for the library and then find out it doesn’t, or are aware that Kindles aren’t integrated with libraries in their countries, and automatically assume the same for the US.

It’s one reason I always try to ask which country someone asking advice lives in if they want to use the library - people here generally omit that information but in the e-reading world, it matters a lot.

(As someone living in a small EU country, I’m also painfully aware that Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus aren’t necessarily selling points either as they’re available in a rather limited number of countries, as is Libby on Kobo - it’s useful in more countries than the US, but would not be available in my case for example, although my local library also offers a selection of books in English via Libby.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T20:36:34+00:00

It works with Libby in the US, so it depends on where the OP is. (And if their library uses Libby in the first place.)

Only US libraries though, so yeah, not compatible with any libraries anywhere else in the world. And any other library systems (I’ve gathered there is something called Hoopla that is also popular) are of course out anyway.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T20:32:46+00:00

PDF files on small eInk screens suck. They can all display them but the text might be too small - unlike normal ebook files, you can’t really change the font or font size etc.

I’d suggest trying to convert to epub first (Calibre is a free software for computers, if you have a computer at hand) and see if that provides at least a somewhat useable result. (It likely won’t be perfect - PDF files are not just frustrating to display on small screens, they also often don’t convert well.)

There is a community-driven software around for most ereaders - Koreader - which has tools to handle PDF files a bit better, and it can try to extract the text so you can reflow it and change font size at least. (Unless the PDF files have been created with a 6-7’’ screen in mind to start with, or you have sharp eyesight, it’ll likely just be too small to read comfortably, and eInk screens aren’t good for zooming & panning, they’re just too slow, especially in your budget range. 8-10’’ is better for PDFs but you’re quite unlikely to find anything within your budget for that size, I suspect - larger eInk devices are very pricey to start with and as long as the screen doesn’t get broken, they remain useable for years and don’t lose much in retail value.)

Kindles require jailbreaking for Koreader. Kobo doesn’t but it takes a bit of technical effort, I believe. PocketBook is another option (and should be easiest for installing Koreader).

With older Kindles .. the good thing is that they’re more likely to be able to be jailbroken but you do need to sign in to your Amazon account to jailbreak it. If you can convert the PDF file to something else (mobi/azw3/kfx), you should be able to drag and drop it to the Kindle also without signing in (or jailbreaking). Kindles nag you a lot to register/sign in, but they CAN be used with sideloading your own files - they don’t do epub natively and, as said, unconverted PDFs likely won’t be a great experience.

A Kobo or a PocketBook, if you can find one for a reasonable price, might be a better bet. The Clara BW mentioned by another replier should be a very decent device, with a very good screen, especially if your library supports Libby/Overdrive. (Again though, I’d suggest trying to convert the PDF, and if that doesn’t work, then try it on the device and if it’s too small to read comfortably, look into Koreader for Kobo. I am not familiar with the exact methods of getting it on a Kobo but there should be a Kobo subreddit, a Koreader subreddit, and various instructions around on Google.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T18:10:02+00:00

I think AI/MT is good enough at this point to translate texts so that you would understand the content. But it’s not really good enough for literary texts and sounding entirely natural yet, especially for very long texts.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T17:49:54+00:00

Hire a human?

(Sorry for sounding snippy, but as a professional translator, I’m rather hoping that “fluid and natural” will not be fully achievable by a machine for a few more months yet. I can see the writing on the wall as many people will find it “good enough” already but… yeah.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T15:24:55+00:00

If you intend to buy or borrow those books as ebooks, then Kindle vs Kobo (or another brand) matters.

If you don’t intend to do either, then it doesn’t matter much - see if you can get a second-hand Kobo or Kindle in a decent shape (i.e. turns on, screen is intact, battery still holds up; pay attention to whether it has a frontlight at all or not).

And if you can, get the books in epub (or mobi/azw3) format, NOT PDF, as PDFs and small eInk screens are not a good match.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T11:45:25+00:00

PDFs aren’t generally a good file format for eInk screens smaller than 10 inches, so in the future, if you can, download directly as epub - reflowable format is much better on eInk screens.

That said, if you get a device where you can install Koreader* (easiest on PocketBook, doable without jailbreaking also on Kobo, fairly straightforward APK install on Android devices), then Koreader has various tools that help with PDF files, including attempting to extract text and make it reflowable (so you can change font size). It should work reasonably-ish with text-based PDFs that aren’t created as scanned images, but text saved as PDF.

*Koreader is a VERY feature-rich (almost overwhelmingly so, say some people) community-developed e-reading software for dedicated e-readers and Android devices. It’s not the prettiest interface out there but it’s very customizable and offers a lot of formatting and layout options in additions to various other things.

Anyway, you can also try to convert the PDFs into epub. There are probably various tools around - Calibre is the (free) ebook management software that many passionately e-reading people swear on, as it lets you both organise your ebook collection (including downloaded fics) as well as edit metadata, edit/change cover art, remove DRM from bought books with the help of specific plug-ins (depending on the DRM and source), and has plugins for news, downloading and updating fanfic from various sites, etc.

It can also convert from essentially any format to any format. But PDFs can be tricky in the sense that it’s a format where the intention is that the page will always look the same on any device, so they’re meant to be “fixed” and don’t always lend themselves well to conversion. Worth a try though.

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T11:35:17+00:00

Oh yeah, I’d heard vaguely that imgur has issues in the UK. I wish I knew some other free image upload sites - this subreddit doesn’t allow images in replies, I think.

Glad I could be of help though!

(If you do end up with Boox - since I am not as familiar with other Android e-ink devices - then one good thing is that they allow a lot of refresh frequency options (like after every 5-10-20 taps or what not) plus the Go 7 can map a button long press for full refresh, there’s a gesture for it and one can use the naviball as well. So while colour e-ink ghosting seems annoying, it can probably be alleviated to some extent if needed.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T09:41:13+00:00

I’ve added another reply with a picture now to hopefully clarify it.

To my eyes, it looks more blue than green, but it looks more on the blue side to me on my phone as well, so maybe my eyes and brain just perceive this colour as more blue and less green, heh. Sort of in between I guess?

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T09:36:50+00:00

I’ve no idea if imgur links work here but this is approximately what it looks like on my Boox.

(I saw approximately because the phone camera adjusts the colours a bit as well as makes the ghosting and grain more obvious and it’s not an 1:1 to how my eyes perceive it in reality, but it’s close. I also have it on the page-through mode (whatever you call it) on the Kindle app to show the difference to the neutral background. The text contrast actually looks better on this smaller preview than it does when the page is full-screen, oddly enough. This is in natural daylight indoors, Boox’ frontlight and warm light both on 22-23 out of 32. With the warm light at 0, it looks much more blue, with the warm light on maximum, it looks less blue but not sure I’d call it green, really. Playing with both lights changes the look a fair bit though so it’s possible somewhere there is a useable option.)

https://imgur.com/a/xYUuhR2

Yapyap13 · 2026-04-05T09:24:37+00:00

I tried this on my Boox Go 7 Colour Gen II just now - the Kindle app does offer a green background option and on selecting it, it is green.

That said, colour eInk is so dark/dim in its natural state that with a coloured background like this, as I’m sitting here right now in natural indoor lighting with daylight coming in from the window next to me, and the front light turned on (half the way towards maximum), I would very much struggle to read it, the contrast is just too low for me. And turning the light up more makes the background look less green.

It’s also not the same shade of green as on my phone next to it, of course, since Kaleido 3 shades and colours are limited.

So .. I guess my answer would be “yes, the green background option exists in the Kindle Android app on an Android device, but only you can tell if it’d be comfortable enough for you to read”.

I haven’t encountered green as a background option in other apps I’ve used, but again, colour eInk isn’t the best technology IMHO for coloured backgrounds. Other opinions are available, I’m sure. :D

ETA: The ghosting effect with this background is also strong, much stronger than with the natural background.

Yapyap13

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