Frankenreader - the best features of all the readers you've owned

[4691mls]

If you could combine the things you liked best from all the readers you've owned, what would you include?

I'd like to have the small size and buttons of my Sony PRS-T3, the comfort light and highly adjustable font styles and sizes from my Kobo Clara, and the Overdrive library access of my Tolino Shine 2! (Sony used to have the library access but it wasn't updated to keep up with Overdrive changes).

I would also want to have both the Clara's and Sony's word search systems. Most often what I search for is a character's name. Kobo's search where it shows a list of every instance in the book is good if I want to find the first time John Doe appeared. The Sony system where it takes you back or forward one instance at a time is good if you want to just skip back to to John Doe's most recent appearance.

I also liked that the Sony had both English and American versions of the Oxford dictionaries. I would switch depending on the book I was reading. This was especially helpful for slang.

[ottischwenk]

The only thing I'm missing on my Boox Pokes (2/3) is a Nav (GPS/Beidu/Glonass) module.

[rcentros]

If I was building a "Frankenreader" I think I would start with a Kindle Voyage and keep its sharp, crisp screen and haptic page turn buttons but add warm light. I would want to base it on ePub instead of AZW3 and change its page display to match the Pocketbook HD3s (I like that I can get rid of the header and footer and that the books fills the screen top and bottom — and the left and right margins can be whatever you want them to be, unlike the Voyage). And I think the Pocketbook hyphenates better than the Kobo. I would add the font and margin customization features of the Kobo (finer graduations) — though I would try to alleviate its pickiness about ePub standards and acceptable fonts and the fact that not all ePubs can have their margins or line heights changed. I would only use ePub page numbering (no page numbering that changes with the size of the font). I would keep Kobo's ability to directly borrow books from Overdrive (hopefully that will be fixed soon, BTW) but add the Tolino and PocketBook's built-in ADE so I could buy books from anywhere directly from the device and borrow Overdrive books not in the Kobo store. I would also keep the Tolino and Pocketbook ability to store and sync any book on their Clouds. And the PocketBook's ability to directly sync with Dropbox (though I don't yet use it). There's probably other stuff I'm forgetting, like the a Tolino "home button" or Nook home button and the Pocketbook's ability to adjust the warm light settings by swiping the right edge of the screen and the its brightness level by swiping on the left edge. I would also like to keep the PocketBook's ability to turn off the touch screen. Also I would want the Sony's, Kindles (and now Kobo's) Oxford English dictionary.

I'm not asking for too much.

Maybe a little a more... add the PocketBook's or Sony's battery life, an exchangeable battery from the Astak EZReader and (maybe) a Sony microSD slot.

(More to come?)

[Sirtel]

The body of the Kobo Libra 1 with the buttons of the Oasis 3 / Kobo software combined with the speed and global search of the Oasis 3 / the screen quality of the Voyage with warm light and the screen size of 7-8''.

[John F]

Start with the Clara as a base and modify/add.

Battery life like earlier readers (like the Kobo Glo HD). Minimum of 8GB of storage. Minimum of 1GB of memory. Add water proofing (like many of the newer readers, no door). A Plastic substrate (like the Forma). Bluetooth for external device page turns (I believe that there are readers that can do this). Easily replaceable battery (I believe early readers had replaceable batteries.) Faster performance without sacrificing battery life (or very little battery life). Configurable tap areas (I believe koreader has this). Lighter weight <= 180g.

Ability to patch (and someone who will do the patches). I include this because I like that Kobo has more formatting (gradations in font size, line spacing, margins), but I would like more gradations then the current firmware. Or, Kobo's configuration file, but merge in Kindle's FONT_RAMP (and if we can add functionality, more/add ramp choices, and make ramps for line spacing and margins).

And if I count apps as ereaders, more configuration options like Stanza.

And if we can modify existing hardware/firmware... haptic touch all around the front bezzle ( like the Voyage's buttons), but with user configurable areas.

[Pjama]

My white Kobo Libra, but with the shape of the kindle non touch 4, i.e. the tiny thin clicky buttons on each side. They were bliss to use.
Great idea for a thread!

Oh, and I’ll add the lighting of the Oasis 3! Although I hear the Libra 2’s lighting is perfect.

[svenlind]

My paragon reader would be the size of Oasis 3 or Forma and with pageturn buttons.
Voyage screen quality and Kobo software.
Maybe the new Kobo's come close?

[Quoth]

My Kobo Libra does everything for reading DRM free ebooks except accept a BT and/or USB keyboard.

[ZodWallop]

I just posted this in another thread: my perfect reader would be the body of the Nook ST, with the 300 DPI screen and lighting of the Glowlight 3, running Kobo's software. And waterproof.

In the name of waterproofing, I could stand losing the expandable storage of the Nook ST if the internal storage were increased to 8GB or more.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by rcentros

If I was building a "Frankenreader" I think I would start with a Kindle Voyage and keep its sharp, crisp screen and haptic page turn buttons but add warm light. I would want to base it on ePub instead of AZW3 and change its page display to match the Pocketbook HD3s (I like that I can get rid of the header and footer and that the books fills the screen top and bottom — and the left and right margins can be whatever you want them to be, unlike the Voyage). And I think the Pocketbook hyphenates better than the Kobo. I would add the font and margin customization features of the Kobo (finer graduations) — though I would try to alleviate its pickiness about ePub standards and acceptable fonts and the fact that not all ePubs can have their margins or line heights changed. I would only use ePub page numbering (no page numbering that changes with the size of the font). I would keep Kobo's ability to directly borrow books from Overdrive (hopefully that will be fixed soon, BTW) but add the Tolino and PocketBook's built-in ADE so I could buy books from anywhere directly from the device and borrow Overdrive books not in the Kobo store. I would also keep the Tolino and Pocketbook ability to store and sync any book on their Clouds. And the PocketBook's ability to directly sync with Dropbox (though I don't yet use it). There's probably other stuff I'm forgetting, like the a Tolino "home button" or Nook home button and the Pocketbook's ability to adjust the warm light settings by swiping the right edge of the screen and the its brightness level by swiping on the left edge. I would also like to keep the PocketBook's ability to turn off the touch screen. Also I would want the Sony's, Kindles (and now Kobo's) Oxford English dictionary.

I'm not asking for too much.

Maybe a little a more... add the PocketBook's or Sony's battery life, an exchangeable battery from the Astak EZReader and (maybe) a Sony microSD slot.

(More to come?)

I can pledge $875,000 but that would only leave me with slightly over $3,100,000.* And this has to last at least 3 weeks.



* Of course, all of this is Monopoly money.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I just posted this in another thread: my perfect reader would be the body of the Nook ST, with the 300 DPI screen and lighting of the Glowlight 3, running Kobo's software. And waterproof.

In the name of waterproofing, I could stand losing the expandable storage of the Nook ST if the internal storage were increased to 8GB or more.

I actually saw that thread in the Kobo forum and started to reply there, but then thought this would be a fun topic for the general forum!

[curtw]

I continue to miss the aluminum housing of the Sony PRS-505. I accidentally kicked mine 4 feet in the air and 10 feet away, and nothing happened to it.

[ps67]

• As fast as PW3.
• With color like Inkpad Color but without the little points of the Kaleido strate (so it could have a clear screen like Kobo Aura One).
• Light as PB633 Color but with 7.8" screen like Kobo Aura One and Inkpad Color.
• With the elegant user interface of Pocketbook but with the incredible possibility of customization and excellent integration with calibre of Kobo.
• With file manager like Pocketbook (also if it is not so important for me).
• With ADE for library like Kobo and Pocketbook

[orebmur]

In fact, the reading device i'd favour the most is already in the making:

www.pine64.org/pinenote

wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineNote

It combines the 10.3" sized e-ink screen of recent LikeBook/Onyx Boox devices with that same form factor with a much more potent computing platform.

It will eventually evolve into something much more useful than just a passive reading device, thanks to the flexibility provided by a truly open platform.

Nonetheless, i doubt this will ever be suitable for users merely defined by a consumer mindset. But for people who prefer open devices whose capabilities are only limited by one's own competence and imagination, this is a worthy investment target.

I am already a happy user of the same company's 'PineBook Pro' running a feature complete Debian environment, serving as my daily driver.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by orebmur

It will eventually evolve into something much more useful than just a passive reading device, thanks to the flexibility provided by a truly open platform.

Thing is, I like single-use, "passive" reading devices (with 6" screens). But I understand that others like the multi-use devices and that they require a bigger screen. I hope this works out for you. Out of curiosity, do you know what these are going to sell for?