Kobo libra 2 vs Kindle Oasis 3

[swimon126]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

On my Nooks and Kobo you can turn that info off (though the Nook always keeps a header with the book title).

I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon also lets you turn that stuff off.

Yes, the Kindle can do that. I never have any info displayed on my PW4.

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by swimon126

So your main reason for returning the Libra 2 is because you find the Oasis screen better to read from? I'm genuinely surprised! I thought, the Libra 2 takes the cake when it comes to a stunning screen on the current Ereader market.

Nope, I have had my Oasis since 2019, I was trying out the Libra 2 to see if I wanted to switch/have both. I do find my Oasis screen to be nicer though, but there was not much in it in my experience. The Libra 2 was significantly nicer than the Libra H2O screen though - a definite upgrade. Maybe I got a really really good Oasis?

Originally Posted by swimon126

How often would you define "voraciously"? At least 2-3 hours daily? I read around 30 mins a day, max an hour, so hopefully the battery won't be as bad in my case.

Frequently four to six hours a day, minimum of one to two hours a day. Depending on the time of day/night, I either have the light completely off, or set to around 17 light with 17 orange to give a lovely sepia color. Which definitely chews the battery, but I’ve learned to stop caring about that.

Originally Posted by swimon126

I wonder if I'm the only who actually prefers having zero information about page numbers/percentage/chapter while reading. Zero distraction. Just me and the story

Nope, you’re not the only one - in fact, I also love reading like this. But when I am in the mood to see on screen info, I prefer it to be in the format page x of xx, with this in the middle of the screen. With the kindle I just flash up the time remaining every so often, I’m ok with that, but I don't love it.

[Pjama]

The Oasis has a glass screen (top layer) which probably accounts for the clarity I’m experiencing.

[swimon126]

So a coworker was kind enough to lend me her Oasis 3 for a day to compare with the Libra 2. I was immediately struck by how light the Oasis is compared to the Libra. The weight distribution combined with its lightness (also more compact footprint) made the device almost "disappear" in my hand. The metal backing feels cold to the touch, but a skin should fix this so I wasn't too concerned. Its extra "snappiness" and satisfying physical buttons are added bonuses.

Two things are holding me back from immediately returning the Libra 2.

At first glance, I thought the Oasis screen looks just as good as the Libra. But the more I swap between reading between the two devices, the Libra 2's screen offers a much more "book-like" experience. To my eyes, this is likely due to the texts' superior clarity and contrast. The lack of extra layer for a flushed screen probably attributes to this.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The screen of my Oasis 3 is perfectly even and the warm light is nice, but I prefer my new Kobos for reading, as the text is just sharper and blacker. The Oasis screen no longer feels attractive to me.

So I will have to concur with you here, my eyes feel more comfortable reading on the Libra. Strangely enough on the Oasis I feel like I was reading on a tablet rather than an Ereader. Perhaps because it is slightly more reflective than the Libra.

I also didn't expect to appreciate the level of customization on the Kobo (margins, line spacing, boldness, etc). My favorite feature on the Kobo so far is the invisible brightness slider and how finely I can tune the brightness to my liking. Second favorite feature is the fact that every customization is saved to each specific book. I'm quite particular with the font type and size for specific genres so this really saves me time to readjust every time I switch between books. The general intuitiveness of the Kobo also makes the Kindle appears more complicated to use than it really is.

I guess I find myself in a pickle. If only I could just put the Libra's beautiful screen and Kobo firmware into the Oasis body (with rubbery backing), then I would have my perfect Ereader.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by swimon126

I guess I find myself in a pickle. If only I could just put the Libra's beautiful screen and Kobo firmware into the Oasis body (with rubbery backing), then I would have my perfect Ereader.

You can. It's called the Libra 2

[swimon126]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You can. It's called the Libra 2

You know what, I think you're right.

I just discovered more and more reasons to keep the Libra 2 despite the weight.

The firmware is definitely miles better than the Kindle - it's been a pleasure perusing through it. I'm also curious to try some "plug-ins" for the Kobo to make it an even more superior device (any suggestions?). The nail in the coffin (weirdly enough) is the realization that Pocket integration works with reddit -- I read a lot of short stories/long posts. Another win!

Regarding weight/ergonomics, I've resolved to just use a stand as some have suggested here or just put on a pillow for extra support. Thus, my main gripe with the device gone

Whelp, that's it, folks. I'm happy to say the Libra 2 is here to stay. Thanks again for all your thoughts and inputs!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by swimon126

...I'm also curious to try some "plug-ins" for the Kobo to make it an even more superior device (any suggestions?).

There's lots of them and it can quickly get into technicalities. But a couple of general purpose ones I would recommend are:

Remove footer (row 3) and increase cover size on new home screen
This gets rid of the text links on the bottom of the screen and makes the covers larger so you don't have blank space.

Reduce top/bottom page spacer
This reduces the blank space left if you decide to turn off the header and footer.

Increase library cover size

Series list increase cover thumbnails

Enable advanced settings for all fonts

[swimon126]

Thanks very much Zodwallop! I'll check them out.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by swimon126

Thanks very much Zodwallop! I'll check them out.

I pulled those from an older version of the patches that I had available at the time I was typing the message. I think many of the Increase Cover Size things have been combined. So when you look at the actual files, they may be slightly different than what I listed.

[Bilan]

Hello,

I will give you my opinion
(plz forbid my English)

I have a Oasis since octobre 2018 (so it's the 9th generation)
I love it (it replaces a paperwhite that still works, but I wanted a bigger screen AND buttons to switch pages).
The only downside I always think about Kindle's is that the library inside the interface is messy. I sideload most of my books (even the ones I buy on Amazon, I unDRM it and put into Calibre) so I believe it's the reason: For people who buy and load their books from Amazon directly it's probably ok. You can create collection from the amazon website and manage your books.

So I gave a try to the Libra 2 (I tried the Forma last year but I quickly sent it back because of the bad quality of the screen that shocked me immediately).

Here my opinions so far:
- The dictionary is a disappointment compared to the Kindle one. Fortunately, we can easily change for another one and I toke the French and English ones from bobotig's repository.

- The translator dictionary is disappointing too. I compared both ereader by randomly clicking on same words in the same books. For example the verbs. I read in French and when I click on;
"trusted" KOBO => "votre recherche ne correspond à aucun terme. Le terme le plus proche est "trustee")" ( = it means ur research match nothing, the most close word found is..)
Same with "cleaned" => "votre recherche ne correspond à aucun terme. Le terme le plus proche est "cleaner")"

OASIS => can give you the verbs, no problem.

It's just 2 examples, and not a big big deal, but it worth to mention it.

- The reader keeps disconnecting from my computer. I tried with another USB-c cable to be sure: same. Sometimes I can load severals books before it disconnects, sometimes after one it disconnects. Maybe there is a bad contact in the USB-c port, only on my device. I don't say you will have the same problem for sure.

- The quality of the screen: About this point, blame me. On every comparing reviews I read before I buy the kobo, they say the kobo is better. So it's probably only me who is more used about the bridghtness/colorness of kindle.

I bought the kobo especially to be able to manage collections/series better than I can do with my kindle. But couldn't find out how to do. So far I've installed koboutilities and koboextended plugins and Calibre, I did some settings and I understood I have to create tags that will create Collections on Calibre. But all my Library is sorted with tags already. So I'm disappointed that I have to create new tags for that.

- The battery is better. That's always has been a known problem with OASIS. At least with the 9th generation, maybe it's better now ? But anyway for me it's not really a problem. I cannot say that I don't mind at all, but I've learned to live with it, and I simply plug my KO more often.

- The kobo has 32G and the kindle has 8Gb. It's not a problem (FOR ME) because anyway with 8gig I can load more books than I could ever read far, from my computer (for example when we go in holidays during one month, 8gig let me stock more books than necessary even if you read 10 books per days). BUT I don't listen audiobooks( actually I do in my car but with my iPhone). AND I don't read Manga/comics and those could take quickly a lot of space.
So maybe for you it can be a problem ? If so, the OASIS has a 32GB model but it's 90 euros more expensive than the libra2

- the kobo is slightly bigger and heavier than the KO. But honestly if I did not hear that on a review, I wouldn't have notice it.

- Maybe it's just a setting I didn't find (yet) but sometimes, when I open a book, the fonts are way too big. So I have to decrease it. But when I open another book, then the fonts are too small and I have to increase. I don't know why. And again, I tested this books with my OASIS, and I don't have this problem

- I like the vocabulary builder (I hope it's the right translation) on my OASIS. Someone told me it exists something similar now (finally..) on kobo, named "my words". But again Im disappointed.
The kindle shows you the "context sentence" (the sentence in which the word is used), then you can see the definition or not, mark it as acquired or not, and go the next word.
But with kobo you cannot do that ! You can see the definition, you can see the sentence were it comes from, then u can go to the next word. But you cannot stay in the view "words used in their sentences" and go from one word to the other. (I hope I'm clear enough to describe the problem). It's really not good to review your words !

If the Kindle would give you the possibility to sync and manage your collections easily with Calibre (but it will probably never happen) I would be the happiest reader. I think I will reset and restart from scratch with my OASIS and see. But I will probably send back the Libra2.



EDIT: I've found another problem: I loaded a pdf on both devices. The pdf was seen too small on the kobo. So I zoomed in it and adjusted it, and it was good to be read. But then I switched to the next page and the page was off-centered :0 I can zoom in/out and correct that but as soon as I switch page, it's the same problem .. Then I opened the same book with my KO: the pages are well sized !
I didn't test other pdf. Maybe just unlucky with this one ? That's also a well-known fact that kobo didn't deal well with pdf, but I thought this "old" downside didn't exist anymore. :-/

[Sirtel]

You can use your existing tags to create collections on your Kobo automatically. Just enter the column name in the Kobo driver settings (in Calibre).

As to different font sizes, it's probably kepub vs epub. Epub has bigger font sizes than kepub by default. There's a patch that fixes this issue.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Bilan

I bought the kobo especially to be able to manage collections/series better than I can do with my kindle. But couldn't find out how to do. So far I've installed koboutilities and koboextended plugins and Calibre, I did some settings and I understood I have to create tags that will create Collections on Calibre. But all my Library is sorted with tags already. So I'm disappointed that I have to create new tags for that.

I don't understand the problem you are having here. If you already have your books tagged, it should automatically create collections based on those tags when you send those books to Kobo. If you have three books tagged as 'XYZ' and you send them to your Kobo, when you disconnect your Kobo and look at collections, there should be a collection called 'XYZ' with those three books in it. No need to create additional tags.

If a book has multiple tags (maybe 'Thriller' and 'Crime') there will be two collections, 'Thriller' and 'Crime' and the same book will be in both.

Check the settings for KindleTouch (or KindleTouchExtended) plugin. Does it look like the image attached?

[Bilan]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't understand the problem you are having here. If you already have your books tagged, it should automatically create collections based on those tags when you send those books to Kobo.
[...]
Check the settings for KindleTouch (or KindleTouchExtended) plugin. Does it look like the image attached?

Yes I configured like that.

For example, I have an author who writes some of his books about a recurrent character. I didn't create a tag to isolate/group those books. All the books of this author are simply under my biggest tag "novel". Now in my reader I wish to group all those books together.

But you are right, I guess I can do that and it's not a big deal.
Just let's say it doesn't meet my expectations. I read kobo gave the possibilities to manage collections but eventually, it's more like a workaround.
For sure, it is definitely better than what Kindle let you do !

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Bilan

Yes I configured like that.

For example, I have an author who writes some of his books about a recurrent character. I didn't create a tag to isolate/group those books. All the books of this author are simply under my biggest tag "novel". Now in my reader I wish to group all those books together.

But you are right, I guess I can do that and it's not a big deal.
Just let's say it doesn't meet my expectations. I read kobo gave the possibilities to manage collections but eventually, it's more like a workaround.
For sure, it is definitely better than what Kindle let you do !

How should your Kobo know what you wish if you don't have the tag or the custom value in Calibre? Read your mind? If you have the data in Calibre, the management is fully automatic and not a workaround. If Calibre has no data, then you'll have to create it to have it on your Kobo. What were your expectations that have not been met?

[Bilan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

How should your Kobo know what you wish if you don't have the tag or the custom value in Calibre? Read your mind? If you have the data in Calibre, the management is fully automatic and not a workaround. If Calibre has no data, then you'll have to create it to have it on your Kobo. What were your expectations that have not been met?

workaround is probably not the right term then. I expected to be able to interact with the collections themselves, from the "device view". (Confer the screenshot). This column as the custom value like you say. And it would reflect the collections on the devices.