Searching relatively cheap Android based E-Book-Reader

[ars]

I'm searching a relatively cheap Android based E-Book Reader using E-Ink technology. The purpose of using Android is on one hand to have an open source operating system and on the other hand having the ability to expand the E-Book Reader using several third-party apps.
"Relatively cheap" means that I expect the reader to have a good functionality-price ratio, however the maximal price should not exceed 160$ (including shipping to the European Union). Refurbished and used devices (in good condition) are also an option, as long as they have a (really) good functionality-price ratio.
Possible options I could ascertain so far are Boyue, Onyx and Icarus. Unfortunately, the availability of Onyx and Icarus readers seems to be very bad. Boyue models which are in stock are T61, T62 and T63, but I'm not sure whether there are better ones on the market and which of them may fit my needs.

I'm grateful for every answer which can help me finding the right device and apologizing for the absence of activity resulting from my recent discovery of this forum.

[Pajamaman]

Personally I'd get a 6 or 6.8" onyx. You can get them on banggood or from booxter in Germany in the onyx forum.

[ars]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Personally I'd get a 6 or 6.8" onyx. You can get them on banggood or from booxter in Germany in the onyx forum.

Thank you for the tip. Whereas I'm located in Germany, that's a really happy coincidence.
The Onyx Kepler Pro seems to be a pretty solid E-Book-Reader featuring 1GB of RAM and maybe even an update to 4.4. It's pricier than I'ld like it to be, but it seems to be exactly what I'm searching for. Thanks!

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ars

I'm searching a relatively cheap Android based E-Book Reader using E-Ink technology.
...
however the maximal price should not exceed 160$ (including shipping to the European Union).

https://mytolino.de/
You can choose from 100Euro for a basic front-lit model to 250Euro for 7.8 inch, waterproof device.
I am sure that there is abundance of second-hand devices in Germany. Just search your equivalent of ebay or whatever.

The earlier models used to be relatively easy to hack.
I haven't looked at the newer ones.

Have a look around German-speaking forums for rooting instructions for individual models.

They HAVE to be rooted to get access to the underlying Android system.

[ars]

Originally Posted by kacir

https://mytolino.de/
You can choose from 100Euro for a basic front-lit model to 250Euro for 7.8 inch, waterproof device.
I am sure that there is abundance of second-hand devices in Germany. Just search your equivalent of ebay or whatever.

The earlier models used to be relatively easy to hack.
I haven't looked at the newer ones.

Have a look around German-speaking forums for rooting instructions for individual models.

They HAVE to be rooted to get access to the underlying Android system.

Rooting it may result in voiding its guarantee, won't it? I expect it to become my daily driver for a long time, therefore I want to have the right to get a replacement in case of defect.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G800F mit Tapatalk

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ars

Rooting it may result in voiding its guarantee, won't it?

Well ... I am not so sure.

Germany has very strong customer protecting laws, so I do not expect that when a bezel cracks, or paint starts to peel or something they can refuse warranty repair on basis of rooting the device.

When the device dies completely, I do not think they would do a forensic analysis to find out whether it was rooted or not.

The only scenario where I can see rooting voiding warranty is when you root it and then complain that the reader started to act weird.


I believe there are German speaking forums that deal with the rooting of Tolinos. I tried to follow when the first two generations were introduced and hacked / rooted.
You might try to read how difficult and irreversible the rooting is. I am pretty sure that they did also discuss the warranty problem. There must be somebody with rooted device who tried to claim warranty.


If you buy a second-hand device, it is cheaper, and one of the [many] reasons is that you do not pay warranty. I do not know what the second-hand market in Germany looks like.

[kacir]

One more thing.
There are other devices that come with Android that you can access without rooting and hacking. Like boyue from Chinese on-line stores. Good luck claiming warranty after more than a few months;-)

There is also Onyx Boox, but I am not sure I would recommend that.
I had an opportunity to play with their early 8" devices and the software was really flaky.
I own their Inkphone - it was a disaster hardware-wise and the software was *atrocious*.

I had a chance to play with their newest Onyx Boox Max 2 with 13.3" screen that can also work as a display for PC. It is a very nice hardware, but I can't say anything about software, because during 15 minutes od playing with the device you have no chance to really test anything. Especially not installing random software from Google Play or sideloaded apk files.

[ars]

Originally Posted by kacir

Well ... I am not so sure.

Germany has very strong customer protecting laws, so I do not expect that when a bezel cracks, or paint starts to peel or something they can refuse warranty repair on basis of rooting the device.

When the device dies completely, I do not think they would do a forensic analysis to find out whether it was rooted or not.

The only scenario where I can see rooting voiding warranty is when you root it and then complain that the reader started to act weird.


I believe there are German speaking forums that deal with the rooting of Tolinos. I tried to follow when the first two generations were introduced and hacked / rooted.
You might try to read how difficult and irreversible the rooting is. I am pretty sure that they did also discuss the warranty problem. There must be somebody with rooted device who tried to claim warranty.


If you buy a second-hand device, it is cheaper, and one of the [many] reasons is that you do not pay warranty. I do not know what the second-hand market in Germany looks like.

Originally Posted by kacir

One more thing.
There are other devices that come with Android that you can access without rooting and hacking. Like boyue from Chinese on-line stores. Good luck claiming warranty after more than a few months;-)

There is also Onyx Boox, but I am not sure I would recommend that.
I had an opportunity to play with their early 8" devices and the software was really flaky.
I own their Inkphone - it was a disaster hardware-wise and the software was *atrocious*.

I had a chance to play with their newest Onyx Boox Max 2 with 13.3" screen that can also work as a display for PC. It is a very nice hardware, but I can't say anything about software, because during 15 minutes od playing with the device you have no chance to really test anything. Especially not installing random software from Google Play or sideloaded apk files.

Thanks for your detailed advice.
Guarantee and warranty differ in Germany: Warranty is low-protected, guarantee is provided freely. If I'll by an Onyx reader, I'll probably get one at ereader.store, and the warranty limitations seem to be pretty relaxed.

However, all Android readers differ some problems: Some devices have just 512MB RAM (which is very low), others seem to suffer display stability (e.g. Onyx C67ML), and some are relinquishing hardware buttons for page turning and suffer providing accurate on-touch solutions (at least according to some reviews, especially for the Boyue Paper / Likebook Plus).

Edit: I'm going for the Kepler Pro, as it seems to be the best 6 inch device available.

[kacir]

Disclaimer:
DO NOT EXPECT your Android-based e-ink reader to be anything like an Android tablet (or a very large phone) just with an e-ink screen.

A few months ago we had a discussion here about Linux based e-ink reader and HarryT called such a reader a dancing bear. You see, with a dancing bear you can't expect that it will dance gracefully or well, it is a miracle that it can dance at all.

The only useful feature of Android for me is that I can select from a [very] limited number of e-book apps and select the one that sucks the least. I owned several [hacked] Android-based devices and all of them were severely limited. Limited, among *many* other things, by an e-ink display that has refresh frequency 1Hz. Even the majority of e-book reading apps are not suited for a device without physical buttons [that many e-ink readers lack] and without an LCD screen.
With many e-book programs you will not even be able to set the front-light to a minimum level, because for an LCD display there is a cut-off level of about 15-20% and you can't go lower than that, so an e-book reading app (for example Coolreader) will cheat and will start mixing black to the white background when you reach 20% backlight level to simulate a low-level backlight. This works very well with an LCD display, but it is a disaster on an e-ink screen. For my device even 15% level front-light is painfully bright for me. I keep mine at 1%. Fortunately with some apps you can set "use system brightness level" and set the front-light elsewhere, or choose an "e-ink" option somewhere and get a high-contrast UI and better control over front-light. There are other limitations. The default setting for all apps is to have lots of animations (even when you choose said "e-ink" option in settings), menus with pastel backgrounds, textured "paper" or "parchment" - like background for text in a book.

Originally Posted by ars

However, all Android readers differ some problems: Some devices have just 512MB RAM (which is very low), others seem to suffer display stability (e.g. Onyx C67ML), and some are relinquishing hardware buttons for page turning and suffer providing accurate on-touch solutions (at least according to some reviews, especially for the Boyue Paper / Likebook Plus).

Yes, see my rant above ;-).

By the way, 512MB is plenty for an e-book app and I wouldn't expect to use more demanding ones ;-). (I am just trying to lessen your disappointment once you receive your reader and try some stuff)

I also have a YotaPhone 2, and I very rarely use "normal" apps on an e-ink side of the phone. Mostly when I am showing it off ;-)
When I am using my YotaPhone 2 and when I have it flipped to an e-ink side I am using YotaReader (an e-book app) 95%+ of the time. I tried other e-book reading apps, with more configuration options for rendering text and control and I have always returned to the YotaReader. It sucks the least.
By the way ... there is YotaPhone 3 available, and they pulled the "mirror the main screen to e-ink" feature from this model.


My golden standard for an e-ink reader with good options for rendering text in a book, user interface, and other e-book-centric features is PocketBook 360°.

I was spoiled rotten with all the options, features and device ergonomy the legendary PB360° had and I have been looking for a worthy replacement ever since. I am *still* not fully satisfied, 6 devices later.

[ars]

Originally Posted by kacir

Disclaimer:
DO NOT EXPECT your Android-based e-ink reader to be anything like an Android tablet (or a very large phone) just with an e-ink screen.

A few months ago we had a discussion here about Linux based e-ink reader and HarryT called such a reader a dancing bear. You see, with a dancing bear you can't expect that it will dance gracefully or well, it is a miracle that it can dance at all.

The only useful feature of Android for me is that I can select from a [very] limited number of e-book apps and select the one that sucks the least. I owned several [hacked] Android-based devices and all of them were severely limited. Limited, among *many* other things, by an e-ink display that has refresh frequency 1Hz. Even the majority of e-book reading apps are not suited for a device without physical buttons [that many e-ink readers lack] and without an LCD screen.
With many e-book programs you will not even be able to set the front-light to a minimum level, because for an LCD display there is a cut-off level of about 15-20% and you can't go lower than that, so an e-book reading app (for example Coolreader) will cheat and will start mixing black to the white background when you reach 20% backlight level to simulate a low-level backlight. This works very well with an LCD display, but it is a disaster on an e-ink screen. For my device even 15% level front-light is painfully bright for me. I keep mine at 1%. Fortunately with some apps you can set "use system brightness level" and set the front-light elsewhere, or choose an "e-ink" option somewhere and get a high-contrast UI and better control over front-light. There are other limitations. The default setting for all apps is to have lots of animations (even when you choose said "e-ink" option in settings), menus with pastel backgrounds, textured "paper" or "parchment" - like background for text in a book.
Yes, see my rant above ;-).

By the way, 512MB is plenty for an e-book app and I wouldn't expect to use more demanding ones ;-). (I am just trying to lessen your disappointment once you receive your reader and try some stuff)

I also have a YotaPhone 2, and I very rarely use "normal" apps on an e-ink side of the phone. Mostly when I am showing it off ;-)
When I am using my YotaPhone 2 and when I have it flipped to an e-ink side I am using YotaReader (an e-book app) 95%+ of the time. I tried other e-book reading apps, with more configuration options for rendering text and control and I have always returned to the YotaReader. It sucks the least.
By the way ... there is YotaPhone 3 available, and they pulled the "mirror the main screen to e-ink" feature from this model.


My golden standard for an e-ink reader with good options for rendering text in a book, user interface, and other e-book-centric features is PocketBook 360°.

I was spoiled rotten with all the options, features and device ergonomy the legendary PB360° had and I have been looking for a worthy replacement ever since. I am *still* not fully satisfied, 6 devices later.

I guess you're right, I'm expecting too much from an e-ink device...
Nonetheless, I'm still not sure whether Android is better for an e-ink reader than non-Android operating sytems (open linux with terminal would be satisfying too, but that's just a dream). Especially Kobo devices seem to be very hackable, and their are instructions on how to install Android on a SD to dual-boot it. And, obviously, non-Android devices (or devices not specified running full Android without rooting or flashing) are a lot cheaper, often half the price of comparable Android readers.

The YotaPhone you mentioned would be a great deal, but the YotaPhone 2 is sold out anywhere and the YotaPhone 3 has a 450$ price tag.

Both Tolino and Kobo readers are able to run full Android, and both have devices sub 160$. Kobo seems to be even a bit more hackable, e.g. you can run Debian on it or other alternative operating systems while keeping the original Kobo OS in the internal storage.

The more information I got, the harder the decision gets...

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ars

(open linux with terminal would be satisfying too, but that's just a dream).

Have a look at PocketBook.
My previous reader was PocketBook Touch Lux 1 released in 2013.

My daughter still uses it.
The software for this new generation of devices went south, when compared with the "Golden age" PB 360°, but it is still a *very* impressive device.

On my PocketBook Touch Lux 623 I have installed a VIM text editor, terminal emulator (that lets you use the built-in Busybox subsystem), an ftp server (that lets you to connect to PocketBook from a PC on the same LAN and access system files), a third-party e-book vierwer Coolreader and some other stuff. No hacking required.
You connect the device to the PC and copy a binary to an X:\\system\bin or X:\\system\game directory (depending on the version of the firmware),
replacing the built-in e-book reading app was equally easy, you took a third-party fbreader (fbreader180) and placed it with the name fbreader.app to the X:\\system\bin or X:\\system\game directory. The $PATH variable on PocketBook had this path before paths with the built-in binaries. Brilliant!

Long time ago (2009 - when the legendary PB360° was released) PocketBook company released an SDK, tools for modification of user interface, source-code for their built-in e-book reading app FBReader, tools for building dictionaries. They even sponsored a competition on a Russian speaking forum the-ebook.org that produced lots of interesting results - a terminal program, ftp server, fantastic UI modification, FBReader180 with lots of configuration options ...
Also the system architecture was very hacking-friendly. You placed your version of system binary into a directory and it was used instead of a built-in one. If you screwed up, you just connected the reader to PC using USB cable and deleted the your version of binary. It was the same with configuration files. (it doesn't fully work with configuration files anymore, so I switched to a hacked Android-based device)

Check whether there are third-party programs available for the newest PocketBooks and you can have a very hacker-friendly device.
see http://www.the-ebook.org/
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/
Unless you speak Russian you will need to use translate.google.com, or use Chrome and have the pages automatically translated.

[Pajamaman]

What do you want plan to do with it? I've owned boyue and onyx. They were early models, and both with problems. The key is read user comments on these forums. Use search function and ask questions. Is battery life good? are they stable. You may not need googleplaystore because you can find apk files on net. The 4.4 upgrade for onyx is unstable and probably won't work at all. Expect minimal support.

Now I use an old nook simple touch glowlight. $50 on ebay.Perfect condition. Relaunch was designed for it. It runs 2.1. It is the perfect device for me. Never crashes. I read books, write in txt format and use dropbox. Don't need buttons because alreader/coolreader/fbreader all allow complete control of screen to define page turn gestures.

[ars]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

What do you want plan to do with it? I've owned boyue and onyx. They were early models, and both with problems. The key is read user comments on these forums. Use search function and ask questions. Is battery life good? are they stable. You may not need googleplaystore because you can find apk files on net. The 4.4 upgrade for onyx is unstable and probably won't work at all. Expect minimal support.

Now I use an old nook simple touch glowlight. $50 on ebay.Perfect condition. Relaunch was designed for it. It runs 2.1. It is the perfect device for me. Never crashes. I read books, write in txt format and use dropbox. Don't need buttons because alreader/coolreader/fbreader all allow complete control of screen to define page turn gestures.

4.4 upgrade isn't necessary for me, 4.0.x is enough. I want to be able to surf in the internet (I know the speed won't be that great), able to buy / download books from various sellers and sources, e.g. Google Books, but also renting them from local libraries in Germany (using a service called "Onleihe"). The overall experience should be enjoyable, so that I'm not facing bugs all the time.

APKs are, in my experience, not always a solution. For instance, I may want to run applications which need Google Play Services (e.g. Google Play Books as mentioned above), so having the ability of running Google Play Services and Google Play Store on my device is obligatory, but I'ld have no problem with installing it myself, if possible.

[ars]

Originally Posted by kacir

Have a look at PocketBook.
My previous reader was PocketBook Touch Lux 1 released in 2013.

My daughter still uses it.
The software for this new generation of devices went south, when compared with the "Golden age" PB 360°, but it is still a *very* impressive device.

On my PocketBook Touch Lux 623 I have installed a VIM text editor, terminal emulator (that lets you use the built-in Busybox subsystem), an ftp server (that lets you to connect to PocketBook from a PC on the same LAN and access system files), a third-party e-book vierwer Coolreader and some other stuff. No hacking required.
You connect the device to the PC and copy a binary to an X:\\system\bin or X:\\system\game directory (depending on the version of the firmware),
replacing the built-in e-book reading app was equally easy, you took a third-party fbreader (fbreader180) and placed it with the name fbreader.app to the X:\\system\bin or X:\\system\game directory. The $PATH variable on PocketBook had this path before paths with the built-in binaries. Brilliant!

Long time ago (2009 - when the legendary PB360° was released) PocketBook company released an SDK, tools for modification of user interface, source-code for their built-in e-book reading app FBReader, tools for building dictionaries. They even sponsored a competition on a Russian speaking forum the-ebook.org that produced lots of interesting results - a terminal program, ftp server, fantastic UI modification, FBReader180 with lots of configuration options ...
Also the system architecture was very hacking-friendly. You placed your version of system binary into a directory and it was used instead of a built-in one. If you screwed up, you just connected the reader to PC using USB cable and deleted the your version of binary. It was the same with configuration files. (it doesn't fully work with configuration files anymore, so I switched to a hacked Android-based device)

Check whether there are third-party programs available for the newest PocketBooks and you can have a very hacker-friendly device.
see http://www.the-ebook.org/
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/
Unless you speak Russian you will need to use translate.google.com, or use Chrome and have the pages automatically translated.

Thanks for sharing this site, I've read some articles and learned about a lot of new devices which could become very interesting. For instance, there are tons of Onyx devices, released for the Russian and US market, providing reasonable specs. I've also took a look at the PocketBook SDK, and there is a reasonable amount of programs for linux-based devices (listed here). Especially terminal and FTP make it a valid option. However, as you said that you switched to a hacked Android-based device, which device was it and would you admit to prefer Android over PocketBook Linux?

[ars]

Originally Posted by kacir

Have a look at PocketBook.
My previous reader was PocketBook Touch Lux 1 released in 2013.

My daughter still uses it.
The software for this new generation of devices went south, when compared with the "Golden age" PB 360°, but it is still a *very* impressive device.

On my PocketBook Touch Lux 623 I have installed a VIM text editor, terminal emulator (that lets you use the built-in Busybox subsystem), an ftp server (that lets you to connect to PocketBook from a PC on the same LAN and access system files), a third-party e-book vierwer Coolreader and some other stuff. No hacking required.
You connect the device to the PC and copy a binary to an X:\\system\bin or X:\\system\game directory (depending on the version of the firmware),
replacing the built-in e-book reading app was equally easy, you took a third-party fbreader (fbreader180) and placed it with the name fbreader.app to the X:\\system\bin or X:\\system\game directory. The $PATH variable on PocketBook had this path before paths with the built-in binaries. Brilliant!

Long time ago (2009 - when the legendary PB360° was released) PocketBook company released an SDK, tools for modification of user interface, source-code for their built-in e-book reading app FBReader, tools for building dictionaries. They even sponsored a competition on a Russian speaking forum the-ebook.org that produced lots of interesting results - a terminal program, ftp server, fantastic UI modification, FBReader180 with lots of configuration options ...
Also the system architecture was very hacking-friendly. You placed your version of system binary into a directory and it was used instead of a built-in one. If you screwed up, you just connected the reader to PC using USB cable and deleted the your version of binary. It was the same with configuration files. (it doesn't fully work with configuration files anymore, so I switched to a hacked Android-based device)

Check whether there are third-party programs available for the newest PocketBooks and you can have a very hacker-friendly device.
see http://www.the-ebook.org/
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/
Unless you speak Russian you will need to use translate.google.com, or use Chrome and have the pages automatically translated.

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I'll do so asap.