Large e-reader at least 9 inches with sunken screen

[ereaderlover123]

Hey I have an old kindle paperwhite with a sunken screen and I love it more then reading books it's over 10 years old still works like a pro. Recently I started reading some pdf scanned books and the text shows up too small on my paperwhite so I needed to get a bigger e reader. I tried the flush screens (scribe and eclipsa 2E) and I did not like the experience at all. It feels like the text is so far from my face and like there is a sheet of plastic in between me and the text. So I decided I am only interested in sunken screens. Right now I am trying the inkpad lite, it's almost perfect. I love the button placement and I can install koreader but I noticed the resolution looks a bit fuzzy and the text is more grey and not sharp black like my paperwhite. I love the external sd card though. I am thinking of trying the inkpad x pro but the reviews on it seem so bad. are there any large e-readers with sunken screens you all would recommended? I don't mind buying used too and preferably be able to install koreader and have a battery that lasts about a month or two like my paperwhite thanks
external sd slot is also a plus

[Quoth]

Beware 9.7″ as they are probably old Pearl 150 dpi screens. There are probably only 227 dpi 10.3″ common in that size.

You've already tried the Elipsa 2E and Kindle Scribe (300 dpi 10.2″). I don't know about the Scribe, but the Sage and Elipsa don't actually have extra distance to the screen (or any significant extra) than the recessed Libra 2 or Kindle Paperwhite 3 (I have all 4).

Only models with no touch and no light-pipe for front lighting have the eink panel closer. All have a plastic or glass (reMarkable 2) top layer.

The inkpad lite might have the same ancient 150 dpi pearl screen as the old Kindle DXG (not DX). It's from 2021 and obsolete at launch. A certain review site claims it's Carta (I think it's Pearl), but it's certainly 150 dpi and the plastic texture to reduce glare may make it a little softer. It's got a light-pipe layer for LED front light which puts the eink further away than on the DXG (no lights or touch).

Recessed was originally for a couple of reasons. Rare now on larger ereaders.

[Quoth]

P.S. I have the Kindle DXG too, 9.7″ and 150 dpi. Worst buy ereader. Worse than the reMarkable, though DXG was cheap in last Amazon "sale" of it. Not enough RAM for Amazon to add azw3 like they did for KK3 that came out the same time. Not enough for KOReader, though easy to jailbreak.

Even if the inkpad Lite is a Carta, the 150 dpi is dismal due to eink so limited on anti-aliasing (black, white and just about 14 greys). Greys slow down screen updates dramatically on eink.

[ereaderlover123]

Is there anyway to change it on the scribe so every single time a page turn in pdf the screen would not turn to black? That's what happened to me because it viewed each scanned page as an image.

I noticed with the Eclipsa 2E there was a plastic or glass? layer over the text which had so much glare in my opinion.

I agree the screen on the inkpad lite is not the best but that's really the only downside I can see with it right now. It is worse then my paper white and the pixels are noticeable

I found the kindle scribe 16 gig on sale for $20 less then the inkpad lite that's crazy to me

The screen was not as bad on that one as I felt on the eclipsa but I need to be able to install koreader which I think is a challenge

[ereaderlover123]

If I am reading scanned books what size e reader is really the sweet spot or recommended e reader

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ereaderlover123

If I am reading scanned books what size e reader is really the sweet spot or recommended e reader

13.3" comes closest to an A4 or letter size PDF.

[Quoth]

About 10" to 13" depending on content.
However the 8″ Kobo Sage has more pixels than most 10.3″ except the Scribe, but you'd need good eyes to see the detail. Many PDFs are OK on the Sage. Scanned magazines are just about possible on the TCL Nxtpaper 11. Scanned PDF Books are much better than on eink, because eink will need to flash every page if there are shades of grey or colour (typical on book scans) and the 16M+ shades / colours (200 to 500 grey levels vs 14) make any PDF/scan without pure background better. I found the Elipsa and Sage better than my older 10″ tablets for scanned PDFs, but they are much poorer than the TCL Nxtpaper. Wife also has Sage and had a reMarkable (hated it) and had decent Lenovo 10″ tablet, but now uses her Nxtpaper 11 (it's maybe 10.9″ in reality) for all PDFs and uses the Sage only/always for epub reflowable novels.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

13.3" comes closest to an A4 or letter size PDF.

Yes, and you need that for most multi-column scanned magasines from 1920s to 1970s. However most scanned novels and text books do work on 10+ inch. Many are too poor background for any size of eink.

Also I looked at the various eink bigger than 10.3″, the 13.x″ models from Sony, Fujitsu and others and they are madly expensive and worse they are poor resolution. Otherwise I'd I bought one for technical PDFs years ago.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, and you need that for most multi-column scanned magasines from 1920s to 1970s. However most scanned novels and text books do work on 10+ inch. Many are too poor background for any size of eink.

Also I looked at the various eink bigger than 10.3″, the 13.x″ models from Sony, Fujitsu and others and they are madly expensive and worse they are poor resolution. Otherwise I'd I bought one for technical PDFs years ago.

The highest resolution 13.3" screen I've seen was 207DPI. Though it was not an ereader but part of a automated system, you could bring up the manual on the screen and it looked good. There were rumours last month about an Eink ED133KC1 which was a 13.3" screen with 300DPI which may also be available as a Kaleido 3 screen (300BW/150Colour).

[jackm8]

Originally Posted by ereaderlover123

If I am reading scanned books what size e reader is really the sweet spot or recommended e reader

It really depends on the size of the fonts of scanned books and your preferences. For me, 10' is perfect for everything except very small font scientific books. I also can read pdf's on 8' when adequate cropping options are available, they are unreadable on 6' readers for me.

It feels like the text is so far from my face and like there is a sheet of plastic in between me and the text. So I decided I am only interested in sunken screens. Right now I am trying the inkpad lite, it's almost perfect. I love the button placement and I can install koreader but I noticed the resolution looks a bit fuzzy and the text is more grey and not sharp black like my paperwhite.

There is a thick sheet of plastic between you and the screen. It's there for writing feel, touch screen tech, and back lighting. In Scribes case, plastic is quite harsh and thick, but you do get very even back light.

You won't get a perfect device. If I could design my own, I'd take Scribes screen, put it into reMarkable 2 body, and I'd install Pocketbooks software to run it all. I'd take it further and make two devices. One with thin phone-tech glass over the screen, no touch screen, no back light. The other with back light.

[jackm8]

A few extra samples of my devices. All photos taken outside, but in vastly different conditions, so they're not really comparable.

[kandwo]

Onyx Boox will be releasing a 300 PPI 10" device without a frontlight layer. One of the main points is that the text will feel like it's very close to the surface.

https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries

I'll be waiting for reviews.

[ereaderlover123]

Originally Posted by jackm8

A few extra samples of my devices. All photos taken outside, but in vastly different conditions, so they're not really comparable.

Thanks for the pictures

Do you find the scribe an enjoyable reader while holding it in your hands

[jackm8]

Originally Posted by kandwo

Onyx Boox will be releasing a 300 PPI 10" device without a frontlight layer. One of the main points is that the text will feel like it's very close to the surface.

https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries

I'll be waiting for reviews.

I'm really interested in that one as well. It could be a great large reader in good light situations.

[Quoth]

My ereaders with front lights don't seem as if the eink is further away than my models without. A cost reduction spun as a "plus"? The light-pipe layer for a larger screen are not cheap to have even illumination from the LEDs at the edge(s).