Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more • Hacker News Board

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

#491

Post by yjgyhj » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:02 PM UTC

I want to recommend getting an e-ink smartphone.

I've tried the Hisense A5 and the Bigme Hibreak, and software-wise, found the Bigme Hibreak to suck a little less, as I could not access the Google Play store on the Hisense.

I had one with colour, and one without.

The black and white screen is much better.

Both sadly run outdated Android versions, so I don't do anything like banking on my e-ink phone.

But I have found that not having a LCD screen in my pocket, literally gives me hours of my day back. It literally saves a huge portion of my life from being wasted in the evil pit that is ad-funded recommendation algorithm services.

LCD screens, videos, and ad-watch-time-maximising recommendation algorithm services (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, etc) attract our eyes like moths to a flame.

I have not finished multiple books per month since my pre-smartphone childhood days, until getting an e-ink smartphone.

My Bigme Hibreak, that is my daily driver, runs Android 11, and I don't get timely notifications on e.g. messaging apps. It also came without case and screen protector, which is a big minus.

Do you have experience with e-ink smartphones? Which makes and models work for you?

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

#492

Post by NoGravitas » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:03 PM UTC

hresvelgr wrote: post #253

pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

I will second that the Kobo Libra Colour is an excellent device. To me it's the perfect reading device. To anyone using Calibre with it, make sure you get the Kobo plugin that transforms epub into kepub when sending to device. It normalises text size, margins, and so on so the reading experience is consistent no matter where you uh... procure your library from. I reconvert all my epubs anyway, but that step is critic…

Does the Libra Colour support KOReader? That removes the need to convert to kepub and generally gives you better rendering, at the cost of having to do more setup.

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

#493

Post by al_borland » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:04 PM UTC

elijaht wrote: post #250

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.

I have a kindle that just displays the book cover. Are you sure it’s not just a setting?

From some of the other comments, it looks like a rather recent addition by Amazon (around 2021). I got rid of my last Kindle after 2021, but maybe I never got that update.

If it takes some competition for Amazon to finally add some very basic features like this after a decade, I will keep supporting that competition.

I’ve grown frustrated with Amazon in a lot of areas, this was just one small one. I’m looking to divest my dependence on Amazon, and the Kobo isn’t leaving me missing anything.

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

#494

Post by KeplerBoy » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:06 PM UTC

yjgyhj wrote: post #491

I want to recommend getting an e-ink smartphone. I've tried the Hisense A5 and the Bigme Hibreak, and software-wise, found the Bigme Hibreak to suck a little less, as I could not access the Google Play store on the Hisense. I had one with colour, and one without. The black and white screen is much better. Both sadly run outdated Android versions, so I don't do anything like banking on my e-ink phone. But I have found…

I'm sorry, as much I'd like to buy a e-ink smartphone, your recommendations doesn't read like a recommendation at all.

Notifications and a kind of recent android version are two deal breakers.

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

#495

Post by atombender » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:10 PM UTC

The one improvement I want from an ebook reader is better typography.

On current devices (especially Kindle, but from what I've seen of screenshots online, also other readers), the font selection is extremely limited and the rendering is atrocious. Nobody seems to have spent any time on kerning, word breaking, or anything else relating to typography and layout.

Even after 20+ years of ebooks, they still don't have the visual quality of paper books. Headings, drop caps, quotations, illustrations — all the beautiful stylistic choices that a paper book makes is just wasted on an ebook.

Anyone have a happy story to tell here? Like some niche device that actually has high resolution and beautiful font rendering?

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

#496

Post by Kudos » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:12 PM UTC

atombender wrote: post #495

The one improvement I want from an ebook reader is better typography. On current devices (especially Kindle, but from what I've seen of screenshots online, also other readers), the font selection is extremely limited and the rendering is atrocious. Nobody seems to have spent any time on kerning, word breaking, or anything else relating to typography and layout. Even after 20+ years of ebooks, they still don't have th…

For font selection, you can drag and drop your own onto a Kobo.

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

#497

Post by NoGravitas » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:16 PM UTC

TZubiri wrote: post #207

We had books, but then we thought, what about screens. Then we had screens but we thought, what if screens were more like books. Then we had book screens and we thought, what if the screens we made to look like books were more like screens.

Honestly, my only use-cases for a color eBook reader are comic books and House of Leaves. And I'm not sure if a 7" screen is really big enough for comic books (pretty sure on my Nexus 7 it was better to read comic books half a page at a time in landscape mode than a whole page in portrait).

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

#498

Post by benterix » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:17 PM UTC

Reflecticon wrote: post #448

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.

The device is called Dogee T20 Ultra 12", I bought it from a local vendor for ca. 230 euro to avoid dealing with a Chinese vendor. Works without any problems and the battery lasts for many days with my usage pattern (that is only reading ca. an hour a day).

Edit: it looks like the TCL option the other person mentioned is better because of screen glare (I use mine indoors only but probably it would get uncomfortable in full sunlight).

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

#499

Post by KeplerBoy » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:18 PM UTC

blcknight wrote: post #178

If the new Paperwhite supported immersion reading (highlights the word as audible book plays), I'd grab it. It works on my Boox with the Android app but as far as I know not on any kindles (battery life + screen refresh speed allegedly. I really want to ditch my Boox, horrible company.

Is immersion reading really a good experience, because it sounds kinda horrible.

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

#500

Post by chrisweekly » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 12:18 PM UTC

jacurtis wrote: post #230

thimabi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read several types of books, multiple hours per day: reflowable fiction books, PDFs, books generated from my Markdown notes… I’ve got a Paperwhite, a Scribe and a Kobo Forma, but I’m still searching for the perfect e-reader. The Paperwhite is too small for PDFs, but great for fiction and portability. The Scribe is excellent for PDFs, but it makes my books disappear sometimes, and it does not work well with sideload…

I use a combination of a Kindle Paperwhite Signature for novels and mainstream books. THen I use a Remarkable Tablet for PDFs, research papers, my own notes, etc. I find it to be a good combination. Like you said, the paperwhite is amazing for laying in bed at night (really like the backlight) or on the couch or traveling to read. But it is too small for PDFs or serious notetaking. The Remarkable is perfect for those…

Similar 2-device story here. Love my Kindle Oasis for reading books, and rely on my reMarkable 2 tablet for writing / notes -- driven by a hyperpaper-based daily planner (its navigable pdfs are a game-changer).