Best Smaller eReader?

[Julie Paradise]

My rec would be a Boox Poke5.

Backstory: I had ordered a white Palma in January, but that was taken by my teenage daughter (who loves it, and probably would recommend that), so I was on the hunt again myself. After seeing a Poke3 in person, I ordered a Poke5 because it is exactly the size of a thin-ish A6 notebook, so also very pocketable and considerably smaller than, e.g., a Kindle Paperwhite. I lost this one to a cousin who goes on a year-long world trip this week (I showed it to her and then spontaneously let her keep it, as she seemed so enamoured), so ... I need yet another small reader.

Based on my/our experiences with the two models, I will order another Poke5, because as great and snappy and chic the Palma is, I do find the screen ratio on the Poke5 nicer for reading. And it is cheaper. And, tbh, the Poke5 does all it needs to do for me, which is running the Kindle app (after a weird two-step activation process for the PlayStore), also run InstaPaper and ReadEra Premium, and synch the reading progress etc. to my other Boox devices.

[everynone]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Unless you really want a device that has a smartphone form factor, you're better off getting a normal 6" e-reader that costs less and rarely needs charging, such as a member of the Poke series.

Yeah, I'm not so attached to the smartphone form factor. I think I'll do what someone suggested earlier and just cut out the dimensions in cardboard. It definitely looks like the Poke 5 or one of the Kobo's would be perfect.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[curtw]

Sorry to be late, but if you're willing to look at pre-owned, the Kindle Voyage is perfect for my pockets, but still has a "full" size screen.

[DNSB]

For a size comparison, the Kindle Voyage is 115 x 162 x 7.6 mm while a Kobo Clara BW is 112 x 160 x 9.2 mm. Both have a 6" eInk screen (Carta vs. Carta 1300). The Voyage has buttons while the Clara BW does not. The Clara BW has a colour adjustable front light while the Voyage does not.

OTOH, comparing the Voyage screen to the Clara BW screen side by side, the Clara BW to my eyes has darker blacks and better overall contrast though considering the difference in age between the two devices, the Clara BW wins by a lot smaller margin than expected.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

For a size comparison, the Kindle Voyage is 115 x 162 x 7.6 mm while a Kobo Clara BW is 112 x 160 x 9.2 mm. Both have a 6" eInk screen (Carta vs. Carta 1300). The Voyage has buttons while the Clara BW does not. The Clara BW has a colour adjustable front light while the Voyage does not.

OTOH, comparing the Voyage screen to the Clara BW screen side by side, the Clara BW to my eyes has darker blacks and better overall contrast though considering the difference in age between the two devices, the Clara BW wins by a lot smaller margin than expected.

I just read a book on my Kindle Voyage last week. I did "bolden" the Constantia font a notch or two, but the reading experience is still very good. If they made a new one just like it, with the warm light option, I would more than likely buy it. I wish BadEReader would have been right in their multiple false claims that a new Voyage was "definitely" being released... any day now.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I just read a book on my Kindle Voyage last week. I did "bolden" the Constantia font a notch or two, but the reading experience is still very good.

Heh. I sold my Voyage years ago, because I just didn't want to read on it - the screen was too small, no warm light and I didn't like the ergonomics. I found myself going back to my 7'' Oasis every time I tried to read a book on the Voyage, even though the Oasis contrast was worse.

Now I no longer have the Oasis either. I no longer wanted to read on it after I bought my latest Kobos.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Heh. I sold my Voyage years ago, because I just didn't want to read on it - the screen was too small, no warm light and I didn't like the ergonomics. I found myself going back to my 7'' Oasis every time I tried to read a book on the Voyage, even though the Oasis contrast was worse.

I like small and light. I still occasionally read on my Kobo Mini.

Choice is good.

[rowe]

I far prefer my pocket readers to my old 6/7/8/10/13" ones (including a Poke/Voyage/Oasis).

They're generally much more comfortable to read on for me: lighter, more ergonomic, page turn buttons in a better position, line lengths more optimised to easily read quickly.

But a lot of personal preference comes into play.

[JSWolf]

A Reader in a pocket has a good chance of getting broken.

[rowe]

Most of the pocket readers in candy bar shapes like the InkPalm and Hisense are pretty robust. I've had one in my pocket all the time for several years. It's the use case they're designed for. The Boox Palma is an exception and seems to break easily.

Regular readers like the Poke/Voyage/Paperwhite/Pocketbook break very easily in a pocket. I've broken many.

[Gormagon]

If you insist on the form factor "phonelike" then I'd recommend the TCL 40Nxtpaper, which isn't an e-reader but a matte LCD.

The arguments for this device are the price, the features (it's a full functional phone), no ghosting (I really hate the ghosting and the refreshes on my e-readers after some minutes), colours look like they are supposed to look, android (you can install your favourite reading app). Cons are Android 13 (not the newest version, nevertheless there are few e-readers with Android 13 right now) and the update policy of TCL isn't the best, the lowest brightness is actually too bright for me at night, although apps like Librera can dim the brightness even further, KoReader can't this, though), the battery life isn't comparable to a classic e-reader, although one can disable many system apps and get a decent time without the need for recharging when using the phone just for reading.

I have no problems with LCD screens so it really doesn't matter for me which screen I use. I really like the matte Nxtpaper screens since they have no reflections, even my Meebook and Boox TUC reflect light more than the matte TCl display. Unfortunately the Nxtpaper isn't really usable when bright sunlight shines directly on it. But then my e-readers aren't really usable either with direct sunlight on the screen.

[rjv]

I had a new battery put into my Kobo Mini, and it's like new. Fits in the t-shirt pocket.

[Renate]

I don't think that the Palma has GPS. The Hisense A9 does?
I wish that a small "ereader" had GPS.
It's annoying that the receiver is already build into many processors, they'd just have to add an antenna.

[rowe]

Yes, the A9 does. Think the Hi Reader Pro / Palma does not.

[Renate]

I actually put a separate GPS in a B&N Glow3 (BNRV520) that I had.
It worked, but the GPS module I used at the time was a piece of ...
Capture time was in minutes.