Looking for upgrade from Kindle 4 NT

[evanft]

I've got a Kindle 4 NT that I'm looking to upgrade. Anyone have any suggestions?

Wants

• Higher res, higher contrast display
• Light. Similar weight to K4NT preferred
• Doesn't require too much nonsense to get my books looking the way I want in terms of margins, line spacing, etc.
• Some kind of custom font support
• If there is a front light, it can be disabled
• No raised bezel around display. I hate how dirt gets stuck around edge of the screen and causes a shadow
• Fast page turns
• 6" size

Basically, if I could get a K4 NT with the screen from the Voyage, that would be ideal.

I briefly had a Kindle Voyage, but the front light hurt my eyes because it couldn't be turned off. I also had a Kobo Aura HD for a while, but Kobo's software is kind of crap and I hated how much I had to tweak my books to keep them from looking weird.

Here are some of my impressions of the contenders.

Kindle Paperwhite
+ 300 dpi screen
+ Kindle software works well
+ Capactive touch screen
- Front light can't be turned off
- May not be able to jailbreak to get the text rendered how I want
- Raised bezel around display

Kobo Aura
+ Cheap right now
+ Great design.
+ Better screen that K4NT
+ Capacitive touch screen
+ Easy to customize fonts, margins, etc.
- Slow page turns compared to Kindle
- Kobo rendering software requires tweaking book CSS before loading onto device
- Have to patch device to remove header and footer
- Screen is a step behind the best available
- Kobo software is kinda hinky
- Background isn't as white as other readers

Kobo Glo HD
+ 300 dpi screen
+ Easy to customize fonts, margins, etc.
- Slow page turns compared to Kindle
- Kobo rendering software requires tweaking book CSS before loading onto device
- Have to patch device to remove header and footer
- Kobo software is kinda hinky
- Large bezel around display which casts a shadow and traps dust

Nook Glowlight Plus
+ 300 dpi screen
+ Great design.
+ Capacitive touch screen
+ Runs Android 4.4, making it somewhat easy to hack and install third party reader software
- Pretty much have to hack it and install third party reader apps to make it worthwhile
- Hardware apparently can't handle Android 4.4.

[howyoudoin]

The Aura satisfies all your wants.

[evanft]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

The Aura satisfies all your wants.

Honestly, it's probably the leader, but it's apparently poorer contrast and the fact that you have to tweak all your books to get them looking right really turns me off from it.

[JSWolf]

The Kobo software is not crap. It gives you more options on how you want your books to look. I think many people would love the same options in the Kindle if Amazon were so inclined to add them (but we know that will never happen).

You just prefer the presets the Kindle gives you instead of more tweaks and since you do, I would recommend the PW3 for an upgrade to your NT4.

[howyoudoin]

Originally Posted by evanft

Honestly, it's probably the leader, but it's apparently poorer contrast and the fact that you have to tweak all your books to get them looking right really turns me off from it.

Kobos require the least work of any e-reader to get your books looking the way you want. What is it that you are unable to get right on the Kobo that you can easily get right on the kindles or nooks?

Yeah, the screen isn't the best. If you want the best flush screen, go for the Voyage. If flushness isn't that major a deal breaker, get the Glo HD for the better rendering of books.

[evanft]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Kobo software is not crap. It gives you more options on how you want your books to look. I think many people would love the same options in the Kindle if Amazon were so inclined to add them (but we know that will never happen).

I owned an Aura HD. The tweaks were awesome, but the software is much buggier, slower, and overall less refined than the Kindle. Page turns on every Kobo device I've seen are also slower than my K4NT. The fact that I can't just take my books and load them onto the device without going through a series of CSS conversions was also a massive PITA. With my jailbroken K4NT that has some margin and font tweaks, I can just load a book onto it without doing any kind of tweaking and it'll look great.

Margins, line spacing, and fonts are basically a one-time setup for me, so I don't mind having to do some work when I first get a device to get it where I want, but having to do it with every single book is annoying.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You just prefer the presets the Kindle gives you instead of more tweaks and since you do, I would recommend the PW3 for an upgrade to your NT4.

The PW3 has a light that can't be turned off, so it's a complete non-starter.

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

Kobos require the least work of any e-reader to get your books looking the way you want. What is it that you are unable to get right on the Kobo that you can easily get right on the kindles or nooks?

I have to do a series of tweaks in calibre to prevent the wasted space on Kobo readers.

Here's a post on the eBook Reader going through what I have to do.

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

Yeah, the screen isn't the best. If you want the best flush screen, go for the Voyage. If flushness isn't that major a deal breaker, get the Glo HD for the better rendering of books.

The flushness is a big deal to me because I can't stand the shadow caused by a raised bezel and the fact that it captures dust/grime. For some reason Kobo is still using infrared touch technology on the Glo series, which forces them to have a raised bezel. It's a not a complete dealbreaker, but it's not ideal, either.

[eschwartz]

Turning off the frontlight on the PW is mostly a non-issue. It can be turned all the way down until it essentially isn't visible at all.

But if it really bothers you, there is a hack to completely disable it.
Since you want to jailbreak anyway in order to get e.g. the font hack, this shouldn't be any sort of additional requirement on the PW.

[howyoudoin]

Originally Posted by evanft

I have to do a series of tweaks in calibre to prevent the wasted space on Kobo readers.

Here's a post on the eBook Reader going through what I have to do.

Assuming your ebooks are kindle books, you'd have to convert them to ePub/kePub anyway to read them on a Kobo. These tweaks are one-time inputs into the preferences and will take effect automatically every time you perform the book format conversion. You don't even have to remember those after the first time you set them.

Assuming your books are ePubs now, and you get a kindle, you'd still have to convert them via calibre.

You end up having to perform a conversion either way, so it's not really an extra effort for just the Kobo.

If your books are kindle books already, and you are loathe to perform a conversion, then the path of least resistance would be to get a Voyage and read on it. You have a set of wants that cannot be fulfilled 100% by any one ereader, and hence you will have to let go of one or two points.

[howyoudoin]

P.S: Look into the Tolino Vision ereaders. They have a model with a flush screen, waterproofing, ePub support, tap to flip and as far as I know, the light can be turned off completely.

[evanft]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Turning off the frontlight on the PW is mostly a non-issue. It can be turned all the way down until it essentially isn't visible at all.

But if it really bothers you, there is a hack to completely disable it.
Since you want to jailbreak anyway in order to get e.g. the font hack, this shouldn't be any sort of additional requirement on the PW.

Unfortunately, that hack doesn't appear to work anymore.

Again, the light is a deal breaker if it can't be turned off. It causes eye strain for me.

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

Assuming your ebooks are kindle books, you'd have to convert them to ePub/kePub anyway to read them on a Kobo. These tweaks are one-time inputs into the preferences and will take effect automatically every time you perform the book format conversion. You don't even have to remember those after the first time you set them.

Assuming your books are ePubs now, and you get a kindle, you'd still have to convert them via calibre.

You end up having to perform a conversion either way, so it's not really an extra effort for just the Kobo.

If your books are kindle books already, and you are loathe to perform a conversion, then the path of least resistance would be to get a Voyage and read on it. You have a set of wants that cannot be fulfilled 100% by any one ereader, and hence you will have to let go of one or two points.

I already managed this when I had an aura HD. It's a pain and often screws up some of the formatting in books, like bulleted lists or other non standard sections.

[JSWolf]

I don't know what version firmware your Aura HD was using, but with the latest version firmware, my H2O runs faster than it originally did. Page turns are noticeably faster.

So if you still have your Aura HD, install the latest firmware and give it a go.

[evanft]

I ordered a Kobo Glo HD. Sellers in Japan are moving them for about $100 shipped, so it's worth a shot to see if I can deal with the wonky software.