I’ve been getting back into reading and while nothing will beat a physical book, having a device with multiple EPUBS seems like a good way to save space and money. After a bit of searching, I’m down to two options: Kobo (specifically the Libra Colour) and Boox (specifically the Go Color 7). I’ve discarded tablets because they’re just a larger phone and thus blue light-induced eye strain. I’ve also discarded the Kindle because of Amazon’s business practices. I known that Kindles can jailbroken (which I wouldn’t mind doing) and I could buy one second-hand on eBay but I prefer to give my money towards a better competitor.
Which one do you think is better? Have you used their previous e-readers? How do they compare?
Thanks in advance!
Depends what a little bit on what you’re looking for. As a disclaimer, I am a Kobo user. Whether you go with a single purpose device or a multipurpose device like the boox depends a little bit on how focused you want to be able to be. I like my dedicated E reader because it makes it harder for me to just pop over into some other application to “I’ll just check something, quickly” because for me those never end up quick. Kobo has a good store, with a nice interface and the DRM is easy to strip. It also works well with side loading DRM-free content.
A boox would give you more storefronts to choose from but you’re more locked in to whatever DRM those stores choose.
DRM shouldn’t be a problem thanks to software like Calibre and websites like Gutenberg and Zlibrary. The Kobo does seem geared towards long reading sessions and reading along with an audiobook. The Boox, on the other hand, seems to combine the best of e-readers (e-paper and e-ink) with the modability of an Android device. Since you’re a Kobo user, I have to ask: How easy is it to add “alternatively sourced” ebooks to the Kobo? Is it done through Calibre? Can I also use third-party reading apps like KOreader? Since the Boox is Android-based, I have a rough idea of of adding ebooks and installing alternative reading apps but I don’t if the process would be different on a Kobo.
Can I also use third-party reading apps like KOreader?
Basically a one-click install on supported devices. You just need a PC and a USB cable. Highly recommended
https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Kobo-devices
It’s very easy. It can be done through calibre, yes, although I prefer self-hosting a library that the kobo syncs to. I’ve used Calibre-Web, and recently moved to BookLore, and the latter is really, really nice so far. I have three people set up with their own accounts on BookLore, and we share one general library, but each person also gets their own personal library to do with as they please, and each person can choose what they want on their kobo, and it all syncs just by hitting the sync button on the kobo (you point the kobo to your own “store” instead of the kobo store). If you want to keep the stock store with the ability to also load “alternatively sourced” books, that’s also easy with OPDS, also supported (very well) in BookLore.
Kobo can also be pretty customizable too, for what it’s worth. KOReader is highly customizable, but if that’s not your jam, there’s also kobopatch which can change the default OS to some degree. Also NickleMenu, NickleClock, etc. There’s plenty available to tune a kobo, imo, and I’m someone that’s generally very “tinkery” with stuff.
Easy, yes and yes.
Very easy, if you are the “all my metadata must be perfect” type person then it plays well with Calibre, if you are a just “put it on I don’t care” , all you need is a web browser and WiFi connection or something that recognizes a flash drive including tablets/phones.
The point about DRM is more that for stores like Amazon, you can only remove the DRM anymore if it’s on a physical Kindle connected to Calibre with the right plugin. That doesn’t work on multipurpose tablets like the boox.
Koreader works great on kobo, installing is a minor effort.
There are ways of mitigating the blue light issue on tablets as well. My Samsung tablet has a thing called “Eye Comfort Shield” which applies kind of a tea-stained / sepia tone to everything.
Of course book reader apps have all their own font/color choices too.
I’m actually looking at replacing my current tablet, this one has caught my eye:
Do you, by chance, know the differences in battery life between a tablet vs a dedicated e-reader? I’ve heard, though I don’t know, that e-readers have better better battery life since e-paper used less power than blue light screens. Battery life won’t the deciding factor in my choice but long battery life would be a huge plus.
eReaders are definitely going to have better battery life, but for me, I haven’t hit that problem as I charge my devices nightly.
For me, the dealbreaker on eInk is color reproduction and refresh rate. I read a lot of comic books and color eInk is not ready for that yet.
I don’t know anything about Boox, but I’ve had a Kobo Clara BW for almost two years and it gets the job done. I don’t care about the color screen, and I’ve read in reviews that the colors are kind of muddy and it’s not really worth the price, especially if you’re just reading novels. It connects to my local library’s app directly and I’ve had no problem side loading downloads from my desktop. It has a backlit e-ink screen, which I like for reading in dark mode in bed. I like that it holds a ton of books (audio books too, although I don’t use it for that) and fits in my back pocket. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that I used to like reading web articles via Mozilla Pocket, which Mozilla discontinued. Kobo replaced it with Instapaper, which I can’t really get to work properly, although I admit I haven’t put a whole lot of effort into it. I think the issue is integration with LibreWolf, but I honestly can’t be arsed with it.
If you want to tinker with it, get the Boox. If you want something that just works, get the Kobo.
I don’t know if this matters to you but I just saw on Bookshop’s website that their ebooks will be available on Kobo sometime in 2026. This is great for me because they have really great ebook sales and I really dislike reading without eink. I wouldn’t buy a kindle like you said but also wouldn’t throw one out (I do actually own an old one and heck no, I’ll continue to read what I already own).
I liked my Boox, but I only had it for about a month before the screen shattered. No idea how it happened. I just picked it up one day, and it was unusable. Apparently their screens are pretty fragile, and they cost basically the price of the device over again to replace them. My plan now is to wait a bit, and get a reMarkable when I have the extra money available
As a related aside for those with Kobos, http://send.djazz.se is really nice and a good hidden gem.
Not familiar with Boox but Kobo on a normal-sized screen is miserable. Too much information, tablet-designed, making misclicks far more likely, besides the visual noise/pollution.
what are you talking about? kobo on a normal-sized screen? A kobo is a device, not an app.
Ah, sorry. Misread. Was thinking about KOReader.
I have a Boox Palma, it’s really portable, but the tradeoff is the screen is pretty small.
Having it run android is both a gift and a curse. Being able to use self hosted solutions with it is nice, but the Boox OS kinda sucks (and it feels like I’m fighting it at times). On top of that not everything runs smoothly on it as it’s hardware isn’t the best.
I’ve also noticed it can run into “burn-in” issues where the text doesn’t fully clear until you force it.
That’s not burn-in, it’s ghosting. Just about every e-ink screen can have that problem if the software is doing partial/fast screen updates. E-ink screens are very slow and use somewhat more power when doing a full screen clear, so many devices save energy and time by only partially resetting the screen when turning pages/navigating. After some number of interactions, they’ll do the full screen refresh to clean out the ghosts.
Thanks, that is the term I was looking for, but I did find the Boox did it more than previous devices and I’d frequently have to force the refresh.
I’m not familiar with boox’s software (I’m still on a Nook but thinking of getting either a boox or kobo soon), but there may be a way to tweak how often it does a full refresh in the settings if you dig around a bit.
Yeah, there are different modes and configurations you can set up, and you can do it per app. It’s possible that I’ve just misunderstood some of those options, but I found I ran into the issue both when reading text on default settings and reading comics with modified settings.
I use a Kobo and it’s great for two reasons - firstly I can get library books on it via Libby/Overdrive. Secondly I can get pirated books in the event my library doesn’t offer it. As a small disclaimer I’ll always buy a book I love after pirating to support the author.
That’s why we originally bought the Kobos (two of them) and it worked up until last year. We simply could not get it working with Libby on either device so I’m assuming it’s a library issue.
I use calibre and calibre-web now and it’s great.
Boox price point and Kobo price point are way way different, correct?
I love my kobo libre 2.
We have Kobo’s and I use Calibre-web to host our books. It syncs automatically and it has been absolutely brilliant. We bought some new ones for ourselves for Christmas and will be handing down our current ones to our kids! I 100% recommend the Kobo’s.
I love my Kobo Libra Colour!
I have only good things to say about it.
- great screen size
- love the colour for covers when it’s on standby, and for if you read anything with images
- battery life is good
- holds a ton books
- works great with loading your own books from any source
- the device follows right to repair guidelines so you can fix any broken part without having to buy a new device
That last point really puts it above and beyond any other e-reader out there!
We have a Kobo Clara and a Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 in our house. Neither are color so I can’t speak to that, but both are usable offline with wired file transfer support, which was our main requirement. And decent privacy. Though I can’t speak to Boox, I will be considering another Kobo if the Pocketbook ever dies.
Last I heard Boox violated the GPL licensing by using a modified version of the linux kernel and not providing open source for their modifications. I’m having trouble finding any recent updates on this, if anything has changed in the last few years. I’m also not familiar with licensing stuff in general so maybe someone more knowledgeable will come around and give more details if there’s any more to it. Quick search shows some privacy/telemetry concerns as well that I didn’t look into. And some built in AI stuff with some of their hardware that some people won’t like
Interesting, I wasn’t aware of that and am shopping for a boox or similar device, thanks for putting that on my radar
I remember hearing about this 3ish years back. I think the issue faded out of people’s minds but doesn’t change the fact that it happened and the company was very resistant to discussing the issue. I keep my old boox without internet all the time now…
