Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch) • Hacker News Board

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#31

Post by wvenable » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 6:36 AM UTC

The Kobo touch seems pretty hackable -- it's very easy to root the device; the firmware upgrades are just tarballs that overwrite files in the main partition and it has a backup partition if you screw it up. There's some documentation on mmapping the e-ink display and using ioctl to update portions of the display.

I'm looking to get one of these for my wife for Christmas (Neither the Nook or the kindle are really available in Canada) but I'm not allowed to mess around with her devices. However I think having an e-ink Linux machine might be an interesting device to play with.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#32

Post by tedunangst » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 6:37 AM UTC

lpolovets wrote: post #12

I'm surprised to say this, but I like the Kindle ads. I have an ad-free Kindle and I got the ad-supported version for my wife (she was on the fence about getting a Kindle at all, and knowing it was cheaper compelled her to finally get it). The ads are pretty great! As the blog post says, they are unobtrusive and only displayed when the Kindle is off. More importantly, though, they are sometimes useful. The first few…

If you really like the ads, there's on option on the website to turn them on even for devices that didn't start with them.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#33

Post by zokier » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 7:53 AM UTC

Sadly the article doesn't address the issues with Kindle typography raised in "Ebooks, you're doing it wrong" [1]

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3256317

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#34

Post by _stephan » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 8:39 AM UTC

Something important that Marco forgot: The Kindle Touch is the only Kindle without landscape mode. I find that pretty annoying.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#35

Post by SWengineer » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 10:53 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #29

lpolovets wrote: post #12

I'm surprised to say this, but I like the Kindle ads. I have an ad-free Kindle and I got the ad-supported version for my wife (she was on the fence about getting a Kindle at all, and knowing it was cheaper compelled her to finally get it). The ads are pretty great! As the blog post says, they are unobtrusive and only displayed when the Kindle is off. More importantly, though, they are sometimes useful. The first few…

I bought the Kindle DX and was actually disappointed that it didn't serve ads. Instead, it puts ugly pictures of dead authors as the screensaver.

I bought the DX for the large screen so I can read programming books and pdfs on e ink. I like some of the artwork, esp the one of the fish. I think the kindle 4 smaller devices have more contemporary screen savers.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#36

Post by smhinsey » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 11:24 AM UTC

SWengineer wrote: post #35

WalterBright wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought the Kindle DX and was actually disappointed that it didn't serve ads. Instead, it puts ugly pictures of dead authors as the screensaver.

I bought the DX for the large screen so I can read programming books and pdfs on e ink. I like some of the artwork, esp the one of the fish. I think the kindle 4 smaller devices have more contemporary screen savers.

I didn't anticipate how much I would come to prefer my DX to everything else. I do wish that screensaver (that isn't quite the right term) was at least somewhat customizable though.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#37

Post by kghose » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 1:26 PM UTC

dprice1 wrote: post #4

I wish the review (or the accompanying ecosystem review) had considered the freedom/openness of each device. To me that seems like the #1 concern I would have with a reader for content I value over the long run. It has seemed to me that the Kindle is the device with the most lock-in whereas the Kobo has the least (it uses Adobe's DRM scheme, which at least has a tool which lets you move your content from device to de…

Well, going to http://www.gutenberg.org/ and finding books from there is enough for me!

I got the Kindle 4 for my wife and now I want one. I think the Amazon store is a little nasty (there is no "confirm" screen during purchases) and so on, but I think there are enough sources of ebooks other than Amazon.

Authors can now surely offer ebooks directly from their sites, instead of involving a middle man. I don't know why this hasn't taken off.

It would make for a nice return to the artisan age, where we bought stuff directly from the creators.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#38

Post by bmuon » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 1:28 PM UTC

jad wrote: post #16

duck wrote: post #2

On the Kindles, the ads aren’t intrusive, and if you get an ad model and change your mind later, you can just pay the difference and get the ads removed. So it’s not much of a risk to just get the ads. This is the first time I have heard this... you would think they would market that ability more.

> you would think they would market that ability more Maybe Amazon thinks that if it is obvious, no one will pay up front to have ads removed, and getting more money at the time of purchase is more valuable than future ad revenue.

Everything on the web points to the opposite. Ads in the long run are always more profitable.

Besides, nothing guarantees that the quality of the ads will stay the same. When I bought my Kindle 4 I reasoned they looked well now because the service is pretty new, but we'll start seeing all the abhorring ads we see on the web soon enough.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#39

Post by RexRollman » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 2:12 PM UTC

smhinsey wrote: post #36

SWengineer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought the DX for the large screen so I can read programming books and pdfs on e ink. I like some of the artwork, esp the one of the fish. I think the kindle 4 smaller devices have more contemporary screen savers.

I didn't anticipate how much I would come to prefer my DX to everything else. I do wish that screensaver (that isn't quite the right term) was at least somewhat customizable though.

Amazon seems to hate the idea of a user selecting their own screensavers on Kindles. Even the new Kindle Fire doesn't allow it.

Re: Marco's eReader Roundup (Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch)

#40

Post by berntb » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 2:53 PM UTC

SWengineer wrote: post #35

WalterBright wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought the Kindle DX and was actually disappointed that it didn't serve ads. Instead, it puts ugly pictures of dead authors as the screensaver.

I bought the DX for the large screen so I can read programming books and pdfs on e ink. I like some of the artwork, esp the one of the fish. I think the kindle 4 smaller devices have more contemporary screen savers.

I really want to get a DX, but the page switch time scare me. It would be hard to browse code, etc. How does this work for technical books?

(Also, I'd be fired if I sent internal pdf documents off for conversion... :-)