cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39848038
I bought myself a fancy new TLC 11 Nxtpaper Gen 2 with a cool e-ink type display. It’s an android tablet and I’m breaking free from Apple. That means no more Apple Books for my epubs. That also means, I’m now looking for a good solution to annotating epubs/pdfs (mostly highlights) on Android. I’d loveeee it it had some bring your own storage sync (webdav) or just plays well with the local storage for using syncthing etc. What are the best options?
KOReader the GOAT.
Do you have it setup to sync highlights/annotations? how does that work for you?
I’ve been synching progress and stats between a pair of devices! It’s been great since it runs well on my haul broken kindle & my android.
There is some(maybe a bit more than some) setup time to get used to the layers of menus, but it’s a pretty robust app.
How are you syncing progress? I got ipds working but it doesn’t sync progress
I’ve currently got progress syncing through Calibre-Web-Automated, but I’d also tried it via KoInsights which I’m using for syncing reading stats. I’m in the process of migrating to my library to BookLore which also has a sync server.
If anyone was wondering: https://www.tcl.com/us/en/products/mobile/tcl-tab/nxtpaper-11-gen2
11 inch display with 60 hz refresh, but it sounds like regular lcd rather than e-ink? It has an 8000mah battery that it says can run the tablet through a full day, so that’s nothing like an epaper tablet. It sounds more like a drawing tablet, as it has a pressure sensitive pen.
Anyway, I’ve been using Librera FD for reading epubs on Android. Its blurb mentions annotations but I’ve never tried that feature.
I have an Inkplate 10 e-paper tablet but haven’t been using it.
It’s lcd with some matte finish, far from eink.
I’m not that techy on the screens front but it’s not totally a regular lcd but not as good as e-ink either. It’s kinda something in between. I’ve only gotten to play with it a for a few minutes so far but it’s hard to describe. These pictures do it some justice though: https://www.androidcentral.com/tablets/tcl-nxtpaper-4-fixes-one-of-the-technologys-biggest-hidden-issues
Could it be that it aims to be the same technology? E-Ink is a brand.
I see, yeah there is something about it in the blurb. How do you like the tablet? Is it responsive? Is it full of Android bloatware? Do you know if it is rootable?
I see there is a 14 inch version that’s about $300 and that starts to get interesting. It’s not “2nd gen” though. And, I had thought of TCL as a lower tier manufacturer with quality issues, but I hadn’t looked into it much.
I like that the tablet has an SD (probably microSD) slot. Don’t like that there’s no headphone jack. There’s plenty of space in those things compared to a phone.
So I’ve gotten to use the tablet a bit now and I would say it’s fine. I might expect a bit more for $170 but because it’s so big I can excuse it. Um, it’s a little laggy, um, just out of the box. It doesn’t have much bloatware, maybe two or three manufacturer apps, but not like Candy Crush and all that junk. My very basic research tells me it’s not rootable. I’m really not sure if there is actually a special technology to the screen or it’s just like a matte screen protector but I sat in the park in full sunlight and was able to read a book perfectly well not quite as good as a paperwhite but pretty close so overall it’s decent and the pen works pretty well for writing and drawing. Compared to how much an iPad costs, I think the quality is fairly close.
Thanks, it is kind of intriguing though I keep telling myself to just use normal Linux stuff instead of Android. I’d want the 14 inch one which is around $300. Is there any trouble installing F-droid and apps from there?
Alternatives I’m thinking of include Lenovo Yoga laptop (16 inch) and a Raspberry Pi thing with an HDMI monitor (that would be plug-in only but I mostly read at home).
F-droid is working great. Hard to say this vs a linux setup. It’s not super lightweight but more than a laptop for sure if that matters for you. The 14 inch one seems pretty monster so at that point maybe a laptop is worth it.
My sister has a 13 inch ipad and it’s a nice size, 14" should be fine. I have some doubts about the big Lenovo though. My main interest is reading full page PDFs so anything less than 14" will be annoying. Ok I’ll give it more thought. Laptop prices are going to go up because of the dram shortage too. Sigh.
Try Readest? I have used it for some time and it works great.
Moon+ has what you’re looking for. Syncs to box, Dropbox, gdrive and webdav. And can download from opds libraries like calibre if you selfhost your epubs.
Moon reader + with webdav sync for progress etc and SyncThing for books.
https://github.com/readest/readest is looking quite promising
I’ve been exclusively reading my fiction books (all epubs) on Readest and absolutely love it. Recently I also started using it for my nonfiction books and articles (mostly pdf) as an experiment, and it’s workable but a little more rough around the edges still.
You can highlight and annotate, and export all annotations for a book once you are done, for which I have set up a small pipeline to directly import them into my reference management software.
It works pretty well with local storage (though I don’t believe it does ‘auto-imports’ of new files by default) and I’ve additionally been using their free hosted offering to sync my book progress. It’s neat and free up to 500mb of books, but you’re right that I would also prefer a byo storage solution, perhaps in the future.
The paid upgrades are mostly for AI stuff and translations which I don’t really concern myself with.
I’m a fan of Lithium myself. It’s really solid app, with great performance, super reliable. It’s closed source though and has a pro version.
But I found it better for my needs than Moon+before getting a pocketbook I was using ReadEra and it worked alright (for basic reading)
Does the pocketbook app/device let you annotate books? It seems quite interesting but not generally available in the US. Read era does look interesting though.
