Ereader for manga : I need help !

[kuza]

Hello !

A few days ago after a bit of research I bought the Pocketbook Inkpad 4 primarly for mangas.
Its pretty much perfect, except for one thing : the blacks arent very dark, and the contrasts could be better. In fact the b&w is a bit dull in my opinion.

I might be mistaken, but if I understand correctly, this is caused by the fact that it is a flush screen ? Which would mean im looking for a recessed screen ?

So I went looking for an 7,8" to 8" ereader with a recessed screen and these were the ones that came out : pocketbook inkpad 3, inkpad 3 pro,inkpad color, inkpad color 2, inkpad color 3.

What do you guys think ?

[Sirtel]

Forget color ereaders, if you want excellent contrast. The contrast on them is worse than that of the black-and-white ones.

It may be a flush vs recessed issue, but not necessarily. Pocketbook ereaders are sometimes said to have poorer contrast than their competitors (I have never used a Pocketbook, so I have no idea if it's true).

Kobo Sage is 8'' and despite the flush screen has (IMO) very good contrast.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by kuza

Hello !

A few days ago after a bit of research I bought the Pocketbook Inkpad 4 primarly for mangas.
Its pretty much perfect, except for one thing : the blacks arent very dark, and the contrasts could be better. In fact the b&w is a bit dull in my opinion.

I might be mistaken, but if I understand correctly, this is caused by the fact that it is a flush screen ? Which would mean im looking for a recessed screen ?

So I went looking for an 7,8" to 8" ereader with a recessed screen and these were the ones that came out : pocketbook inkpad 3, inkpad 3 pro,inkpad color, inkpad color 2, inkpad color 3.

What do you guys think ?

Why are you even contemplating to get an Inkpad 3? The screen on the 3 is inferior by definition, given the Inkpad 4 has a Carta 1200, wheras the Inkpad 3 has the previous version, with lower crispness. Also, all of them have a flush screen anyway.

And as @Sirtel said, colour screens are fuzzier, because there are two layers.
The Sage has a beautiful screen.

[Quoth]

The only flush screen I've seen that was worse was Kindle PW4, but you had to put it beside the recessed PW3 to notice it wasn't as good. But the flush Kobo Sage is better than the the recessed PW3 and not noticeably different to the original Libra (recessed 7″). Unfortunately Kobo doesn't do a mono 7″ now.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The only flush screen I've seen that was worse was Kindle PW4, but you had to put it beside the recessed PW3 to notice it wasn't as good. But the flush Kobo Sage is better than the the recessed PW3 and not noticeably different to the original Libra (recessed 7″). Unfortunately Kobo doesn't do a mono 7″ now.

The PW4 was not good on it's own. You didn't need to compare it. It is that bad.

[kuza]

Ok thanks guys !
The Kobo Sage looks like its got everything I need. (a tad expensive but eh)

Are there any other alternatives, for a 7.8-8" ereader with nice contrast ?

[Sirtel]

There may be some Onyx Boox devices, but I'm not familiar with them, so can't suggest any.

[kuza]

So after a bit of research I find 3 more devices that could fit me : the Boox Nova Air 2, the Meebook P78 Pro and i'm also thinking about the Kobo Libra 2. This last one is a bit small (7") but a lot of people say that the screen has great contrasts.

[Sirtel]

The Libra 2 has an excellent, sharp screen. Unfortunately it has been discontinued. But if you can find one sold somewhere for a reasonable price, it's certainly worth considering.

[tomsem]

FWIW PocketBook does not respect RTL page progression direction for manga.

It kinda doesn't matter on device because it does not support facing pages in landscape, but the mobile apps do, so the pages are on the wrong side, page turn gestures are not reversed, and spreads do not display correctly (if a spread is split into two images as they often are).

Otherwise my PB devices (Era and Inkpad Color 3) have blacks/contrast roughly equivalent of my Kindles. Black is never really that black on eInk screens except as your brain can interpret it as such. The slight differences between models is not likely to matter once you pick one and stop comparing it to other devices. IMO.

That said I consume most of my manga reading on Scribe because it does facing page/spreads in landscape more comfortably than smaller screens, and so I would recommend a 10" display. It's more 'immersive' and I like to see spreads as they would be in print, and not rotated and squashed to fit either.

[kees]

What about this
https://youtu.be/vR15lTHnQIY?si=Vs57f9Dwpa6v-LnP

No bluelight (Dr Jack Kruse) distraction.

[Quoth]

What a rubbish video.
And there is still no real evidence on "Blue light". Also most decent OLED and LCD have less blue light than daylight.
Many eink frontlights have more bluelight than daylight unless they have orange LEDs, but actually it doesn't matter.
Too bright and screen reflections is was causes strain.
Stimulating content is what chases sleep.

[kees]

Got it….

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by kees

What about this
https://youtu.be/vR15lTHnQIY?si=Vs57f9Dwpa6v-LnP

No bluelight (Dr Jack Kruse) distraction.

Notice how Daylight has all sorts of hype, got released with hype, and now almost no one talks about it. The CEO, Anjan Katta, would rather play the role of woo-woo wellness influencer and promote *other* wellness influencers than show actual peer-reviewed and published scientific studies.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Frogm4n

Notice how Daylight has all sorts of hype,
…
role of woo-woo wellness influencer and promote *other* wellness influencers than show actual peer-reviewed and published scientific studies.

Yes. Woo-woo is a good description.