What's the best no-bullshit e-reader these days? My use cases are reading the Bible and reading manga. I need something that is lightweight, requires no network connection or account, can connect as USB mass storage device or something similarly open, and can read epubs, PDFs and PNGs.

I had a Pocketbook Basic 4, but it broke recently (cracked display resulting in half the screen no longer rendering). I was mostly satisfied with it, only opening and navigating through the Bible took very long (sometimes had to wait for 15+ seconds) and it occasionally froze while navigating through the Bible (presumably because of its size). Is there a better option or should I just get another one?

kobo is what i use and it's still perfect

>>106035179 (OP)
literally any laptop

Somewhat related, anyone got a specific recommend for a 10" (or reasonably large) no BS android based e.ink reader, ta. Use case is text epubs, pref. with good contrast, no color, drawing, AMZN bs etc required.

>>106035248
+1 for Kobo

Their store is kinda shit in that it has a lot of dubious publishers hucking books potentially in violation of copyright law... but the hardware is good and you can use Calibre to manage your library offline.

>>106035248
Kobo requires an account (and thus a connection), doesn't it? I want something I can use without legally agreeing to corporate rape, without getting spied on 24/7, and that just works and continues to work regardless of what the company producing it ends up pulling.

>>106035265
Recommend me a laptop the size of an e-reader that weighs 150 grams and has enough battery life to last an entire day in a suspend mode that can have me reading within seconds.

>>106035179 (OP)
Cheapest phone with OLED display.

>>106035179 (OP)
desu, I use the new Kindle Paperwhite and I have no problems. I sideload all my books from calibre, works well, very good battery life and super snappy.

For manga you need something larger so lightweight is going to be relative.
Boox Note Air 4C or Go 10.3 are realistic options.

>>106035420
You can avoid the account by adding a line SideloadedMode=true to Kobo eReader.conf.
And even if you registered an account you can keep it offline indefinitely.

>>106035420
anon
anon
anon, listen to me
get an old tablet, anon
like, 2018 old
install lineageOS on it
install you preferred ereader/s
put on it a 32GB SD card
and manage your library through ftp/mtp
it's simple as that, anon
I use a SM-T280 for this, perfect format but hella slow, and tailscale doesnt work on it

>>106035611
>The Boox Note Air 4C is a multifaceted device, at once a digital notebook, sketchpad, typewriter, Android tablet, and e-reader. [...] It also has access to the full Android ecosystem and has the Play Store installed by default. Obsidian, OneNote, Google Drive, Office 365, ChatGPT… all of these things are readily available and, for the most part, work very well.
Anon, I want something without bullshit. Just something that displays epubs, PDFs and PNGs transferred to it via USB. For phone things I already have a phone, and for tablet things I already have a tablet. 'Do one thing, and do it well.' I could read stuff on my phone if I want an everything-device, but it's not focused on reading like my Pocketbook Basic was so every part of the reading experience is worse. I want something with as little bloat as possible, but ideally one that doesn't choke on big books like the Pocketbook Basic 4 did.

>>106036138
How is this better than reading stuff on a phone?

>>106035248
>>106035386
>>106035611
I guess I'll consider a Kobo. Any specific models I should consider/avoid or other things to know?

>>106036314
Just because you can do other stuff doesn't mean it's not focused on reading. You have a library view that scans specific folders for new books and shows whatever you read last or however you configured it.
You don't have to install other programs, you don't have to use the note taking function or anything. It works perfectly fine as a pure reader.
On Pocketbook you could also go any install Koreader and games if you wanted.

>>106036314
>How is this better than reading stuff on a phone?
pretty much the same resolution as your average eink reader (depending on the tablet you get you can go from 7.0' to 14.6')
cheaper because you're getting ewaste instead of a niche product
faster refresh rates (I hated that back when I used the Kobo Elipsa 2E, yeah you're reading a book so not many screen updates, but you were able to admire the individual frames when swiping pages)
and you're not limited to books, for example I also do some web browsing on it, and while you can do that too on an eink device the experience is shit

>>106036481
the only downside i guess is that you have to recharge it more frequently, but I haven't charged mine in 3 days and it's still at 40% battery level

>>106036481
>admire the individual frames when swiping pages)
sorry, this isnt true, rather you had to wait about half to a second for it to refresh to the next page, by inverting the colors of the screen, then clearing it, then drawing the new page

>>106036481
>cheaper because you're getting ewaste instead of a niche product
Not in the 13" category.
Once you try reading outside any comparison falls apart.

>>106035265
there are no laptops with e-ink displays

>>106036641
>Not in the 13" category.
true ig
>>106036641
>Once you try reading outside any comparison falls apart.
I wouldn't go outside with an eink reader, they're pretty delicate. Also, while it's true that tablets look like shit under the sun, they look great on the shade

>>106036749
What's the biggest e.ink display you can get you could just convert an hdmi signal or whatever into? Or doesn't it work like that? What's the fucking problem here anyway, still patent nonsense?

>>106036868
>What's the fucking problem here anyway, still patent nonsense?
yeah, patent trolls. there are chinese corpos that don't give a shit, but they're pretty expensive.

>>106035179 (OP)
Get a cheap outdated kindle Paperwhite from AliExpress, jailbreak it and install KOReader in it, it has way better support and fearures than native OS and feels faster. It's similar to a live distro, you run it selecting it as a book (UI wise, you're still jailbreaking it in order to run) read about the supported formats and devices here

https://koreader.rocks/

my original Kindle keyboard was spectacular. fairly sure they updated it so it would brick itself. it had 3d worldwide .. no contract.

got a paperwhite - good but i like buttons. the buttons for the thumb to flick pages was great. its strange this thing was rapid when i first got it now it quite slow. damn i cant believe plain text files have gotten that much more intensive to run!! also the battery life is fucking shocking compared to my keyboard kindle

>>106035179 (OP)
>or should I just get another one?
this. I have one, too, it's everything I've ever wanted in an e-reader

I bought a Tolino (Kobo hardware with regional software) and it's fucking trash. Even with Koreader it slow as shit compared to my dad's kindle paperwhite 11 something something edition.
I'm really considering buying a kindle 12, sideloading can be done the same with calibre

>>106036868
>What's the biggest e.ink display you can get you could just convert an hdmi signal or whatever into?
25", they already have HDMI on board.
For a laptop that's a big large, you'd fare better with one of the 13" monitors. Or get a 13" e-ink tablet and use it as a laptop replacement or wireless monitor.

>>106037628
>33hz God-Level Refresh
Lol

>>106038311
For a long time 15Hz was considered the maximum possible. 33Hz was a big deal back then.
Though now they manage 37Hz on the 13" model.

>>106036958
Wait you can get surplus kindles from Ali? wtf

>>106038390
>300 ppi
hory shet
>37hz
soooooo are paper displays finally usable for anything that isnt reading?

>>106038435
Yes but they're refurbished, I don't think there's a store selling brand new ones

>>106038525
Hisense A9 is an eink phone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYfeSxIcww

Some bullshit, but a used Surface Pro 4 is about $100 and it has a 12" 2736 x 1824 screen and decent battery. Its a little heavy in the hand, but that builds forearms so deal with it.

>>106038633
>Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner
Then I suppose I won't be watching your video, e-celeb tech tuber...
>Hisense A9 is an eink phone
Interedasting... Makes me wonder what the battery life on those things can be

>slightly worse than top-e-eader
>not recommended for manga
>3-4 day battery
>source: random reddit shite
the 1st and (esp) 2nd part are tragic, but I suppose that's down to the price
mind that my desire for a device like this are oddly specific, which make me shy away from all of it for personal reasons. the tech itself is still super interesting though and I obviously want it to flourish.

>>106035179 (OP)
I got a touch lux 5 which im assuming is the same as a basic 4 and the entry level verse specs wise for the most part. It's pretty miserable for pdf's and manga. Maybe the verse pro with its 300 PPI would be better, but the pro version loses its micro sd slot.

The era or inkpad would be better use cases for you, but then you're talking 2x+ the price point over the lux4 and im not sure at that price they are worth it over other brands.

60hz E-ink is possible by the way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fLYVwh4XCE

I got memed into buying a Kobo Libra Colour and returned it. The contrast of the display sucks; I'd guess 10% albedo blacks and 30% whites. Only in direct sunlight is this reasonable without blasting the backlight. Plus, the clarity of the glyphs isn't great (not sure how much a SW or HW problem), so overall feels eyestrain-y. An OLED would be better in most lighting scenarios.

For academic papers and textbooks you need to zoom and pan, which is nasty with the bad refresh rate. If you must get an e-ink device, get the biggest screen you can afford, unless you just read paperbacks or some shit.

Also wanted the Kobo for quick technical diagrams and notes. The drawing experience would be great, but the palm detection is 100% broken (nonexistent?), causing random page flips. No settings or even hacks exist to fix this.