Johannes Gutenberg didn’t just invent printing. He moved Western society from an oral tradition to a written tradition that has lasted almost 600 years. Today, digital threatens this tradition, even though it is possible to hold almost all the books on the planet in the palm of your hand, thanks to modern electronic readers.
Kobo Elipsa 2E
The most recent example is Kobo’s Elipsa 2E eReader. The formerly Canadian brand but now affiliated with Japanese digital giant Rakuten is offering a new 10.3-inch monochrome E Ink screen e-reader this spring, which comes with a stylus. It is therefore possible to consult books purchased, borrowed or downloaded in EPUB format and then stored on the device via a USB connection or via the Dropbox storage service, in particular. You can also doodle, annotate, highlight and share notes, thoughts or remarks that you make directly in the document and which are automatically saved by the device.
The Elipsa 2E is the second generation of this reader, and it shows. The device responds strongly to the actions of the finger or the stylus that is made on the surface of its screen. This one is a bit rough, like good quality paper, and backlit with LEDs that generate blue or yellow light, which is said to be less harmful to your eyes and sleep when you bed in the dark.
In addition to the Kobo e-book store, one can load web bookmarks stored in the Pocket application, which offers an extension to install in the web browser of one’s personal computer or smart phone. You can pair a headset via a Bluetooth connection to listen to audio books, but you wonder if this is necessary on an e-reader designed above all for the pleasure of the eyes.
Above all, this Kobo allows you to borrow digital books completely free of charge from the municipal libraries of all municipalities in Quebec via the OverDrive online service, embedded in the reader, or via the Pretnumerique.ca site, via a personal computer.
This possibility of borrowing a digital copy of the most recent books published by us for three weeks is certainly the flagship application of any electronic slate like the Elipsa. That, and battery life per charge good for at least two weeks, worry-free.
On the other hand, you have to pay the price: the reader costs $500 and the case that makes it an elegant book that you carry around with you costs an additional $90.
Amazon adopts the EPUB format
The newcomer from Kobo is a replica of the most recent e-reader from its eternal rival, the American giant Amazon. Its Kindle Scribe costs a little less than the Elipsa 2E, and it too comes with a stylus that lets you annotate just about anything. Interesting detail: Amazon is abandoning its old proprietary MOBI e-book format and making more room for the EPUB format.
People who buy their digital books on sites like LesLibraires.ca will be happy to learn that they can more easily transfer their library to this Kindle without having to convert them. This is perhaps the only good news about the Kindle. For anyone who prefers to do business with a municipal library for their reading material, this is still not a preferred option.
It’s a shame, because the Kindle app gives Amazon e-readers great compatibility with just about every other type of mobile device. Amazon’s Fire tablets, iPad, iPhone, and Android mobile devices can all sync not only the books in their Kindle library to the brand’s eReaders, but the app also syncs where you’re at. in each of the books in question.
A color E Ink reader!
Unfortunately for Kobo and Amazon, their most recent eReaders are not enough to render obsolete a Chinese eReader that was launched in 2021 by a brand little known to us called Onyx. The Boox Nova 3 is a compact, full-color E Ink screen e-reader that has two major advantages: first, its full-color backlit display doesn’t have the shine of an iPad, but allows images to be viewed in a more natural. For comic book lovers, it’s worth it.
Then the Nova 3 is powered by Android system. Just tick a box or two in its settings to install the Google Play Store, and then download third-party apps. Amazon’s Kindle, for example, allows you to synchronize a library of digital books that you already have. And since the Pretnumerique.ca platform has just launched its Android application, you can borrow books from the local library directly from the device.
Let’s repeat that the Nova 3 is an Android tablet. We can therefore also install the content of our choice there, even the music service of his choice to add a soundtrack to his reading. It also comes with a stylus that allows you to take notes and then synchronize them with the cloud service of your choice.
This e-reader is not cheap either: its retail price with stylus and case is $400. But to get your hands on an almost infinite number of (digital) books, most available for free within a few days, is actually a very small price…
It’s Gutenberg who gives you a piece of paper.