German page "allesebook" (= all ebook) has an Article about the Inkbook Classic 2 and the Inkbook Prime, which I've used as a base for my assessment, because they are quite good.

You'll definitely notice the low resolution on the Classic 2. 800*600 is pretty low, and while it's still relatively good e-paper, it's going to feel like reading some image printed in the wrong resolution, but as a book, if you haven't got bad eyesight. Here's a comparison of some Kindles (the Classic Kindle also has got 800*600 with 167 dpi). Even the more expensive version does not have great dpi.

Also, the Classic does not have a backlight, which might or might not be relevant to your needs. I find it quite nice to read at night without disturbing my dearest next to me at all.
That said, it should suffice to run FBReader* and some small apps, just like the tolino, because at first glance, they should be of comparable performance. The big plus here is the external micro-SD.

At the bottom, the linked Article compares the InkBooks with the Tolino I've mentioned before as an easy-to-root alternative with better out-of-the-box software – and if you put a beefy micro-SD inside, it'll take a while to fill it up with books. But with the only hardware buttons on the tolino being power on/off, backlight on/off and home (which is "back" in normal android apps) that still does not fit your needs. (I think tapping the screen edges is not much of a problem, btw.)

I'll echo what their recommendation is:
Just try it. Get it from Amazon, try it for a few days and if it's a pile of rubbish, reset it and send it back. If I were in the market for a new reader, I might consider trying the Inkbook Prime, to be honest. But most likely it'll end up being just a bit too pixel-y for me, as well.


*) But based on my experience on the tolino: Don't fall asleep reading with FBReader and let the device fall over. It tries to select pages of text, the RAM fills and everything goes horribly wrong until you kill the app.

I don't see the need of more resolution for an e-reader, and perhaps it has benefits: less power comsumption. On my kobo I never had a problem related to RAM. Just need patience with the processor speed.

I agree, in normal operation with lightweight apps, the RAM isn't much of a problem – but don't try to, for example, use the amazon kindle app for android. Apart from having horrible animations, while it sometimes works, other times it just crashes. Normal browsers I tried (chromium, firefox) wouldn't work at all. (I have a different launcher + a floating menu button thingy for 'advanced' usage running, as well, though.) And also the thing with selecting dozens of pages of text in FBReader by accident I described above.

Different resolutions really are a matter of taste, of course: For me personally, a higher resolution really makes a difference. But then again, I'm the type of guy who already flinches when he sees printed things with visible pixels (like cheap ads in the bus or menus in a snack bar, you know the type) – when reading, it's really a bit distracting for me. With 303 dpi (and the right fonts installed) on the other hand, I find myself mostly only missing the smell of real books, otherwise it's absolutely fine. It even feels to me to be less straining for the eyes, but that could be something like a placebo effect. Also, my parents both have low-res Kindles and don't see any difference, so this is obviously not a problem for all people, it's just one that's very important for my own experience.

For energy consumption I'd imagine the "missing" backlight to be more relevant than fewer pixels, but even with it (I'm only using it only on low brightness and when it's dark), the battery lasts for weeks with moderate to heavy usage. I'd expect the same from all current e-readers, to be honest. That's not to say it's not true that fewer switched pixels can use less energy, but especially with most animations disabled, I can't imagine it to be a really big deal for reading.
A low resolution might put a bit less stress on the slow CPU for rendering stuff (and considerably so on memory when dealing with big images), though.

I've the Kobo Aura. I very like its small size, it can stand into my jeans rear pocket. But the resolution is not good enough. I can definitely live and read like this, but a better resolution would have been really better. It's just 30 euros more as far as I remember. Money well spent.

Onyxboox has a variety of eInk readers.
To have a good reading and avoid problems with "pdf not fit to screen" a big screen like OnyxBoox Max or
OnyxBoox Prometeus
OnyxBoox MAX
Display: E Ink Mobius, 13,3", touch, resolution 1200 × 1600 dots, 16 levels of grey
"Its large and comfortable for your eyes display, .. optimal for reading PDF and DjVu files"
Lighting: No
Processor: 1 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Internal memory: 16 GB
Audio: Stereo output, 3,5 mm, Speaker, Microphone
Expansion slot: For micro SD cards
USB interface: USB 2.0
Supported file formats
Text: TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, DOC, DOCX, PRC, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, EPUB
Graphic: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Others: PDF, DjVu, MP3
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
Battery: Polymer Li-on, 4100 mAh
Operating system: Android 4.0.4
Size 325 × 237 × 7,5 mm
Weight: 480 gr


PROMETEUS
Display: 9,7", E Ink Pearl, 16 levels of grey, 825 × 1200 dpi, touch
Lighting: MOON Light
Processor: Freescale i.MX6, 1 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Internal memory: 16 GB
Expansion slot : For SD/MMC/SDHC cards
USB interface: microUSB
Supported file formats:
Text: TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, DOC, DOCX, PRC, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, EPUB
Graphic: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Others: PDF, DjVu
Wireless interface: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
Battery Li-on, 3000 mAh
Operating system Android 4.0.4
Size 258,2 × 177,3 × 9,5 mm
Color: Black. Weight: 450 gr

MartinK said about Onyx Boox M92, that is hackable.


Although an e-reader can read pdf files, the reading it is not so comfort as on .epub files. The pdf was designed to deliver the document in the exact aspect as was created (same fonts, size, margins, etc). That exacteness doesn't fit well on 6", 5" screens.
In the other hand, epup is designed precisely to do that. So you can choose the size, font, interlined, etc acording to your preference and your e-reader device. Even the build-in dictionary works on epub files (not in pdf).
An EPUB file is a ZIP archive that contains, in effect, a website—including HTML files, images, CSS style sheets, and other assets. It also contains metadata.