Kobo Libra 2, Kindle 4th Gen and Boox Note Air 4C - My experience
Hello!
I started my ereader journey in june 2023 when a friend recommended me to get a cheap ereader to start reading again and got my kindle 4th generation. A few months after, in November, after 30 books read, I got a fantastic offer in my kobo libra 2. And last month, I treated myself to the boox note air 4c.
After all, I find interesting to compile all my experiences into one post, hoping it can help someone.
In the picture I tried to take a picture of the three screens side by side. NO light in any of them. It was mid morning and sunny outside, it was taken in front of a window.
Usecases:
- Kindle 4 NT is being used to be rough. It goes to the beach, the pool, bbqs, the gym...any place that can lead to issues in the other ones. I thought about selling this one but for the money i would get, it is more convenient for me to just keep it.
- Kobo Libra 2 is being used to mainly read. I take it everywhere (aside from gym/pool/beach/bbq) to read in the go and I use it to read books at home. That's it. Before having the boox i used to read manga and manhwa here.
- Boox N4C is being used to read comics, manga, webtoons, papers,reddit (lol), take notes at work...everything else. I don't take it anywhere (I wfh), albeit it has a case and a sleeve (it was a book sleeve but now is my boox sleeve). It would travel if necessary but not the main intention.
Thoughts
I got the Boox N4C a bit scared - yeah I wanted something to read mangas in, but I was hesitant about the colour. I was fearing that the colour screen would be too dark and not crisp, that battery life will be crap…
In my experience:
- I don’t see that big gap in crispness. to the naked eye, they are pretty similar imo and don’t affect the use
- screen is definitely darker. My KL2 never went over 10% while the boox I need to put it halfway sometimes.
- battery life. ok this is one to discuss. technically, is the battery life worse than KL2 and my kindle? yes, BUT I am using it for totally different things. There was some point in my life where i mainly read mangas in KL2 and bc of the refresh (i read a page of manga quicker than a page of an epub plus the refresh rate was increased) battery lasted a week more or less (i read a lot). If i read only epubs battery can last weeks.
In my boox I am reading manga/manhwa, reading the newspaper/papers/other pdfs, doing reddit (which requires wifi) or writing. So when battery runs out in 3 days I think it’s unfair to compare it to the others. Yes it would be less bc kobo and kindle have an OS optimised for reading and boox runs android which is not as efficient and due to colour the light is on most of the time, so yeah.
- colour is great. it is very nice to see your covers, the coloured pages and just your organization in colour.
- it does have a learning curve. at first i was a bit overwhelmed with the options but step by step I was able to sort it out.
Shopping experience and Boox Customer Service
I bought the boox from their ebay (https://ebay.us/m/dPwW8n). The price was good, condition was stated as no case and few scratches in the body and in that moment they were shipping to Spain (they don’t do that atm it seems, a few days after my order they removed a lot of countries).
I bought it on 31/03 and arrived by 9/04. They shipped it the next day, and overall took 10 days, but take into consideration this was in easter. They used DHL.
I got the device and it was flawless - no scratches or issues, only the box was dinged a bit but very reasonable. But the pen came a bit damaged. it wasn’t the end of the world but I contacted them. They were very nice and asked me to try the tablet further and see if I want to keep it, and if so they will send a replacement pen (pen 2 pro). I test the tablet, I say yes and they send me the pen right after. It takes 7 days to arrive by the same service. And the pen doesn’t work. At all. I hear rattling inside. So I contacted them again, they asked me to check a few things and we conclude the pen is defective and they will send yet another one, that takes a week to arrive too. This one came with a box in worse shape but works.
in short, the responsiveness of their CS team is very good. Responses were quick and trying to fix the issue ASAP. Their quality control in accessories doesn’t seem as good, but it ended well for me.
Why did I buy a new device and what I recommend
When I started using my kobo to read manga I missed having a bigger screen and storage - being able to have my collection there was something I wanted. For two years I researched models, I wanted a bigger device, and 8 inches devices seems to be less common than 10, while 10 also gives more capabilities due to size. I was pretty set on the meebook m103, but didn’t buy it due to the price and it was not a need. I didn’t even considered Boox bc of the price, I was finding them at 500 euros and secondhand market were 350+ with no warranty/returns.
This bday I got some money as a gift, so I said this may be the moment to pull the trigger (I work full time and all my needs are covered, so I knew I was going to use the gift to treat myself to something and I chose this).
The meebook I was checking in aliexpress was about 300 and something, and I was about to pull the trigger, but in my mind I wanted to try and get the colour experience, but even bigme/meebook/other were very expensive. And then by chance I bump into the boox 4c, 365 euros, 10 inches, sd card and colour screen, plus warranty and returns. It looked like the perfect oportunity. It was a bit more expensive than the meebook but I would skip the import fees and the hassle of paying them.
So imo, this is what I recommend
- if you plan to read coloured comics, write notes or read papers, I do recommend colour. If you just read books I don’t think you’ll get that much benefit.
- If you want to read comics, reading them in a 10 inch and having a sd slot to store them is amazing. the experience is another level.
- if you just want to read books, go for a simple kindle or kobo. I read at night so I need warm light to do so but if you don’t, a cheap and old kindle/kobo will do too.
My old kindle is as basic as it can get and gets the job done, while the KL2 is (imo) the perfect ereader for books - easy to hold, you can read in any light condition, responsive, good battery. and also, you can read comics even if it’s not the best experience it is quite good. If you want an ereader to read comics and books, go for this. I got it at first bc of that and no regrets
- if you don’t need a big screen, stick with 6-7 inches. I love reading comics in 10 inches but it’s definitely not as portable and not as comfortable to read while laying down for example, and it is harder to take it everywhere
And I think that’s all. I feel all are very nice devices and have their own uses. I can definitely see that a eink tablet is a very specific use case but so far so good!