Of course I dream of something with feature parity with the US and Eastern alternatives, but I am not interested in color or touch. Mostly care about format support and rendering.

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[–] Midnattssol@feddit.nu 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Inkbook, ~~Pocketbok~~ (Sorry, Pocketbook is Swiss so not EU), Tolino. Inkbook can sideload most Android apps so it doesn't lock you into any particular ecosystem. I have one myself (Focus Plus) It's fairly basic but ok. Above all it works with the app my local library uses. It's the only European reader I've tried so can't really comment on the others.

[–] philpo@feddit.org 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Tolino is part of Kobo which is a Canadian company. Which itself is part of Rakuten, a Japanese company.

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

What's the point of a Google Android product build in the EU?

[–] eunieisthebus@feddit.org 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Tech products like an eReader are almost always made in China anyway. Buying a real book would be without American BigTech and Chinese manufacturer

[–] Midnattssol@feddit.nu 2 points 2 weeks ago

Fair enough, but different people have different needs and preferences. I appreciate being able to read daily papers from all over the world and prefer an e-papers screen over backlit alternatives. There are also books that have gone out of print or are only published electronically. And being able to load thousands of books onto a device weighing a few hg Is a huge plus especially if you travel.

[–] erebion@news.erebion.eu 1 points 2 weeks ago

I'd love a European open hardware/free software device. But does that exist? I haven't seen that yet.

Better is good. If it is made in China, but runs software that does not a rely on a cloud and it works offline, that might also work for quite a lot of people looking to get away from US products spying on them.

[–] Midnattssol@feddit.nu 3 points 2 weeks ago

InkBook's OS is based on Android but it's not stock Android so you don't need to link the device to any Google account or such. My library uses Android apps for book lending and newspaper and magazine access digitally so personally my options for library loans is a reader that can sideload Android apps or nothing at all.

[–] erebion@news.erebion.eu 1 points 2 weeks ago

Also keep in mind that the non-Google options are more optimised, have better battery life and are usually better to use due to less rough edges (Abdroid just isn't designed for e-ink screens, it was meant to be used for digital cameras and Google decided to use it for phones).