Post kindle users, what are you using?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

The black screen and microfiche sized font on the left is pretty much my idea of a criminally nightmarish experience you couldn't pay me to endure, even if the alternative was 130 clicks to 3.

Ditto. I have no aversion to turning pages, especially by physical buttons, but I do have a strong aversion to small fonts. Yes, I could read them, holding the screen close to my face, but I don't want to. It would be an exceedingly unrelaxing experience.

I'd guess there are pretty few people who would read so tiny a text as a matter of choice.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Nausicaa

How close is uncomfortable to you? I'm holding it 8 in our so like a normal phone must of the time. Moon reader also can change the font on the go. I use an SE and I found never conformably use it to read long form. I have an SE and this is the brightness compared and the screen using red font. It's the most comfortable size for me. https://ibb.co/mRf2Mcn
https://ibb.co/M5DjRqH I'm not trying to challenge myself to read small fonts, I just like reading chapters in 3 clicks versus 13. The Kindle and the phone from the first page are reading the sampe chapter. It would take me 13x more effort on that awful touchscreen rather than 1 click on a volume button on the phone. In person it looks much different.

Extra clicks don't bother me. (For me) that tiny font and dense, red text with a black background has zero appeal. But I'm quite willing to accept that this is your ideal (or close to your ideal) reading environment — why it would be is completely lost to me. Choice is good. If we were all the same it would be a boring world.

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Extra clicks don't bother me. (For me) that tiny font and dense, red text with a black background has zero appeal. But I'm quite willing to accept that this is your ideal (or close to your ideal) reading environment — why it would it would be is completely lost to me. Choice is good. If we were all the same it would be a boring world.

The extra swipes/clicks complaint is hilarious to me. It's not like you're lifting 100 pounds each time you swipe, click or tap to advance a page.

[leebase]

My iPad mini or my iPhone X.....sometime my Amazon or Walmart tablets.

FBReader is my app of choice as it’s cross platform. Even better now that I have the whole Kindle-Calibre-ePub workflow setup. I really don’t like the mobile Kindle app that much (or the Apple Books app).

[Nausicaa]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

The extra swipes/clicks complaint is hilarious to me. It's not like you're lifting 100 pounds each time you swipe, click or tap to advance a page.

Depends what you're reading. If you do mostly pleasure/story reading it's unimportant, information retention is not that important. When you read denser books you do double takes and reread pretty often. I hate the swipe motion, if I had buttons it would matter less, but the extremely slow refresh rates made it very bad and frustrating for rereading more technical books and the minuscule amount of information on the screen made it difficult to read a completely concept easily. PDF support is especially bad. I read 1 dense book on my kindle recently that took me 2months. I've read 3 in the last week and understood them, and am rereading that book and I'm already 10% complete or so it says after a day. It feels like 200lb when you need to go back to a page, swipe back several times and the pages aren't as dense as you'd like.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Nausicaa

Depends what you're reading. If you do mostly pleasure/story reading it's unimportant, information retention is not that important. When you read denser books you do double takes and reread pretty often. I hate the swipe motion, if I had buttons it would matter less, but the extremely slow refresh rates made it very bad and frustrating for rereading more technical books and the minuscule amount of information on the screen made it difficult to read a completely concept easily. PDF support is especially bad. I read 1 dense book on my kindle recently that took me 2months. I've read 3 in the last week and understood them, and am rereading that book and I'm already 10% complete or so it says after a day. It feels like 200lb when you need to go back to a page, swipe back several times and the pages aren't as dense as you'd like.

As others have said, it's great that you have found what is best for you, but it's definitely not what is best for everyone.

When I'm reading on a non-button device I don't swipe, I just tap...if I had to swipe all of the time, I can see where it may get annoying after a while.

My e-ink readers are for relaxing and reading fiction or light non-fiction, such as biographies or memoirs. If I have to read a "dense" technical book I use either a computer or a tablet, especially since most books like that are best in PDF format (tables, diagrams and complex math formulas don't translate well to epub or any of the Kindle formats).

Shari

[leebase]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

The extra swipes/clicks complaint is hilarious to me. It's not like you're lifting 100 pounds each time you swipe, click or tap to advance a page.

I agree with "swiping is annoying". The kindle app doesn't allow you to configure the touch targets. So when I'm holding the device in my right hand it's a tap. Left hand? I have to swipe to go forward. It is annoying but hardly "all that" .... but still annoying. So much so that I now convert kindle books to epub to read them in FB reader

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by leebase

I agree with "swiping is annoying". The kindle app doesn't allow you to configure the touch targets. So when I'm holding the device in my right hand it's a tap. Left hand? I have to swipe to go forward. It is annoying but hardly "all that" .... but still annoying. So much so that I now convert kindle books to epub to read them in FB reader

Lol, one of the main reasons I de-DRM ebooks - so I can read on the app of my choice (Stanza in the early days, right now: Marvin on iOS and Moon Reader on Android). Tap to turn pages and swipe for brightness control are major usability factors for me.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Lol, one of the main reasons I de-DRM ebooks - so I can read on the app of my choice (Stanza in the early days, right now: Marvin on iOS and Moon Reader on Android). Tap to turn pages and swipe for brightness control are major usability factors for me.

My #1 "the iBooks app and Kindle app" annoy me is:

Not being able to adjust the brightness by swiping up and down the page. Having to choose font, then brightness adjust, then adjust the brightness....is annoying as <insert barely offensive word here>

Followed by:

2. Not being able to define the direction of the touch targets. I like everything to be "go forward". FBReader is extra nice in that there are three touch zones per side so I can have 5 of 6 targets for forward and 1 (lower left is my preference) for going back.

3. Handling series. I want to view my books by series.

4. OPDS and other nice and easy book loading options beyond the Apple or Kindle book stores

5. Color schemes beyond 3 or 4 choices. I like very low contrast night themes of medium greenish grey over darker greenish black.

6. Support of iOS and Android. Kindle has this but iBooks does not

[Nausicaa]

Originally Posted by shalym

As others have said, it's great that you have found what is best for you, but it's definitely not what is best for everyone.

When I'm reading on a non-button device I don't swipe, I just tap...if I had to swipe all of the time, I can see where it may get annoying after a while.

My e-ink readers are for relaxing and reading fiction or light non-fiction, such as biographies or memoirs. If I have to read a "dense" technical book I use either a computer or a tablet, especially since most books like that are best in PDF format (tables, diagrams and complex math formulas don't translate well to epub or any of the Kindle formats).

Shari

I was hoping to attract post Kindle users to see their methods, this isn't meant to be an attack of the Kindle or its users. I don't think most users here read more technical books, so my criticism isnt an issue.

Originally Posted by leebase

My #1 "the iBooks app and Kindle app" annoy me is:

Not being able to adjust the brightness by swiping up and down the page. Having to choose font, then brightness adjust, then adjust the brightness....is annoying as <insert barely offensive word here>

Followed by:

2. Not being able to define the direction of the touch targets. I like everything to be "go forward". FBReader is extra nice in that there are three touch zones per side so I can have 5 of 6 targets for forward and 1 (lower left is my preference) for going back.

3. Handling series. I want to view my books by series.

4. OPDS and other nice and easy book loading options beyond the Apple or Kindle book stores

5. Color schemes beyond 3 or 4 choices. I like very low contrast night themes of medium greenish grey over darker greenish black.

6. Support of iOS and Android. Kindle has this but iBooks does not

1. Moonreader can do both.

2. Moonreader can assign buttons or toggles.

3. You can tag then and organize it, I didn't use this though.

4. Not sure what it is.

5. Custom colors. I chose my theme myself including font, color, Line spacing, margins, page animations, and background. You can choose rgb and alpha (transparency)

6. Android only I think.

[Jack Torrance]

While I still have my DX with its larger screen I’ve found myself using my 9.7 iPad more and more. I prefer the flexibility of the iPad.

[Tomk2]

Thanks for the help! I finally had the time to play with Calibri, and convert the books I had purchased to epub and mobi formats. I do have some books stranded in the nook ecosystem, but at least going forward I won't let that happen anymore. I did not even think about let alone attempt to convert borrowed books from my local library. In fact, I didn't even try to convert amazon prime or Kindle unlimited titles either, even though I did technically pay something for those. I am glad that there is a way to backup titles that I actually paid for intentionally.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Tomk2

In fact, I didn't even try to convert amazon prime or Kindle unlimited titles either, even though I did technically pay something for those. I am glad that there is a way to backup titles that I actually paid for intentionally.

Let's just be clear; technically, (to use your word) neither the monthly fee to access Kindle Unlimited nor the Prime lending benefit constitute "paying" for the books in the sense that there's any ownership aspect whatsoever to the books. Borrowing is not the equivalent of buying.

[NickyWithNook]

I mainly read on my phone. I make the text big and I don't notice swiping any more than I used to notice physically turning pages. I always have my phone with me so it's convenient to use.

[kacir]

Used PocketBook Touch Lux for a long while - the first 6" front-lit non-Kindle e-ink reader in the world.

Now I am using little known 6" front-lit e-ink reader running Android.