"Onyx": the only neutral e-book-reader in 2025? I don't want Shop+Reader....

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

Yes from Ai.
That is very nice. Please link to Git Repo.

It's not on Github, of course, but that doesn't mean it's closed. There are a ton of patches and mods available here on this forum.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

Hi

It seems that Onyx is the only neutral hardware for e-book readers that you can buy new in Switzerland.

My use case (it's very, very late, I admit). I still read a magazine on dead trees and would like to read it as a PDF (on e-Ink) in the future.

I need at least 10" because my dead tree is A4?

Only Kindle Services are hard to avoid for PDF and 10"

The "Shop" is easy to avoid on others and a simple edit (no jailbreak) turns off any shop related content on Kobo.

But a TCL Nxtpaper 14 beats all 10" approx ereaders for PDF. They are not big enough. I have/had reMarkable and Elipsa (both 10.3″ eink) and if eink Front Light is on, then the Nxtpaper is just as easy or easier on the eyes. The mono ink are only better if there is enough ambient light to have Front Light off.

Pocketbook is a Swiss/Ukrainian company.

Onyx boox are overpriced and run Android.

[PHughes]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

You misunderstood me. It's the principle that matters to me. I don't want to support a company that makes money from DRM. I will only buy DRM-free eBooks.

So for me, the only option is “Onyx”? Is that right?

I use a Kobo, and have for years, but recently I considered an Onyx after I broke the screen on one of my Kobos. After a lot of research, I went with another Kobo. They just work well. I rarely buy a book, I use a public library and it works well with the Kobo, I have only to sync to get the book on my Kobo, after borrowing it from the library's site. You can also access the library from within the reader itself, though I find it easier and quicker to use my phone or computer for that.

You can use Calibre as well, and I used to use the old Adobe software to upload books.

A nice advantage of the Kobo, is that if the book I want is not available from a library, I can choose to buy it from the Kobo store, though I have not availed myself of that option often, but when necessary, it was a godsend.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

Thanks. So "Kobo" and "Onyx" are both valid vendors. I did not know that, thanks for letting me know.

Onyx Boox need a Google account? For privacy reasons I don't have a Google account.



Is reading better optimized on Kobo than on an Android system (Onyx Boox)?

Kobo's headquarters is in Canada and they privacy very seriously. So you can go ahead and create an account at Kobo and use that to register. Also, you'll need an account at Kobo if you ever plan to buy any eBooks there.

I've had a Kobo registered with Kobo since November 30, 2014 and I've never once had any problems. I've had an account with Kobo since sometime in 2013.

Kobo is very safe. So creating an account and registering is not going to be a problem at all.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

an other question: is this the same company?

RAKUTEN TV offers free movies, etc., but collects massive amounts of user data and sells it to advertisers.

For me privacy matters!

Rakuten does own Kobo. But Kobo is it's own division and does not collect massive amounts of data to send to advertisers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

I can install those apps without Account?

IMHO, you are best to try to reading apps that come with a Kobo before installing any of the other two.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

Yes from Ai.
That is very nice. Please link to Git Repo.

Forget using an AI. It gets reading with a Reader very wrong. There's another old thread about modding a Sony Reader PRS-T2 and the person that recently posted in that thread asking how to root the T2 asked AI to double check what I was telling him and the answers he got from two different AIs was 100% wrong.

[ableal]

Originally Posted by Quoth

But a TCL Nxtpaper 14 beats all 10" approx ereaders for PDF. They are not big enough. I have/had reMarkable and Elipsa (both 10.3″ eink) and if eink Front Light is on, then the Nxtpaper is just as easy or easier on the eyes. The mono ink are only better if there is enough ambient light to have Front Light off.

I second this. I just got my TCL Nxtpaper 14 a few days ago, and it's the thing for A4 PDFs (matte screen is 20x30cm). Doubly so if it's for color magazines or comics.

Thanks to the talk here, I got on watch, and when a local retailer felt generous and sold the Nxtpaper 14 with case and pen for 333€, I got one. Otherwise, for text ebooks, I'm a Kobo customer slightly worried that my Libra2 has no replacement if needed.

[Beley2009]

Originally Posted by ableal

I second this. I just got my TCL Nxtpaper 14 a few days ago, and it's the thing for A4 PDFs (matte screen is 20x30cm). Doubly so if it's for color magazines or comics.

I prefer e-ink. The "TCL Nxtpaper 14, WLAN only, 14.30", 256 GB, Grey" is a normal Android tablet. I don't have a Google account and don't wish one.

Which Kobo best for PDF A4?

Thank you very much for your help

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

I prefer e-ink. The "TCL Nxtpaper 14, WLAN only, 14.30", 256 GB, Grey" is a normal Android tablet. I don't have a Google account and don't wish one.

Which Kobo best for PDF A4?

Thank you very much for your help

Elipsa 2E.

Boox don't require an account either...

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

I prefer e-ink. The "TCL Nxtpaper 14, WLAN only, 14.30", 256 GB, Grey" is a normal Android tablet. I don't have a Google account and don't wish one.

Which Kobo best for PDF A4?

Thank you very much for your help

It's not a "normal" tablet as it's 3:2 aspect instead of 16:9 or 16:10 and has a special screen. You only need Android account for initial setup, Google security updates and Playstore. It can be later disabled.

The Kobo Sage 8" has slightly more pixels than a 10.3" Kobo Elipsa or Elipsa2. Neither is good enough for actual magazines or A4 documents. I really tried. Certainly many scanned books (if PDF brightened first) work as the current FW does per document crop. The A5 approx manuals are slightly better on the Sage than Elipsa (I have/had both).

I read almost all novels on the Sage, but Fixed Layout Illustrated and larger or colour PDFs on the Nxtpaper 14. I disable most Google services & Apps.

The Onyx Boox uses Android, Kobo and Pocketbook make more sense and the shops can be ignored.
Kobo can use a fake email address and updates still work. "SideloadedMode=true" disables all the shop stuff. A simple to edit text file.

[Beley2009]

Thank you @Quoth, @salamanderjuice and all others.

In Kobo Elipsa2 I can take notes. How to view them in macOS and Linux? Is this some open format?

It's expensive device: https://www.toppreise.ch/price-compa...169?selsort=rd

14 offers from
CHF 364.75
incl. shipping costs

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Beley2009

Thank you @Quoth, @salamanderjuice and all others.

In Kobo Elipsa2 I can take notes. How to view them in macOS and Linux? Is this some open format?

It's expensive device: https://www.toppreise.ch/price-compa...169?selsort=rd

You can export notebooks to PDF or zipped folders of JPEG or PNG. Yes, it's expensive but all the bigger ereaders cost more.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's not a "normal" tablet as it's 3:2 aspect instead of 16:9 or 16:10 and has a special screen. You only need Android account for initial setup, Google security updates and Playstore. It can be later disabled.

The Kobo Sage 8" has slightly more pixels than a 10.3" Kobo Elipsa or Elipsa2. Neither is good enough for actual magazines or A4 documents. I really tried. Certainly many scanned books (if PDF brightened first) work as the current FW does per document crop. The A5 approx manuals are slightly better on the Sage than Elipsa (I have/had both).

I read almost all novels on the Sage, but Fixed Layout Illustrated and larger or colour PDFs on the Nxtpaper 14. I disable most Google services & Apps.

The Onyx Boox uses Android, Kobo and Pocketbook make more sense and the shops can be ignored.
Kobo can use a fake email address and updates still work. "SideloadedMode=true" disables all the shop stuff. A simple to edit text file.

It's a normal LCD tablet with a matte screen. Lots of normal LCD tablets have 3:2 or 4:3 screens. All the iPads are 4:3 and most Surfaces are 3:2. You can find Android devices besides the Nxtpaper 14 with 4:3 or 3:2 screens too.

I don't think a matte LCD is a good alternative to eInk to recommend it to someone looking for eInk. It's just not the same unless they only use it in darkish areas with a front light.

How good A4/letter or magazine content will be on a 10" device will depend on your eyesight. For me, it's doable. For lots of people, it's doable and why they got a 10" iPad.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

I don't think a matte LCD is a good alternative to eInk to recommend it to someone looking for eInk. It's just not the same unless they only use it in darkish areas with a front light.

i've 4 different Nxtpaper based devices. It's not ordinary.

I have/had loads of eink devices. Vizplex, Pearl, Carta HD, Carta1200, from 4.7″ enlongated to 5″ to 10.3″ 4:3 approx, inc the 9.7 DXG.

Only the Carta models with front light off in decent ambient light are better than a properly adjusted Nxtpaper 2.0 and Nxtpaper 3.0.

It's not "just a matt" screen. Though the various epaper gimicks make it poorer. It's best with sRGB, suitable theme (defaults are stupid), adjusted colour temperature and manual brightness (18 to 22%). Maybe auto outdoors.

If it was for reflowable novels I'd agree eink is the choice, but having struggled with PDF on eink for over 10 years and seriously considered the Sony & Fujitsu models bigger than 13″, the Nxtpaper 14 (standard version) is the only portable solution that works.

I've had numerous 10" Android and also a big Win10 tablet like a Surface (worked better with Debian) and they are/were all abysmal compared to the reMarkable for PDFs, which is poorer than the Elipsa (same internal eink screen on version 1 & 2 of both makes). Both of those are rubbish for PDFs campared to the Nxtpaper 14.