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studiosus · 08-25-2011, 05:48 PM

After using Boox M90 for a week now, it is really a love-hate relationship with it

(1) Firmware. When it goes to the stand-by mode for a longer period of time (let's say overnight), and when some book is left open in the reader then after the resume from the stand-by it loses the page you were on and goes directly to SD-card main menu. Moreover, it won't also remember the page I was last on the book (under 'progress' shows I'm on page 1)! This means, I have to search for the exact page over and over again.

(2) IR-button really pisses me off – and as noted before by the others - sometimes it works, most often not. Useless even in best conditions. Well, actually it won't disturb me anymore since I gave up using it

(3) Reflection on the screen. Perhaps I did not do my homework very well (although I have watched very closely the developments of e-book readers during last 3-4 years), but Boox (and I guess all the other e-book readers with touchscreen too?) really need very good lighting conditions to read. You cannot read for example inside the house where the window/lighting source is in the opposite direction (e.g. laying on the stomach on the bed with your soles pointing to window). Direct daylight coming "from behind" makes Boox unreadable, so you always need to consider its position. Same goes for the artificial lighting, e.g. lamps (see the picture attached), since you need to position Boox to a certain angles/degree so the reflections won't disturb you. This is surely no problem for usual books, and has been my biggest disappointment.

(4) Battery. Well - do not be fooled by the "Up to 8000 pages on only one battery charge!"

I do not use wifi and when reading use only highlighting/annotations, but in the stand-by regime, it will drain out within 3-4 days (reading approx 100-200 pages in a day). I guess something "heavy" is running on the background.

(5) Some remarks for the academics. When using the annotation tool – this means, highlighting some sentences or parts of text – then in case you don't add any text by yourself, then Boox just copies this portion of the text and shows it directly under the 'All annotations' menu (see the picture attached). I find it really great since so I can later find interesting passages very easily, and theoretically can take the notes file from Boox and import it your personal computer for later usage.

Which I also really like is the 'hide margin' option, which allows reading academic pdf articles and books at ease. I think the size of the screen/device is just optimal. Custom zoom could nevertheless be very handy. Speed is more-or-less okay for me, although compared to others it should be faster. Annotation/highlighting works pretty well, this was actually my main reason for buying Boox. But poor and underdeveloped firmware is really its biggest downside...

08-25-2011, 05:48 PM	#470
studiosus Member Posts: 14 Karma: 136 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: several devices	After using Boox M90 for a week now, it is really a love-hate relationship with it (1) Firmware. When it goes to the stand-by mode for a longer period of time (let's say overnight), and when some book is left open in the reader then after the resume from the stand-by it loses the page you were on and goes directly to SD-card main menu. Moreover, it won't also remember the page I was last on the book (under 'progress' shows I'm on page 1)! This means, I have to search for the exact page over and over again. (2) IR-button really pisses me off – and as noted before by the others - sometimes it works, most often not. Useless even in best conditions. Well, actually it won't disturb me anymore since I gave up using it (3) Reflection on the screen. Perhaps I did not do my homework very well (although I have watched very closely the developments of e-book readers during last 3-4 years), but Boox (and I guess all the other e-book readers with touchscreen too?) really need very good lighting conditions to read. You cannot read for example inside the house where the window/lighting source is in the opposite direction (e.g. laying on the stomach on the bed with your soles pointing to window). Direct daylight coming "from behind" makes Boox unreadable, so you always need to consider its position. Same goes for the artificial lighting, e.g. lamps (see the picture attached), since you need to position Boox to a certain angles/degree so the reflections won't disturb you. This is surely no problem for usual books, and has been my biggest disappointment. (4) Battery. Well - do not be fooled by the "Up to 8000 pages on only one battery charge!" I do not use wifi and when reading use only highlighting/annotations, but in the stand-by regime, it will drain out within 3-4 days (reading approx 100-200 pages in a day). I guess something "heavy" is running on the background. (5) Some remarks for the academics. When using the annotation tool – this means, highlighting some sentences or parts of text – then in case you don't add any text by yourself, then Boox just copies this portion of the text and shows it directly under the 'All annotations' menu (see the picture attached). I find it really great since so I can later find interesting passages very easily, and theoretically can take the notes file from Boox and import it your personal computer for later usage. Which I also really like is the 'hide margin' option, which allows reading academic pdf articles and books at ease. I think the size of the screen/device is just optimal. Custom zoom could nevertheless be very handy. Speed is more-or-less okay for me, although compared to others it should be faster. Annotation/highlighting works pretty well, this was actually my main reason for buying Boox. But poor and underdeveloped firmware is really its biggest downside... Attached Thumbnails Last edited by studiosus; 08-25-2011 at 06:10 PM.