E-ink tablets

[Ferris]

This thread reminded me to replace my own knackered e-reader. Annoyingly I'm in the Kindle ecosystem (Bezos got to me) but new devices start at $150 and go up to nearly $600! For a kindle! Fuck that.

A bit of sleuthing and I found some 2019 stock amazon are shifting on the hush hush for $67/£41. Loads of space, cheap and cheerful so I'm not going to be all precious about taking it places, and the fucker has a backlight which I'm delighted about.

I'm trying to do more reading and less phone-staring in whatever downtime I have in 2023 so hopefully this kickstarts the process. Lovely job.

No stylus but you can't have everything.

[Sonny_Jim]

I have a waterproof Kindle which is fucking amazing, although if I have a proper foamy bubblebath the touchscreen can be a bit frustrating.  Never connected it to Wifi, as I didn't want to join the Amazonborg, I just load up epubs and PDFs onto it.

[Dex Sawash]

Looks like Mobiscribe have released the first waterproof e-ink tablet, with the colour version to follow in April.

https://mobiscribe.com/collections/all/products/mobiscribe-wave-black-white
https://mobiscribe.com/collections/all/products/mobiscribe-wave-color

I have a code for 10% off, if anyone wants it. Looks like the Wave also has speakers, Bluetooth and the ability to add layers to notes, so it has a lot going for it over the regular Origin, even though they look quite similar.

Was ready to buy that but looks like no GPS.

[QDRPHNC]

Was ready to buy that but looks like no GPS.

The only e-ink things that might come with GPS are the Hisense phones, and I'm not sure if they offer note-taking. 

[Dex Sawash]

My e-ink use is for running a navigation/performance analyzer android application for racing small sailboats (have tried regular phone, can't see it at all)
The goal is not spending $700 for the bespoke sailing one that is brilliant. High probability of getting something that has too-aggressive battery management or infrequent position fix update so it is not fit for purpose. Would get used 3 days/year. probably wouldn't read with it even if the wind died.

[touchingcloth]

The Hisense phones mentioned might be viable, assuming they actually have a GPS chip.

Alternatively, could you look for an Android phone with a display that has been optimised for viewing in sunlight? It looks like Xiaomi have a feature called "sunlight mode" on some of their models, which might fit the bill if it works as advertised.

[touchingcloth]

Alternative to the alternative: MASSIVE HOOD

[Ferris]

New kindle is here, and I really like it. Some minor tech updates (backlight, touchscreen) but still so basic that I'll never be tempted to look at stupid internet shit while using it. 40 quid well spent.

About 45 minutes before it arrived, I had a request to do some more consulting work for a local food charity I reckon is brilliant (entirely out of the blue and for absolute peanuts to the point I should have been insulted and said no but I said yeah because I reckon they're brilliant, see previous sentence), so that's completely fucked any free time I had.

Genuinely gonna be run quite ragged for the next few months and don't really wanna explain why on the main forums (I'm not looking for pats on the back, it's my own fault) so it'll just be our little e-reader secret. While we're on the subject, I became an uncle yesterday so that's a nice thing to become innit Andy.

Magic. Bit tired now, I'll be honest.

[Ferris]

The new (2019) kindle is good, is my point.

[QDRPHNC]

Congrats on becoming on uncle, @Ferris, and nice one on being nice to a charity. When you say the new Kindle, do you mean the Scribe?

[QDRPHNC]

Seriously considering the Lenovo Smart Paper when it's released later this year. Build quality and UI both look great, like they've learned lots of lessons from seeing what other companies are doing.

[Ferris]

Congrats on becoming on uncle, @Ferris, and nice one on being nice to a charity. When you say the new Kindle, do you mean the Scribe?

Nope, kindle 10th generation. It's old so nice and basic and cheap!

[touchingcloth]

What size is your Mobiscribe? Looks like Lenovo only have a 10" model planned, which rules it out for me.

[QDRPHNC]

Mobiscribe is one of the smaller ones, but I've been hankering after something larger. The Supernote A5X has no backlight, the Boox Note Air 2 Plus is completely gorgeous but coming in at close to $1000, and ReMarkable can get fucked.

[touchingcloth]

I hope they make something with a decent e-colour screen soon. My new Boox has a very unobtrusive stuck pixel (a black ink spot this time, not a stuck hot pixel on the frontlight like before), so I think I might wait 11 months and then return it for a full refund and upgrade to whatever's new and shiny.

(I'm quite grateful for Amazon's generous returns policy here, not least because I received a 100 Euro Amazon voucher after I first bought my Boox but didn't have anything to spend it on, so a full refund with an exchange in between resulted in that extra money going back to my bank. Huzzah, how do you like that, Jeffy B?)