Lightweight 6" E-Reader which can sync annotations

[sunreader]

Hi,

I am looking for an E-reader with the following qualities (from important to less important):

1) The most important features I am looking for is the ability to annotate e-books and save the annotated ebooks (NOT only the annotations separately). The annotated ebook should be in an open format (I want to be able to read the annotated ebooks on my computer). As far as I can remember this is possible with the moon+ reader android app. So an open android e-reader would be an option. But I am open to non open e-readers.
2) Has to be lightweight (<175g).
3) Should have a hard plastic surface (I don't like the rubber like surfaces)
3) If possible, a decent screen to body ratio (lots of screen, not so much body/case)
4) It doesn't have to be 6" but since I want it to be lightweight, I won't get anything bigger and that's ok.
5) Would be neat if it would not be too expensive (< 150$ and/or widely available used)

Thanks!

[stumped]

microsoft edge browser now supports annotating epub,within the file, and there is a version of edge for android( but dunno if the android version has this new feature.
https://www.howto-connect.com/annota...er-windows-10/
Moon reader only reads the epub ( as do most readers). annotations are written to a separate file.
I am not aware of any epub reader app that actully changes the source book file, nor of any standard for how/where such changes need to be made , so that book is still a valid epub

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by stumped

microsoft edge browser now supports annotating epub,within the file, and there is a version of edge for android( but dunno if the android version has this new feature.
https://www.howto-connect.com/annota...er-windows-10/
Moon reader only

The article you link to is from April, Microsoft is killing ALL epub support in Edge, both the new Chromium-based version and the earlier "Edge Classic"
No more epubs in Edge

[ilovejedd]

How do you feel about PDFs? Sadly, it's the only format that stores annotations within the file and is reliably supported by several applications.

The ePub 3 specifications has annotations support. I just don't know of any reading software or e-reader that actually supports the specified standards and stores annotations in-book.

[sunreader]

Thanks for your replies.
1) Regarding the ability to sync annotations: I would also be happy if the following would work: "Edit the epub file" through an android app on the ereader (while in fact the annotation file is edited). Then copy the edited annotation file to my Desktop. On the Desktop I would have the epub file and the anotation file. If I open the epub file now on the desktop I should see the epub with all the annotations. Correct? Open questions: Which (Linux) apps can read the annotation file edited on android? And is there an app which has an open format annotation file?
2) I should add that I also need a screen which has backlighting and the ability to adjust color temperature.

[sunreader]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

How do you feel about PDFs? Sadly, it's the only format that stores annotations within the file and is reliably supported by several applications.

The ePub 3 specifications has annotations support. I just don't know of any reading software or e-reader that actually supports the specified standards and stores annotations in-book.

I would be fine with PDF if the reading experience is decent: I want to scroll or click to continue reading and not zoom into different parts of the screen. I don't have experience with PDFs on ereaders. I assume I can convert any epub file to a pdf file?

[stumped]

Originally Posted by sunreader

Thanks for your replies.
1) Regarding the ability to sync annotations: I would also be happy if the following would work: "Edit the epub file" through an android app on the ereader (while in fact the annotation file is edited). Then copy the edited annotation file to my Desktop. On the Desktop I would have the epub file and the annotation file. If I open the epub file now on the desktop I should see the epub with all the annotations. Correct?

i don't think that is possible.

first you have to find candidate reader apps that work both on your planned reader device AND on your windows? linux? desktop
just that may be a very short or empty list

unless you are prepared to use an android emulator on computer - like bluestacks

moon reader for example is android only but it would run in bluestacks emulation

if you do find any you then have to check features/specs to see if any can do what you want

[sunreader]

Originally Posted by stumped

i don't think that is possible.

first you have to find candidate reader apps that work both on your planned reader device AND on your windows? linux? desktop
just that may be a very short or empty list

unless you are prepared to use an android emulator on computer - like bluestacks

moon reader for example is android only but it would run in bluestacks emulation

if you do find any you then have to check features/specs to see if any can do what you want

Does it really have to be the same app? Could I not view the epub + annotation file (edited with for example moon reader on android) with calibre on linux? Or does that annotation file only work within the moon reader app?

[stumped]

Originally Posted by sunreader

Does it really have to be the same app? Could I not view the epub + annotation file (edited with for example moon reader on android) with calibre on linux? Or does that annotation file only work within the moon reader app?

well if you view a moon reader annotation files in notepad , all you see is gibberish. they are stored in a small .an file, one per book, if you sync your annotations back into cloud storage.
so it depends how much time you want to spend learning how to decipher what they use.
and for sure, only moon could re-combine them with the book on some other device.
your problem is lack of standards.

I think amazon have the simplest way of accessing annotations. You can annotate on a kindle and access what you have done via a web page - but that probably only works for books bought from amazon, and they dont sell epubs!
you will find threads detailing and discussing what can be done with epub annotations made on a Kobo device, or in the Kobo for android app , but its not so simple to export them


how important is is that the book format has to be epub and not, say, a Kindle format

PS for a current discussion on getting annotations for sideloaded books from kobo, go here
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=322901

[sunreader]

Originally Posted by stumped

well if you view a moon reader annotation files in notepad , all you see is gibberish. they are stored in a small .an file, one per book, if you sync your annotations back into cloud storage.
so it depends how much time you want to spend learning how to decipher what they use.
and for sure, only moon could re-combine them with the book on some other device.
your problem is lack of standards.

I think amazon have the simplest way of accessing annotations. You can annotate on a kindle and access what you have done via a web page - but that probably only works for books bought from amazon, and they dont sell epubs!
you will find threads detailing and discussing what can be done with epub annotations made on a Kobo device, or in the Kobo for android app , but its not so simple to export them


how important is is that the book format has to be epub and not, say, a Kindle format

PS for a current discussion on getting annotations for sideloaded books from kobo, go here
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=322901

It doesn't have to be epub. It could be any format which is widely used for ebooks (or which allows conversion from epub to the format in question) and which provides a good reading experience (for example reading PDFs by zoom in in is not ok, pdf reflow is ok).

[stumped]

kindle is probably best fit for your needs. see link for capabilities
https://www.dummies.com/consumer-ele...le-paperwhite/

[sunreader]

I did some research and I am currently deciding between the Onyx Boox Poke Pro and the Kindle Oasis. Regarding the criteria which are important to me:

NEUTRAL:
1. Making and Syncing annotations / highlights: With the Android based Poke I would mainly read PDFs and annotate them. With the Kindle I would use Kindle's native AZW format.
1.1 Kindle Oasis allows to...
- make annotations/highlights/bookmarks in AZW ebooks (but NOT in PDFs)
- export annotations/highlights/bookmarks including the page numbers
- read the ebook including it's annotations via the the cloud reader (browser) on Linux Desktop.
- I'm not sure whether I can make annotations via the cloud reader and have that synced to the Kindle erader.
- the amazon cloud reader also allows for reading content (up to 50mb) offline.
1.2 Onyx Poke Pro allows to...
- making annotations/highlights/bookmarks in Epubs and PDFs
- export annotations/highlights/bookmarks including the page numbers (epub and pdf)
- read the PDF formated ebook including it's annotations via a pdf reader on Linux Desktop (most pdf readers display the annotations/highlights but not all, especially the annotations are not display with some. The following have worked well: Firefox, Okular).
- add annotations on a Linux Desktop via a PDF editor (Okular works on Linux) and sync those via any cloud service to the ereader device.
- offline reading is of course possible on Linux as the files are stored locally.
1.3 The Oasis and the Poke are capable of adjusting color temperature
1.4 The Poke has a capacitive touchscreen. I read on review sites that the Oasis has a capacitive touchscren as well but I couldn't find any information on this on the official Amazon website.

PRO OASIS
2.1 The Oasis has a bigger screen (7" vs 6").
2.2 The Oasis' battery probabaly lasts quite a bit longer (my guess would be 50%?)
2.3 The syncing of annotations is probably a bit smoother with the Oasis (the Poke requires setting up a drop box (or something similar) account and a Desktop pdf viewer/editor).
2,4 AZW files are about 2-3 times smaller (based on https://ebooks.stackexchange.com/que...ats-is-smaller + I assume mobi files about the same size as AZW files (azw is based on mobi)) if I download directly from Amazon as AZW. But if I convert from epub to AZW, AZW might be the same or even bigger than pdf (based on https://help.vellum.pub/file-size/).

PRO POKE
3.1 All annotations, highlights (exported and viewed as part of an ebook) taken with the Oasis will always require a Kindle device to view and further edit them. This is not the case when editing PDFs with the Poke.
3.2 The Poke has the ability to take (ebook independent) notes and sync them. I would do this via android apps like Dropbox and a markdown editor app. I'm not sure if the Oasis can do this.
3.3 Poke has A2 mode which is better for browsing the web and reading PDFs.
3.4 The Poke is ~50$ less expensive (in Europe).
3.5 The Poke is 20g lighter (194g vs 175g).
3.6 The Poke Pro seems to have a plastic based Mobius screen (acc to https://medium.com/@OnyxBoox/how-muc...g-9a7a76b30e2c) while the Oasis has a glass based screen (acc to https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews...the-kobo-forma). Glass based screens are much more fragile than plastic based screens.

Reason why I don't consider the following devices: Paperwhite: no color temperature regulation. Kobo devices: No annotations in PDFs. Pocketbook devices: Surface seems rubbery which I don't like. Tolino (shine 3): Bad PDF reading experience (switching between reflow and normal pdf mode takes long).

Options which I haven't explored enough yet: There might be other ebook formats besides PDF which store the annotations as part of the ebook file (and not in a seperate file): mobi? epub3? others? This would have the advantage that I don't have to switch from pdf-reflow to pdf-normal mode to make an annotation (but this is pretty easy with the moon+ reader) and mobi/epub3 file sizes are much smaller than pdfs I guess. Does anyone know whether there is ANY format, besides pdf, which stores annotations "in-book"?