For regular books, Amazon’s $280 Kindle Colorsoft falls short of the Paperwhite
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I have a boox tab mini c (kaleido 3 screen similar to the colorsoft) and a remarkable paper pro. I don't care for the kaleido 3 screen, it is significantly darker than regular e-ink unless in direct sun or the back light is on to compensate. Even then it is a little darker. The color can be nice to have for some things but it is very muted. Generally I don't think the trade-off is worth it. My son however does like it because he uses it more for the web browser, than reading. So it will very much depend on your use case. Color text is not great, you do notice the loss in crispness. I generally find it too small for comics.
The remarkable paper pro is a different beast entirely. Its much larger making it much better for comics, manga etc, if you can get them onto the device (limited formats and very limited software). Its colors are brighter, and overall better but still muted and much slower to refresh. Its display updates have quite the ugly flash when color is involved, it really bothers some but I have gotten used to it. Its display while brighter than kaleido 3 screens still needs some backlight, except in really bright lighting, so the battery life isn't what it should be.
The remarkable however is a very deliberately crippled device and it is certainly not for everyone. Its great for note taking, and marking up pdfs. Okay for comics/manga (flashing, and muted colors bring it down some). It size is great for these applications but it does make it less portable. Reading is limited by the software, no kidle or kobo you need to use Calibre or similar to convert to pdfs before loading on to the device. For organization of notes and thoughts, remarkables software is not great. The device is also very, very expensive. Its a niche product, I really like it for my use cases but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
If your into hacking then the remarkable is a linux device, once you are in you can add some software but the hw is fairly limited (2 GB ram, and their kernel doesn't even have zcache or zswap enabled). You can use chroots etc to play, it is possible to get firefox running but well I don't know how much value there is in adding most linux apps. My recommendation here is don't plan using linux apps to extend its functionality, there are a few community hacks that are worth it, but anything else is really just for if your into playing with linux at the lower levels. Definitely go and watch some reviews (yes watch so you can see the flashing screen update) if you are considering the device at all.
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Travis Butler: "...contrast is one of the most important factors in readability. And I’ve always hated the contrast on eInk screens - they always come across to me as dark grey on light grey. The background reminds me of cheap recycled newsprint, and the text isn’t nearly black enough to stand out well against it."
Hear hear. I'm on my fourth Kindle. The low-price ones clearly lack contrast; a 7G Kindle cost more new and is a little than the under-$200 slabs. I spent decades reading ACE etc paperbacks printed with thin ink on recycled newsprint, but the Kindles are inferior.
Andrew Cunningham: "...the experience of reading black-and-white text on the Colorsoft were..."
There is a particular irony here because I had just put my (11G) BW Kindle down to do-scroll Ars Technica, and the Ars Day & Night grey-on-grey is even less legible than the popular-price Kindle. It's why I can't "doom scroll" Ars anymore, my eyes grey-out after 3 or 4 articles; I can only "do-scroll". Welp, I'm done.
Hear hear. I'm on my fourth Kindle. The low-price ones clearly lack contrast; a 7G Kindle cost more new and is a little than the under-$200 slabs. I spent decades reading ACE etc paperbacks printed with thin ink on recycled newsprint, but the Kindles are inferior.
Andrew Cunningham: "...the experience of reading black-and-white text on the Colorsoft were..."
There is a particular irony here because I had just put my (11G) BW Kindle down to do-scroll Ars Technica, and the Ars Day & Night grey-on-grey is even less legible than the popular-price Kindle. It's why I can't "doom scroll" Ars anymore, my eyes grey-out after 3 or 4 articles; I can only "do-scroll". Welp, I'm done.
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Do you have any older Kindles around to compare with in terms of page turns? It would be awesome to see how it all compares to my 7th generation kindle, which is still going strong. I just wish it was faster on refresh, but I don't have a good feel for how it would compare. Especially when browsing my library with book covers in place. Or just a simple table of books I've got on there. That's the worst part of the kindles, browsing quickly. Reading it awesome, battery life is awesome, durability has been awesome.
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Jeeze, for a little less money, you can get a great condition used iPad that will read your Kindle books in true color when imported into Apple Books. Or, for a few more dollars, you can get a new iPad. (DRM removal s/w to enable direct import is cheap and reliable.)
No idea about Kindle app for iPad, but it too may support color. (Don't have anything Kindle Book-wise to use to run a test.)
Regardless, an iPad will always be able to do more than a Kindle, do it better, do it at a higher resolution, and do it at a roughly comparable cost.
No idea about Kindle app for iPad, but it too may support color. (Don't have anything Kindle Book-wise to use to run a test.)
Regardless, an iPad will always be able to do more than a Kindle, do it better, do it at a higher resolution, and do it at a roughly comparable cost.
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If you are really reading a lot of comics/graphic novels, just get an iPad! Larger screen, better colors, larger screen, better experience. It won't have the battery life of e-ink, but it won't have all of the drawbacks, either.
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I miss my 2nd gen Kindle...the one with the physical page turn buttons. Didn't want or need a touchscreen on a dedicated reading device, and the buttons were MUCH better.
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For speed, the 11th is "much" faster (and lighter!) than the 7th. All relative-- Kindle O/S is stupidly slow in every way, but the 11 does things in 2/3 to 1/2 the time of the 7th, which is appreciable. Wikipedia look-ups are now faster than getting up and going to the PC. The 7th is indeed well-regarded, but I use my 11th all the time saving the 7th for trouble (the 10th was not so robust and the new 11th does not impress).
The killer feature of the Kindle is "Weeks of battery life". Due in part to e-ink, and mostly to a lame-snail CPU. No iPad can be so thrifty; apparently no color display can (and mass-market is color display except the Kindle/Nook niche). And you have to go fairly far out the used iPad market to get prices like $140/$100 new basic Kindles. If at home I can charge, but 3-day trips or extended medical treatments would push a iPad; the Kindle just cruises.
Fer context: I've had B/W pocket displays for over 30 years. A Tandy/Sharp pocket computer, much later a cute little linux handy before the NetBook craze hit.
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Sorry, I use mine in mostly climate controlled environments or outdoors when warm, so I don't have any answer for you on how it performs in the cold.
I know there are some larger color models from companies like Boox or Remarkable, but they're more full Android-based devices which for some people might be a good thing.
Edit: I chucked mine into the fridge for a while. It does slow down page changes quite significantly. Going from b/w text to b/w text the page changes take about 1/2 second, and with a screen refresh a little over a full second. For color pages, I have page refreshes for each and every color page and it takes about 3 seconds to complete a page change when cold. I'm not really willing to test going to freezing or lower since I don't know how adversely it could affect it.
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The alternatives are good for a technically oriented enthusiast, but don’t hand it to grandma or cousin Sal.
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How do you think Grandma gets books on her Kindle? Buying them via Amazon.
You know how she can get books on her Kobo? Buying them on Kobo.
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Nora Lenderbee
Ars Tribunus Militum
I recently purchased a Kobo Libra Colour. The review above might as well have been written about it. Exactly the same issues. I bought the Libra because it had a slightly larger screen than the Kobo b/w models. It replaced a defunct many-year-old Nook, and I don't care to support Amazon. I now wish for the exact same device in b/w only.
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...you guys do not jailbreak your Kindles?
Kindle + KoboReader + Calibre improves Kindle experience re reading significantly
Kindle + KoboReader + Calibre improves Kindle experience re reading significantly
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Ask grandma if she’s ever heard of “Rakutan Kobo” and then ask her if she’s heard of Amazon.com.
And ask her who she might already have an account with.
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I'm with you. My third gen had button (and a keyboard!) and the page turn buttons were great.
Also, I would even say reading on the 3rd gen was somewhat better as the text was easier to read in different lights then my 10th gen kindle paperwhite without it's backlight on. It's almost like it's made to always have the backlight on.
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It really depends. My Grandma didn't own a computer, or a mobile phone, and while I can conceivably imagine her using an e-reader, it would be preferable if it had physical buttons, because she didn't really get along with touch-screens. Which store it is connected to is immaterial, since the books would invariably need to be loaded on for her.Ask grandma if she’s ever heard of “Rakutan Kobo” and then ask her if she’s heard of Amazon.com.
And ask her who she might already have an account with.
On the other hand, the "grandma" who lives next door to me is a retired SCADA developer and computer geek. She'd likely prefer whatever device is more hackable.
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Grandma doesn't even have a Walmart account and she shops there all the time. She only has a Netflix account because her daughter set it up for her, and that's the same way she'd get a Kobo or Amazon account.Ask grandma if she’s ever heard of “Rakutan Kobo” and then ask her if she’s heard of Amazon.com.
And ask her who she might already have an account with.
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"Here's the bookmark for the book store Grandma."Ask grandma if she’s ever heard of “Rakutan Kobo” and then ask her if she’s heard of Amazon.com.
And ask her who she might already have an account with.
Ta-da.
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rainynight65
Ars Scholae Palatinae
After over ten years with Kindles, I made a change last year when my Paperwhite started exhibiting less than satisfactory battery life. My main objective was to get out of the Amazon ecosystem. I ended up going with the Kobo Clara Colour, as a more high end device was not in my budget.
What I really like about it is the user interface, which has some useful shortcuts for changing font size and backlight. I also dig the Overdrive/Libby integration, I have never even tried to borrow e-books from my local library using a Kindle.
The colour is more of a gimmick, it doesn't add much to my experience, I don't read graphic novels (the screen would probably be too small for it) and I could probably have gone with the B&W version. But hey, I like gimmicks, and if nothing else, it's pretty cool to look at the sleep screen and see a coloured book cover...
What I really like about it is the user interface, which has some useful shortcuts for changing font size and backlight. I also dig the Overdrive/Libby integration, I have never even tried to borrow e-books from my local library using a Kindle.
The colour is more of a gimmick, it doesn't add much to my experience, I don't read graphic novels (the screen would probably be too small for it) and I could probably have gone with the B&W version. But hey, I like gimmicks, and if nothing else, it's pretty cool to look at the sleep screen and see a coloured book cover...
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BobbyBobberson
Ars Scholae Palatinae
If Amazon ever gets rid of the "send-to-kindle" thing, I'm gone. Mind you, I'm still using a Paperwhite from 2012.
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Is it possible to plug-in that kindle as a USB key and upload/read whatever pdf/epub I want? If not, that's a total deal breaker. Can amazon still decide for whatever reason to delete what's on my reader? If so, that's a deal breaker too.
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I’ve got a black and white paper white. Love it.
Also have a remarkable. Love it. It’s a revolutionary piece of gear. Does that one thing well. Doesn’t try to do everything in a mediocre way.
Reviews of colour versions haven’t sold me on a decent use case. Especially for the cost differential.
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I'm paranoid about my Oasis busting, haven't been particularly attracted to the hardware releases since.
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I prefer Kobo and Boox to Kindles also, but about those Kindle ads - I've mentioned this before but will write it again in case if helps more people - you can talk to Support and simply ask that they be removed "as a courtesy." By now I've probably done this to 7 or 8 Kindles for family members and others. Amazon has (so far, at least) never refused to do it.
I'm also aware of people with small children explaining that the kids use the Kindles and the parents don't want them seeing ads. (I don't personally do that, but again, in all of the cases of which I'm aware, they haven't been refused.)
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Color E-ink is hampered by the tech companies with a vested interest in control.
They can't make a product with these features because the market isn't big enough.
so good enough rules the day.
They can't make a product with these features because the market isn't big enough.
so good enough rules the day.
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I have a Kobo Libra Colour, and yes compared to the Kobo Aura One I used before it, the contrast when reading standard text is poorer in comparison, but a few months on I'm fine with it. I'm sure if I fired up the Aura One again and put them side by side it would seem worse again, but otherwise I have just got used to it and it is a pleasure to use. I preferred the slightly larger screen of the Aura One, but sadly the battery life was becoming an issue as it got older, thus the upgrade.
As far as colours go, I tried reading comics and found the added colour to be decent enough bearing in mind how eInk technology is at this time, but as others have said the screen size just isn't up to it. Therefore my usage of colour is really limited to having book covers shown in colour, the cover of the current book being displayed in colour when sleeping, and the occasional image. These are things I'd file firmly under 'nice' rather than essential.
As far as comparisons to Kindles, my last experience was with a Paperwhite a few years ago, and being someone who likes to put most of my library on the device, the difficulty in being able to organise my books neatly and efficiently meant never touching a Kindle again until Amazon allow it, and as far as I am aware, they still don't. With my Kobo, after setting a few options in Calibre first, my books are neatly stored in folders (called Collections') using author names as I prefer. That alone makes it worth going the Kobo route for me. One thing I do wish was still an option was the old-style Kobo homescreen where you had different tiles showing a mix of new books, books started, collections recently accessed etc. i recall keeping my Aura One offline as long as I could in order not to have it changed to the existing homescreen layout. You can see it in this image: Old Kobo Homescreen
As far as colours go, I tried reading comics and found the added colour to be decent enough bearing in mind how eInk technology is at this time, but as others have said the screen size just isn't up to it. Therefore my usage of colour is really limited to having book covers shown in colour, the cover of the current book being displayed in colour when sleeping, and the occasional image. These are things I'd file firmly under 'nice' rather than essential.
As far as comparisons to Kindles, my last experience was with a Paperwhite a few years ago, and being someone who likes to put most of my library on the device, the difficulty in being able to organise my books neatly and efficiently meant never touching a Kindle again until Amazon allow it, and as far as I am aware, they still don't. With my Kobo, after setting a few options in Calibre first, my books are neatly stored in folders (called Collections') using author names as I prefer. That alone makes it worth going the Kobo route for me. One thing I do wish was still an option was the old-style Kobo homescreen where you had different tiles showing a mix of new books, books started, collections recently accessed etc. i recall keeping my Aura One offline as long as I could in order not to have it changed to the existing homescreen layout. You can see it in this image: Old Kobo Homescreen
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You’re both right. The original 2007 Kindle had a 167dpi resolution, which was acceptable then, but for eyes that have become accustomed to 300dpi, the lower functional resolution of color eInk devices is hard to tolerate for a lot of people who primarily use these types of devices to read plain text. I’ve tried two color current generation eInk devices and they’ve both been returned after a very brief trial period (the MobiScribe Wave Color and the ReMarkable Pro). I found them blurry and unpleasant to look at and the background with the backlight off is significantly darker on the color devices (less obvious on a device with a dark border).
For folks like clb2c4e, the trade-offs are worth it. For most people, the current generation are a technological stepping stone.
As for device brand, Andrew’s review is not about the Kindle software, Amazon’s business practices or Bezos’ ethics - it’s a screen comparison. All of those other factors are important and should matter when making purchases, but all the device manufacturers are getting their screens from eInk, so you can expect the same type of experience for any other brand using a current-gen Cartia (B&W) screen vs. a Kaleido 3 screen, which is almost everyone. The Remarkable Pro uses an older eInk Mobius screen, but suffers the same comparisons to a B&W eInk device.
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Worse... or cheaper? (If the non-premium ones fill your need.)
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I would still require an absorbent screen that can dry the base of a pint glass.
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i was liking it…until that. dark mode is what made me get another kindle after a wildfire burned up all my stuff. if not for that, i’d have just used my phone.
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I've been using 10" large format e-readers for a while now because I read a lot of PDFs. The smaller Kindles and such are just useless for that. I've been incredibly happy with the series of 10" Boox monochrome readers I've bought, so I was really excited to buy the new large color reader when it came out. To me, the contrast was way more disappointing than the article author describes. I'm accustomed to it now, but when I see my spouse using my hand-me-down reader, I sort of miss it. That said, I can now read charts and graphs, so the color aspect is still a win for me.
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Interestingly, I tested my 12.5" tablet (Redmi Pad Pro) with the Kindle app. If we ignore the higher weight, it's a quite nice experience.
One thing I noticed is that the various maps and diagrams inside the Kindle documents are so much compressed to be almost useless (eg in Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver trilogy). I don't own a comic book in my Kindle library to check how it would look.
For now, I think that I'll keep using my Kindle Paperwhite as a portable reading solution of e-books (mine was bought two years ago or so). I have to say that when I'm binge reading, I am using mostly my laptop in a 2-page configuration.
One thing I noticed is that the various maps and diagrams inside the Kindle documents are so much compressed to be almost useless (eg in Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver trilogy). I don't own a comic book in my Kindle library to check how it would look.
For now, I think that I'll keep using my Kindle Paperwhite as a portable reading solution of e-books (mine was bought two years ago or so). I have to say that when I'm binge reading, I am using mostly my laptop in a 2-page configuration.
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I mean, you guys can come up with all the edge cases you want. Most ‘grandma’s’ know Amazon.
Ta da.
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Kobo’s great color e-readers are held back by lock-in
…the UI feels more focused on selling books than reading them….https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/4/24158251/kobo-libra-clara-colour-e-reader-review
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Who stans for Amazon these days? Is he expecting a pony from Bezos?
I'm a really big fan of my Kindle Paperwhite for reading fiction, having jumped into eBooks back when with the Sony PRS-500. But I appreciate reading comments from non-Kindle owners here because I already know what my Kindle can or cannot do. I am not locked in <mumbles while opening the Kindle app on my iPad>.
I am amused to see Amazon's E-ink note taking continue to play catch-up to competitors. Makes me question how important that use is to Amazon because they surely have the money to go after it harder.
I'm a really big fan of my Kindle Paperwhite for reading fiction, having jumped into eBooks back when with the Sony PRS-500. But I appreciate reading comments from non-Kindle owners here because I already know what my Kindle can or cannot do. I am not locked in <mumbles while opening the Kindle app on my iPad>.
I am amused to see Amazon's E-ink note taking continue to play catch-up to competitors. Makes me question how important that use is to Amazon because they surely have the money to go after it harder.
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Personal attacks, instead of counterarguments.
So, it’s political, and not about the device and ecosystem.
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I think I made it quite clear I want nothing to do with Amazon.
The fact that you think being accused of liking Amazon is a "personal attack" is interesting.
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Thanks! I really appreciate that you tried that out. That actually sounds a bit better than how my older Nook behaves. I mean, maybe not hugely better, but it is somewhere around 45F for maybe 15-20 minutes and mine just gives me a too cold screen and won't work, supposing it wasn't too cold to refresh the screen to that too cold message and just turned off.
Though certainly not "usable in the cold".
Much appreciated.
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