{"id":321191,"date":"2026-03-04T10:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/321191\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T10:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:39:14","slug":"humble-bundle-turned-my-phone-into-the-ultimate-drm-free-ereader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/321191\/","title":{"rendered":"Humble Bundle turned my phone into the ultimate DRM-free eReader"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve long been a fan of Humble Bundle, but I have never purchased as much from the site as I do now\u2014and that has everything to do with my book-style foldable phone. If you’re not sure why someone might want a phone with a large square-shaped inner screen, I firmly believe that Humble Bundle is all the reason you need.<\/p>\n

Humble Bundle sells DRM-free collections of books and comics<\/p>\n

A nearly endless supply of reading material<\/p>\n

Humble Bundle is an online retailer selling games, books, and computer software in bundles where you get to set your own price. The minimum price to purchase everything in a bundle typically hovers between $10 and $20. These bundles are available for only a few weeks before they disappear, and a portion of each purchase goes to a different charity.<\/p>\n

Humble Bundle’s book bundles are distinct for being, more often than not, DRM-free. This means that, unlike Kindle books purchased from Amazon, they are free of any restrictions on where and how you read them. Humble Bundle simply provides you with a webpage to download your files in the EPUB, MOBI, PDF, or CBZ formats and leaves you to figure out which app you want to read then in (I’m particularly fond of Moon+ Reader<\/a>). Quite frankly, this is one of the best sources of DRM-free books and comics<\/a> you’ll find online.<\/p>\n

A book-style foldable is perfect for books<\/p>\n

Does the name give it away?<\/p>\n

The first time you use a book-style foldable, you probably imagine the inner screen will be great for watching video or playing games. We’ll, yes and no. Videos appear only slightly larger than they do on a large slab phone. Due to the screen’s aspect ratio, you get giant black bars unless you’re watching older 4:3 movies and TV shows. The same is often true for games. The benefit of the larger screen size isn’t a larger video, but the ability to multitask, such as reading YouTube comments in the bottom half while the video plays at the top or taking part in a group chat while watching Netflix.<\/p>\n

With books and comics, the story is different. Ebooks absolutely benefit from the larger screen. Having an 8-inch display in your pocket is like carrying around a Kindle that folds. It may not be E Ink, but I find I can read text on my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6<\/a>‘s AMOLED display for hours without it hurting my eyes. Sometimes I fit the text into two columns and hold my phone partially folded like a book<\/a>. Other times, I scroll text as though I were reading a social media feed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Ebook
\n Credit:\u00a0Bertel King \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

This is the best way to read digital comics<\/p>\n

My favorite way to read comics, period<\/p>\n

If you ultimately prefer reading ebooks on an E Ink display, I get it. Even though AMOLED has proven adequate for the job, I’d still activate an E Ink filter if I could (TCL NXTPAPER, I’m looking at you<\/a>). But this phone is hands-down the best way I’ve ever read comics, digital or otherwise.<\/p>\n

You see, like ebooks, I’ve never enjoyed reading comics on a widescreen laptop. Hunching over a desk just isn’t where I want to read, nor is it a posture I want to hold for extended amounts of time. When I try reading comics on tablets, the experience is better, but I still find the device too large for me to want to hold for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n

My foldable phone solves both issues. For starters, it’s the right shape. No matter whether I’m scrolling through comics saved as PDFs or tapping to flip pages, the text is large enough to read. The weight is also nicely distributed. Like a small eReader, I find my phone comfortable to hold while open.<\/p>\n

\"Graphic
\n Credit:\u00a0Bertel King \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

The high screen resolution, which is far denser than most tablets, makes the artwork crisper than nearly anywhere else. Comic books are sent to the printer with a density of 300 pixels per inch. My phone has a PPI of 410. I still occasionally check out physical graphic novels from the library, but when I do, I find I’ve come to prefer the experience of reading them on my foldable.<\/p>\n

I’ve read more bundles since getting this phone<\/p>\n

And check back for new bundles every month<\/p>\n

I used to only buy a few bundles a year. Now I sometimes buy a few bundles per month. That’s because it’s increasingly hard to beat the value. Sure, I often don’t dive into a bundle until years later, but when I do, I find I can spend months working my way through an author’s life work for the price of a single physical book. And unlike when buying a book directly from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Google Play, I actually own the files.<\/p>\n

Some of my favorite authors now are people I discovered through Humble Bundle, like John Scalzi (Old Man’s War) and Terry Moore (Stranger’s in Paradise).<\/p>\n

\"Graphic
\n Credit:\u00a0Bertel King \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

I’ve also managed to grab copies of nearly every comic I wanted from Image Comics when I started reading graphic novels in the 2010s, thanks to the many bundles that publisher offers. I treat my purchases not as a backlog that has to be cleared<\/a>, but as a library of work I’m likely to enjoy when the time is right. I get far more enjoyment out of them than any streaming service, with the peace of mind that my downloaded files won’t suddenly disappear.<\/p>\n

I can’t recommend Humble Bundle highly enough. I’ve built up a diverse collection over the years, ranging from guides to home repair, gardening, and DIY projects to sci-fi novels, deeply emotional graphic novels, and manga. The fact that I have these works in my pocket at all times, without having to remember to pack a separate eReader, is single-handedly worth the added cost of a phone that folds.<\/p>\n

\"Samsung<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSamsung<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tRAM \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t12GB<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tStorage \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t256GB<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBattery \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4,400mAh<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tOperating System \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOne UI 8<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tConnectivity \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4<\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s thinnest and lightest Fold yet feels like a regular phone when closed and a powerful multitasking machine when open. With a brighter 8-inch display and on-device Galaxy AI, it\u2019s ready for work, play, and everything in between.<\/p>\n

\"Pixel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGoogle<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tSoC \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGoogle Tensor G5<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tRAM \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t16GB<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tStorage \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t256 GB \/ 512 GB\/ 1TB with Zoned UFS<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBattery \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5015 mAh<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tOperating System \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndroid 16<\/p>\n

The latest entry in Google’s foldable line is bigger than ever with an 8-inch screen. Google also promises that the 10 Pro Fold can last up to 10 years worth of folding and unfolding, so this foldable can be an investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’ve long been a fan of Humble Bundle, but I have never purchased as much from the site…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[85,46,321,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-321191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}