Tablets and e-readers

  1. hardware

Here are some notes regarding portable computing devices which fall in the broad "tablet" category. We focus specifically on devices to read papers (and especially PDFs) on, which excludes phones and laptops that are either too small or unwieldy.

We focus on devices that can be rooted with our own operating system. Considering the environment, this generally means Android derivatives like LineageOS although alternatives are acceptable (like postmarketOS, Replicant, OmniROM, resurrection remix, and what the hell is Dirty Unicorns exactly?) . This excludes proprietary platforms like Apple products but also many other tablets which run proprietary versions of Android or even Windows. Exceptions are made for devices that were under our possession or evaluated directly.

  1. E-readers
    1. Kobo
      1. Kobo Glo HD
      2. Aura h2o
      3. Clara HD
    2. Onyx
      1. Onyx Boox Max 2
      2. Onyx Boox Note Pro
      3. Onyx Mira
    3. reMarkable
    4. Sony
      1. PRS-T2
      2. DPTS1
    5. Freewrite
    6. Dasung
    7. Supernote
  2. Tablets
    1. 2024 update
    2. Star Labs
    3. Minisforum
    4. Sony
    5. Samsung
    6. Asus
    7. iPad 4
    8. Lenovo
    9. Pine64
    10. Jingpad A1
    11. Microsoft
    12. Google
  3. Phones
  4. A word on sizes
  5. References

E-readers

An e-reader "also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals." For the purpose of this documentation, the difference between an e-reader and a tablet is that an e-reader has an electronic paper display which uses no battery when idle. This leads to a longer battery life (weeks instead of days) at the cost of a lower refresh rate (think 4-20Hz max instead of 60Hz for old CRTs, 120Hz for iPads and 600Hz for newer TVs). The E Ink corporation holds many patents on the technology which unfortunately keeps the price quite high when compared with regular displays.

As far as I know, all e-reader batteries are non-removable.

Kobo

Kobo (an anagram of "book") is a company that was started by Indigo books so it used to be Canadian but was bought by the Rakuten conglomerate. They make e-readers and tablets but we'll focus only on their e-readers for now as they run a proprietary OS. They are interesting only because they make cheap e-book readers. Although their OS is Linux-based, it's mostly proprietary.

Their firmware is (deliberately?) easily modifiable. I wrote wallabako to sync my articles to the reader, with moderate success.

Kobo Glo HD

The Glo HD is a nice device and I have used it extensively.

Downsides:

Around 130$ retail price?

Aura h2o

Similar to the Glo HD, the Aura h2o is larger, and waterproof, but more expensive:

Otherwise similar to the Glo HD. Retail price around 180$CAD.

Clara HD

See the guide I wrote for hacking on this device, similar to the above two devices.

Onyx

Onyx make all sorts of (e-ink) tablets, from big to small, mostly running Android. They publish some of their source on GitHub, mostly as a "GPL-compliant dump mode", but it's still better than nothing. The also have a neat community forum. They are based in China so products will ship from there.

Update: they seem to actually have significant GPL-compliance issues, from what I've read on hacker news. See also this Linux Tech Tips forum post.

Onyx Boox Max 2

The Onyx Boox Max 2 is an awesome creature:

Downsides:

Update: the Onyx Boox Max 2 Pro just came out with an update on the e-ink technology (Mobius) and a more powerful processor. 850$USD

Another update: there's also the Max 3 now at 860$USD.

Onyx Boox Note Pro

The Onyx Boox Note Pro is slightly more reasonable:

Downsides:

I ended up buying two of those (one for a teacher and one for me! ;), so I guess that means I'm happy with it. My biggest gripe about it is the old Android release and weird OS, but the reader is in generally excellent.

Onyx Mira

Not an e-reader, but a monitor, similar to the Dasungs:

https://shop.boox.com/products/mira

In depth review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBfWkxOfUfQ

reMarkable

The reMarkable seems promising:

Downsides:

There's a library to write applications for it (here's also an development tutorial) which is a good sign, but then why write applications when you can run Android on other readers?

Some notes from a friend:

See also this list of reMarkable resources.

Update: the reMarkable has a new version that looks really impressive, according to this Techcrunch review:

Sony

PRS-T2

The Sony PRS-T2) was my first e-ink book reader. It died in a 1.5m free-fall after a ski trip by -20°C. Those are extreme conditions and I considered it served me well. The device actually still works, but the display (or more precisely the "substrate") is cracked which means the display does not work anymore and "repairing it would [not] be a cost-effective thing to try to do".

Downsides:

DPTS1

The DPTS1 is a fantastic device and was the first to introduce "real paper sizes" to e-ink displays. The DPTS1 itself is discontinued and has been replaced by the DPT-RP1/DPT-CP1 (10.3", 13.3").

Downsides:

Freewrite

Le freewrite pourrait être une façon intéressante de me forcer à écrire. Amener seulement ça dans une chalet dans le bois pour une semaine. Mais ça coûte vraiment cher, probablement à cause de l'écran "E ink" (550$USD).

C'est aussi une machine beaucoup plus restreinte (délibérément) qu'une tablette générique.

Dasung

Dasung Tech make kind of weird devices. Their first device was a 13.3" e-ink monitor that only supported display and touch input, over HDMI, and that apparently works in Linux.

They also make a weird not-ereader that is a 7.8" e-ink screen that's designed to be a "phone monitor" but that also runs Android (6!) and can act as a standalone e-reader.

Supernote

https://supernote.com/

interesting devices, "paperlike", no backlight, handwriting recognition, mark/review system, PDF annotations, wacom pen, dropbox/drive backups, screencast support, USB transfer, no backlight. (.xps) formats".

10.3" device replacement "in development", for now 7.3" device available (Supernote Nomad) for 300$USD:

Tablets

Tablets are basically like ebook-readers, except they use a normal, backlit color display which uses more power and is less readable in direct sunlight. It's also not good for your eyes and your sleep, but those are generally cheaper and more powerful than ebook readers because the technology is more common.

2024 update

Right now, I am considering a new tablet since I bricked the Samsung (!). My main concern with that tablet was that it was stuck in Samsung's crap Android OS, and updates were locked behind a login wall. It was also annoying not to be able to install my own firmware or at least clean up the spyware.

Besides, now I'm considering perhaps using a normal Linux distro as a base for a tablet, now that Organic Maps is available in Flatpak... (My biggest blocker was pretty much missing OSMand, but OM is a good replacement.)

I wrote a spec on reddit, and it looks like the intersection of "OLED" and "mainline linux" is pretty much impossible except perhaps the ASUS T3300 although it's not clear if that runs mainline or not. According to this thread, Ubuntu works except for the camera, and ChromeOS works except the camera and fingerprint reader. Similar report from Arch Linux. Pen requires charging unfortunately, so probably not great.

Alternatively, I've been told Samsung is not that bad and perhaps it's worth giving them a try again, with the understanding it will never be flashed with a proper OS...

Why can't we have nice things?

Star Labs

https://ca.starlabs.systems/pages/starlite

Linux tablet, fanless, 3k display, attached magnetic keyboard, micro HDMI, 2x USB-C, micro SD, headphone jack, secure boot, LVFS, coreboot, 512GB - 2TB SSD, 16GB DDR5, 2x 2k camera, 12h battery life, ubuntu supported out of the box, 600-900$, not yet available.

pollo called it "underpowered"

Minisforum

https://www.minisforum.com/page/v3/

touch screen is not wacom, so less reliable, otherwise nice tech, high-end AMD CPU, can be used as an external monitor.

Sony

Sony has a Xperia Z2 tablet that was recommended on the #tech channel. Apparently, it "runs mainline" (thanks to postmarketOS), although that's without cameras or sound) and there are builds for Sony tablets on LineageOS (LOS).

The Z2 doesn't seem to be on sale anymore (nothing on BestBuy or Amazon) but the next generation is the Z4 which is also supported by LOS. The Z4 has better dust protection (IP65 instead of IP55), is lighter (389g), a better screen and processor.

But even the newer Sony machines are seemingly hard to find in Canada: nothing at Monoprice, BestBuy, Canada Computers, and Amazon has weird stuff at 2000+$.

Samsung

The Galaxy tab S2 (LOS page for 8.0 and 9.7") were recommended on Reddit as "pretty much the only recent tablet that's also capable of running official LOS":

Bestbuy: 380$ for 32GB S2.

Much cheaper alternatives are available as well, like the Galaxy Tab E 9.7" (LOS page) at 200$:

Update: The S2 is obviously not on sale new anymore (2020). But the S5e is on sale (~500-600$CAD at Bestbuy, and it's also one of very few tablets supported by LOS (gsmarena):

See gts4lvwifi for notes.

Asus

Another player in the tablet market is Asus. The only one supported by LOS is the ZenPad 8.0:

Bestbuy: 200$ for 16GB, 250$ for 32GB.

Definitely on the cheaper end of the market.

iPad 4

Donated by family. Specifications:

Downsides:

Originally priced at 500-700$USD, now at around 250-350$USD.

Lenovo

Lenovo made a weird mix between a tablet, a laptop and a e-reader that we should mention her. The Verge has a good review of the thing called the Yoga Book C930: it's basically a folding tablet/laptop mix that has a dual e-ink and normal display, where the e-ink display doubles as a keyboard.

Insane.

Pine64

Those guys known for their cheap laptop are making a cheap tablet as well, running Ubuntu.

Update: this is in pre-order now, at 100$ a pop (plus 20$ for the magnetic keyboard), it looks real promising.

Jingpad A1

https://en.jingos.com/jingpad-a1/

Microsoft

I feel really odd suggesting people buy anything from Microsoft, but there you have it, some fellow Debian Developer did, so I can't help but adding it to the pile:

https://changelog.complete.org/archives/10396-i-finally-found-a-solid-debian-tablet-the-surface-go-2

Pretty bad iFixit score (3/10):

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Surface_Go_2

Google

Google made a tablet. I think it's bad, see this blog post.

Phones

When a tablet goes below 9", it's not a tablet anymore. See phone instead. Some people wish they had those without a baseband, but unfortunately that's not possible right now.

A word on sizes

As usual, sizes can be confusing. Here are a few examples of diagonal sizes:

Most recent Samsung tablets are either 7" or 10" in diagonal, but they basically made so many sizes we can't keep track anymore. Apple iPads are either 10" or 12".

References

Created . Edited .