When it comes to an eBook reader, the choices are limited. The market is dominated by Amazon’s proprietary Kindle along with a few other options like Kobo, Nook and Onyx.
An interesting news for open source enthusiasts is that a developer, Joey Castillo, is working on creating an open
Kobo and Boox are both great alternatives to Kindles.
The first couple of Kobos I got over the last decade were admittedly a bit shit and plasticky, but I stuck with them, and the one I have now was double the price and ten times the quality. Really good company now
To add more context to this, this literally happened yesterday, but I bought a Kobo Touch (the N905 from 2011) new in box with a receipt from every it was purchased a week after launch in July 2011. I took it out of the box, plugged it into my computer to charge, and once it had some juice I followed the onscreen setup and it just works. It was discontinued 8 years ago but the links and setup instructions are still active and functioning. It doesn’t really feel any cheaper than my Paperwhite from 2017, and it reads epubs natively unlike the Paperwhite, so should be just fine for my daughter
I wasn’t impressed with the Kobo, although it does the job. I’m not familiar with the Boox. I will have to look that one up.
What sets some of Boox’s models apart from the other e-readers is they’re full Android devices; you can install most apps from the Play Store. Perhaps not as great for battery life, but a world apart so far as functionality goes (and you can even install the other e-book vendors’ apps if you have existing purchased content).
In the “pocketable” size category, Palma which is a phone form-factor device (I have one of these, has been great), the Page looks very much inspired by the design of the Kindle Oasis, or the Tab Mini C has a colour e-ink display.