Kindle vs Kobo after Tolino

[c123]

I had a Kobo Aura for 2.5 years and was very happy with it. When it died, I bought the Kobo Aura H2O and again was very happy with it, before it was lost/stolen after about a month. Next I tried the Tolino Vision 3 HD - great 6" water proofed ereader. Harwdware is excellent (great screen), the library managent a bit too simplistic for my tastes, but the reading experience was good (screen, page turns, lighting, etc). Except for one thing - you cannot zoom in on images on the Tolino! If I manage to root the device I might be able to install an alternative reader (Coolreader, KoReader), but not sure if I'll find the time.

I'm travelling tomorrow and was planning to look in duty free and perhaps buy another ereader - the choice then is Kobo or Kindle. Otherwise prices here are pretty low anyway.

Kobo
- Glo looks great, but is 6" and eol'ed. H2O I enjoyed for the time I had it. One is obviously what I am interested in, but there is a price premium and lots of complaints on this forum (still got a few threads to go through).
- I love the library management features - collections, book summaries before you open a book using the Calibre summary metadata (helping you choose). - Image and Table zoom works here
- I prefer epubs and have mostly these (I remove DRM when adding to Calibre).
- I like multiple book stores to choose from, when I decide to purchase books.
- I like the openness (to add fonts, to add alternative readers).
- I did like the type settings and other page cutomization possibilities, but after using the Tolino for a while, no not really miss these.

Kindle
- It's between the Voyage (I "like" the better lighting, ambient sensor, lighter weight, and am interested in the buttons (but on ther Tolino I deactivated the Tap to click) and the latest PW (version 3 from 2016, is that correct?).
- According to the manual, zooming is supported.
- I'm interested in trying Xray, and the main interest will be adding it to books I own and intend to sideload (using the generators from mobileread members) / copyright free classics etc.
- I'm interested in Pageflip (lokks better than the Kobo/Tolino equivalents); does this work on sideloaded books?
- I'm very interested in the vocabulary builder, for books that I read in foreign languages; does this work on sideloaded books?
- Also the notes / annotations feature seems a lot better; ; does this work on sideloaded books?
- Is it still possbile to jalibreak the Kindle? OK this info is no doubt somewhere in the Kindle section

I do use Pocket, but Amazon has email to kindle which does more. Currently I do not borrow from the library, but that could change. I generally read just on my ereader, but syncing sideloaded books with the kindle app could be good.

Any insights or comments?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by c123

- I'm interested in Pageflip (lokks better than the Kobo/Tolino equivalents); does this work on sideloaded books?

The old pageflip works with sideloaded books. The new pageflip (where you can view several thumbnails of pages all at once) works only with certain directly purchased books. I prefer the old pageflip, haven't found any use for the new one.

- I'm very interested in the vocabulary builder, for books that I read in foreign languages; does this work on sideloaded books?

Yes.

- Also the notes / annotations feature seems a lot better; ; does this work on sideloaded books?

Also yes.

Syncing sideloaded books with the kindle app could be good.

You can e-mail your books to your Amazon account or use the Send-to-Kindle app, then they will be synced. You cannot sync the books you sideload via USB.

[barryem]

The other day I downloaded the free "Tarzan of the Apes" from Amazon and it supports X-Ray and Page Flip (both styles). I have no idea if they'll be doing this with all their classic free books but at least they're doing it with some of them. I did look around and found a number of other free classics support these features as well.

I agree that the old style page flip is the useful one and it works on everything. I tried out the new style page flip and I'm sure there are uses for it but I just read novels and I don't think I'll find any serious use for it.

I don't use Vocabulary Builder or Word Wise but I just turned them on and tried them with a sideloaded ebook. Vocabulary Builder works fine. I couldn't find a way to turn on Word Wise while in that book so presumably that means it doesn't work on sideloaded books.

Barry

[c123]

Thanks for the replies, good useful information . I'm surprised that I cannot sideload books using Calibre and a USB cable. Not sure I'll have wifi/internet access where I'm going to for ten days.

To be honest, kindle's vocab builer, superior (stock) dictionaries and syncing for sidelysded books is very tempting, however much I prefer kobo's library management. But the 7.8" screen with the need red lighting...

Will read a bit more tonight

[Sirtel]

You can sideload books from Calibre via USB, no problem. You just cannot sync those books with Kindle apps. If you want to sync, you must send the books to your Amazon account.

[c123]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You can sideload books from Calibre via USB, no problem. You just cannot sync those books with Kindle apps. If you want to sync, you must send the books to your Amazon account.

Got it. Thanks for the clarification.

[Phogg]

You might look into a larger reader for image intensive books and keep using the Tolino for day to day reading.

I bought an Onyx Boox I86ML for manga reading, and eventually moved most of my nonfiction library to it because of the superior screen size for illustrations.