Kobo announces color e-readers • Hacker News Board

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#41

Post by flkiwi » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:07 PM UTC

flkiwi wrote: post #37

ashton314 wrote: post #18

I've had a kindle for years now. A while back I jailbroke it and stuck KOReader which has been so awesome. (Custom fonts? Yes please! Gestures for going to the TOC or bookmarks or back in history? Absolutely!) Problem: it was a lot of work getting my kindle to this state. I'm terrified to turn on WiFi for fear Amazon will send an OTA update and nuke KOReader from orbit. So, when this kindle dies, I am thinking I'd li…

I have a Boox note. I can’t help the feeling that it’s not entirely legit, but it’s Android, connects to any service I want (including a Calibre library), has a great display, is great for notes, and is all around fantastic. It’s not a tablet replacement but it IS a replacement for the stuff I do most often with a tablet (read and write). I thought the 10.3 inch display would make for a hefty reader, but it’s perfect…

Btw, I started out using it with KOreader but have ended up just using the built-in reader because it does everything I need. The smaller Boox devices are great too, but their USB plug placement decisions are sometimes VERY WEIRD (my Note Air has a hole in the case spine to allow me to plug in with the cover closed, for example—not a dealbreaker, just odd).

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#42

Post by jerojero » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:09 PM UTC

ashton314 wrote: post #18

I've had a kindle for years now. A while back I jailbroke it and stuck KOReader which has been so awesome. (Custom fonts? Yes please! Gestures for going to the TOC or bookmarks or back in history? Absolutely!) Problem: it was a lot of work getting my kindle to this state. I'm terrified to turn on WiFi for fear Amazon will send an OTA update and nuke KOReader from orbit. So, when this kindle dies, I am thinking I'd li…

I was in the exact same position as you.

I had a kindle voyage which I jailbroken to put Koreader on. Because of the micro USB and lack of water proofing I decided to upgrade (the device was around 8 years old).

I got a Kobo Clara 2E, installing Koreader was very easy and works very well. Absolutely recommend.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#43

Post by kelipso » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:09 PM UTC

ashton314 wrote: post #18

I've had a kindle for years now. A while back I jailbroke it and stuck KOReader which has been so awesome. (Custom fonts? Yes please! Gestures for going to the TOC or bookmarks or back in history? Absolutely!) Problem: it was a lot of work getting my kindle to this state. I'm terrified to turn on WiFi for fear Amazon will send an OTA update and nuke KOReader from orbit. So, when this kindle dies, I am thinking I'd li…

I have had koreader on my Kobo Aura One for years without any problems. I haven't needed to mess with it or update koreader or anything which is nice, don't even remember how I installed it.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#44

Post by wood_spirit » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:10 PM UTC

dustincoates wrote: post #25

I have very little to add about the color aspect, but I can say that I love my Kobo. I've had three Kindles before buying the Kobo, which I got because it has a "better" integration with my local library (better in quotes, because I still have to do with the Adobe DRM, which is so bad on Linux that I borrow my wife's computer just to transfer). The Pocket integration is fantastic, as are the physical page turn button…

More kobo love :)

After aching eyes from being a heavy reader of ebooks on my iPhone, I got the cheapest most basic kobo - basic even by the standards of the day when I brought it - and instantly fell in love.

Haven’t needed to change default software, haven’t needed to enable WiFi etc. just need a usb cable and calibre app and it all just works great.

My fiction addiction is through the roof. Never realised how big a deal getting a kobo is.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#45

Post by kstrauser » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:12 PM UTC

ashton314 wrote: post #18

I've had a kindle for years now. A while back I jailbroke it and stuck KOReader which has been so awesome. (Custom fonts? Yes please! Gestures for going to the TOC or bookmarks or back in history? Absolutely!) Problem: it was a lot of work getting my kindle to this state. I'm terrified to turn on WiFi for fear Amazon will send an OTA update and nuke KOReader from orbit. So, when this kindle dies, I am thinking I'd li…

I love my Kobos (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39993062). When they die, I'll replace them with another Kobo. It's so easy to get things onto them. For my Libra, plug it into a computer (or iPad) with a USB cable and it shows up as a drive I can drag files onto. The Elipsa supports Dropbox and Google Drive so I can add files those ways, too. It also has built-in Libby integration that lets me reserve and download library books from the device itself.

Of course they make it very easy for you to buy books from their own store, but I've never felt like they made it artificially hard to ad content through other methods to benefit their own book sales. That's different from what my friends tell me about their Kindles.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#46

Post by jerojero » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:13 PM UTC

I do like 6 inch e-readers, I think I would have to see IRL how the screen looks.

For my usage color is not necessary, I don't even read manga on my device because I haven't found a good reader. I had bought an android based one for this purpose but I didn't like how the screen looked. I guess I'm fairly picky.

I think the only reason I'd get a colour one is simply to see book covers in color. It's minor but it might be worth 30 extra euros. Then again, I'd have to see how different the screen looks.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#47

Post by radarsat1 » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:14 PM UTC

I want something like this but just to hang on the wall to display graphs. Why are e-ink displays only ever focused on ebooks, I think there are lots of cool non-ebook applications for this technology but to use it you either have to build something with a soldering iron and a raspberry pi or hack an ebook's OS. I don't understand why there aren't more special purpose e-ink devices for other uses like monitoring, price displays & restaurant menus, etc.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#48

Post by gnicholas » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:20 PM UTC

radarsat1 wrote: post #47

I want something like this but just to hang on the wall to display graphs. Why are e-ink displays only ever focused on ebooks, I think there are lots of cool non-ebook applications for this technology but to use it you either have to build something with a soldering iron and a raspberry pi or hack an ebook's OS. I don't understand why there aren't more special purpose e-ink devices for other uses like monitoring, pri…

You can get displays like you're describing, but pricing isn't great. I was surprised by the price levels that Kobo is offering, which is probably a mix of huge volume discounts and aggressive pricing to make a splash in the market.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#49

Post by AlotOfReading » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:22 PM UTC

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #32

AlotOfReading wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Color PDFs and comics almost always assume good, full gamut color reproduction. e-ink can't do that. It can only do a few pastel colors well. The typical books usage is much more in-line with the capabilities of the display. Highlighting is substantially improved with even a little color, as are interstitial art and cover icons.

Will it be good enough for, say, graphs? A lot of scientific papers and news articles have illegible figures when reproduced in black and white, because you can't tell the lines apart.

Depends on the graph and newspaper. The best case scenario is a desaturated version of old print newspapers. Their DPI was near this screen's DPI (200 vs 150) and it'll suffer from the same problem of losing low contrast details. You won't be reading rendering papers, but it'll probably help a basic line graph.

Re: Kobo announces color e-readers

#50

Post by jsheard » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 5:26 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #26

teroshan wrote: post #4

Know that while useful in some scenarios, I'd avoid buying a color e-ink display if you're still going to primarily be using it for B&W colors. To quote the eBook Reader Blog [1]: > The main drawback with color E Ink screens is they look darker than regular B&W screens because of a color filter layer that is applied over the top of the screen, which makes the contrast appear lower. Kaleido color screens are really ju…

It's true that the contrast is not as good, and IIRC the color resolution is also a bit lower (but is not bad overall). But people who plan to read B/W documents could still benefit from a device like this because it makes highlighting much better, and it enables color-based reading enhancements like BeeLine Reader (which improves focus while reading). I'm certainly biased (I created BeeLine), but IMO the color scree…

> It's true that the contrast is not as good, and IIRC the color resolution is also a bit lower

It's generally halved, i.e. the display is 300dpi in mono mode, but 150dpi in color mode.