Which e-ink U/I do you prefer?

[theducks]

I am very happy with the Display on the K4nt. I do not need more resolution to have an enjoyable read.
I like the Dictionary (but rarely use)
I don't Sync to other devices
I don't Annotate (Write in a book )
I love Page turn buttons (but wish they we flipped and more top sensitive)
The 5 Way is good, it just needs to be more spread out (Glove size is XL) for bigger fingers

The bookshelf is good and bad (native, Calibre PI's can help)

Bad
No auto Series collections: Manual or Calibre PI
No native EPUB w/DRM support (walled garden or Alf)

Good
'New' (to device) Flag
return to Last place read (my PEz returns to the last ADE Block)
Progress bar
Battery life (WiFi off)

[Sweetpea]

There's not one that I really like. There are a few things important to me and there is not one reader that has it all

I want what are now called shelf sets, but with depth (By Author -> By Series). My Sony does have shelf sets, that work, but I can either see my books by author or by series, not by author and then by series. I prefer the simple layout of my BeBook Mini, it simply shows the folder structure.

I want to annotate. The BeBook Mini doesn't have that function. My Sony has it, and my T68 has it.

I want to disable the header and footer of a book. I want to use the entire screen for reading. The Mini has that, the Sony not. The T68 has it too.

In the end, the T68 is the one that I prefer most. It's native UI is horrible, but I installed Calibre Companion on it, and that works very well.

[Ripplinger]

My favorite UI still is the Sony x50 line of readers with PRS+ installed where you could change even the UI categories to whatever you wanted, including folder view. And it's still the reader I judge all others by, it just worked and worked well without any problems or bugs (at least no bugs that affected how I read).

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

My favorite UI still is the Sony x50 line of readers with PRS+ installed where you could change even the UI categories to whatever you wanted, including folder view. And it's still the reader I judge all others by, it just worked and worked well without any problems or bugs (at least no bugs that affected how I read).

Hmm, I have PRS+ installed, but I never found a folder view!

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Hmm, I have PRS+ installed, but I never found a folder view!

Does it no longer have the 'Browse Folders' spot, bottom left, just above the 'Home' spot on the main screen?

[JSWolf]

Does it actually count when comparing a modified UI to stock UIs?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does it actually count when comparing a modified UI to stock UIs?

I don't know...do you use your Kobo without any modification, or do you install "patches" and use Calibre plugins to create shelves? (Neither of those things are part of the "stock UI")

Shari

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does it actually count when comparing a modified UI to stock UIs?

The ability to change an UI to your taste is part of an UI. Even if the original developer didn't foresee such a change. It's not like you have to learn how to program for PRS+, it's something that is available for the masses. Just not from the original developers.

[howyoudoin]

The thing with Kobo is that they actually seem fine with patches, and don't go out of their way to make it difficult (like Amazon do). If I'm not mistaken, the 3.16 firmware name was an explicit a nod to the mobileread community.

You also do not need to patch the kobo to create shelves from calibre.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by shalym

I don't know...do you use your Kobo without any modification, or do you install "patches" and use Calibre plugins to create shelves? (Neither of those things are part of the "stock UI")

Shari

Are we separating the reading app UI vs the OS UI? I don't patch the OS UI. While Calibre can be used to create collections on a Kobo, collections can be created manually using the Reader. What's patched is RMDSK which is what's used to read ePub.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Hmm, I have PRS+ installed, but I never found a folder view!

Go into your PRS+ Settings and scroll down to Menu Customizer. For Slots 3, 4 or 5 you can select "Browse Folders" from that screen. I often set mine to Author List though instead of folders (and then Collections and More for the other 2).

[SirCray]

I really like how the main Kobo UI looks and works with it's "tiles" layout, but don't like it enough to switch from my Kindle Voyage. I don't mess enough with the menu and UI for it to make a big difference. Most of my time is spent inside the book and the Kindle works fine for me.

[Purple Lady]

My current favorite is my Boyue T62 using Nova Launcher and Calibre Companion. Before that it was my Sony 950 using PRS+ with sub collections.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

My question is what do you think of the different e-reader user interfaces?

I have used quite a few different readers over the years.
The pinnacle of firmware development for me was PocketBook 360 - firmware 14. Newer generation of firmware for PocketBook 623 Touch Lux 4.xy is worse and version 5.xy found on newest devices only accelerated the way downhill.

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My very first reader was Sony PRS-500 - the first reader that a mere mortals outside Japan could buy (*). Firmware was OK. Very stable with a few supported formats - of which I only ever used RTF, because here I could use formatting that I was used to from earlier non-e-ink devices.
Later on there were hacks available, that allowed us to display time in status-line, re-assign [the unfortunately-located] page-turning buttons and other stuff that greatly improved the UI.

The device was built like a tank, with metal body and cover attached by a built-in clasp at the rear of the device.

(*) the very first device with e-ink screen was Sony Librié that was sold only in Japan and did not support user-loaded books [at the beginning]. Later on they released a tool to create lrx files that device supported, but it was too late to save the device from being a flop.
The second e-ink device was Iliad from iRex, with 8" screen and a price-tag of a high-end laptop. They NEVER delivered promised features, such as sane battery consumption.

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Later I had PocketBook 360. When the firmware stabilized (the company kept improving it and third-party stuff came) it was absolutely fantastic.
The home-page showed menu with icons for most commonly used functions AND a list of last-read books. The home-page (and the rest of the UI) was user-configurable and there were quite a few fantastic "themes" that redefined library view, home-page and even status line inside the reading app. My favourite theme had "dense list" view for library that showed books in three columns and had 50 items on one page.
The device supported hierarchical folders, but also "favorites" system that worked like Collections do on Kindle or Sony - only more configurable.
There were several reading apps and you could choose which one you want to use for partilular book.
Third-party FBReader 180 had staggering number of configuration options - user supplied fonts, justification, very fine-grained font size, margin size, line height selection, hyphenation (dictionaries, how long word should be divided ...), all buttons (7 of them plus power-ON) on device user-configurable, each for short press and long press, detailed configuration of status line - page x of yzt, time, percentage, graphical progress-bar, filename, book title, author, ...

My favourite feature of FBReader 180 was that I could precisely set up text formatting for the book regardless of format set up in the book.
When you wanted to see the publisher formatting you choose Adobe reader as your reading app.

There are quite a few dictionaries around, themes, third-party programs, including Linux terminal emulator, chess, sudoku, other games, calendar, ....

Physically, the device was as near perfect as I have ever seen, with 5-way button under the thumb, plus two large page-turn buttons under the thumb, PLUS a lid that could be attached to protect the screen or snapped to the back of the device.

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After that I purchased Kindle Paperwhite because of the front-lit e-ink.
I was VERY unhappy with the UI on device. Nothing was configured (or even configurable) to my liking.
Full justification, too few font sizes, very wide margins, non-support for hierarchical directories, flat-list library ...
I have installed all possible hacks (and even complete Chinese firmware) and still had feeling I was pissing against the wind.

Sorry, I was spoiled by the very wide possibilities of configuration on PocketBook.

I kept using the device for 6 months, hoping I would get used to the UI, kept installing hacks for fonts, font-sizes, KUAL, Coolreader, ...

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As soon as PocketBook came out with front-lit device - PocketBook Touch Lux 623, I sold Paperwhite and purchased a front-lit PocketBook. I was much happier but not completely happy with missing firmware features (as compared to PB 360). Over the next 6 months community came out with port of Coolreader, so I can read the books formatted the way I like and I am satisfied again.

The library misses a few features as compared to older models and the home-page is different. It still displays the last 20 or so last-read books in scrollable list format, so I do not grumble too much.

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In the meanwhile I owned Nook Simple Touch. It could be rooted and that made the UI bearable. I have installed FBreader and Coolreader and a few Android programs until I ran out of space.
I strongly disliked the default home-page with cover-view of a few books and other features.
I strongly disliked that it had to be registered before the first use. I view it as holding the device hostage and forcing me to register.
It was unusable as an Android device, so I sold it.

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I had an opportunity to review the newest generation of PocketBook devices - PocketBook Ultra with the newest generation of firmware - 5.xy - a HUGE step back. They have added some cool features - such as Dropbox integration - but borked important features, such as possibility to select one of several reading apps for epubs, or possibility to change justification for [some] epubs. They also screwed up the library view - you do not have choice to view filenames instead of metadata (title and author) as set in e-book file. They hopelessly crippled the functionality of the home page - instead of the list of last-read books you have three covers to choose from, with possibility to flick to another three.

And that camera on the back of the reader is almost unusable and thanks to that lame camera the built-in OCR gives hopeless results.
Yes, the device has camera on the back. And a two pairs of page-turn buttons. I found them awkward to use.

I have declined an offer to purchase a discounted reviewer unit.

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I know, my tastes are different than those of majority of e-ink reader owners.
You might want to go and have a look at the old posts in the PocketBook sub-forum and see how exciting and vibrant the community of enthusiasts was in the "Good Old Times" when PB 360 was the king. We did not have to fight to root and hack the device - the manufacturer released a Software Development Kit, Dictionary builder, Theme builder with documentation and *very* easy way to load-up your own stuff.

Perhaps, if my first e-reading device was Kindle I might have got used to limited features and to what I view as atrocious typography.
The problem is:
- I started to read e-books long before the first e-ink reader was available, so I was used to certain formatting and features
- I worked for a brief period in Desktop Publishing and I was trained to notice things (in typography) other people are not consciously aware of
- I am a geek and nerd and I like to have control over configuration of my devices

[rem736]

i still prefer the sony ui on their defunct readers. sony has a separate category for books vs photos. on kobo, even though photo formats are processed in their native formats, the ui do not distinguish between books and photos. on kindle, using images means having to convert to azw or mobi and there also is no difference in the the way it handles photos vs books. sony is just very logical and it allows you to use all photos on the device to be used as standby screens without any modification to the firmware. however, sony doesn't make it easier for you to upload your own fonts. but then again, kindle has done away with that as well in its most recent models.