Colour ereader recommendations

[Krytes]

I'm looking for recommendations for a color ebook reader. I'll be using it mainly for reading epubs with coloured text (no comics and minimal illustrations). My requirements:

-Must have colour

-8 inches or smaller

-Less than about $600 USD

-Doesn't necessarily need open Android, but needs an epub reader that supports JavaScript, custom text colours, and ruby text (pinyin above Chinese characters).

Pocketbook InkPad Color, Guoyue V5, and Onyx Boox Nova Air C all seem like they might be suitable. The Boox is obviously the most versatile, but significantly more expensive than the others. I could keep waiting for a Gallery 3 device, but it seems as though most of them will be out of my budget whenever they do show up. Advice please?

[Quoth]

Color eink is only good for comics. It reduces the text resolution and has only about 4000 pastel shades because it's a filter printed on top of mono eink, which is at best 300 dpi with black, 14 grey levels and nearly white. So you either get 100dpi x 300 dpi (X by Y using RGB) or 150 dpi (X & Y using G B then R G on alternate lines). Triton gives more saturation but needs strong lighting and Kalido uses pastel shaded RGB to make it not quite as dark (but still need front light or strong ambient light).

Gallery 3 is OK for posters but poor for an ereader at about 1.5s for a page turn/full refresh. It's aimed at retail & advertising, though of course the Eink company will sell smaller panels to bleeding edge ereader makers and it will be a failure.

Javascript needs epub3.

A better quality LCD or OLED with matte finish screen is what you need for colored text.

[Krytes]

I realize that most people would only use it for comics. I specifically want an e-ink screen to display Chinese characters in one of 5 colours, with the option to toggle romanization on/off above the characters (hence the need for Ruby text and a reader which supports epub 3 with JavaScript). Inaccurate or muted colours are not a problem as long as I can easily distinguish between 5 different colours, which seems like it shouldn't be a problem even for kaleidosco. 1.5 second refresh wouldn't be a dealbreaker either, since I'm only going to be reading pages of text very slowly.

I'm using an Android tablet for this purpose right now, bit the screen annoys me and I hate having to charge it so frequently. I also want to spend a lot of time reading outdoors this summer, so I really do want an eink reader and not an LCD or OLED.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Krytes

-Doesn't necessarily need open Android, but needs an epub reader that supports JavaScript, custom text colours, and ruby text (pinyin above Chinese characters).

Any ereader that sufficiently supports ePub3 should be able to handle ruby in whichever language it is used and Javascript. Custom text colours are available in ePub2.

OTOH, I have seen and lightly used several colour eInk ereaders and, so far, they are not ready for prime time.

[Quoth]

Most coloured text is shades of murk on mono eink. Works on azw3 too I think as well as any epub.

The very ancient blackish, two greys and one light grey eink panels are likely early 2005 to 2007 LRF only Sony. The first Kindle was 2007 & 2008 and also only four level grey scale. It uses old mobi. Sony maybe went to epub about 2009.

The Kindle 3 (16 level grey) was 2010 but only got azw3 as a later firmware update, not sure when, possibly around 2011 or 2012.

[Krytes]

Sorry for duplicate.

[Krytes]

In case anyone's interested, I ended up with a Boox Tab Mini C and love it.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Krytes

In case anyone's interested, I ended up with a Boox Tab Mini C and love it.

The Tab Mini C is a very complete e-reader. Since I got it, it has become my main e-reader for any kind of reading. I hardly use the rest of my e-readers.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by cellaris

The Tab Mini C is a very complete e-reader. Since I got it, it has become my main e-reader for any kind of reading. I hardly use the rest of my e-readers.

It is also my main reading device - I find the screen at least as good as, if not better than, the Carta 1200 from the Tolino Epos 3.
Exceptions: I use the Palma when I'm on the go and the Tab Ultra C for working in the (winter) garden; They all have BooxSuperRefresh Technology, without which I hardly use any device anymore (sometimes the Tolino Epos 2 because it only weighs about 60%)

[chrisridd]

What app do you read with on your Tab Mini Cs - Neoreader?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

What app do you read with on your Tab Mini Cs - Neoreader?

Calibre Companion and AlReader - Im using NeoReader for fixed Layout boox (cbr, cbz, pdf).

[cellaris]

For regular reading I use AlReaderX (Eink), which is adapted to Onyx devices and has several options for colour. As a second option I use KOReader (a trial version that allows colour underlining).

For occasional reading I use the PocketBook (ePub/PDF with DRM) and Kindle (for its own ecosystem) applications. NeoReader I sometimes use for CBR/CBZ and PDF.

[downeaster59]

I usually use NeoReader for PDFs. For other formats, either Moon Reader Pro (using the Day 1 theme), KOReader or NeoReader. I had forgotten about AlReader and didn't know about AlReaderX. I've just installed AlReaderX. Looks promising!

Sometimes I'll use Librera Pro. It depends on the book.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

I've just installed AlReaderX. Looks promising!

AlReaderX has now reached an optimal level of development. The Google Play version is out of date. To get to know the possibilities of the programme it is best to go directly to the Russian 4PDA forum.

The colour options (apart from text underlining) are well summarised in this message:

https://4pda-to.translate.goog/forum...entry127130628

An example of what can be done can be seen in the screenshots.

[downeaster59]

I found AlReaderX Eink. It'll take a while to explore all the options! Thanks for the tip!