Sage You and a Sage

[milady133]

I'm still on a Kobo Forma since I wasn't tempted by the upgrades introduced with the Sage, and I was put down by the reports on the Sage's battery life.
But the battery on my Forma seems to be showing the first signs of degrading, so I'm also starting to look around for my options.

I don't mind a color screen, but the Libra is a bit smaller, while I would prefer an 8" screen.

The Elipsa is only a bit newer, and it might be too big for reading in bed. Besides, there's no origami cover, which is fundamental for my reading in bed position.

I've seen in stores a small Samsung tablet with an origami cover, I don't mind the screen, although it certainly is worse than using an ereader. It's a pity TCL isn't interested in this size for their Nxtpaper line, that I wouldn't mind (with the origami cover, of course)

Boox could be another option, but they don't have much in the 8" size, and again, no cover to my liking. The latest PocketBooks run Android, so although the form factor of the Forma is more comfortable, I could consider one.

So yeah, I could be interested in a new Sage, even if it's a color one, but the battery life should be OK, I'm not looking for the initial duration of weeks, but I don't want to have to charge a new one every day or almost, give me at least a week of juice for two hours daily reading sessions.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by milady133

Boox could be another option, but they don't have much in the 8" size, and again, no cover to my liking. The latest PocketBooks run Android, so although the form factor of the Forma is more comfortable, I could consider one.

So yeah, I could be interested in a new Sage, even if it's a color one, but the battery life should be OK, I'm not looking for the initial duration of weeks, but I don't want to have to charge a new one every day or almost, give me at least a week of juice for two hours daily reading sessions.

The PocketBook InkPad 4 doesn't runs Android, it has Carta 1200 technology; maybe the ones within Kaleido 3 (e.g. Pocketbook Inkpad Color 3) uses it instead.
As previously yet mentioned on the forums, the Kaleido 3 has very greyish whites, maybe within frontlight on the darker background would be less pronounceable but quite a noticeable difference from Carta 1200/1300 and others.

[JSWolf]

The one thing I was thinking about was the cost of new Readers. I expect that new Readers will be priced higher because of RAM prices going through the roof.

[Cactus Chef]

There's nothing I feel that the Sage currently lacks, except maybe a bigger battery. But I don't want it adding too much additional heft, either, so, unless they can somehow improve the battery life without drastically increasing the weight (more efficient chipset, maybe?), I'd probably just hang onto my current one for some time.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

There's nothing I feel that the Sage currently lacks, except maybe a bigger battery. But I don't want it adding too much additional heft, either, so, unless they can somehow improve the battery life without drastically increasing the weight (more efficient chipset, maybe?), I'd probably just hang onto my current one for some time.

I like that my ereader is nice and light, and don't want it to get significantly heavier, but taking a quick look at batteries, doubling a battery from 1200mah (the current Sage size?) would only add ~15 grams?

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The one thing I was thinking about was the cost of new Readers. I expect that new Readers will be priced higher because of RAM prices going through the roof.

E-Readers use LPDDR RAM and those aren’t used in GPUs so I don’t think their prices are going to spike.

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

E-Readers use LPDDR RAM and those aren’t used in GPUs so I don’t think their prices are going to spike.

The main issue here is that AI companies are eating up memory chips and manufacturing capacity is being focused mainly on satisfying them, since that’s where the bigger profit is. Consumer products are becoming a secondary priority, or worse.

As far fewer memory chips are being made for the consumer market, anything that includes some form of memory will be affected, and consumers will pay the price.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

There's nothing I feel that the Sage currently lacks, except maybe a bigger battery. But I don't want it adding too much additional heft, either, so, unless they can somehow improve the battery life without drastically increasing the weight (more efficient chipset, maybe?), I'd probably just hang onto my current one for some time.

I think a more efficient processor for sleep would be good as well as at least a 2000mAh battery would be good.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

The main issue here is that AI companies are eating up memory chips and manufacturing capacity is being focused mainly on satisfying them, since that’s where the bigger profit is. Consumer products are becoming a secondary priority, or worse.

As far fewer memory chips are being made for the consumer market, anything that includes some form of memory will be affected, and consumers will pay the price.

Exactly! We are getting shafted. It's even worse then most know. Micron is leaving the consumer market. SK Hynix is already booked until 2026 and that just leaves Samsung and Kioxia. But Kioxia mostly makes NAND flash memory.

The mini-PC I bought earlier this year has risen in price about 60%. I expect anything with RAM will be rising in price. If a new Sage was to be released, I'd expect that to be priced a lot higher then the existing Sage.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Exactly! We are getting shafted. It's even worse then most know. Micron is leaving the consumer market. SK Hynix is already booked until 2026 and that just leaves Samsung and Kioxia. But Kioxia mostly makes NAND flash memory.

The mini-PC I bought earlier this year has risen in price about 60%. I expect anything with RAM will be rising in price. If a new Sage was to be released, I'd expect that to be priced a lot higher then the existing Sage.

But ereader companies must consider what the market will bear. Ereaders are a niche product, and very, very few people would buy one for 400-500$/€. I certainly would not.

[rantanplan]

In addition to that, we’re talking about devices that ship with half a gig of RAM. With Boox devices, the situation is a bit different, but I don’t think prices will hike too much.

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

In addition to that, we’re walking about devices that ship with half a gig of RAM. With Boox devices, the situation is a bit different, but I don’t think prices will hike too much.

It’s not just about prices, it’s more about availability. In the case of a global shortage, I’d expect no new Kobo models, or maybe just another set of Claras (again).

[rantanplan]

Yeah, things will be a bit difficult in the upcoming months, I agree. For now, my Sage is still going strong and maybe I’ll get a power cover and/or replacement battery when the need arises.

I wonder if one could mod a larger battery into the existing device, if the current battery starts to decline significantly.

[jlinear]

I have no plans to purchase a new Sage. I bought one and quickly returned it when the battery went dead within 2 days (w/ syncing, WiFi & Bluetooth all off). My current preference is to read on my Elipsa 2E using KOReader. The screen size allows for a larger text size for my aging eyes and a marvelous user interface using KOReader w/ Gestures, QuickMenus, etc. And I have a jailbroken 2022 Kindle Scribe I purchased cheaply (Prime Day w/ trade-in) in reserve running KOReader exclusively. So, I should have no need for a new ereader anytime soon at any price. And I still have my seemingly indestructible Aura One should I want to occasionally go smaller.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Yeah, things will be a bit difficult in the upcoming months, I agree. For now, my Sage is still going strong and maybe I’ll get a power cover and/or replacement battery when the need arises.

I wonder if one could mod a larger battery into the existing device, if the current battery starts to decline significantly.

The battery one friend of mine ordered is the same size as the current battery but is 1500mAh which is a 25% increase over the factory 1200mAh.