Quote:
Originally Posted by organized_chaos
The TCL Nxtpaper devices look like backlit LCD tablets to me. And why are you comparing these to a Sony PRS-350? That device is over 15 years old. Sorry, I don't think you understood what I was asking about.
To clarify: I am looking for a device with a colour e-ink screen that has a slot for a microSD card (either inside it like my Kobo or accessible from the outside). It seems like these are limited to Android e-ink devices nowadays so I am trying to understand how it feels to use something like a Boox or Bigme device.
|
The Nxtpaper are using LCD or OLED (depending on model), but correctly adjusted brightness & sRGB (not Vivid or epaper modes) they look like mono eink or real colour coffee table books. They do not at all look like regular LCD or OLED.
OTOH I've seen two models of colour eink based on Kaledio 3. They are less sharp and much darker (due to coloured printed R G and G B in a 2 x 2 pattern on the 300 dpi mono pixels, white, black & 14 greys). They have very poor colour rendition and limited colours only suitable for "pulp" paper printed comics. They are almost unusable without the LED front lights!
The Gallery 3 is brighter and more colours as it uses C Y M & white per cell, not an R G , G B printed colour filter array. Unfortunately it's 10x slower at full colour and eink is already 100x slower than anything else if doing the full 14 shades, black & white rather than pure black & white. That's needed for colour, so in colour eink is slow. Compare page turns with mono text only and page turns with a full grey scale image on each page on a mono eink!
I have an Android eink. The eink makes app compatibility, even when there is no animation, very poor and many ebook apps for DRM based ebook shops need the Playstore/Google Framework.
I do have or have used Kobo Touch, original H2O, Nia, Elipsa and also the 300 dpi Libra, Libra 2 & Sage. The NxtPaper 11 & 14 are superior to the Elipsa & Remarkable (which came back when person I gave it to got a Sage).
I've had Nook Simple Touch, iRiver Story (not HD) and these Kindles:
DXG, K3, Basic (early and later versions), PW1, Pw3, Oasis 2 (and used a borrowed PW4)
Only the 300 dpi mono eink are better than Nxtpaper, and only if the the frontlight is off. About the same when frontlight is on. The four Nxtpaper devices I have are all better (less strain, decent contrast, sharpness etc) than all the eink models less than 300 dpi and FAR better than colour eink even for mono text.
I manage ebooks with Calibre.
Reading PD ebooks on Laptop since 2000 and on eink since 2012. Maybe 2 to 5 books a week.
I also use eink to proof read on (PW1, DXG, Original Kobo H2O, Libra, Sage).
With the front light off (decent ambient light) I read & annotate (text only, abandoned notes after getting Nxtpaper) on the Kobo Sage, which better battery life than most phones/tablets, but poorest ever of any eink. The Nxtpaper 40, 50, 11 & 14 have as good reading time as a PW3 with the light on, if only used for reading.
I use the Nxtpaper 11 for notes and many PDF datasheets & text books(SD card) and Nxtpaper 14 for coloured content, PDF magazines, PDF two page layouts. No SD card, but 256 G flash.
The 32 G Sage has 10,000 ebooks & some smaller PDFs and looks like it could take 18,000. Sadly the Sage is unavailable.
So currently for 7" and larger at best mono eink the Pocketbook models look best. I played with them & actually read content in the local shop. Kobo now only does a decent 6" model. The Libra Colour is pointless as is the Elipsa 2.
A couple of other Chinese companies do paper-like micro etched screens. In tests the Nxtpaper beat them and the premium Apple matte screens (which are madly overpriced).
The Nxtpaper 11 isn't an ideal shape, but under €180, 10.9" screen, sd-card etc. The Nxtpaper 14 is over €300, but 14.25" and closer to 3:4 (I forget aspect) so better for pesky multi-column magazine PDFs. Both (and my 40 & 50 phones) are very compatible.
Add "USB Camera
Standard" and a €9 HDMI to USB3 video capture dongle and then the Nxtpaper tablets make great HDMI paper-like video screens. The pro versions are really aimed at gamers/people that want to spend more etc and IMO not worth it.
The bought version of MyWrite/Nebo does handwriting to text on PDFs, the cut down version of the same SW on the Kobos is garbage in comparison, due to eink. On eink you have no real time preview. There is on real Android or iOS version.
The Google Gboard handwriting to text works in real time with Jota text editor etc even on quite old Android with a finger. Great on Nxtpaper with ot without a stylus. Unusable on eink Android.
The mono eink at 300 dpi and ambient light such that LED front light isn't needed is great. Colour or interactive is rubbish.
The epaper modes on Nxtpaper, or the Lenovo or Huawei poorer clones are a gimmick. The sRGB is better.
TCL are one of the top panel makers along with Samsung, of panels for phones, tablets & TV. They do actually make LCD, OLED, LED, hybrid LCD-LED and QLED panels. They have always made Alcatel phones and make some other brands. The Nxtpaper 40, 50, 11 & 14 do work in direct sunshine. The earlier models are not as good.