Kobo has color e-readers coming out in April

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Agreed. As long as there is choice (mono eink and colour eink, LCD, OLED etc) there is no problem as long as products are honestly advertised in terms of specification and photos.

I'm guessing there are a lot of people who have bought color E-Ink readers knowing their current limitations. PocketBook keeps developing and releasing newer versions, so there must be enough interest to keep them going.

Personally I'm not in the market for a color eReader. I just like there is a choice.

[Quoth]

Pocketbook, Onyx, Bigme etc have been pursuing niches at a high price unserved by others and are pretty small. The Libra Colour will hurt them more than it helps Kobo.

Judging by the size of the companies doing colour eink till now there are few buying it, and that's a niche within eink that itself is a niche dominated by Amazon Kindle with Kobo at #2.

Also look at numbers of views and posts on each make on the forum.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm guessing there are a lot of people who have bought color E-Ink readers knowing their current limitations. PocketBook keeps developing and releasing newer versions, so there must be enough interest to keep them going.

Personally I'm not in the market for a color eReader. I just like there is a choice.

I agree choice is good. Given the dishonesty or misleading marketing of some of the color eink models I wonder how many people that don't frequent Mobile Read knew what they were getting?

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Pocketbook, Onyx, Bigme etc have been pursuing niches at a high price unserved by others and are pretty small. The Libra Colour will hurt them more than it helps Kobo.

Judging by the size of the companies doing colour eink till now there are few buying it, and that's a niche within eink that itself is a niche dominated by Amazon Kindle with Kobo at #2.

Also look at numbers of views and posts on each make on the forum.

I think this will mainly serve to normalize color e-readers. I'm also quite sure that we'll only see any significant changes in buyer behavior in a few years, as probably only enthusiasts and early adopters will buy a new e-reader just for color / note-taking right away. So Kobo has enough time to improve their software for mainstream users

I'm curious if the new devices will cannibalize the Elipsa 2e series.

[Quoth]

The Sage is better than the Elipsa for notes and for many PDFs. More pixels despite 8″ rather than 10.3″, lighter weight, more suitable to read epubs. I've both.

A 7″ seems a bit small for comics or PDFs and the colour makes it much poorer than Libra or Libra 2 for epubs and especially PDFs because you have half the resolution. I've both of them too.

But the Elipsa is better than the reMarkble, by far.

So Kobo has enough time to improve their software for mainstream users

Baffled. Kobo ereader side is already the best. The note taking software is bought in and is crippled by the performance of eink. It was originally on the iPad, then Android and Windows and one of the best on Android or iOS, but eink limits it too much. No live preview of conversion possible as on other HW.

There really is hardly any SW difference for ebook rendering or GUI or notes with colour eink vs mono eink. The driving of the panel is the only significance difference to map the colours to what are now sub pixels (in reality the same mono ink pixels).

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Baffled. Kobo ereader side is already the best. The note taking software is bought in and is crippled by the performance of eink. It was originally on the iPad, then Android and Windows and one of the best on Android or iOS, but eink limits it too much. No live preview of conversion possible as on other HW.

There really is hardly any SW difference for ebook rendering or GUI or notes with colour eink vs mono eink. The driving of the panel is the only significance difference to map the colours to what are now sub pixels (in reality the same mono ink pixels).

I have a Boox Note Air 2, and its note-taking app is just chef's kiss. There is a lot of jank on the device and the translation to English isn't always perfect, but note-taking is superb.

When I still had the (original) Elipsa, I was quite disappointed about the capabilities of the "smart notebooks", which were so slow and awkward to use. This may have gotten better, but it was so frustrating.

However, I'm fully aware, that Kobos are mostly advertised as reading devices with note-taking capabilities, and taking notes on books worked fairly well.

So overall, for what it's intended to do, it's fine, and the smart notebooks might be in a much better state than when I had my Elipsa.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

So overall, for what it's intended to do, it's fine, and the smart notebooks might be in a much better state than when I had my Elipsa.

Software designed for oled/lcd screen. MyWrite (Nebo) may be one of the top handwriting/shape conversion and notes organisers for iOS/Android/Surface, with super annotation of imported PDFs (not on Kobo or free iOS) and it's better on the Sage than Elipsa, but I can't see it being much better ever on eink. On the other platforms it's instant with real time conversion preview.

Does the Boox Note Air 2 do actual conversion to text on the device off line, or is it simply capturing handwriting for processing elsewhere?

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Does the Boox Note Air 2 do actual conversion to text on the device off line, or is it simply capturing handwriting for processing elsewhere?

I don’t know. However, there are two options, real time ocr and on demand ocr. They might work differently.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Pocketbook, Onyx, Bigme etc have been pursuing niches at a high price unserved by others and are pretty small. The Libra Colour will hurt them more than it helps Kobo.

I'm not privy to PocketBook's sales figures, but they don't seem to be slowing down on their color E-Ink readers. Coming soon is the InkPad Eo, a 10.3" color tablet that runs on Android and the Era Color, a 7" color version of their Era. These will be added to the two color models they're currently selling, the InkPad Color 2 and 3 (their 7.8" models). (I'm guessing the InkPad Color 2 will soon go away.)

Originally Posted by Quoth

Judging by the size of the companies doing colour eink till now there are few buying it, and that's a niche within eink that itself is a niche dominated by Amazon Kindle with Kobo at #2.

I agree that color E-Ink readers are a niche within a niche, but PocketBook doesn't seem to be faltering. They do seem to be the innovators in the color eReader market, however. And now that they sell on Amazon, they've at least partially opened up the U.S. market.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also look at numbers of views and posts on each make on the forum.

Before Reddit got rid of their compact view (and I quit going to their forums), there were quite a few people asking about (and buying) PocketBooks (Kobo and PocketBook were often the choices when they didn't want Kindles). But those who post on forums are also a small niche within a niche (as you say).

[leebase]

Yes, reading a novel is more pleasant on eink, but correctly adjusted and positioned LCD/OLED of decent quality (sufficient resolution, non-reflective screen, IPS or later for viewing angle etc) won't hurt or tire your eyes.

You'd think. But nope. The "I did everything and it still hurts my eyes" people exist.

Anywhoo, I realize I'm beating a dead horse.

Read eInk, by all means. Horses for courses.

It's just that enough time has gone by that we KNOW that the masses have no problem reading on phones and tablets. All the "science" that was presented about how harmful reading on anything but paper or eInk was bogus.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by rcentros

No. I don't think they're looking for sympathy. And I don't think you really feel sympathetic.

Aue contraire. My ire against the lunacy of the "reading on LCD will harm your eyes" that was such a powerful pov here not all that long ago.

I truly do have compassion for folks who are only just now getting color reading as an option because they can't read comfortable on a tablet.

It's far more expensive, and a LOT worse color than what the rest of the world has been enjoying for decades.

I too have an uncommon "hurts me but not most people" affliction. I can't play Call of Duty or any of those types of games. I can't play hardly any VR game, I get sick within minutes.

It's a real thing. But I realize I'm in the minority and don't say foolish things like "science tells us that reading on LCD will harm your eyes".

[leebase]

Originally Posted by rcentros

You like your LCD tablet. Why can't other people like color E-Ink readers?

I have no problem with personal preference. You are reading things into what I'm saying that don't follow from what I've said.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by leebase

You'd think. But nope. The "I did everything and it still hurts my eyes" people exist.

Anywhoo, I realize I'm beating a dead horse.

Read eInk, by all means. Horses for courses.

It's just that enough time has gone by that we KNOW that the masses have no problem reading on phones and tablets. All the "science" that was presented about how harmful reading on anything but paper or eInk was bogus.

To be fair, the masses don't generally read many novels per year. I'd suspect more readers drawn to e-ink readers in general are heavier readers than most of the population.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by leebase

You'd think. But nope. The "I did everything and it still hurts my eyes" people exist.

I'm one of them. Not that I've tried everything I could do (and I didn't go out and buy an expensive tablet). I just lost interest in trying. No need to spend a lot when an E-Ink eReader does the job.

Originally Posted by leebase

Anywhoo, I realize I'm beating a dead horse.

Read eInk, by all means. Horses for courses.

I feel the same about those who read on tablets. If they work for you use them. The tablets I've tried haven't worked for me.

Originally Posted by leebase

It's just that enough time has gone by that we KNOW that the masses have no problem reading on phones and tablets. All the "science" that was presented about how harmful reading on anything but paper or eInk was bogus.

I have smartphone but I almost never use it. I do my calling on a flip phone (which is what I carry when I go out). The flip phone is a back-up in case in case the electricity or Internet goes down. (It's on an inexpensive pre-pay plan.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by leebase

Aue contraire. My ire against the lunacy of the "reading on LCD will harm your eyes" that was such a powerful pov here not all that long ago.

It's still my "point of view" because it's true for me. I even have issues with some front-lit E-Ink readers.

Originally Posted by leebase

I truly do have compassion for folks who are only just now getting color reading as an option because they can't read comfortable on a tablet.

It's far more expensive, and a LOT worse color than what the rest of the world has been enjoying for decades.

I'm not particularly interested in a color E-Ink reader, but it might be nice when displaying the covers. For me that's about all I would use it for.

Originally Posted by leebase

I too have an uncommon "hurts me but not most people" affliction. I can't play Call of Duty or any of those types of games. I can't play hardly any VR game, I get sick within minutes.

It's a real thing. But I realize I'm in the minority and don't say foolish things like "science tells us that reading on LCD will harm your eyes".

I don't know if it will harm my eyes. I just know it's uncomfortable for me to read on an LCD screen and that I don't last long when trying to read on a tablet or a smartphone.

I haven't personally held a color E-Ink reader, so I have no idea what I would think of one if I did. I'm guessing it would just be a novelty for me.