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Comment by davedx | Hacker News Reader

I read a lot.

I used to have a Kindle. Eventually it broke. Kobos seem even less reliable, my wife has been through 4-5 of them so far.

After my Kindle broke I switched "temporarily" to using the Kobo app on my iPhone to read. Although the form factor isn't ideal for reading, it's just so convenient that I never bothered buying another eReader. It also has all the advantages of a modern smartphone: touches to turn the page are instantaneous; controlling brightness is familiar and easy; I can copy and paste text into Safari to search anything I'm interested in. About the only environment where an eReader wins is bright sun, and well, I live in Northern Europe.

So yeah, I think I would say, although they're a nice idea - eReaders just aren't strong enough in their own niche to beat out smartphones for a lot of people, which means that niche stays pretty small and prices stay quite high?

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For me, a dedicated e-reader (Kindle in my case) has two or three benefits...

1. The screen is easier on my eyes. Especially at bedtime, when I do the majority of my reading.

2. The form factor - larger than a phone, smaller and lighter than a regular tablet. I find it much easier to use lying down (vs my iPad).

3. Cost - WAY less expensive than a good tablet. I can take the Kindle on a backpacking trip and not worry about breaking it. A hammock and an e-reader are my "luxury" items on these trips.

The main advantage for me of a dedicated e-reader is that I don't get distracted and do something else, which happens to me constantly when I try to read on my phone.

Put it in airplane mode?

Oh, sweet child.

Airplane mode can be disabled as quickly as it was enabled. As can Raycast's 'focus mode', which is why I'm typing this (on my laptop) and not reading my book, and why a thread about cheap e-readers immediately caught my attention.

For me it’s kobo all the way. The ereaders are open by default (no need to jailbreak them because they don’t block from doing whatever you want with it), and are easier to repair (or upgrade, need more storage just put a larger SD card inside). Plus it’s not making bezos richer. Not to mention the terrible text layout engine on the kindle, i can put a ruler to the right edge of the text on my kobo.

And with koreader I can set it up exactly the way I like (invert Colors at sunset, customize gestures and taps, copy paste text on my phone via a qr code…) it’s very easy to install it on a kobo.

One of the most popular eReaders with the BookTok crowd is the Boox Palma, which is an eReader with the form factor of a phone.

It’s actually just an Android phone with an eInk screen, so you can run any android app on it. It’s just that eInk is terrible at everything but displaying static content so it’s not good for much besides being an eReader. Though you can also pull up a PDF reader or read emails if you really want to.

There have been several takes on "Android phone with eInk screen" to date, e.g. https://minimalcompany.com or Kingrow K1. They are fine for reading but for some reason the form factor doesn't stick; or at least I haven't seen any model like that remain in business for long.

Yeah all these “save your time and attention from your smartphone” value propositions run into the problem of just being shitty phones that end up being quite expensive. This goes for eInk phones as well as things like the Light Phone or that Humane Pin.

The fact is people actually just like their phones, and the main problem with them getting zombiefied staring at them comes from specific attention sucking brainrot apps. Aspects of hardware design can be a nudge factor but it’s not the main driver. The problem is TikTok, Instagram, et al and nobody wants to have a shitty phone experience when they could just block those apps. Compromising functionality runs into the problem where you get too much bycatch as most of the addicting functionality overlaps with stuff people want. I may not want apps or a screen but I want maps, and once you have maps and navigation you probably need a screen. Maybe I want to avoid video because I want to avoid TikTok but then I am searching for a How To guide and that ends up linking you to YouTube. I don’t want WhatsApp but I want to receive text messages, but once I’m in a group chat how different is that from WhatsApp?

I recently had this issue with notifications. I turn off notifications on everything except phone calls and messages. But I was trying to marketplace some items and it turned out I just couldn’t communicate with people without live messaging them on LetGo or the BuyNothing app or Facebook marketplace. But once I turned on notifications to get those messages suddenly they’re constantly spamming me with push notifications and emails trying to bait my engagement. The hardware is not the problem.

4/5 kobos? What did happen to them? I suspect the screen broke after a fall. Happened to the one of my sister. In that case try to use an harder cover because 4/5 are a lot

Yeah, some were dropped, but not from great heights or anything - normal wear and tear that a regular smartphone would easily survive. She does have covers for them. I think one even had like a 1' fall onto carpeted stairs and then wouldn't turn on anymore.

I think her latest one has lasted a lot longer though, so maybe they've steadily become more sturdy...

I read a lot, and just use FBReader on my phone. I like e-ink displays, but I read a lot more with my phone since it's always in my pocket. I imagine if I read on the kindle app, I could switch back and forth between a phone and ereader, but reading bootleg epub files doesn't give you the best options for synching between devices.

I have a kobo. The firmware is absolutely terrible. Somehow it's gotten itself to a state where it doesn't detect books that are added to the device, even after fully reseting the hardware

Give koreader a try, I regret not switching sooner

For whatever it's worth, I've had a Kobo aura one for about 6-7 years and it still works beautifully

I’ve had an Aura One for about the same amount of time, and yeah, it’s been no trouble at all. Love that it functions like a USB thumb drive and can take plain old ePubs without having to mess around with Calibre (which is powerful, don’t get me wrong, but that UI/UX… yeesh).

It's not more convenient to read on a phone. You have made it a habit and then made yourself believe that your habits are rational. Not only for you, but for the rest of the world.

E-Readers are absolutely better for reading than phones, that's why there's a big market for them.

It's wildly more convenient to read on a phone. I prefer the screen, form factor, and overall UX of an e-reader for extended reading sessions, but I haven't turned mine on in years because the phone is just sooooo much more convenient. Most e-readers don't fit in a pocket, and even if they do it's annoying to have to guess when I'll need it and carry the 2nd device. Whenever I have downtime....airport, doctors office, curbisde pickup, wife isn't ready to check out yet, lunch takes 5 minutes in the microwave....that phone/kindle for iOS is always ready to go. I probably do half my reading in 5-15 minute increments of formerly dead time. For a while I even tried switching to the e-reader whenever I sat down to read "for real", but even the relatively painless syncing process wasn't worth the minor UX benefits of the ereader. The phone is my least favorite way to read, but convenience is the one category where it absolutely mops the floor with e-readers(and paper for that matter).

You're not saying it's more convenient to read on a phone. You're saying that it's more convenient to bring your phone.

Sure, but we can all choose our habits. If I'm stuck waiting at a doctor's office, I will read on my phone like everybody else. But in all other situations, when you actively want to read, an e-reader is better.

I'm saying that it's more convenient for me to read on the phone in all situations I can imagine. Even at home....I just sat down, kicked up the recliner, and decided to read a noeel rather than the cookbook on the end table or putting something on TV. The phone is in my pocket and the e-reader is in another room, maybe in need of a charge, maybe in need of a sync. Maybe I should have thought about that before I sat down but I didn't. Sure I could choose to change my habits, but changing habits is difficult and inconvenient. And even once I've succeeded, the new habit takes more time and effort which is inconvenient. That inconvenience is modest and may be totally worth it for the (to your mind significant) benefits of an e-reader. But it is still an inconvenience. First world problems to be sure, but I will not expend 5% more effort for a 2% increase(my number, yours is a lot higher) in reading device quality, and I'm hardly alone in that decision.

It really depends on how you're reading. I find that smartphones are actually more convenient to use for reading lying down in bed, and the screen works better at night too because with modern OLED ones you can use black background with very dim amber text for very comfortable low-light and no-light reading. OTOH eInk is the best option for outdoors reading for sure, and the multi-week battery life is very nice when travelling.

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