What's so bad about a Kindle?

[ps67]

Kindle and Kobo both have their strengths and weaknesses. I'm satisfied with both, even though I now use the Kobo because it has the biggest screen. Generally speaking: if you just buy books on the store and read them, both are fine. If this is not enough for you then:

Kobo's strengths are:
* Articles with Pocket
* You can easily apply patches or install Koreader and Plato
* excellent metadata management with calibre (collections, synopsis etc.) on Your Kobo
* finest regulation of size of fonts, margins and so on (but for sharpness of custom fonts You must apply a patch)
*ADE, so You can read drmed epub bought everywhere or borrowed from a library (also with overdrive where it is supported)
*only in Forma: dropbox

The best things Kindle has compared to Kobo are:
* ability to send your books bought elsewhere to Amazon and then to your Kindle (but they will not be in the best kfx format but only in Mobi)
* Goodreads
* xrays (only in English book, I think)
* better dictionary

And they both consent custom fonts and setting the sharpness of fonts.

Kobo has 2 kind of book: epub and kepub: the first has kerning, hyphenation and ligatures; the second is better for everything but it has no ligatures (it has kerning and hyphenation and You can enlarge images, it has pop up notes and statistics while reading). The dictionary in Kobo is not as good as in Kindle but it can be replaced with a better one if You find it, You can also add others dictionaries with some tricks.

Kindle can handle mobi (the worst format, but the only choice to send with email) azw3 (can handle embedded font and soft hyphens with a calibre plugin) and kfx (ligatures, hyphenation, kerning); all formats can handle pop up notes and, if I remember correctly, also image enlargement (surely kfx and azw3). Only in USA You can use libraries with a Kindle, I don't know too much about it because I live in Italy.

Of course You have to consider cost of device and, if You like a large screen, the fact that largest Kindle (Oasis) is 7" and the largest Kobo (Forma) is 8"

I am sure I forget something and I have simplified a little (about mobi format, for example) but I have written too much.

[barryem]

I have Kindles, Kobos and Nooks. I prefer Kindles but they're all good and if I could only have Kobo's I'd be okay with that. I'm glad I have my Kindles though.

These are all excellent devices. It's kind of like saying Fords are better than Chevies. It's just a matter of taste.

My suggestion is read their features and read about the benefits each offers and pick the one that seems the best fit for you. There aren't any bad choices.

Barry

[Pajamaman]

There are two clear points of superiority kobo has over kindle IMO.

1. Kindle has no comfort light. That's a showstopper right there, for me.

2. Organising sideloaded books into collections. On the Kindle its a massive pita. On the kobo it can be done easily in at least two ways.

I would say the kindle hardware is better, but I hear kobo has improved. Also I prefer to use koreader, which you can no longer use on a kindle because of no jailbreak. Koreader allows me to configure onscreen page turns to use the whole screen. That's a huge deal for me. So make that three points of superiority for the kobo. Kindle is nice hardware, but what's the point if its horribly restricted?

[HolyAura]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

1. Kindle has no comfort light. That's a showstopper right there, for me

Doesn't the new Oasis 3 and PW4 have the orange lighting system?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by HolyAura

Doesn't the new Oasis 3 and PW4 have the orange lighting system?

Oasis 3 yes. PW4 no.

[doreenjoy]

I could never use a kindle. I need to be able to sort books into collections.

I also don't want to spend more to get the comfort lighting, which isn't on the Kindle paperwhite.

[SusanReads]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I could never use a kindle. I need to be able to sort books into collections.

I also don't want to spend more to get the comfort lighting, which isn't on the Kindle paperwhite.

People keep saying kindle has no collections, but they do. Just not via Calibre. But on the device itself. I've used my collections for years and I'm very happy with how they are sorted.
I used my Kobo collections the same way so for me there's no difference.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

People keep saying kindle has no collections, but they do. Just not via Calibre. But on the device itself. I've used my collections for years and I'm very happy with how they are sorted.
I used my Kobo collections the same way so for me there's no difference.

Yep. Collections aren't a high priority for me, but I do have most of my books organized in collections on my Kindles.

[BookCat]

I've had brief encounters with Kobo readers and a long relationships with a kindle. Frankly, I don't remember the Kobos being in any way superior except that the Clara HD had a warm light feature (which had lightbleed, the reason for its return).

Now that I can put custom fonts on my PW2 I'm happy with it, though I convert all books to azw3 to display the custom fonts. The dictionary is great, especially the "Open Dictionary" feature which displays it full screen. Would be even more fun if it had a Thesaurus, though totally unnecessary for reading.

I had a quick play with a Kobo Mini before giving it to a friend; didn't like the odd large margin at the bottom of the screen. Don't know if that was specific to the Mini.

Kindles are fine. I'm hoping the next PaperWhite will have a comfortlight. In the middle of winter, though, I'm happy with a harsh blue light to ward off S.A.D.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

People keep saying kindle has no collections, but they do. Just not via Calibre. But on the device itself. I've used my collections for years and I'm very happy with how they are sorted.
I used my Kobo collections the same way so for me there's no difference.

But not having collections controlled with Calibre makes them a lot more difficult to use. You have to manually create them, manually move books into the collections, and manually delete empty collections. Makes collections a real PIA.

It's easier to get a Reader that has collections that work with Calibre. This you can blame on Amazon because originally Kindle collection did work with Calibre. Amazon took that away.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

People keep saying kindle has no collections, but they do. Just not via Calibre. But on the device itself. I've used my collections for years and I'm very happy with how they are sorted.
I used my Kobo collections the same way so for me there's no difference.

On a jailbroked kindle (much like a kobo), I copy and paste sideloaded content from my pc into into folders named by author onto the jailbreaked kindle. Then I can browse those folders using koreader.

Could you describe the workflow you use to organize sideloaded content into collections on a kindle?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

On a jailbroked kindle (much like a kobo), I copy and paste sideloaded content from my pc into into folders named by author onto the jailbreaked kindle. Then I can browse those folders using koreader.

Could you describe the workflow you use to organize sideloaded content into collections on a kindle?

But what sort of workflow would you be using if you bought a new Kindle and it was unable to be jailbroken?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

I have Kindles, Kobos and Nooks. I prefer Kindles but they're all good and if I could only have Kobo's I'd be okay with that.

I agree with Barry. All three ereader options in the US, Kindle, Kobo and Nook are good choices. The differences between them are fairly minor.

Nook has the most basic software of the three, but if my only reader was a Nook (and once it was) I'd be perfectly happy with it.

When I've played with Kindles, I found I preferred Nook and Kobo software. But I'm sure a Kindle would keep me perfectly happy if it were my only option.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But not having collections controlled with Calibre makes them a lot more difficult to use. You have to manually create them, manually move books into the collections, and manually delete empty collections. Makes collections a real PIA.

It's easier to get a Reader that has collections that work with Calibre. This you can blame on Amazon because originally Kindle collection did work with Calibre. Amazon took that away.

For this to be efficient you'd need to be consistent in setting the metadata, especially tabs, in Calibre. Personally, I prefer the on-kindle Collection creation method.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

People keep saying kindle has no collections, but they do. Just not via Calibre. But on the device itself. I've used my collections for years and I'm very happy with how they are sorted.

I used my Kobo collections the same way so for me there's no difference.

I have over a thousand books organized into collections in Calibre using metadata. I'm just not interested in redoing that all because Amazon chooses to ignore the metadata and forces me to make collections on the device itself.