If you need a portable reader, is there any reason to choose an e-reader over your phone? (lemmy.world)

submitted 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) by LarryBetraitor@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

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I hear that it's quite possible to jailbreak your kindle these days, and that sounds super cool.

But a lot of e-Readers tend to be quite expensive. Why would you purchase an e-Reader if you already have your phone? Even if you didn't, your average phone is still gonna be cheaper than an e-Reader. Depending on the phone you'll get, it's also more durable and portable, probably even waterproof. Phones also tend to have more storage than ereaders. They even come with color. (I know color e-Readers exist, but they're even MORE expensive, and they also come with their own issues that black-n-white e-Readers don't have.)

Yeah, eReaders have more battery life than phones, and they're also easier on the eyes. But overall, why buy an e-Reader to jailbreak if you already have a phone?

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[-] moonburster@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago

I will answer to some things

they're expensive, but they also outlast most modern laptops. A first gen Sony still fulfills its purpose of reading epubs. So in the end it isn't as expensive. Secondhand it is also a lot cheaper and again, they don't age that much
most readers are waterproof
e-readers have little storage, but a book is a few MB's. So even with 16gb, you probably never fill it
color is fun, but I'd recommend steering away if your end goal is reading books. You need to push the backlight way earlier than on a bw ereader. If you do read comics, it looks like an old newspaper in terms of picture quality. The colors are far from accurate, but you only notice this side by side with the actual comic/phone
I would steer away from kindles. They're known to just update and kill your setup. There are plenty of devices in which you can play around without this issue. Kobo and pocketbook are in my opinion the most viable options. Long battery life, supports many formats, supports koreader if you want. Boox is also fun, but due to android the battery life is a lot less. With the boox you're able to run Android apps though, so you could more easily use it like a notepad with your familiar apps

[-] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

I have a boox and battery life is really not an issue at all.

[-] moonburster@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

What is the battery life you're working with? I prefer months over weeks imho

[-] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I mean I've been using it as a tablet for taking notes and it lasted pretty much an entire week of taking notes for a couple hours everyday. Not used it as a pure reader honestly

this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026

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