Best reader(s), personal experience

[StephenQueen]

Anyway, as I'm trying several devices for myself, and for whatever reason I'm having too much spare time, from time to time I'll share my experiences in case is usefull for somebody, didn't came here to defend a crusade against anything. It's my opinion that are devices that are more comfortable/better for reading experience than others, and that's all. No much to argue.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by StephenQueen

Anyway, as I'm trying several devices for myself, and for whatever reason I'm having too much spare time, from time to time I'll share my experiences in case is usefull for somebody, didn't came here to defend a crusade against anything. It's my opinion that are devices that are more comfortable/better for reading experience than others, and that's all. No much to argue.

Why won't you tell us what eBook you had the problem with?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by StephenQueen

Pocketbook touch lux hd 3, still waiting to receive it... will tell you how it feels.It promises to have all features touch lux 5 has but HD (300 dpi)... let's see If that font edges "blurriness" ... disappears.

I own a Touch HD 3 and like it a lot. The 300 dpi screen is nice (as is the built-in ADE, etc.). Like the Touch Lux 5 and the Clara, the Touch HD 3 will have a touch layer. So it might not be quite as clear as the Basic Lux. I find the screen is basically equal to the Clara -- so, if you found the Clara's screen acceptable, you'll probably like the HD 3. I use the Constantia font and like it a lot.

Good luck.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by StephenQueen

I can lend you the epub I'm reading, and you can try yourself to use line spacing.
I perfectly read it in pocketbook. then let me know if you can convert it in calibre... if you patched kobo or what else, I've tried calibre, with the stiles options and does't work... anyway... pleased if you can, and show me, I love how nice is the kobo screen and can recover it.

I've run into the inability to change line spacing in the Kobos as well (when reading ePubs). Those who understand Kobos and ePubs (and how to edit them) think this is a plus ("Kobo strictly follows the ePub standards"). I consider the Kobo a little too picky here as I don't have this ePub editing knowledge. Kobos are also a little pickier with font names. I have had to follow instructions to change the internal names of fonts so they would work in a Kobo, fonts that worked fine in other brands of eReaders without the name changes.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by StephenQueen

Can't agree, kobo is best looking, and the interface is easy to use provided you have the correct epub, the problem is that there are more "correct epubs" when using pocketbook based on my experience.

Kobo also sometimes has issues with leaving "gaps" at the end of pages when reading ePubs. I read ePubs because I don't like the KePub numbering on Kobos. (Each screen equals a page, so it depends on the size of your font and the width of your margins.) JSWolf also makes the point that ePubs are formatted better than KePubs in Kobos (I haven't noticed that as much).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Kobo also sometimes has issues with leaving "gaps" at the end of pages when reading ePubs. I read ePubs because I don't like the KePub numbering on Kobos. (Each screen equals a page, so it depends on the size of your font and the width of your margins.) JSWolf also makes the point that ePubs are formatted better than KePubs in Kobos (I haven't noticed that as much).

Yeah, gaps are a major issue with Kobo epubs. There's a way to disable them by setting widows and orphans to 1 in the book css and in the ereader configuration. Also there's a patch named "disable bottom padding in epub" or something similar, and I guess this helps as well.

My biggest beef with Kobo readers is not the way they display epubs, but that they're still somewhat buggy compared to Kindles. For example, my Libra 2 has frozen and rebooted several times (I guess I'll have to do a manual reset, which means starting everything from scratch, so I haven't gotten around to it yet) and the Sage charging cover is also buggy. In comparison, the Oasis 1 charging cover worked perfectly when I had it.

Kobo has very nice devices, but I do wish they'd pay more attention to testing before releasing a new product and to quality control.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Kobo also sometimes has issues with leaving "gaps" at the end of pages when reading ePubs. I read ePubs because I don't like the KePub numbering on Kobos. (Each screen equals a page, so it depends on the size of your font and the width of your margins.) JSWolf also makes the point that ePubs are formatted better than KePubs in Kobos (I haven't noticed that as much).

ePub has better typesetting then KePub.

The gaps at the end of the page are due to the RMSDK's default widow and orphan settings of 2. But this can be fixed in a patch, 2 config file settings, or editing the CSS of the ePub.

Using the config file setting is the easiest to do.

[Reading]
readingAdobeOrphans=1
readingAdobeWidows=1

That's all you need to do is put those two lines in the [Reading] section of Kobo.eReader.conf file in .kobo/Kobo.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

My biggest beef with Kobo readers is not the way they display epubs, but that they're still somewhat buggy compared to Kindles. For example, my Libra 2 has frozen and rebooted several times (I guess I'll have to do a manual reset, which means starting everything from scratch, so I haven't gotten around to it yet) and the Sage charging cover is also buggy. In comparison, the Oasis 1 charging cover worked perfectly when I had it.

My Libra 2 has not frozen or crashed. I've been reading ePub and it's working no problem. So I will disagree with your assessment that the Libra 2 is somewhat buggy.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My Libra 2 has not frozen or crashed. I've been reading ePub and it's working no problem. So I will disagree with your assessment that the Libra 2 is somewhat buggy.

There are more complaints about that on Reddit and elsewhere. So it's not just my Libra.

I have the same books on my Libra 2 as I had on my Libra H2O, which had no such issues.

Edit: just reading doesn't trigger it. It seems using the touchscreen to search, look up a word in the dictionary or adjust fonts does. Again, not always.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There are more complaints about that on Reddit and elsewhere. So it's not just my Libra.

I have the same books on my Libra 2 as I had on my Libra H2O, which had no such issues.

Edit: just reading doesn't trigger it. It seems using the touchscreen to search, look up a word in the dictionary or adjust fonts does. Again, not always.

I have adjusted fonts without an issue. I've not searched but I have used the dictionary a little. I'll use the dictionary more and do some searching.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have adjusted fonts without an issue. I've not searched but I have used the dictionary a little. I'll use the dictionary more and do some searching.

It's more likely to happen when one does several of those things in a row. It has happened to me when trying out several different fonts and when searching for several words in succession. Not the things I usually do, but still.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's more likely to happen when one does several of those things in a row. It has happened to me when trying out several different fonts and when searching for several words in succession. Not the things I usually do, but still.

I cannot see many people doing that in succession.

[John F]

What I ask for when ereading is that I can read with the formating I want. Calibre is the main tool for doing this. With calibre, I'm relatively confident that I could switch between a few different brands of ereaders and be happy. Once I've done the upfront installation/setup/tweaking, I feel I could "just read".

With Kobo and patching, I am at a point where I'm almost completely satisified with my reading experience, for now.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

What I ask for when ereading is that I can read with the formating I want. Calibre is the main tool for doing this. With calibre, I'm relatively confident that I could switch between a few different brands of ereaders and be happy. Once I've done the upfront installation/setup/tweaking, I feel I could "just read".

With Kobo and patching, I am at a point where I'm almost completely satisified with my reading experience, for now.

Very well said.

[Ruffinit]

Something that hasn't been addressed is how good are the new units on battery longevity? I have one of the N647 Kobos with wifi and I'm spoiled with the long battery life. The issue with it is that the power button has disintegrated so can't turn it on/off without something to push into the hole to do so. I like the unit for every other reason. How's the Aura or something that's newer that I don't have to plug in every few days?