Kobo Aura One for pdf's

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Marinolino

If one can find affordable used Kobo Aura One it is still a very good pdf, djvu, comic e-reader, but only after the installation of Koreader app thereon, Koreader also uses k2pdfopt's reflow mode.

https://youtu.be/i2oSOeAnD10

A Kobo Forma is even better because the screen is 8" instead of 7.8".

[salamanderjuice]

And a Forma is likely more expensive. A 5% change in screen surface area is hardly noticeable IMO. KOReader helps but bigger PDFs can still bog it down on these devices.

What absolutely killed me for using an Aura One for academic PDFs is the process of getting PDFs on and off, it's just too slow and cumbersome for reading a single article or doing research on a string of articles that you don't entirely know of in advance (as you pull articles from the bibliography of the article you just read or related articles).

I'd say skip Kobo/Kindle for PDFs, in particular academic articles. Either get a cheap Android tablet with a decent screen, an iPad or an Android eInk device like Boox or Boyue that make cloud syncing easy, have decent web browsers that can actually handle logging into a institution for paper access and can do pen markup well.

[Dodman]

Originally Posted by Marinolino

If one can find affordable used Kobo Aura One it is still a very good pdf, djvu, comic e-reader, but only after the installation of Koreader app thereon, Koreader also uses k2pdfopt's reflow mode.

https://youtu.be/i2oSOeAnD10

Thank you!

I have zero recollection of having written that post - though it was seven years ago. I clearly never pursued the k2pdffopt option, but as I said at the time, PDFs weren’t a priority then. They are more so now, but still, I find ‘converting’ indivual files a bit tedious.

The problem with installing Koreader is the issue concerning firmware later than 4.17. The instructions to get around this may seem simple enough to many, but they’re bewildering to me, and I’ve read several alarm calls from those who have bricked their devices by doing it wrongly - though I suppose if this happened it might at least force me to cough up for a more expensive, dedicated PDF reader.

[lensmann]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

I'd say skip Kobo/Kindle for PDFs, in particular academic articles. Either get a cheap Android tablet with a decent screen, an iPad or an Android eInk device like Boox or Boyue that make cloud syncing easy, have decent web browsers that can actually handle logging into a institution for paper access and can do pen markup well.

I agree. I see on the previous page that I recommended the Aura One over the Onyx Boox N96 seven years ago. However, Onyx's newer devices are dramatically better. I would now strongly recommend a Boox for academic PDFs, and I've actually used my power as dean to buy several Boox devices for academics and doctoral students in my department to use. They're quite popular, both for reading academic articles and for things like annotating and grading student work.

[anacreon]

I find Elipsa very good for reading most PDFs - I'm not an academic, rarely use the stylus, which I've also found uncomfortable for my severely arthritic hands (the lower button is too low, the body too narrow).
I use it exclusively also for a few epubs (kepubs in my case), mostly those with tables / graphs.