E-reader for pdf files

[Pipp8888]

Thank you!

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Boox has 227 dpi, Pocketbook 150.
I would prefer Boox Note Pro.

Yes, the Boox.

Seriously is the Pocketbook only 150 dpi? That's not suitable for PDFs, but large print epubs at 2x normal size font for people with bad eyesight.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Seriously is the Pocketbook only 150 dpi? That's not suitable for PDFs, but large print epubs at 2x normal size font for people with bad eyesight.

There is more to it than DPI. My PDF reading experience is much better on a 13" 150 DPI Sony DPT-S1 than a 13" 300 DPI Onyx Boox Max Lumi, proably because of the surface layer on the latter meant to improve the writing experience. The Max Lumi 2 is likely even worse.

[Pajamaman]

I'm a fairly long time user of Onyx Boox devices. I read PDF occasionally on a Nova Pro (1st gen). The software is very good. The device is quick enough despite its age. I use the out-of-the-box Neoreader software to read PDF. Despite the Nova being only 7.8" I can read PDF okay if I put the PDF in landscape. I can crop easily on the fly. Sometimes I just zoom and scroll around the pages. It works okay. The Neoreader software is very good. The only downside is that it does not have a inverted dark mode. As an aside, Koreader is very unstable on my Onyx.

If I was going to read PDF *ALOT*, I would go for the 10.3" Note.

I would definitely go for an Onyx for PDF. Likebook are probably just as good, but I've never owned a recent one.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Seriously is the Pocketbook only 150 dpi?

Look.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

There is more to it than DPI. My PDF reading experience is much better on a 13" 150 DPI Sony DPT-S1

A 13 inch device is held further away from the eye than a 9.7

than a 13" 300 DPI Onyx Boox Max Lumi, proably because of the surface layer on the latter meant to improve the writing experience. The Max Lumi 2 is likely even worse.

This layer is missing from the Note Pro.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

There is more to it than DPI. My PDF reading experience is much better on a 13" 150 DPI Sony DPT-S1 than a 13" 300 DPI Onyx Boox Max Lumi, proably because of the surface layer on the latter meant to improve the writing experience. The Max Lumi 2 is likely even worse.

I have a 9.7″ DXG. Nice bright screen because no touch. But rubbish for PDFs compared with even old H2O 6.8″ because DXG only 167 dpi approx? The DXG is simply brighter/better contrast than DX, but the model was a failure at intended market for text books because of poor SW, too slow and too low resolution. No doubt that's why Amazon waited for a 10.2″ screen to do the Scribe.

I'd imagine a 13″ @ 150 dpi is similar to 10.3″ 227 dpi but inferior due to weight. I considered the two sizes of Sony years ago and thought the 13″ model was really for office desks and smaller one too expensive. They were aimed at paperless office concept, not reading.

I wear 3.5 strength reading glasses. They are not very flexible on reading distance compared to people not needing reading glasses.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Quoth

DXG only 167 dpi approx?

DX* are exactly 150 DPI, so a bit worse than K2, but so much nicer for reflowable books. PDF OK for the tiny percentage with small page size, small margins, and non-tiny text size.

I'd imagine a 13″ @ 150 dpi is similar to 10.3″ 227 dpi but inferior due to weight. I considered the two sizes of Sony years ago and thought the 13″ model was really for office desks and smaller one too expensive. They were aimed at paperless office concept, not reading.

The Sony DPT-S1 has a Mobius screen and feels quite light. The Boox Max Lumi also has a Mobius screen, but is much heavier and feels it.

I wear 3.5 strength reading glasses. They are not very flexible on reading distance compared to people not needing reading glasses.

I need glasses for everything except reading, but don't have much distance flexibility without my progressive lenses. Overall, I prefer reading without glasses.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

A 13 inch device is held further away from the eye than a 9.7
This layer is missing from the Note Pro.

At least for the Nova non-pro/Nova pro (they dumped the distinction after gen 1), the pro had the writing layer, the non-pro did not (could not annotate on). Don't know of that is what you mean. I have not seen a massive difference between the Nova pro/non-pro. But this is only applicable for gen 1.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I need glasses for everything except reading, but don't have much distance flexibility without my progressive lenses. Overall, I prefer reading without glasses.

Ditto. I hate reading with glasses. I just increase font size. I like to work on small screen more portable laptops, but I may need to get larger screens in future.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

At least for the Nova non-pro/Nova pro (they dumped the distinction after gen 1), the pro had the writing layer, the non-pro did not (could not annotate on). Don't know of that is what you mean. I have not seen a massive difference between the Nova pro/non-pro. But this is only applicable for gen 1.

It is Note - not Nova.
The Wacom layer is behind the display - writing is not a problem
The image disturbs the foil, which simulates the feeling of writing on paper: Note Air 2, Nova Air, Note 5, ....

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Have you used an Elipsa?
The battery is about 30c and lasts months. Maybe 6.
I've used two kinds of Wacom pen (traditional and EMR on reMarkable), I think the MS Surface compatible pen used by Kobo is better.
Before the changing page page while cropped was added it was trivial to use KOReader on Kobo. I've also installed KOReader on an Android eInk and the Kobo was just as easy to install on.
The amount of RAM is only an issue for Android Apps. It's not an issue on any Kobo that runs recent FW.

Does the Boox have native handwriting, shape & maths recognition? Kobo Sage & Elipsa use the Nebo app, but the free version for iPad is less features, the bought version on Android & iPad is similar. Do you have the 10.3″ Boox? Does the Wacom pen work fully with Android apps that use a digitiser like Nebo (it should)?

Also Kobo is better supported by Calibre than any other ereader. The Kindle & Kobo USB MS mode is far better than Android's USB MTP (I have the Boyue Mars Android eink with later OS/Android version).

I've not seen any Android App or ereader with as good Library interface as Kobo (MyBooks + search) or even Kindle. Even Pocketbook and Lithium are poor Library GUI. KOReader can use Calibre Metadata, but for 1000s of documents it's painful compared to Kobo or Kindle, worse even than old Sony PRS-x50 series.
But Collections & Series can be pain on Kindle compared with Kobo managed by Calibre.

Using Android means stuff like Zoo for Zotero runs. I'm not using Calibre to manage journal articles because it's really not designed for that at all. I don't personally use Calibre for much beyond DRM removal so I don't really care if collections or whatever work. Having more RAM and faster processor means web browsing is a decent and tolerable experience for doing things like downloading articles on the device directly. You can use the pen in random Android apps but third party ones are not optimized for eInk so it's a poor experience. The built in notes app works well IMO. It has handwriting and shape recognition but not math. You can also use a handwriting recognition keyboard to enter text in text boxes if you want.

Neoreader is better than KOreader and lets you annotate PDFs is half the appeal of these devices.

[Marinolino]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's worse than that! But I agree.

You need to crop/zoom the white space margins that are needed for paper and be able to turn the page. Kobo finally realised that, but at least KOReader (no longer needed) is easy to install on Kobo. It's impossible on many versions of Kindle firmware. Almost all PDFs have large margins for print.

If you can't crop /zoom off the white space in a PDF and turn the page at that setting then the Scribe would be no better than an 8″ ereader for many PDFs.

We can quickly crop the white margins on PC in advance, though, using some pdf editor or free apps like k2pdfopt or Briss.

https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/
Briss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtX9oAZISRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEW50fay16Y&t=25s

We can also quickly crop(cut) two-column pdf vertically or horizontally in half, or in four rectangles per page, if our older 8" or 10" ereader lacks such capability or is slower in that case.

[Quoth]

On unprotected PDFs. It's also significant work for an existing collection.
I've done it for PW3 & DX. I'd not go back to using something that doesn't crop & turnpages on the device.

[hel]

I have multiple ereaders. I can say Kindle DX is worse than Kobo Forma 8" for pdf. 150dpi is just not enough, and battery on mine is almost dead because of its age.

I use Note2 Air and that is better for A5+ pdfs. For smaller pdfs up to A5 and some A4 as well and for comics I prefer Boox Nova color 3c despite of low resolution. For me color is almost a must. Onyx boox readers come with pretty descent own software. I don't have to use koreader there. Read, annotate, write is quite good (not perfect though).