I like e-readers now • Hacker News Board

Re: I like e-readers now

#281

Post by Rebelgecko » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 1:14 AM UTC

stinkytaco wrote: post #106

morsch wrote: post #100

I finally found a way to do remote page-turning for Kindle -- something I was trying to do for years. It does mean I have to read books on my Android phone instead of the Paperwhite. With OLED and white on black, I find it's pretty all right though. But I can finally rest the reader somewhere, on my knees, on a pillow, whatever, and click a remote button to get to the next page. Freedom! You enable volume button page…

> I've never understood how this isn't a standard feature with standalone Kindles. Is this an accessibility issue? I work fairly extensively with ebook devices and users in my job and this has never come up, I doubt it even occurs to most people, which probably answers your question. However, I also work quite a bit with accessibility (for which the Kindle is excellent for many common challenges that come with age) a…

I'm semi-concerned about RSI from having to do the "swipe" gesture on my Kindle over and over. Maybe those fears are unfolded but I can see the desire even for abled people to flip pages more easily on devices that don't have built in buttons.

Re: I like e-readers now

#282

Post by Multicomp » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 1:39 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #53

gilbetron wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one did you go with that meets all of those points?

Likebook Mars. It's android and has wifi, just don't ever connect it to network.

I got the same. But I gave it local network access so it could syncthing my files for me. I should have locked it out of LAN access but the cat is out of this bag.

Re: I like e-readers now

#283

Post by dredmorbius » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 2:45 AM UTC

Having had a large-format e-book reader since March, I'm largely convinced that most of the unsuitability of reading to screens isn't document formats, but screens.

I picked up an Onxy BOOX Max Lumi, with a 13.3" 220 dpi grayscale display. It's virtually indistinguishable from paper in terms of print quality. Contrast is somewhat lower, though this increases readability under direct sunlight (lower glare). The frontlight makes indoor reading quite pleasant.

The device is large, and I thought it might be too big. My use case was reading older scanned-in journal articles without having to rely too much on in-page zoom and navigation, and to be able to read most books in a 2-up format. It excells at both.

It's also a remarkably effective Android tablet, almost too much so (I'd prefer fewer distractions).

But yeah: the reason that reading on desktops, laptops, and smartphones is such a poor experience has much less to do with digital file formats, and far more to do with displays and devices that are too cumbersome, poorly-sized, or poorly-suited to reading.

I could still see some improvements. I've yet to find a device that has good library manangement on the device itself. Many have far too little storage (the reMarkable inexplicably has only 16 GB total storage, most of that is utilised by the OS itself). I'd consider 128 GB a minimum and would be far more comforatable with a 512 GB -- 1 TB storage (books plus podcast audio downloads). Costs are low and falling.

My other principle concern is that many ebooks are very poorly designed, typeset, and structured for digital devices. This starts with filenames themselves, metadata, tables of contents, typography (I vastly prefer serif to sans serif fonts), and more. It's often much more aesthetically pleasing to read a scan of an older book than a direct-to-digital publication (though of course there are numerous exceptions in both cases).

Re: I like e-readers now

#284

Post by tehnub » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 3:53 AM UTC

_moof wrote: post #192

I long preferred "real" books, despite having an e-reader for over ten years, but the e-reader has a killer feature: the backlight. Having a backlight means I can turn the light off on my nightstand, and read at night without keeping people up. (Yes, I know they make reading lights. No, I haven't tried one. They look like they're a pain.) I also realized after looking over my (physical) bookshelves that I don't actua…

I would definitely encourage you to try digital libraries. I’m in the LA area and have access to both the LA county and LA city libraries, and between those two I have access to the vast majority of books I’m interested in. It’s easy to connect to a kindle as well; I use the Libby app which connects to those libraries, and I can send books that I check out to my kindle in one click. The main downside is that popular books sometimes have a wait time, sometimes for several months. This happens somewhat often, but not the majority of the time.

Re: I like e-readers now

#285

Post by xsmasher » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 4:10 AM UTC

fullstop wrote: post #76

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #8

i listen to audiobooks. come to think of it, i have been doing that for the last decade and i recently found out that i do not sleep well if i do not have some book speak to me while i fall asleep.

How do you remember where you left off?

Not OP but Librivox has a bunch of Lovecraft, Howard, HG Wells, Mark Twain, etc that I use. I often listen to books that I've listened to before, or that I don't really care about.

I turn it down low enough that I can barely hear it anyway; just enough to provide a mild distraction. Now I can fall asleep in less than ten minutes like clockwork.

Re: I like e-readers now

#286

Post by vmurthy » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 4:58 AM UTC

xur17 wrote: post #248

Otek wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on where you buy the book. Many stores will just send you a mobi or epub file so you can archive that yourself. If you buy through amazon, you are tied to that store unfortunately, but the situation is similar to games. It is very rare now to buy a game that is not part of some account.

> Many stores will just send you a mobi or epub file so you can archive that yourself. Do you know what stores offer that? Last time I looked around it was mostly small shops with very minimal book offerings.

I've used https://pragprog.com/ for programming related books and they send links for mobi , epub and PDFs IIRC

Re: I like e-readers now

#287

Post by 2Gkashmiri » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 5:34 AM UTC

xsmasher wrote: post #285

fullstop wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you remember where you left off?

Not OP but Librivox has a bunch of Lovecraft, Howard, HG Wells, Mark Twain, etc that I use. I often listen to books that I've listened to before, or that I don't really care about. I turn it down low enough that I can barely hear it anyway; just enough to provide a mild distraction. Now I can fall asleep in less than ten minutes like clockwork.

cool. the mild distraction is what i am after and as i said in the other comment, i usually fall asleep within 3-4 minutes. then there are books that i aggressively listen to and can take up to a few hours for me to sleep but i like it even then

Re: I like e-readers now

#288

Post by AshamedCaptain » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 6:00 AM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #154

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, reMarkable is _precisely_ what I had in mind. Distraction-free is just an excuse for obviously unfinished software; just go and see which con most reviews agree on. The hardware is quite capable, but held back by the software.

Not every electronic device needs to run a general purpose operating system and arbitrary software! This is a big contributor to why modern electronics have high latency and frustrating UIs.

Most of them are already running general purpose operating systems, and you are already paying the cost in latency (and frustrating UI) without any benefit. This is not the 90s, everything just runs Linux, even "single purpose" devices.

Re: I like e-readers now

#289

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 6:03 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #201

jsjohnst wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a general purpose computing device, like you are seem to be insisting every device should be, that has a month or more of battery life despite moderate to heavy usage, yet weighs as little and is as thin as the reMarkable. Products necessarily have trade-offs due to current technology limitations, so it's not just about "excuses".

It's not a technology limitation to withhold root access from the user.

[deleted]

Re: I like e-readers now

#290

Post by AshamedCaptain » Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 6:03 AM UTC

jsjohnst wrote: post #186

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, reMarkable is _precisely_ what I had in mind. Distraction-free is just an excuse for obviously unfinished software; just go and see which con most reviews agree on. The hardware is quite capable, but held back by the software.

Show me a general purpose computing device, like you are seem to be insisting every device should be, that has a month or more of battery life despite moderate to heavy usage, yet weighs as little and is as thin as the reMarkable. Products necessarily have trade-offs due to current technology limitations, so it's not just about "excuses".

Well, that is easy: the Remarkable has one the shortest battery life amongst ALL the gadgets I own. Even Remarkable reviews promise short of 20h, and I'd be lucky if I get 10h. I have laptops that get better battery life. Most of the problem is that it just keeps the Wi-Fi radio on constantly and tries to phone home way too frequently; see Reddit discussions for workarounds.

The hardware already has Wi-Fi, it is powered on almost constantly, and the builtin software is constantly polling it in order to "sync". Let me know how much extra battery life would it kill for it to ship a browser.