Getting a used Lenovo Smart Paper for manga (and some PDFs)?

[carmik]

Hello all,

long time since I've posted here, glad to be back to this community

Been using mainly a stock-firmware Libra H2O for novels mainly (epub) and my sons has used it for anime (cbr/cbz). Very satisfied for the former role, a bit small for the latter. Plus PDFs with tech material were mostly out of the question.

Ideally, I'd love something akin to the BW Libra, albeit in 8"+ to cater for those son's anime and my own PDFs

Found a used Lenovo Smart Paper for 180 euros in excellent condition. I know it's a POS with regard to the competition when sold as new, however even used Libra 2 are for sale at the same price here...

I was thinking of getting it and sideloading koreader for having all the above plus PDFs. Not sure if the pen would be used or not.

Would you recommend this device at this price for the noted purpose?

[nana77]

Hi, (anime would be "derived from a shortening of the English word animation - is animation originating from Japan)

Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan.

By reading the specs, I would not be sure the device supports cbr/cbz files, instead only epub, PDF, and txt ones.

Document support:
Epub, PDF, Microsoft office

Also it doesn't has a Play Store.
The operating system would be "Android AOSP 11.0"

AOSP common kernels (also known as the Android common kernels or ACKs) are downstream of kernel.org kernels and include patches of interest to the Android community that haven't been merged into mainline or Long Term Supported (LTS) kernels. These patches can include:

Vendor/OEM features that are useful for other ecosystem partners

Not sure if it can be modified, nor support koreader.
On this video it's said it can use Android apps:

Also several videos says it can't zoom PDFs...

[Quoth]

KOReader is available as an Android apk, install via browser or copy via USB on Devices that support it, even if Playstore/Google framework is missing or disabled.

[nana77]

Oi,

11. Can I download other apps to the Lenovo Smart Paper?

Yes. You could download or import APK files and then install apps by yourself. But Lenovo Smart Paper is made for handwriting and reading books, third-party apps may not perform well on Lenovo Smart Paper.

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/sol...stions-faqs#10
Thought that there is no list of supported devices, for Koreader?
The Lenovo Paper has

Processor
Rockchip RK3566 4c/4t 4 x - 2 GHz, ARM Cortex-A55
Graphics adapter
ARM Mali-G52 MP2

I mean, I don't know how surely it might support that hardware (?)
The other device within similar specs I see is the Pine Note: https://www.electronics-lab.com/pine...ux-developers/
Ps: there some linux OS for that platform: https://pine64.org/documentation/PineNote/_full/ , just in case...
Not the easiest task to do, anyway - and imho.
I don't want to muddle or confuse, just saying that's it might be not granted that Koreader supports that hardware.

Edit: for that price you can find some Apple iPad 10th Gen. - 10.9".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_(10th_generation)

[JSWolf]

That version of Pride & Prejudice used int he video is terribly formatted. The gaps are larger then most paragraphs and the L/R margins are really wide. What needs to be shown in the video is how it can look good instead how it can look really bad.

[carmik]

Hello, my bad for referring to anime, it was manga instead

That youtube vid happened to be the first (and last) video I watched for this device. Granted, the software it ships with seems horrendous, plummeting the device's usefulness as a note taking device (compared to the competition).

But in my country you definitely can't find an 10" ipad at the same price range: 2020 models go for 250-350 euros here. Even I could find one, would it offer the same reading experience compared to an eink device?

I took the plunge and ordered the thing. Worst case scenario, I'll have something to read my PDFs on

EDIT: I'll post results of trying to install koreader on it.

[nana77]

There was this video too:


Imho there were "Apple iPad 7th Gen. 128GB, 10.2" that there would have fit the price, within its shipping costs.

[carmik]

Great review. Seems to confirm my findings: awesome device for the buck I'm getting it and for my use case. Useless POS with regard to note taking. Awesome eink screen. Loooow price

[nana77]

Originally Posted by carmik

Great review. Seems to confirm my findings: awesome device for the buck I'm getting it and for my use case. Useless POS with regard to note taking. Awesome eink screen. Loooow price

After having look again, for that price I'd found only some Kindle Oasis (10th gen), that doesn't support cbr/cbz, but it's possible to install KOreader. The con point would be that, for what I can understand, it doesn't seems to have all the features of the alternative OS to work (usb doesn't work?). Also the installation might be tricky, but feasible it seems.
I hope everything would be great, and yes, imho too it can be a good device.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by nana77

Edit: for that price you can find some Apple iPad 10th Gen. - 10.9".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_(10th_generation)

Pardon but I was either wrong in there, as by looking more about (wasn't to know, and giving it for granted) it's not like - lcd vs eink apart - on an Apple ecosystem it would have been the cleanest reading experience ever, as it seems that for that purpose there are paid apps or sponsored others, or it would need to convert cbr files to other formats, etc.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by nana77

it doesn't seems to have all the features of the alternative OS to work (usb doesn't work?).

KOReader is not an OS, it is just an application that runs on top of the usual OS of any device it is on. On the Kindle the USB drive mode does not work when KOReader is running, and it's a Kindle specific problem. You just exit KOReader when you need to use USB data.