Who else is ready for a Libra 3 (grayscale)?

[Barty]

My Libra 2 still works fine but I have upgrade-itis. I'm ready for a b&w Libra 3.

What I'm looking for:

- latest eink screen for even better contrast
- better front light. The 2 has a greenish tint to it
- faster processor
- svelter, lighter body
- did I mention better contrast? Specifically, darker "black" background in dark mode


What I don't want:

- any sort of pen/writing. I only care about reading

Extra goodness:

- an 8" screen "Plus" version? (No I don't want the Sage with the writing layer.)

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Barty

Extra goodness:

- an 8" screen "Plus" version? (No I don't want the Sage with the writing layer.)

The digitiser is probably under the screen.

The difference in contrast and blacks on Carta HD (Voyage, PW3, Oasis1 ), Carta 1200 and Carta 1300 is marginal and cost/quality of light pipe layer, touch layer and top matt surface has more impact.

One of the Carta versions is simply EInk Corp integrating touch and light pipe on the display to save one layer. How much improvement that is depends on how well / cost of the 3rd party layers, as evidenced by the Voyage.

New 7″ and 8″ models should have BT page turner, bigger battery, 32 G flash, four buttons with option to disable buttons or touch, and automatic or manual colour balance, not just "white" and orange LEDs. White LEDs are just blue to violet with a phosphor, usually yellow; the phosphor ages. Red, Green and Blue LEDs, mixed with no white or orange would be better.

I don't use the pen/notes now on the Sage. It and Elipsa and reMarkable are all pathetic for notes compared to Nxtpaper based phones and tablets. I've an eink Android too. The eink inherently is poor for notes. I've real-time conversion or preview of handwriting to text on my Nxtpaper gadgets.

The makers need to concentrate on what eink does best, monochrome novel, and make sure the GUI, search, filtering, CSS overides (to compensate for idiot publishers), margins, line heights etc all work and forget about stuff eink is pointless for (audio books) or bad at (colour, scrolling, animation and notes).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Barty

My Libra 2 still works fine but I have upgrade-itis. I'm ready for a b&w Libra 3.

What I'm looking for:

- latest eink screen for even better contrast
- better front light. The 2 has a greenish tint to it
- faster processor
- svelter, lighter body
- did I mention better contrast? Specifically, darker "black" background in dark mode


What I don't want:

- any sort of pen/writing. I only care about reading

Extra goodness:

- an 8" screen "Plus" version? (No I don't want the Sage with the writing layer.)

Yes, count me in.

My Libra 2 actually has no green tint at all, the frontlight is very even, no tints. My Sage has a green tint, however.

I do want faster processor and thinner/lighter body. Even better contrast would be nothing to sniff at, either.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The digitiser is probably under the screen.

The difference in contrast and blacks on Carta HD (Voyage, PW3, Oasis1 ), Carta 1200 and Carta 1300 is marginal and cost/quality of light pipe layer, touch layer and top matt surface has more impact.

One of the Carta versions is simply EInk Corp integrating touch and light pipe on the display to save one layer. How much improvement that is depends on how well / cost of the 3rd party layers, as evidenced by the Voyage.

New 7″ and 8″ models should have BT page turner, bigger battery, 32 G flash, four buttons with option to disable buttons or touch, and automatic or manual colour balance, not just "white" and orange LEDs. White LEDs are just blue to violet with a phosphor, usually yellow; the phosphor ages. Red, Green and Blue LEDs, mixed with no white or orange would be better.

I don't use the pen/notes now on the Sage. It and Elipsa and reMarkable are all pathetic for notes compared to Nxtpaper based phones and tablets. I've an eink Android too. The eink inherently is poor for notes. I've real-time conversion or preview of handwriting to text on my Nxtpaper gadgets.

The makers need to concentrate on what eink does best, monochrome novel, and make sure the GUI, search, filtering, CSS overides (to compensate for idiot publishers), margins, line heights etc all work and forget about stuff eink is pointless for (audio books) or bad at (colour, scrolling, animation and notes).

E-ink is fine for notes/PDF Markup these days. Not everybody wants handwriting to text. Personally I've written tons of digital handwritten notes on both eInk and LCD devices and converted zero of them to text outside of "gee that's neat" tests. If I end up converting them to text they get typed up into proper sentences.

Kobo uses the same tech as Microsoft's Surfaces. I don't believe it requires a separate digitizer either. Just one that can do both touch + pen. So it doesn't add an extra layer and not much cost.

Personally I wouldn't use a BT page turner at all but I wouldn't care if was supported.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

E-ink is fine for notes/PDF Markup these days. Not everybody wants handwriting to text.

Notes without conversion to text is very limited.
It depends on your use case. For a serious amount of notes to be edited later the real time and decent handwriting conversion of Nebo or Gboard on a decent Android is a revolution. You could write a novel.


Sketches / markup format signs on PDF work on Sage/Elipsa/Remarkable, but are poor compared to Wacom on X201 laptop running Linux or Nxtpaper + Android. Anything else on eink is garbage.

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Personally I wouldn't use a BT page turner at all but I wouldn't care if was supported.

No, I'd not use one either.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Personally I wouldn't use a BT page turner at all but I wouldn't care if was supported.

I wouldn't use one but there are quite a few people with accessibility issues for whom a BT page turner would be very useful.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Barty

My Libra 2 still works fine but I have upgrade-itis. I'm ready for a b&w Libra 3.

What I'm looking for:

- latest eink screen for even better contrast
- better front light. The 2 has a greenish tint to it
- faster processor
- svelter, lighter body
- did I mention better contrast? Specifically, darker "black" background in dark mode


What I don't want:

- any sort of pen/writing. I only care about reading

Extra goodness:

- an 8" screen "Plus" version? (No I don't want the Sage with the writing layer.)

You may have to forget a new Libra 2 being lighter. The battery will have to be at least 2000mAh and if that means heavier then so be it. And a new Libra 2 would have to be 7". That's the sweet spot for a larger screen and portability. And my Libra 2's front light is not green at all and it's very even.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You may have to forget a new Libra 2 being lighter. The battery will have to be at least 2000mAh and if that means heavier then so be it. And a new Libra 2 would have to be 7". That's the sweet spot for a larger screen and portability. And my Libra 2's front light is not green at all and it's very even.

You may have to forget about the battery being bigger. The new Libra absolutely MUST be lighter and thinner. If that means a smaller battery, then so be it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You may have to forget about the battery being larger. The new Libra absolutely MUST be lighter and thinner. If that means a smaller battery, then so be it.

Sorry, but Kobo went with a 2000mAh battery for a newer Clara BW. I cannot see Kobo going with the same or smaller battery. Besides, we need a stronger battery for the faster processor. We've had enough of Kobo Readers with poor batteries. We are not making the Libra 3/BW worse.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sorry, but Kobo went with a 2000mAh battery for a newer Clara BW. I cannot see Kobo going with the same or smaller battery. Besides, we need a stronger battery for the faster processor. We've had enough of Kobo Readers with poor batteries. We are not making the Libra 3/BW worse.

I'll take a poorer battery over a heavier device any time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I'll take a poorer battery over a heavier device any time.

And I'll take a better/heavier battery over a device that's that not as easy to hold because it's too thin and light.

[Apollyon202]

Here's my wishlist:

- Mobius screen for more endurance, so it won't break the bank if I accindentally drop the device
- faster CPU, a bit more and faster RAM
- better battery lifetime by optimized hardware and software power management
- user swappable battery (without the need of removing any goo or soldering)
- more battery options with charging station
- metallic case option and no more awful, low quality and so-called recycled plastic
- non-soldered microSD storage for better repairability
- more customising features in the default reader, like what koreader has

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

Here's my wishlist:

- Mobius screen for more endurance, so it won't break the bank if I accindentally drop the device
- faster CPU, a bit more and faster RAM
- better battery lifetime by optimized hardware and software power management
- user swappable battery (without the need of removing any goo or soldering)
- more battery options with charging station
- metallic case option and no more awful, low quality and so-called recycled plastic
- non-soldered microSD storage for better repairability
- more customising features in the default reader, like what koreader has

Don't buy any Reader before 2027. Sometime in 2027, portable battery powered electronics will have to have an easily user replaceable battery thanks to the EU. Existing devices can still be sold. So Kobo and Amazon don't have to come out with any new devices. But if they ever do, they have to adhere to the new EU battery law. The law takes effect in February 2027.

Maybe Kobo is keeping back the Libra 2 update until then.

[Quoth]

All battery powered electronics used to have easily replaceable batteries. Very many current devices can have the cell or battery replaced, some quite easily. No excuse.

Rechargeable earbuds and pens are bad offenders. Then there are toys with flashing LEDs and or sounds that allegedly for safely are single use. Not rechargeable or replaceable. They added a screw to the battery door on calculators, test meters and some toys.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

I know that it's never going to happen, but the only thing that I'd change in my Libra 2 is it's cheap-feeling plastic case. I'm sure it's possible to make the case feel better than a cheap plastic toy while still using recycled plastic.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The law takes effect in February 2027.

Yes please!