Kobo Clara HD or Tolino Shine 3

[filipides]

Hello fellow e-readers,

I'm a proud owner of one Kobo Touch. After almost 5 years of using it, I feel it's time to get a new(er) one. As I'm quite used to 6" screen size, I've narrowed my choice to Kobo Clara HD and Tolino Shine 3. The main reason for this new purchase is actually a screen illumination. Kobo Touch I already have, is bought in Serbia, but as I live in Germany now, buying Tolino is easier and cheaper, too. That's the main reason I'm considering Tolino, actually. If I were to buy one in Serbia again, Kobo would be an obvious choice, as Tolino is not available there.

So the question I have is for the people who actually made a switch from Kobo to Tolino. How was the switch? Was it painless, or you missed some if the options from Kobo? And which ones, if any? Is the software on Tolino better or worse than on Kobo? I only sideload books. Even the ones I bought on Amazon, I converted into epub, and read them on Kobo. But, as I mostly read books in Serbian, and there we don't have an e-library (or at least I'm not aware of one), the choice of the available libraries is not a big of a deal for me.

I like to tinker from time to time. That was an idea when I bought my Kobo, but having not much time to spare on tinkering, the only thing I did on it was to see the internals of the reader (so remove the back panel), and turn the devmods on. So, tinkering with the new device is a possibility, but it may happen that it occurs next year (or never, for what it's worth).

I apologize for a longer post, but thank you in advance for all the answers.

[ZodWallop]

The Clara HD and the Shine 3 are the same piece of hardware.

I've used the Clara, but not the Shine. But given that you like to tinker and you like to sideload your books, I'd say go for Kobo. You can patch it and mess with it endlessly. Or leave it as it is.

Kobo is good with sideloading wiuth Calibre so you can set series information and collections.

On the other hand:

...buying Tolino is easier and cheaper, too.

I don't know what the price difference is or if it is worth the difference for the features Kobo has.

[davidfor]

@filipides: It really depends on what you want. If all you are going to do is put a couple of books on the device and read, it doesn't matter much which device you use. They all display the text reasonably well, you can page through it and read. They allow navigation via the ToC, highlighting, dictionary lookup, several fonts and sizes and some changes for margins and line spacing. Different people will tell you that different devices are better for one or more of these. But, it really comes down to personal preferences.

I posted my opinion of the differences a while ago in https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh....php?p=3678381. I don't think much has changed for the tolino. There have been improvements in Kobo firmware (the series list, some reading changes, dictionaries). The rest of the thread has some other comments. There is a much longer thread discussing the differences, https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=324490, but, it did get distracted by a couple of arguments, so I'm not sure if it is worthwhile looking at.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by filipides

Is the software on Tolino better or worse than on Kobo?

The Tolino operating system is based on Android 4.4.2 - therefore other (reading) applications (AlReader, Golden Dict, Kiwix) can also be installed.

I like to tinker from time to time.

I have installed a 128 GB SD card in my Tolino Shine 3, so there is enough space for Wikipedia

So, tinkering with the new device is a possibility, but it may happen that it occurs next year (or never, for what it's worth).

Look here.

[rcentros]

I don't own the Kobo Clara, but I do own a Tolino Shine 3. (I also own other Kobos.) The hardware is basically (not completely) the same. The reason I (personally) like the Tolino better is because it has ADE built-in — so, instead of using ADE on my computer (I have Linux and it's not natively supported), I can buy and download an .ascm file from just about anywhere ePubs are sold and move it over to the Shine 3 via a USB cable, then download the book directly on the Tolino. It also can be used with Overdrive. You can also do this directly through its built-in browser, but it's painfully slow to navigate the Internet with eInk browser (and some websites don't support the Tolino browser). I like the simplicity of the Tolino (has a clean interface) but if you want more options, you might like the Kobo Clara better (especially since you already use a Kobo, so it would be more familiar). The Kobo has more features and better customization. (Side loading apps on the Tolino may change that, but I've never done that.)

[filipides]

Hi guys,

Thank you for all your replies. I've decided to buy Kobo at the end, as I'm completely used to it's user interface. I've managed to find one on the ebay, but brand new, but for quite lower price than the new one costs. Of course, without a warranty.

I've tried a KOreader on my old Touch, and it seems to be an excellent choice. The old Touch started to be quite slow with these new updates, but KOreader made it quite snappy. I'll use the Touch to try some of the patches listed here on this forum. The ones I end up liking more, will end up on the new Clara.

I have one question for side loading fonts on KOreader. Is it possible to add the ones from the default Kobo reader to KOreader? I've become quite fond of Kobo Nickel font, so I'm interested if it's possible to load it in KOreader, too?

-> for the mods: If the question regarding side loading fonts is more suitable for development rooms, I'll start a new thread there.

Thanks

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

The Tolino operating system is based on Android 4.4.2 - therefore other (reading) applications (AlReader, Golden Dict, Kiwix) can also be installed.I have installed a 128 GB SD card in my Tolino Shine 3, so there is enough space for Wikipedia
Look here.

Only AllReader is an eBook reading app. The others have nothing to do with eBooks. So please don't confuse things when you say here's a list of reading apps when only one is an eBook reading app.

[ps67]

Originally Posted by filipides

Hi guys,

...

I have one question for side loading fonts on KOreader. Is it possible to add the ones from the default Kobo reader to KOreader? I've become quite fond of Kobo Nickel font, so I'm interested if it's possible to load it in KOreader, too?
...

Thanks

As far as I know it is not possible because the embedded fonts in Kobo are encrypted.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Only AllReader is an eBook reading app. The others have nothing to do with eBooks. So please don't confuse things when you say here's a list of reading apps when only one is an eBook reading app.

The question was:

Is the software on Tolino better or worse than on Kobo?

And I have written (reading) - in brackets.
And yes, I find the operating system of the Tolino far superior to that of Kobo.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

The question was:And I have written (reading) - in brackets.
And yes, I find the operating system of the Tolino far superior to that of Kobo.

As an owner of both Kobo and Tolino ereaders, I find the reading experience on the Kobo to be superior. OTOH, since my ereaders live in the same bag as my laptop and iPad Pro, I don't find myself missing the jumping through hoops to install apps on the Tolinos.

The argument as to whether Linux or Android is a superior operating system is pretty much irrelevant to the reading experience.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As an owner of both Kobo and Tolino ereaders, I find the reading experience on the Kobo to be superior. OTOH, since my ereaders live in the same bag as my laptop and iPad Pro, I don't find myself missing the jumping through hoops to install apps on the Tolinos.

Oh, it's quite simple, and for text in books, color display is unnecessary and dispensable.
And laptop or Ipad can't do Android either.

The argument as to whether Linux or Android is a superior operating system is pretty much irrelevant to the reading experience.

You're wrong - on Android there are reading/library apps that are far superior to any "built-in" one.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Oh, it's quite simple, and for text in books, color display is unnecessary and dispensable.
And laptop or Ipad can't do Android either.You're wrong - on Android there are reading/library apps that are far superior to any "built-in" one.

Interesting. I seem to have played with several Android apps using Bluestacks on my laptop.

As for being simple to install apps on a Tolino? That doesn't seem to match up with what I see in the Tolino forum.

As for the reading apps on Android? Sorry but I've tried quite a few of them and superior is not the word I would use. As in one that took digging 5 levels down before I found the setting that enabled respecting the ebook's CSS. Contrary to certain people's opinions, all of us do not want our ebooks to look like a newspaper page.

my readers with a very specific formatting: landscape format, two columns, Arial, left-justified, paragraph spacing, no first line indentation.

I tend to ask questions such as does the reading app allow use of mixed text on Japanese language pages with katakana, hiragana, kanji and romaji? Does it support furigana/ruby? Does it support mixed direction on the same page? Does it support fixed layout epub3 books? How well does it support accessibility? How much of the epub3 standard does it support? I have a fondness for the epub-testsuite for testing.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As for being simple to install apps on a Tolino? That doesn't seem to match up with what I see in the Tolino forum.

This is very simple.
After installing and configuring 2 apps (Total Commander and OneToucher) in the Tolino, all you need to do is download an apk suitable for Android 4.4.2 to the device and launch it with Total Commander - then add this app to Onetoucher; done.

I tend to ask questions such as does the reading app allow use of mixed text on Japanese language pages with katakana, hiragana, kanji and romaji? Does it support furigana/ruby? Does it support mixed direction on the same page? Does it support fixed layout epub3 books? How well does it support accessibility? How much of the epub3 standard does it support? I have a fondness for the epub-testsuite for testing.

I'm not interested in all that - I don't want anything else with a reader than to record the available text comfortably and quickly; this includes being able to call up about 20 functions directly via the touchscreen.
I remove a large part of the formatting right away in calibre.

If I want to read beautifully or admire format, then I take paper with leather, or parchment, or ......
There is also tactile and olfactory pleasure that no device can offer me.

For me, a reader is nothing more than a text display tool that has to do its job as comfortably as possible for me.
And only Android devices can be configured to fit my needs.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

This is very simple.
After installing and configuring 2 apps (Total Commander and OneToucher) in the Tolino, all you need to do is download an apk suitable for Android 4.4.2 to the device and launch it with Total Commander - then add this app to Onetoucher; done.

And how do you get the Tolino to allow you to install apps? Is that capability in the out of the box experience or do you have to jump through the hoops to root your Tolino first? Is it as simple as the 1-click install for KoReader and Plato on a Kobo device?

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I'm not interested in all that - I don't want anything else with a reader than to record the available text comfortably and quickly; this includes being able to call up about 20 functions directly via the touchscreen.
I remove a large part of the formatting right away in calibre.

Whereas I edit the books with Sigil or calibre to give me what I consider to be a reading experience close to that of a paper book.

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

If I want to read beautifully or admire format, then I take paper with leather, or parchment, or ......
There is also tactile and olfactory pleasure that no device can offer me.

For me, a reader is nothing more than a text display tool that has to do its job as comfortably as possible for me.
And only Android devices can be configured to fit my needs.

So basically, what you want is a device that displays text with no formatting just like my old CP/M computer in the 1970's. Perhaps if I spilled a little Kobo Papier on my ereaders, I could get the olfactory experience. As for the tactile experience? Perhaps years back I might have been interested. My eyes now want a larger font size and a readable font—I do not consider Arial as a font suitable for long term reading due to my personal preference for serif fonts for body text. Not to mention that these days, my hands and arms are not that happy with the weight of a paper book.

I do find some humour in your continued Android is the best fanaticism. Given what you want from an ereader as noted in the quote from you in my previous message, you want nothing that could not be accomplished on a personal computer back in the 1970s.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As for being simple to install apps on a Tolino? That doesn't seem to match up with what I see in the Tolino forum.

Honestly, accessing Android on a Tolino and installing apps is not difficult. It is just as easy or just as difficult as patching a Kobo. No prior knowledge is required. You simply need to follow the steps outlined in the forums dedicated to it.

The choice between one device or another depends on individual tastes and preferences. I have both and the one I use the most is the Tolino Shine 3. But I understand that other people (with other tastes or preferences) prefer the Kobo Clara HD.