Robust 7"-8" upgrade for PW2

[DanCa]

I am looking for an upgrade to my rooted PW 2 ('13) , which I love dearly and use for many hours a day.

To my dismay, I have found that most development has gone towards colors and much more expensive readers.

This is how I use the reader:
- I use Koreader nearly exclusively
- I sideload all books via USB. I don't care about library or ecosystem support
- I prefer not to use Calibre (I already have my books in JabRef)
- I read novels, pop-science, science, scanned pdfs. No comics. Formats epub, pdf, djvu
- I don't annotate now, but I might
- It would be nice to be able to adjust the color temperature for night reading
- I don't mind tinkering with the device
- Buttons would be great
- A larger devices than my 6" PW would be preferred
- Price < $250. This is an everyday item that I don't want to worry about. The PW was $112.
- Robust. I bike and keep the device in my bag
- I am not sure I need color. I've been fine without in the past.
- I do most reading outside in bright sunlight or in the shade or in bed at low light.

Readers I considered:

Kobo Forma: My preferred reader due to Moebius display, sadly not available anymore.
Kobo Sage: Not suitable due to low battery lifetime
Boox: Ancient Android is dealbreaker
New Kindles: Can't be rooted anymore, dealbreaker.
Kobo Libra 2: Not available anymore, and Libra Color seems to be technically superior anyway

This leaves the following readers:

- Kobo Libra 2 Color
- Pocketbook Era (but this seems to be underpowered compared to the Era Color)
- Pocketbook Era Color
- Maybe an older Pocketbook Inkpad 3 with a 7.8" screen. (even more underpowered)

The Era seems to be superior to the Libra 2 Color in most aspects, other than a slightly uneven illumination.

One major concern I have is the fragility of the glass screens. I have seen many reports about broken pocketbook screens, fewer about the Kobo Libra.

I carry the reader around with me while mountain biking in bag stuffed full of other things, strapped to my bike rack, so it gets bent, squeezed and shaken during my rides. For comparison, the PW has survived this for 10 years with a simple cover.

Which one should I get? Do I have to worry about breaking the newer readers?

[Quoth]

The Sage battery life is fine, it's just not as good as some ereaders.

The Libra Colour is inferior for mono to a Libra, i.e., almost all novels.

Make sure you have a hard flip cover.

You can use your PW2 S/N with a Calibre plugin, so don't deregister or dispose. I've used PW2 and the last two Kindles I got were a PW3 and an Oasis 2 (similar to Libra and Libra 2, both of which I have).

I read all novels on a Sage, sometimes 14 hours solid.

[DNSB]

As a Sage owner, I would have to say that the battery life issue is overrated. If you don't read in >10 hour blocks, you can always recharge the Sage between reading sessions. I do get a chuckle out of the people who denounce the Sage's battery life while happily charging their phone, watch and ear buds pretty much every day.

[Sirtel]

The only serious issue with the Sage battery that I'm aware of arises only if you usually keep your frontlight pretty high up. The battery of the Sage doesn't like it and will drain fast; it'll also wear out faster. If you usually read with the light off or low, then the battery life isn't so awful. True, it won't last as long as many other ereaders, but you should still get a couple of days or more, at least (depending on how much you read).

[Quoth]

And Sage takes typically 45 minutes for an almost full charge that might last days or weeks. If the charger is compatible.

I don't use the front light, BT or WiFi. I manage the ebooks with Calibre (and looks like 18,000 possible based of current free Flash with about 7,000 ebooks, about 90% are PD).

I find my 11″ Nxtpaper as good as any ereader that has the front light on. To me the advantage of eink is using ONLY ambient light, hence no interest on Kaleido 3 (I saw an Onyx directly and it seemed miserable compared to Libra2, PW3, Sage or TCL Nxtpaper 11. I have a reading lamp in the bedroom and my library central light is fine. Daylight is fine.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by DanCa

Boox: Ancient Android is dealbreaker

I'm always amazed that people take the Android version so critically, especially for an ereader. Is there some feature specifically that you are looking for? I find that on the whole that progress only complicates customization of a device. There also is some performance hit. Rooting with Magisk can cause the creation of many mounts. I go Magisk-less.

(People with Magisk can count how many lines "mount" makes. I get 71, 19 of which are stupid apex.)

[DanCa]

Originally Posted by Renate

Is there some feature specifically that you are looking for?

It is not a specific feature, mainly longevity and security. I tend to use my electronics till they fall apart, and by that point the device will not have received any fixes in a decade.

From my experience with bitrot on Android phones, I wouldn't be surprised if apps or the appstore stopped working not too far in the future.

Kobo Linux probably has no better security, but at least there are no apps and no browser.

The security issues would be ok if in airplane mode, but that would negate many of the advantages of Android.

I see the appeal for Android, for an e-tablet it seems to be clearly the better choice, but for a reader I prefer simplicity. Knowing myself, I'll waste far too much time tinkering with the device.

Another reason is battery lifetime. I often read all day, and in the evening I already have to take care of my cellphone, bike computer, lights, ...

My PW is still going strong after 10 years, despite a somewhat degraded battery.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by DanCa

Kobo Linux probably has no better security, but at least there are no apps and no browser.

Much like your Kindle, Kobo ereaders have a web browser in the beta section. As you could expect, it is not a state of the art browser.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by DanCa

It is not a specific feature, mainly longevity and security.

I don't think that I'd be happy with a 10 year old screen for reading. There have been improvements.

I do like the Android for openness, but even though I have multiple apps on my Onyx Go6, in reality I only use my launcher to either go to my library app or my reader app. I do have a little utility to do a popup when a BT device connects/disconnect. I think that having this all in Android means that I can use this infrastructure on my phone, but I never read on my phone.

I'd almost consider porting my stuff to Kobo. The Clara BW is Carta 1300 but it's bigger in every dimension than the Go6 and the cover is not as slick. Also 16 GB and 1 GHz is kind of low range.

[Mr Avid]

I recently switched from a Kindle Oasis to a Pocketbook Era and I love it.

I could never go back to Kindle now.

[kandwo]

E-ink devices are not known for being robust. I think older Kindles are the best in that category.

The bigger the e-reader, the more sensitive it would be to breakage, too.

[DNSB]

I've seen very few eInk devices with screen damage. Mostly a tempest in a teapot. Probably the most robust would be the Kobo Forma with it's Mobius screen.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Renate

I don't think that I'd be happy with a 10 year old screen for reading. There have been improvements.

...

Unless/until some new tech comes out, I'm guessing I would be happy with my current eink reader (a Clara 2E).

I don't see higher DPI making a big difference, and although I appreciate improvements in contrast, I don't see a huge leap in contrast in the next 10 years.

I'm thinking something besides a newer "screen" would get me to buy a new reader, like bluetooth page turning devices. Although a foldable "screen" might get me interested.

And I'm looking forward to user replaceable batteries.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by John F

I don't see higher DPI making a big difference, and although I appreciate improvements in contrast, I don't see a huge leap in contrast in the next 10 years.

Maybe not in the next 10 years, but I find the Carta 1300 right now compelling.

Originally Posted by John F

I'm thinking something besides a newer "screen" would get me to buy a new reader, like bluetooth page turning devices.

I'm such a fan of BT page turners that I spend all my spare time on highway overpasses screaming at people to buy them.

Originally Posted by John F

And I'm looking forward to user replaceable batteries.

Ha, ha. Dream on.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Renate

Maybe not in the next 10 years, but I find the Carta 1300 right now compelling.

...

That's what I'm saying. So you think there will be a sufficient increase in contrast within the next ten years that you won't be happy with Carta 1300, assuming we stick with eink? I could see B&W/contrast stagnating, with color being the focus.

Note that this is wild speculation on my part.