61–70 of 109 posts
PocketBook is a reasonable DRM-free all-format alternative to Kindle.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those exists now, in the form of eink Android phone/tablet. The refresh rate of eink makes their experience suboptimal, but some find it usable enough. You can search for Boox tablet, or Hisense A5 phone.
Oh that's interesting, I missed this one: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/review-onyx-boox-max3-a... I know I shouldn't be complaining about price now that I've heard it exists at all, but $840 is really steep! I was thinking something more like $400. I know it's a niche product, but even so.
The web browsing experience is OK, but it's slow and monochrome.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both the Kindle and the Kobo have "experimental" web browsers, but it you try to read any webpage that was made after the year 2000 or so, the site is nearly impossible to navigate on them. Even freaking Wikipedia mobile pages are pretty annoying to read on my Kobo. I end up saving the page to Pocket if it's particularly long due to the headache of e-ink redrawing on longform pages. The hardware isn't enough. The mod…
Now that you mention it - this makes an open source device such as this interesting. Make it go through your own self-hosted proxy, which renders the page to and sends over something suitable for the ereader. Like Opera Mini if anyone remembers. I think calibre has features that can be used as a foundation to build on.
How would you navigate tho?
This isn't really equivalent to a kindle though. The fonts are basic, there's no enclosure. Fonts are a huge thing for eReaders and Amazon has spent a lot of time perfecting them. It's also important to remember that it's perfectly possible to use the Kindle without DRM. You can just put your own books on it with a cable, though you'll have to convert them to MOBI as it doesn't do ePub. The same can be done with othe…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh that's interesting, I missed this one: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/review-onyx-boox-max3-a... I know I shouldn't be complaining about price now that I've heard it exists at all, but $840 is really steep! I was thinking something more like $400. I know it's a niche product, but even so.
The Max3 has a giant screen (larger than the biggest iPad Pro). I'm still getting used to mine, but I mostly like it. The web browsing experience is OK, but it's slow and monochrome.
I'm kind of eying the BOOX Nova2, which is in my price range at $340. The screen is 7.8", which is ~ 2" smaller than what I'd ideally want, but not by much.
This isn't really equivalent to a kindle though. The fonts are basic, there's no enclosure. Fonts are a huge thing for eReaders and Amazon has spent a lot of time perfecting them. It's also important to remember that it's perfectly possible to use the Kindle without DRM. You can just put your own books on it with a cable, though you'll have to convert them to MOBI as it doesn't do ePub. The same can be done with othe…
I have a 'niche' interest in SFF magazines and for that, WeightlessBooks fills it well [1] by offering subscriptions to Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Interzone, Locus (the Newspaper of the SFF world) and many others.
I also occasionally buy non-DRM books from Smashwords [2] and there are plenty of other dedicated non-DRM book/story sellers out there [3]
[1] https://weightlessbooks.com/
I want an e-ink web browsing tablet. I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the do…
There are many, you're just not seeing them because they're probably out of your usual tech bubble. Check goodereader.com for their eReader reviews. They often review eReaders which are running Android with web browsers in it, recently they reviewed a couple eInk smartphones, including a color eInk one. There is a lot going on in the eReader world but it is at the fringe of the tech bubble of SV. It is in Europe and…
Literally my only complaint about the device is that it runs an outdated and heavily skinned version of Android. I wouldn't recommend this device today for that reason, but there are a lot of options running newer versions these days.
It's a shame Google doesn't offer a "pixel" device like this, unlocked and without all the junk. For whatever reason, though, Google seems completely uninterested in eink.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Max3 has a giant screen (larger than the biggest iPad Pro). I'm still getting used to mine, but I mostly like it. The web browsing experience is OK, but it's slow and monochrome.
Monochrome is expected. Do you say it's slow because of the screen's refresh rate, or do pages take a long time to render? I'm kind of eying the BOOX Nova2, which is in my price range at $340. The screen is 7.8", which is ~ 2" smaller than what I'd ideally want, but not by much.
I want an e-ink web browsing tablet. I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the do…
The problem is that most gliders are not very rich & fly on shared hardware of the local flying club. So there is no incentive for manufacturers to build a device for this kinda small and nit very afluent community.
IIRC a couple years ago some of them we using hacked Kobo devices.
This isn't really equivalent to a kindle though. The fonts are basic, there's no enclosure. Fonts are a huge thing for eReaders and Amazon has spent a lot of time perfecting them. It's also important to remember that it's perfectly possible to use the Kindle without DRM. You can just put your own books on it with a cable, though you'll have to convert them to MOBI as it doesn't do ePub. The same can be done with othe…
At least Kindles do track what the user is reading even if it wasn't purchased on Amazon so having a good, high quality, open source e-ink device would be of great benifit. [1]
> I think for the reader, I would prefer to buy commercial hardware as look and feel is an important thing for a device you will interact with a lot.
In the case of laptops, at least 99% of the software can be replaced save for stuff like the BIOS and Intel ME, etc. In the case of phones and devices where side loading the OS is not currently possible both due to the hardware being more specialized AND the manufactors locking the systems down to prevent modification of the software; there are open source hardware systems like the PinePhone and the do laptops as well. [2]
Also unless anything has changed, the DRM can be removed from Amazon ebooks so it's not a huge deal compared to DRM on other media like Ulra-HD Blurays.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/31/21117217/amazon-kindle-tr...