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Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

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Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#441

Post by dagw »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #437

> fastest Kindle Paperwhite ever Is this something people value in an ereader? As long as its fast enough, idk why speed would be the thing they promote in the sub heading. I read on an ipad mini all the time but I don’t understand this. It’s weird messaging. Who in amazons product and marketing teams decided that this is the most important thing to mention?

If I'm reading a novel then speed doesn't matter at all. If I'm 'flipping' through a book, looking for something, the page turning and refresh speed matters quite a lot.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#442

Post by benterix »

I was hoping for a greater size - the standard Kindle sizes are totally unusable for users like me who mainly read PDFs.

After experimenting with larger e-ink screen sizes from other vendors I realized I also miss the snappiness of reading a real book. So in the end I settled for the cheapest 12-inch Chinese tablet I could get. Since I spend ca. 40-70 minutes a day reading, it's the best experience for me: the text is crisp, the contrast is perfect, and I can browse pages very quickly (not like in a real book, though, but the best experience so far).

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#443

Post by thimabi »

dlevine wrote: post #274
al_borland wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched from a Kindle to a Kobo (monochrome), and simply having the book cover as the lock screen makes me like it so much more. I always paid to not have ads on the Kindle, but it would show a bunch of generic images. The book cover is the obvious choice. Kobo gets it. The reading experience is a little more bare bones, but good enough, and still offers things a physical book does not.

There are a bunch of comments about how this is the default experience now. It's only the default experience if you buy the ads-free version. Since I don't want to pay extra to disable the ads, the trick I figured out is to buy the Kindle for Kids. It comes with a cover, no ads, and a 2 year warranty. You can turn off the kids stuff with one switch, and then it's just a normal Kindle. If you buy it on Black Friday or…

> Since I don't want to pay extra to disable the ads, the trick I figured out is to buy the Kindle for Kids. It comes with a cover, no ads, and a 2 year warranty. You can turn off the kids stuff with one switch, and then it's just a normal Kindle.

They closed that loophole. Kindles for Kids now show ads when not in Kids mode.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#444

Post by bambax »

imp0cat wrote: post #432
bambax wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All my Kindle library is also books side loaded via Calibre (sent to my kindle email address). I have been doing that for years (more than an decade actually) and have never had any book deleted by the device. Is this real?

It's explained elswhere in this thread - only the "DRM'ed" ebooks that "belong" to another Kindle are deleted. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41866327

Ah, ok. I always de-DRM everything automatically (opening books in Calibre does the de-drming). It sometimes happen with the newer systems that newer Kindle books can't be de-drmed, but then I return those immediately.

But I'm surprised a book with DRM can even be added to another device than the one it belongs to, let alone be opened?

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#446

Post by coolyd »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #437

> fastest Kindle Paperwhite ever Is this something people value in an ereader? As long as its fast enough, idk why speed would be the thing they promote in the sub heading. I read on an ipad mini all the time but I don’t understand this. It’s weird messaging. Who in amazons product and marketing teams decided that this is the most important thing to mention?

I’m personally holding out for a reader with higher refresh like the daylight. I might splurge on the next model.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#447

Post by diffeomorphism »

animal531 wrote: post #435

Some of the biggest pros and cons of Kindles vs Books: Pros - Lightweight, I can even fit it into a holder on the side of a chair or bed so I don't have to hold it. - I don't have to physically manipulate the 1000 page book to try and get to certain pages. - No dust. Cons - I can't tell you the authors or names of most of the books I've read on it. When you have a physical book you're confronted by the book and autho…

There are non-amazon ereaders, e.g. kobo.

- The standby screen is the book cover of your most recent read.

- No amazon shenanigans. Works just fine with calibre or the local library (onleihe).

- I bought my kobo aura hd in 2013 IIRC. Battery is still fine. Apparently newer models even have an ifixit partnership https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/21137184146071-Repai...

That said, there are some additional drawbacks which make me like physical books still:

- For physical books you have an intuitive understand and memory where in the book something happened, e.g. in the first quarter or on an earmarked page. On an ereader every book and every page feels the same.

- Easy multi page view and crossref. For instance, I can have two textbooks about the same subject open and easily compare different sections by just using bookmarks and spreading them on my desk. For that I would need multiple ereaders. Same reason a tablet with pen is nice but feels limiting.

- DRM is annoying enough to be basically an ad for piracy. Get the ebook, download, add it to adobe software, connect cable, transfer to ereader, disconnect cable, still doesn't work, reauthorize device, maybe it works. Meanwhile without drm: add to calibre, get book via wifi, done.

- Maybe better with newer tech, but eink was still somewhat lower resolution and contrast compared to a printed book. Also, page turning is fast enough but not seamless.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#448

Post by Reflecticon »

benterix wrote: post #442

I was hoping for a greater size - the standard Kindle sizes are totally unusable for users like me who mainly read PDFs. After experimenting with larger e-ink screen sizes from other vendors I realized I also miss the snappiness of reading a real book. So in the end I settled for the cheapest 12-inch Chinese tablet I could get. Since I spend ca. 40-70 minutes a day reading, it's the best experience for me: the text i…

Can you please point me to the website/device where you got that device? I'm looking for something similar but affordable.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#449

Post by sundarurfriend »

atulatul wrote: post #319
lidavidm wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kobo has a store. It's decent, it won't have Kindle indies, and IMO it has fewer/worse sales, but it's not a big deal to me. They do have a subscription plan with unlimited access to certain books but it's not clear to me how good the catalog is. You can also buy from third party stores, e.g. Weightless Books for sci-fi & fantasy, and just drag-and-drop the epub onto the Kobo.

Just checked kobo sites due to original comment. The catalog may be smaller but now they (India store) have comparable book prices to kindle. The last time (many years back) I checked, books were not available in India. I had first edition terrible keyboard kindle and have a paperwhite. It seems libra colour is still not available in India.

> first edition terrible keyboard kindle

That's still my favourite ever Kindle, simply for the side buttons for next/previous page.

Touch interface is so much more inconvenient in comparison, for the main purpose of reading and navigating through books.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#450

Post by RandomThoughts3 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #390
eproxus wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is, once you want to flip page you’ll try to press the touch screen and nothing will happen since you haven’t turned on the device with the power button (you don’t want the touch screen active always since it will drain the battery). I guess they could add some indication on the screen it’s in ”sleep” mode though, like a frame or icon somewhere…

Honestly, I think they should optimize the time it takes a powered off device to boot up and turn the page after the user presses a button[0]. Sure, those readers tend to be full-blown Linux computers with nontrivial boot time, but approximately none of the features this stack provides are needed for simply turning the page. I'm sure I'm underestimating the complexities of the problem, but the first idea that pops in…

> Gosh, I keep forgetting the readers only have touchscreens now. Another reason for superiority of hardware buttons for page turning.

Kobo still has a reader with buttons thankfully. I don’t understand how people tolerate touchscreen on e-readers. It’s extremely distracting compared to just pressing.

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