Onyx Boox M90 - To buy or not to buy?

[kamizase]

Originally Posted by PF4Mobile

Is there anything that this device does it well?

When I tried the device in a store, I really really really liked how the "remove margins" fucntion worked on the few pdf's I tried, it was flawless.

[PF4Mobile]

Originally Posted by kamizase

When I tried the device in a store, I really really really liked how the "remove margins" fucntion worked on the few pdf's I tried, it was flawless.

You can spend 400$ to get Adobe Acrobat for that... :-))
You can have that for less if you want. For instance ezpdf reader (android application) does that for 5$ at most!
Spend the rest to get a tablet...


To be honest with you I would buy this in an instant if there would be anybody who ported Android to this...
Perhaps the best bet is to start putting money together and let's hire a programmer to port Android to this. That would be the only way to recuperate your loss

[kamizase]

You can get that for free by running your pdf file through either briss or k2pdfopt.

I was just pointing that this device does something really well.

[gr650]

Originally Posted by kamizase

You can get that for free by running your pdf file through either briss or k2pdfopt.

Removing margins also works using pdfcrop.

[machinogodzilla]

I stumbled across an interesting post:

Originally Posted by jian1

The Chinese lady [from Onyx China] over the phone openly admitted that M90 has tons of design flaws, mostly hardware. I supposed after the launch of M92, they are very likely to abandon M90 gradually and phase out firmware upgrading. She said new M92 comes with 1.6.1 firmware already while M90 still stuck with 1.5.1. The discrepancy of firmware is already there.

For completeness also a response by Onyx Europe representative to my question I asked some time ago regarding support for previous devices once the new one comes to the marked:

Of course all the customer support for all these products will remain after releasing a new product.

[Zetmolm]

The very first Onyx reader was the Boox 60, and Onyx is still maintaining its firmware. They did not drop support yet for any model they made. So from that perspective there is no reason to assume that they will stop upgrading firmware for the M90 very soon.

[Whipet]

My M90 locked yesterday. The reset button did not restore it, on start-up the display just turned half black.
After multiple attempts I had to resort to reloading the firmware (SD card, hold right button on start-up).
It seems often to occur with a lowish battery (1 or 2 bars).

[gr650]

Originally Posted by Whipet

My M90 locked yesterday. The reset button did not restore it, on start-up the display just turned half black.
After multiple attempts I had to resort to reloading the firmware (SD card, hold right button on start-up).
It seems often to occur with a lowish battery (1 or 2 bars).

That's a known issue (one of them). If the battery of my M90 gets fairly discharged, there's trouble booting the device. No need to re-flash the firmware, though, just a night's hookup to the charger and then it works as if it never had any trouble. Sad but true.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by gr650

That's a known issue (one of them). If the battery of my M90 gets fairly discharged, there's trouble booting the device. No need to re-flash the firmware, though, just a night's hookup to the charger and then it works as if it never had any trouble. Sad but true.

And the sad thing about this is that the battery seems to last about 24-48 hours. I am charging it constantly.

[ssdb]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

And the sad thing about this is that the battery seems to last about 24-48 hours. I am charging it constantly.

I am too. It's got worse with the latest firmware update, I'm sure. I can charge it up, turn it on and within 10 minutes it'll lose a bar on the power meter. Unless I power down completely after use the battery will drain down which it shouldn't do - as I understand it E-ink doesn't use any power unless the screen changes, so why it drains down so quickly when there is no usage is a mystery.

The battery life of the device is the biggest let down, as far as I'm concerned.
I don't get any other major problems or crashes although it does sometimes drop out of a book to the menu.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by ssdb

I am too. It's got worse with the latest firmware update, I'm sure. I can charge it up, turn it on and within 10 minutes it'll lose a bar on the power meter. Unless I power down completely after use the battery will drain down which it shouldn't do - as I understand it E-ink doesn't use any power unless the screen changes, so why it drains down so quickly when there is no usage is a mystery.

The battery life of the device is the biggest let down, as far as I'm concerned.
I don't get any other major problems or crashes although it does sometimes drop out of a book to the menu.

The "mystery battery hog" must be the digitizer. I have the same problem on my Irex DR800 (which has a WACOM digitizer), if I turn the screen off and don't use it for a while the battery will still be empty after about 5 days.

[ssdb]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The "mystery battery hog" must be the digitizer. I have the same problem on my Irex DR800 (which has a WACOM digitizer), if I turn the screen off and don't use it for a while the battery will still be empty after about 5 days.

I think it's the M91 that doesn't have a WACOM digitizer; it'd be interesting to compare the two devices, to see whether the battery usage is the same.

One of the main reasons I got an E-Ink device was the battery life (and they are easier on the eyes compared to normal electronic screens), and I find it annoying that the M90 loses power like this.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by ssdb

I think it's the M91 that doesn't have a WACOM digitizer; it'd be interesting to compare the two devices, to see whether the battery usage is the same.

One of the main reasons I got an E-Ink device was the battery life (and they are easier on the eyes compared to normal electronic screens), and I find it annoying that the M90 loses power like this.

Actually Boox is using a Chinese WACOM copy (as far as I know), not the real thing. But the principle is the same.

[thomas01155]

Originally Posted by Onyx Europe

Dear PF4Mobile,
As you may know we are a European distributor for the Onyx Boox M90/M91S and M92 models.
We are also really frustrated that Onyx International comes with a device that has a faulty firmware. Every day we try to push their engineers!
Please understand we want a product that works perfectly, and want all our customers to be satisfied!

Thank you for your public admittance of problems with the firmware.

[BCotton]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

And the sad thing about this is that the battery seems to last about 24-48 hours. I am charging it constantly.

I stopped leaving the device on standby and the battery now lasts a very long time. So maybe it is a problem with the digitizer like HansTWN suggested. It is a hassle to shutdown every time but I havent charged the device in over 10 days. I use it only a little over an hour every day but it is still over 5000 page turns, the longest it has lasted on a single charge.