I’ve been getting back into reading and while nothing will beat a physical book, having a device with multiple EPUBS seems like a good way to save space and money. After a bit of searching, I’m down to two options: Kobo (specifically the Libra Colour) and Boox (specifically the Go Color 7). I’ve discarded tablets because they’re just a larger phone and thus blue light-induced eye strain. I’ve also discarded the Kindle because of Amazon’s business practices. I known that Kindles can jailbroken (which I wouldn’t mind doing) and I could buy one second-hand on eBay but I prefer to give my money towards a better competitor.
Which one do you think is better? Have you used their previous e-readers? How do they compare?
Thanks in advance!
If you want to tinker with it, get the Boox. If you want something that just works, get the Kobo.
Been looking at a kobo for years, but finally went with a boox go b/w because of the feaures. I hate closed systems and while kobo’s isn’t as closed it’s still limited. Their store is way better than boox’s though, I’ll give them that.
Anyway the boox is fantastic. Thanks to android I’ve been able to read books, rss, even lemmy and reddit on it with minimal issues. They also have a “high speed” eink mode which makes scrolling tolerable on eink. Being android, the great downside is battery life. If you’re doing any kind of reading outside of simple ebooks or you put it through anything cpu-intensive or scrolling-intensive, it will gobble up your battery in hours or days. Standby is fine however, can last for weeks. Oh and also because of android, booting takes longer than other e-readers ( and you’ll probably do it more often then on a kobo too )
Personally I think of kobo as ‘I liked my Kindle but I just want a slightly more open ecosystem’. It’s still somewhat locked down, it’s just easier to load books from other stores and alter the reading experience on a kobo vs a Kindle.
Boox on the other hand is effectively an android tablet with a custom launcher and modified OS. You get all the good and bad that comes from a generic android device. It’s absolutely trivial to use the ereader app of your choice and it’s much easier to do things like read comics and stuff via your preferred app as well.
If you mostly stick to the stock reading experience and are just looking for ‘better than Kindle’ get a kobo. If you’re wanting full control over your reading experience and you’ve already got a preferred android ereader app, go with boox.
Kobo user here. I dumped my kindle for two reasons: Amazon gave money to trump, and I wanted to get library books. The Kobo allows you to borrow books from your local library for FREE! I hated that you had to pay Amazon to be able to read anything in their walled gardens.
I have the Clara Colour unit. nice to hold, easy to use, can access library catalogs directly without having to jump back and forth to PC or other stuff. I find i dont use the colour a lot as i pretty much just use it to read books without pictures.
I would buy it again.
Last I heard Boox violated the GPL licensing by using a modified version of the linux kernel and not providing open source for their modifications. I’m having trouble finding any recent updates on this, if anything has changed in the last few years. I’m also not familiar with licensing stuff in general so maybe someone more knowledgeable will come around and give more details if there’s any more to it. Quick search shows some privacy/telemetry concerns as well that I didn’t look into. And some built in AI stuff with some of their hardware that some people won’t like
Interesting, I wasn’t aware of that and am shopping for a boox or similar device, thanks for putting that on my radar
Depends what a little bit on what you’re looking for. As a disclaimer, I am a Kobo user. Whether you go with a single purpose device or a multipurpose device like the boox depends a little bit on how focused you want to be able to be. I like my dedicated E reader because it makes it harder for me to just pop over into some other application to “I’ll just check something, quickly” because for me those never end up quick. Kobo has a good store, with a nice interface and the DRM is easy to strip. It also works well with side loading DRM-free content.
A boox would give you more storefronts to choose from but you’re more locked in to whatever DRM those stores choose.
DRM shouldn’t be a problem thanks to software like Calibre and websites like Gutenberg and Zlibrary. The Kobo does seem geared towards long reading sessions and reading along with an audiobook. The Boox, on the other hand, seems to combine the best of e-readers (e-paper and e-ink) with the modability of an Android device. Since you’re a Kobo user, I have to ask: How easy is it to add “alternatively sourced” ebooks to the Kobo? Is it done through Calibre? Can I also use third-party reading apps like KOreader? Since the Boox is Android-based, I have a rough idea of of adding ebooks and installing alternative reading apps but I don’t if the process would be different on a Kobo.
It’s very easy. It can be done through calibre, yes, although I prefer self-hosting a library that the kobo syncs to. I’ve used Calibre-Web, and recently moved to BookLore, and the latter is really, really nice so far. I have three people set up with their own accounts on BookLore, and we share one general library, but each person also gets their own personal library to do with as they please, and each person can choose what they want on their kobo, and it all syncs just by hitting the sync button on the kobo (you point the kobo to your own “store” instead of the kobo store). If you want to keep the stock store with the ability to also load “alternatively sourced” books, that’s also easy with OPDS, also supported (very well) in BookLore.
Kobo can also be pretty customizable too, for what it’s worth. KOReader is highly customizable, but if that’s not your jam, there’s also kobopatch which can change the default OS to some degree. Also NickleMenu, NickleClock, etc. There’s plenty available to tune a kobo, imo, and I’m someone that’s generally very “tinkery” with stuff.
Can I also use third-party reading apps like KOreader?
Basically a one-click install on supported devices. You just need a PC and a USB cable. Highly recommended
https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Kobo-devices
Very easy, if you are the “all my metadata must be perfect” type person then it plays well with Calibre, if you are a just “put it on I don’t care” , all you need is a web browser and WiFi connection or something that recognizes a flash drive including tablets/phones.
The point about DRM is more that for stores like Amazon, you can only remove the DRM anymore if it’s on a physical Kindle connected to Calibre with the right plugin. That doesn’t work on multipurpose tablets like the boox.
Koreader works great on kobo, installing is a minor effort.
Easy, yes and yes.
I don’t know anything about Boox, but I’ve had a Kobo Clara BW for almost two years and it gets the job done. I don’t care about the color screen, and I’ve read in reviews that the colors are kind of muddy and it’s not really worth the price, especially if you’re just reading novels. It connects to my local library’s app directly and I’ve had no problem side loading downloads from my desktop. It has a backlit e-ink screen, which I like for reading in dark mode in bed. I like that it holds a ton of books (audio books too, although I don’t use it for that) and fits in my back pocket. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that I used to like reading web articles via Mozilla Pocket, which Mozilla discontinued. Kobo replaced it with Instapaper, which I can’t really get to work properly, although I admit I haven’t put a whole lot of effort into it. I think the issue is integration with LibreWolf, but I honestly can’t be arsed with it.
Okay so I’m somewhat knowledgeable on the topic AND have been going through a similar dilemma recently, trying to replace my aging Kindle Oasis 10th gen (battery barely makes it to two hours reading time sadly).
There’s a few aspects you need to consider.
First, what is your intended source of EPUBs? Do you want to download them manually from certain sources, or do you plan on using a specific store? The store itself might be a decision factor. Kobo has its own store and the prices are quite okay, but you don’t truly own the books (unlike with Amazon, unless Kobo’s licensing changed - last time I checked the “buy” option was just a perpetual license that could be withdrawn at any moment).
Hardware-vise, the Kobo Libra Colour and the Boox Go 7 Colour (albeit I’d recommend the 2nd gen version, for the added speakers and mic), are about on par. They use the exact same Kaleido 3 display, with the exact same issues (due to the colour display there’s a distinct 45 degree line pattern, I’ll try to attach an example image in a reply; there’s an increased amount of ghosting compared to standard Carta 1200/1300, and anti-aliasing doesn’t work as well, so the text might not be as clear, depending on the font you use).
Software-vise I found Kobo’s offering super lacking, and the core hardware is considerably weaker; which meant KOReader, after the straightforward jailbreak, didn’t work as well as I expected it. Lots of freezes, lagging, crashing, it just wasn’t a good experience. Same for the built in reader, it was a bit clunky, not too personalisable, very focused on the incredibly limited feature set the manufacturer considered the direction to go in.
In comparison, the Boox is a proper experience. It’s fast, thanks to its modern, yet low power hardware, it runs a stripped down Android so your favourite apps will most likely just work OOTB, and Boox did a great work in ensuring that apps can integrate with their eink control as well as allowing the user to customise the experience. Want to read comics? Comic app runs in high fidelity. Browsing? Enjoy quick scrolling with minimal ghosting, but colours are lower resolution. Reading a book? In BW mode, with quick paging enabled, I need to do a full refresh maybe every 30-40 pages.
Build quality and handling… This also favours the Boox. Kobo decided to forego the uniform front option, so the display is like old ereaders, a bit sunken below the bezels. The Go Color? Smooth surface all around, except for the paging buttons. I do have to say I do prefer the Kobo paging button layout, though, but the power button is much better placed on the Boox.
If stylus input is important, the Kobo has a slight upper edge - it comes with both a drawing and an eraser tip AND a button, whereas the Boox only has the tip and the button on the InkSense pen. Otherwise they’re the exact same thing, same precision, resolution, technology really. The Boox stylus is also a good £30 cheaper. For actual notetaking, the Boox wins simply because of the myriad Android handwriting note apps available, should you dislike Boox’s offering.
Boox devices also come with built in support for syncing to a bunch of cloud services, so if you end up getting a second Boox device (I’m during their Note 5 Air), all your reading data, books, notes, etc will seamlessly sync AND you can just throw epubs into a Google Drive folder to make them available on device. Or OPDS services, if you’re running a tool like Calibre-Web-Automated.
Overall I much prefer the Boox due to its flexibility thanks to Android, and better hardware design.
That’s a lot of words. My boox 10" came with a pen and I can draw on the faces of people I don’t like. It’s better than my old kobo.
Here’s an example of the Kaleido display
And compared to a Carta 1300
As a related aside for those with Kobos, http://send.djazz.se/ is really nice and a good hidden gem.
I have a Kobo Glo, older model, but I flashed the SD card with INKBOX/Quill-os. They changed the name, but I don’t remember which is the new name. Open source OS, i swapped the SD card with a newer larger one. The project is on hold while they port the OS to the Pinenote.
I absolutely love it. Open OS, doesn’t phone home, no questions where it got the books.
I use a Kobo and it’s great for two reasons - firstly I can get library books on it via Libby/Overdrive. Secondly I can get pirated books in the event my library doesn’t offer it. As a small disclaimer I’ll always buy a book I love after pirating to support the author.
That’s why we originally bought the Kobos (two of them) and it worked up until last year. We simply could not get it working with Libby on either device so I’m assuming it’s a library issue.
I use calibre and calibre-web now and it’s great.
Boox price point and Kobo price point are way way different, correct?
I have a Boox Palma, it’s really portable, but the tradeoff is the screen is pretty small.
Having it run android is both a gift and a curse. Being able to use self hosted solutions with it is nice, but the Boox OS kinda sucks (and it feels like I’m fighting it at times). On top of that not everything runs smoothly on it as it’s hardware isn’t the best.
I’ve also noticed it can run into “burn-in” issues where the text doesn’t fully clear until you force it.
That’s not burn-in, it’s ghosting. Just about every e-ink screen can have that problem if the software is doing partial/fast screen updates. E-ink screens are very slow and use somewhat more power when doing a full screen clear, so many devices save energy and time by only partially resetting the screen when turning pages/navigating. After some number of interactions, they’ll do the full screen refresh to clean out the ghosts.
Thanks, that is the term I was looking for, but I did find the Boox did it more than previous devices and I’d frequently have to force the refresh.
I’m not familiar with boox’s software (I’m still on a Nook but thinking of getting either a boox or kobo soon), but there may be a way to tweak how often it does a full refresh in the settings if you dig around a bit.
Yeah, there are different modes and configurations you can set up, and you can do it per app. It’s possible that I’ve just misunderstood some of those options, but I found I ran into the issue both when reading text on default settings and reading comics with modified settings.
I love my Kobo Libra Colour!
I have only good things to say about it.
- great screen size
- love the colour for covers when it’s on standby, and for if you read anything with images
- battery life is good
- holds a ton books
- works great with loading your own books from any source
- the device follows right to repair guidelines so you can fix any broken part without having to buy a new device
That last point really puts it above and beyond any other e-reader out there!
Get something with a metal frame :)
I broke mine a while ago if you’re wondering
