These look great! I still have a Kindle Voyage from 2015 that's going strong, though I do wish it had the warmer LED lights. It's nice to have some devices like this and my Fujifilm XT-30 that don't make me feel the constant need for upgrading.
Weird how there is still no real successor for the Voyage. They somehow refuse to release a 6-inch device with warm light and a light sensor for auto brightness.
And with the lack of immersion reading on e-ink devices, I don't think I want to buy another Kindle again.
Kobo is great. Unfortunately - in India at least - the books are way more expensive on Kobo (often 2x or even more) than on Kindle. So I've found it hard to get rid of the Kindle though I prefer to read on the Kobo.
Bluetooth page turner is nice but at this point I have zero interest in a Kindle unless I can load KOReader on it. I might buy one of these if they go on a sale and leave it in a drawer until it's jailbroken. I love my PW5 (jailbroken) but I'd buy a Kobo if they had a 7" screen (Clara) since that's easier to get KOReader on.
Years ago I had a kobo and put kohreader on it. But I left it on a bus and got a kindle Paperwhite as a replacement. I definitely regret that and second this comment: kohreader is such a superior experience. I'll never again get an ereader that can't run it.
Yeah, they're adding all this functionality to the hardware, as though that's the reason that I'm not using Kindle. Now that they've locked down the ecosystem, I only pay for DRM free books.
You can load KOReader on most of them. Just not the latest ones. I run it on all of mine. Even have page sync back now with Kavita that supports opds sync.
It looks like they’ve finally switched over to plant based leather. Good to see them move away from animal products in the accessories. Now if they could treat the humans that work for them better we’d really be cooking.
The calculus here is more grey than it seems. 'Plant based leather' is largely plastic, while the leather industry (especially around cheap accessories) is made from meat industry byproducts. The hides would be destroyed/trashed otherwise. There's also the durability and biodegradable aspect of leather, over plant-based (let's not even talk about 'vegan leather', which is just vinyl).
Not to say that the leather industry doesn't still contribute money to the meat industry, just that this change reads more as greenwashing than an upgrade.
Amazon says the 2026 Signature Edition cover is more than 70% renewable bio-materials (primarily non-GMO corn, and viscose fibre from Forest Stewardship Council-certified sources) and the remaining content is polyurethane.
Most consumer leather has a pigmented acrylic or polyurethane topcoat and then dyes and fat liquors. Chrome-tanned leather leaves chromium behind when it breaks down, potentially into the toxic hexavalent form. "Biodegradable" has no time limit attached, so it doesn't really say much about the "green-ness" of animal leather. Tanning itself is done to slow down biodegrading.
All of this is orthogonal to the fact that I, personally, as a consumer, do not want to purchase a product made from animals, which is why I'm glad they're not making them out of animals anymore.
Books are arguably selling better than ever. It's just becoming a hobby people participate in as part of a larger community instead of a universal activity. Breakout successes tend to be things that appeal to women active on social media, a group that has very little overlap with the typical HN audience.
>women active on social media, a group that has very little overlap with the typical HN audience
I've long wondered what the percentage of HN users/readers who are women is but it's impossible to know. For every self-described female here, most remain under the radar.
Unfortunately it's not just online. I meet people regularly who no longer read and some who never started. They're missing out. The book exercises the mind in a way that television doesn't.
But more relevant is that if ~20% of adults are reading 10+ books a year, then there's absolutely still a market for eReaders. (Whether or not kindles deserve that market I'll leave for others to argue :)
From Amazon Alexa: "Amazon just announced a completely redesigned Kindle lineup on October 1, 2026, and the Netherlands is included in the launch regions."
Sadly, my next ebook won't be a Kindle. I'm leaning more towards Kobo when it needs a replacement, as I don't really like that Amazon has the ability to delete all my purchased (or non-purchased) ebooks remotely on the push of a button.
They already deleted my books once so it stays since then in plane mode, and I recovered everything with Calibre.
I liked my Kobo Clara HD for years. A few months ago my wife wanted an ereader, but she reads a lot less books than me. So she offered to inherit my Kobo, and I bougth a Pocketbook Verse Pro. I like it a lot for the physical buttons, the smart ligth is programable with hourly granularity (both intensity and tone), and you get an email address that forwards ebooks attached straight to the device. It is a bit faster turning pages.
Kobo had its store on the home page, and while it was unobstrusive, the Pocketbook has nothing at all. Worth a look, if you are interested.
I have a Kobo and am not quite sure what is on its home page and don't really care, because the device spends all its time in KOreader. I also am not concerned about corporate schenanigans, because I put the device in airplane mode as soon as I unboxed it. I'd say Kobo is a pretty dependable device for people with such concerns.
Not really an Amazon fan, but Kindle Unlimited is something I use a lot. I read 3-4 books a month (sometimes more). Not all great literature, but a way to relax in the evening or on vacation.
I like the warmth setting of more current paperwhites.
I love my Kindle. Changed my life. I read so much more now. No need to order or go buy books, no need to plan ahead which books to take on a trip, etc.
That said, it is so buggy (constant freezes, occasional white screen of death) and so slow.
Long time Kindle user. I have deeply disliked the touch-only interface since it was introduced - the only reason I switched to them was because the old one with page turn buttons toon a swim.
The touch interface is great for typing, but for turning pages I find myself either accidentally pressing on the screen or it not recognising the touch at all. Touching in the wrong spot can also result in it clicking links or similar.
The idea they might be bringing out a case that has the buttond seems great, except it's only for the signature editions.
An e-reader is the only device I've ever actively wanted a big chunky separated bezel. For the longest time my oldest kindle has been the one I actually used despite no usb-c.
This is basically an ad. They forgot to mention that Amazon doesn't sell books, they only rent you a license. It's gone when they want it to be gone. Bookfinder doesn't have this problem...
I have a nice Kindle Paperwhite, but I hardly ever use it.
Instead, I read my Kindle books on my S24 Ultra. Why?
One is the classic photographer's question: "What's the best camera?" The one you have with you.
The other is that I really like scrolling instead of page-turning. I can hold the phone in one hand and use my thumb to scroll up and down just like any webpage or document. This lets me keep my context instead of losing it at every page turn.
There are two steps to enable this.
First, open any book and tap somewhere in the middle. Select the "Aa" icon at the top. Go to the Layout tab at the top and turn on Continuous Scrolling.
Now you will have a problem. The selfie camera's circular hole overlaps the scrolling area. At least to my eyes, it is incredibly disorienting and annoying to have all the rest of the screen scroll but that camera cutout sits there.
To fix this, go to Settings / Display / Camera cutout. Scroll down to Kindle and change its setting from "Auto" to "Hide Camera cutout". This takes away a few pixels at the top of the screen, but you have plenty of display space available. And no disorienting black circle as you scroll.
You may still prefer a physical Kindle device, but with these two settings, the S24 Ultra is now my favorite Kindle.
> Instead, I read my Kindle books on my S24 Ultra. Why?
> One reason is the classic photographer's question: "What is the best camera?" The one you have with you.
I have a Kobo Libra and while it’s bigger than the basic kindle I had (which I could put in my back pocket), it’s still fairly portable. The nicest thing is that I only need to press the power button to get back to what I was reading. Compare to unlocking the phone, open the app, locate the book and then opening it. Without being distracted.
I realized my cellphone has a display that's almost as big as my Kindle, is less hassle to load with books, can scroll/zoom PDFs easier, and won't complain about lacking memory when opening big PDFs.
“The best camera is the one you have”, in this case if you still want a device, so the phone isn’t a potential distraction, the xteink are nice and can easily fit in the same pocket as a phone. Currently reading Neuromancer on mine
Yeah once I realised you could just scroll-read on your phone I started reading a lot more. You can have an entire library of books without having to carry them.
I didn't either until I used all Samsung displays for a couple years and now I can't look at any of them for more than like 5mins without eye pain. I can only use IPS displays now. But it could be some kind of genetic issue or something.
I am surprised that Kindle isn’t dead yet just based on Amazon horrible business practices and the fact their product is a DRM hell fest that shoves anti-consumer behavior down your throat. People are either too lazy or love being sheep I guess.
I’ve had a Kobo for many years, with calibre sideloading and managing my DRM-free library of ePUBs fully owned by me, and never looked back.
normies — who make up 99+% of e-reader users — haven't a clue what "calibre sideloading" and "DRM-free library of ePUBs" means. That's why Kindle isn't just not dead but thriving.
Disparaging normies by describing them as "People [who] are either too lazy or love being sheep" is rather judgmental.
I'm honestly surprised that people don't manage to find Anna's Archive when they can save a lot of money there.
I'm not sure about where you are but in Holland everyone was downloading movies and TV shows in the early 2000s. When Netflix came to Europe that changed though I do expect it to go back to that now that the content has been spread over tens of platforms with every rising prices and annoying ads.
I would visit people who were totally not technical and they'd have a PC in their livinroom with FTD on it (which was the typical Dutch piracy tool at that time). Popcorntime was there for the even less technical people. It was as easy as click and play, really. They didn't really know what they were doing but everyone has some smartass nephew who can set stuff like that up.
I find it very hard to understand that people who had no issue using windows 95 or XP and installing something like FTD can now not find anything.
I have to agree that it's harder to find Anna's archive than I thought, when I type "Download books for free" in duckduckgo it doesn't come up with Anna's Archive (or Z-Library or library genesis for that matter), if I type the names it does come up though.
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[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 80.4 ms ] threadApart from that it's great, books won't get any better with an upgraded ereader.
I sync books through Dropbox. Seamless as can be. (And no DRM or "leasing" nonsense)
It beats the pants off kindle
Pocketbooks just run Android and you can install what you want without any issue.
I got a "tiktok ring" that I use to read in bed, and it's fantastic
The only problem is if your device is connected to wifi and has updated to new firmware.
Not to say that the leather industry doesn't still contribute money to the meat industry, just that this change reads more as greenwashing than an upgrade.
Most consumer leather has a pigmented acrylic or polyurethane topcoat and then dyes and fat liquors. Chrome-tanned leather leaves chromium behind when it breaks down, potentially into the toxic hexavalent form. "Biodegradable" has no time limit attached, so it doesn't really say much about the "green-ness" of animal leather. Tanning itself is done to slow down biodegrading.
All of this is orthogonal to the fact that I, personally, as a consumer, do not want to purchase a product made from animals, which is why I'm glad they're not making them out of animals anymore.
Also it only fits the Signature Editions and will only be available in March (in the UK, at least).
I'm still mourning the Oasis :(
I've long wondered what the percentage of HN users/readers who are women is but it's impossible to know. For every self-described female here, most remain under the radar.
https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/53804-most-americans-didnt...
This literally isn't true :)
But more relevant is that if ~20% of adults are reading 10+ books a year, then there's absolutely still a market for eReaders. (Whether or not kindles deserve that market I'll leave for others to argue :)
They already deleted my books once so it stays since then in plane mode, and I recovered everything with Calibre.
Kobo had its store on the home page, and while it was unobstrusive, the Pocketbook has nothing at all. Worth a look, if you are interested.
I like the warmth setting of more current paperwhites.
I wonder if there's a connection?
That said, it is so buggy (constant freezes, occasional white screen of death) and so slow.
The touch interface is great for typing, but for turning pages I find myself either accidentally pressing on the screen or it not recognising the touch at all. Touching in the wrong spot can also result in it clicking links or similar.
The idea they might be bringing out a case that has the buttond seems great, except it's only for the signature editions.
Not happy about that one.
This is opt-in, so authors self-publishing make the choice when uploading their books.
I don’t see a download option. There used to be one, but they killed it two years ago or so.
And Amazon can still remove the book from your library anytime they want.
And if a book is on the no DRM list you can find a "download" link in the drop down menu for the book.
But I have not found a way to determine if a book has this option before buying it. So I'm not longer buying anything on Amazon.
Instead, I read my Kindle books on my S24 Ultra. Why?
One is the classic photographer's question: "What's the best camera?" The one you have with you.
The other is that I really like scrolling instead of page-turning. I can hold the phone in one hand and use my thumb to scroll up and down just like any webpage or document. This lets me keep my context instead of losing it at every page turn.
There are two steps to enable this.
First, open any book and tap somewhere in the middle. Select the "Aa" icon at the top. Go to the Layout tab at the top and turn on Continuous Scrolling.
Now you will have a problem. The selfie camera's circular hole overlaps the scrolling area. At least to my eyes, it is incredibly disorienting and annoying to have all the rest of the screen scroll but that camera cutout sits there.
To fix this, go to Settings / Display / Camera cutout. Scroll down to Kindle and change its setting from "Auto" to "Hide Camera cutout". This takes away a few pixels at the top of the screen, but you have plenty of display space available. And no disorienting black circle as you scroll.
You may still prefer a physical Kindle device, but with these two settings, the S24 Ultra is now my favorite Kindle.
> One reason is the classic photographer's question: "What is the best camera?" The one you have with you.
I have a Kobo Libra and while it’s bigger than the basic kindle I had (which I could put in my back pocket), it’s still fairly portable. The nicest thing is that I only need to press the power button to get back to what I was reading. Compare to unlocking the phone, open the app, locate the book and then opening it. Without being distracted.
I’ve had a Kobo for many years, with calibre sideloading and managing my DRM-free library of ePUBs fully owned by me, and never looked back.
Disparaging normies by describing them as "People [who] are either too lazy or love being sheep" is rather judgmental.
I'm not sure about where you are but in Holland everyone was downloading movies and TV shows in the early 2000s. When Netflix came to Europe that changed though I do expect it to go back to that now that the content has been spread over tens of platforms with every rising prices and annoying ads.
2. I am in the U.S.
3. >everyone was downloading movies and TV shows in the early 2000s.
Not normies; everyone in this case = HN-user types/techies, a very small portion of the general population.
I would visit people who were totally not technical and they'd have a PC in their livinroom with FTD on it (which was the typical Dutch piracy tool at that time). Popcorntime was there for the even less technical people. It was as easy as click and play, really. They didn't really know what they were doing but everyone has some smartass nephew who can set stuff like that up.
I find it very hard to understand that people who had no issue using windows 95 or XP and installing something like FTD can now not find anything.
I have to agree that it's harder to find Anna's archive than I thought, when I type "Download books for free" in duckduckgo it doesn't come up with Anna's Archive (or Z-Library or library genesis for that matter), if I type the names it does come up though.
That's why they have many consumers.
Given that most my ebooks are in ePub format, when it dies, the Kindle will be replaced by Kobo or whatever else that fits those requirements.