As of February 2022, there are some high-quality color ebook Readers that have been released, including the well-reviewed Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color device which is produced by one of the professional eReader manufacturers in the world. Color eReader screens may revolutionize how we read ebooks in 2022 and beyond, especially when you use them to read comics and manga. Thinking of buying a color ebook reader to get an eye-friendly and colorful experience? Here are the top 2 color eReaders you can choose so far.
Compared to a LED/LCD tablet, color eReaders offer a more eye strain-free colorful reading experience. Now Kaleido Plus is the most wildly-used color screen, which can put an array of color filters on top of a black-and-white E Ink panel to create a scalable, affordable, and sunlight-readable color display. And the first two companies to take advantage of this new technology are PocketBook, a Swiss ebook reader company, and Chinese E Ink tablet-maker Onyx, whose Boox Nova3 Color is the other larger color E Ink device that's just hitting the US market.
What is E Ink Kaleido Plus?
E Ink Kaleido Plus is a new generation of screens made using electronic paper (E Ink) technology allowing you to display up to 4096 colors at 100 PPI, or black-and-white display at 300 PPI. It is the latest third generation of Kaleido screen, which enhances color saturation and fidelity and reduces color shift, improves the screen base color and brightness, and increases the viewing angle to help people get a better view of colorful content. Of course, Kaleido Plus doesn't produce superior screen clarity like LED/LCD-screen tablets or smartphones do. But it does bring color to reflective display technology.
1. Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color
ONYX BOOX ebook readers are the flagship of the market over the past few years. So does its color eReader - Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color.
Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is the first note-taking capable color e-ink device with the latest E Ink Kaleido Plus color 7,8” screen. Based on the Android 10.0 operating system, it allows you to install and use various applications. However, it is not cheap because it is new and expensive technology. It is $419.99 with a Wacom EMR pen included. So you can take notes or annotate books.
Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color has a compact body only 7,7 mm thick and weighs 9.3 ounces. At the same time, it is equipped with a powerful Octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, a speaker, USB-C port, front-lighting, and a variety of other apps including Onyx’s excellent note-taking and drawing app. And the resolution of the black and white display is 1872×1404 with 300 PPI and the color screen has a resolution of 624×468 with 100 PPI.
The BOOX software allows the user to open files of various text and graphic formats. When reading you can change font style and size, insert bookmarks, disposition of pages, and zoom documents at will. And its audio player also allows you to listen to music or audio books.
Right now Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is the best and most versatile color ereader on the market, which offers the ultimate customization. If you’re ready to experience this 7.8’’ color E Ink tablet to get an eye-friendly, colorful experience for reading and note-taking, you can order it at BOOX Shop and Amazon.
2. PocketBook InkPad Color
PocketBook InkPad Color is the second color eReader released by PocketBook. Like the Boox Nova3 Color, the PocketBook InkPad Color has the same screen panel, but with very different software. That's a 7.8-inch panel with 1,872 x 1,404 resolution at 300 PPI in black and white and 624×468 resolution with 100 PPI in color and display 4,096 different colors. One of the big reasons why color looks more vibrant on the Pocketbook is because it has a sunken bezel with an exposed e-paper screen.
The Pocketbook Inkpad Color is running Linux, which tends to be stable and less draining on the internal batter than Android used by the Boox Nova3 Color. It has a dual core 1GHZ processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and an audio player. It supports a record number of formats: 19 book, 6 audio, and 4 graphic. Supported audio formats are M4A, M4B, OGG, OGG.ZIP, MP3, MP3.ZIP. And supported digital contents include ACSM, CBR, CBZ, CHM, DJVU, DOC, DOCX, EPUB, FB2, FB2.ZIP, HTM, HTML, MOBI, PDF, PRC, RTF, TXT.
3. Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color vs Pocketbook Inkpad Color
The Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color and Pocketbook Inkpad Color are two eReaders that are running the latest generation E INK Kaleido Plus color e-paper. Although with some loss of clarity, the color capabilities work, comics and other text look good. But they are quite different when it comes to the overall user experience and performance. The Inkpad color is running Linux and supports a myriad of ebook formats, whereas the Nova 3 color also reads books, but is running Android 10 and has Google Play. Plus Nova 3 color is also a dedicated e-note device via the WACOM layer that allows you to draw, take notes or edit PDF files.
In a word, compared to the Pocketbook Inkpad Color, the Onyx Nova 3 is substantially better. Onyx's processor is considerably faster, its overall hardware is superior. It also includes stylus support for handwriting notes and uses Android 10 instead of a locked-down Linux OS that prevents users from installing apps.
How to View Any Digital Contents on the above Color eReaders?
Both color eReaders allow you to sideload your DRM free MP3 and ebooks including comics and manga. So as long as you can get rid of the DRM protection from your digital contents purchased from the mainstream online book seller, such as Amazon, Kobo, Google Play Book, Barnes &s Noble, etc, you can read your files on these two color eReaders to get the best user experience. For your convenience, here's a step-by-step guide to help you decrypt your ebooks and Audible audiobooks. Of course, you can transfer your DRM free ebooks or audio files downloaded from the Internet to Onyx or PocketBook readers directly.
Amy Lopez crafts informative articles on eBooks and eReaders, uncovering optimal methods to enhance your eBook reading experience, and eagerly shares her findings with you.
