Kobo Aura 2 vs. Tolino Shine 2HD: 212ppi vs 300ppi

[swapjim]

I'm between these two readers. The Kobo has 212ppi while the Tolino (also in wiki) has 300ppi.

I think the Kobo is an overall better device. The only thing that's stopping me from getting it is that it has lower PPI. How big of a deal is going from 212 to 300 PPI? Will I notice anything?

They're similarly priced, so money is not a factor in my decision.

[PeterT]

Id stick with the Kobo. I have a range of Kobo;s and a Tolino Epos; the Kobo has a better reading experience than the Tolino does.

[swapjim]

If you don't mind me asking, which Kobos do you have?

[mobama]

Reading experience can be changed by installing another reading app. From what I have heard (and seen in youtube reviews), Kobo's inbuilt reading app is best ignored.

Other things being the same, I would always pick the better screen. Based on this recommendation, I would go with Tolino https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh....php?p=3646351

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by mobama

Reading experience can be changed by installing another reading app. From what I have heard (and seen in youtube reviews), Kobo's inbuilt reading app is best ignored.

That statement only makes sense if you are talking about PDFs. For epub, the Kobo reader is very good.

Other things being the same, I would always pick the better screen. Based on this recommendation, I would go with Tolino https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh....php?p=3646351

Except that the firmware on the device doesn't work for you. And I'm with PeterT on this, the tolino firmware is fairly basic and lacks a lot of useful function. Reading an epub is fine, but the rest feels fairly basic.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That statement only makes sense if you are talking about PDFs. For epub, the Kobo reader is very good.

Except that the firmware on the device doesn't work for you. And I'm with PeterT on this, the tolino firmware is fairly basic and lacks a lot of useful function. Reading an epub is fine, but the rest feels fairly basic.

I don't own either a Kobo or a Tolino, so I can speak out on them only with reference to what I have seen others say, so take it FWIW.

Regarding epubs on Kobo, they leave outrageously wide margins in the default reading app. And from what I have heard, there are no configuration options to regain the lost screen real estate. The only way is to install another app that takes care of these things.

When I personally buy an electronic screen gadget, I don't expect its onboard software to fulfil all my needs. Therefore I want the gadget to be tinkerable, I want my favourite apps to be installable on it, so that I can make it useful. The closer it is to a regular computer in terms of the range of available optional software the better.

From the post I linked, Tolino seems to be good on that regard. And I'd rather not compromise on the screen quality.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by mobama

Regarding epubs on Kobo, they leave outrageously wide margins in the default reading app. And from what I have heard, there are no configuration options to regain the lost screen real estate. The only way is to install another app that takes care of these things.

Not really, there are patches which decrease or remove those margins. No need to install other app. BTW, outrageously... from your POV, perhaps we should ask the OP, as I prefer those margins

Originally Posted by mobama

When I personally buy an electronic screen gadget, I don't expect its onboard software to fulfil all my needs. Therefore I want the gadget to be tinkerable, I want my favourite apps to be installable on it, so that I can make it useful. The closer it is to a regular computer in terms of the range of available optional software the better.

Personal POV. We should ask the OP if he/she wants to tinker with the device. And installing app in an ereader like this is tinkering more than a phone (I haven't had a Tolino but I have two Kobos and I've owned two android ereaders).

My two cents: Screen is not the only point. Do you like to tinker wit the device? If you don't, Tolino is similar to Kobo en other devices. And from 212 to 300, sincerely, unless you have a lot of pictures, in a 6" device you hardly note it.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by mobama

Regarding epubs on Kobo, they leave outrageously wide margins in the default reading app.

True, although "outrageously wide" is obviously a personal opinion

Originally Posted by mobama

And from what I have heard, there are no configuration options to regain the lost screen real estate.

False for epub/kepub. There are no Kobo-supplied default options but there are long-established Kobo patches which will fix this problem for anyone who wants to. It doesn't matter whether "outrageously wide" refers to header, footer or left/right margins there's a patch available to reduce them.

Originally Posted by mobama

The only way is to install another app that takes care of these things.

False for epub/kepub.

[church mouse]

I have both Tolino and Kobo devices.

The Kobo reading software offers slightly more fine tuning of the page presentation, but I feel that is probably offset by the 300 dpi screen of the Tolino (my experience is that a 300 dpi screen is nicer/sharper - I tend to use a fairly small font and like clear edges - but 212 dpi is ok).

Kobo integrates better with Calibre (if that is a factor) but it is possible to set the Tolino output in Calibre to give you a degree of control over organising collections on a Tolino.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by mobama

I don't own either a Kobo or a Tolino, so I can speak out on them only with reference to what I have seen others say, so take it FWIW.

Regarding epubs on Kobo, they leave outrageously wide margins in the default reading app. And from what I have heard, there are no configuration options to regain the lost screen real estate. The only way is to install another app that takes care of these things.

The margins can be adjusted. And on my Aura H2O, the lowest setting has the character right against the left bezel. I use the second setting. The top margin is pretty low as well. The bottom margin is a bit harder to describe as there is an area for the page number and the exact position the page ends depends on the font, size and styles in the book.

The minimum margin choice on the tolino epos is at least three times the size of the minimum margin on an Kobo Aura ONE (same screen and resolution size and I can't do a proper check as my wife is using the Aura ONE). The tolino's seem to share the same firmware, so I would expect the Tolino Shine 2HD to be similarly wasteful. And the top margin of the tolino's is wasting close to two lines at the font size I use. The bottom is slightly better than the Kobo firmware.

And as Terisa said, there are firmware hacks for the Kobo to improve these even more. But, I don't use them as I am reasonably happy with Kobo's choices. And, to be honest, I just can't be bothered.

When I personally buy an electronic screen gadget, I don't expect its onboard software to fulfil all my needs. Therefore I want the gadget to be tinkerable, I want my favourite apps to be installable on it, so that I can make it useful. The closer it is to a regular computer in terms of the range of available optional software the better.

From the post I linked, Tolino seems to be good on that regard. And I'd rather not compromise on the screen quality.

When I buy a gadget I go looking for one that meets my needs. And that is one that does what it claims to. In this case, be an ereader. Providing adjustable features is good, but I do not want to have to rebuild the thing from scratch to get the function I paid for. I think you will find that there are a lot more people like this, than have your desire. And, if that is what you think is needed, then the tolino is probably not a good choice. One of the Onyx devices would be better. But, based on the way the OP asked the question, I'm pretty sure they want an ereader that works out of the box. And my recommendation is usually for a Kobo.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

True, although "outrageously wide" is obviously a personal opinion

"Outrageously wide" is a quantifiable opinion with regard to other ereaders. For example, when an H2O with 6.8" screen can display the same amount of text as a Paperwhite with 6" screen (same ebook, same page, same font face and same font size), then the margins on H2O can legitimately be said to be outrageously wide.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

False for epub/kepub. There are no Kobo-supplied default options but there are long-established Kobo patches which will fix this problem for anyone who wants to.

Good to know about patches, but patches require exactly the same amount of effort as a whole new app. But a new app would take care of all problems at once, instead of a single one at a time.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by davidfor

When I buy a gadget I go looking for one that meets my needs. And that is one that does what it claims to. In this case, be an ereader. Providing adjustable features is good, but I do not want to have to rebuild the thing from scratch to get the function I paid for.

Installing another app is not the same as rebuilding the thing from scratch. When you install another reading app on an ereader, it stays an ereader and will still do what it claims to do, only with more/other options.

I don't like installing other apps either, but it's a relatively minor effort and completely worth it if, for example, you have a particular favourite reading app that you are used to. I am not discouraging anyone from abstaining from a particular purchase, but informing them that some lack of this or that option out of the box can be easily circumvented, so that the purchase will still be worth it.

Then again, screen resolution is one of those things that no app can fix, so this is best taken into account before buying your gadget.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by swapjim

If you don't mind me asking, which Kobos do you have?

Original / Wifi / Touch / Glo / GloHD / Mini

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by mobama

Good to know about patches, but patches require exactly the same amount of effort as a whole new app. But a new app would take care of all problems at once, instead of a single one at a time.

Not by a far distance, not Kobo Patches at least.

[doubleshuffle]

My wife has a Tolino and I've played around with it a bit. Quite nice; I see only one problem with the reading software, which may not bother some, but would drive me nuts if I had to use it on a daily basis: When you choose any font except "Publisher Default", the reader will override ALL fonts in the book, even those that are embedded for special uses like headings and initials. Very annoying.