8" eReader device?

[John F]

Originally Posted by nana77

...

The compromise at the moment is that the whites in colour devices is very grey thought,...

I thought that "whites being very grey" was if the front light wasn't being used. When I took a quick look at a Kindle Colosoft, I didn't notice the "grey whites" (with the front light on).

[nana77]

If I did understood, while 8" is a size that might fit also manga, and the least minimum (but imho) for comics in general too, if not now but there will be newest anyway.
@Jhon F: thought that if Amazon made a Scribe without front light, to give a chance to have a layer less (and a crispness that can more compare to oldest, infrared e-inks ?) on the screen, cause the newest technologies there are what pushes the newest devices' models....

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

No one would mind colored eink if the quality of the screen were the same as that of current black and white devices. It's not, though, and understandably this annoys a lot of eink users.

That is indeed the issue, and not that the text to be read is black, as is constantly repeated. If black text (and a white background) looked just as good, (practically) no one would use a monochrome e-reader when they could have colour in other aspects. If this were the case, the question now being asked, "Why do we want a colour e-reader if the text we are going to read is black?" would be reversed: "Why do we want to use a monochrome e-reader if the black text looks just as good and we miss out on the colour?" Under equal viewing conditions, the first question would be meaningless. The preference for a monochrome reader has to do with the quality of what is seen, not with the black colour of what is seen. And this is precisely where the subjective element comes into play. Could a colour e-reader, with current Kaleido 3 technology, be more interesting to a user than a monochrome reader because it provides colours other than black? That is something we cannot answer for others. The answer is very personal.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by nana77

@cellaris, @Sirtel: I guess that many new ereader users, that would buy them first device nowaday, would not even compare to black and white ones, just as like so many buy them first device branded on Amazon.
The compromise at the moment is that the whites in colour devices is very grey thought, I wish that hopefully that wouldn't become "an accepted standard", imho.
Personally I still would like to see how a colour device looks within inverted screen (as white text and black background): that, at the moment, would be the only chanche to think I would likely buy one (eventually).

For what it may be worth, the cobbled together 8" Gallery 3 ereader from the display panel, driver board and Raspberry Pi looks pretty good as a colour display for images and very good as a 8" ereader. OTOH, despite the panel being one of the newer Gallery 3 devices, it is still noticeably slow when changing pages while doing a best colour display of a colour image.

Next time, I am over there, I will have to remember to take some photographs of the screen.

[nana77]

@DNSB: can you please ask if it can be possible to connect that screen on a Jetson Kit, as the Nvidia Shield Tablet has? It features a good integrated video gpu.
Do you might know how much does it costs, the screen?
Btw, I've came on this while searching: https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/news/poc...k-viva-news-ch , it was meant to be released in 2023.

[enuddleyarbl]

According to this:

https://deepmarketinsights.com/blog/...-reader-market

The top manufacturers of e-readers are:

1. Amazon
2. Rakuten Kobo
3. Barnes & Noble
4. PocketBook International
5. Onyx International
6. Sony Corporation
7. Xiaomi Corporation
8. Hanvon Technology
9. Tolino Alliance
10. Bookeen

As I said before, Amazon is right out and Kobo hasn't sold an 8-inch e-reader in the US since around April of 2025.

Barnes & Noble has their 7.8" 2023 NOOK GlowLight 4 Plus:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/noo...roductInfoTabs
It has a Carta HD panel. Isn't that panel 3 generations old (released in 2014)?

PocketBook has their 7.8" 2023 InkPad 4:
https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...rs/inkpad-4-ch
It has a Carta 1200 panel (released in 2021).

Onyx: I can't find any 8-inch e-reader.

Sony: My cursory search says Sony got out of the e-reader market back in 2014. So, I don't know how that article says they're the 6th largest manufacturer.

Xiaomi: Hard to find any information. Looks like they might be focusing on phone-sized readers. But, I'm not sure if any real e-readers are available outside of China.

Hanvon: China market? No 8-inch e-reader?

Tolino has their 8" 2022 Epos 3 with a Carta 1200 panel.

Bookeen: Bankrupt? Acquired by Vivlio in 2022? No 8-inch e-readers?

So, from the top 10 manufacturers, no 8" e-readers released after 2023? None with the newest (Carta 1300) panel (which was released in 2023).

[JSWolf]

The main issue with a color Reader is the contrast is not as good as a BW Reader. So what that means is to gett he same contrast, you need to have the front light on whereas you may not have the front light on the BW Reader. I prefer to read without the light when I can. But with a color Reader, I'd have to have the light on more often.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by nana77

Personally I still would like to see how a colour device looks within inverted screen (as white text and black background): that, at the moment, would be the only chanche to think I would likely buy one (eventually).

Here are two screenshots from my Boox Note Air 4C, which is a color eInk device. I think the B&W display is actually pretty good but the Help file text was not actually white on this page.

They were taken using KOReader loaded with its Help File and are both Day and Night displays. I will try to do the same using the ViWoods 8.2 inch Mini, which is a strictly B&W device, but I had some trouble yesterday getting the screenshot gestures to work properly on that device.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ArizonaGuy

Here are two screenshots from my Boox Note Air 4C, which is a color eInk device. I think the B&W display is actually pretty good but the Help file text was not actually white on this page.

They were taken using KOReader loaded with its Help File and are both Day and Night displays. I will try to do the same using the ViWoods 8.2 inch Mini, which is a strictly B&W device, but I had some trouble yesterday getting the screenshot gestures to work properly on that device.

You need to take photos, not a screen grabs. A screen grab is completely different and does not show how the screen actually looks. Thanks.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by enuddleyarbl

According to this:

https://deepmarketinsights.com/blog/...-reader-market

The top manufacturers of e-readers are:

1. Amazon
2. Rakuten Kobo
3. Barnes & Noble
4. PocketBook International
5. Onyx International
6. Sony Corporation
7. Xiaomi Corporation
8. Hanvon Technology
9. Tolino Alliance
10. Bookeen

As I said before, Amazon is right out and Kobo hasn't sold an 8-inch e-reader in the US since around April of 2025.

Barnes & Noble has their 7.8" 2023 NOOK GlowLight 4 Plus:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/noo...roductInfoTabs
It has a Carta HD panel. Isn't that panel 3 generations old (released in 2014)?

PocketBook has their 7.8" 2023 InkPad 4:
https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...rs/inkpad-4-ch
It has a Carta 1200 panel (released in 2021).

Onyx: I can't find any 8-inch e-reader.

Sony: My cursory search says Sony got out of the e-reader market back in 2014. So, I don't know how that article says they're the 6th largest manufacturer.

Xiaomi: Hard to find any information. Looks like they might be focusing on phone-sized readers. But, I'm not sure if any real e-readers are available outside of China.

Hanvon: China market? No 8-inch e-reader?

Tolino has their 8" 2022 Epos 3 with a Carta 1200 panel.

Bookeen: Bankrupt? Acquired by Vivlio in 2022? No 8-inch e-readers?

So, from the top 10 manufacturers, no 8" e-readers released after 2023? None with the newest (Carta 1300) panel (which was released in 2023).

Sony has made (still makes?) bigger eInk devices with their DPT line that are 13" or 10". More like a Remarkable than a Kindle. Last one was launched in 2023 but I'm not sure if they are still produced...

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The main issue with a color Reader is the contrast is not as good as a BW Reader. So what that means is to gett he same contrast, you need to have the front light on whereas you may not have the front light on the BW Reader. I prefer to read without the light when I can. But with a color Reader, I'd have to have the light on more often.

I rarely use the front light on my KLC. If it's too dim for the KLC it's usually too dim for a BW reader too IMO.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ArizonaGuy

Here are two screenshots from my Boox Note Air 4C, which is a color eInk device. I think the B&W display is actually pretty good but the Help file text was not actually white on this page.

They were taken using KOReader loaded with its Help File and are both Day and Night displays. I will try to do the same using the ViWoods 8.2 inch Mini, which is a strictly B&W device, but I had some trouble yesterday getting the screenshot gestures to work properly on that device.

Screenshots only show what's on the screen, they don't show what the screen itself looks like. For that you need external photos.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You need to take photos, not a screen grabs. A screen grab is completely different and does not show how the screen actually looks. Thanks.

OK. Here are two images from the Boox Note Air 4C. I was using KOReader and the KOReader Help file.

NOTE: The images were taken indoors under some LED lights and I should probably try to correct the resulting color cast and repost them. I will do that as soon as I have some time.

[ArizonaGuy]

OK. Here are the same images adjusted for the temperature change from the indoor lights. I am not sure there is much of a difference, but you can let me know.

I have to admit that the photos look more like the screen images than the screenshots did. In particular the Night Mode screenshot seemed darker than when I look at it on the device. The photo does seem to be closer to the reality,

[cellaris]

Personally, I don't think there's a problem with contrast on my colour e-readers. Just because they're not as good as, say, the Tolino Vision 6, doesn't mean they have poor contrast. They look perfectly fine and are just as pleasant to read. I wouldn't have any problem reading exclusively on a colour e-reader if I had to. I use them interchangeably with my monochrome e-readers. For me, they are just one more among the many I have. And they give me a nice touch of colour that I'll never get on my monochrome e-readers.