7" to 8" screen, contrast and sharpness are paramount, which one?

[dinosm]

My oldest one is a 2013 Kindle PW. Its contrast with the light off is simply amazing, I can read it with the light off even in dimly lit rooms.

I had a Pocketbook Color 3 but the screen was way too dark for my liking, especially outdoors in sunny conditions. Also, compared to my Sage (see below), the text wasn't as crisp (I have since found that KOReader makes the fonts look a bit jagged, and I used KOReader on it as the stock app's fonts were too thin and grey).

Now I got a Kobo Sage, contrast looks good (but still not as good as my old Kindle, which was surprising to me) but it came with a gradient on its screen (cool to warm buttons to far side) so I am returning it today.

Either I am too fussy or Kindles still rule in terms of quality (the recent issues notwithstanding), crispness and contrast?

So, I am still on the hunt to replace my old Kindle.
What I'd like in order of preference is a 7" to 8" screen, superb contrast and sharpness without light on, good battery life (I'd consider this to be at least 20-22 reading hours with say 20% light, so no Android and I am guessing no more Sages), the ability to send ePUBs by email, the ability to render ePUBs correctly without faff, the ability to work with Calibre.

The Sage works fine in that Calibre of course can auto-convert to KEPUB which works well, however I'd like the ability to email ePUBs to it as well, e.g. in case I find a good book on holiday when not carrying a laptop with me, however that's not a deal breaker.

I love Pocketbook's open software, that it just works with Calibre as is, renders ePUBs natively and perfectly, but their screens are a deal breaker.

I would appreciate your comments and suggestions

I feel I kinda know about all e-readers out there by now, but I'm sure I will get good recommendations here.

[Quoth]

My Sage is better than my PW3. It's similar to Oasis 2 and better than the PW4 I compared it with.

Most front lights are not entirely even as the LEDs are at the edges. So I only use the front light if the ambient light is too poor.

I now only read novels on the Sage.

[John F]

Originally Posted by dinosm

...
The Sage works fine in that Calibre of course can auto-convert to KEPUB which works well, however I'd like the ability to email ePUBs to it as well, e.g. in case I find a good book on holiday when not carrying a laptop with me, however that's not a deal breaker.

...

Would Dropbox be a suitable alternative to email?

[dinosm]

Originally Posted by John F

Would Dropbox be a suitable alternative to email?

Yes, and I'd set it up like that for my Sage, but the problem with Kobos seems to be they don't render ePUBs properly (nor do stats seem to work on ePUBs), so you need to go through Calibre to give it a KEPUB that displays properly. This makes the send-to functionality practically useless unless all books are already KEPUBs (and I don't think I want to sit and convert 1000 books to KEPUB and keep both versions in my storage - plus I think Calibre-Web only sends EPUBs and not KEPUBs even if the latter are present).

Originally Posted by Quoth

Most front lights are not entirely even as the LEDs are at the edges.

I see others mentioning this too. I guess I was incredibly lucky my Pocketbook Color 3 had perfectly even lighting over the entire screen!

[Sirtel]

If the Sage and Pocketbooks are out, then no such ereader exists.

My Sage is better contrast-wise than my 2019 Kindle Oasis was.

[Quoth]

Also the larger a screen is the more difficult it is to light evenly from the edge.

[Sirtel]

Maybe the PW6 would be the best fit for you. True, I know nothing about its contrast, but you can email epubs to it and I guess they display well enough (of course, once on your Kindle, they're no longer epubs). The battery life should be good too. It doesn't work with calibre as well as Kobos and Pocketbooks, but you'll have to decide what's more important to you.

We all have our notion of a perfect ereader. Usually no such beast exists and we have to make compromises. I haven't been perfectly satisfied with any one of my dozen or so ereaders, but most of them have been good enough, often with some workarounds, adjustments, patches and so on.

That's life. Unicorns don't exist in the real world, unfortunately.

[dinosm]

Is the PW6 the 2024 one?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dinosm

Is the PW6 the 2024 one?

Yes it is.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by dinosm

Is the PW6 the 2024 one?

Yes, it is.