Kindle DX versus Kobo Aura One

[thatsmyfish]

Hi all,

Looking for comparison information that I haven't been able to locate elsewhere. I have a Voyage, upgraded to an Oasis 1 when my daughter was born as it was easier to hold one handed, and to a Kobo Aura One when I wanted a larger screen. I was toying with the idea of expanding beyond the 7.8 inch screen further, but many of the options are over $500, far and away more than I want to spend. I recently reconnected with my old Kindle Keyboard and read a book on it, so was nostalgically considering buying an old Kindle DXG for the 9.7 inch screen.

My question, for anyone who happens to have access to both who could provide a side by side, it seems that comparing the old available font choices to what's available on the Aura One, I don't see a killer word per page at comparable size increase on the DXG and it might be a waste of money. I'm curious for thoughts, and imagines if anyone has them available.

Thanks!

[Barbara1955]

Better question would BE Can you even Find a DX.... They been Discontunes for Years..

[thatsmyfish]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

Better question would BE Can you even Find a DX.... They been Discontunes for Years..

eBay has them available at considerably less than the modern crop of Onyx/Remarkable/Sony tablets of comparable or higher size. If the underlying benefit isn’t there though it’d be of no consideration.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by thatsmyfish

eBay has them available at considerably less than the modern crop of Onyx/Remarkable/Sony tablets of comparable or higher size. If the underlying benefit isn’t there though it’d be of no consideration.

Comparing the Kindle DX, Kobo Aura One, iPad Pro 10.5" and Remarkable specs:

Kindle DX 9.7"
resolution 1200 x 823 px
weight 536 grams
size 264 × 183 × 10 mm
WiFi No
Stylus No

Kobo Aura One 7.8"
resolution 1872 x 1404 px
weight 230 grams
size 195.1 x 138.5 x 6.9 mm
WiFi Yes
Stylus No

iPad Pro 10.5"
resolution 2224 × 1668 px
weight 469 grams
size 250.6 × 174.1 × 6.1 mm
WiFi Yes
Stylus Yes

Remarkable 10.1"
resolution 1872 x 1404 px
weight 350 grams
size 256 x 177 x 6.7mm
WiFi Yes
Stylus Yes

The killer lack for me is the screen resolution which would make PDF reading a pain while the weight and size would lead me to an iPad or Android tablet for reading PDFs. As noted above, the iPad Pro 10.5" is smaller, lighter and has higher screen resolution plus supporting a stylus. I will admit to owning both the KA1 (personal) and the iPad Pro 10.5 (work) and have only handled/used a Kindle DX on a couple of occasions (the last one being to replace the original battery which was not holding a charge). I've never used a Remarkable but find it an interesting niche device.

[thatsmyfish]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The killer lack for me is the screen resolution which would make PDF reading a pain while the weight and size would lead me to an iPad or Android tablet instead. As noted above, the iPad Pro 10.5" is smaller, lighter and has higher screen resolution plus supporting a stylus. I will admit to owning both the KA1 (personal) and the iPad Pro 10.5 (work) and have only handled a Kindle DX on a couple of occasions.

I tend to stick to epub/mobi files and the backlight of the iPad has always killed my eyes, especially at night. I think the exclusive benefit I would see would be the larger screen, 9.7 versus 7.8, but this would be killed for me if font and formatting limitations from eight years ago render the Aura One more versatile. In other words, if I can keep the same size font but customize the space better between the lines and actually have more words per page on the Aura One at the same size than the DX, there's literally no benefit to the DX.

Does anyone even still use one anymore?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by thatsmyfish

Does anyone even still use one anymore?

I don't own one, but if one came up cheap on eBay or Shop Goodwill I would probably get it. I like the Kindle Keyboard's fonts and, if the DXG is similar, I think I would like reading on it (when (if) I needed a bigger reader).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by thatsmyfish

I tend to stick to epub/mobi files and the backlight of the iPad has always killed my eyes, especially at night. I think the exclusive benefit I would see would be the larger screen, 9.7 versus 7.8, but this would be killed for me if font and formatting limitations from eight years ago render the Aura One more versatile. In other words, if I can keep the same size font but customize the space better between the lines and actually have more words per page on the Aura One at the same size than the DX, there's literally no benefit to the DX.

Does anyone even still use one anymore?

Font and formatting would definitely be in favour of the KA1. At my age, I like the KA1 for allowing me to have the same amount of text on the screen but at a larger font size compared to a 6" ereader. If you haven't used a frontlit e-Ink device, you may be pleasantly surprised. I find it much more comfortable for a long period of reading than a backlit LCD. Other people are not as happy and report that the frontlit e-Ink is more comfortable than a backlit LCD but still not something they want to use for a long time.

One issue you may run into is that Kobo's ereaders respect the publisher's CSS so if the ebook was formatted as crap, it will display as crap. Compared to even a few years ago, the formatting is getting better but I still find myself with some ebooks where I edit the CSS to cleanup the display -- why would anyone think that doublespacing lines is a good idea?

[thatsmyfish]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Font and formatting would definitely be in favour of the KA1. At my age, I like the KA1 for allowing me to have the same amount of text on the screen but at a larger font size compared to a 6" ereader. If you haven't used a frontlit e-Ink device, you may be pleasantly surprised. I find it much more comfortable for a long period of reading than a backlit LCD. Other people are not as happy and report that the frontlit e-Ink is more comfortable than a backlit LCD but still not something they want to use for a long time.

I'm absolutely with you in terms of the ease on the eyes. Even the patches made to backlit devices where you can turn the brightness down very low at night doesn't seem to help. For those who haven't used the KA1 I hadn't expected to use ComfortLight, but can't live without it a lot of the time. Sometimes while reading at night I'll turn ComfortLight off and get visual whiplash right away. It's certainly easier on the eyes.

I'm hopeful in this thread I'll come across someone still in possession of a DX. They're certainly cheaper than ever on ebay but still costly enough that I want to make sure the gains are worth it.

[gimble]

I still have the graphite version of DX. It was my second ereader (the first one being a PRS505). Currently both of them are mostly unused after I moved on to newer readers, although I do boot them up from time to time.

I do not have an aura one, but I can compare the DX against the voyage which I use currently.

The main advantages the DX has over the voyage are: its screen size, physical buttons and a full physical keyboard.

For everything else, the voyage is better - this includes a significantly better screen contrast (even with frontlight turned all the way down), speed & responsiveness, higher resolution as well as ergonomics (DX is quite heavy for one hand use).

So, unless you urgently need a big screen device with (many) physical buttons, I wouldn't recommend it over a current gen device unless you can get it very cheap with a good replacement battery - mine doesn't last enough for even 150 page turns anymore.

[Marinolino]

IMO Kindle DX would only be better than KA1 at reading A4 pdf documents with the 18-19 cm text width (without the margins), by using koreader app in landscape mode fit-to-content-width, because of its 20 cm screen width and a pretty good koreader' pdf capabilities (it also reads djvu and epub), it is still my main pdf reader outdoors, for annotations I'd use pen & paper or simultaneously iPad.

For reading epubs, A5 size pdfs and some A4 documents with text width at about 16-17 cm or two-column A4 documents, KA1 at 300 dpi with a frontlight, touch and a newer koreader is a way better choice.

[thatsmyfish]

I ended up picking up a cheap DX on eBay. It arrived in perfect condition (until my two year old dropped it and put a small ding in it - luckily she is cute) and it’s actually better than expected. I came across my open K3 and am on a retro kick recently. I even went and picked up a Kindle 1 for $20.

Thanks for the advice!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by thatsmyfish

I ended up picking up a cheap DX on eBay. It arrived in perfect condition (until my two year old dropped it and put a small ding in it - luckily she is cute) and it’s actually better than expected. I came across my open K3 and am on a retro kick recently. I even went and picked up a Kindle 1 for $20.

Hmmm... going by the ereader purchasing habits of several habitués of MobileRead, it may be time to start an Ereader Hoarders thread.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm... going by the ereader purchasing habits of several habitués of MobileRead, it may be time to start an Ereader Hoarders thread.

But the poor neglected things NEED good homes.