Kobo is the only other manufacturer I know of that gets fairly good reviews. Do Boox devices really fail that much? I haven’t heard that.
this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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@[email protected] I got one and it broke (in a hotel so idk if it was the cleaning lady or what). the cost of repair though was close to buying a new one, so (stubbornly) I did. I've been trying to be super careful, but I'm not buying a 3rd device from the same company.
Look at their subreddit, there are tons of horror stories.
Didn't understood, someone broke your device and it was expensive to fix so you won't buy that brand again? Even though if someone broke it what broke was possibly the screen which is the most expensive part on an e-reader.
My past 4 e-readers have been Kobo (I had another brand before but it was shit), the first one I had for years and forgot in an airplane, the second one I broke the screen and it was too expensive to replace, the third one I gave to a friend after having it for a few years and the fourth one I've had for a few months, all of them were working perfectly until the end, i.e none of them had any hardware failure. So they're a good hardware brand, I don't think judging them because their screen replacement is expensive (when the screen doesn't break on it's own) is fair.
People with issues go online to talk about it. Every online forum for a device is going to have this.
Not a hardware recommendation, but if you use the open-source Calibre ebook management software, it can convert between formats so you don't need to worry about which file formats different readers support.
@[email protected] kind of, my library uses amazon for lending books, but I prefer to buy them in .epub, so I need both. Thanks!
I had a boox note battery fail after 3 years and it was replaced out of warranty for 80 bucks without any weird back and forth
Nice to know, my poke is going for 2 years now and I love it
I've used a Boox Nova Air for the last ~2½ years without issues. I bought it to use as a fast ~8in KOReader platform and it's great for that purpose. I can't speak about reliability issues as I haven't had any.
After sale support seems kind of crummy so I'd buy using a credit card that offers a 1 or 2y warranty of its own as part of your card agreement.
The devices that seem to have the most problems with displays cracking are the 10 and 13in models, they seem like they're significantly more fragile than a standard phone or tablet.
Short of any model requirements, I'll just recommend looking at the Kobo line up. They have a pretty wide variety and all support a large number of formats though as someone else pointed out, you can use Calibre to reformat ebooks where needed. You can also put KOreader on them like someone else suggested doing with a kindle so you really aren't missing out on anything by not having a Kindle.
I've enjoyed my kobo libra h2o a lot but PDFs can be a bit challenging with its compact screen size.
Big PDFs tend to drain the battery quite fast too but this may not be such an issue with larger models.
I use it with Calibre and my local library has some books available via Overdrive. Calibre can convert books from other formats to epub. PDF is trickier in my experience but other e-reader formats have worked without a hitch.
If your unfamiliar with Calibre you can give it a go before making any decisions and convert a few books with it or something. Not necessarily the prettiest software but it does everything I need it to and does it well.
Sidenote:
I'd be curious to try one of those chinese e-ink android tablets one day.
Edit:
The kobo/rakuten store is quite good too, no complaints.
I wonder what the link is between bigger files and energy consumption. I mean, I can think of higher processing but then I have to just assume higher processing means higher power, but can't figure out how.
Yeah, I figured it would be related to processing power too... I think the book I had in mind had quite a few pictures and if they were high quality then that would explain the power draw... maybe? I'm skeptical it would be so power hungry if it was just text. I should do some actual testing.
I have a Boox Nova Air which is still going strong after around 2 years, and honestly it's pretty good for writing. But I heard a lot of people having problems with updates bricking the device or receiving a bad unit and having an hard time returning it, if bought directly from them. I did not have to talk with support and I avoided the updates, so I can't say more about that. My experience is overall good with it.
I also have a Kobo Libra H2O that I think is nearing the 4 years mark, and is still going really strong. The biggest problem I had was that it asks for a kobo account during setup, thing that I really dislike. I don't know if it is still like that.
But, generally, if you want an epub compatible reader that you can mod (NickelMenu etc) and easily side load stuff to, with a kobo libra you can't go wrong. Even if, to be fair, I'm not up to date with the latest devices and company policies.
One note: the kindle format is pretty closed and all the stuff you buy from amazon is generally DRMed to hell, so it's not certain that you can pass it to other readers. Just avoid amazon's ebooks.
EDIT: One thing I missed: PDFs on the default kobo software are bad, the Boox default software for PDF is far better and - in my case - there's a screen size difference too that can make my opinion biased. Aside from that for pure book reading kobo is generally better, but you need to buy a protective case for it: there are a lot of cheap and good quality compatible ones.
Is there a reason you are so against Kindles?
You can mod them for KOReader and you can always drag and drop your own files bypassing Amazon's echo system.
Also what's causing the Boox to fail? Seems strange for an ereader
I would assume because they are not fans of Amazon.
Fair enough if that's the case. They could always buy used. They typically don't receive a ton of ware
I just have a kindle that's never been connected to Amazon. Calibre + USB to add and remove books. I get not wanting to use Amazon, but the hardware is cheap and solid.
Yeah I've seen many 10 year old devices still working
@[email protected] AFAIK you can't do it with newer kindles.
What? Jailbreaking or drag and drop file management?
If you mean the former I think you are correct but slightly older supported models still work just fine in my opinion.
@[email protected] the last update is from 2019
WARNING: FW >= 5.15.1.1 INTRODUCED A BREAKING CHANGE. DO NOT UPDATE!
A good reason to buy used. I wonder which devices stopped receiving updates before that point or if they'd push out one just to break the jailbreak process like Nintendo did with the 3DS
It's been a month but for anyone finding this thread.. Pocketbook is a good alternative (pocketbookstore.com). I had one for years and it was doing great but I stepped on it like an idiot... The base model is cheaper than Kobo and has all the same features + buttons.
I've been pretty happy with by Pocketbook so far
I've heard good things about Kobo, but I have an old Kindle Voyage that I absolutely love. It's the perfect size, it has proper pages turn buttons (on both sides of the screen!), and the battery lasts forever. If it were just waterproof it would be the perfect device. And I'm happy with it being a Kindle because I can check out ebooks from there library and just have them show up on my ereader
@[email protected] yeah I had a paper white and I loved the ease of use, especially with Libby. What I don’t like is that you can’t actually buy (and own) books in Amazon, and if you want them Jinny’s in other formats it is a pain
Yeah, definitely don't ever get books from Amazon. I just use it for library books, or use Amazon to load my own epubs onto it
I’ve ditched mine for an iPad. Reflective displays have been stagnating, but lighted displays have gotten better. I see no need to lug some an extra device just to read ebooks.