Best e-reader (with note taking?) for PDFs in 2025

[Hopper333]

Hi all

I haven't been here for a while because I have been happy with my Kobo H2O using koreader for years now. I had to replace the battery a while ago and over time it has become very slow, but apart from that the reflow works pretty well for PDFs which is my main need.

However, the screen has just died. So now I need to buy something else. I'm sure that things have moved on a lot in terms of speed and capabilities. A good PDF reader (probably with a reliable and quick reflow if necessary) is the primary need, and taking notes either on the PDF or in separate documents would also be useful. Wifi file sharing would be very nice for syncing my library but if USB only that's not a big problem. I won't be buying any books through the reader and I want it to support all the standard formats for my big library of textbooks and research papers. I would also like it to have a nice user interface, be supported for a decent amount of time into the future and of course have a good e-ink screen.

The usual suspects are Kobo, Onyx, Kindle, Remarkable, Pocketbook, others... but I can't actually keep up with the number of new models!

Any independent advice including pros and cons from the knowledgeable here would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Michael

[JSWolf]

The best device for PDF is an iPad with the GoodReader app. No eInk Reader comes close.

[Hopper333]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best device for PDF is an iPad with the GoodReader app. No eInk Reader comes close.

The trouble is that I want the eye relief and battery life of an e-ink screen.

[Hopper333]

The Boox Go 10.3 seems to have a lot of the features that I want, but I am concerned that with no front light it might be a little dark or 'grey' for a lot of PDF reading. Perhaps some of their other models are equivalent but with a front light for a bit more money?

[Aleron Ives]

The Note Air 3 would be the frontlit equivalent for the Go 10.3.

[Hopper333]

I have been reading more and the Supernote devices are getting a lot of love for their note-taking capabilities but not so much for PDF reading. Is that the reality? I read a lot of academic documents which are sometimes in two column, with images etc and so either reflow or breaking the page down into panels easily will be important.

[Quoth]

Forget about reflowing PDF or breaking up PDF pages into panels.

The Nxtpaper 14 is 3:2 aspect and 14.2″ and "eye friendly" with long battery life. Best ever thing I've used for PDFs. I do find the Nxtpaper 11 (original 16:10 aspect) a bit easier to hold for notes. Both far better than Elipsa or reMarkable for notes or PDFs. I've given those away now. The eink readers I have are only better than the Nxtpaper in appearance for mono text with front light off and decent ambient light.

Almost as much hype on Supernote as on reMarkable. The reMarkable is remarkable for the hype and reality distortion. Far inferior to the Elipsa except for sketching.

[Hopper333]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Forget about reflowing PDF or breaking up PDF pages into panels.

The Nxtpaper 14 is 3:2 aspect and 14.2″ and "eye friendly" with long battery life. Best ever thing I've used for PDFs. I do find the Nxtpaper 11 (original 16:10 aspect) a bit easier to hold for notes. Both far better than Elipsa or reMarkable for notes or PDFs. I've given those away now. The eink readers I have are only better than the Nxtpaper in appearance for mono text with front light off and decent ambient light.

Almost as much hype on Supernote as on reMarkable. The reMarkable is remarkable for the hype and reality distortion. Far inferior to the Elipsa except for sketching.

But it's not e-ink is it? That is a key requirement for me as I already spend far too long looking at active screens and want days of battery life. Otherwise I can just use the Mac Air which I already have.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Hopper333

I have been reading more and the Supernote devices are getting a lot of love for their note-taking capabilities but not so much for PDF reading. Is that the reality? I read a lot of academic documents which are sometimes in two column, with images etc and so either reflow or breaking the page down into panels easily will be important.

You could consider a 13" device like the Boox Tab X which is basically A4 or letter sized. That way there's no need for reflow. Granted they are pricey.

Personally I can read journal articles on a 7.8" or 10" no problem. The Boox PDF reader will do column panels.

The Boox devices I have are a few years old but handle PDFs like champs. They are good for your usecase IMO.

[Hopper333]

So then it looks like the Boox Go 10.3 would be a good choice, although I have not had an e-reader without backlight before. I do see some comments online about the screen being a little grey and low contrast but I'm not sure how reliable these are.

[kandwo]

I have both the Onyx Boox Go 10.3 and Note Max. The former has better battery life and ghosting performance, but otherwise the screen size of the Note Max is much better.

I use the Note Max for work, where I need note taking and PDFs. The Go 10.3 I mostly use at home for leisure reading of manga and some PDFs.

I find e-ink to be great for note taking and working with PDFs as long as you don't need to resize the document.

Neither of them has a frontlight, which I find to be an advantage in my use case scenarios: reading and writing during daytime. I haven't been in an environment where the lack of frontlight has been a problem. If I want to read at home at night I just read next to my bed lamp. Not having a frontlight also means there's a layer less between you and the screen, which increases the contrast and sharpness some and also makes writing more pleasant since there's no visible gap between the pen and the screen.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Hopper333

So then it looks like the Boox Go 10.3 would be a good choice, although I have not had an e-reader without backlight before. I do see some comments online about the screen being a little grey and low contrast but I'm not sure how reliable these are.

Did you ever use the Kobo H2O with the front light off? It's basically the same. Don't expect printer paper white, they are a tad grey, closer to a newspaper in my mind. I typically use my 10.3" Note Air without the front light and IMO it's fine but I also do the same for my Kobo Libra Colour and some people seem to think that's unreadable.

[Moonbase59]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The Nxtpaper 14 is 3:2 aspect and 14.2″ and "eye friendly" with long battery life. Best ever thing I've used for PDFs.

Seems there is some hype about the TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro, but I’ve seen no dealer here offering it. 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, 700 nits, 12,000mAh, etc. sounds like I would like one.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Moonbase59

Seems there is some hype about the TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro, but I’ve seen no dealer here offering it. 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, 700 nits, 12,000mAh, etc. sounds like I would like one.

I looked at spec of 14 vs 14 Pro. The Pro seems aimed at gamers, because it has variable and up to high refresh. The regular 14 (which I did get) seems almost identical but a fixed refresh. No flicker even if moved at the edge of your vision. The 14 Pro has zero advantage for PDFs and notes (such as Nebo). They are the same 3:2 aspect ratio.

The 11 and 11 Pro are though quite different as they are different aspect ratios.

Due to the way the screen works any Nxtpaper is easier to read in bright sunlight than even a brighter regular screen due to extremely minimal shine, reflections and glare, so the effective NITs in terms of reading in bright direct sunshine is really higher.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

I typically use my 10.3" Note Air without the front light and IMO it's fine but I also do the same for my Kobo Libra Colour and some people seem to think that's unreadable.

I do use all my ereaders normally in bright enough ambient indoor light with the front light off. But none are Vizplex. Only 3 are Pearl (DXG, PRS-350, K3) and the rest are various Carta flavours The Colorsoft, Boox Color and Libra Colour use Kaleido and to me it looks darker (worse) than 2005-2008 Vizplex. I couldn't read colour eink indoors without the front light. Perhaps I have good reading glasses, but the Kaleido also looks much fuzzier than PW3, PW4, Oasis 2, Libra H2O, Libra2, reMarkable, Elipsa and Original Aura HD H2O, apart from the worse brightness (with no front light) and poorer contrast.

I gave away the Elipsa and the reMarkable (10.3″) but they were OK just with ambient light. The TCL Nxtpaper 11″ totally beats the 9.7″ DXG in everyway, but the Sage with front light off is better for reading epubs.