Shall I wait for 2021?

[jago25_98]

My A4 cheap LCD tablet died. My 6" Nook eInk died too. I just have my 5" phone, 8" iPad and Laptop now.

I want something easier on the eye. I considered the HisenseA5Pro but I don't like the Chinese spyware and debloating it looks too risky for the price. I found a cheaper rando eInk chinese phone for $60 but I'm not sure about this either.

My question is: Do I wait longer on the basis that something could could come out next year? By something good I mean:

1) something a lot cheaper A4 size
2) an eInk laptop
3) something phone sized?

I know you don't have a crystal ball but if anywhere can guess it's got to happen here. I kind of think ereaders have to be more in demand with covid-19?

[Bookstooge]

I've never even heard of the possibility of an eink laptop. Where did that possibility come from?

If you liked your nook, would you consider getting another one? What's stopping you from just getting an eink reader? Anything in particular? And just what size is A4? For me, I'd just get some sort of eink reader, unless you're into comics.

[hobnail]

I remember seeing an article, perhaps on Nate's blog, for a laptop that had two screens. The one on the outside was eink.

[Sunlite]

Originally Posted by Bookstooge

And just what size is A4?

A4 is a paper size of the DIN norm. It is roughly the same a a letter size.

[Quoth]

A4 is an ISO size. Used everywhere except the USA. It's exactly a ratio of Square Root of 2. Thus A3 is two A4 side by side. An A4 can be cut in half and gives A5.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_216

Thus it's not just German DIN. The USA Letter Size is a bit wider and shorter. No doubt that's why laptop screen makers thought it acceptable to migrate to Video sized 1920 x 1080 rather than 1920 x 1200. A4 PDFs don't fit well on a 1080 line screen, but US Letter Size PDFs are OK.
Also the so called HD 1920 x 1080 is based on Analog 1125 lines, the Japanese HD version of NTSC (525 lines) which has 480 visible. Hence original VGA was 640 x 480. The digital equivalent of PAL is 768 x 576, so the 720p version of TV HD is a big improvement for the USA & Japan, but marginal for the rest of the world.

Despite the majority of people in the World using A4, every laptop and laser printer has the US letter size as the default.

It's not even a German idea or even recent!

The oldest known mention of the advantages of basing a paper size on an aspect ratio of √2 is found in a letter written on 25 October 1786 by the German scientist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg to Johann Beckmann.

The formats that became ISO paper sizes A2, A3, B3, B4, and B5 were developed in France. They were listed in a 1798 law on taxation of publications that was based in part on page sizes.

[Quoth]

In answer to the OP
A Kobo Libra, 7" is best value / utility eink.
A decent 10" LCD tablet can be under $200 / £150 / €175 inc tax and shipping. A decent 14" approx LCD is two to four times that.
An 8" eink is about the price of a 7" Libra and a decent enough 10" LCD Tablet.
A 10" or larger eink is crazy money. Colour ink is a niche and poor for reading novels.

[barryem]

The Lenovo Yoga Book C930 is a dual screen laptop where the second screen is also the keyboard and is an e-ink screen. It has a 360 degree hinge so it would be easy to read on, other than the weight. They're pretty expensive but they're available.

Here's a link to one on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Newest-Lenovo...a-835524811156

[jago25_98]

Originally Posted by barryem

The Lenovo Yoga Book C930

Looks like a great idea but poorly executed. 8GB should be a minimum these days but this $900 Windows laptop has the same 4GB as a 5 year phone has.

I read the reviews in detail and it seems that both this and similar eInk laptops have various software problems. For example, the eInk failing to turn on when you need it.

Still, it makes a lot of sense for me so I'm watching this tech and will probably pull the trigger on this in a few years time.

I've got a Kindle on the way for someone else in the house. May get the HiSense A5Pro and hopefully borrow the Kindle to tide me over until laptop tech starts getting eink or 12" eink (A4) gets a lot cheaper I suppose.

Thanks for the help. I shall wait.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by jago25_98

I want something easier on the eye. I considered the HisenseA5Pro but I don't like the Chinese spyware and debloating it looks too risky for the price. I found a cheaper rando eInk chinese phone for $60 but I'm not sure about this either.

I seldom use my Hisense A5 or A5 Pro CC as phones. I mainly use them as ereaders, to listen to music or snap a picture. As such, they are hardly ever connected to the internet or a mobile network thereby making it difficult for any potential spyware to be obtaining very much information on me.

Originally Posted by jago25_98

My question is: Do I wait longer on the basis that something could could come out next year? By something good I mean:

1) something a lot cheaper A4 size
2) an eInk laptop
3) something phone sized?

I know you don't have a crystal ball but if anywhere can guess it's got to happen here. I kind of think ereaders have to be more in demand with covid-19?

At the moment, it seems that it is mostly Chinese companies which are exploring innovations with ereaders. So, if you are worried about Chinese spyware, that could be an issue for a while yet.

I doubt that A4 sized ereaders will come down much in price. But you might want to look into getting a second hand one.

Although it's not eink and despite your worries about Hisense, you might consider the Hisense Q5 which seems to function more like a regular tablet than most eink note taking ereaders.

https://www.cect-shop.com/en/hisense...s&siteid=54264

However, it might really be best to just pick up a cheap, second hand ereader and wait to see what happens in 2021.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jago25_98

My A4 cheap LCD tablet died. My 6" Nook eInk died too. I just have my 5" phone, 8" iPad and Laptop now.

I want something easier on the eye. I considered the HisenseA5Pro but I don't like the Chinese spyware and debloating it looks too risky for the price. I found a cheaper rando eInk chinese phone for $60 but I'm not sure about this either.

My question is: Do I wait longer on the basis that something could could come out next year? By something good I mean:

1) something a lot cheaper A4 size
2) an eInk laptop
3) something phone sized?

I know you don't have a crystal ball but if anywhere can guess it's got to happen here. I kind of think ereaders have to be more in demand with covid-19?

First you need to set a price range.
Second what tech you're looking for.
Third, what are you looking for; a multifunction device or a reading-only gadget.
Fourth, what's your choice in ebook formats/sources.

As for future products, they will come but not in the form of an eink multifunction device. Even existing chinese android readers aren't great at much beside reading. Android apps expect color and fast screens.

If you prefer multifunction and the budget aligns, you might do better with an iPad or a Surface. If you want just an ereader, you might want to look at Pocketbook.

Something like the 10.4" InkPad X.

https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...te/inkpad-x-ch

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...nkpad-x-video/

[jago25_98]

That PocketBook Inkpad X is exactly teh sort of thing I'd buy

But I'd probably buy it sub $100. I'd definately buy it at $50.

I just bought a kindle on offer at $50 just to test. I don't like the vendor lock in. The Pocketbook epub3 audio-ebook support looks really cool.

But $500 is just too much. It seems prices are just sky high at the moment.

Conclsuion: I'm not going to wait. I've ordered an eink phone and I'll hold out for bigger eink screens for non reflowable pdfs etc.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

First you need to set a price range.
Second what tech you're looking for.
Third, what are you looking for; a multifunction device or a reading-only gadget.
Fourth, what's your choice in ebook formats/sources.

As for future products, they will come but not in the form of an eink multifunction device. Even existing chinese android readers aren't great at much beside reading. Android apps expect color and fast screens.

If you prefer multifunction and the budget aligns, you might do better with an iPad or a Surface. If you want just an ereader, you might want to look at Pocketbook.

Something like the 10.4" InkPad X.

https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...te/inkpad-x-ch

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...nkpad-x-video/

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jago25_98

Conclsuion: I'm not going to wait. I've ordered an eink phone and I'll hold out for bigger eink screens for non reflowable pdfs etc.

The budget rules.
Have fun.

Do remember Kindles can be fed DRM-free content from anywhere.
And the Kindle store has a *lot* of DRM-free ebooks.
(Not every publisher or author insists on DRM.)

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The budget rules.
Have fun.

Do remember Kindles can be fed DRM-free content from anywhere.
And the Kindle store has a *lot* of DRM-free ebooks.
(Not every publisher or author insists on DRM.)

They don't need to insist or even request. DRM is applied unless the publisher specifically requests it not. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, just correcting your spin.

And books delivered in KFX format have DRM applied even when the publisher specifically requests no DRM. Kindles have supported KFX for years and KFX is supplied wirelessly whenever the target device supports it.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

And books delivered in KFX format have DRM applied even when the publisher specifically requests no DRM. Kindles have supported KFX for years and KFX is supplied wirelessly whenever the target device supports it.

So please take the bother to download to PC, make a backup and avoid KFX.

This publisher would like the ebooks to be passed on to your grandchildren in the same basis as paper books.

DRM is an illusion. HD camera in a dark room and a 42" TV. Perfect copy. Even the multichannel analogue audio can be re-encoded.

Lego based robot to turn pages and take scan of each page on a big kindle. Then OCR.

Industrial pirates cut spine off on a review copy, bulk scan and OCR.

But industrial pirates and those uploading DRM removed or DRM Free copies, for free or sale are violating copyright. They can be sued which unlike criminal actions has a no statutory limitation in most countries.

DRM isn't about stopping piracy, it's about control of the consumer that validly bought it. That's why we will never use DRM.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

They don't need to insist or even request. DRM is applied unless the publisher specifically requests it not. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, just correcting your spin.

And books delivered in KFX format have DRM applied even when the publisher specifically requests no DRM. Kindles have supported KFX for years and KFX is supplied wirelessly whenever the target device supports it.

All I said there's a lot of DRM-free on Kindle.
Not that *everything* is DRM-free.

I know several authors and they get DRM-free as a default.
They are Indies, so it might be different for tradpub since most of those publishers demand DRM.

Since I don't own Amazon stock and they aren't my only reader I don't particularly care.
There's this guy Alf...