Onyx Boox M96 vs M92

[smihaila]

I think I'll unsubscribe completely from any of the Onyx Boox threads on mobileread.com
M92 is left to die of a peaceful death and new marketing propaganda for the so-called new stuff will take its place.

Why can't we have fast page turns and better e-ink rendering response with M92? Is the Android OS so "magic" in that respect?

Disappointed.

[machinogodzilla]

Originally Posted by Jmirko

Thanks for the useful insight. I am especially interested in scribbling - could you please check if the following is possible in the stock scribble app:
1. Insert page (between existing pages)
2. Delete (remove) page
3. Rename scribble file
4. Sort scribble files, specifically by file name descending
5. Search scribble files by a text string in the file name
6. Return to the list of search hits after opening and closing a scribble file that was found with search function.
7. Export/convert scribble files to pdf

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi Jmirko,

As far as I can see there is no stock scribble app as such at this moment. I went to Google Play store and found Scribble Pad. It allows you to create multi-page notes. You can append a page (but not insert in between pages), you can erase a page but not delete, notes have no names instead you choose from a list of thumbnails, no sorting, no search, no export/conversion from within the app.

This was a random app I found. If you spot something more promising you can test it on your Android phone, then let me know and I will check if it works on M96 for you.

[machinogodzilla]

Originally Posted by derball2008

Thanks for your response!
I am mainly interested in the reading feature of the device and that cited paragraph really makes me nervous about buying that device. I was worrying about the 'lag' and the flash between page turning, but the M96 seems to almost resolve this issue.
Do you mind taking a short video showing the reading functionality with the quality mode/ A2 refresh mode please?

Also, what would your personal recommendation be when it comes to reading only? Go for the M96 or does the M92 do the job aswell?

I don't have a fancy camera or a mobile for that matter so the quality of the video is not great (my phone tells me it's HD ) but hopefully enough to show you how flashing changes as you change the modes.

First I use M96 in 'quality first' with full page refresh every time I turn the page. Then I reduce the full refresh to every 3 pages (for me every 9 pages is sufficient enough). Then I switch to 'performance first' mode with full refresh every page. Finally I reduce the full refresh to every 3 pages again.

Here is the link in case the below doesn't work.



Regarding the *personal* recommendation I will tell you why I bought M96 without knowing whether there would any performance difference. The reason is that I don't think M92 will get a lot of attention from Onyx any more (last update 2013.12.04).

I was happy with M92, it suited my needs well enough despite the known imperfections. M96 feels sleeker and is faster which especially matters when you don't read books cover to cover but in a more of a random access manner (e.g. reference books or textbooks). Some things that were in M92 are still to appear in M96, some things that worked in M92 don't quite work in M96 yet (example I mentioned before - it will likely affect you until fixed), there are some things I would like to be done differently in M96 (e.g. the progress bar is now hidden). I hope these things will get resolved one day, on the other hand I wouldn't have such hope for M92 now.

Since the difference in price between M92 and M96 is almost negligible and M92 is likely not to get any better I would go for M96.

[Jmirko]

Originally Posted by machinogodzilla

Hi Jmirko,

As far as I can see there is no stock scribble app as such at this moment. I went to Google Play store and found Scribble Pad. It allows you to create multi-page notes. You can append a page (but not insert in between pages), you can erase a page but not delete, notes have no names instead you choose from a list of thumbnails, no sorting, no search, no export/conversion from within the app.

This was a random app I found. If you spot something more promising you can test it on your Android phone, then let me know and I will check if it works on M96 for you.

Hi Machinogodzilla,
Thanks for the info on ScribblePad - I sometimes wonder why someone would develop an app if they have no idea about the required functionality.
As for your kind offer to test further apps: at this point, I think I will not burden you - I will probably wait for the next generation of devices with Mobius screen before replacing my EeeNote.

[joblack]

And it's Android 4.0 not 2.3.

[machinogodzilla]

Originally Posted by Jmirko

Thanks for the info on ScribblePad - I sometimes wonder why someone would develop an app if they have no idea about the required functionality.
As for your kind offer to test further apps: at this point, I think I will not burden you - I will probably wait for the next generation of devices with Mobius screen before replacing my EeeNote.

I agree, some of the apps are really bizarre, with all the bells and whistles but not what you really need.

I got excited about EeeNote, haven't heard about it before, as it looks like an interesting device but with a TFT screen it's a beast from a different category. I'm yet to charge my M96 for the first time :-)

I created a new thread for note taking apps recommendations.

[derball2008]

Thanks for the video, machinogodzilla. I very much appreciate you taking the time creating that video for me/ us ;-).

The performance of the new device (esp. the minimal lag and the very short refresh) totally convinced me. Looking forward to be a new M96 owner.

[machinogodzilla]

You're welcome. Just to make it absolutely clear I looked around to see what the 'performance mode' is exactly and it is a compromise that comes at a price.

Originally Posted by http://www.onyx-international.com

BOOX Android-based eReader will be implemented into a new refresh mode called A2 mode. This mode is purposely set for text-based books. It can speed up the pageturn and refresh of Eink screen. Refresh speed of this type of mode is 2-3 times faster than the regular refresh mode. A2 mode can improve the pageturn speed significantly while it does not have much side effect on screen display.

This mode reduces the palette to 1-bit, i.e. two colours - black and white (down from 16 shades of grey). The effect of that is that fonts essentially lose anti-aliasing, which means they get sawtooth, jagged edges. The smaller the font, the more severe the perceived degradation of quality. PDFs that use embedded fonts are less affected, PDFs that contain scanned documents more, since the shades in the fonts are not uniform.

I find A2 good enough for the books I got from bookshops, with scanned books the results vary. It's a nice addition for skimming through books. Comic book readers will likely avoid this mode.

I will take some pictures to show differences in quality, something you couldn't see in the video.


These two sources give more specifics about what A2 is.

[bobstro]

I have no idea if it'd work well on an eink device, but I'm a big fan of Lecture Notes for handwritten note taking and sketches. It has completely replaced my pen & paper system for notes at work. It might be worth checking to see if it works well on the M96.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by smihaila

I think I'll unsubscribe completely from any of the Onyx Boox threads on mobileread.com
M92 is left to die of a peaceful death and new marketing propaganda for the so-called new stuff will take its place.

Why can't we have fast page turns and better e-ink rendering response with M92? Is the Android OS so "magic" in that respect?

Disappointed.

There's always going to be something new. Why argue? -- I would (in a very friendly way) suggest you lose the attitude and enjoy your device.

In the probably not-too-distant future (in 1 or 2 years) some owners of the M96 will be in the same position as you now find yourself in.

Live life, have fun, and prosper.

[derball2008]

Originally Posted by machinogodzilla

[...]
First I use M96 in 'quality first' with full page refresh every time I turn the page. Then I reduce the full refresh to every 3 pages (for me every 9 pages is sufficient enough). Then I switch to 'performance first' mode with full refresh every page. Finally I reduce the full refresh to every 3 pages again.

Here is the link in case the below doesn't work.


[...]

After watching that video several times, I noticed I didn't notice (no pun intended) that in 'performance first' mode (I guess that's the new A2 mode), there weren't any flashes when you set to full refresh every page or every 3 pages respectively. Do I need to watch closely or is there no difference at all (i. e. in A2 mode, no flash because there is no full refresh).

[machinogodzilla]

You're right, there is no difference in the 'performance' aka A2 mode when you tinker with the refresh settings.

Also, another thing I didn't mention. The progress-bar like widget I used at the beginning of the video is for setting the contrast. It helps in the fast mode as it emboldens the fonts basically spilling the ink over the edges lost due to decreasing colour depth.

~170 setting works quite well for A2. 140 is enough (for me) for the 'quality' mode, even though it appears a bit washed out on the photo. I took the pictures at night with a fluorescent lamp hanging above my head.

Click on the thumbnail below and then on the magnifying glass icon, and on the magnifying glass icon again for a full size picture,

[einkuser]

Would there be any chance of porting the firmware used on M96 to M92, that way it opens up to Android too? Or would the hardware specs render that implausible?

Thanks ...

[FinancialWar]

Does the M96 run full Android like T68?

Am I able to download any app from the market?

[mSSM]

Originally Posted by einkuser

Would there be any chance of porting the firmware used on M96 to M92, that way it opens up to Android too? Or would the hardware specs render that implausible?

Thanks ...

The M96 has twice (i.e. 512MB) the memory of the M92. Android 4.0 is quite memory-hungry. I did not investigate the matter personally, but I think this should give a strongf argument against porting Android to the M92.