Search for the “Perfect” e-reader.
I’ve talked about getting into reading recently.
I’ve never been a fan of physical books. I hate how finicky the pages are. They always seem to flail about, and if you let go of the page you’re on, the book’s pages close as an act of rebellion. This of course isn’t an issue for physically large books, but I’m not reading many of those these days.
The main thing that made it feel accessible to actually read was getting the right e-reader.
The Bigme Highbreak Pro
My first reader was the Hibreak Pro. The original dream was to pull back from all the crap that the companies of the modern world try to dump on you. The endless notifications and the demand for your constant attention from people, apps, appointments, and spam are all so exhausting. So I was easily sold when I saw this device enter the market.
This device is trash.
Having an e-ink phone feels like a dream come true, but the software is horribly broken and extremely questionable when it comes to privacy concerns. The phone freezes a ton, randomly restarts, and fights you at every turn.
But the absolute worst thing—which went on for months—was the broken lock screen. When you pressed the power button on a search you made, a social media post, or a personal note, the screen would "turn off." But "turning off" on an e-reader means whatever was last on the screen stays there until you unlock it again.
What an absolute disgrace. I’m still really disappointed by the software. Highly recommend just sitting this one out.
The Kindle Paperwhite
The Kindle Paperwhite is a good piece of hardware. I would even say it is the best-built hardware for this kind of device. It's not feature-rich, but it feels premium through and through.
The software is functionally good, but the UX is terrible. Performing even the most basic task is deeply annoying. Just changing the brightness requires 5 taps.
How people tolerate this is insane to me. I guess the problem is that the software is just "good enough." It does everything "okay" and provides access to the Kindle library, but honestly, it’s not worth it.
Kobo Libra Colour
I freaking loved this device. For example, if I wanted to change the brightness here, I can slide my finger up or down on the page and it adjusts the percentage as I move my finger. Not a single button tap required. The added dedicated buttons and the entire OS not trying to sell me something made this an easy choice.
The OS is also easily modifiable. When plugging it into a computer, it shows you the entire configuration tree, so making changes and modifications is entirely possible.
There was one deal-breaker I found on this device though.
Something they don’t tell you about color devices is that the screen is so much dimmer than black-and-white variants. There is an additional filter over the screen required to make those pretty colors. All of that beautiful paper-like contrast that you come to know and love from e-ink devices is gone if the front light is off.
Unfortunately, my hands have issues, and the additional buttons caused grip issues that ultimately made me give it up.
The final destination—The Kobo Clara BW
Eventually, I realized that I needed a small and portable e-reader. I knew that I hated Amazon software, and that I disliked color screens, so this left only one logical solution.
The Kobo Clara BW is the perfect device for me. The 6” screen with warm light, waterproofing, and a modifiable OS was really just the cherry on top.
The Clara’s 6” screen is awesome for portability because it fits right in my back pocket with the case on. The smaller size is also more comfortable for my hands. It’s not perfect—namely because they put the battery in the top part of the device instead of the bottom, which causes balancing issues—but it gets the job done.
Something I also found out was the power of syncing all the books on my drives and cleaning up metadata on my server using Booklore. This is a game-changer, and has decided that every device going forward will be a Kobo.
So, if you also find yourself not reading but want to, I’d highly recommend getting into it. Don’t deprive yourself of knowledge and culture. Try an e-reader if you don’t want clutter, or are just looking for something that’s simple and nearly friction-free to get started.
/squawk <~
by untitled_operator