8" eReader device?

[enuddleyarbl]

Over in the Kobo forum, someone recommended the PocketBook InkPad 4 as a reasonable 8-ish inch ereader (it's 7.8 inch):

https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...rs/inkpad-4-ch

It seems nice. But, it's also a bit long in the tooth (almost 3 years old, now).

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by enuddleyarbl

Over in the Kobo forum, someone recommended the PocketBook InkPad 4 as a reasonable 8-ish inch ereader (it's 7.8 inch):

https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...rs/inkpad-4-ch

It seems nice. But, it's also a bit long in the tooth (almost 3 years old, now).

Thanks. I will take a look at it. The 8" eReader pickings are pretty slim.

[enuddleyarbl]

I think the problem with finding 8" e-readers is that we're a niche audience. First, among the people that read at all, it looks like most prefer physical books over ebooks. Second, according to this article:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...des-180987228/

only 16% of Americans read for pleasure.

So, it's probably more likely that people buying "ereaders" want something that will do more than just read books. Hence the rising popularity of color and larger format "notebook" ereaders.

I think comfortably-sized, black and white, single purpose ereaders are going to be squeezed out of the market in the future.

EDIT: and then there's Amazon. According to:

https://www.ereadersforum.com/thread...blishing.3980/

Kindle and E-Reader Insights
• Market Share: 70% of e-readers sold globally are Amazon Kindles.
• Demographics: E-reader ownership in the U.S. skews older:
• 17%: Ages 30–49.
• 14%: Ages 50–64.
• 11%: Ages 18–29.
• Declining Market: E-reader sales are projected to drop from $396.4 million (2021) to $204.7 million (2027), signaling a declining market.

And that article was written AFTER Amazon put the screws to their own customers by locking everything down.

So, with a small, ever-shrinking market that's dominated by one player, there's not much of a pie left for other manufacturers.

[Starker]

8" readers do seem to be just about the right size for manga, though, so at least they have that going for them.

[nana77]

@enuddleyarbl: I'm not an expert, but (imho) it would be fine also to read the statistics where that content was taken from: https://coolest-gadgets.com/ebooks-statistics/

The worldwide eBooks market is expected to make USD 14.61 billion in revenue by the end of 2024.
The global market is supposed to grow at 1.62% per year, reaching a total of USD 15.33 billion by 2027.
The total number of eBook readers is expected to be around 1.1 billion by 2027.
Meanwhile, the user penetration rate of the global eBook market was 13.3% in 2024 and will reach 14.1% by 2027.

Too, there is a slighty chanche that the interpretation wasn't correct, it may also mean that user might just being choosing not to use Kindles and switch to other devices (as they experience)... Lol links only to Amazon's on that page?
Too it needs to say that technology in there is quite stagnant, with attempts to innovate that aren't always well beared; and the user base it's not the same as phone users that has to change device every 2/3 years, just as like not all the gaming consoles are the really same (within different policies, etc).

Edit: oher than Amazon, I know only Kobo that produces devices and has a global store (Pocketbook doesn't has an italian store iirc, despite italian books are available to buy elsewhere fine anyway), and as charts may explain pulling out devices every year maybe can't be the best choosing for any.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by enuddleyarbl

I think the problem with finding 8" e-readers is that we're a niche audience. First, among the people that read at all, it looks like most prefer physical books over ebooks. Second, according to this article:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...des-180987228/

only 16% of Americans read for pleasure.

So, it's probably more likely that people buying "ereaders" want something that will do more than just read books. Hence the rising popularity of color and larger format "notebook" ereaders.

I think comfortably-sized, black and white, single purpose ereaders are going to be squeezed out of the market in the future.

EDIT: and then there's Amazon. According to:

https://www.ereadersforum.com/thread...blishing.3980/



And that article was written AFTER Amazon put the screws to their own customers by locking everything down.

So, with a small, ever-shrinking market that's dominated by one player, there's not much of a pie left for other manufacturers.

Personally I find this all a bit depressing. I think about the hours I used to spend at the local library when I was a pre-teen, looking for and reading books. But then we were taught to read and tested on our reading skills back in the "old days". I read somewhere that most parents don't think that their kids can read an entire novel these days, and what does that say about how our education system is working today.

Personally I always loved physical books and the change to eBooks took me some time. I loved the feel and smell of paper books but the eInk devices finally convinced me and now I only buy eBooks and audio books. The reader is much easier to carry about than one of those large hardcover books.

Personally I think that the Kindle devices themselves are really pretty good considering their price. I would not be surprised if Amazon is losing money on the less expensive models just so they can make money when selling the actual eBooks. I have an older Oasis and an older Paperwhite and except for their small screen size I think that they are more convenient and easier to use than most of the alternatives. The large Boox I have is OK, but too large and heavy to be convenient anywhere except at home, and that is why I am looking for an 8 inch device.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ArizonaGuy

Personally I find this all a bit depressing. I think about the hours I used to spend at the local library when I was a pre-teen, looking for and reading books. But then we were taught to read and tested on our reading skills back in the "old days". I read somewhere that most parents don't think that their kids can read an entire novel these days, and what does that say about how our education system is working today.

Personally I always loved physical books and the change to eBooks took me some time. I loved the feel and smell of paper books but the eInk devices finally convinced me and now I only buy eBooks and audio books. The reader is much easier to carry about than one of those large hardcover books.

Personally I think that the Kindle devices themselves are really pretty good considering their price. I would not be surprised if Amazon is losing money on the less expensive models just so they can make money when selling the actual eBooks. I have an older Oasis and an older Paperwhite and except for their small screen size I think that they are more convenient and easier to use than most of the alternatives. The large Boox I have is OK, but too large and heavy to be convenient anywhere except at home, and that is why I am looking for an 8 inch device.

I use to spend a lot of time at the library and a lot of time at the bookstore. Eventually it became more time at the library. I used to borrow books, CDs, DVD/Blu-Ray, and video games.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ArizonaGuy

I have an older Oasis and an older Paperwhite and except for their small screen size I think that they are more convenient and easier to use than most of the alternatives.

Depends on how you use your ereaders. I used Kindles for a decade before moving exclusively to Kobo readers, which I find more to my taste. I've always been a heavy calibre user and sideloaded all my books, including my Amazon and Kobo purchases; nothing is ever downloaded directly from the store to my devices. Kobos work far better with calibre than Kindles (including automatic metadata and collection management, series support, reading progress backup and so on), so for my use case they're easier and more convenient, plus support a lot of things Kindles don't.

If you're the type who prefers direct downloads from the store, wifi downloads for non-store bought stuff and don't want to mess with USB cables (the majority of Kindle users fall in this category, probably), then yes, Kindles are more convenient for all this.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Depends on how you use your ereaders. I used Kindles for a decade before moving exclusively to Kobo readers, which I find more to my taste. I've always been a heavy calibre user and sideloaded all my books, including my Amazon and Kobo purchases; nothing is ever downloaded directly from the store to my devices. Kobos work far better with calibre than Kindles (including automatic metadata and collection management, series support, reading progress backup and so on), so for my use case they're easier and more convenient, plus support a lot of things Kindles don't.

If you're the type who prefers direct downloads from the store, wifi downloads for non-store bought stuff and don't want to mess with USB cables (the majority of Kindle users fall in this category, probably), then yes, Kindles are more convenient for all this.

I'd read Calibre improved support for Kobo, kepub files, within more features. It always has been a great program, althought not having a native Desktop App for GNU/Linux makes the choices grip if not wanting to have Windows or Mac iOS, and I'm glad that it's easy to download from the device directly without having to use others shenanigans (but imho).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by nana77

I'd read Calibre improved support for Kobo, kepub files, within more features. It always has been a great program, althought not having a native Desktop App for GNU/Linux makes the choices grip if not wanting to have Windows or Mac iOS, and I'm glad that it's easy to download from the device directly without having to use others shenanigans (but imho).

Eh? Calibre is fully available on Linux.
https://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Eh? Calibre is fully available on Linux.
https://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux

Sorry, I was to mean the Kobo Desktop App isn't.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by nana77

Sorry, I was to mean the Kobo Desktop App isn't.

Why would you need the Kobo Desktop app? I've never used it.

[PeterT]

Once upon a time in the very early days of Kobo, the desktop app was available for Linux. This was back in the days of the original Kobo eReader with Bluetooth and no WiFi.

[enuddleyarbl]

My search for a replacement 8-inch e-reader for just plain reading (i.e., no color) just gets more depressing as I look. From:

https://goodereader.com/blog/electro...eading-e-books

Netronix is the largest e-reader manufacturer based in Taiwan. In 2024, about 64% of Netronix’s shipments were color e-book readers, while black-and-white models accounted for 36%. For 2025, the share of color e-readers is expected to further rise to 71%, with black-and-white devices declining to 29%.

Rakuten Kobo sells more color e-readers than black and white ones. Amazon has the Kindle Colorsoft, Kindle Colorsoft Kids, and Kindle Colorsoft 16GB. At the end of the month, they are expected to release the Kindle Scribe Color and maybe a new Kindle Basic. Onyx Boox has more color e-readers than black and white ones, and ditto with Hyead, Readmoo, Meebook, and Remarkable, which uses Gallery 3 instead of Kaleido.

I don't know if people are buying color e-readers because the manufacturers are pushing them or if the manufacturers are making more color e-readers because that's what most people want. But, the end result seems to be that non-color 8-inch pure e-readers (w/ Carta 1300 panels?) are becoming as scarce as hen's teeth and they don't appear to be growing back in after they fall out.

EDIT: and while I'm at it, I'll change what I'm looking for to non-color, 8-inch, pure e-readers with a user replaceable battery. I'm tired of throwing away a completely function e-reader every 3 years simply because the battery gives out. It's like my similar complaint with computer cases: I'm tired of throwing perfectly good computer cases away simply because the USB standards have advanced but there's no way to replace the old USB ports on the front of the case with new USB ports that handle that standard.