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HTML Visit Hacker News on the Web
COMMENT PAGE FOR:
HTML Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more
astennumero wrote 32 min ago:
I usually sideload books, downloaded from Libgen, through their send to
kindle email setup. Is it illegal to download books from there? Did I
just leave a trail of evidence?
shbooms wrote 50 min ago:
What's the deal with ereaders and their seeming disdain for sane
battery life measurements?
Amazon boasts "up to 8 weeks on a single charge" in all their selling
points, then, in the fine print states "A single charge lasts up to
eight (8) weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless
off and the light setting at 13".
So, it has 28 hours of actual use time, got it. Why not just say that?
DJBunnies wrote 43 min ago:
Because people are dumb and donât want a book that you have to
recharge every day.
wackget wrote 1 hour 15 min ago:
No physical buttons, no purchase.
habosa wrote 1 hour 17 min ago:
The new Kindle paper white may finally get me to upgrade ⦠but also
maybe not.
I have a 10+ year old Kindle Paperwhite (I think first gen). I use it
daily and itâs still just nearly a perfect device. Itâs withstood
rough treatment, battery life is still ~2 books long, and it has never
been made obsolete by a software update.
No other electronic device Iâve ever bought has had this kind of
longevity and itâs not even close.
Cool to think that if I do upgrade now that $159 will probably get me
to 2035.
manacit wrote 1 hour 0 min ago:
I've upgraded my Kindle once, to get USB-C charging and a waterproof
device. For the price, extremely worth it.
ChuckMcM wrote 1 hour 35 min ago:
Interesting that the Scribe looks a lot like my ReMarkable 2 :-). I
wonder if there has been some cross pollination with Lab126.
If it weren't for the way Amazon has this option to yank back things
you bought I would probably be a much more avid kindle user. As it is
I've got a big chunk of my reference library digitized and installed on
the ReMarkable.
laweijfmvo wrote 1 hour 56 min ago:
I hope theyâre not abandoning page turn buttons for good, like my
Oasis has â the only reason I bought the Oasis. Touch screens are
just not a good reading experience, for me.
mholm wrote 38 min ago:
Oasis is discontinued, per The Verge:
HTML [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-disconti...
vaughnegut wrote 1 hour 48 min ago:
That's why I love my Kobo Libra 2. Physical buttons, sweet spot for
size, easy to sideload or I can buy on Kobo on device/mobile/desktop
or sync pocket or get library books from overdrive/Libby.
eigenvalue wrote 1 hour 56 min ago:
It's mind boggling to me that they wouldn't offer a color version of
the Oasis, which is the obvious choice for any real Kindle enthusiast
(metal, physical buttons, waterproof, amber light). Not sure who would
even buy this color Kindle they came out with.
303uru wrote 31 min ago:
They killed the oasis today, sad day.
lelandfe wrote 1 hour 11 min ago:
I have some bad news pal :(
HTML [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-disconti...
C-Loftus wrote 2 hours 34 min ago:
There is so much market disruption potential for e-readers.
Every one has a pretty big tradeoff if you are looking to use the
e-reader as a general study tool (i.e. using it with Anki for language
learning)
- boox devices run Android 11, illegally violate the GPL, and have poor
customer service
- meebook devices are too underpowered and also run Android 11
- Kindles are too restrictive and anti-consumer; also does not have an
Android option
- Kobo is probably the best, but still no Android option
- PineNote or Linux options are too expensive and unstable
paulcole wrote 1 hour 41 min ago:
> Kindles are too restrictive and anti-consumer
Bro I can wake up my Kindle, buy essentially any book I want to read
for less than $20 and be reading it in less than 30 seconds.
The Kindle has been one of the most amazing and consumer friendly
devices Iâve ever used. I think I spent like $2k on books last year
on it.
drilbo wrote 44 min ago:
Vendor lock-in and DRM doesn't bode with my definition of consumer
friendly, personally.
listic wrote 2 hours 14 min ago:
Why would I want Android on my e-reader, again?
C-Loftus wrote 1 hour 7 min ago:
Anki, audiobook apps, better TTS, basic text browsing on the
internet, notes apps, etc.
lucubratory wrote 1 hour 44 min ago:
Because most people who read ebooks use a Kindle, and an e-reader
having Android is by far the simplest way to read your collection
of Kindle books on a non-Amazon e-reader. This is because you can
just download the Kindle app to access your collection.
yapyap wrote 2 hours 40 min ago:
If amazon wasnât tracking every single swipe you did across their
devices itâd be a no brainer.
valzam wrote 2 hours 50 min ago:
I switched from an older Paperwhite to the latest version (before this
announcement) IMHO the 6.8 inch size is too big and now they go up to 7
inches? My wife has the regular kindle (because it got USB C before the
Paperwhite and she lost hers just in time) and that size is imho
perfect. The screen is noticeably worse though.
yawnxyz wrote 2 hours 52 min ago:
huh the site has an interesting way of doing internationalization â
it's just a different blog post w/ Spanish, rather than another
language like /[sp]/[blog link]. Curious why they chose that route
rkharsan64 wrote 2 hours 32 min ago:
It's a website where most articles don't have translations. This
article seems like an exception, and I can't think of a simpler way
to do this either.
If you had separate paths for each language, most links would have an
unnecessary /en/.
hasbot wrote 3 hours 0 min ago:
My Paperwhite 4 is 6.6â x 4.6â x 0.3â. This new one is 5â x
7â x 0.3â. Unless the bezel is significantly smaller (and from the
pictures it doesn't), I'll wait for the next version. I read in
landscape because in portrait mode the rapid scanning back and forth is
annoying.
esaym wrote 2 hours 2 min ago:
I upgraded to the pw 5 when it came out and it had the 6.8" screen
and I hate it. With the larger screen I can no longer hold it easily
with one hand. Looks like this newer version is even bigger :(
mikeiz404 wrote 2 hours 46 min ago:
I second giving landscape mode a try. There is something more
comfortable about it and you get more space to hold onto each side of
the screen.
Of note, the screen seems slower to update when waking up or going to
the home screen and keyboard touch points seem slightly off and I'm
not sure why that is.
tomcam wrote 3 hours 22 min ago:
> It uses an oxide backplane with custom waveforms for fast performance
What does that mean?
TZubiri wrote 3 hours 44 min ago:
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.
mertd wrote 35 min ago:
Sorry but this is a bad take. The active light on "screens" is
stimulating, causes eye strain and keeps you awake. The two
technologies are not the same.
hollerith wrote 34 min ago:
This again! Kindles have lights, too. On my old Paperwhite, the
light could not be turned off. Although it could be dimmed, my
iPad's backlight can be adjusted to be much dimmer than the
Paperwhite's is capable of.
yjftsjthsd-h wrote 2 hours 49 min ago:
Well... Yes, we'd ideally like the best attributes of both at once.
What of it?
Funes- wrote 3 hours 3 min ago:
I get the joke, but color has been present in books (manuscripts,
before the invention of the printing press, even) basically since
their inception, many centuries ago, so just adding color wouldn't
make these devices more similar to screens as much as it would make
them more akin to... well, books. Just look at these marvels: [1] .
HTML [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminated_manuscript
mirekrusin wrote 2 hours 44 min ago:
Color was present in cave paintings.
Funes- wrote 1 hour 17 min ago:
Erm... where in parent's post are cave paintings mentioned,
instead of explicitly just books and screens, whose specific
relationship is what the tongue-in-cheek comment is about? Talk
about nonsense... Way to make a fool out of yourself trying to
make a "gotcha!" comment. How ironic.
jacurtis wrote 3 hours 8 min ago:
Similarly, I saw someome on social media yesterday post about buying
"Monopoly Go" boardgame at the store. The box says "Based on the
popular mobile game".
The joke was the same, we had a board game, then we made a mobile
video game based on the board game, now they are selling a board game
based on the video game that was based on the board game.
samplatt wrote 1 hour 51 min ago:
In this case there's the extra meta joke with Monopoly originally
being created to show how capitalism is bad.
kevmo314 wrote 3 hours 39 min ago:
Next up: a kindle with physical pages, each page is a screen!
entropie wrote 2 hours 54 min ago:
It might also fold!
thimabi wrote 2 hours 50 min ago:
Come to think of it, a foldable Kindle would be very nice! And
not just because it has the format of a book.
The portability of a Paperwhite combined with the note-taking
ability of a Scribe⦠thereâs probably a market for that.
Edit: also, holding the device semi-opened, hands on its back,
seems much more comfortable than holding it by the bezels as we
currently do.
innocentoldguy wrote 3 hours 52 min ago:
I've been using a Kobo Clara Color for several months. I love the size
and functionality, but the color isn't that big a deal since I'm not
reading picture books.
I used to use a Kindle Oasis, but I like Kobo's software better than
Amazon's, so I switched.
dboreham wrote 3 hours 54 min ago:
After trying a third-party E-ink tablet that has Google app store
support, I'd never go back to Amazon devices where they prevent you
from accessing content that isn't blessed by Bezos.
ge96 wrote 4 hours 7 min ago:
It's not a coincidence most e-ink tablets look the same is it? I'm
talking the scribe here vs. remarkable 2.
23B1 wrote 4 hours 10 min ago:
FYSA for those considering the Boox it is an absolute privacy/security
nightmare. Basically a black hole.
komali2 wrote 4 hours 15 min ago:
Instinctively attracted to the Kindle scribe because I love writing on
books as I read them, however I've been disappointed by every device
that's taken a crack at this, and I've tried them all. Nothing beats
paper, which sucks because digital formats are infinitely copy able,
backup able, etc.
I always wonder how they implement write-in-books. Never found a FOSS
version. I wanted to add it to an android e reader maybe so at least I
could try write in books on various Android tablets or a zfold. Failed
at that too!
deergomoo wrote 4 hours 48 min ago:
I wonder if theyâre still using soft touch/rubberised plastic on the
back? My last-gen Kindle Paperwhite has already started to go sticky
and gross.
Iâve also got an issue where the latest software update is causing
frequent hangs when opening new books (literally 5+ minutes) and I
quite often get stuck in books, unable to summon the menu to go back to
my library. Seems to be a fairly common problem judging by Reddit.
I ended up buying a Kobo Libra Colour just this week. So far Iâm very
happy with it. Performance is better and itâs compatible with a lot
more stuff.
Turon wrote 3 hours 51 min ago:
Iâm on the latest update too and, yes, sometimes I canât get the
menu or bookmark to open. I have to reboot the device to get it
working again. The previous updates were fine.
thimabi wrote 4 hours 27 min ago:
The plastic on the back feels normal to me, after many years of
usage. I use a case, donât know if that helps to minimize the
âsticky and grossâ aspect.
However, I have been experiencing annoying software bugs with both my
Paperwhite and my Kindle Scribe. Unresponsiveness, disappearing
books, issues with sideloaded fonts⦠the devicesâ software
quality has greatly diminished lately.
pfooti wrote 4 hours 54 min ago:
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 to get my CBR/CBZ files on
directly. The annotation / notetaking featureas are nice (I haven't
leaned into them yet, but they work well even on the small screen
size), plus all the regular stuff with normal book reading. Also, since
it's kobo/rakuten, the libby integration is better (search and select
library books right from the device).
The actual reading app is maybe 90% as good as reading on the kindle
(or a more specialized reader like perfectviewer on android). There's
some annoyingly fiddly features- font size is kind of weirdly variable,
when going through CBR files there's no "read next in the folder"
gesture nor is there a "this is read/unread" state in the google drive
ui, so you always have to remember which book you are finishing when
opening the next in the series.
I tried out one of those boox readers with the android apps, which
would be even better software-wise, but the boox hardware seems like
garbage (for an N=1 at least). My display came with several rows of
stuck pixels, and apparently it's a good thing that I ordered from
amazon instead of the boox store, because the reviews indicate getting
an RMA from boox directly is a pain.
the_af wrote 15 min ago:
I have an old Kindle Paperwhite where I both buy books from Amazon
and sideload using Calibre and it has never deleted anything to my
knowledge.
It's usually in airplane mode, but I of course turn syncing on
whenever I buy a book from Amazon, and it never deleted any of my
sideloaded books.
I wonder if this is a "feature" of new Paperwhites? If so, it would
suck. I was looking to replace mine because it has the old micro USB
connector that no other device I own uses, and so I must keep a cable
just for it.
willcipriano wrote 1 hour 54 min ago:
I got a libra color myself and cab second this recommendation.
It was so good I got a second one for my 5 year old daughter, figured
it was a good alternative to the iPads I see her peers with.
hresvelgr wrote 2 hours 14 min ago:
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 critical.
pfooti wrote 59 min ago:
Ooh, thanks for this. I was having all kinds of font and margin
irregularities with my side loads, assumed I just had to power
through and manually adjust the fonts in each book
al_borland wrote 2 hours 33 min ago:
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.
dlevine wrote 1 hour 23 min ago:
There are a bunch of comments about how this is the default
experience now. It's only the default experience if you buy the
ads-free version.
Since I don't want to pay extra to disable the ads, the trick I
figured out is to buy the Kindle for Kids. It comes with a cover,
no ads, and a 2 year warranty. You can turn off the kids stuff with
one switch, and then it's just a normal Kindle.
If you buy it on Black Friday or one of their other sale days, you
should be able to get it for the same price or less than the
regular edition would be when not on sale.
notatoad wrote 2 hours 13 min ago:
kindles have displayed the book cover on the lock screen for
approximately the last decade.
bongobingo1 wrote 43 min ago:
[1] 2021.
People have certainly been asking for it for at least the last
decade. Jail breaking doesn't count.
HTML [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/16/22387146/amazon-displ...
kaonwarb wrote 2 hours 14 min ago:
Just FYI, this is now a Kindle option too.
HTML [1]: https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=23435466011
elijaht wrote 2 hours 15 min ago:
I have a kindle that just displays the book cover. Are you sure
itâs not just a setting?
rhcom2 wrote 2 hours 40 min ago:
I have the Kobo libra 2. I love the thing, especially the Pocket
integration.
yzydserd wrote 50 min ago:
I also have a Kobo Libra 2 and sing itâs praises.
I upgraded from an Oasis 2 and couldnât be happier. When it comes
to upgrade again, Amazon DRM readers will not even be looked at.
jeffybefffy519 wrote 2 hours 41 min ago:
How do you legitimately buy books on it?
lidavidm wrote 1 hour 11 min ago:
Kobo has a store. It's decent, it won't have Kindle indies, and IMO
it has fewer/worse sales, but it's not a big deal to me. They do
have a subscription plan with unlimited access to certain books but
it's not clear to me how good the catalog is.
You can also buy from third party stores, e.g. Weightless Books for
sci-fi & fantasy, and just drag-and-drop the epub onto the Kobo.
jorgesborges wrote 3 hours 25 min ago:
I stopped using Calibre because it turned out to be more annoying
than simply emailing an epub to my designated kindle address. I've
never had anything removed. Most of the content comes from libgen.
thimabi wrote 3 hours 11 min ago:
I think Calibre is able to integrate with the âSend to Kindleâ
email interface as well, so you can have the best of both worlds :)
Latty wrote 4 hours 3 min ago:
I've got a Boox Note 3 and love it for what it is (my hardware has
been fine), but I'd find it very hard to recommend generally. Boox
are dodgy at best (GPL violations, random connections to china,
etc...), you start with an already old version of Android and if
lucky you might get another major version, they aren't cheap, Android
stuff is mostly not designed for black-and-white/low refresh rate and
some apps have unreadable buttons, things like that.
But, with that all said... it's great for my specific uses. Android
is just so much better if you want to run self-hosted stuff. When it
dies or the software just gets that old I'll be really at a loss for
what to get to replace it.
TechDebtDevin wrote 2 hours 8 min ago:
Boox is dodgy, but everyone I know that has one loves them. I
wouldn't expect any Chinese company to respect GPLs. Although,
I've seen people on Reddit say they can have QA issues, and if you
receive that unit you're likely SOL, this is the only reason that
I've been hesitant to spend money on one. I've also been eyeing
this new company, daylight, that has a 60hz refresh rate with what
I think is E-Ink[0]. Their website says E-Paper, not sure if that's
different from E-Ink. Unfortunately, they've always been on wait
list months out every time I've looked.
HTML [1]: https://daylightcomputer.com/product
spaceisballer wrote 1 hour 42 min ago:
Itâs definitely not e-ink, itâs a type of LCD. Been reading
about it and it seems like users are pretty hyped about it. I
donât really need another tablet, I want a really good writing
experience. Iâm test driving the Boox Go 10.3 but I may return
it and wait for the new Supernote offering. Or Iâve been
reading up on de-bloating the Boox software if I keep it.
abound wrote 3 hours 43 min ago:
Yeah, I have a Max Lumi and I feel broadly the same way. My
hardware has been great, I use it daily and have read 100s of books
and written thousands of pages of notes on it, but wouldn't
necessarily recommend it to others because I think mine has already
stopped getting updates, the GPL violations aren't great, and the
cloud stuff seems a bit dodgy.
On the cloud stuff though -- note syncing has support for WebDAV,
so I've fully disabled the Boox Cloud integration and all notes get
synced to my self-hosted OwnCloud server, which is nice.
I'd love to figure out how to install some stock Android or Linux
on it down the road, though Boox's notes + reading apps are really
quite good, and likely very optimized for the hardware.
koyote wrote 4 hours 16 min ago:
> When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre
Could you expand on that? I load all my books via calibre but I also
have the kindle set to aeroplane mode at all times. Does this happen
when syncing?
wooque wrote 4 hours 3 min ago:
It deletes all side-loaded books when you connect it to the
internet, happened to me as well.
boneitis wrote 2 hours 55 min ago:
Interesting thread. I wonder if this has anything to do with what
I experienced with the one (two, actually) I set up for my mom
years back. The books were visible on the filesystem but nowhere
to be found when using the device.
Fortunately, getting two units in a row with jarring pink
blotches was enough of a non-starter to suggest that she just
revert to a V4 without my having to explain the confusing
behavior.
jacurtis wrote 3 hours 14 min ago:
That is strange. I have had a Kindle for years (probably around a
decade), upgrading mutliple times. I am using a Paperwhite
Signature for the past year or so and I have not experienced this
with any books. I have probably 70% Amazon purchased books, but
that still leaves a decent amount of side-loaded books (mostly
epub).
The only annoying thing I experience is that the cover art will
unload on the side-loaded books where you just get the generic
cover with the text of the book. But once you click the book it
loads the artwork, which seems to last a few days before quickly
going back to the generic cover. But the book itself never leaves
the device. I can't say I have experienced this ever (except for
once, mentioned below) and I have over 150 books on my 32Gb
device.
Just some random thoughts I am wondering:
- Is it an ads-supported model (mine isn't)
- Are the books in a broken-DRM .mobi? Not judging, i've done it
too, just curious if Amazon has some sort of "signature" in mobis
that allow it to detect a book that had DRM removed?
- Are they standard .epub?
- What is the size of the device? (Maybe smaller 8Gb devices will
clean up and prioritize non-Kindle content to make way for
"official content)
- Which device is it? (Scribe, Oasis, Paperwhite, older
paperwhite, etc)
The one time I had it deleting my book was a large book (it was
400Mb) and it was on an older 8Gb paperwhite. I still had PLENTY
of storage space available (I was using around 4Gb) but it kept
deleting that book. This was the only time I have seen it happen
and it was with this one specific book. That was many years ago
and I haven't seen it since. That book was a DRM-removed book I
got through "shared" means. Which has led me to question if the
Kindle removes it because it could detect that the DRM had been
removed or because of its large size. But this was a one-off
experience for me. The book was readable by the device. It would
download for several weeks at a time before being removed. You
could redownload it and it would work for weeks again before
dissapearing. I never could figure it out.
pfooti wrote 55 min ago:
For me, they were drm free ebooks I bought legitimately and had
to sideload via calibre because the kindle doesn't support
epub. It's an old Paperwhite, and it only happens when I go out
of airplane mode. However, I have to go out of airplane mode
(or had to before I ditched the kindle for a kobo) to get
library books and the occasional actual Amazon kindle book when
I didn't feel like waiting for the library to get me to the
front of the list.
*Edit to add: I believe the kindle won't delete epubs you
sideload via the Amazon kindle email gateway, but I have no
interest in doing that.
hasbot wrote 3 hours 15 min ago:
Huh. All my books are side-loaded and I've not had any issues.
mholm wrote 50 min ago:
As far as I can tell, it's a fairly rare bug. I've only had it
happen to me once in 6 years. But the moment it happened, I
decided I was never buying a Kindle again. I still have my
paperwhite because it works fine, but it's never connecting to
the internet again.
stevepike wrote 3 hours 52 min ago:
It doesn't do this for me. I've got side-loaded and Amazon store
books on the same device, no problem.
freedomben wrote 3 hours 34 min ago:
It also deleted all my side-loaded books. That was the last
straw for me. I only buy DRM-free media from now on and only
use respectful hardware. I use my Remarkable 2 primarily for
e-reading now, though I concede fully it's not the best user
experience for reading. But I don't have to worry that it will
delete my books! I can also now "write in the margins" which
I've found to be a powerful way to take notes. I can't bring
myself to write on physical books, but with Remarkable you can
have a copy that is stock and a copy with your notes on it.
Best of both worlds!
qazxcvbnm wrote 4 hours 4 min ago:
Happened to me too⦠Yes, it happened during syncing. I searched
up on how to disable Kindle auto update and itâs happening less,
but last time I bought a book from Kindle store I got bit again. I
guess itâs a sign to stop feeding the hand that bites me.
blcknight wrote 4 hours 55 min ago:
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.
robertwt7 wrote 5 hours 0 min ago:
I loved my kindle paperwhite so much. I have a case on it all the time,
there is not a single scratch on my kindle. One day, out of the blue,
the touch screen stopped working. it is unresponsive to any touch, I've
soft reset it, hard reset it, googled everything. Apparently its a
common thing in amazon forum, and of course what does amazon support
say? just buy a new one. At this point my kindle is only 2.5 years old
and I'm pissed.
I've bought an ipad since and just read book from my ipad. at least my
old ipad doesn't break even after 8 years
paulcole wrote 1 hour 43 min ago:
My dad, partner, and I all have our own Kindles on my Amazon account.
Over the past decade Iâve had them break a few times out of
warranty. What I do is chat with support online and explain the
issue. They may offer you a coupon to replace it at a discount.
Decline and tell them not to worry about it, youâll just toss it in
the trash.
I think this has gotten a free replacement Kindle on 2 of 3 times
that Iâve tried it.
elevatedastalt wrote 1 hour 46 min ago:
My Kindle Paperwhite has been running strong for 10 years. No issues
whatsoever except diminished battery life.
pizzafeelsright wrote 4 hours 3 min ago:
Hardware today last as long as the warranty-1 month.
thimabi wrote 4 hours 6 min ago:
The thing is that the iPad screen truly doesnât compare to e-ink in
reading black-and-white books. If the e-ink screen is made properly,
with high resolution and no PWM, one can read for hours on end
without eye fatigue. Battery life on e-ink devices is in another
league as well.
For me at least, issues with an e-ink device simply mean moving on to
another device, or another manufacturer/brand, instead of switching
to tablets.
MBCook wrote 1 hour 19 min ago:
I donât think that was their point.
ArrowH3ad wrote 56 min ago:
I don't think they had a point tbf
MBCook wrote 13 min ago:
Really? Seemed like it was that their Kindle didnât last very
long and itâs a common problem while an old iPad just keeps
on ticking.
hyperpl wrote 5 hours 1 min ago:
I was quite hopeful for this refresh to upgrade my Oasis but it looks
as though they've regressed on weight: 188g for my current Oasis vs
211g for the Paperwhite. The new entry level kindle is indeed lighter
but unfortunately lacks a warm light. I hope something else will be on
the horizon!
laweijfmvo wrote 1 hour 53 min ago:
warm light (ideally adjustable temperature) and page turn buttons are
the killer features for the Oasis. faster page turns and all the rest
I can live without.
MBCook wrote 1 hour 19 min ago:
I hated not having buttons. The squeeze things on the Voyage
werenât good but at least they were something. The buttons on the
Oasis are far better than that, though I still have gripes about
them.
I canât imagine replacing my Oasis. I donât know what it is
they have against the buttons. I mightâve bought the color thing
today if it had buttons.
I guess I just canât upgrade until my device dies and then Iâll
have to figure something out.
sourcepluck wrote 5 hours 11 min ago:
Using the wisdom of the crowd here: what is the best ereader for
tinkering? I'm browsing the answers here looking for that and I don't
know if anything actually fits the bill. Something with Android,
tablet-type machines, seems to be the answer? Is there nothing better?
fancy_pantser wrote 1 hour 51 min ago:
Look into PocketBook readers. They have a full lineup with color and
grayscale in various sizes. They run linux, you can ssh into it and
install koreader, etc. They have a good privacy story and little
vendor lock-in. The experience is a lot like my Kobo, but the
matching mobile app is much better. I continue where I leave off with
my iPad sometimes, it's a nice feature.
HTML [1]: https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog
freedomben wrote 3 hours 22 min ago:
Remarkable is very tinkerable[1]. I've had a lot of fun hacking
mine! It could be better, but all in all, very good.
[1]
HTML [1]: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
poulpy123 wrote 3 hours 27 min ago:
depends of what you means by tinkering. The pinenote maybe ?
HTML [1]: https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/
freedomben wrote 3 hours 21 min ago:
Is the Pine Note finally purchasable? Every time I've tried, it's
not available.
komali2 wrote 4 hours 18 min ago:
Specifically if you want android then boox something.
Kobo you can put custom scripts on to run stuff like koreader which
is nice.
whamlastxmas wrote 4 hours 52 min ago:
Inkplate probably
alwayslikethis wrote 5 hours 8 min ago:
Get a Kobo, which model depends on your needs. A Kindle is never
yours since Amazon can push arbitrary updates wipe your stuff. Don't
buy Boox either, as they include a lot of bloatware, not to mention
they're blatantly disregarding GPL.
Kobos are mostly just arm linux machines. You can install KOReader on
them for a better reading experience.
evanreichard wrote 1 hour 2 min ago:
FWIW I've been running a jailbroken PW5 for a few years now always
connected to the internet without any issues dealing with updates.
I did rename the ota binary. I'm aware that there's always the
possibility of Amazon maybe having some other way to push an
update, but I haven't had any issues so far.
infotainment wrote 4 hours 24 min ago:
Iâve read this, but Iâve also heard various downsides to Kobo,
including in the discussion on this post. (Battery issues, general
device glitches, etc)
Which Kobo do you use, and how has your experience been?
alwayslikethis wrote 4 hours 13 min ago:
Libra H2O. Never had noticeable issues I'd say. Battery life is
quite long. I couldn't get syncthing to work reliably, though it
isn't super necessary.
Groxx wrote 5 hours 19 min ago:
>300 ppi (black & white), 150 ppi (color)
Ah. So it's just the color filter that basically everyone (except
ReMarkable) has done.
I'm kinda curious to see it in person, to see if they are doing it
better, but other brands' results have not been appealing at all to me.
Washed out, worse contrast, and a consistently pixelated / screen-door
look.
blcknight wrote 5 hours 0 min ago:
That's disappointing. Rumors were 300 ppi for the color screen.
sourcepluck wrote 5 hours 23 min ago:
How long before we get Parabola on it?
HTML [1]: https://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
lobochrome wrote 5 hours 47 min ago:
No oasis? No buttons? Sighâ¦
thr0waway001 wrote 6 hours 2 min ago:
wow this whole time I assumed there was a color one.
dyauspitr wrote 8 hours 25 min ago:
Oh wow, finally a color kindle. This is the first Iâm hearing of it.
This will be great for comics.
maherbeg wrote 8 hours 29 min ago:
It says that a color image is 150ppi, and black and white is 300ppi.
How does a colored highlight work on a mostly b&w page? does that
section have reduced sharpness?
poulpy123 wrote 3 hours 24 min ago:
for what I've seen it acts like a filter on top of the b&w screen, so
used in b&w you don't loose sharpness. however you loose contrast
compared to a b&w only screen
samschooler wrote 8 hours 43 min ago:
Looks like the base Kindle also hasn't been updated at all. Same
dimensions, screen, weight and battery life. They also nixed the base
Kindle Kids which was the best deal considering it was the same price
as base and they'd fix it if it broke.
2022: [1] 2024: [2] Kindle Kids Warranty (2 years vs 1 year):
HTML [1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SWV3BYH
HTML [2]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNV9F72P
HTML [3]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=20...
BadHumans wrote 9 hours 18 min ago:
I wish Kindle Scribe ran Android so I could sideload apps to it.
mopoke wrote 6 hours 5 min ago:
Take a look at the Supernote.
Yeul wrote 9 hours 26 min ago:
The Kindle is one of the best things Amazon ever did. They made
subsidized ereaders and made them cheap. Ofcourse they did it to
promote their store but they've never blocked side loading.
windsurfer wrote 9 hours 23 min ago:
They do block side loading of audiobooks. You can only play
audiobooks from Audible on Amazon Kindles.
boznz wrote 8 hours 25 min ago:
Silly question, but why would you ever buy a kindle (or a kobo) for
an audible book?
throwaway091290 wrote 9 hours 33 min ago:
My kindle paperwhite is my favorite tech that I own. It has changed by
life significantly for the better and allowed me to cut down the time I
waste on doom-scrolling social media. I find a book on shadow
libraries, convert them into epub format and then send them over to my
kindle via USB. Calibre helps in all this. I have read close to a
hundred book now--all for no dime.
maherbeg wrote 5 hours 31 min ago:
You should also try using Libby / Overdrive to see if your local
library has the book. I've borrowed 20+ books this year and it's
pretty seamless and easy!
tene80i wrote 9 hours 6 min ago:
Shame you donât see any need to compensate writers for your
enjoyment of their work.
carlosjobim wrote 7 hours 56 min ago:
I don't know about the commenter above, but most writers I read
have been dead for at least a hundred years. Should I purchase
their e-book online for $850 each or should I get it from a shadow
library?
tene80i wrote 6 hours 39 min ago:
If theyâre dead who cares? Often itâs in the public domain.
Go nuts.
widowlark wrote 8 hours 47 min ago:
Not OP, but a few things:
- the authors are unfairly compensated by amazon and the public
libraries due to publisher issues with ebooks already. OP is hardly
contributing to this disparity.
- I choose to purchase expensive copies of books I love - but the
digital copy is the one I read.
tene80i wrote 6 hours 36 min ago:
The fact that the situation for authors is already poor hardly
makes it better to opt not to compensate them. If you or the OP
feel that youâre only playing a small part, thatâs between
you and your conscience.
And sure, if youâre buying some copy of the book and
downloading a convenient second copy, thatâs totally different.
I was responding to the OP being pleased about not having spent
anything at all (except on the kindle itself presumably).
komali2 wrote 4 hours 8 min ago:
I was thinking about this recently when a friend group argued
that someone getting out of paying hospital bills is unethical
since doctors are just as much victims of America's bad
healthcare system as patients (due to exploitative pay
structures I guess). To me this feels like some kind of victim
blaming. The writer isn't getting paid (much), the reader is
paying too much to a stranger, yet somehow the reader is the
bad guy if they opt out of the process.
I get that the idea is "if everyone opted out the writer would
get nothing instead of peanuts!" Or maybe the company shafting
the writer would go under and direct sales would happen
instead?
bloopernova wrote 9 hours 58 min ago:
Kindle Scribe should show your calendar, news, weather, etc when it's
plugged in.
I hope Scribe note sharing is improved from "email yourself a PDF".
And come on, still no physical page turn buttons?
I also want a Kindle Scribe with a scroll display: a high-refresh-rate
LCD touchscreen that sits just below the bottom of the eink screen. Use
case being: swipe to a bookmark or page very quickly. It would stay off
until touched and would be about 2cm tall, with the same width as the
eink screen.
jacurtis wrote 2 hours 46 min ago:
I adamantly disagree. There are 10,000 devices in this world that
will feed you your email if you really need to see it in the second
it comes in. You probably have one in your pocket right now and
another on your wrist and a third that you are staring at to read
this post.
I use a Remarkable tablet (the Scribe's competitor) for the exact
reason that it doesn't come with apps for email or web browsing or an
app store or a weather app. It writes really really well (the scribe
does too) and lets you focus on that. It doesn't try to be the 4th
version of a smart device when you already have so many.
The simplicity of it is a feature not a bug.
xnx wrote 10 hours 56 min ago:
Official page:
HTML [1]: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/new-kindle-color-scri...
foxyv wrote 11 hours 12 min ago:
I am so excited for this. I've run into so many books where color would
make it ten times better. Also, the Comixology subscription will be so
much more valuable with this device. The only thing I have a wish for
is that the device is more responsive than the original Kindle. There
is nothing more frustrating than tapping a touch screen and waiting 5
seconds for it to respond.
0x5f3759df-i wrote 5 hours 21 min ago:
I donât know if youâve used a recent paperwhite but theyâve
gotten very responsive.
I have the newest paperwhite (prior to the one announced here) and it
is incredibly fast and zippy compared to the kindles of old. And they
claim the new one is even 25% faster.
jemmyw wrote 9 hours 20 min ago:
I agree, the lagginess of kindles drove me to distraction and I was
actually reading less because of it.
I bought a colour Kobo. Super responsive by comparison. The colour
isn't wonderful, I like that it's there.
Also, physical buttons! Such things are only available on the most
expensive Kindle, I didn't realize how much I'd missed them.
Rebelgecko wrote 5 hours 14 min ago:
I don't think any Kindles still have physical buttons. Kind of a
bummer because buttons make it much easier to change the page while
holding the Kindle with 1 hand
iLoveOncall wrote 5 hours 38 min ago:
> Also, physical buttons! Such things are only available on the
most expensive Kindle
Or the old ones you can get for $10 on eBay :) I use exclusively
old models that have physical buttons for Kindles because they're
just insanely cheap and still perfectly reliable (the battery too)
even a decade later.
foxyv wrote 7 hours 11 min ago:
My partner has a Kobo and I'm seriously considering one. My Kindle
has done more for my sleep than any other device. I get sleepy
reading it, unlike my phone or tablet. I really wish I could my
content on either device.
fakename wrote 11 hours 36 min ago:
I've been buying the kids versions because in the past, it was the
ad-free version and came with a free case, but the new kids version
seems to have ads if not used in kid mode:
"Will my kid see ads while using this device?
Kindle Paperwhite Kids is automatically set up for your kid to enjoy an
ad-free experience. However,
if you exit Amazon Kids using a passcode, sponsored screensavers will
be displayed on the device's lockscreen."
widowlark wrote 8 hours 45 min ago:
I can confirm that the new versions have to be placed in a child mode
in order to hide the ads. It seems they have closed this admittedly
nice loophole
alexawarrior4 wrote 11 hours 40 min ago:
Why is no one making higher dpi ebook readers? I've been waiting
decades now for an ebook that would actually have the resolution of
printed 600 dpi pages. The chunky text simply makes ebooks for me
uncomfortable and unpalatable for long reads.
mulderc wrote 2 hours 43 min ago:
My understanding is that e-ink with higher than 300 dpi is very
difficult to produce which means it is rather expensive and doesn't
look that much better to most people. Additionally, people think of
an e-reader as a sub-$200 device so the market for a premium high DPI
e-reader is just rather small. People are already complaining about
the price of the Kindle Colorsoft, think what they would say if
amazon put out a Kindle high DPI and it was in the $400-$500 range.
alpaca128 wrote 8 hours 18 min ago:
Probably because it's enough for most people. I have a Paperwhite
with (I think) 300 dpi and unless I reduce the font size to the
minimum and look really close I can't see any issues at any reading
distance. It feels like a printed book to me.
delduca wrote 11 hours 43 min ago:
The Kindle Paperwhite is without a doubt one of my top 5 favorite
gadgets.
Ekaros wrote 12 hours 9 min ago:
I wish someone did slightly smaller models still. Not phone size, but
bit down. Would be easier to carry sometimes.
tristor wrote 11 hours 7 min ago:
Same, I'm still rocking an older Kindle because it fits in my hip
pocket on my cargo pants and so can always be with me whenever I get
a quiet moment day-to-day to read.
reaperducer wrote 11 hours 48 min ago:
I wish someone did slightly smaller models still.
Funny, because I'd like a larger one.
When e-readers first started, one of the big companies offered a
machine that would display an entire page of The New York Times on it
large enough to be able to skim the headlines, then you'd tap on the
article and it would take you to that part of the page.
Back then, I didn't have the money for it. Now I do, and the only
options seem to be too small.
mostlysimilar wrote 12 hours 10 min ago:
Still waiting for a refreshed Oasis.
AcerbicZero wrote 12 hours 12 min ago:
Did we get real buttons again? I can't see myself buying another one of
these touchscreen versions....and apparently no real buttons :(
legohead wrote 12 hours 21 min ago:
I want to upgrade my Kindle but first I need to know where the power
button is. My current one has the power button on the bottom and it
turns off when I rest it on things - extremely annoying. Can't be
certain from the product pictures, but looks like it's on the bottom
again.
stogot wrote 7 hours 18 min ago:
Turn it upside down? It works in both directions
thimabi wrote 7 hours 9 min ago:
The last Paperwhite model, for example, did not work upside down,
just in landscape mode (and even so, only rotated to one
direction). I donât know whether Amazon finally added a gyroscope
to the Paperwhite in order to fix this issue.
Xiol32 wrote 8 hours 48 min ago:
The biggest flaw of the last gen for sure. It's right where my pinky
naturally rests and I'm always hitting it by accident.
packetlost wrote 12 hours 23 min ago:
The new Kindle Scribe looks kinda lame compared to the new reMarkable
Pro, though significantly cheaper. Maybe the colored ePaper isn't that
great, but at least you get some color for highlighting, which is
probably a non-insignificant use of these types of devices.
Either way, sad there's no Oasis refresh. I'm not super attached to the
physical buttons, but I'd prefer it to not. Oh well.
linsomniac wrote 4 hours 46 min ago:
I had an original Scribe and while the writing experience was superb,
I felt like the software experience was minimal and over the year or
so I had it, it didn't really get enhanced any. My review of it was:
It's just like paper, only more expensive.
It seemed like if you wanted a large ebook reader AND occasional note
taking, it's probably great. For my use, I would have been just as
happy with just a spiral notebook, probably happier. I used it every
day for work notes and todos.
I sold it on ebay and got an Boox Note Air3, similar cost, and the
writing experience is not nearly as good as the Scribe, but it is a
much more capable device with many more features in the notebook.
However, I've fallen out of the habit of using it, I think just
because the writing experience isn't as good.
packetlost wrote 4 hours 40 min ago:
This is similar to me with my reMarkable 2. The writing experience
is strictly worse than even cheap notebook and dramatically worse
than a nice one with a nice mechanical pencil + lead.
It's fine for reading PDFs, I guess.
pedalpete wrote 6 hours 0 min ago:
I had exactly the other response when compared to my current scribe.
I'm not sure they are trying to compete with remarkable on the design
front, or that they should.
Remarkable, as a newer, smaller company, needs to seriously
differentiate itself. Amazon can play it safer.
Having said that, I think the white bezel and introducing a
professional looking colour to the Scribe, is so much better looking
than my current Gen 1.
I normally wouldn't care, I didn't feel my scribe was ugly, until I
saw the new one. I'm half considering passing mine to my mother, and
buying the new version.
thimabi wrote 11 hours 43 min ago:
I wonder why they did not add color e-ink to the Kindle Scribe. Maybe
they thought the price would be prohibitively expensive?
gamblor956 wrote 5 hours 19 min ago:
Color e-ink (both versions) isn't yet fast enough to be used for
writing. Boox and Remarkable had to do a lot of hacky things to
make the experiences usable on their color e-ink devices. (Boox
currently uses the older color technology, Remarkable uses the
newer one.)
thimabi wrote 5 hours 4 min ago:
That makes sense. Another comment pointed out that even the
resolution of colored content (150 ppi) is half that of
black-and-white content (300 ppi). Trying to take notes with bad
refresh rates and lower resolution would not make for a good
experience.
criddell wrote 11 hours 46 min ago:
The Scribe is neat, but it's too small (same goes for the Remarkable
devices).
It wish it was A4/Letter size to read PDFs at full size. There are a
few devices like that out there (I've heard the Fujitsu Quaderno is
nice), but none of them can be used with books purchased at Amazon.
And yes, I know about Calibre and the DeDRM tools. They don't work on
KFX files and the workarounds degrade the book (you lose typography
improvements that are only in KFX).
I'm also disappointed by the Oasis being discontinued. I wanted to
trade mine in for a USB-C version.
packetlost wrote 9 hours 36 min ago:
I've found a laser printer to be a more economical (if not less
convenient) option for viewing PDFs. It's more fun too, IMO.
sangeeth96 wrote 12 hours 33 min ago:
I was hoping they'd revive the Oasis. That form factor is _perfect_
IMO. Scribe is too big for a replacement. I settled for a Libra 2 which
is similar to the Oasis but I feel it's a bit sluggish when it comes to
chapter turns, highlights and page turns w/ images but I don't have
something in the Kindle line-up to compare it to now.
phil21 wrote 2 hours 2 min ago:
Yep. Same. Buttons are a must have for me, along with the
waterproofing. It was (is) the perfect device aside from going
through three of them (replaced via warranty) due to the
waterproofing not being as advertised. I am happy I saved the
advertisements of folks using in in baths.
Both are features that complement each other. If I canât read in
the rain I donât want it. This means disabling the touch screen
and using the physical buttons to page turn, otherwise you are using
hacks like putting it inside a plastic baggie. Haptic buttons would
be fine as well, and likely solve some of the waterproof issues along
with an update to USB-C charging.
Pondering having someone mule me the last of the Oasis International
editions available for sale for when my current Oasis finally dies.
I really donât want to go back to the dark ages of touchscreen
only.
paradox460 wrote 11 hours 49 min ago:
I love mine, and somewhat dread the day when it dies. I've decided
I'll probably switch to onyx boox of the same form factor when it
dies. I've got the big one from them, which I use for sheet music,
and it works nicely. Runs Android too, so you can install the Kindle
app and read your old library
danso wrote 11 hours 49 min ago:
Came here just to say this. I've owned an Oasis since 2018 and
recently bought the first Scribe model when it went on sale, and
naively thought "at this price and 6 years later, it must be a better
overall experience" â even as I knew its main selling point was
having a writeable interface.
I did know of its drawbacks beforehand â e.g. no physical buttons,
not waterproof. The page-turning response/refresh time is noticeably
better, but I'm left feeling pretty meh by the overall experience. I
haven't had much need to scribble notes so as of now, the Scribe is
basically an iPad-sized device with the limited feature set of the
Paperwhite.
The size is good for textbook-type material, but not enough to make
me pick it over an iPad if I'm traveling. The Oasis is small enough
that I can carry it in a coat pocket.
But the buttons really are the killer feature. Being able to disable
the touchscreen â especially when I'm anywhere where moisture is an
issue (at the beach or gym) â easily makes the Oasis worth bringing
even if I could read on my phone. I would have easily gone for a new
version of the Oasis but I guess consumers haven't shown enough
interest in paying extra for a button interface.
bondarchuk wrote 11 hours 50 min ago:
I use Plato on the kobo libra 2, it's much faster. And there's also
Koreader.
fnordpiglet wrote 12 hours 17 min ago:
I love the oasis. Specifically the fact that itâs made out
aluminum and is water proof. My daughter is an extraordinary reader
since a very young age, long before her motor skills have matured,
and ended up with my oasis. She does all the things a young kid does
like smear food all over it and drop it all the time. I can just wash
it off in the sink once a day and we are all good. If it had been
less sturdy and not waterproof thereâs no way she could have used
it.
Finally the physical page turn buttons are great as well as the bevel
on the back for holding it with one hand.
Terretta wrote 8 hours 50 min ago:
Oasis was peak paperback form factor Kindle.
If not traveling, getting to read an open paperback, two pages side
by side, on Kindle Scribe is super enjoyable, then turn it to
portrait to read white papers or textbooks.
andrewla wrote 12 hours 37 min ago:
No update to the Oasis; I guess when I refresh I'll get a Boox or other
Android-based device with page turn buttons and run the kindle app on
it.
I have a first generation Kindle Oasis, which is a great device, in no
small part because of its asymmetric design and page turn buttons. The
newer Oasis (still last refreshed in 2022) have better lighting
(temperature adjustable) and inverse text mode, which are both nice but
have not been enough to get me to upgrade. It lacks the battery cover
of the original oasis, which while kind of a pain was nice because it
gave a very natural way to hold the device.
I'm sad to see that the Oasis line is not mentioned here. I have little
to no interest in using my kindle as a writing device, and honestly
would prefer that the touchscreen was as little used as possible -- an
unresponsive or slow screen is the worst case for a touchscreen, since
the feedback loop is terrible.
I don't know if they'll have an OS update to go along with this. I have
found successive updates to be worse and worse -- my pages are all
crammed with ads (not actual ads since I paid to have them removed, but
"recommended books") and large page covers. I can barely fit five
titles from my library on a screen; I would much prefer to have just
the title/author/progress and fit twenty on a page.
The integration with the Amazon ecosystem is probably the best selling
point, but until somebody shuts down Libby I've switched my habits to
be almost entirely rent-based rather than buying books.
mmanfrin wrote 11 hours 18 min ago:
I have the first Oasis as well. Prior to that I'd pretty much bough
every single kindle refresh. Since then I haven't. I'm in the same
boat: give me physical buttons.
apwell23 wrote 12 hours 8 min ago:
I have Boox with android like you described. Quality doesn't compare
with kindle though. I still prefer reading on kindle.
andrewla wrote 12 hours 5 min ago:
I am very, very, very sad to hear this. This does match with my
experience of fiddling with various Kindle competitors over the
years (nook, kobo), but between generally faster processors and the
increasing bloat of kindle OS, I thought maybe the gap would be
narrower.
Looks like I've got to build my own.
bryanlarsen wrote 5 hours 45 min ago:
I'm very happy with my Boox Palma. The Kindle app works fine on
it so there's no fiddling with side loading Kindle books into a
non-Kindle device.
unsnap_biceps wrote 12 hours 11 min ago:
They officially discontinued the oasis last year. I'm holding onto my
oasis until it dies.
coremoff wrote 12 hours 39 min ago:
no oasis refresh?
no buttons? no purchase.
Been waiting a long time, I suppose it's time to move to alternatives,
as it's a pain to carry around a usb-micro cable just for my kindle.
unsnap_biceps wrote 12 hours 9 min ago:
Oasis was officially discontinued last year. I'm in the same boat. I
love my oasis and will not upgrade until I get those buttons.
andrewla wrote 12 hours 35 min ago:
I'm in the same boat. Give me USB-C, page turn buttons, maybe even
wireless charging and I'd upgrade almost reflexively. I've been
eyeing various Android-based eReaders (like Boox Page) that have
Kindle support through an app.
Keyframe wrote 12 hours 43 min ago:
So is this Colorsoft what's replacing my dear and favorite Oasis?
throwaway48476 wrote 12 hours 43 min ago:
The color screen is the most impressive as all the colors refresh
simultaneously.
mazork wrote 12 hours 45 min ago:
Still no remote/bluetooth capabilities. That's the only thing that
would make me upgrade, the third-party remotes you can buy are all
pretty clunky (bulky clip on the side of the Kindle, need to be
recharged often, can only flip forward as they just fake a swipe on the
right of the screen).
chatmasta wrote 9 hours 1 min ago:
I paid $20 for a remote page turner on Amazon and the battery lasts
weeks. Thereâs no Bluetooth involved, it just uses basic radio
signals to trigger a pulse that the kindle interprets as haptic
input.
Itâs one of my favorite purchases, because now I can actually fall
asleep while reading the kindle since Iâm not activating my arm
muscles to turn every page.
This is the item (my kindle is one of the earliest versions, from
2011, if that matters):
HTML [1]: https://amzn.eu/d/aJaesjd
nafizh wrote 12 hours 46 min ago:
I wish they would do a bigger size kindle scribe. I read pdfs all day
on my scribe, and often I wish the screen was bigger so the font size
would be large.
alok-g wrote 11 hours 42 min ago:
How suitable is 10" for PDF reading? Is the font too small? Do
various e-readers allow PDF content to reflow?
I have been considering Boox Air 3C. PDFs are important for me.
Thanks.
thimabi wrote 5 hours 54 min ago:
The size is good for PDF reading, but PDFs with huge margins or
small font sizes donât work well.
One way to fix the margins issue is to use the âSend to Kindleâ
feature, which converts PDFs to the Print Replica format and trims
their margins in the process. Sideloaded PDFs actually appear with
more margins (thus reduced font sizes) than books sent through
Amazonâs servers.
carlosjobim wrote 12 hours 43 min ago:
Onyx Boox Tab X is a good option. The new Remarkable Pro with colour
is probably a good option as well.
blcknight wrote 4 hours 57 min ago:
I wouldn't buy anything from Boox. Notorious GPL violators.
grecy wrote 12 hours 47 min ago:
I bought a used paperwhite in 2015 and have read many hundreds of books
on it. Still works flawlessly and even great battery life despite
taking it around the world through -45 and +45 many times.
I donât love Amazon, but this may be the best device Iâve ever
owned. It does one thing really, really well.
technothrasher wrote 4 hours 28 min ago:
I bought a Voyage in 2015 and don't want to give it up. I like it
more than any of the newer models I've tried. Battery life is
starting to get poor, but even 'poor' gives me about a week of
typical reading before I have to charge it again.
stevekemp wrote 11 hours 35 min ago:
I find stuck pixels gradually build up and kill kindles for me, after
4-5 years.
I'm on my third device now, and I have a couple of them which just
won't clear. Not the end of the world but eventually there will be
so many that reading is just a pain.
jsheard wrote 13 hours 0 min ago:
The color model is uncharacteristically expensive for Kindle at $280,
more than the color Kobos which are $220 for the same 7" size (which
also has physical buttons and stylus support) or just $150 for the
smaller 6" size. Kindles are usually the cheaper option, at the expense
of being less amenable to sideloading and jailbreaking than Kobos are.
al_borland wrote 12 hours 20 min ago:
This article really buries the lead. It talks about updating
monochrome kindles, when they just released their first color Kindle
(not counting the Fire). I had to look elsewhere to confirm this was
indeed a brand new line of products, and others give it top billing.
marcellus23 wrote 9 hours 55 min ago:
From the second paragraph of the article:
> In addition to the monochrome e-readers, Amazon introduced its
first color e-reader today. The new Kindle Colorsoft, covered in
more detail here, looks almost identical to the new Paperwhite and
launches on October 30 for $279.99.
Clamchop wrote 11 hours 51 min ago:
It's because Ars ran a separate article just for the color Kindle.
HTML [1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/amazons-first-colo...
thimabi wrote 12 hours 48 min ago:
The color model is expensive, indeed. My guess is that they will
quietly offer discounts after the hype goes away.
jjice wrote 13 hours 1 min ago:
I own a Kindle Paperwhite (last gen, relative to this new one) and a
Kobo Clara BW (purchase in the last 6 months). IMO, the Kindle is the
premium e-reader when it comes to look and feel. It's just a fantastic
experience. The issue is Amazon and how even if you want to put your
own purchased ebooks on it, you have it send it through their servers.
That tied with a few other privacy issues over the years led me to also
get a Kobo.
The Kobo can run in a fully offline mode (called "side-load mode" or
something like that) and I can transfer my ebooks directly via USB. I
use the Kobo most of the time now since most of my reading lately has
been independently published ebooks, but I still use the Kindle for
books I purchase via Amazon directly.
With all that said, I personally think the Kindle Paperwhite is already
the perfect size. It fits snuggly in my back pocket and strikes the
perfect balance between screen size being large, but not too large to
hold for my average male hands. I'd be a bit concerned about the size
increase for my personal use case, but Amazon does a great job with the
Kindle in general so I'd like to see some reviews.
As for the new Colorsoft, I'd really like to see some reviews. The
color Kobos that came out earlier this year got some mixed reviews for
colors, but I'm not sure if that's just the nature of color e-ink or
not.
sundvor wrote 49 min ago:
Yeah I got the Signature Edition of the Paperwhite 11 with their
black leather cover, and it's just brilliant. It was a huge step up
from the 10 that went before it in every regard.
The resolution and size just nails it, and my favourite feature is
the warm backlighting for reading at night. Battery lasts forever,
and I can just put it on my Samsung phone stand for wireless charging
once in a blue moon - not once have I run out of battery.
I fall asleep so easily to this, currently on the Eisenhorn 40k
Omnibus book - and a 184 week reading streak.
I used to be excited about new Kindle releases, have had one since
the mammoth DXG - but no more, I'm good now with this, so don't see
myself forking out $400 AUD for the new one (with a leather cover).
Also bought one (also a SE) for my son, with a different colour
magnetic leather cover. :-)
evanreichard wrote 1 hour 9 min ago:
I've got the same generation PW and have it jailbroken running
KOReader. I've considered trying other readers out, not because of
issues but rather shiny new thing reasons. But at least when it comes
to KOReader, it seems like the PW are the best if you can jailbreak
the version you're on.
(I want / need it to run KOReader because I wrote a small Lua plugin
for it that syncs reading stats (words per minute, minutes read per
year, etc) to a centralized server.)
110jawefopiwa wrote 1 hour 54 min ago:
> IMO, the Kindle is the premium e-reader when it comes to look and
feel. It's just a fantastic experience.
Interestingly, I switched from Kindle to Kobo because it was lacking
various basic features that made it not feel premium.
* Kobo epubs can show "pages in chapter" progress so I know how much
longer there is until a nice stopping point, while Kindle only shows
"minutes left in chapter" which is functionally useless.
* Kobo had blue light blocking night shift before Kindle Paperwhite
(I think both have it now?)
* Kobo had a convenient feature where you slide your finger along the
side of the screen to change brightness, instead of having to go into
multiple menus to do this.
It's possible these things have been remedied, but especially the
chapter progress thing put such a bad taste in my mouth that I never
wanted to touch Kindle again.
ghostpepper wrote 48 min ago:
> Kindle only shows "minutes left in chapter" which is functionally
useless
The kindle recomputes your reading pace as you go, so unless you
prefer to do that math in your head and track your own
pages-per-minute moving average, I don't see how it's functionally
useless
KTibow wrote 36 min ago:
I think they're saying that it doesn't show any info like page
numbers
MBCook wrote 1 hour 22 min ago:
The kindle hardware is pretty good in my opinion, though they make
choices I donât like.
The ecosystem is amazing and unbeatable.
The software was fine on the original Kindles (well, I had a
keyboard), and despite gaining a few features is largely the same
since 10+ years ago.
But donât worry, they added ads to the device that they used to
sell you books and theyâve managed not to speed it up one bit!
mvdtnz wrote 5 hours 41 min ago:
I'm sick of my Kobo constantly crashing and freezing and I will never
buy another one.
donio wrote 6 hours 0 min ago:
I always use my kindles in fully offline, sideload-only. My current
one hasn't left airplane mode since I got it in 2018.
sourcepluck wrote 5 hours 31 min ago:
Another fully-offline, sideload-only, airplane-mode-forever ebooker
here. Plus I didn't even buy it in the first place - a relation had
one they said they never looked at, so I asked if I could take it
off their hands.
Had a funny experience once with a fellow (who was in his third
year of computer science at a reputable university), where we just
so happened to get on to the topic of ebooks. I told him how I
operate my little machine, which I'd only started using. He was
shocked, and stated clearly that he thinks it's unethical towards
authors to use a "jailbroken" device like that and not get books
through the Amazon store...
Sigh.
Aeolun wrote 5 hours 10 min ago:
I guess heâs never seen the kind of insane contracts people
that publish on the Amazon store need to sign xD
ValentineC wrote 4 hours 26 min ago:
As someone who has self-published a book on the Amazon Kindle
store once, Amazon's cut is something like 70% + bandwidth fees
(author only gets maybe ~25â28% of the selling price).
Aeolun wrote 3 hours 58 min ago:
I find it hard to believe youâd ever earn enough on an
Amazon book to make any such contract worth it.
d0gsg0w00f wrote 2 hours 48 min ago:
70% of $100k = $70k
30% of $1mil = $300k
Scale makes it seem pretty straightforward to me.
grakker wrote 8 hours 46 min ago:
I had the exact opposite experience. My kindle battery went wonky
after a few years, but my kobo has gone on for a lot longer with no
issues. It's made me a little wary of buying a kindle again. Aside,
or on top of, not wanting to support Amazon.
fastball wrote 5 hours 19 min ago:
Did you try contacting Amazon support? If you had they probably
would've shipped you a new one for free.
Why don't you want to support Amazon?
TnS-hun wrote 9 hours 3 min ago:
There is only a small difference in their size.
Paperwhite 5: 124.6 x 174.2 x 8.1 mm
Paperwhite 6: 127.6 x 176.7 x 7.8 mm
thimabi wrote 6 hours 3 min ago:
Yet Amazon has been consistently increasing the size of the
Paperwhite models over time, each one a bit larger than the
previous one. They remain portable, but no longer fit into oneâs
pockets, for instance.
bookofjoe wrote 4 hours 41 min ago:
FWIW I weighed my Paperwhite Gen 5: 201 grams vs. 211 grams for
the new Gen 6.
So 5% heavier.
fastball wrote 5 hours 18 min ago:
I have the last gen Paperwhite and it still fits in my pocket.
Admittedly I have big pockets.
unethical_ban wrote 9 hours 12 min ago:
I am running a kindle voyage (2014). It is the perfect size for male
jeans pocket carry, PPI is above 300 and battery works.
Most important! The yoga cover is great for laying on either side, so
I can toss and turn in bed and keep reading. Literally no e-reader I
have seen since has a symmetrical stand-cover that can be used
sideways both ways.
As for Kobo, I just looked the other day and saw they have some great
prices for e-readers that have similar features, plus they advertise
being completely repairable! And you're not in the Amazon ecosystem.
My only gripe years ago was the don't rendering on side loaded books
wasn't as good as Amazon, and that Calibre couldn't De-DRM Kobo books
as well as Amazon. I think the game has changed a bit, though, and I
haven't tested anything in a while.
If Kobo books are crackable, my next e-reader will likely take me
away from Amazon. I want that USB-C in my life.
Wowfunhappy wrote 9 hours 50 min ago:
Where do you buy DRM Free books from? (I assume that's a requirement
for the device to be fully offline, right?) Do you run everything
through that DRM-stripper Calibre plugin?
sourcepluck wrote 5 hours 18 min ago:
Excellent list of DRM Free books here:
HTML [1]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/guide/ebooks
timeon wrote 5 hours 57 min ago:
TIL there are DRM books. But I have never owned kindle - just Kobo
and Remarkable.
I buy at online site of book store or publisher.
hexagonalc wrote 5 hours 13 min ago:
Some of the books on the Kobo store are also sold with DRM. They
only mention it in small print under eBook Details at the bottom
of the page, e.g. Download options: EPUB 3 (Adobe DRM)
jjice wrote 7 hours 34 min ago:
It's usually a small marketplace like Leanpub. Tilted Windmill
Press (Michael W Lucas) [0] is another one I've done a good bit of
purchasing from in the last six months or so.
[0]
HTML [1]: https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/
loeg wrote 11 hours 52 min ago:
> you have [to] send [books] through [Amazon's] servers.
No, you can sideload books using USB mass storage. It's pretty easy.
Kindle Paperwhite is still a great experience even without using the
Amazon book ecosystem.
jestersarmed wrote 11 hours 2 min ago:
You are correct, you can sideload, but as soon as you open them in
your Kindle, they get an Amazon-DRM; so you can't read the very
same files on another e-reader. And - as soon as you go online with
your Kindle - said DRM is checked and all non Amazon books deleted.
At least, that was the case 10 years ago: I still own a Paperwhite
1st Gen which is now basically defunct.
I switched to a Poke 5P (Onyx) and was surprised at the tons of
features. No ads, no DRM and reads basically all formats. Win.
I downloaded all my Amazon-bought books, so I can still read them
on PC, but otherwise I'm done with their product.
fastball wrote 5 hours 22 min ago:
It sounds like you are trying to move DRM'd books you bought from
Amazon to another Kindle, which is indeed not possible â that
is the purpose of DRM. You'd need to strip the DRM for that to
work.
But as other commenters noted, if you sideload ebooks which do
not already have DRM on them, the Kindle will certainly not add
any sort of DRM to the files. This is true both if you sideload
via USB or even if you use the "email to Kindle" feature.
carlosjobim wrote 8 hours 17 min ago:
What you wrote is completely untrue. I have myriad of books on my
Kindle which are not on Amazon, and they are not deleted. Neither
does anything weird happen to them.
WillPostForFood wrote 8 hours 37 min ago:
you can sideload, but as soon as you open them in your Kindle,
they get an Amazon-DRM; so you can't read the very same files on
another e-reader.
Not true and never has been. The Kindle will make no changes to
sideloaded files.
loeg wrote 9 hours 7 min ago:
I've literally never run into the problems you are describing.
It might be true (it seems implausible but I don't know), but it
is not a significant factor in day to day ergonomics.
Text crispness, page turning speed, battery life, physical
dimensions are all much bigger factors in an ereader IMO.
kjhughes wrote 12 hours 8 min ago:
> As for the new Colorsoft, I'd really like to see some reviews.
Here's a hands-on Kindle Colorsoft review, Amazon's first color
Kindle is the e-reader of my dreams, [1] submitted earlier:
HTML [1]: https://www.tomsguide.com/tablets/e-readers/kindle-colorsoft...
HTML [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41858947
thimabi wrote 12 hours 54 min ago:
> The issue is Amazon and how even if you want to put your own
purchased ebooks on it, you have it send it through their servers.
You can sideload your books over USB too, using Calibre for instance.
I own a few Kindle models and a Kobo Forma as well. The Kindles do
have some quirks and bugs (e.g., disappearing books, issues with
sideloaded fontsâ¦). But my Kobo Formaâs battery completely died
after a couple years of usage, and the device became completely
unreliable. After that experience, Iâve resigned myself to live
with the Kindleâs problems.
jjice wrote 7 hours 30 min ago:
Sorry, you're absolutely right. The overhead of it was more than I
cared to do (needing to use Calibre instead of a drag and drop of a
file), especially since Amazon would then report my newly loaded
books back to themselves. That's the part that I really didn't
like.
Shame to hear about your Kobo's battery. FWIW, they have great
repairability (in newer models at least). That said, the Kindle's
battery does smash the Kobo's in my experience as well.
galleywest200 wrote 5 hours 14 min ago:
You can drag-drop the file from the file explorer, at least on my
Kindle (2022). I think the OP mentioned Calibre because sometimes
you need to convert the file for Kindle if you have a bespoke
format.
andrepd wrote 12 hours 23 min ago:
So you got one bad battery and you decide to ditch their devices?
Seems weird. Fwiw I have an 11-year old Kobo that's still going
strong lol.
Opted for a pocketbook this time though. Physical buttons and small
6-inch form factor? And respect for your privacy? Count me the fuck
in!
thimabi wrote 12 hours 17 min ago:
I decided to ditch their devices because of the support I got â
or lack thereof. First they refused to talk to me, because, for
privacy reasons, my device was unregistered. I ended up
registering it, and even so they offered just a 10% discount on
the purchase of a new device.
Sadly, Amazonâs support is not far behind, considering its
inability to fix certain persistent Kindle bugs. But Iâve never
seen the hardware itself fail.
MostlyStable wrote 56 min ago:
If it makes any difference (although I fully agree it does not
excuse past bad behavior), for the current gen devices, Kobo
has partnered with iFixit to offer user serviceable parts and
guides, including replacing batteries [0]. Although iFixit has
had partnerships in the past that have fizzled, as long as
user-repair is pretty easy, things like batteries are probably
generic enough that they can be sourced even if Kobo doesn't
end up sticking with it. If the screen fails though, then yeah,
you'd better hope they have committed to maintaining stock of
OEM parts, which, even with an iFixit partnership, is in no way
guaranteed.
[0]
HTML [1]: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Kobo
msh wrote 9 hours 16 min ago:
I had a kindle that died. Amazon support was top notch
htamas wrote 12 hours 42 min ago:
My Kindle had this "bug" where my side loaded books randomly
disappear. As a workaround, I have to keep it in flight mode at all
times. Not a big issue since thatâs what I would do anyway, but
in case my Kindle would break, I wouldnât think long to buy an
alternative
AcerbicZero wrote 12 hours 10 min ago:
Out of all the devices where having a physical airplane mode
switch would be nice, I'd put the kindle pretty high up. Kinda
sucks having a battery that lasts ~45 days in airplane mode, and
like a week and a half when I forget to turn it off.
thimabi wrote 5 hours 52 min ago:
Rather than a physical switch just for that, why not a few
reminders in the UI if one keeps the airplane mode off for a
certain amount of time?
tomrod wrote 3 hours 29 min ago:
Physical switch is less prone to the whims of a capricious,
resume-driven product owner who thinks their users may just
want to get rid of airplane mode. Most are diving into
firmware.
thimabi wrote 12 hours 22 min ago:
Youâre lucky. Iâve seen books disappear from my Kindle even
in flight mode. I wonder what is behind such a persistent bug.
freedomben wrote 3 hours 31 min ago:
> I wonder what is behind such a persistent bug.
At what point do we stop giving the benefit of the doubt that
it's a "bug"?
notatoad wrote 2 hours 6 min ago:
i'm not really sure what benefit you think they're gaining by
breaking the less convenient, less user-friendly way to
sideload books.
They're perfectly happy to let you email books to the kindle
that you bought at other stores (or stole), as well as sync
your progress with those books, backup those books to their
servers, and generally have the full reading experience with
all the benefits of the kindle ecosystem even if you didn't
buy the book through kindle. If they didn't want to
encourage the use of third-party files, surely they'd make it
more difficult than a bug that randomly deletes books off
some people's kindles sometimes.
thimabi wrote 3 hours 1 min ago:
You make an interesting point. Maybe facilitating the usage
of sideloaded books is not among Amazonâs priorities. Yet I
donât know how much of that comes from malice rather than
simply negligence or lack of interest.
mcmcmc wrote 2 hours 16 min ago:
Itâs directly against their priority of influencing you
to only purchase ebooks through their monopoly. Whether
anti-competitive, anti-user practices are malicious or just
a consequence of capitalism run wild, I donât think
thereâs much of a difference
andwaal wrote 12 hours 23 min ago:
This happend to my kindle to! After keeping in in flight mode for
years I put it online again in order to buy a few new books from
the kindle store, poof suddenly my entire library of side loaded
books was gone, with progress and everything. I could see random
metadata files related to the books on the drive, be books was
gone. Super annoying as many of the books I didn't have locally
anymore and to loose the "archivement" of finished books sucks
big time.
I can see this may be implemented by amazon to counter piracy,
but alot of these books was perfectly legal.
So the result of this is that I will never put my kindle online
again and just stop buying from the Kindle store.
throwaway48476 wrote 6 hours 4 min ago:
I had an issue exactly like this with my iPad.
heelix wrote 7 hours 40 min ago:
Same, though I don't think it is going to help Amazon the way
they hope it does. I moved books over to my kindle and had it
nuke my humble bundle collections when I added a purchase from
Amazon. I've not connect it again until I figure out how to
backup and restore MY metadata.
mcmcmc wrote 2 hours 18 min ago:
Wonât help with restoring metadata, but if you add books by
using the âemail to kindleâ feature it will keep them in
your library through syncs
soco wrote 12 hours 45 min ago:
Why do you need a few Kindles and also a Kobo? Are you keeping them
in different places and don't move them? I only have the first
Paperwhite which I carry along, it's 11 years old already and it
still does the job. The battery keeps up and I was probably lucky
to not have noticed any hiccups.
Aeolun wrote 5 hours 13 min ago:
I think you just naturally end up with that because the things
appear indestructible. The first ever kindle I bought (dunno how
long ago, it was before paperwhite, so more than 11 years) still
works without issue. Even retains all the music I put on it 14
years ago when it was still an experimental feature.
I think the only thing that has been discontinued is the free 3G
internet all over the world that they apparently figured was too
expensive.
__float wrote 3 hours 20 min ago:
I _loved_ my Kindle Voyage for its adjusting backlight and
glass display.
I wish it were less destructible! I upgraded to a Paperwhite
(2021) when the Voyage's power button broke. Water resistance
is nice, but having to get the "signature" edition for a light
sensor and an easily scratched plastic display is quite
disappointing.
fencepost wrote 12 hours 17 min ago:
My wife is a pretty voracious reader and has 3 active Kindles
that I believe are mostly segregated out by genre/collection. I
wouldn't be surprised if this is as much for convenience as
anything else, I don't use it much but Amazon's library
management and navigation on the Kindles has never impressed me.
She's also one of those folks who sideloads with Calibre as well
as purchasing through Amazon.
thimabi wrote 12 hours 37 min ago:
I read several types of books, multiple hours per day: reflowable
fiction books, PDFs, books generated from my Markdown notesâ¦
Iâve got a Paperwhite, a Scribe and a Kobo Forma, but Iâm
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
sideloaded fonts. The Forma is a middle ground in terms of
portability, but its battery died after a couple years and
nowadays I only use it near a power outlet.
jacurtis wrote 2 hours 57 min ago:
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 things. The remarkable also gives you full
control over your files to do whatever you want. You can
connect it to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc and/or just
manage files directly on device (plug it in via usb-c and it
shows up as a USB mass storage device).
The two tools compliment themselves nicely. Just my 2 cents.
__float wrote 12 hours 50 min ago:
Whenever Iâve converted books to mobi in Calibre it seems they
fall back to a slightly worse experience - using âlocationâ
markers instead of real page numbers as official Kindle books
display, cover art is tricky to get working on the lock screen,
etc.
Is this a poor Calibre configuration or are there real limitations
to reading books side-loaded on Kindles?
danhon wrote 12 hours 45 min ago:
You sideload them as epubs and they're fine on my Oasis at least.
Calibre does a good job of fixing metadata like covers.
thimabi wrote 12 hours 45 min ago:
You can find Calibre plugins to convert the books to KFX,
Amazonâs native format. Thereâs also a plugin to recover
actual page numbers rather than loc markers in the books. Itâs
not very intuitive, but itâs doable given the options Amazon
gives us.
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