The year 2022 has been rich in new hardware (Kobo Clara 2E and new Kindle to name a few) and the year 2023 also promises some nice things. The opportunity to see what we can expect as new readers…
A new Kobo Nia?
The first thing that seems obvious is that Kobo must work on an affordable e-reader that would compete with the new Kindle.
Indeed, the Kobo Nia (current e-reader of the range at less than $100) is starting to show its age with its rather slow screen and its not always top definition.
Clearly, if Kobo wants to get back in the race and offer something very good in the entry level, it will have to release a new version of the Kobo Nia.
Let’s hope that 2023 will bring us this new e-reader!
A new Kindle Oasis?
On the Amazon side, we have already had a renewal of the Kindle Paperwhite with the very good version released in 2021 that offers a great value for money with its 6.8-inch screen.
A few months ago, a new Kindle was released for less than $100.
Logically, it’s the turn of the Kindle Oasis to get a makeover – if Amazon still wants to market it. Indeed, with its price close to $300 and the competition of cheaper and excellent models like the Kobo Libra 2, nothing indicates that Amazon will continue the Oasis adventure.
But, if a new version is to be released, the year 2023 seems to be the right time for Amazon.
New color readers are a key trend
With the arrival of the new Gallery 3 color screen technology, we can expect to see new color readers.
As previously mentioned, the Pocketbook Viva has already been announced and we’ll see what this reader offers in terms of color. The first echoes indicate much better colors than on the Pocketbook Color (for example), but a screen that takes longer to refresh…
Amazon has been offering a new Kindle e-reader since the fall of 2022, which is the new entry-level e-reader for under $100. The reader offers a new HD screen, but is it up to expectations?
The Kobo Clara 2E is the latest Kobo e-reader. It offers a beautiful high definition screen of 6 inches and little extras that could make the difference. Here is the complete review of this e-reader.
Amazon returns in 2021 with a new version of its best-selling Kindle Paperwhite. This new version brings a major new feature: a bigger and better screen.
Available since October 2021, the Kobo Libra 2 e-reader features an all-new 7-inch screen for improved reading comfort. Here is the full test of this e-reader.
While going back to the Pocketbook adventure, I came across some old models that were very interesting for their time. Here is a selection of e-reader models that had a short career and that have been sometimes forgotten.
Pocketbook Mini e-reader
Kobo had released a small format reader with a 5 inch screen, but the last one to be widely available was the Pocketbook Mini which was still available in 2013.
It had a small 5-inch screen and a small format for a price that was really affordable at the time of about $70.
Its small case made it easy to slip it in your pocket and carry it everywhere.
It was the only small e-reader with the Kobo Mini and the last one in this format to have been widely marketed in the world.
Pocketbook Color Lux e-reader
In 2013, Pocketbook marketed one of the first color readers with the Pocketbook Color Lux.
With its 8-inch e-ink screen capable of displaying 4096 different colors, it prefigured the more recent current e-readers based on a new generation of more powerful color screens.
It was a small success and many readers swore by this model since it was the only one to display colors for years.
Today, Pocketbook continues on this path and the Pocketbook Viva is the most recent evolution of this model.
Pocketbook Aqua e-reader
In 2014, Pocketbook launched the first waterproof e-reader with the Pocketbook Aqua.
With its 6-inch e-ink screen it was thus largely ahead of its time with its IP57 certification that made it resistant to water splashes and dust.
This feature has since been taken up by many brands who now all offer a waterproof model to allow reading in a bath, in the snow, by a pool or on the beach without fear for its reader.
A Pocketbook Aqua 2 reader has also been realsed.
Pocketbook Ultra e-reader
The Pocketbook Ultra was a very disconcerting e-reader.
It is a 6-inch e-reader with features that were way ahead of its time when it was released in 2015.
Thus, it was one of the first models to offer a screen with an embryonic blue light filter. At the time of the test, I was totally baffled by the yellowish lighting of this e-reader.
It should be noted that other manufacturers, such as Kindle, were pushing e-readers with ever-increasing contrast with machines like the Kindle Paperwhite that offered a more flattering display rendering with blacker text on an ever brighter screen.
The flaw of the Pocketbook Ultra was to impose this blue light filter without any adjustment.
But more than that, the Pocketbook Ultra offered another feature that was as original as it was revolutionary: a camera with a character recognition function.
In other words, it was possible to take a picture of a page of a paper book and have a digital transcription using an OCR tool.
Unfortunately, in practice the result was not up to expectations…
Digital reading opens interesting perspectives for people with disabilities, especially for the visually impaired. We are going to see which reading devices and software solutions for visually impaired people exist on the market.
If you have a visual acuity lower than 3/10, you are considered as a visually impaired person by the WHO.
Reading text can therefore become very difficult. But, it is not impossible thanks to some technologies of which reading devices are part.
In this article we will also talk about reading solutions for visually impaired people or for people with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD).
Before going into details, I would like to specify that I am neither visually impaired nor blind. The information you will find on this page is therefore to be taken for what it is: information.
The e-reader to enlarge the characters
First of all, we have to start by talking about e-readers.
These reading devices are financially accessible and allow the reading of digital books.
In my opinion, their interest lies in two main things:
You can buy and download books easily without having to move and the ebook is often cheaper than its paper version
You can adjust the display on the screen to make the characters appear in a large font
The cheapest e-readers are equipped with a 6-inch touch screen.
The new Kindle is a good place to start, as it has an additional lighting feature that improves contrast and readability on the reader.
But, for a visually impaired person, I suggest using a reader with a screen of at least 8 inches.
Using the right font on e-reader
Some fonts used by default on ebooks and e-readers are not necessarily suitable for reading for visually impaired people.
One solution is to add fonts that are better designed for displaying text.
Here is a selection provided by a visually impaired reader that should help you better discern the characters on your e-reader:
Next, you will need to load this new font on your e-reader.
Text-to-speech on e-readers
On Pocketbook e-readers, and some Android readers, you can plug in headphones via a 3.5 mm jack or use headphones or a speaker with a Bluetooth connection.
Then, it is possible to activate the text-to-speech function. The reader will read the text of the ebook in a somewhat robotic way.
If we are still far from the diction of a human, it allows to have easily an audio version of a book not available in "audio book".
We also have access to various sound settings such as the choice between the voice of a man or a woman, the selection of the reading speed and the adjustment of the sound volume.
The audio book
The audio book is obviously a solution for visually impaired or blind people.
If the catalog is still far from being vast, the offer is increasing more and more because audio books are in fashion!
The number one service in reading remains that of Audible which offers a free trial book for any registration.
I want to write a little word about tablets. Indeed, we can think that the idea is good since they are now a fairly large screen.
However, they suffer from a major flaw for people with vision problems: the blue light generated by the screens is too important.
I therefore advise against reading on a tablet, smartphone or computer screen.
It is good to note that the e-readers with lighting also generates blue light but in lesser quantities.
Note that there is software on tablets to reduce blue light. However, these are not always effective and they make reading more difficult because the screen becomes less contrasted.
Text-to-speech software
More and more smartphone applications offer a text-to-speech application.
Because, if it is better not to read on the screen of the smartphone (or a tablet), nothing prevents it from being used to access the text-to-speech function.
The list of applications that offer this function is long, but be aware that it is available in the "Google Books" application, installed by default with most Android smartphones.
This feature has appeared on other devices such as the Alexa personal assistant and its Echo devices that will text to speech on your Kindle books.
The Braille reader
Finally, there is a last device called Canute 360, which is a Braille reader capable of displaying 360 characters.
For the moment, the reader is not available for everyone because it is still a test.
Its commercialization being imminent, it could offer a very interesting solution for people who want to read Braille ebooks.
Conclusion: the best e-readers for the visually impaired
Today, digital technology offers more reading solutions for visually impaired people. But it is still not enough.
Indeed, accessibility is both difficult and easy to implement in digital devices.
We have seen in this article that software and reading devices allow to do text-to-speech. So we wonder why all ebook reading systems are not equipped with it!
I will show you where you can find manga and how you can download them and read them on your Kindle e-readers.
First of all, the reading of digital manga is exploding in the world. It is particularly noticeable in Japan where there are more readers of digital manga than paper ones.
But, I think that the "manga ebook" has also the possibility to develop widely outside Japan.
Indeed, because of the absence of color, digital manga weighs less to store than other comics. Moreover, as they are already published in a small format in paper version, e-readers with a screen with a high resolution are at ease for their display (even in 6 inches).
If we add to this the available 7 and 8 inch e-readers and low cost touch tablets, we can think that manga can make a nice digital place in our reading devices.
The problem now is that we don’t necessarily have digital versions of all the manga that are released…
The Kindle Library
At Amazon, there is a comic book section that allows you to see, on a case-by-case basis, if the volume you are looking for is available on the Kindle e-reader (or the reading application on tablet, smartphone or PC/Mac).
For popular series like Naruto, the digital version costs $4.99 compared to $6 for the paper version. So that’s a nice savings of almost $2 per episode.
What is not bad is that you can search directly and only in the mangas that are available in digital using the search engine of your Kindle e-reader (or on Amazon).
So you can find a lot of things, even if everything is not yet present. I also noticed that recent releases tend to come out in digital too.
So, reissues like GUNNM, have their digital version.
Prime Reading or Kindle Unlimited
With Amazon, you can subscribe to a service like Prime or Kindle Unlimited.
Kindle Unlimited offer the larger choice but you’ll have to pay a small fee each mounth to access the books and the mangas available.
If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you can access to a catalogue of free ebooks and mangas and the Prime Reading (read this article to know more about it) section of the Kindle Library on your Kindle e-reader. (no extra fee if you already a Prime customer)
Transfer PDF, CBR and CBZ files to your Kindle e-reader
If you’re interested in digital comics, you’ve probably come across files in slightly exotic formats like CBR or CBZ. Here’s how to convert them to PDF.
Fortunately, thanks to Calibre you can transform these files into PDF files that are easier to use on your different devices: e-readers, tablets, smartphones, PC and Mac.
The advantage of using Calibre to do the conversion is that it offers optimizations regarding the images, in order to display the comics more clearly on a reader (with a black and white screen). But, you can also use another software to do the conversion.
The first thing to do is to install Calibre if you don’t have it on your computer yet. You can go to this site to download it: https://calibre-ebook.com/fr/download
Now you have to import your CBR or CBZ file into Calibre.
You can now transfer PDF, CBR and CBZ to your Kindle device.
Finally quite soon after the release of the Kobo Elipsa, Kobo announces a new Kobo Elipsa 2E which has the same ingredients as the previous generation.
Barnes and Nobles will release a new e-reader called Nook Glowlight 4 Plus with a 7.8 inch screen.
Barnes and Noble is the biggest bookstore chain in the US and has somewhat neglected its e-reader line in recent years, letting Kindle, Kobo and Pocketbook come out with ever more advanced reading machines.
