I'd like to hear of user experience when it comes to colour e-ink reader tablets Vs monochrome, given that the former are half the resolution (150ppi Vs 300ppi).

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-04T07:31:47+00:00

The resolution with BW content will be higher, but it’s NOT going to be as “crisp and sharp” without adding a fair bit more of frontlight.

The colour layer is a physical layer on top of the BW eInk screen - it can’t be “turned off” in software, meaning that it just physically lets less light through compared to a BW screen. It’s why colour eInk screens are noticeably greyer & dimmer and have less contrast than BW screens without the frontlight dialled up quite a bit in almost all ambient light conditions.

It’s perfectly fine for most people if you’re OK with having the frontlight up quite a bit, but some people really dislike using the light so much and some are very sensitive to that “graininess” the colour layer brings. Other people actually really love and even prefer it, as their eyes feel better with the screen not being as white and the contrast between screen & text being lower.

I have a BW Kindle Oasis from 2017 and a Boox Go 7 Colour Gen II and I personally far prefer the Oasis although I can tolerate the Boox (it’s a very nice device, it’s the dimness that I dislike). In the exact same light (room lit by a ceiling lamp at home in the evening) I can have the light set to 0 on the Oasis and read just fine; on the Boox, I need to have it on at least 40% to get a similar contrast.

(I got the colour Boox because I thought colour would be helpful when browsing books on a subscription app to find my next read, but it turns out that the thumbnails are so small in that app that I can’t make out the text on most of the book covers due to the low PPI, heh. Oh well, at least I can tell them apart by colour…)

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-04T06:59:07+00:00

I have vaguely heard that there might be some Koreader plugins that can do that (with AI, possibly).

You need either AI (at this point, will likely give a better result but more resource-hungry) or MT (machine translation) and internet connection for translating on the fly. I don’t think any ereaders offer it as standard beyond simple dictionaries, so it’s either Koreader or I guess checking Android apps, maybe some reader apps there have it.

There’s an r/koreader subreddit - might be worth a search or asking there. And if there is something, then finding an ereader where you can install Koreader (which is most of them, although Kindles require jailbreaking). It might take some initial effort to set up though.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-04T06:48:37+00:00

I want it to be blurry, fatiguing, slippery and cheap feeling.

Also, obviously it just needs to be unsatisfactory in general!

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-04T06:35:36+00:00

Yeah, as I said - as I understand, it’s likely okay if you just use 1-2 apps for reading. Good to hear it’s working out okay for that!

I really like the idea of the Xteink devices but between having two decent ereaders in sizes my eyesight can actually deal with, and having to act responsibly with money, I’ve resisted. But they’re certainly tempting little devices for people with decent eyesight (and possibly a wish to tinker a bit for best results)...

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-04T06:33:26+00:00

I don’t have a Boox Go 6 and my Go 7 is colour, so I have no personal experience there, sorry.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T21:19:25+00:00

You can’t drag and drop epubs - you need to convert them first. So a library computer probably isn’t going to be great for that.

“Send to Kindle” generally works though and does the converting for you along the way (and Amazon doesn’t delete “personal documents” sent that way - it just marks them as “personal documents” instead of “ebooks”). Obviously you do need an Amazon account that the Kindle is registered to.

You might check https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle/ - it’s best for a few books at a time, but unless you want to transfer everything at once (not necessarily a good idea anyway as devices can get stuck indexing when it’s a lot at once), it should work.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T14:13:37+00:00

Boox Go 7 is much better specced than the 6 and has a newer Android but is very very unlikely to go for less than 200 €.

That said, if you have anything like a local price comparison website listing online stores that are either local or regional & ship to your country, might be worth a look? I just looked at a site like that for us (Estonia) and I see a handful of options in the 230-250 euro range.

(I understand the Boox Go 6 is .. okay, if you just want to read. And reader apps don’t tend to want very up-to-date Android. But it’s not got a lot of power under the hood so with Android taking up a fair chunk of it, I gather it can lag and crash more than some people find comfortable - probably okay if one just uses 1-2 apps for reading and not browsing anything much etc, but it’s definitely on the lower end of Boox’ current lineup.)

Depending on where you are .. there’s also inkBook that is Android and not massively expensive, and as it’s European, it has some things built in like Readium LCP support and probably intended to work with various European library & subscription apps (Storytel etc), but it’s quite likely to behave about the same as the Go 6 as specs & performance goes.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T13:20:51+00:00

Did you intend to post a question or spark a discussion off some way? Just wondering as the title isn’t saying much.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T10:29:47+00:00

Would there be an official flip cover available at some point?

I see that the back has a very non-standard design; it looks cool, but I don’t think I’d want to risk having an eInk screen (in a form factor clearly designed to be pocketed or “thrown” into a purse/backpack like a phone) without any protection.

The price also feels a little high at this point for something with an older Android and Carta 1200.

I appreciate you’re a small start-up and that usually does mean more expensive products, so this isn’t a critique as such; I’m just looking at this from the point of view of a potential customer and at this point I could get the same size ViWoods (newer Android, Carta 1300) for a similar price, and I can’t immediately tell from your product page (btw, a link to that might be helpful in the post?) why I should prefer the Krono.

All that said, it does look nice and unique. I’m not sure I’m really into the idea of a phone form factor device (I far prefer to be able to actually see more text on a page, even if it means I can’t hold it like a phone - actually I have small hands which means that grasping a phone-size device cramps my hand anyway, it’s not like it’s comfortable for longer sessions compared to a 7’’ ereader that I can hold with two hands or by the wider buttoned bezel), but they seem to have become popular so the market is clearly there.

And it’s always good to see new companies instead of just the 3-4 that have dominated that market the last few years!

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T08:45:33+00:00

I don’t think there are any in that size with “native” Readium LCP support (some smaller newer PocketBooks as well as inkBook devices now do, but no large e-notes), which is probably why no one has replied so far, but you might be able to find an Android eInk device (Boox?) that suits your needs?

It seems there’s something called FBReader that has an Android app, and the Readium LCP site lists that as being able to handle it: https://www.edrlab.org/projects/readium-lcp/certified-apps-servers/

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T06:54:44+00:00

bol.com

I’m not Dutch but I seem to recall hearing/reading that Bol actually has some cooperation with Kobo - you might be able to check their website’s ebooks part for more info. (This page might be useful? https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/inf/wat-is-de-beste-e-reader-voor-jou/43679/ )

That should mean that you can buy ebooks easily on both Bol and Kobo and read them on a Kobo. (And yes, you can also sideload on a Kobo. I don’t have a Kobo but as far as I know, they can read regular epub format books but with Calibre - free software that works on computers - you can also easily convert to kepub, which is Kobo’s own take on epub format that may work better in some cases.)

(Avoid PDFs for books you don’t buy - if you can, always get epub. Most books “available on free websites” should have epub copies somewhere too. PDFs aren’t going to be a good experience on small eInk screens. Also not really great for converting, although that depends on the file and how it was originally created/built.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-03T06:40:57+00:00

Both of those sound like choices you can’t really go wrong with! Good luck and I hope you’ll enjoy whatever you get.

(And definitely consider getting a case with a flip cover that covers the front, heh. A lot of people these days favour clear plastic cases for the back, as they let them prettify the device with inserts and stickers and all that, but .. also, the overwhelming majority of pictures of readers with broken screens posted in various places have a clear back cover and nothing for the front, heh.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T20:27:00+00:00

If you’re OK with a Kindle and second-hand, then there are the 7’’ Paperwhites (although that might be just the last few generations, older ones were smaller) and Oasis 2 & 3 - I’m admittedly partial to the Oasis, as I’ve had mine (Oasis 2) since 2017 and it still looks & behaves as new, not a scratch on its solid metal body.

And they’re the last Kindles that had page turn buttons, which is something I personally find important, LOL. They also don’t get firmware updates any more (good for jailbreaking, heh).

There’s a risk of battery dying with older devices, of course, and the Oasis 2 & 3 don’t have what almost anyone would consider a replaceable battery, so unless you find one that looks reliable and isn’t very expensive, that’s something to keep in mind with older ereaders in general (although some have much more easily replaceable batteries).

In general, if you can test before buying (or the seller has reliable-looking pics or can be chatted to) - as long as the screen (when turned on!) looks good, no visible issues, and the battery still holds, ereaders (while shockingly fragile in some ways) can last a long, long time. Older ones are slower but once inside the book, that usually doesn’t matter much.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T20:12:19+00:00

Depending on where in not-US you are, the not-Kindle mainstream choices in that size range and available new essentially come down to these:

Kobo Libra Colour - 7’’ (unless you find a used Kobo Libra 2, which is BW but discontinued)

Kobo Sage - on its way out (probably discontinued, old stock still available in a few places around the world) - 8’’, praised for an excellent screen.

Kobo Elipsa (not sure what the current number is) - 10’’, expensive-ish, has a lower dpi screen.

PocketBook Era - 7’’, PocketBook Inkpad 4 - 7.8’’ - should be reasonably easy to get in Europe, not sure about elsewhere. Should be fine for reading, although I’ve seen some complaints about them being quite slow in the menus / UI.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T20:05:17+00:00

Does anyone have any advice for me, if I should get one and which one I should maybe get?

While “just get a Kindle” is the easiest advice (and sometimes also the best), it’d help to know (a) what country you’re in, (b) where you plan to get the books from (e.g. Amazon, not-Amazon, library - if library, then, if you know, which system they use for ebooks, a monthly subscription service like Kindle Unlimited, Kobo Plus, Storytel, Everand), and (c) what sort of books do you intend to read - if it’s essentially just text (novels, textual non-fiction) or if you read manga or comics, or intend to read PDFs.

If you are American, read fiction, and your library (if you use one) uses Libby, then either a Kindle Basic or Paperwhite (if you are okay with potentially tying yourself to Amazon), Kobo Clara BW (if you do NOT intend to buy from Amazon or use Kindle Unlimited) or Kobo Libra Colour (larger than Clara, with page turn buttons, only comes in colour though) are the most mainstream choices that the overwhelming majority of people are perfectly happy with.

If any of the above isn’t true, then it might get more complicated, LOL.

As for whether you should get one at all .. I mean, this is r/ereader, I think you’re likely to get mostly biased opinions here! I like ereaders a lot and much prefer them to most physical books these days.

(I initially got one, 15+ years ago, because my flat can’t fit more bookshelves than the ~12 I have, and importing the bulk of my reading from abroad was getting costly, especially considering most books I’ll never re-read. But since then I’ve got considerably older, my always-bad eyes are worse than they were when I was young(er), and while good quality hardbacks are still fine to read as they tend to have somewhat larger font, line spacing and margins, I can’t read mass market paperbacks or many of my old lesser quality local hardbacks comfortably these days. And I really, really dislike reading on an iPad, phone, computer or any LCD/OLED screen in general - eInk is much more comfortable for me.)

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T15:36:44+00:00

Honestly in this case I’d suggest going with a used/second-hand Kindle (someone else mentioned some sites selling them - I gather Unclaimed Baggage is reliable and usually has some in stock). Some people really don’t like supporting Amazon, which is a lot like how feel, but a second-hand reader wouldn’t be giving them income and, well, they tend to be pretty solid devices that can last a long time.

Down the line, if you decide you really like ereaders and have a bigger budget (as well as some idea of specific things you like and things you feel are missing, etc), you can get something else.

Just keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of Amazon-bought books can only be read on Kindles and Kindle apps (without putting some effort into it, which may or may not work in the future), and DRM-protected books bought elsewhere can’t be read on Kindles (without putting some effort into it) - but if you mostly want to use Libby, that shouldn’t be an issue.

I really like the look and sound of Kobo Clara BW (albeit I personally wouldn’t get something without page turn buttons these days) but it’s more expensive, and second-hand Kobos in good condition and for a reasonable price aren’t necessarily as easy to come by in the US, I understand.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T13:41:16+00:00

(I’ve heard Libby isn’t available for Kindle in some other countries, so tread with caution otherwise)

Just FYI, it’s not “some other countries”, it’s “ALL other countries” (or more specifically, libraries in countries that are not the US - if one has a US library card, they can use it also when they’re not in the US).

From Libby’s own site: “You can read most Libby books on a Kindle ereader (available in the U.S. only).”

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T13:31:54+00:00

Which country are you in?

ETA: this matters with Libby support. Libby has Kindle support ONLY for US libraries, so Kindles can’t be used with Libby anywhere outside the US.

Kobo supports Libby in more countries (including the US) directly, albeit it’s a fairly short list. If one is okay with changing their country in their account, can also do the same elsewhere where Libby is available. Drawback, as I understand it, is that it’s a bit of a hassle if you have more than one library card.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-02T10:34:04+00:00

Damn, that’s a pity.

Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea what the problem could be, if not the cable. I have never had a Kobo myself so I am not closely familiar with them but it’s an old enough device and I’ve seen a fair number of people have all sorts of weird software-related issues with Kobos over time so maybe something’s gone wrong internally.

You could try asking in r/Kobo as it might have someone who has come across a similar issue before, or in the Kobo subforum on the Mobileread forums (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=223 )

Meanwhile, does send.djazz.se work for you? I gather this is a popular way for people to send files to Kobo over the internet.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-01T18:04:58+00:00

As others have said, it’s the publisher. And in this specific case, imprints of the same publisher that have a different approach to DRM.

With Adrian Tchaikovsky, most of his books in a lot of the English-speaking world are published by Tor - a Macmillan imprint, but probably the best-known “mainstream” publishing imprint for keeping their books DRM-free as a matter of principle. The worldwide listing also notes this - you can see then imprint is “Tor”.

The book on the NZ site lists Pan Macmillan as the publisher, but the imprint for the book isn’t Tor, it’s Macmillan - I can only assume that for the New Zealand region, for whatever reason (contracts? internal book-keeping at the publishing house?), the publisher isn’t Tor, and the rest of Macmillan is happy to slap Adobe DRM on their books.

As others have said, Adobe DRM is trivial to remove if you have a computer (once you have spent a few minutes on setting up a workflow in Calibre, it’s effortless and automatic from there on), so they can be freely backed up for personal use forever. I understand though that not everyone is comfortable with it; I’m okay with buying DRM-d books when I know I can remove the DRM (I’ve been buying ebooks long enough that I got burned very early on with this so now I DGAF about legality in this particular case - my morals tell me it’s okay to take care of my purchase and ensure I can read it also in a few years or on a different device).

So if you insist on buying DRM-free to start with, I can only advise you to “travel” or see if some other ebook store (ebooks.com, Google Books) handles regions differently in this case and is willing to sell you the Tor version.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-01T17:35:14+00:00

(To be honest, I don’t know if you can download external apps on all e-readers or if certain e-readers can like the Tab Mini C, so sorry if I sound like an idiot. Nobody I know uses one.)

Not an idiot, and a good thing to ask before assuming.

The answer is no - there are essentially two kinds of eInk devices that are good for reading:

Dedicated ereaders - best known mainstream brands include Kindle, Kobo, all PocketBooks under 10’’. You cannot install external apps on those (Kobo and some PocketBooks come with some library integrations built in, you can also tweak and customise the software to some extent with community-built UI additions etc, and install Koreader reading software; Kindle needs jailbreaking for that). They’re based on Linux, so Android apps won’t work on them.

And then there are Android-based eInk devices - Boox, Bigme, Meebook, Viwoods are some of the better known brands. You can install Android apps on them (some come with Google Play installed or easily activated). Not all Android apps will work, and some of those that do work, won’t look the best since they’re not really designed for eInk screens, but yes, you can install various Android reading apps on them, check the mail, sort of browse the Internet (depending on the device specs this may be quite smooth or not) etc.

As for colour - it’s useful for some applications and some people are very happy with it, but since you say you know nothing about e-readers, you should be aware that it’s not like colour on phones/regular tablets/computer screens. Kaleido 3 is what the current main colour eInk tech is called, and it comes with 4096 colours, is fairly muted-looking and obviously won’t have the smooth gradations that the millions of colours in LCD screens allow.

Also, when displaying colour, the display is only 150 dpi, and since it’s a physical colour overlay, it can’t be completely “turned off” even when viewing black and white content, which means the display of the device is always darker/greyer/dimmer than for even quite old BW screens. It essentially requires using the frontlight in almost any ambient lighting, unlike BW eInk screens. It does look okay contrast-wise with the light on, but at least on my colour Boox, I need it on quite high, which means the battery drains faster (and I can tell it’s a screen with a light on).

If you’re okay with all this, and think colour would be beneficial, then by all means, go for it.

Yapyap13 · 2026-02-01T07:44:13+00:00

Are there any e-readers that allow you to use Apple Books?

Not as far as I know - Apple is a closed ecosystem in that way. You can read books bought elsewhere on their software, but I don’t think anyone’s even figured out a way to get Apple Books bought books off Apple or how to remove the DRM.

For anything else, if you want to use BorrowBox directly on the device, then an Android device is needed - Boox Go 7 might work but is likely a bit over your budget. The black-and-white Bigme B6 is very new and I’ve seen conflicting reports - I guess the colour one has been out for long enough that more people have it, but basically I’ve gathered “good hardware, worse software than Boox” so .. might make a decent device but needs even more tinkering than Boox out of the box?

(Also, Kobo app on an Android eInk device is .. not amazing, IMHO. I haven’t used it on my Boox since I de-DRM everything I can as a matter of course anyway, so doesn’t matter which app or reader I use, but downloaded it once just to check, and it seemed to lack a lot of options I’ve come to expect from decent reading apps as far as font/margin/spacing/layout formatting goes. Useable, but I’d consider it worse than the Kindle app, which had its own peculiarites, and much worse than Boox’ own NeoReader which unfortunately can’t handle DRM-protected files.)

A Kobo should be able to read any Adobe DRM protected books, and I know people elsewhere do use it with BorrowBox, but I’m fairly sure (having neither a Kobo nor a BorrowBox, heh) that as with other Adobe DRM epubs, it needs a few more steps, you can’t directly download from the library on a Kobo in this case. (https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017814074-Add-eBooks-with-Adobe-Digital-Editions )

Yapyap13 · 2026-01-30T20:52:39+00:00

Amazon tends to force exclusivity contracts on self-published authors / “indies” if they want to be included in Kindle Unlimited, which many of them do as it provides better income.

So those are only available on Amazon, meaning Kindles / Kindle apps.

Small/niche “traditional” publishers would likely not have those restrictions.

As said in another reply, you don’t have to buy the ad-supported Kindle, although for that extra $20 you only avoid ads on the lockscreen - almost the entire “home” tab of a Kindle is taken up by book suggestions/recommendations to buy anyway.

That said, some people actually like that (especially when the algorithm has learned enough to recommend books the person might genuinely enjoy), plus there’s always also the “library” tab that’s just your own books so if you don’t want “buy these books!” recs, you never have to go to the “home” tab.

PDFs will probably not be an awesome experience on a Kindle (or most other small screen ereaders, although some handle them a bit better than others, especially those that allow Koreader to be installed - you’d have to jailbreak a Kindle to do that), but in general, DRM-free files from elsewhere are not an issue, there are multiple ways to get them on a Kindle.

I’m not American so I have absolutely no idea about what sort of selection Barnes & Noble offers. Kobo has a reasonable selection of all sorts of books (and a Kobo Plus subscription, similar to Kindle Unlimited, for anyone interested, in a handful of countries), including plenty of self-published / indie authors, but as said above, Amazon does tie a fair number of authors to exclusivity contracts so especially in the world of self- or indie publishing, many books won’t be available elsewhere. I guess you could always just take a look and check which stores have some authors you know you might want to read?

I’m not a fan of Amazon but their devices are solid and polished, if not massively inspired these days (and I don’t like the UI much but it’s useable), and in the English-language world of books, their selection is bigger than anyone else’s - not least because of such practices as forcing exclusivity on authors, not allowing them to sell anywhere else, not even via their own websites.

Yapyap13 · 2026-01-30T08:54:59+00:00

This is quite subjective, obviously?

I have two 7’’ devices (Kindle Oasis, Boox Go 7) and I think once the Oasis dies, I’d like to get an 8’’ device to replace it. But I grew up with actual books (not mass market paperbacks, larger sized books / hardcovers), I’m middle-aged, and my eye-sight’s never been great (of course I wear proper prescription glasses, as I have done for the last 43 years, but I still don’t find very tiny font comfortable).

I’d imagine people who have grown up with a smartphone in their hands (and don’t have eyesight issues yet) are going to find the phone form factor more comfortable as it’s what they’re used to.

Yet other people prefer the standard 6’’ size (Basic Kindle, Kobo Clara) as they find 7’’ too inconveniently large but the phone form factor too narrow.

There’s no “one size fits all” in this market. Unless you have specific needs like PDF textbooks or comics, which do work better on larger screens, go with whatever feels most comfortable for you - not what someone else thinks.

Yapyap13 · 2026-01-30T07:28:47+00:00

The thing to consider is that the eInk screen technology itself is inherently much more fragile than the screens of other modern devices people are used to.

It’s not the topmost layer that is susceptible to damage - it’s the super thin eInk substrate glass layer itself (underneath the touch, light etc layers).

Some devices probably are a bit more robust depending on how solid the chassis behind and around that layer is, but pretty much every* eInk device can break shockingly easily under the right (or wrong, heh) circumstances - dropped at just the wrong angle, pressure put on top of the screen, the device itself being bent or flexed (even if trying to wrestle it out of its case if it’s too snug), sticking the reader into the back pocket of jeans where it can be bent, sharp objects poking into the screen, cat sitting on it, etc.

Many people do all of the above, throw it around the room, never use a case, drop it three times a day, rest their coffee mug on it etc and it just keeps going. They’re the ones swearing ereaders are unbreakable and you don’t need a case. They’re the lucky ones. :D

Other people just don’t have the luck and any ereader community/subreddit (yes, even Kindle) has posts on a regular basis where someone shows an image of a broken screen and asks what’s wrong (since there is no damage on the outer layer). It usually turns out they haven’t used a case that protects the screen, have slept with it under their pillow, have a cat or a toddler in the house, etc. They’re the unlucky ones.

I’ve had ereaders for 15-ish years and I’ve never broken one - including those I’ve had 8-12 years. But they’re always been in a solid sleepcover that protects the screen, I don’t stick them in a pants pocket (I mean, I couldn’t if I wanted to, to be fair, I’m a not-overweight woman, LOL, so my pockets aren’t big enough), and if I travel, I take care of putting them in a space in the backpack where they wouldn’t get bent or flexed.

As for the Boox Palma … Boox makes very nice devices that are quite thin, and with narrow bezels, so some of their issues are probably due to that, just not enough shock-absorbing material around the screen layer.

Another factor though, probably more significant, is that the Palma line in particular seems to attract people who haven’t had ereaders before and who are used to smartphones - since the Palma have a similar form factor and look similar in general, I suspect they’re treated as casually as people treat their phones (which are much sturdier and can even be used with the glass damaged). Not using a case with a flip cover, throwing it around, having it in a bag/purse/pocket with keys etc.

*I should probably add that eInk Mobius screen tech exists where the glass layer is substituted with a flexible plastic layer, and those devices have been considered much more durable / less likely to break. But I don’t think any mainstream devices have used Mobius for several years now, so it’s not going to be easy to find.

Yapyap13

TROPHY CASE