Paperwhite 5 or Libra 2?

[Buhaj47]

I'm considering switch to either Paperwhite 5 or Libra 2, does anyone have experience with those? I used to have a Kobo Aura H2O, now I own a PW 3. I buy most ebooks from local bookstores, then convert them in Calibre. My first thought was PW 5, but I heard Amazon is making changes that are supposed to discourage people from sideloading their own ebooks - is that true? Is it possible the function will be blocked at some point? Anyway, to me PW 5 has some advantages:

• higher speed
• ebook and notes synchronization in cloud
• bigger choice of non-plastic covers

Did Kobo address some of those points in their device?

[Sirtel]

I don't think that sideloading to Kindles will be blocked in the near future. But there will be probably be more and more features that don't work with sideloaded books.

Kobo doesn't sync sideloaded books. The Forma and the Sage both have Dropbox integration, but AFAIK you can't sync reading progress and notes via Dropbox.

As to speed, I can only compare my Oasis, the Sage and the Libra 1 (haven't received my Libra 2 yet and I don't own any Paperwhites). The Oasis is the fastest, the Sage is also pretty nimble (at least with kepubs), the Libra 1 is slower. The Libra 2 is probably the same as the Libra 1 speed-wise (the same processor and RAM).

[Almamida]

I have both, they are great choices, even if the Libra2 was not impressing on the paper, I'm really liking it. You won't make a big mistake by going with one or another.
Maybe you prefer one form factor?

[Dr. Drib]

If you're on the fence about these two, you might ask yourself if buttons are a feature you might enjoy.

(I don't own either of the two you mention, but I continue to own devices with and without buttons. I personally prefer buttons.)

[Josieb1]

The annoying things about reading sideloaded books on a kindle are

1) you can send a mobi file using Send to Kindle or via email and it will allow you to download the book on multiple devices, just like an Amazon ebook, but you can’t bold the font, or have the cover showing. And they are treated as Docs.

2) you can sideloaded an AZW file via Calibre to a kindle using usb, and you can bold the font, and you will see a cover (only after you have connected the kindle a second time, after loading the books), but you can’t sync between devices/apps

I also had issues with sideloaded AZW files, not appearing, or duplicating, and not staying in collections.

I now read all sideloaded books on a Kobo.

[Almamida]

I would add, after more tests on my side that if you plan on reading regular ebooks, you can comfortably go with any of them.
If you want to read manga, it will depend on what you value : The Paperwhite turns pages really fast by default and the Libra 2 has a crisper screen.

You can fix the page turn speed on the Libra2 by installing and using KOReader though. Page turn will be even faster than the Paperwhite with a great picture quality and more options to adjust the contrast to your liking.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The annoying things about reading sideloaded books on a kindle are

1) you can send a mobi file using Send to Kindle or via email and it will allow you to download the book on multiple devices, just like an Amazon ebook, but you can’t bold the font, or have the cover showing. And they are treated as Docs.

2) you can sideloaded an AZW file via Calibre to a kindle using usb, and you can bold the font, and you will see a cover (only after you have connected the kindle a second time, after loading the books), but you can’t sync between devices/apps

I also had issues with sideloaded AZW files, not appearing, or duplicating, and not staying in collections.

I now read all sideloaded books on a Kobo.

I'm able to send books using Send to Kindle and make the font bold, and while the cover doesn't show in "grid view" on the Kindle, it does show on the sleep screen. I'm able to do this by creating the file with Kindle Previewer. I just did it a week or so ago with a bunch of books that I bought from a different store.

Shari

[Buhaj47]

I ordered both and decided to go for the Libra - better contrast, ability to see chapter page count and KOReader support (I sideload my books) are the main factors.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Buhaj47

I ordered both and decided to go for the Libra - better contrast, ability to see chapter page count and KOReader support (I sideload my books) are the main factors.

Well chosen.

[Flaviocc]

Originally Posted by shalym

I'm able to send books using Send to Kindle and make the font bold, and while the cover doesn't show in "grid view" on the Kindle, it does show on the sleep screen. I'm able to do this by creating the file with Kindle Previewer. I just did it a week or so ago with a bunch of books that I bought from a different store.

Shari

How you did that?

Do you have a mini tutorial?

Tks so much.

[Elvish]

I'll start by saying I currently have an older paperwhite and am looking at the larger devices (Paperwhite being 6.8 and then Kobo's 7 inch models)

However one feature I can't seem to tell if kobo has an answer for is whispersync? Currently I do enjoy being able to seemlessly go from an Audiobook to my reader and back without losing progress does Kobo have that option if I purchase the book and audio book from them or am I better of sticking with Kindle?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Flaviocc

How you did that?

Do you have a mini tutorial?

Tks so much.

I used Kindlegen.

You can get the kindlegen app here. To use it, either start with an epub or convert the book to epub in Calibre, and get all of the metadata the way you want it (cover, series info, etc).

Once you have your epub as you want it, right-click on the book in Calibre and choose "Save to Disk". Pay close attention to where you are saving it, and then go to the location that you saved the book to.

Now go to wherever you saved the kindlegen.exe file to, and drag the epub on top of the kindlegen.exe file.

Now you have a .mobi file that you can send using the Send to Kindle app that you download from here.

To make this really easy for myself, I have a folder that I created named "SendToKindle". It has a copy of the kindlegen.exe file in it, and when I save the book from Calibre, I save it to that directory...that way, the epub and the kindlegen file are in the same place.

Shari

[John F]

Originally Posted by shalym

I used Kindlegen.

You can get the kindlegen app here. To use it, either start with an epub or convert the book to epub in Calibre, and get all of the metadata the way you want it (cover, series info, etc).

Once you have your epub as you want it, right-click on the book in Calibre and choose "Save to Disk". Pay close attention to where you are saving it, and then go to the location that you saved the book to.

Now go to wherever you saved the kindlegen.exe file to, and drag the epub on top of the kindlegen.exe file.

Now you have a .mobi file that you can send using the Send to Kindle app that you download from here.

To make this really easy for myself, I have a folder that I created named "SendToKindle". It has a copy of the kindlegen.exe file in it, and when I save the book from Calibre, I save it to that directory...that way, the epub and the kindlegen file are in the same place.

Shari

Is using kindlegen necessary? Can't you just convert to mobi using calibre?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by John F

Is using kindlegen necessary? Can't you just convert to mobi using calibre?

It doesn't always work to have the bolding, even if you choose the "MOBI file type: both" in the output settings. I've never had it fail using Kindlegen.

Shari

[mbrisco]

Something useful for anyone deciding between these: Both the Paperwhite 5 and the Libra 2 have 512MB of RAM. I've seen various online articles say the PW5 had 1GB but can't confirm in my hand that it doesn't, only 512MB. I think Wikipedia say 1GB as well, but they're notorious already.