Suggestions for e-reader "upgrade"?

[Freso]

I currently have/use an old PocketBook 515W which serves me okay most of the time, but I have a few things I've been desiring for a while...

• Built-in light -- I've been trying out clip-on lights but they are very cumbersome to deal with, IME so far, and I'd like to be able to read in the dark
• Colour -- doesn't have to be 32bit colour, but a dash of colour beyond white/grey/black to e.g. be able to decipher graphs/charts and such would be quite helpful sometimes

Some very nice-to-haves:

• Touchscreen, esp. with ability to take notes directly on the screen -- this doesn't have to be super involved, but having to press 50 buttons (on the 515) for every letter (once you've actually navigated into note taking) just makes me not do it, and I think it would be helpful for me if I was able to
• Physical page turning buttons
• Slightly larger than 515 (5") but not too much (<10", maybe?)

Also nice-to-haves:

• USB-C connector -- for recharging and data exchange
• Ability to interface directly with Libby and/or Open Library/archive.org
• Open system -- allowing me to put my own software on it, either others' or if I write it myself (e.g. to add options to interface with Open Library, BookBrainz, or other services)
• Waterproof enough to sit outside in the rain with it or to have it survive a water bottle spill accident in a backpack
• Bluetooth -- for audiobooks or "music for reading"; possibly for external keyboard; possibly for interfacing with phone/PCs

Some things I am not interested in:

• LCD or other innately backlit screen tech
• Anything Apple or Amazon or other proprietary walled garden systems

So far the best(/only?) fit I've come across is PocketBook InkPad Color (2? 3?), but some reviews are not all too stoked about the colour, complaining mostly(?) about its lack of vibrancy, which isn't my biggest concern, but maybe it's worse than I imagine? And are there any other candidates I've missed that fit the above?

[Sirtel]

Kobo Sage has many items on your list, but not all. No color, no direct interface with Libby or Open Library AFAIK. I'm not sure what you can do with bluetooth on a Kobo, as I've never used it. The rest of your list is available on the Sage - light, touchscreen, note taking, buttons, 8'' screen, USB-C, open system, waterproof.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Kobo Sage has many items on your list, but not all. No color, no direct interface with Libby or Open Library AFAIK. I'm not sure what you can do with bluetooth on a Kobo, as I've never used it. The rest of your list is available on the Sage - light, touchscreen, note taking, buttons, 8'' screen, USB-C, open system, waterproof.

I think colour will be the really tricky part of the list. I know the Sage does have bluetooth for its audiobooks and I've seen threads here about things like bluetooth page clickers etc. I would guesstimate that the Sage probably ticks off ~75-80% of the OP's wishlist, and doubt many other readers would do more, especially when it comes to colour.

[meeera]

Have a look at the Boox colour devices and see if something there meets your needs.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Freso

• Built-in light -- I've been trying out clip-on lights but they are very cumbersome to deal with, IME so far, and I'd like to be able to read in the dark
• Colour -- doesn't have to be 32bit colour, but a dash of colour beyond white/grey/black to e.g. be able to decipher graphs/charts and such would be quite helpful sometimes

Some very nice-to-haves:

• Touchscreen, esp. with ability to take notes directly on the screen -- this doesn't have to be super involved, but having to press 50 buttons (on the 515) for every letter (once you've actually navigated into note taking) just makes me not do it, and I think it would be helpful for me if I was able to
• Physical page turning buttons
• Slightly larger than 515 (5") but not too much (<10", maybe?)

Also nice-to-haves:

• USB-C connector -- for recharging and data exchange
• Ability to interface directly with Libby and/or Open Library/archive.org
• 8″ which is very nice for novels and works for many PDF. Margin crop on PDFs.
• Open system -- allowing me to put my own software on it, either others' or if I write it myself (e.g. to add options to interface with Open Library, BookBrainz, or other services)
• Waterproof enough to sit outside in the rain with it or to have it survive a water bottle spill accident in a backpack
• Bluetooth -- for audiobooks or "music for reading"; possibly for external keyboard; possibly for interfacing with phone/PCs

It's 4 bit "colour" on eink for each of R G B and it makes screen dark and text 1/2 as good. Only worth it if you mostly read coloured comics.

A Kobo Sage does:

• Front light
• 300 dpi
• Touch screen
• page turn buttons that work the same no matter which way up you hold it (left or right side buttons) and page flips to match when you flip.
• An 8″ screen
• Crop on PDFs (or you can install KOReader which has extra PDF features)
• USB-C
• I think overdrive/libby can work. Archive Org's Open Library is mostly pirated and I doubt works easily on anything other than a browser, but I could be wrong. Managing ebooks with Calibre is best and Kobo is best.
• Waterproofish (coated inside).
• Open, no jailbreak needed.
• Bluetooth, but no eink is as good as phone for music or audiobooks. No Text to Speech. Keyboard does work on BT, but not in the notebooks, only when touch keyboard is on display. No file transfer. File transfer possible by USB from phone tablet with USB tether/OTG/Host modes and a file manager. Tested on a Micro USB Android 4.1 phone and on USB-C phone & tablet.
• Default 32 G storage allows maybe over 18,000 ebooks. Less if many huge PDFs or comics/manga.

The only thing absolutely not on your list is colour. Not sure if OpenLibrary works on the built in browser. There is Overdrive (not all countries) and Adobe Digital Edition support. The BT is really only for Kobo's Audiobooks, though others can be fudged. But really even a cheap phone is better for TTS (Pockebook app) or audiobooks (Audible), podcasts or mp3 music and battery life extends due to blank screen. Battery life is poor on eink with audio because the normal good life is due to CPU sleeps while you read a page. Only wakes for page turn and GUI features.
The epub annotation/notes are best done with touch screen, though BT keyboard can work. The Advanced notebooks support conversion of handwriting, maths, shapes and check boxes from pen input to computer conversion ON THE DEVICE. Export docx, html , text (plain text only), inc freehand sketch. Basic notebooks export as PDF image or PNG image etc.
Epub highlight + notes done with touch or touch + BT keys are exported as text.

All current eink in viable ereaders has black, white and 14 grey levels. Colour is by putting a patterned filter on the panel surface under the lightpipe and touch layers (Triton or Kaleido). There is Gallery Colour which doesn't use a filter, but it's not traditional eink and takes 1.5s to update, so only viable on signs and adverts, despite one company trying to produce a model.

[Freso]

Originally Posted by meeera

Have a look at the Boox colour devices and see if something there meets your needs.

They do seem really neat (it's the ones that have a "C" appended to their product name, right?), esp. with their "high" framerate, but it also seems like Onyx doesn't respect the free software licenses of the software they build on which is a massive minus. I think I'm also leaning slightly towards a preference for (GNU/)Linux over Android(/Linux), but not fully committed to that.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Freso

They do seem really neat (it's the ones that have a "C" appended to their product name, right?), esp. with their "high" framerate, but it also seems like Onyx doesn't respect the free software licenses of the software they build on which is a massive minus. I think I'm also leaning slightly towards a preference for (GNU/)Linux over Android(/Linux), but not fully committed to that.

... and you've come back round to Pocketbook

[Rbneader]

I was also going to suggest the Boox devices, because my Boox ereader has been fantastic, but if the license is a dealbreaker it's a dealbreaker.


FWIW I don't think color eInk is really that valuable for most people. It's not nearly the same as a color monitor, there are significant compromises.

[Quoth]

It's not nearly the same as a color monitor, there are significant compromises.

Understatement!

Colour eInk vs good colour monitor:
About 10 to 500 times slower and about 1/5000th of the hue/saturation/luminance space.

My LCD tablet is nowhere near as good as my monitor, but the specs certainly beat colour eink. I'd be more tempted if I read or published comics.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Freso

but it also seems like Onyx doesn't respect the free software licenses of the software they build on which is a massive minus.

It is very questionable whether it even applies - the valid GPL version is 3

To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without permission, would make you directly or secondarily liable for infringement under applicable copyright law, except executing it on a computer or modifying a private copy. Propagation includes copying, distribution (with or without modification), making available to the public, and in some countries other activities as well.

The changes only run on computers and are not available anywhere else.
This restriction does not exist in GPL 2 (Linux Kernel), but this version has not been valid for more than 16 years

[Frogm4n]

Claiming that previous versions of the GPL aren't valid is a complete misunderstanding of what the licenses are and how they work. The author gets to choose the license for their work and that license stays until they choose to change it, either through direct action or including a clause in the release that says "and any future versions" or similar.

Claiming that GPLv2 is invalid simply because the FSF wrote GPLv3 is muddying the issue more than people usually do.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Frogm4n

Claiming that previous versions of the GPL aren't valid is a complete misunderstanding of what the licenses are and how they work. The author gets to choose the license for their work and that license stays until they choose to change it, either through direct action or including a clause in the release that says "and any future versions" or similar.

But something like this can at best be viewed as a private agreement, but has no meaning beyond that - GPL 3 is valid and it doesn't matter at all whether one likes it or not

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

But something like this can at best be viewed as a private agreement, but has no meaning beyond that - GPL 3 is valid and it doesn't matter at all whether one likes it or not

And GPL 2 is valid and enforceable.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

But something like this can at best be viewed as a private agreement, but has no meaning beyond that - GPL 3 is valid and it doesn't matter at all whether one likes it or not

GPLv2 is still valid as well, and that's my point. The existence of GPLv3 does not invalidate the previous versions.

[Aleron Ives]

Developers get to pick which GPL version to license their software under. Both v2 and v3 are in widespread use, and both are still valid and in effect. IIRC GPLv3 came about because of some naughty things TiVo was doing, but not everybody agreed with the changes, hence GPLv2 was not retired when v3 came out.