The new models are available for pre-order now, and are launching on April 30

Why can’t they just use Android? I have books on all kinds of book stores.

Onyx and Kobo do. But their battery life is way inferior to PocketBook, which uses naked Linux.

I’m not aware of any Kobo using Android.

Since Kobo rebrands as Tolino too and one i had years ago was clearly some sort of Android, i think they are still? Maybe more locked down and under the hood?

Tolinos use different processors precisely because they run Android, while Kobos do not.

Right, now i remember reading about that. Which is why i got an Onyx then. Thanks!

All kobos use a custom OS built on Android…8 (lol). Its not recognizable as Android, but it is the base.

I’m dubious Android even serves as a base for Kobo’s OS. I’ve seen no evidence to support that claim.

EDIT: if you are referring to Tolinos, they are not simple rebrands of Kobos.

No, I forget where exactly it was, but at some point last year I was deep in Rakuten’s documentation and it referenced that the Clara HD’s OS is based on a modified Android 8 kernel.

Using Calibre you could probably glue that together. I wouldn’t want Android on an ereader personally.

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Kobo? No. They have their own firmware.

some ereaders do use android, my old onyx did, but honestly i much prefer the dedicated solution kobo has. they could use android, but if they’ve got the resources to make their own os targeting their actual use case instead of cramming a mobile phone os in there, why wouldn’t they? even their os has too much cruft for my taste, but it is a lot less than an android ereader.

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