Which one should I get now?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Elaxon

For example this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZqBes016yY at 3 minutes in Kindle seem to have better contrast. Is it possible to get that text and font in kobo h20? If so could you screenshot how it looks like? Would be appreciated.

The H2O has an advanced font control which allows you to increase/decrease the weight of fonts. So you can have an even darker font on the H2O then you can on the Kindle.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Elaxon

I have ordered the H20 with the sleep cover and will be using 32GB memory card with that.

But does the factory reset the H20 if you manage to not make it start?
I am not happy with kindles but I like the amazon customer service which allows you to return.

You do a reset and if you cannot get the H2O to go, you contact Kobo and get it replaced under warranty.

I've not had any need to reset my H2O.

[khalleron]

My H2O has a slightly yellowish screen, but I set the frontlight at 8% and that makes the screen look perfectly white (my coworkers ooh and ah over it). It's by far the nicest screen any of us have seen, and I've had several eink readers.

The Kindles are perfecly nice machines, and Amazon's CS is topnotch, and if it weren't for the closed ecosystem (which, yes, I am acquainted with Apprentice Alf, I just don't want to give my money to companies who do that) I'd probably have owned several Kindles by now, but I'm immensely happy with my H2O.

[JSWolf]

if it weren't for the fixed settings, I might be using a Kindle.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by khalleron

The Kindles are perfecly nice machines, and Amazon's CS is topnotch, and if it weren't for the closed ecosystem (which, yes, I am acquainted with Apprentice Alf, I just don't want to give my money to companies who do that) I'd probably have owned several Kindles by now, but I'm immensely happy with my H2O.

Last I checked, Kobo has a closed ecosystem...

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

if it weren't for the fixed settings, I might be using a Kindle.

So far anyhow, I'm kind of finding out that all the settings in the Kobo Glo results in constantly tweaking and not reading. Though I think I'm slowly but surely zeroing on comfortable reading settings. I've made a couple tweaks to my Kindles -- a narrower margin for the K4NT and an added font for the Touch, and those tweaks (neither of which required rooting) have made a big difference in satisfaction. At this point I hardly ever tweak the Kindles -- or the Nooks (or even the Sony). I just read.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Last I checked, Kobo has a closed ecosystem...

Nope. Never has.

Epubs from other vendors can be read on a Kobo without conversion. Epubs from Kobo can be read on other readers without conversion.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Last I checked, Kobo has a closed ecosystem...

Sorry, but that's very much incorrect. You can buy DRMed ePub from other vendors such as Google Play. You cannot do that with a Kindle. Amazon is the only vendor to sell eBooks with DRM that work with a Kindle.

Plus, if you live outside the USA, a Kindle is not a good choice if you have access to Overdrive.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Nope. Never has.

Epubs from other vendors can be read on a Kobo without conversion. Epubs from Kobo can be read on other readers without conversion.

Well, not all ePub from Kobo are readable in other on other Readers without working on them. Any publisher that is now creating ePub 3 (such as Tor) will only be available as a kepub. Tor is the only company that is DRM free and using ePub 3 so you can take a Tor eBook from Kobo and using Modify ePub, you can turn it back into an ePub eBook.

But at least Kobo is now telling you if the eBook can be downloaded or not. So you'll know if you;ll get ePub or kepub.

[MickeyC]

Does the H2O show how many pages are left in a chapter as well as how many pages left in the book? My iPad does that for Amazon and iBooks and it is a feature I would like to get when my current Sony T1 dies which is probably not that far away.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Nope. Never has.

Epubs from other vendors can be read on a Kobo without conversion. Epubs from Kobo can be read on other readers without conversion.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sorry, but that's very much incorrect. You can buy DRMed ePub from other vendors such as Google Play. You cannot do that with a Kindle. Amazon is the only vendor to sell eBooks with DRM that work with a Kindle.

Oh, well so long as you are defining "closed ecosystem" according to whichever arbitrary subset of the market you like...

So, show me how to put a Kobo EPUB on a reader that doesn't support ADE-style DRM. Pick any Kindle, naturally, or pick any of the multitudes of ereader apps, as in, the ones people with a choice actually read on...

Kobo (the store) is every bit as much of a closed ecosystem as Amazon is. Granted, the space inside the closed ecosystem is roomier... if you count E-ink ereaders exclusively. On the tablet apps side, both the Amazon and Kobo closed ecosystems are majorly cramped. But at least you can read their books on any tablet, if not any app on the tablet.

Perhaps my not-so-subtle point has escaped you... so here goes:

DRM of any kind directly equates to and defines a closed ecosystem.

If that book cannot be read on any device or software I choose, bar none (assuming the device/software doesn't have DRM on its end to stop me) then that is a closed ecosystem on the content end.
Kobo and Kindle and Nook and Google Play and iBooks and every other ebook vendor that can and does put DRM on at least some of its books is by definition a closed ecosystem.
Amazon and Kobo and iBooks (and recently Nook) specifically, are more closed than other closed ecosystems, as they all sell books that cannot be read on anything other than an in-house device/app. Amazon and iBooks (and recently Nook) exclusively use exclusive DRM (assuming the book has DRM), and Kobo sells some books which are exclusively KEPUB, an in-house DRM.

If that device cannot be used to read whatever book in whatever format I want, bar none (assuming the book in question is not locked by DRM of its own) then that is a closed ecosystem on the hardware end.
Kobo and Kindle and Google Play (the app) and iBooks (the app) and Sony and every other ereader vendor that does not restrict the device to reading ebooks in proprietary and in-house-only formats, and does not lock down the device to prevent you from adding your own content regardless of the format used internally, is by definition an open ecosystem.
Nook is arguably a (partially?) closed ecosystem with their partitioned userstore on newer devices.


But, by all means, call Kobo an open ecosystem if the lie makes you any happier. To be honest, I am not sure why it does, since you both seem fairly comfortable buying from other vendors, in which case the inconvenience of using Alf is matched by the inconvenience of using ADE... so "open" becomes meaningless. Unless you speak of the device, in which case they are both open.
I suppose it must be because it gives you the opportunity to hate on Amazon, which seems obscurely to be very popular. Your actions do fit all the characteristics of an Amazon-basher (not the first time for either of you). You hate one company for doing something, while ignoring that every other company does exactly the same thing... and then praise the other companies for NOT doing "it".

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Plus, if you live outside the USA, a Kindle is not a good choice if you have access to Overdrive.

That is a separate, justified, and completely irrelevant argument. Really, what on earth were you thinking?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well, not all ePub from Kobo are readable in other on other Readers without working on them. Any publisher that is now creating ePub 3 (such as Tor) will only be available as a kepub. Tor is the only company that is DRM free and using ePub 3 so you can take a Tor eBook from Kobo and using Modify ePub, you can turn it back into an ePub eBook.

But at least Kobo is now telling you if the eBook can be downloaded or not. So you'll know if you;ll get ePub or kepub.

Does this mean you actually agree with me?

Although I would go one step further, but I have already done so, see above.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Does the H2O show how many pages are left in a chapter as well as how many pages left in the book? My iPad does that for Amazon and iBooks and it is a feature I would like to get when my current Sony T1 dies which is probably not that far away.

Even the Kindle (at least the E-ink ones?) won't show page-in-chapter, although firmwares more recent than the ones available for my KT (the PW1 and on support this) allow you to put the pages-in-book into the left corner instead of restricting it to the menu overlay (when you tap on the top of the screen).

Can you confirm that the Kindle app for iOS shows "page # of # in chapter" (or something to that effect)? It seems a rather odd thing to calculate, and according to the online help the Android app cannot do that either. But the help page for the iOS app is silent on the issue.


Personally I find Time Left to Read much more useful than page numbers, and that works for chapter and for the whole book.




EDIT: Here is a thread discussing the issue: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170912

Seems the Kobo supports page turns* left in book/chapter.
That would of necessity require recalculating the size every time you change the font size. User, meet lag. Lag, meet user.

I still prefer Time Left to Read.



* -- I believe this is fairly standard for pagenumbering, aside from the Kindle which only ever uses Real Page Numbers. Page numbers are a relic of pbooks, and the only context IMHO it is useful is when comparing to a pbook. That makes it extra-extra far-far-worse than useless when it makes a random guess and lies about it being the "page number". So put me down for an extra vote of Time Left to Read.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

DRM of any kind directly equates to and defines a closed ecosystem.

I must respectfully disagree. The DRM applied by the "Pottermore" site (watermarking) doesn't "equate to and define a closed ecosystem", does it? "DRM" is not a synonym for "encryption"; encryption is merely one of many, many different methods whereby digital rights can be managed, and it's certainly not true for many of these methods to say that they equate to a close ecosystem.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Personally I find Time Left to Read much more useful than page numbers, and that works for chapter and for the whole book.

It depends, of course, what you want to use them for.

Time left to read, or even a simply percentage figure, are both good ways of tracking your progress through a book (and, like you, I find "time remaining" to be very useful).

Where page numbers are essential, though, is for referencing: telling another person at which specific point in a book something can be found. For that, you really do need page numbers.