Onyx Boox M90 available

[chchch]

I still can't realy deside on the devices...

I'm somewhat disappointed, that it took engineers of Onyx more than two weeks to change the sensibility of the IR-button - and they where "working really hard" - and it apparently still doesn't work properly.
Than the thing with the speaker on the back, no place to store the stylus...?
Thin edges, an IR-sensor... a nice look, but even if they solve it in software the hole thing seams is a bit ill-conceived.

So I'll probably go with a Pocketbook.

[pietro]

Do we really think that buying a Onyx or a Pocketbook is not risky, as both seems to be quite far from requiring continuous hacks (just look at the Pocketbook section of this forum), or should we go for the Kindle DX?

Is seems to me that the most active of these posts are actually either from employees either of Onyx or of Pocketbook/pocketgoods - clearly giving us opposite information- would you trust them if they were selling cars instead of readers?

[pidgeon92]

It's always a risk to buy a relatively unknown brand. I am reasonably confident that this device will ultimately live up to its potential, as Onyx is a European company, and they are active here on the board. I also have confidence in my abilities to work through whatever failings the OS may have initially.

USPS updated my status last night, the Boox is now in Chicago.... Hopefully, it will be delivered with the mail today.....

[AkumaTakeshi]

So we'll be waiting to hear your experience with it

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by mdzieg

I'm sitting on my sofa having window behind me. I can see my head's shadow on the reader. When I change the angle of the reader or move my head right, so the IR sensor enters the shadowed area, and then move it back to light - page changes to the next one. IMagine you are sitting in a train or somebody passes you from behind

Some modern UI expert (or manager at Apple) is going to decide that this is a feature. Then the UI community will invoke the rule that more than one way to do something is too confusing, and it will be required to be the only way to turn pages on any device.

It will be interesting to track neck injuries as this catches on.

[mdzieg]

Onyx-boox sent me firmware with response to the ticked I created for IR issue. Unfortunatelly this is the same version I had before. So I'm waiting what will happen next week. They are very kind and helpfull, that's good.

Even those capacity buttons are sometimes annoying - they are very sensitive too.


@AkumaTakeshi - no problem, I've just became some kind of beta tester...
@j.p.s. - yup, especially at apple

My new motto:
Be careful, do not move, do not even blink and hold device properly

[pidgeon92]

My Boox has arrived!

I have some initial impressions that may very well be wrong, as I haven't spent much time with it yet.

-- It comes with a cover! I hadn't seen any indication that it did, so I'm quite happy. It's not a great/attractive cover, but it's sturdy enough that the screen is reasonably safe from damage. The cover has two little elastic bits sewn in to hold the stylus. It's not perfect, but it is functional. With the cover, the whole thing weighs 26.5oz (750g).

-- The screen is sharp and clear, and there is virtually no difference in the text/contrast of this M90, my K3 or my Sony 950. They all look terrific.

-- The touchscreen is not very sensitive. Where my Sony 950 I can swipe/tap with a finger, you really need to give this screen a good TAP with the stylus to get it to respond and sometimes it's just better to hold the stylus down on the screen until it responds. Like most things, I imagine this will just take some getting used to. Also, you can't use your finger (at least I couldn't), and the stylus from my Sony 950 didn't work. I have a multi-function pen that has a stylus tip that looks just like the Boox stylus, and that didn't work either.

-- It does not appear that you can turn pages by swiping. It's either the turn buttons on the left side, or the IR toggle. The IR toggle seems to work well enough for turning pages. It is backwards from the Sony, on which you "sweep" right to left to turn the page, on the IR you sweep left to right. I was hoping that there might be a way to adjust this in settings, but it appears to be fixed that way.

-- No manual in the box, or on the device. It is available online now. In my brief time looking at it this afternoon, I would say that the manual is rather poor. I think there is a lot of detail missing, and the subjects are all over the place. It looks rushed, hopefully it will be improved over time.

-- Interaction with iMac & Calibre: I plugged it in via USB, but the drive didn't mount. Then I checked the Boox screen, and you have to tap a button to tell it to go into USB mode. The Boox then mounted just fine. I opened Calibre, and after about a minute Calibre found the Boox. I loaded up three different book files: one .mobi and two epub via Calibre (all liberated i.e., no DRM]).

• Calibre put the files in folders on the Boox by Author Name, as it does on the iMac. This I don't like. I would prefer just to have the books and the authors listed. I'll have to see if there is some setting in Calibre that changes this.

• Ejecting the Boox from the Calibre app did not unmount it from my iMac, as it does for my Sony and Kindle.

-- The .mobi file formatting looks messy, but it could be the book. I haven't looked at this book yet on my Kindle, I will do so and put up comparison pics.

-- Both ePub files looked good. However, the ePubs would not use the default sans serif font that I chose in the settings, and I was unable to adjust the font style in either of the ePubs I loaded. The .mobi file allowed for different font styles, and loaded in the default font I had chosen.

I'm going to have to load a lot more files before I can really make a proper review, and test out some of the different functions. I can see myself having a love/hate relationship with this device. I think it will be great for just reading, but the interface leaves a lot to be desired. Why on earth the touchscreen won't function without that flimsy stylus boggles my mind.

I'll post pics and comparisons with the K3 and Sony950 next week when I have time to take the pics and organize them.

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

It's always a risk to buy a relatively unknown brand. I am reasonably confident that this device will ultimately live up to its potential, as Onyx is a European company, and they are active here on the board. I also have confidence in my abilities to work through whatever failings the OS may have initially.

Onyx is as Chinese as it gets. But they have resellers in Europe, Russia and US who apparently are allowed to use the Onyx company name. Anyway, so far Onyx has been very serious about producing high quality readers with rich firmware. Their first reader, the Boox 60, has been on the market for almost 2 years now, and they have constantly listened to customers and improved firmware. Based on this track record I'm pretty confident that the 90-series will soon be the best large E ink readers on the market (if they're not already).

And as to being unknown, that's relative indeed - they claim to be number 2 on the Russian e-reader market (after PocketBook), and rebranded as BeBook they are among the market leaders in The Netherlands and perhaps some other countries.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Onyx is as Chinese as it gets.

I had a feeling I screwed that up, and it got stronger once I had the actual box in my hands....

[AkumaTakeshi]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Their first reader, the Boox 60, has been on the market for almost 2 years now, and they have constantly listened to customers and improved firmware. Based on this track record I'm pretty confident that the 90-series will soon be the best large E ink readers on the market (if they're not already).

My thoughts exactly

So I'm going to wait a bit (actually I don't really have money for it right now, so I don't have much choice ) and hope it turns out to be as good as I expect it once it's all stable

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

• Calibre put the files in folders on the Boox by Author Name, as it does on the iMac. This I don't like. I would prefer just to have the books and the authors listed. I'll have to see if there is some setting in Calibre that changes this.

OK, I got this sorted out.... Changing in Calibre

Preferences -> Import/Export: Sending Books to Devices

to

{title} - {authors}

Give you the list by Title - Author, which is fine for me....

Now, I need to figure out why the icon displayed on the Boox is the filetype instead of the book cover.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Why on earth the touchscreen won't function without that flimsy stylus boggles my mind.

It is a Wacom stylus. A Electro-magnetic resonance active digitizer. It's not just a stick of plastic. It actually has a bit of electronics in it that the display detects when they are in close proximity to each other. The digitizer is actually powered by being close to the display.

http://www.tablet4u.co.uk/techinfo.html

this version does not have the erase function built in.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Why on earth the touchscreen won't function without that flimsy stylus boggles my mind.

I think that it uses a Wacom digitizer under the screen, which can only detect a Wacom stylus. That is why the screen is just as clear as a reader without a touchscreen. It is also supposed to allow higher resolution drawing when making annotations.

[pidgeon92]

Interesting. I have a Wacom stylus for my Bamboo tablet, and that doesn't work on it either. Are the styluses device specific somehow?

[Dulin's Books]

Bamboo stylus are a different generation of Wacom technology. Wacom did not see fit to make the Bamboo pens backwards compatible with "penabled" devices.