Pocketbook Touch HD 3 or Kindle Paperwhite 2018 - hands on dilemma

[Dinth]

Hi. Ive got a huge dilemma which one to choose. In fact, ive got both in hands right now, but eventually will need to return one of them.
I was a long time Kindle user, but ive been noticing Kindle shortcomings and I've been wanting a replacement (either a different ebook reader or a different software on a Kindle - unfortunately my old paperwhite was not hackable).

So now i've ended up with two ebook readers - Touch HD 3 and Kindle PW4, both with KOReader software (as OPDS support is one of my must-have features).

Kindle PW4 pros:
* works really nice with KOReader
* KOreader takes over file selection
* Blazing fast, both generally and with KOReader

Kindle PW4 cons:
* Heavy
* No hardware buttons
* No light temperature selection
* Send 2 Kindle only supports mobi files

Touch HD 3 pros:
* Very light
* Accelerometer (this would be a huge must have for me only if KOReader would support it, unfortunately it doesnt. I must hope that they will add support in the future)
* Hardware buttons
* Send to Pocketbook which works very well with ePub files and KOReader
* Light temperature selection, including automatic one
* Additional apps

Touch HD 3 cons:
* Very slow
* Even SLOWER with KOReader (its perfectly fine with changing pages in an ebook, but changing any of the settings, fonts, margins, etc takes AGES)
* KOReader doesnt run very stable.
* Few important features are not supported by KOReader at the moment (Light temperature selection from within the app, accelerometer support)

I need to make up my mind as soon as possible (as one of them must be returned), but got so much work in last couple of weeks that i dont have time to properly test them side by side.

Just to make things even worse, Kobo Libra H2O also caught my eye.

Kobo Libra H2O pros:
- physical buttons, with probably better placing than Touch HD3
- better support for KOReader (?)
- has all hardware features of Touch HD3

Kobo Libra H2O cons:
- heavier than both HD3 and PW4
- havent tested it so its a mistery
- more expensive than HD3 and PW4 and bad availability
- would take a lot of hassle with returning not one both two ereaders i currently have
- built in software is bad in case i would need to fall back from KOReader for any reasons (which i dont think will happen)

I would love to hear your reasoning on this subject.

[Dinth]

I wanted to add that im buying DRM free dualformat (mobi+epub) bookks and dont read pdfs on my reader. Im using calibre-web for library management.

[Sirtel]

Just curious, why is the Kobo software bad in your opinion?

[Dinth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Just curious, why is the Kobo software bad in your opinion?

Im sorry, i was meant to say "apparently bad". And maybe "bad" is a bad word, but according to reviews i read, Kobos software is very simple and lacks features.
Anyhow, as i said above, Kobos are a mistery for me, i have never held one in my hands.

Kind regards

[pazos]

Hi Dinth: KOReader works very well on kobos, bq cervantes and *some* android devices because these are currently maintained platforms.

Kindle is maintained too, but amazon adds restrictions which are difficult or impossible to fix.
Pocketbook is not maintained as nobody contributing to KOReader has one of these devices.

Just to figure out different issues on different platforms:

open issues for kobos
open issues for kindles
open issues for pocketbooks

As you can see the pocketbook platform is a mess in terms of support and this won't change unless somebody starts to contribute for that platform.

So, if you're happy with how koreader behaves on your kindle (and can live without other features that PB has) stay with it or try a kobo.

If you can live without koreader (I guess you can ) and find your pocketbook software nicer then it's up to you, but don't hold your breath waiting for future platform support because it might never happen.

[ps67]

I don't know which reviews did You read about Kobo but "bad" is not what the majority of owner of a Kobo think. Of course the perfect reader doesn't exist but I like it. The only thing I don't like is that Kobo Epub doesn't handle ligatures, but You can choose epub if there aren't notes or images (and if You use KOReader it doesn't matter).

In this post I compared Kindle and Kobo:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...98#post3926698

And if You search You can find many other things about Kobo.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Dinth

Im sorry, i was meant to say "apparently bad". And maybe "bad" is a bad word, but according to reviews i read, Kobos software is very simple and lacks features.
Anyhow, as i said above, Kobos are a mistery for me, i have never held one in my hands.

Kind regards

That's certainly not true. In addition, Kobos can be patched, which adds tons of options.

I don't use Koreader, but I really like my Libra. If buttons and color temp are important to you, I suggest you try it.

[LucyOne]

I use a Touch HD 3 with KoReader and am happy with it most of the time. I install most of the nightlies and the stability has improved lately. I think the speed and stability also depend on the books you read, some files make KoReader freeze, others don't.
I also have Coolreader installed as an alternative, so I can switch, if necessary.

[Last Frontier]

I also use KOReader on the PocketBook Touch HD 3 and it works fine for me. On the Touch HD 2 it is unstable and closes continuously. On the InkPad 3 it has the problems described above when changing text settings. But on the Touch HD 3 I didn't have any problems.

However, I don't like the screen of the Touch HD 3 too much compared to previous PocketBook models, and neither do the Kindle Paperwhite (without color temperature adjustment) or the Kobo Clara HD.

In my opinion, the device that has the best screen quality currently in 6" is the Tolino Shine 3, and thanks to the excellent work of @Pazos KOReader it works great. But you have to access Android to use it.

The Kobo Libra H2O also seems to me a good option.