Worth switching over from Kobo?

Krytes · 02-17-2013, 12:24 PM

In my e-reading life so far I've gone through 2 beBooks, a sony 650 and a kobo touch. They've all done the job reasonably well and I like the Touch best of all, but even it has some grating imperfections. The thing is, I'm not sure that anything out there is better. Is there a reader good enough to be worth switching over? These are my requirements:

MUST be e-ink only
Ability to add custom fonts
SD/microSD storage
Supports unlocked epubs
Supports pop-up footnotes (epub3 files) nicely. Even better if the footnotes can contain images.
Picks up tags which were created in Calibre and uses them to create shelves/tags/whatever. Plays nice with Calibre in general.
Ability to do a complex tag-search from within the reader. For example, I want to search for all books which are tagged "science fiction" and "Canadian" but not "Robert Sawyer".
As little registration/social networking/bookstore integration as possible. I plan to sideload all of my books.
It would be nice if the reader recognized asian-character books and changed the font automatically only for those books. Right now I have to manually switch to an asian font, which then changes all of my English books to the asian font as well.
Ability to display math formulas as content, not images.
Charges through mini or micro usb, no custom cables.
Ability to add custom dictionaries would be nice, although it's not a deal-breaker.
frontlit would be nice, but not a deal-breaker.

I don't want much, do I?

Is there any ebook reader out there which provides most or all of these features?

HarryT · 02-17-2013, 01:41 PM

Some of your requirements are impossible. Eg, you say it must be eInk, but then you say you want a backlight. No eInk display can be backlit, for the simple reason that an eInk screen is opaque. That's why all the eInk readers with lighting are frontlit.

Krytes · 02-17-2013, 01:44 PM

Oops, sorry, I meant frontlit.

davidfor · 02-17-2013, 09:04 PM

That pretty much describes a Kobo Glo. Or you Touch. It doesn't do the tag search. It has multiple dictionaries and there are instructions in the Kobo forum for replacing the supplied dictionary. I haven't tried a book with maths formula in it, so I don't know how it is handled.

The only other thing is the Asian fonts. I thought this was handled well in recent firmware. It might mean the book doesn't the correct language set when you send it. Or, it might be working with the kepub reader on the device. Have you tried loading the books with the extension ".kepub.epub"?

Krytes · 02-22-2013, 12:52 AM

I know, my kobo does most of it. I was just really hoping for that tag-search functionality. Ah well. Thanks!

cmkread · 02-24-2013, 12:04 AM

did you come to any conclusion? I am first time ereader buyer and just got the Nook STR as it was the most cost effective, expandable memory, plays with calibre which my firneds have huge library, and the eink pearl seems like amazing technology from all the forums I've read, in compared to just about everything

02-17-2013, 12:24 PM	#1
Krytes Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: Kobo Aura HD	Worth switching over from Kobo? In my e-reading life so far I've gone through 2 beBooks, a sony 650 and a kobo touch. They've all done the job reasonably well and I like the Touch best of all, but even it has some grating imperfections. The thing is, I'm not sure that anything out there is better. Is there a reader good enough to be worth switching over? These are my requirements: MUST be e-ink only Ability to add custom fonts SD/microSD storage Supports unlocked epubs Supports pop-up footnotes (epub3 files) nicely. Even better if the footnotes can contain images. Picks up tags which were created in Calibre and uses them to create shelves/tags/whatever. Plays nice with Calibre in general. Ability to do a complex tag-search from within the reader. For example, I want to search for all books which are tagged "science fiction" and "Canadian" but not "Robert Sawyer". As little registration/social networking/bookstore integration as possible. I plan to sideload all of my books. It would be nice if the reader recognized asian-character books and changed the font automatically only for those books. Right now I have to manually switch to an asian font, which then changes all of my English books to the asian font as well. Ability to display math formulas as content, not images. Charges through mini or micro usb, no custom cables. Ability to add custom dictionaries would be nice, although it's not a deal-breaker. frontlit would be nice, but not a deal-breaker. I don't want much, do I? Is there any ebook reader out there which provides most or all of these features? Last edited by Krytes; 02-17-2013 at 01:44 PM.

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02-17-2013, 01:41 PM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Some of your requirements are impossible. Eg, you say it must be eInk, but then you say you want a backlight. No eInk display can be backlit, for the simple reason that an eInk screen is opaque. That's why all the eInk readers with lighting are frontlit.

02-17-2013, 01:44 PM	#3
Krytes Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: Kobo Aura HD	Oops, sorry, I meant frontlit.

02-17-2013, 09:04 PM	#4
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	That pretty much describes a Kobo Glo. Or you Touch. It doesn't do the tag search. It has multiple dictionaries and there are instructions in the Kobo forum for replacing the supplied dictionary. I haven't tried a book with maths formula in it, so I don't know how it is handled. The only other thing is the Asian fonts. I thought this was handled well in recent firmware. It might mean the book doesn't the correct language set when you send it. Or, it might be working with the kepub reader on the device. Have you tried loading the books with the extension ".kepub.epub"?

02-22-2013, 12:52 AM	#5
Krytes Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: Kobo Aura HD	I know, my kobo does most of it. I was just really hoping for that tag-search functionality. Ah well. Thanks!

02-24-2013, 12:04 AM	#6
cmkread Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 471294 Join Date: Feb 2013 Device: nook touch	did you come to any conclusion? I am first time ereader buyer and just got the Nook STR as it was the most cost effective, expandable memory, plays with calibre which my firneds have huge library, and the eink pearl seems like amazing technology from all the forums I've read, in compared to just about everything

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