kobo vs onyx boox poke 3

[kalipsosu]

Hello,

I am planning to buy my first e-reader. My priorities are longevity, sturdiness,portability, long battery life. My choices boiled down to 6-7 inch kobos and onyx boox poke 3.
I will mainly read epubs,maybe rarely pdfs. and dont need android capabilities.

Someone who owns these two brands devices please share you views. Especially on text crispness. I know both of these have 300 dpi screen but in practice they can look different.

A comment from reddit:

"I just bought Poke 2, when comparing it with my Kobo clara HD, I see that kobo has better screen quality and clarity. The text are crisper compared to poke 2 and the backgrounde is wither.

I am not sure how to describe it, but it seems like in poke 2 the text are written with paint, you can see texture. The text in Kobo is loke it has been printed by the latedt printers while in Kobo it looks like text printed by older lazer jet printers."

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by kalipsosu

A comment from reddit:

"I just bought Poke 2, when comparing it with my Kobo clara HD, I see that kobo has better screen quality and clarity. The text are crisper compared to poke 2 and the backgrounde is wither.

I am not sure how to describe it, but it seems like in poke 2 the text are written with paint, you can see texture. The text in Kobo is loke it has been printed by the latedt printers while in Kobo it looks like text printed by older lazer jet printers."

Don't believe him - this guy can't handle a Poke2 (the Poke3 doesn't exist yet).
All 6 inch 300 dpi devices have the same screen from EInk.
Only the Chinese (Boox) can control it much better (4 different versions of refresh, the possibility to change the contrast/brightness)).
I have a Kindle, Kobo, Tolino, Boyue Likebook, but my Poke2 excels at 6 inches.

[JSWolf]

I think the Kobo Libra H2O excels at 7". 7" excels over 6".

[kalipsosu]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Don't believe him - this guy can't handle a Poke2 (the Poke3 doesn't exist yet).
All 6 inch 300 dpi devices have the same screen from EInk.
Only the Chinese (Boox) can control it much better (4 different versions of refresh, the possibility to change the contrast/brightness)).
I have a Kindle, Kobo, Tolino, Boyue Likebook, but my Poke2 excels at 6 inches.

haha ok,thanks. I guess s/he is exaggerating things a little. I looked at comparison table on boox.com for poke 3. It sounds great.

What can you say about battery life of poke 2 in comparison with libra or clara?

[kalipsosu]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think the Kobo Libra H2O excels at 7". 7" excels over 6".

I think there is a tradeoff between portability vs reading experience. Its a matter of choise. On the other hand physical buttons are great. Also in my country libra is 25% more expensive than poke 2. So I am more inclined to poke side.

I heard kobos are worse on software quality compared to kindles. what is your experience?

[pazos]

@kalipsosu

I never had an Onyx but, apparently, the constrast is better on a Kobo Clara HD than on a Poke2.

These things might change on each device batch, so YMMV.

[ps67]

Originally Posted by kalipsosu

I think there is a tradeoff between portability vs reading experience. Its a matter of choise. On the other hand physical buttons are great. Also in my country libra is 25% more expensive than poke 2. So I am more inclined to poke side.

I heard kobos are worse on software quality compared to kindles. what is your experience?

About software I made a comparison between Kindle and Kobo one year ago:

Since then few thing are changed, the most important may be that Kobo dictionaries are better now and can be compared with the ones provided with kindle. And anyway on Kobo now it is possible to install custom dictionaries easily.

And I didn't mention global search on all Your books on Kindle, and the fact that my Kindle Paperwhite is a little faster than my Kobo Aura One, but the latter is not slow, so the difference is not so important.

After all I prefer Kobo software but of course someone could have different preferences.

Originally Posted by ps67

Kindle and Kobo both have their strengths and weaknesses. I'm satisfied with both, even though I now use the Kobo because it has the biggest screen. Generally speaking: if you just buy books on the store and read them, both are fine. If this is not enough for you then:

Kobo's strengths are:
* Articles with Pocket
* You can easily apply patches or install Koreader and Plato
* excellent metadata management with calibre (collections, synopsis etc.) on Your Kobo
* finest regulation of size of fonts, margins and so on (but for sharpness of custom fonts You must apply a patch)
*ADE, so You can read drmed epub bought everywhere or borrowed from a library (also with overdrive where it is supported)
*only in Forma: dropbox

The best things Kindle has compared to Kobo are:
* ability to send your books bought elsewhere to Amazon and then to your Kindle (but they will not be in the best kfx format but only in Mobi)
* Goodreads
* xrays (only in English book, I think)
* better dictionary

And they both consent custom fonts and setting the sharpness of fonts.

Kobo has 2 kind of book: epub and kepub: the first has kerning, hyphenation and ligatures; the second is better for everything but it has no ligatures (it has kerning and hyphenation and You can enlarge images, it has pop up notes and statistics while reading). The dictionary in Kobo is not as good as in Kindle but it can be replaced with a better one if You find it, You can also add others dictionaries with some tricks.

Kindle can handle mobi (the worst format, but the only choice to send with email) azw3 (can handle embedded font and soft hyphens with a calibre plugin) and kfx (ligatures, hyphenation, kerning); all formats can handle pop up notes and, if I remember correctly, also image enlargement (surely kfx and azw3). Only in USA You can use libraries with a Kindle, I don't know too much about it because I live in Italy.

Of course You have to consider cost of device and, if You like a large screen, the fact that largest Kindle (Oasis) is 7" and the largest Kobo (Forma) is 8"

I am sure I forget something and I have simplified a little (about mobi format, for example) but I have written too much.

[Pajamaman]

Kobo probably has slightly better text contrast, but I'm not sure. But Poke constrast is excellent, and should be fine (I own a Poke 1).

The Kobo battery will last longer than the Poke.

The Poke comfort light is darker red than the Kobo light. I prefer darker.

Reading PDFs is superior on the Poke, but you can install Koreader on the Kobo which is excellent at reading PDF.

In short, for you, I suggest a Kobo. It's cheaper too, and easier to order generally with better support if something goes wrong.

[kalipsosu]

Considered everything, I dont want to vote to an unethical company with my wallet. They don't care about software licences which is a shame.

Thank you so much everyone, I am ordering a kobo libra now.

Stay safe.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kalipsosu

I think there is a tradeoff between portability vs reading experience. Its a matter of choise. On the other hand physical buttons are great. Also in my country libra is 25% more expensive than poke 2. So I am more inclined to poke side.

I heard kobos are worse on software quality compared to kindles. what is your experience?

Portability of the Libra is not an issue. I have a Koo Aura H2O with a 6.8" screen and it's every bit as portable at any of the 6" Readers I used to use. And the 7" screen will give you a better reading experience.

[JSWolf]

@ps67, KFX is not the best format. It's a stinking pile of garbage second to Mobi. Everything KFX can do can be added into KF8. KFX was created to add in DRM even to eBook where the publisher doesn't want DRM.

[ps67]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

@ps67, KFX is not the best format. It's a stinking pile of garbage second to Mobi. Everything KFX can do can be added into KF8. KFX was created to add in DRM even to eBook where the publisher doesn't want DRM.

it has more features: ligatures, kerning, hyphenation... I agree to all bad things You think about it but also if they could reach the same results with KF8 they don't do. In this sense it is the best Amazon format.

Anyway I only answered to the software question about Kindle and Kobo without examining the reason why they invented KFX.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ps67

it has more features: ligatures, kerning, hyphenation... I agree to all bad things You think about it but also if they could reach the same results with KF8 they don't do. In this sense it is the best Amazon format.

Anyway I only answered to the software question about Kindle and Kobo without examining the reason why they invented KFX.

You can get hyphens for KF8 by Using Calibre to add soft hyphens. It works very well.

Another issue with KFX is that even if you have a font that compacts the line height, KFX is going to force it to be wider. That (IMHO) is not good.