ebooks | device buying advice, anyone?

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choosing a reader

device buying advice, anyone?

Hi all! I know, it's 2024, who is still buying non-kindles and non-tablets? Well, I'd like to.

I have a venerable, still well functioning Kobo Glo, which I stuff full of AO3 epubs before holidays, love reading on while traveling, and then don't really use when I'm home. Instead, I ruin my eyes by reading for hours per day on my phone.

I have done some research on what's out there these days, and it looks like finally, with the slow advent of colour e-ink displays, there's once again some movement in the non-Kindle market. I'm not into Amazon, so Kindles are not an option for me.

Onyx looks great, with a huge range of devices (I'm so tempted by the Palma!). Kobo has some new contenders with good reviews, too. The Remarkable looks fantastic, if not great for the purposes of reading, and I really like the promise of the Dasung monitor screens.
I also like laptops with e-ink screens, but those seem more like gimmicks which are going to break super fast.

Unfortunately, apart from what can be gathered in a few hours of research on youtube and review sites specialising on e-ink devices (like goodereader.com), I am lacking reports of experience from people who would use the device like I would - and I'm thinking I might find you on this group!

My usecase 1 - 95% of usage: the device should have a browser that is quick enough that I can browse the AO3 comfortably, to then download epubs to read (offline).

My usecase 2 - 5% of usage: I can imagine that if I had a faster browser, I would use the device for reading news, too.

Other than that, the device should be epub compatible so I can keep my existing (fic) library - I don't mind only reading my couple handful of Kobo books on my old Kobo Glo.
Ideally, it should have the possibility of encryption.

It really should be as environmentally low impact as possible. I have not seen any of the review sites or videos talk about environmental impact. It's too bad that we don't get shown an energy efficiency label with ebooks or other handhelds, it would make life easier. I realise that I could have the lowest environmental impact if I kept reading on my old Kobo, BUT browsing on it is so slow that I am almost guaranteed to just switch to my phone.

I would be super grateful for any advice!

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Oh, I will also be following the replies with great interest! I can only say the reMarkable definitely shouldn't be on your list as it doesn't have a browser at all. It does look sleek though!

If you want low environmental impact, have you considered a used iPad or iPad Mini? The manufacturing cost has already been born, you'd be extending its life. I've bought several from pawn shops in the past. You might get one that is stale, i.e. no more OS updates, but they're still perfectly useable. My wife's iPad is 12(?) years old and surprisingly still working fairly well, not that I'd recommend one remotely that old.

Just addressing the buying used issue -- my partner and I really liked the Sony e-ink models but Sony stopped making them years ago. Quite a few new and new-ish ones started popping up on Ebay soon after they were discontinued and we bought several of them. We've both been using the same ones for 10+ years now but we have backups for them should we need them.

I keep my old iPhones and don't trade them in just to have backups. Very useful to have backups!

Definitely a good idea, I think. I wish I'd gotten my favourite ipod Nano a couple more times while it was sold for 50 bucks a few years after it was produced! It's why I'll definitely not get rid of my Kobo Glo - it looks like nothing short of Kobo deliberately bricking it with a software update can kill that thing, I love that!

Yup, buying used is definitely on my radar. I usually keep my devices forever, anyway - to the point of un-usability.

But I definitely want something with an e-ink screen, rather than a tablet. I really appreciate that I can use my eleven year old Kobo with 1200mAh for 8h per day for at least three days, probably more, when my six year old top-range phone with a 3000mAh battery at the most gives me six hours. That's ten times more energy efficient!

Even a newer e-ink device with much better specs will use more power, it will probably still be half or a quarter of what I would use if I read on a phone or a tablet.

Anyway - still a good point re the buying used!

I have a e-ink reader to help save my eyes it's also light weight so I can read for hours without my wrists hurting.

I ended up picking the Pocketbook Pro Verse because it has buttons as my Christmas gift to myself.

I'm really enjoying this book reader. I used the Pocketbook HD2 for about 5 years before I upgraded my device.

I read almost all fan fiction on the device and it's easy to email ebooks to the device. It has a nice font selection, but you can add your own fonts to the device too. the price was under 200 dollars. I'm not sure what else you're looking for in a device but I've been pretty happy with the Pocketbook readers. I know Kobo is still popular if you liked your Kobo Glo. I just didn't like the lack of buttons which is why I went from Sony PRS to Pocketbook.

Thank you for the enthusiastic recommendation!

I absolutely love my Palma. I've liked all the Onyx devices I've had over time, but the Palma is faster and just... out of the box straight away better than the older ones. In one of the speedier screen refresh modes it can really whiz (I normally have it somewhere in between). Because it's got Google Play, you can get an app to read any format, though the native Neoreader reads all the formats I've tried.

Only issue is, of course, the screen size. PDFs don't come off well on it; for that I use my Onyx Boox Leaf2, which handles PDFs way better in Neoreader than Kindle or Kobo ever did. I do also love the Leaf2 for the physical page turn buttons, but it's a bit slower... I think there's a newer model now, which may be more along the lines of the Palma in terms of speed/responsiveness. Haven't done a deep-dive on that yet since with the two of them I'm definitely not in the market for a new ereader for a while!

Good point about the pdfs - who knows if I'd actually use the reader for that, given the chance. Thank you for your device AND usage recs, I really appreciate it!

How often do you charge your Palma? And do you use it as a phone replacement? Or is it still too slow for that?

The Palma doesn't have a SIM slot, so it can't really be used as a phone in the strictest sense, but I do have some apps on it and use it to look things up, stuff like that. I tend to be pretty chronically online on my PC, so I don't use it heavily for anything but reading, though.

Charging wise, hmm, it's hard to say because I'm a bit capricious and switch between reading physical books and ebooks at the drop of a hat, so I rarely run out the whole battery. I used it every day for a week recently and only charged it once, if that helps!

Oh, and a thought: the My Deep Guide channel on Youtube is a great place to get ereader/e-ink tablet info. He often dives into the technical stuff. I bought my reMarkable 2 and Leaf2 based on his reviews, IIRC, and he's done reviews on a pretty wide selection of devices.

Ah, I didn't realise the Palma doesn't have a sim slot. But that makes sense, that way they don't have to compete on the phone market, where they'd probably get a ton of negative reviews.

Charging it once or twice a week while not exclusively, but regularly reading on the Palma is helpful, thank you.

Thanks also for the rec for the YT channel, I hadn't stumbled over him before. I will definitely check the reviews out!

I have an Onyx BOOX Nova3 and I love it. I use it every night, and most of my reading on it are epubs I've downloaded from AO3. I do occasionally download stuff from the browser, but I tend to do most of my downloading either on my laptop or my phone, because that's where I get email notifications of authors I've subscribed to (and also where I used to get twitter recommendations). I put my download into dropbox, and then use dropbox to save the files on the onyx. I also use Moon+ Reader on both my onyx and my phone, since they're both android, and use its built-in functionality to sync my reading position also via dropbox (other options available).

I've had ebook readers consistently since 2010, starting with an Onyx. Afterward I went Sony -> Kindle -> Kobo -> Onyx, but with multiple Sonys and Kobos. The Onyxes have been my favourites, for different reasons. The others were mostly cases of being able to get second-hand ones at a very low cost, but the only one that I hated was the kindle. I've had my current Onyx for almost 3 years, and I'm still pleased as punch with it.

My main understanding of the Onyx will let you do way more things well right now, but are less likely to be easy to use 10 years down the road. I don't know if it's still true, but Kobo has been fairly good at maintaining the old ones even if they hit a point where they're too old to really take advantage of everything you want. Onyx is definitely doing more innovative stuff but don't really get updates after a couple of years, so they're more likely to become e-waste sooner for a few reasons. It was something that was a concern of mine, but I was dealing with some health issues that meant that I prioritized getting a device that made a bunch of those health issues easier. I've had the Onyx for about three years, have been happy with it the whole time, and have no urges for something new; despite Sony and Kobo both having good reputations for lasting a long time, mine kept breaking in some stupid way or another. However, I will admit that I replaced my last kobo for the wider functionality from the onyx and not because it wasn't working as it should and that my first onyx (bought in 2010, which is ages ago for ereaders) only lasted a year before something went wrong in the screen.

If you're not able to get a regular habit of downloading things on your computer or phone and then transferring it to the kobo, then the onyx will be much more effective for you do it right on the device. But it will require a little more configuration and set up - like a new phone instead of like a new kobo.

Wow, thank you so much for such an in-depth description - I truly appreciate it.

It's good to know that I probably still would prefer to dl on the phone and then shuffle it over to the other device, rather than browsing. But knowing what a good workflow for apps would be is quite helpful!

It's also great to know that you would judge Sony and Kobo as long-term reliable, but would maybe not put Onyx in that category. Longevity is super important to me, so I'll make sure to look at harsh-use tests if I decide on an Onyx.

Thank you again, this answered so many of my questions!

For the Onyx I think that it's a totally reasonable use case to use it to browse AO3 and download various epubs; it's a tablet! I just don't use it myself because of specific considerations in my own routine.

And, yeah, my experience with Sony and Kobo haven't been that they're long-term reliable, but I think that's mostly just been that I've had used devices and bad luck. My Onyx Nova 3 has lasted three years and I haven't had any problems with it, but the ideal is that it lasts significantly longer than that and I just can't comment on it.

p.s. to be clear, my Pocketbook HD2 is still working fine after 5 years. I just wanted to try the newer model.

I'm not sure how sturdy the newer Pocketbook readers are but I'm hoping this new one lasts at least 5 years too.

If you're looking for a device that's not wasteful Pocketbook may be worth reviewing.

Pocketbook didn't jump out at me from my earlier research, so your rec means I will definitely give them a second look! Thank you!

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