It was probably easy to review the first electronic books (readers, "readers") with screens on "electronic ink". A couple of phrases were enough: “The shape of the case is rectangular. What he can do is show letters.
Now you can’t write a review so easily: readers have got touch screens, backlighting with adjustable color tone, translation of words and texts, Internet access, a sound channel and the ability to install additional applications.
And, in addition, with the help of the most advanced readers, you can not only read, but also write, and even draw!
And that's about such a reader with the possibilities "to the maximum" and will be discussed in the review.
Meet ONYX BOOX Note 2:
(image from the official website of the manufacturer)
Before further review, I will separately dwell on the screen size of ONYX BOOX Note 2, which is 10.3 inches.
This screen size allows you to comfortably read books not only in standard book formats (mobi, fb2, etc.), but also in PDF and DjVu formats, in which the page content is rigidly set and cannot be reformatted “on the go” (due to why for readability of small print should be physically large screen size).
Specifications of the ONYX BOOX Note 2 reader
The basis, from which we will proceed further in the review, is the technical characteristics of the reader.
The most significant of them are:
- screen size: 10.3 inches;
- screen resolution: 1872×1404 (4:3);
- screen type: E Ink Mobius Carta, with SNOW Field function;
- backlight: MOON Light + (with adjustable color temperature);
- touch sensitivity: yes, capacitive + inductive (stylus);
- Processor*: 8-core, 2 GHz;
- RAM: 4 GB;
- built-in memory: 64 GB (available 51.7 GB);
- audio: stereo speakers, microphone;
- wired interface: USB Type-C with OTG support;
- wireless interface: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1;
- supported file formats (out of the box)**: TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, DOC, DOCX, PRC, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, EPUB, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, PDF, DjVu, MP3, WAV, CBR, CBZ
- operating system: Android 9.0.
* As subsequent testing will show, this eBook uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 octa-core processor (SoC) with a core frequency of up to 625 GHz.
** Thanks to the Android operating system, it is possible to open any file type for which there are applications that work with them in this OS.
Full specifications can be viewed at (tab "Characteristics").
A feature of the screens of modern readers based on "electronic ink" (E ink) is work on reflected light. Due to this, the higher the ambient light, the better the image is visible (for smartphones and tablets - on the contrary). Reading on e-books (readers) is possible even in direct sunlight, and it will be very comfortable reading. Moreover, such screens have "absolute" viewing angles (like real paper).
Electronic books with screens on "electronic ink" with additional illumination also have their positive features.
Their backlight is organized not behind the screen (that is, not through the light, like in smartphones and tablets), but in the front layer of the screen. Due to this, ambient light and backlight are summed up and help each other, and do not compete with each other. This backlight improves the viewing experience in medium and low ambient light.
A few words about the processor.
The applied Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor is very powerful in terms of application in e-books. In this case, its use is quite justified, since it must serve a very high resolution screen and open PDF and DjVu files, which can be tens or hundreds of megabytes in size.
By the way, this processor was originally developed for smartphones and was one of the first mobile processors based on the 14-nm process technology. Thanks to this, he received a reputation as an energy-saving and at the same time productive processor.
Packaging, packaging and design of the ONYX BOOX Note 2 e-book
The packaging of the reader is heavy and solid, to match the contents.
The main part of the package is a dark box made of durable cardboard with a lid, and in addition, all this is fastened with an outer cover made of thin cardboard:
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The reader package includes a USB Type-C cable, a stylus, a protective film and a set of "papers":
There is no charger in the kit: apparently, not without reason, it is implied that standard 5-volt chargers are already in abundance in every home. But, looking ahead, I must say that not every charge is suitable, but only with an output current of at least 2 A.
Now it's time to look at the reader itself:
The screen is not located in a recess, but on the same level with its own frame. Thanks to this, it is convenient to manage its elements located close to the edges (the frame does not interfere with finger actions).
Under the screen is the only mechanical button to control the reader. With a short press, this is the “back” button, with a long press, it turns the backlight on / off.
On the reverse side of the reader in the lower part there are stereo speaker grilles:
On the bottom of the reader there is a multifunctional USB Type-C connector, a microphone hole and a pair of screws that fasten the structure:
The versatility of the USB Type-C port on the reader lies in the fact that, in addition to standard functions (charging and communication with a computer), it can operate in USB OTG mode. That is, you can connect USB flash drives and other drives to it via an adapter cable; and also recharge other devices from the reader (in emergency cases). It is checked up: both one, and another works!
The output current when charging my phone from the reader was 0.45 A.
In principle, even a mouse and keyboard can be connected via the USB OTG port, but I doubt that anyone will do this (via Bluetooth will be more convenient).
On the top edge there is an on-off-sleep button:
The button is equipped with an indicator that glows red when the reader is charging and blue when it is loaded.
Now, from studying the appearance of the reader, let's move on to its hardware component and its versatile functionality.
Hardware and software ONYX BOOX Note 2
First of all, after turning on the reader, we check if there are any fresh firmware for it (in this reader they are installed “over the air”, i.e. via Wi-Fi). This is necessary in order not to try to deal with problems that have long been resolved.
In this case, the check showed the presence of a fresh firmware from December 2019:
This firmware was successfully installed and all further work was already under this firmware.
To control the hardware "stuffing" of the reader, the Device Info HW application was installed on it, which confirmed the data declared by the manufacturer:
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So, the reader works under the Android operating system version 9.0 (Pie) - not the latest, but quite relevant today.
However, when working with the reader, it will be quite difficult to find familiar Android elements: the manufacturer has developed its own shell, focused on reading books and documents. But there is nothing complicated there: by clicking on the menu items, you can easily figure out what's what.
This is what the settings page looks like:
There are no settings for reading (fields, fonts, orientation, etc.), they are located in the reading application itself (Neo Reader 3.0).
By the way, here is the list of applications preinstalled by the manufacturer:
Some applications here need some explanation.
The Play Market application is installed here, but not activated. To activate it, if the user wishes to use this application store, you will need to perform a few simple steps, and then wait about half an hour (that is, activation does not work instantly).
But the Play Market may not be required for the user. The fact is that many applications on the Play Market are not optimized for e-books, and the user will have to experiment on their own - whether the application will work normally, or with problems, or will not work at all.
As an alternative to the Play Market, the reader has an ONYX Store with applications more or less tested for suitability for e-books.
An example of one of the sections ("Tools") of this app store (free, by the way):
Microsoft Excel was installed for testing from this store, which made it possible to add *.XLS and *.XLSX files to the number of files that the reader works with.
In addition, you can select applications from (in 5 parts) on Habré, where a selection of applications that work on e-books is also made.
Let's return to the list of applications on the reader.
The next app that needs to be said quickly about is Quick Menu.
When it is turned on, a button appears on the screen in the form of a light gray translucent circle, when pressed, five “quick functions” buttons appear (visible in the penultimate screenshot near the lower right corner). Functions are assigned by the user; I assigned the "screenshot" function to one of the buttons, which helped a lot in the design of this review.
And another application that requires a relatively detailed description is “Transmission”.
This application is another way to get books on the reader.
In total, there are several ways to "extract" books.
The first is to upload them to the reader via cable.
The second is to enter the Internet from the reader and download them from somewhere (or receive books sent to you by e-mail and similar methods).
The third is to send the book to the reader via Bluetooth.
The fourth is to read books online by installing the appropriate application.
The fifth way is just the “Transmission” application just mentioned.
application "Broadcast" allows you to send books to the reader from another device via the network “directly” (if both devices are on the same subnet) or via the “big” Internet if they are on different subnets.
Sending "directly" is easier.
To do this, it is enough to connect Wi-Fi and enter the Transfer application. It will show the network address (and its QR code) that you need to go to in the browser from the device (computer, smartphone, etc.) from which you want to send the file:
After that, in the form that opens on the second device, just click the “Upload Files” button, and everything will be loaded onto the reader very quickly.
If the device from which you are going to send the book and the reader are on different subnets, then the process will be somewhat more complicated. The book will have to be sent through the send2boox service located at push.boox.com. This service is essentially a specialized "cloud". To use it, you first need to register on it from two sides - from the side of the reader and from the side of the computer (or other device).
From the side of the reader, registration is easy; the user's email address is used to identify the user.
And when registering from the computer side, the user will first be surprised. The fact is that the service does not automatically determine the language of the user's system and shows the site in Chinese, no matter where the user comes from. This problem is easily solved: you need to click on the button in the upper right corner and select the correct language:
There will be no further problems with the language. Click the add files button and upload the book(s) to the service:
After that, it remains only to “catch” the abandoned files from the reader:
What is also interesting about the applications on this reader is that there is no Neo Reader 3.0 application in their list, designed to read books and documents, because. it is hidden; although in essence it is the most important thing.
The following chapter is devoted to this application and the process of reading books and documents in general:
Reading books and documents on the e-reader ONYX BOOX Note 2
The process of reading books and everything connected with it, let's start with studying the screen - the main part that is directly related to reading.
The screen has a resolution of 1872 * 1404, which, with its diagonal of 10.3 inches, creates a pixel density of 227 per inch. This is a very high value, making the "pixelation" of the image completely invisible when reading texts from a comfortable distance from which we usually read books.
The reader's screen is matte, which eliminates the "mirror effect" when reflections from all surrounding objects are visible on the screen.
The touch sensitivity of the screen is very good, it “understands” even light touches.
Thanks to touch sensitivity, you can change the font size in standard book sizes with two fingers without going into the settings, simply by “shifting” or “spreading” the screen.
But in special formats (PDF and DjVu), such movements will increase or decrease not the font, but the entire picture as a whole.
And, the most "highlight" of the screen is the ability to adjust the color tone of the screen (color temperature).
The color tone can be changed over a very wide range: from freezing cold to very “warm”, corresponding to “hot iron”.
Adjustment is carried out using two independent sliders that change the brightness of separately "cold" backlight LEDs (white-blue), and separately - "warm" LEDs (yellow-orange).
For each type of LED, the brightness is adjustable in 32 steps, which allows you to adjust it for comfortable reading both in complete darkness and in medium and low ambient light. In high light, the backlight does not need to be turned on.
Next - examples of the color tone of the screen at different ratios of the brightness of the "cold" and "warm" backlight (the position of the brightness sliders is visible in the photo):
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What is the benefit of adjusting the color temperature?
The benefits can vary greatly.
Let's start with what doctors find useful in the evenings "warm" color environment (as calming), and in the morning and afternoon - neutral or slightly cool. In addition, they also consider blue light (ie, excessively “cold” backlight) to be harmful. True, there have been recent publications that tireless British scientists do not agree with this approach.
In addition, it will allow you to fulfill the personal wishes of the owners. For example, I personally like a slightly warm color tone, and even at home I screwed in all the bulbs with a “warm” spectrum (2700K).
You can also, for example, adjust the backlighting to the content of the book: for historical novels, set a “warm” backlighting that imitates old yellowed pages; and for fantasy novels - "cool" backlighting, symbolizing the blue of the sky and the depth of space.
In general, this is a matter of personal taste of the consumer; the main thing is that he has a choice.
Now from the hardware component of reading books, let's move on to the software.
After turning on the reader, the user immediately enters the "Library". In this regard, you can call this page "home", although there is no "Home" or "Home" button in the reader's menu.
This is what the "Library" looks like with its own menu called up:
In the narrow left column is the main menu of the reader.
"Library" supports standard functions - changing the view, various types of filtering, creating collections of books (only they are not called collections here, but also libraries).
In the "Library" settings (as well as in some other menus of the reader), there are also inaccuracies in the translation of menu items into Russian:
Here, in the bottom two lines, not “Display Name” and “Display Name”, but “File Name” and “Book Name” should be written.
True, such flaws are rarely found in various menus of the reader.
The next item on the main menu of the reader is "Score" (meaning the book store, not the app store):
It was not possible to find a single book in Russian in this store. So, it can be useful only for users who study English.
It would be more appropriate if the manufacturer provided the user with the opportunity to set up a bookstore on their own. But so far it hasn't.
Now we go directly to the process of reading books, for which the “invisible” application is responsible in the reader Neo Reader 3.0.
By combining the properties of this application with a large physical screen size, modes of operation become possible that would not make sense on readers with "small" screens.
For example, these include the mode of splitting the screen into two pages. This mode has several options called from the Neo Reader 3.0 menu:
When switching to two-page mode, even when reading the same document on both halves of the reader, both pages are controlled one independently of the other. You can scroll through them independently, change the font size, etc.
In this interesting way, one reader with a diagonal of 10.3 inches and an aspect ratio of 3:4 turns into two readers with a diagonal of 7.4 inches and an aspect ratio of 2:3.
An example of a screenshot of the screen with a call to the screen at the same time two books with different font sizes:
Of course, reading two books at the same time is exotic; but, for example, displaying an illustration (diagram, graph, etc.) on one half of the screen, and reading explanations on it on the other is a very real and useful application.
If you return to the usual single-page mode, then here, thanks to the large screen, it becomes very comfortable to work with PDF documents. Even a relatively small font becomes well readable, and with the help of a stylus, you can make notes anywhere in the document:
The annotations, however, are not embedded in the PDF file (this is not PDF editing), but are saved in a separate file, the data from which is pumped in the next time the PDF document is opened.
The large screen of the reader is no less useful when reading books in DjVu format and when viewing other documents that require displaying the entire page at once on the screen (for example, musical notes):
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Interestingly, the reader organizes the translation of words and texts from language to language. It is interesting, first of all, because the translation of individual words and texts is divided and works differently.
When translating individual words, built-in dictionaries in the StarDict format are used. These dictionaries are usually of the "academic" type, and give various translations with comments, for example:
When translating texts, the reader does not use his own dictionaries, but turns to the automatic Google translator. The translation is far from perfect, but it is no longer the same set of loosely connected words that machine translation gave 10 years ago.
The following screenshot shows the translation of the last paragraph of the page:
You can expand the possibilities of translation by installing additional dictionaries.
The easiest way is to find and download dictionaries in StarDict format on the Internet, and then put this set of files in the appropriate folder for dictionaries on the reader.
The second way is to download and install dictionary apps from any Android app store.
Another useful feature of the Neo Reader 3.0 reading application is ability to auto-scroll pages. Such an opportunity is not often required, but in life there are different cases.
Of the shortcomings, it should be noted that the reader is overloaded with fonts for Asian languages \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbthat are rarely found in our country; because of what, when choosing a suitable font, it takes a very long time to scroll them.
Additional functions
As mentioned at the beginning of the review, this e-book, in addition to being used for actually reading books, has a lot of other possibilities; and we must at least briefly dwell on them.
Let's start with Internet browsing (Internet surfing).
The processor in the reader is installed, indeed, very fast; and therefore there is no slowdown in opening Internet pages due to a lack of its performance and cannot be. The main thing is to have a fast connection.
Of course, web pages will lack beauty in many ways because of the black and white image, but in some cases this will not be fundamentally important. For example, for reading mail, or for reading books directly on sites, this does not really hurt.
And news sites will even look interesting, in the old newspaper style:
But this is all a prank. The main purpose of access to the Internet for this and other "readers" is a way to get books.
For better web browsing and when using some other applications that may show fast-moving pictures, it may be worth changing the display refresh settings in the e-reader:
The so-called "Standard" redraw mode is the best; in this mode, the SNOW Field artifact suppression technology works to the maximum. In this case, residual traces from the previous image are completely eradicated when viewing texts; however, this technology does not work on images.
The following additional feature is create drawings and notes using a stylus.
Notes and drawings can be made directly in open documents (the example was above), but it can also be done on a “blank slate”. The Notes application is responsible for this, an example of application:
As you can see in the screenshot, the function of influencing the pressing force on the line thickness works successfully. Users with drawing skills may well use the reader for artistic purposes.
The reader also has advanced audio features.
Built-in speakers work quite loudly and reproduce almost the entire frequency range (except bass) well.
There is no possibility of connecting wired headphones, but wireless headphones via Bluetooth work without problems. Pairing with them is easy and simple in the prescribed manner:
To play audio files in the reader, there is an application "Music".
When playing a file, it tries to show the user the information extracted from the audio file, but in the absence of such information, the application interface looks boring:
Thanks to the presence of a microphone in the reader, it will be possible to use applications with speech recognition, voice assistants and the like.
And finally, you can simply ask the reader to read a book to you aloud: the reader supports the TTS (speech synthesis) function; The function requires an Internet connection (external services are used). There will be no artistic reading here (it will be a monotonous voice with not always appropriate pauses), but you can listen.
Autonomy
High autonomy (working time from a single charge) has always been one of the main advantages of "readers", which, in turn, is due to the "slow" nature of working with these devices; and the maximum energy efficiency of the screens. In high ambient light, when backlighting is not required, e-ink screens consume power only when the image changes.
But even in low light, there is also energy savings, since external lighting and own illumination are summed up (the level of internal illumination may be small).
To check the autonomy, the book auto-page mode was set with a period of 5 seconds, the “warm” and “cold” backlights were set to 24 divisions each (out of 32 possible), wireless interfaces were disabled.
The check had to be carried out "with continuation", since the initially launched automatic page turning reached the maximum of 20000 pages, which the Neo Reader 3.0 application allows:
After restarting page turning, the total number of pages turned was about 24100 pages.
This is how the graph of consumption and subsequent battery charge turned out:
The graph shows a flat area when the first run of the test has already ended, and the second has not yet been launched.
Charging the reader lasted a long time, almost 4 hours. The circumstance that extenuates the reader's guilt here is that this will have to be done quite rarely.
The maximum current consumed during the charging process was 1.61 Amperes. So to charge it, you need an adapter with an output current of at least 2 Amperes.
We also checked the possibility of recharging the phone from this e-book (you will need a USB OTG adapter cable with a USB Type C interface). The current given by the reader was 0.45 A. It is not recommended to systematically use the reader as a power bank, but in emergency cases it is permissible.
Concluding remarks
The possibilities of this e-book, indeed, turned out to be maximum. On the one hand, this will please the demanding user; on the other hand, this undoubtedly affected the price (which will please not everyone).
In terms of the hardware component, everything is just fine here. Fast processor, a lot of memory, wireless interfaces, capacious battery.
The screen should be praised separately: it is large (good for PDF and DjVu); has a very high resolution; the backlight is adjustable over a wide range both in brightness and color tone; control is possible both with touches and with the help of a stylus.
But from the point of view of the software component, there will be less enthusiasm.
Although there are a lot of “pluses” here (first of all, flexibility due to the ability to install additional applications), but there are also “minuses”.
The very first and noticeable “minus” is a bookstore built into the main menu without books in Russian. It makes you want to ask: “Well, how is it?”
An overabundance of pre-installed fonts for languages that we rarely use can also puzzle the user. It would be nice to be able to remove them from the field of view with one touch.
Minor flaws in the translation of the menu into Russian - this is perhaps the most insignificant drawback.
And finally, a drawback that does not apply to either the hardware or the software component is the lack of a protective cover in the reader kit. The screen is the most expensive part of the "large" readers, and if something happens to it, it will be significant material damage.
Of course, I guess that at retail outlets, managers will strongly recommend purchasing a cover along with the reader (their work is like that); but, in a good way, the reader should be sold at once wearing a cover! As, by the way, this is done in many other ONYX readers.
As a final positive, it must still be said that the advantages of this reader far outweigh the disadvantages!
Source: habr.com