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Comment by laweijfmvo | Hacker News Reader

After using the cheapest e-Reader for over a decade (Kindle 2 until support ended, Kindle 3 until the same) I finally upgraded to the top Oasis and love it. Things that are absolutely essential IMO are

- physical page turn buttons. the touch screens are finicky, inconvenient for one-hand use, and impossible if i want to keep my hand up a blanket or something

- back/front light, with adjustable color temp, and an actual dim setting that doesn't blow your retinas out

everything i don't care about. but these are must haves.

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The Oasis is a great device with one fatal flaw: battery life. For some reason they nerfed the battery relative to the paperwhite so it lasts about a week instead of about a month. Probably won't bother a lot of people but it really bothered me. I read a lot and hate having to think about recharging.

I ended up with the Kobo Libra 2, which has all the same features as the Oasis but also has a month-long battery. I love it overall, great little device. Includes some quality of life features beyond the Oasis, including auto color tone shifting of the front-light in the evening (cool to warm), being able to adjust the light by swiping up the left side of the screen, and more options for progress indicators / headers and footers than the kindle has.

Kobo changes their lineup constantly, which means the Libra 2 has been replaced with a more expensive color version I haven't tried. Color on an e-ink screen is not an interesting feature to me, esp. not when it makes the device more expensive.

My suspicion is that the reason the battery is so abysmal is because you cannot turn off the backlight entirely. Indefencible design decision that just eats your battery. (older readers were better because they basically only used power to change the current page - now we made them so featureful they lost many of the advantages older models had)

On mine you definitely can make it so that there is no discernable backlight even in pitch darkness. Whether somehow it's still consuming energy I don't know. However I agree that generally the Oasis battery life leaves something to be desired.

I haven't kept up with ereader stuff for many years since I worked on battery life models for kindles, but I will say that keeping your e-reader in airplane mode will increase the battery life significantly.

The reason is that WiFi has a DTIM which basically means that requires periodic wakeups to keep associated with the AP. This burns power.

I always keep the radios off, yes.

Even with the radios off, the Oasis struggles to get more than a week of life, it's kind of astounding how bad it is.

I found that airplane mode solved my oasis battery issues!

> Color on an e-ink screen is not an interesting feature to me, esp. not when it makes the device more expensive.

I have both the Libra 2 and Libra Colour, the issue isn't so much cost (in my opinion) as contrast. They should have introduced an upgraded Libra BW at the same time as the Libra Colour to account for that.

> For some reason they nerfed the battery relative to the paperwhite so it lasts about a week instead of about a month.

I have a reMarkable 2. The battery lasts forever - if I manually turn it off when I'm done using it. If I don't do that, it will go into an inactive mode, with a bar informing me that it's shut off displayed over whatever was on screen when it went inactive - but in this mode, the battery still drains very quickly.

I can't understand why this should be the case. I know the device has recognized that I'm not using it, because it displays a message telling me so. Why is it remaining on, while pretending to be off, instead of shutting off?

This is the difference between walking away from the device for over a month and having it be mostly charged when I come back to it, or doing the same thing and having it be completely drained and require a lengthy charging period before I can use it at all.

On an E-ink screen, displaying static content uses literally zero electricity. Only updating what's on screen requires power. So, from your post, it's not immediately obvious to me why this inactive mode would cause battery drainage.

In this inactive mode, is anything on screen moving/changing? If not, have you actually noticed battery drainage, or were you making an assumption based on the fact the screen was "on".

No, nothing's changing on the screen.

>> This is the difference between walking away from the device for over a month and having it be mostly charged when I come back to it, or doing the same thing and having it be completely drained and require a lengthy charging period before I can use it at all.

There is a very noticeable difference in battery drain.

I recently got the colour one, installed koreader on it and there’s even a little button in the settings which drops you to a Linux shell on it.

Why would you want a shell on your e-reader? I don’t know, but it makes me smile ;) I can rsync books to it…

Will it run native Linux apps? My favorite tool for reading PDFs is Logseq, because I can use colors and it automatically pulls my highlights and notes into a page for the book, but this feature doesn't work on Android.

I've yet to find an eInk (or similar) Linux tablet where I can do this, but it would be a game changer for me.

Nah no way, there's no X or anything, the ui seems to be a load of lua.

Just put it in airplane mode, the battery lasts way longer. The way I read (with calibre to transfer books), means I rarely ever need the internet on the device.

Colour is probably for the comic crowd. They probably love it.

The physical page turn buttons are why I got an Oasis also. I find the experience much better than having to touch the screen to turn the page. With the physical buttons, it's easy enough to move the page forward or backward while holding the device with one hand, while requiring very little hand shifting, which I appreciate.

How is the weight for the Oasis in one hand?

Very reasonable and comfortable.

It's tapered on one side so when held it is really easy to use one handed. I had a magnetic case on mine for when I put it in a bag that could be taken off/put back on easily too so you could still hold it.

Annoyingly, the original Kindle had physical buttons, then they removed it in later versions, and I often find myself turning the page accidentally.

i need to replace the battery in my kindle keyboard ("3rd generation") so I can use it again, or surrender and order a replacement. I'm using a kobo right now but I don't like it.

I was looking at the oasis but its expensive, and still uses microusb

I had the first model of kindle without a keyboard prior to getting an oasis. When it broke, the oasis was really the only choice to replace it due to them removing the physical buttons on all the other models.

I had a Kindle with a full keyboard!

That thing was a beast. I used it for a few years, then handed it down to my dad’s new wife - she was a big reader, and used it for almost a decade until it gave up the ghost.

kindleDX. still struggling with it and the original battery. I think the only feature it is missing (besides non-stupid amazon software) is any sort of backlight.

I just got a Kobo Clara Color over their cheaper models largely for the page turn buttons (and being able to highlight in multiple colors of course). Combined with how shockingly light it is (lighter than my phone), one handed reading is excellent.

I love my Clara Color so much. It's light, fast, and it has buttons. And it's just about exactly the right size.

My one complaint so far is that the battery seems to need a charge every few days. Definitely less than a week, I think. I can live with that.

That's good to know, that's a total deal breaker for me.

I have the Libra 2 and I get about a month from a charge with my normal reading habits.

Looks like the Clara Color doesn't have physical buttons?

https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders/products/kobo-...

Kobo changes their lineup constantly though, the Libra 2 I have (with physical buttons) is no longer available.

Oops, I definitely meant Libra. I need to stop looking at other words when I’m typing lol.

That's because they have the Libra Colour now: https://us.kobobooks.com/products/kobo-libra-colour

I'm surprised people value physical page turn buttons so much.

I've had a kobo Clara HD for years now, running KOReader (one of my most loved pieces of software).

I can turn the page one handed by just curling a finger around from behind and tapping the screen, or by touching the reader to my nose :)

I tend to read a lot in a situation where I can only use one hand!

I'm the opposite, I don't understand the steady march towards fewer buttons. I miss my iPod wheel that I could operate without looking. My screen would be covered in sunblock, sweat and oils if I used my nose to swipe.

> I could operate without looking

Possibly not a common use case for e-readers.

You're basically right, but some e-readers have support for audiobooks and music. Physical buttons would be a benefit for those uses.

>, I don't understand the steady march towards fewer buttons

cost cutting by the manufacturers, probably.

seen the trend even in laptops over the last decade or two - the parts are getting thinner and lighter.

Having real buttons means never needing to have my hand obscure the screen. And not touching the screen means not having to clean it as often either.

My partner makes fun of me for always turning the page with my nose and it makes me very happy to hear I’m not alone.

I use the physical buttons if I’m reading on a plane or otherwise sitting down, but I much prefer holding the kindle from the back if I’m reading lying down. I assumed that must be rare given how little attention any of the e-reader form factors have given to it.

The way I hold my Kobo lets my thumb rest exactly on the forward page button. No need to move anything. And if I want the previous page, it's easy to jut move my thumbs up a bit. That's my two most used action. Anytime I used the touch screen is mostly related to switching books.

I also have a DAP [1] which has a wheel. After launching an album to play, I can pause-play, skip forward and change the volume by using the wheel. All of these can be done while the device is in my pocket. Same with my old feature phones.

Buttons are nice.

[1]: https://en.shanling.com/product/222

Even on the paper white it is finicky and you never know if a touch has registered because there is a delay. I can easily lose my place. Also, I used to highlight words to get a definition but half the time I now accidentally change page instead so I have stopped doing that.

I also bought it for the physical buttons. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there’s anyway to entirely disable the touch screen while reading (or at least I haven’t figured it out).

My only complaint is that it isn’t USB-C. As soon as that comes out, I’ll trade this one in.

I just looked on Amazon and the Oasis is out of stock. I wonder if that means a refresh is imminent?

Edit: I googled it and it seems the reverse might be true - the Oasis is out of the lineup and no replacement is coming. That sucks.

https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/goodbye-to-the-amazon-ki...

I got one of those cheap Bluetooth "camera lens" clicker buttons that pairs with my Boox, an Android tablet.

Works great to turn my pages in KOreader from as far away as I can see the device.

Since so many tablets are being made with some flavor of Android under the hood, this might open up more options for you and anybody else who wants physical buttons! This way I can even stand the device up against something and put my hands wherever I want!

I have the Libra 2. I cannot understate how much of a difference physical page buttons made for me. My SO has the Clara 2HD (or something) and I couldn't get into it... turns out I need that chin for easy holding and button for flipping the page. The light settings are great- comes on when it's actually dark and goes away when there's plenty of light.

Agree that the Oasis is awesome and worth the money. It’s also water resistant, so I can use it in the sauna/steamroom (my favorite place to read without distractions nowadays!)

I don't know about the necessity of physical page turn buttons. I've had a paperwhite and now a scribe and the touch is fine. An advantage of touch is that it supports sideways orientation, which I use on the paperwhite to increase the page width.

If you haven't had a kindle with buttons you have no basis of comparison. They're lovely.

I used to have one of the older ones with buttons. now I have a recent Paperwhite and don't really miss them. I just tap on the screen edge and it works fine. I can understand the appeal of buttons and am glad that you have a reader with them but it's not something that motivates me.

I’m sure the buttons are of the finest sort.

That doesn’t invalidate a subjective eval that touch is fine for this context and an objective conjecture that physical buttons would lose orientation if orientation were changed 90°.

I don't see why you think physical buttons would lose orientation. My kindle had forward and back buttons on both sides that worked fine in either orientation, and on devices that only have one button per side the one on the bottom is next and the one on top is previous.

I now understand your point about the physical button orientation remaining the same but the human-computer model shifting from a book-like right-left pagination to a computer-like scroll pagination. That is interesting to consider. Thank you.

I believe the default touch zones on new ereaders are in fact still shaped like interlocking L's, with the right side and most of the bottom counting as Next and the left side and most of the top counting as Previous.

The oasis has a touchscreen, but touch turning can also be disabled to prevent accidental page turns. The oasis page turn buttons also rotate depending on the orientation, whether that be right side up, upside down or horizontal, which allows the page turn buttons to be operated one-handed with either the right or left hand.

I went from an Oasis to the Scribe and I do not regret it but I accidentally turn the pages a lot more without buttons which is slightly annoying.

I got a Boox Go that just came a few days ago and I really like the physical page turn buttons. It's my first e-Reader, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I can imagine relying on the touch screen to be annoying.

Did they really end support for the older Kindles? I haven't used mine in a while, but I thought they could still sync and get books over wifi.

No lights on the Kindle Keyboard though, and the 3g modems won't work anymore for obvious reasons.

I have an oooold Kindle keyboard model. As you said, cellular doesn't work, but it syncs fine over wifi. Seems to be holding a charge for less time, tho, so maybe it does have an 'end date'.

It's very easy to replace the battery with a new one. The whole back cover pops off.

I have an 11-year old Kindle and while it can’t access the store any more, it can still sync over wifi if I purchase books on the web.

Why would I want to carry around another device.

An e-reader will reinvigorate your reading habit, and give you something to do any time you have a spare few seconds or minutes. I carry an e-reader everywhere (I have big pockets) and have never regretted it.

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