E-Reader or E-Paper Tablet & Zotero

philhutchinson
Does anyone successfully use an E-Reader or E-Paper tablet with Zotero?
I have a large Zotero library of 3000+ PDFs, mainly academic books and papers. I usually read and annotate within Zotero. Now the Android app has been released I wondered if:
a. Anyone used something like the Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C with Zotero, or
b. If any other Android-based e-readers worked well with Zotero. Or
c. If not, if anyone has recommendations for the best ereader for reading and annotating academic (mainly philosophy--so text based) PDFs based on experience of doing so?

Finally, it would be great if an E-Reader manufacturer partnered with Zotero to create a Zotero-focused E-Reader.
  • ridvanbinici
    edited yesterday at 10:57am
    I have been using Zotero in combination for various models of Onyx Boox for about 5 years now. I think I have used Note 5, Tab Ultra and Page 5 (not sure). I am mostly satisfied with the experience. If you have Zotero subscription, you have three workflow option. Boox offers native Zotero sync, there is Zoo for Zotero and Zotero official android app. All have upsides and downsides though. For example native Boox sync sometimes fail to download or upload items. Zoo for Zotero sometimes crashes and takes a long time to load. Official Zotero app has a fine reader, but pen input and e-reader experience not on
    par (and cannot be) with Boox's PDF reader app Neoreader.
    I forgot to mention KOReader Zotero plugin, which had some major issues about 6 months ago.
    For a detailed comparison, you could search the forums and find many more comments about e-readers experince with Zotero.

  • philhutchinson
    Thanks very much, that's really useful. So, just to be clear, you recommend Onyx Boox devices? I'm thinking of buying the new Note Air 5C.
  • ridvanbinici
    Cannot comment on a device that I have never used. All I can say is colored e-ink wasn't perfect when I toyed with latest models about one year ago.
  • tmarinus
    I just bought the boox 5c for zotero use.

    I'm still trying to get it all to work. Big concern is data ownership. Boox sends a lot of data to its servers. However one can remove and block many of these services. https://appsec.space/posts/onyx-boox-go-10.3/
    Besides this the company breaks the GNU licence which sucks!

    Then once that is done I setup sync using self hosted WebDAV inside zotero. And I'm using syncthing-fork to sync other pdfs from laptop and PC that are outside zotero.
    Additionally I setup the notes app from boox to auto export notes made into pdfs that allows me to see and use them on laptop.

    How does all this work? Decently. It could be way better for sure. Zotero is still missing some functions. For example I would love if the volume buttons (can can be set to scroll, next page or volume in boox) to work switching pages in the pdfs.
    I'm also missing tabs for opening multiple pdfs.
    And following links in a pdf I haven't found a direct way to go back (like how it works on desktop).

    The screen is dark, like all reviews say. This means you need to use the extra light, this works well but is not like a b/w ereader giving 0 eye strain. However it feels a lot better than an tablet for me.
    The pen works well too. (Quite impressed by that even)

    So here is my short summary of using the boox 5c for less than a week.
  • swfuhexin
    Maybe you can try: https://github.com/normanify/zbook
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