Color e-readers

Nikoz · 05-10-2024, 03:09 PM

Hi,

I've been waiting for years to make the jump to a color e-reader.
Happy owner of a Kobo Libra 2, I've read/watched reviews of the Libra colour and I'm almost convinced - I just wish it had a bigger screen. Since I don't know much outside of Kindles and Kobos, I'm wondering if there's an e-reader out there that beats it, maybe an Onyx boox or Pocketbook device. It would mostly be for reading PDFs, and some comic books. A screen bigger than 7" is a plus, although a 10" could be out of my budget. I'd rather avoid android but would bite the bullet if the device is otherwise much better than the others.
Libra colour owners, how comfortable is a 7" screen for reading comics?
Should I pull the trigger on it, or is there a better device for me?

DNSB · 05-10-2024, 03:12 PM

My daughter finds reading manga on my Libra Colour to be okay. She's not interested in buying one since most of her manga collections is in glorious B&W.

I find the 7" screen too small for reading PDFs since most PDFs seem to aimed at A4/letter size screens. But then I like my Sage for being able to use larger fonts sizes that my old eyes are comfortable with while allowing a decent amount of text on the screen. Using KOReader helps a bit but overall, would not recommend a 7" screen for PDFs.

downeaster59 · 05-10-2024, 04:57 PM

I have the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C. It has a 7.8 inch screen. Its native NeoReader handles pdfs quite well. You can crop the margins to increase the size of the text, for example. I don't know about the Libra Colour except that it uses the same Kaleido 3 color Eink tech as the Tab Mini C. The Tab is an Android device, which is not your first choice. It's also more expensive than the Libra Colour. On the other hand, performance is quite good. You can install the Kobo, Kindle, Nook, and other apps. You need to use the frontlight, as contrast without the light is not good enough. It has 64 GB of internal storage, but not microSD card slot. As always, it depends on what you want a color Eink device to do. For my purposes, I like the Tab Mini C quite a bit. Perhaps the Libra Colour will be fine for your purposes, but check out the Tab Mini C, just in case...

Nikoz · 05-12-2024, 05:06 AM

Thank you both for your answers. After thinking and checking a bit, I can't really read PDFs comfortably with the Libra 2, and since the Colour has the same screen size and (and I'm assuming) the same software I would just be getting a faster, more colorful device for reading epubs, so I think I'll hold off on the Libra colour.
The tab mini C seems interesting so I will be checking reviews for that device. Does the .8" difference in screen size make a big difference for reading PDFs?

JSWolf · 05-12-2024, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikoz

Thank you both for your answers. After thinking and checking a bit, I can't really read PDFs comfortably with the Libra 2, and since the Colour has the same screen size and (and I'm assuming) the same software I would just be getting a faster, more colorful device for reading epubs, so I think I'll hold off on the Libra colour.
The tab mini C seems interesting so I will be checking reviews for that device. Does the .8" difference in screen size make a big difference for reading PDFs?

It makes a slight difference, but in the grand scheme, not really. You want a 10.3" screen to be able to read PDF.

Quoth · 05-12-2024, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It makes a slight difference, but in the grand scheme, not really. You want a 10.3" screen to be able to read PDF.

Or a larger matt surface tablet. I found the reMarkable and Elipsa disappointing for PDF. I bought the 9.7″ Kindle DGX years ago when Amazon had it on clearout sale for PDF and a total waste of money. The 6.8″ original Aura H2O was better. I only use the TCL Nxtpaper 11 for portable PDFs and notes now.

The 8″ Sage has more pixels than all the approx 10.3″ eink except the Kindle Scribe, but you'd need sharp eyesight! Still poorer than Nxtpaper 11 for any PDF or Manga or graphic novel. I only use it now for ordinary epub novels, where it's a better size and a bit better for pure mono ebook text.

Frogm4n · 05-14-2024, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikoz

Does the .8" difference in screen size make a big difference for reading PDFs?

While I agree that 10.3" is better for PDF, it's best to think about it in terms of screen area, not just diagonal size. It's larger in both width and height. I don't have measurements at hand, but the 1" difference between my Kobo Glo HD (6") and my Oasis 2 (7") is about an extra word per line and 4-5 more lines per screen with the same font in KOReader and set pretty close in size. Reading PDF is certainly a bit easier on the OA2, but the jump to my Scribe is quite a bit better.

JawadLeLogeur · 05-16-2024, 09:24 AM

I've read a ton of B&W manga on the 8" Forma and it works quite well. The one inch difference is quite significant (no jokes please)

If you read anglo or franco-belgian sized comics, 7" will be a bit woeful. I read comics on a 10" RLCD (the Eyemoo which came out last year) and even then it's not the best experience, but workable.

PDFs should be fine on 7" IMO it depends on your age and eyesight. Especially just LaTeX academic formatting with just text and a few figures here and there.

JSWolf · 05-16-2024, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

I've read a ton of B&W manga on the 8" Forma and it works quite well. The one inch difference is quite significant (no jokes please)

If you read anglo or franco-belgian sized comics, 7" will be a bit woeful. I read comics on a 10" RLCD (the Eyemoo which came out last year) and even then it's not the best experience, but workable.

PDFs should be fine on 7" IMO it depends on your age and eyesight. Especially just LaTeX academic formatting with just text and a few figures here and there.

Sorry, but a 7" eInk screen is still too small for an 8"x11" PDF.

DNSB · 05-23-2024, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soniya

Hey hi, a bigger screen is better for reading PDF and comics. The Onyx boox note air2 plus and pocketbook InkPad color are excellent options with larger screens. Both can provide a better experience than the kobo libra colour.

Unless you want a smaller ereader for portability issues, a lighter ereader when you are unable to hold that heavier 10.3" device for more than a minute or two—the Kobo Libra Colour is well below 50% of the average weight of all the 10.3" eareader where I could find the weight in the specifications, the Kobo Sage is a bit heavier and close to 50% of the average weight.

When I compared my Libra Colour to a friend of mine's Boox Air3 C, the colour rendition is much the same (Boox was set to normal and default colour dark/light settings). So that pastel newsprint look most of us have seen. The Boox tended to have more ghosting but that is, I think, related to it's anti-flicker setting. I did like the E Ink control center though for the most part, using the default settings seemed to give the best results for reading. On B&W text, the Libra Colour had slightly better contrast (eInk Carta 1300 compared to eInk Carta 1200) according to my densitometer but that was only noticeable in side by side comparisons.

radius · 05-23-2024, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikoz

Libra colour owners, how comfortable is a 7" screen for reading comics?

I don't have a Libra Color, but I'm a long time comic reader...

I find for my eyes:

6" (like many "classic" ereaders) - OK-ish for most manga but can be a little tough for some (and this might depend if you are reading translations or original text)

7" (like a Kindle Paperwhite) - Pretty good for manga; this is close to paper manga size. I wouldn't read American comics at this size on eink.

8" (like an iPad Mini or Kobo Aura One) - American comics start being OK at this size if you read sideways. Manga good but some look a tiny bit blown up at this size.

10" (like classic iPad or many Android tablets) - American comics mostly OK on tablets -- especially if you fit to width they are usually decently legible. Some very detailed comics will feel cramped, and so will detailed double page spreads.

12" - this screen size (especially at 3:2 aspect ratio) is a very close match to the standard American comic page. Still smaller than bande desinee page, but those are usually less detailed and dialog-heavy than American comics so you are good there as well.

Anghirrim · 05-30-2024, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

I've read a ton of B&W manga on the 8" Forma and it works quite well. The one inch difference is quite significant (no jokes please)

If you read anglo or franco-belgian sized comics, 7" will be a bit woeful. I read comics on a 10" RLCD (the Eyemoo which came out last year) and even then it's not the best experience, but workable.

PDFs should be fine on 7" IMO it depends on your age and eyesight. Especially just LaTeX academic formatting with just text and a few figures here and there.

Couldn't agee more. I have both a Kobo Forma 8" and a Boox Page 7". The extra inch makes a huge difference when reading mangas.

tomsem · 05-30-2024, 04:48 PM

Amazon has panel/guided view for comics and manga viewing 'Z-order' options for Store content. So you can get it done on 6" screens (I even like using guided view on my 12.9" iPad Pro). Of course, no color eReader so far.

And you can use Kindle Comic Creator to generate smaller pages to simulate Z-order view (it will create ePub, in fact that's the only format I generate with it).

But there's no substitute for a larger screen.

Pajamaman · 11-04-2024, 01:10 PM

Slight necro post, but...

The Onyx neoreader has software settings to chop up pages into sections. This works well for conventional comic layouts. You can also move around within the format.

So an Onyx has advantage over koreader on kobo, or presumably kindle.

Snorre · 01-05-2025, 10:42 PM

On my Kobo Libra Colour, it's mostly a frustrating mess to read if it's an image PDF with small text, like a scan of an old news paper or something.

The small screen can only show so little and it's sluggish and flickers a lot when moving the picture around on the screen.
It works to read but it's not pleasant in the long run.

I'd say either convert the PDF to a more suitable format or use a computer or bigger screen tablet to read (image) PDF files.

05-10-2024, 03:09 PM	#1
Nikoz Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 450000 Join Date: Oct 2021 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Color e-readers Hi, I've been waiting for years to make the jump to a color e-reader. Happy owner of a Kobo Libra 2, I've read/watched reviews of the Libra colour and I'm almost convinced - I just wish it had a bigger screen. Since I don't know much outside of Kindles and Kobos, I'm wondering if there's an e-reader out there that beats it, maybe an Onyx boox or Pocketbook device. It would mostly be for reading PDFs, and some comic books. A screen bigger than 7" is a plus, although a 10" could be out of my budget. I'd rather avoid android but would bite the bullet if the device is otherwise much better than the others. Libra colour owners, how comfortable is a 7" screen for reading comics? Should I pull the trigger on it, or is there a better device for me?

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05-10-2024, 03:12 PM	#2
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 48,088 Karma: 174315300 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	My daughter finds reading manga on my Libra Colour to be okay. She's not interested in buying one since most of her manga collections is in glorious B&W. I find the 7" screen too small for reading PDFs since most PDFs seem to aimed at A4/letter size screens. But then I like my Sage for being able to use larger fonts sizes that my old eyes are comfortable with while allowing a decent amount of text on the screen. Using KOReader helps a bit but overall, would not recommend a 7" screen for PDFs.

05-10-2024, 04:57 PM	#3
downeaster59 Wizard Posts: 1,251 Karma: 2957301 Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Rochester, NY Device: Boox Go 10.3, Kobo Libra 2	I have the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C. It has a 7.8 inch screen. Its native NeoReader handles pdfs quite well. You can crop the margins to increase the size of the text, for example. I don't know about the Libra Colour except that it uses the same Kaleido 3 color Eink tech as the Tab Mini C. The Tab is an Android device, which is not your first choice. It's also more expensive than the Libra Colour. On the other hand, performance is quite good. You can install the Kobo, Kindle, Nook, and other apps. You need to use the frontlight, as contrast without the light is not good enough. It has 64 GB of internal storage, but not microSD card slot. As always, it depends on what you want a color Eink device to do. For my purposes, I like the Tab Mini C quite a bit. Perhaps the Libra Colour will be fine for your purposes, but check out the Tab Mini C, just in case...

05-12-2024, 05:06 AM	#4
Nikoz Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 450000 Join Date: Oct 2021 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Thank you both for your answers. After thinking and checking a bit, I can't really read PDFs comfortably with the Libra 2, and since the Colour has the same screen size and (and I'm assuming) the same software I would just be getting a faster, more colorful device for reading epubs, so I think I'll hold off on the Libra colour. The tab mini C seems interesting so I will be checking reviews for that device. Does the .8" difference in screen size make a big difference for reading PDFs?

05-16-2024, 09:24 AM	#8
JawadLeLogeur Zealot Posts: 110 Karma: 7156 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Western Sahara Device: Kobo Forma 4.15.12920	I've read a ton of B&W manga on the 8" Forma and it works quite well. The one inch difference is quite significant (no jokes please) If you read anglo or franco-belgian sized comics, 7" will be a bit woeful. I read comics on a 10" RLCD (the Eyemoo which came out last year) and even then it's not the best experience, but workable. PDFs should be fine on 7" IMO it depends on your age and eyesight. Especially just LaTeX academic formatting with just text and a few figures here and there.

05-30-2024, 04:48 PM	#13
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,007 Karma: 27060353 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Amazon has panel/guided view for comics and manga viewing 'Z-order' options for Store content. So you can get it done on 6" screens (I even like using guided view on my 12.9" iPad Pro). Of course, no color eReader so far. And you can use Kindle Comic Creator to generate smaller pages to simulate Z-order view (it will create ePub, in fact that's the only format I generate with it). But there's no substitute for a larger screen.

11-04-2024, 01:10 PM	#14
Pajamaman Wizard Posts: 2,874 Karma: 10700629 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Canada Device: Onyx Nova	Slight necro post, but... The Onyx neoreader has software settings to chop up pages into sections. This works well for conventional comic layouts. You can also move around within the format. So an Onyx has advantage over koreader on kobo, or presumably kindle.

01-05-2025, 10:42 PM	#15
Snorre Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2025 Device: Kobo Libra Colour	On my Kobo Libra Colour, it's mostly a frustrating mess to read if it's an image PDF with small text, like a scan of an old news paper or something. The small screen can only show so little and it's sluggish and flickers a lot when moving the picture around on the screen. It works to read but it's not pleasant in the long run. I'd say either convert the PDF to a more suitable format or use a computer or bigger screen tablet to read (image) PDF files.