To learn is not to know; there are those who know and there are scientists - some are created by memory, others - by philosophy.
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Hey Habr! When we were talking about 6-inch e-book readers from ONYX BOOX, they casually mentioned another device - Monte Cristo 4. It deserves a separate review, not only because it belongs to the premium segment due to the aluminum-magnesium alloy case and screen with protection from the Japanese manufacturer Asahi; Monte Cristo 4 is the flagship of the line, which, with a smaller screen diagonal, is able to offer performance at the level of its older brothers, and it has become even more interesting to interact with content. All the details are traditionally under the cut.
Until recently, ONYX BOOX readers with a large screen diagonal could boast of flagship characteristics. There is no need to look far for examples - take the same or , which we have already reviewed in detail. It turns out that if you needed advanced hardware, you had to choose large devices. But not always the power is closely adjacent to the size of the screen: it often happens that the user needs maximum performance in a compact package. For such readers, ONYX BOOX Monte Cristo 4 was released.
The new model has become a logical continuation of the line of readers of the ONYX BOOX brand, which is represented in Russia by MakTsentr. Alexandre Dumas again helped in naming the model with his famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo, to which you can find many references - both the external design of the box with the device and its content (when the book is put into sleep mode, various sketches from books). The fourth iteration of the ONYX BOOX Monte Cristo is definitely not a “for show” update. To see this, just take a quick look at the technical specifications of the new reader:
| Display | Touchscreen, 6″, E Ink Carta Plus, 1072 × 1448 pixels, 16 grayscale, multi-touch, SNOW Field |
| backlight | MOON Light + |
| Touch screen | Capacitive multitouch |
| Operating system | Android 4.4 |
| Battery | Lithium polymer, capacity 3000 mAh |
| Processor | Quad-core, 1.2 GHz |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Built-in Memory | 8 GB |
| Memory card | MicroSD/MicroSDHC |
| Supported Formats | TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB3, FB2.zip, DOC, DOCX, PRC, MOBI, CHM, PDB, EPUB, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, PDF, DjVu |
| Wireless communication | Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n |
| Dimensions, mm | 159 × × 114 8 |
| Weight, g | 205 |
Why is our "count" so interesting? Firstly, the latest generation E Ink Carta Plus screen with SNOW Field function and MOON Light + backlight, which allows you to adjust the color temperature of the backlight. At the same time, the display has an impressive resolution of 1072 × 1448 pixels and an outstanding pixel density for this type of screen - 300 ppi. An indicator comparable to high-quality paper printing.
For dessert - 1 GB of RAM (no need to be surprised, for an e-book this is REALLY a lot), 8 GB of storage due to support for memory cards and Wi-Fi for accessing the Internet using the built-in browser and connecting network libraries. I was a little surprised that it was decided to “roll” the shell on Android 4.4, and not Android 6.0, but this did not affect the functionality of the reader.
The new mobile version of Habr is great for reading from an e-book
We'll talk more about the reader's functions a little later, but for now let's see what a potential buyer will be pleased with the new product bundle.
Why Monte Cristo?
The manufacturer always pleases with interesting packaging, and the Monte Cristo 4 box is no exception. It is made of white thick cardboard, on the front of which the name and the castle of If flaunt. The package bundle is already familiar to us from other ONYX BOOX readers: the e-book itself is in a cover, a charger (for 220 V) is a standard charger, a USB cable and documentation. You can get the reader out of the box very easily.
The cover imitates rough leather with embossing and has a rigid frame, as well as two magnetic latches. Inside there is a soft material to protect the screen. The Hall sensor helps the book automatically go to sleep when the cover is closed and wake up when it is opened. When reading, it does not distract, as it does not hide a centimeter on each side. It is fixed securely, however, the thickness of the entire structure is almost doubled.
According to the image, the case-cover almost completely repeats the box - on it is the name of the model and the same castle of If, where Dantes was sent without trial and investigation in the work of the same name. Here you begin to understand why the manufacturer chose such a name for its new product. Edmond Dantes, the protagonist of the novel, as you know, spent several years in prison, and he would definitely need an electronic book that can work without recharging for up to a month (another thing is that there was no electricity there, and he could not re-charge it, but let's leave that out). Other ONYX BOOX readers also have a speaking name - one of them is dedicated to Robinson Crusoe, who spent a long time on a desert island. By the way, the Monte Cristo island, where Dantes subsequently found the treasure, was also uninhabited. A tablet or smartphone in such conditions will be discharged in two days (at best), while the reader will last much longer, especially if you use it for 2-3 hours of reading a day. In standby mode, it practically does not consume a charge.
Of course, these are far from the only cases of using an e-book, and in order to know all the charms of this type of device, it is not at all necessary to end up in a pre-trial detention center or far from civilization. At the same time, it is on such examples that one can truly evaluate the battery life of the reader, which cannot be compared with any mobile device suitable for performing similar tasks.
Marquis, you outdid the king himself!
The reader is made in black matte color, the body of the device is made of aluminum-magnesium alloy - another hint at premium positioning. The front is covered with Asahi glass (Japanese analogue of Gorilla Glass), so this is one of the few devices that can be worn without a case or cover. Of course, this combination does not make the device highly impact-resistant, but the likelihood that the glass will break is significantly reduced compared to conventional e-book readers in plastic cases. Despite the small diagonal, the device feels very monolithic and looks much more solid than plastic readers. Say what you like, but the use of metal in devices does its job.
There are almost no physical buttons, with the exception of the power button (s). It is adjacent to an LED indicator that lights up red when connected to a power source or blue if, for example, the device is turned on. A little further - a connector for charging and memory cards. Everything is minimalistic and tasteful.
And there are no more buttons here - if only to call them touch-sensitive inserts on the sides, which by default act as a tool for turning pages while reading, as well as a touch button built right into the manufacturer's logo (it's really cool that you work on an iPhone). Even the flagship the buttons are physical, but here the hop - and the sensor was delivered. Can this be customized? Of course, the purpose of the buttons changes in the settings: for example, you can assign them to turn on the backlight or the role of the Menu button.
In addition to the screen and control buttons, the manufacturer's logo flaunts on the front panel, while the back is completely empty. However, when using the cover from the kit (and it is better to use it), the back part will still be completely closed.
In fact, for ONYX BOOX this design is a breath of fresh air. The reader looks noticeably more modern (and in 2019, physical buttons are almost never found anywhere), it’s not for nothing that the updated appearance was made one of the trump cards of the Monte Cristo flagship.
Before bed and beyond
Despite the fact that the E Ink Carta Plus screen is 6-inch, it fits quite a lot of content and is very clearly displayed - a resolution of 1072 × 1448 pixels and a high pixel density make the image almost indistinguishable from a paper book (except for rustling pages and spilling they won't make coffee). Compared to a conventional E Ink Carta screen, the resolution is noticeably higher. It is pleasant to look at the screen, the eyes do not strain, fonts of any size remain clear (it's like a retina screen after a normal one). If something needs to be enlarged - for example, if you opened a multi-page PDF with an apartment plan for future repairs, there is always a multi-touch zoom.
The diagonal of the device is ideal primarily for works of art. However, any other ONYX BOOX reader has no problems with this. They did not bypass the important MOON Light + function, which the manufacturer uses in all its new devices. If the usual MOON Light backlight allowed you to adjust the intensity of the emitted light, then its second iteration is distinguished by separate adjustment of warm and cold light. It makes it possible to read in low light conditions: this is especially noticeable before going to bed, when a warm shade is much more pleasing to the eye than a cold one (it’s not for nothing that Apple has a similar Night Shift function; and the f.lux application has millions of users). With such a backlight, you can sit at your favorite work before going to bed for several hours, and your eyes will not get tired. Well, it will turn out to fall asleep faster, since it is cold light that negatively affects the production of the sleep hormone - melatonin.
SNOW Field technology can already be attributed to the standard set of functions of ONYX BOOX readers: it minimizes the number of artifacts (remnants of the previous image) on the screen during partial redrawing. If you flip through the pages, no remnants of the previous text remain (which is what the readers of 10 years ago sinned about).
You don’t need to dwell on the interface in detail, since in modern readers of the manufacturer it is plus or minus the same, with the exception of a couple of elements. For example, if the reader does not have Wi-Fi support, then it does not need the Browser application either. When turned on, Monte Cristo 4 shows the main navigation screen (well, after pasting from the novel of the same name), where you can access the library, open the file manager, open the applications section, open the MOON Light + backlight setting, enter the general settings, and also launch the browser .
The icons are conveniently located on the bottom panel - very familiar after a smartphone.
There are also two applications for reading - OReader and Neo Reader version 2.0, both of which are already familiar to us from previous reviews. In OReader, above the page turning bar, there is a panel for accessing book display options and useful tools. If you work with files in PDF/djvu format, you can select a specific area to enlarge, read the enlarged page fragment by fragment, crop by page and by width, change the scale, activate the backlight, go to the settings for customization. For graphs and diagrams, it is better to tweak the contrast so that small values look even better, and in the dark, make the screen shade a little warmer. Here you can prepare for a report at work, and for an exam, and read a book for yourself. And, of course, the touch screen on the e-reader is an incredibly convenient solution. Now we all deal with smartphones and tablets, where at most 2-3 buttons, so dealing with a touch screen is much easier than with physical controls that still need to get used to.
You can scroll through either by simply pressing or by swiping left or right, as well as using the touch buttons. The auto-scroll function turned out to be very convenient, its speed is regulated by repeated pressing of the paging buttons. Useful when you need to rewrite your abstract and don't want to get distracted every time and turn on the next page.
If you load a book with heavy pdfs, the built-in 8 GB of memory will definitely not be enough for you. In this case, there is a microSD slot with support for memory cards up to 32 GB. When using the reader for study or just occasional reading, then 8 GB will be more than enough. Supported formats are also enough - DOCX, PRC, CHM, PDB and many others.
When reading, it becomes useful not only a full-fledged multi-touch with support for five simultaneous touches, but also calling the translation of a word using a loaded dictionary (just touch the desired word and hold until the translation appears), automatically remembering the last open book and page, and the ability to quickly select a font, rotate image, select a fragment in italics and much more.
Many people are often concerned about the speed of the device, and there are no problems with this: a 4-core processor and 1 GB of RAM do their job: the reader quickly opens books and turns pages, and also quickly performs operations like zoom and smooth scrolling. The device also responds quickly to touch buttons, and in general the interface is responsive, you won’t notice any lags or freezes, regardless of the open document: be it a small book or a huge PDF manual.
Where to get books? Everyone, as a rule, answers this question himself, but you still can’t find anything better than official sources. There are a lot of stores with electronic versions of books now, and after downloading, you can download a work to your device in a couple of clicks (even on a Mac, if you use something like Android File Transfer). Well, plus Monte Cristo 4 has Wi-Fi, which means support for network libraries (OPDS directories). These are hundreds of thousands of free books with convenient sorting.
You can spend a little more time to describe all the advantages of this reader, but basically they will be similar to the same Darwin 6, which we already detailed a few days ago . Therefore, it is important to highlight exactly the main differences, thus summing up a small summary:
- E Ink Carta Plus screen with high resolution and 300 ppi
- Aluminium-magnesium alloy body instead of plastic
- Asahi protective glass
- Support Wi-Fi
- MOON Light+ and SNOW Field
- Cover-cover, which has become even more convenient
Why eBook in 2019?
To know all the charms of the reader, it is not at all necessary to spend several years in distant places like Dantes (or even 15 days) or go to a desert island like Robinson Crusoe. There are a lot of cases for using an e-book now, here are just a few of them.
On learning. You can forget about a ton of textbooks and notes, because the reader allows you to read them exactly like a paper counterpart, without eye fatigue and other artifacts. The built-in dictionary makes it possible to read in other languages, and the translation of the word is displayed directly on the same page. Long battery life allows you to forget about charging for at least a few days (or even more, depending on how intensively you use the device), and the high-resolution screen, like the Monte Cristo 4, can even cope with the literature on analytical geometry and linear algebra, clearly displaying each character.
At work. Now this is a less popular use case for e-books, but the development of the corresponding market makes readers more and more popular among technical workers and journalists. The former can load multi-page documents and not worry about “charging”, while the latter are comfortable studying literature on the topic and simply replenishing their vocabulary. Programmers can generally use the reader as a second monitor - MAX 2 is well suited for this purpose.
Traveling. Perhaps, here it’s better than the reader, they definitely didn’t come up with anything. 13 hour flight? It will fly by unnoticed if you read your favorite book or educational literature, and upon arrival there will still be more than 70% of the charge (the tablet would be discharged “to zero”). Many people like to read on vacation, and it is not uncommon for an e-book to be charged once before a trip and reconnected to the network only upon arrival (unless it's a half-head downshift, of course). Yes, you can’t watch movies on the book, but it, in fact, was not made for this. And if rest means lying like a seal under the sun, then an e-book will be appropriate here, unlike all the same smartphones and tablets. Read, sunbathe - for a week's vacation you can decently pump.
In prison? The author of this publication has just finished reading the electronic version of the book "3½" by Oleg Navalny, in which he spoke about his everyday life spent on the other side of freedom. And there was a separate section about gadgets, one of which was just an e-book, according to which he played chess with his father. Of course, in all establishments there are different modes, but apparently, an e-book without a SIM card is quite a valid gadget with which reading can be more comfortable. But, of course, we do not wish such a use case to anyone.
Reading, reading, reading! Well, the truth is, loading several books into an electronic device is much more convenient than carrying a paper counterpart with you. And taking into account the prices for the latter, it is also much more profitable: again, we recall digital libraries and stores where you can buy the .fb2 version of the book for 59 rubles instead of 399 rubles for paper. Well, the battery life again plays a big role here. Yes, and there are enough readers in the ONYX BOOX arsenal - from a simple 6-inch Caesar to the flagship 10-inch Euclid. Or the hero of today's review - Monte Cristo 4.
What about the Count?
He is known to some by the names of Lord Wilmore, Abbot Busoni and others ... but in the end he sails away into the sunset, and everything is fine with him. The same with the reader of the same name: Monte Cristo 4 turned out to be an interesting flagship reader, which was expected for a long time. Now it is not necessary to take a device with a large screen if you need a productive e-reader with a good display and high pixel density. If the screen of MAX 2 or Gulliver was still too big to carry the reader with you, then Monte Cristo 4 is doing well in this regard. Yes, and they often cost like a laptop, and Monte Cristo costs a little more than 13 rubles. The device will definitely suit both lovers of home reading and those who constantly deal with documents at work or school, including graphic files. The case is sensitive to fingerprints, but not as much as readers in plastic cases.
Some might be put off by the price, but it's worth bearing in mind that E-Ink essentially has a monopoly on the e-book market (and good parts can't be cheap). Inexpensive readers offer less functionality, and the screen size may be the same, but you can forget about high resolution and ppi. And if you put pluses and minuses on the scales, our graph is handsome (immodestly so)). Thank you for your attention, we are ready to answer questions in the comments.
Source: habr.com