YMO's Fetish for e-Ink Tech (General E-Ink Thread)

There was some interest from me and my comments on e-Ink, well here's me blabbing about it randomly.


So, I kind-of wanted to make a thread about my personal experiences of e-Ink technology and not about LCD tablets. It’s a technology that is mostly popular with e-reader devices like the Amazon Kindle. However, I had experienced the technology in other devices that you might not been aware of. It all started that I wanted to read more, without using a LCD screen of a computer or a tablet due to my eye strain issues with blue light. Also, I don’t want to have 100s of books in my small space in my apartment. I wanted to be eco-friendly in that regard. I’m mostly a read it one and put it away type of guy.

I’m very interested with the e-Ink technology due to these benefits:

· No Screen Glare Issues.

· Display is like paper.

· Display does read like a textbook.

· Eco friendly since you don’t need to buy a physical book/magazines/comics/manga.

Downsides of the tech is this:

· Slow refresh speed compared to an LCD screen.

· B/W screens for now, Color screens aren’t available in the mass market due to cost.

· Costly due to the higher cost of the e-Ink screen compared to an LCD screen.

· Ghosting on the screen.

A few years ago, I wanted to find the best Kindle device I could get. I mean, I was making good enough money that I didn’t want to get their entry level Kindle. So instead I got this:


Kindle Oasis Gen 1

The version that I had was the Wi-Fi only, no special offers (Amazon charges you more to remove their ads off their Kindle devices). If you want to spend even more money, you could had gotten a “free” 3G LTE on the product for downloads. Since I’m around Wi-Fi hotspots all the time, this wasn’t needed. Also, it does eat up battery.

It has a six-inch screen, comes with the unit itself and a fake leather cover that also has a battery on it. So, the Oasis has very long battery life where the leather cover battery pack will recharge the internal battery of the Kindle. Smart idea if you think about it. If you really want the Kindle to be really light, just remove the cover and you have one of the lightest Kindles in the market. Also, it fits in butt pockets.

Internal storage was pretty small at 4 GB. But there’s plenty of room for books and magazines. It can also do comics/manga as well, but it’ll eat up your space quite well. The leather case was durable, including the plastic they used on the Oasis. It does have frontlight, and you can adjust how bright you want it. Of course, it doesn’t goes to your eyes. The device was design for long term reading.

What really make the Kindle devices great is not due to the Amazon DRM, but its software. Hardware and Software is one (which I think is really important here), Amazon knows the hardware since they designed it, and makes the Software. The device knows when the screen needs to refresh to remove any ghosting, and when to move a page by pressing a button. Yes, the Oasis models as of today are the only Kindle models that comes with Page Turn buttons. Stupid to pay $300 for this a few years back, but the Page Turn Buttons works amazing. Amazon while they are using their own locked down OS on the Kindle, you can add books either wirelessly if it’s a format that the Kindle supports, or by hooking it up to your computer via Micro USB to USB. I added DRM-Free Manga on the device just fine.

Books on the device is great. Change the font size, make the test be bolded, change the margins, etc. You aren’t stuck with the format of a textbook here; you can change the text as you see fit. I felt like the build quality was great on it.

I been buying more Manga as of late, plus my GF wanted my Kindle. I gave her this since Amazon came out with…

Kindle Oasis Gen 3

I didn’t upgrade to the Second Gen Oasis, since I didn’t care for waterproof, the screen size is now seven inches and not six (bye bye having it fit in your butt pocket). I didn’t care for it until the Gen 3 was announced. Gen 3 is just the Gen 2 Oasis but with warm colored front light, slightly better battery. This just came out about a week ago.

I pre-ordered it as soon as it was announced, because I been spoiled on warm light (which I’ll get to later), plus they have a version with up to 32 GB internal storage (which is great for someone who buys mix use of magazine, books, and manga.

So, I got it. For starters it’s faster than the Gen 1 Oasis, has the warm front light which I can’t go back to regular front light (due to warm front light doesn’t put any pressure to my eyes), and the screen is really nice on it. Manga looks great on it, it got me to say bye bye Manga books, the future is digital for fast reads. Once again Amazon got the e-reader part figured out by having the Software works great with the Hardware. Everything on it just works, no weird issues like the other e-readers in the market. Text is great, and it reads nice.

Downside is the a few things. The battery life is worse on this than the Gen 1 Oasis. For starters the full battery is in the unit. This makes it slightly heavier, because it doesn’t come with a cover. Oh yes, because it doesn’t come with a cover, you must pay more!! I got the Top of the Line Leather Cover, which is an extra $60. So I paid $300 for the unit that comes with 32 GB storage, Wi-Fi only, and no Special Offers. While the unit is bigger than the Gen 1 Oasis, it still feels quite nice to the hand.


After loving the e-Ink technology, I started to dig more into e-Readers, then I discover the following

Chi-Fi e-Readers

Yup, the problems that plagues Chi-fi DAPs are in full force with e-Readers from China! Hardware is great, plenty to choose from, but shit software support. If you go to the Mobile Read Forums, you’ll see different e-Readers that uses e-Ink technology. Companies like Boyue, Onyx, Wisky are hitting the market with new e-Readers from China. Most of the time their prices are the same cost of a top of the line tablet, and their sizes varies from 7.8 inches to the giant size of 13 inches that can be used as a secondary computer monitor! See for a Technology Connections 2 Video of the Onyx Book 13 Inch. I like the guy who makes these videos, he reminds me of my virgin friends who are still living with their parents (but this guy doesn’t live with his parents).

So what’s the point people spending $200-$700 on these suckers. Sony has a e-Reader that’s only good for PDF reading/writing on a pen that retails about $1,000 (only good for that one thing, but it’s great), it’s due to the positives of e-Ink you silly! What happens if you want to save paper, but you want music sheets when playing the piano. How about a big e-Ink device that shows your music sheets clearly? This is slowly becoming popular, check out this link:

So what’s the secret of these Chinese e-Readers? THEY USE ANDROID. Yes, they use Android for their OS. Remember when you had that Chi-Fi DAP that runs on Android but full of bugs? Yep, same deal for the most part here. The Android OS was not design for e-Ink displays. The maker of these tablets have to do some custom design in order to make the Android OS work fine on it. Since they are mostly using Android, you can run real Android apps on it. Wanna watch Youtube in crappy frames per second? You can do it on their e-Readers! The catch is the e-Ink displays aren’t designed for video, so crappy refresh rate galore!

Because of the following above, running software that wasn’t designed on a e-Ink display on a e-Ink display could have issues. You can use the Kindle app on these devices. It’ll work, but since the Android App does page turning animation that you can’t shut it up, the e-Ink will show crappy frame animation on each page. It works great other than that. Attempting to run Google Drive on these drives does have a history of the app not actually working on it.

And there’s different markers and hardware variations from the great land of China to choose from. You can get a Likebook Mars for about $250ish which Android 6.0, 7.8-inch screen, 16 GB internal storage but it does have a SD Card slot that can go up to 128 GB per spect. That’s a lot of room for comics and manga. What about something that allows you to write on it and write on PDF files, just get a higher end Boyue Likebook Mimas and it comes with a Wacom pen, but the cost is doubled of the Likebook Mars since the Mimas is a 10-inch screen.

Even with the possible issues of software, I wanted to try one out. I ordered the Bouye Likebook Mimas, but Amazon lost that package. At least I got my full refund back. I saw a good price for a new Likebook Mars from Amazon, so I got that instead…

Boyue LIkebook Mars



So this video does a good job of what this is. This is Boyue’s smaller e-Reader on the market. There’s no pen (but there’s a model that comes with a pen, but classic Chi-Fi it doesn’t come with a Micro SD Card slot, the Mars does). 7.8 inch screen, Android 6.0, Warm/Cold Front Light Support, Wi-Fi, etc. If this was a regular LCD Android tablet, it would be outdated by now. It only came out back in 2018.

The draw is the e-Ink display. Run your Android Apps on this and it looks like paper. Make sure it isn’t a video game or youtube. This silly thing can run music apps and it has a headphone jack on it. Is it good, it’s alright and it gets the job done. Battery Life goes down the drain if you max out the brightness, put the Wi-Fi all the time, and run too many apps. The 2 GB of Internal RAM is small nowadays, but it’s acceptable for the e-Reader device due to limited type of apps you can use on it. I didn’t have a problem loading PDF files and loading them up, but they do look best on a 10 inch and up tablet.

Build quality of it was good, but I noticed the plastic that covers the edge of the bezel didn’t fully stuck the bottom of the screen. So, I can see the front lights if I look on the top of the tablet looking down to the bottom of the screen. Yeah, minor QC issues here folks that I wasn’t impressed with at all. The screen wasn’t flushed like the Kindles, and I prefer a flush screen going forward.

So, how does it run? It ran….ok. Since you are running real Android apps on this thing, it will have quirks on it. So I kept the apps to the apps that will benefits using this thing. So the Kindle Android App, and Tachiyomi app it is. As stated earlier, the Kindle Android App work great, but you can’t shut off the page animation frames. So it will look like this minor hot mess: (Note: It depends on the screen size, the front, etc). Like it just felt sluggish at times, unlike the Kindle Oasis where Amazon owns the Hardware and the Software. Tachiyomi works great as long as you set up the OS where it refreshes the screen every one or five times to prevent too much ghosting on the screen. Speaking of ghosting, that’s always been an issue on e-Ink. With an Android tablet the refresh of an e-Ink display is not built in as default. You have to adjust the amount of changes on the screen before the tablet will do a full refresh.

With these tablets, there’s an A2 mode. A2 mode makes the colors into a grayscale format, but the screen loads faster. As you can see, while the screen loading is still not smooth, it’s a lot faster than the normal way of an e-Ink display refresh the screen. As you can see however, there’s tons of ghosting. This helps with loading a web site if you browse the web with it.

While it was great to have an e-Ink display, I returned the Likebook Mars to Amazon. The QC issue with the screen and the less than stellar experience of the hardware/software put a dent into my experience with it. I think for the right person (those who reads tons of Manga and you download the scans of the internet) it will be great. Boyue stated the Micro SD card slot supports up to 128 GB, it’s BS, I put a 256 GB card on it, and it works fine. I can see someone like @netforce get this for the real paper Magna look that isn’t a tablet and it close to a look of it (or his Doujinshi’s, we don’t judge here at SBAF). So if you get the Tachiyomi app on this, you can use the external Micro SD Card to put all your scans on it. Since 256 GB is a lot of space, you can put possible a whole collection on your card and use the Likebook Mars as your Manga reader.

Boyue just came out with their new top of the link e-reader, the Boyue Likebook Atlia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YFIWxQeKGQ It’s just the Mimas but no buttons, a full flush screen, 4 GB of Ram, 32 GB internal storage, fking SIM Card Support and Micro SD Card support, and Wacom pen. Downside it’s over $500 and it still has Android 6.0. Boyue still stated that they will release Android 8.0 on it. With the history of Chi-Fi I would hold off getting one until the device is ready for price time. At least you can edit PDF files with it, even if there’s some minor bugs on it per Mobile Read Forums. But with these videos it looks promising…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92RNBU-6iAk&t=187s

Like I’m trying to learn cursive again and having this with a paper looking guide plus writing to improve my penmanship would be quite helpful.


Other Products

Pebble Steel Smartwatch: Oh Pebble, you were once the hot shit in the smartwatch world. Seeing you dying in a quick fire was a sad sight. It was my only Smartwatch that owned that I thought it was worth it to own. It lasted a week before you needed to charge it, you can customize the watch screen itself, and it works on both OS and Android. So how this thing back in 2014 has better battery life than the overpriced Apple Watch?

It uses an e-Ink display, woooo!! Good battery life, low power uses, that’s how the Pebble watches got away with the battery life. For a Smartwatch device, it was great! It did what I told it to do, told me the weather, the latest PM from a forum, and how much lazy I am. The last gen watches before Fitbit purchased the assets of Pebble has a minor color e-Ink display!

Oh well, the e-Ink Smartwatch concept works great on a Smartwatch. I think having an LCD screen on a Smartwatch is silly. Yes, you can get more flexible apps on an LCD screen, but it just doesn’t look right to me, oh well. Let me know when someone makes a killer Smartwatch with good battery life and e-Ink display! Because that e-Ink makes it great to look at the time when it’s really bright outside, which is why it works well with Smartwatches! Too bad my Pebble Steel started to have problems with its buttons stop working…..It was a good watch.

 

I tried a lot to like my Paperwhite 2. It was great by all criterias used to judge an e-reader back when I bought it and well loved by many people. It just didn't work for me for some reason. Not until recently when I got a tablet did I realize why: the low 200 ppi density plus small 6' screen size means I can fit very little text and have to refresh too often for my liking, made worse by the lack of responsiveness of the touchscreen, sometimes requiring two taps or a hard tap and sometimes jumping twice in one light tap. The new 8' ones at 300ppi (about the same size as my tablet and only slightly smaller than standard books while boasting standard printed pixel/dot density) seem very appealing but I'm locked into Kindle already for the content and software infrastructure and the 8' ones cost 300 friggin bucks. I really need to go to some store that sells these things and try them out before making a purchase decision.

 

One good reason why the e-Ink Reader prices aren't too hot are these two things:

* Lower Production Volume compared to LCD Tablet devices
* Manufactures must purchase the e-Ink Screens directly from E-Ink (well they have a monopoly at this point, $$$)

The Kindle Oasis can be pretty pricey, but it's Amazon. They are barely making a profit on them and they are most likely selling them as a loss. That's why you can reduce the price if you get the 8 GB version (not 32 GB), and have Special Offers on. Helps subsidized the cost.

The two points above are why the Chi-Fi e-Readers still cost $$$ for a 10 inch model and higher.

 

I'm back since people were asking what to buy nowadays for a e-reader that isn't based on a LCD screen.

1. You do a lot of buying with Amazon, get the Kindle

Currently there's three models to get: Regular Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and the Kindle Oasis. Regular Kindle and Kindle Paperwrite are 6 inch screens while the ballin Kindle Oasis is the 7 inch screen. For 99% of users, the Kindle Oasis is too much if you just want to read. I recommend on the middle end get the Kindle Paperwhite since the current model is waterproof, can support up to 32 GB storage, and has 300 PPI (which is a must for fine text on the screen).

If you read a lot of manga (buying digital editions from Amazon/Comixology), prefer buttons for page turners (not pressing a screen), need warm front light, and most importantly need a 7 inch screen, get the Kindle Oasis. Reading manga on a six inch screen is just too small. While a 7 inch screen might still be smaller for manga, it does work quite well.

Regardless of your usage, the Kindle devices are not good if you are sideloading PDFs and other formats. It works best with Amazon purchases. If you like to use PDFs and other formats, Kindles are a waste of your time.

2. You need to read other formats and want more flexibility, consider an Android e-reader

Downside with Android e-readers is there's tons of them. Some with note taking features, others you just read stuff on it. However, downside is Android wasn't designed for e-ink screens, so when when getting these devices you will have app adjustment features to make an Android app to work on that e-ink screen (how many screens for screen refresh, A2 mode, etc.).

If you want a device with great writing software (which you are focused on the writing experience) and has great screens, consider the Boox e-readers. Downside with the Boox devices is there is no MicroSD card support with only 32/64 GB support. I know their newer devices are running up to Android 9 I believe. Some users love PDF devices on the Boox devices. Since Boox uses Android, you can download the Kindle app or any reading app you want. If you buy a lot of manga, the internal storage will max out quickly.

If you are manga guy who needs all the storage in the world, consider the devices from Boyue. If you want a big 10 inch screen with notetaking WACOM screen and MicroSD card support, get the Boyue Likebook Alita (which I have and it is great). Bouye did release a cheaper P10 device, but I would avoid it since it runs on a lower resolution and no MicroSD card slot.

While you can get the older Mars model if you want a 7.8 inch device, I recommend getting the newly released Likebook P78 from Bouyu. This is around $200+, just the right size for manga, and runs Android 8.1 (which all Boyue devices runnowadays). Unlike the P10, P78 does support MicroSD cards. However, P78 will not support notetaking.

On my device I have the WFH, Kindle App, Comixology App, and Tachiyomi (best Android app for reading manga). I can go outside in my porch to smoke my pipe and I can read the daily news from the WSJ, read my purchased manga in both Kindle and Comixology Apps (when reading manga on this app, download them in HD version so you can see how highly detailed the stuff is on your screen), and I can read the manga that I obtained in different sources on Tachiyomi. Everything is saved onto my MicroSD card within the P78 (256 GB) and it just works.

3. You want a similar size of a Kindle but don't need Android, consider a Kobo device

I never owed a Kobo device before. But they have devices in the same size as Kindle devices but you can run more formats on the Kobo devices without converting them to a Kindle approved format. Depending on the device, it could offer more features for a cheaper cost than a Kindle device.

Note: Color e-readers

Color e-readers are hitting the market now, using the second generation color e-ink devices. However, devices that can do both color and black e-ink have too many limitations. These devices can only show a certain amount of colors on the screen (I think 4096 colors), the colors are very washed out, and low PPI. The color e-ink tech IMO isn't there yet, and I think it would take a few generations before it becomes solid. Why this is important? For example, those who read color comics have to read them B/W on a e-reader device or use a LCD tablet that can hurt their eyes after a while. Getting color comics on an e-reader that looks good is what some people are hoping for.

 

Calibre solves a lot of issues with the Kindle and alternate formats. I have loaded pdf, word, and epub books to my Kindle Paperwhite with no issue so far.

https://calibre-ebook.com/

 

Calibre is one of the most useful computer programs I’ve ever used.

That being said, PDF on any ereader usually sucks in my experience. I usually read PDFs on an iPad or other tablet.

 

If you are OK with some significant software limitations that require a bit of fiddling with Linux, and don't require a screen light, I put my recommendation to the reMarkable 2 tablet. It's primarily a note taking device, and is my main notebook for work and personal projects. It's PDF support is very good, especially for reviewing and marking up technical reports and documents. I also use it to read B&W comics occasionally. It's built-in ebook support works, but is limited and kind of crappy. Good news is it runs Linux and you can get root access easily, and it's possible to install KOReader which is very good on e-ink displays.

I prefer it to my kindle because the screen is large and text looks very good; I personally think the 6 and 7 inch screens are too small to really feel book-like. I don't mind not having a backlight, and installing KOReader isn't too hard.

Probably wouldn't recommend it for someone who just wants a simple e-reader though. It requires a little familiarity with Linux and needs manual updates when the official software updates roll through to keep KOreader working.

 

Oh yeah @fraggler I forgot about Calibre. I rarely use mind since almost 98% of my reading on my Kindle is through the Kindle Store. These includes books, magazine subscriptions that I subscribe to, manga, and even library rentals through Overdrive.

Calibre is great is you have tons of stuff that isn't sourced from Amazon and you wanna load it inside your Kindle via PC. My only issue is PDF files are too slow on Kindle devices. Honestly, the 6 or 7 inch screens are too small for that.

@scblock I was too type to type of the Remarkable devices (since I made my post too quickly). That is another great device that is focused on note taking and has a good screen. Like you said, stock linux is limited since it is focused on notetaking first. KOReader is very solid for e-reading. For those who wanna read, like you said perhaps getting an Android e-reader device might be a better fit.

 

Glad you mentioned the reMarkable, as it just popped up as an ad in my Instagram feed (not sure why, I only have an Instagram to follow leather workers). Looks like my dream note taking/pdf mark up device. I have had a Surface and currently my 13" laptop that folds back on itself and has a pen, but even the Surface was pretty heavy and unwieldy. Not sure if a full tablet is really ideal either. I may seriously look into getting one once in-person business picks up again.

 

I'm using the "Chi-Fi" Ratta Supernote A5X, which I got over the reMarkable 2 because I hated the idea of constantly replacing stylus tips. Some Chi-Fi Android slowness n occasional bugs, but at least their software team seems to be constantly working on improvements

 

I've been using Kobo Auras for a while, mostly as a gesture to support a company that makes ebook readers that isn't Amazon. Waterproof so I can read in a bath or by a pool, comfortable orange light. The one thing they lack are discrete page turn buttons, which I find a significant ease of use improvement on a reader.

I use Calibre, have never worried about compatibility with other marketplaces. We also have a Kindle kicking around for the wife, also used with Calibre as I don't want it linking back to Amazon.

 

I picked up a Boox Note Air and have been using it for long enough to give some impressions.



Bottom line: I love it.

With computer hardware, there's basically a 3-category grading system you need to use, and I think it's important to be clear about which one I'm using here. The options:

Category 1: Luxury device. Apple hardware, kilobuck DACs, Focal Utpoias, etc.

Category 2: Mainstream hardware. ASUS motherboards, Samsung tablets, etc.

Category 3: Oddball device that the major manufacturers are never gonna touch with a 10-foot pole.

I think it's safe to locate Boox products -- and any e-ink reader that's not made by a company that's taking a cut of a major content revenue stream (or Sony) -- firmly in Category 3.

I wanted an e-ink display Android tablet with:

• Ability to run apps, including in my case: Pocket, Kindle, Obsidian, and a sync endpoint for Zotero + GDrive (for PDFs).
• A bigass display for tinyass PDF fonts (not my main use case, but an occasional one)
• Reasonable battery life.
• Sufficient build quality to avoid needing to feel like I need to baby it.

The Boox Note Air delivers on the above for me. By Category 3 standards, it's frikkin awesome.

It is not light enough to be comfortably used 1-handed. I'm not sure any 10" tablet device could be. I hate the way so many manufacturers have fetishized thinness because it can create this uncanny valley of (dis)comfort, where you've got this heavy thin device digging into hands and cramping muscles, and I wonder if heavy and not-so-thin would work better and feel less delicate. Boox seems to have gone as thin as possible with the Note Air. It does not feel mega-fragile, but I also wasted no time buying a case for it because it feels delicate enough to get damaged when carried in a bag. Thoughts on the case coming up in a bit.

In terms of shape, I think Boox has made an OK tradeoff here, but not ideal either, but if you give up on any aspirations of using it 1-handed and add the support of your lap, leg, or a second hand, it's fine for long reading/usage sessions.

The body of the Note Air is aluminum. I get that alum contributes to a premium feel (helping justify the $500-ish price tag which is probably more due to e-ink display prices and low manufacture volume than the case materials' contribution to the BOM, but still...), but my hand wants something less slippery to hold onto and I wonder if plastic would have been a more functional choice.

That's why I added medical tape to the left "shoulder" of the device.



The tape is not as grippy as tennis racket grip tape would be, and it's not as harsh as skateboard grip tape either. It helps, though I want something closer to racket grip tape without being gross and overly tacky. More experimentation is needed, but for now the medical tape is helpful.

I got the latest manufacturer case from goodereader.com. The whole buying experience felt quite sketch, and their communication was... minimalistic... but the case got to me quite fast via DHL, so all the other places where the case was out of stock can suck it.

If you expect a Category 1 product when you buy the case (or the Note Air itself) you're gonna have a list of nitpicks (the case is a bit floppy as you fold it backwards, the magnets are nicer if you leave the factory clear film on them than if you remove it, etc, etc). But if you are enlightened and realistic, and you just want some protection for the device and you want that protection to feel vaguely like a linen-wrapped hardcover book (helping alleviate the thinness and slipperyness of the naked device), then you like me will probably dig the case.



In terms of performance as an actual e-reader, I'm satisfied. Every device like this is a basket of tradeoffs, and I think Boox has made reasonable tradeoffs. Here's my take on the common complaints...

Not the latest version of Android: Your "smart" washer is probably a bigger security risk, and if you still have complaints after actually using the Note Air, then you haven't actually seen how bad ChiTech stuff can get.

Don't like the default apps: Try using iPadOS for a while. You will arrive at the inevitable conclusion that Apple put its A Team engineers on the hardware and the iPadOS is the product of a weekend hackathon by their interns, and then you'll realize that the Boox apps aren't that bad by global standards. And then, hopefully, you'll enable the Google Play store and get apps that make you happier.

Modest amounts of joking aside, the Boox software is a reasonable tradeoff. The built-in PDF reader is actually VERY good, especially with its thoughtful and helpful text re-flowing features and annotation features which, annoyingly, can't be used at the same time, but oh well. The DriveSync app has worked great to drop PDFs sent from Zotero via GDrive straight into the Boox library folder, causing those PDFs to show up in the Boox document library (after a plenty-fast library refresh) and then they're available to the built-in PDF reader app. And then DriveSync returns annotated PDFs to Zotero which can then extract the annotations.

The speed/responsiveness of every Google Play app I've tried outstrips the e-ink screen's refresh rate, so even though the e-ink refresh rate makes things feel slow compared to a non e-ink tablet, again, the overall tradeoff makes sense. Obsidian, for example, syncs my vault way faster than a $100 Lenovo Android tablet I have lying around, and I think that's due a superior processor on the Boox Note Air.

I use Obsidian on the Note Air to facilitate the occasional "oh, hey, let me snag this link or jot down this quick idea" situation. Even though you can use featureful & heavy apps like Obsidian and an external keyboard, the Note Air is not a good general-purpose tablet, but if you get into this game expecting that, it's your fault for having unrealistic expectations.

I do pine for physical page-turn buttons, and I saw that Boox is releasing a smaller tablet with a case that offers physical buttons, and I think that would rock for the Note Air, but the pining isn't enough to cause regret. The edge-of-screen-tap-area in the Kindle reader app is small enough that I frequently accidentally tap the center-of-screen tap target instead and instead of advancing to the next page I activate overview mode. That's an example of where I pine for better UI affordances on the Note Air.

But, again, this thing rocks when I accept the Category 3 constraints.

Highly recommended if you can also accept those constraints.

 

I have the Amazon Voyage, which was the first (and most) over-priced Kindle. But I dig it. I have used Calibre to convert books from other formats to mobo on a pc, but the results were mixed. Most of my reading is purchased from Amazon anyway, and the software is very good. Expensive though, although I expect that is why it is now oop. When it dies, I will get another eReader. E-ink is the shit.

 

I've been eyeing the new 2021 Paperwhite. They're really closing the feature gap between the mid tier and high end Amazon e-readers at this point.

 

I can't believe @philipmorgan you got your Boox from goodereader.com. The horror stories from them and their "articles" are so misinfo that I have to jerk off to it.

But I'm really glad you like the Boox. For those who aren't crazy for storage space will like the software on the Boox products a lot more than something from the Boyue camp. I just wish Boox products have MicroSD card slots, then I'll be in heaven.

 

@YMO sorry to ruin your orgasm man, but I got just the case from goodereader.com -- got the device from Amazon. I shoulda got the device + case bundle, but I wasn't sure I'd love it so I waited on the case and then like everywhere was out of stock so i got desperate and ordered the case from goodereader.

Yeah, it's near criminal they didn't add a mSD slot. @zerodeefex would know better than me, but that's, what, another 30cents added to the BOM?

 

I've been looking at e-ink from a diy and writing perspective a bit more. For embedded devices that don't need to update often, like your current song playing, they are great when you have strict power requirements. While full RGB e-paper isn't really available, I have seen displays using colors as an accent.

https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inky-what?variant=13590497624147

At the local supermarkets here all prices are now displayed with label-sized e-ink displays that can display red.

If you are a serious writer then you might want to eliminate all the distractions you can. George R Martin uses a DOS computer for all his writing and Jonathan Franzen has resorted to super gluing RJ-45 ports in his ethernet sockets to keep the internet completely off. I think it's also why someone like Stephen King chooses to live in rural Maine. For those types you would prefer a single purpose machine for writing. Well Freewrite has made a modern version of the typewriter.

https://getfreewrite.com/collections/all/products/freewrite-smart-typewriter

It uses an e-ink display and has a keyboard with cherry switches. It does have wifi but that's only for cloud storage for whatever you write. They also have a smaller one with low-profile keys that closes like a laptop called the Traveler.

edit:

Just saw this 7 color display

https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inky-impression

 

I'm not going to lie, but that e-Ink Keyboard with the Cherry Switches is pure sex @Cspirou. Too bad I'm not a writer. I previously gotten my GF a simple typewriter, but she never uses it.