Quote:
Originally Posted by dpayment
 Definitely two thumbs up to Onyx Boox, they're the first e-ink ebook maker to actually understand what we need/want. |
I cannot agree with this either - maybe it has what you need/want, but to me, it is a very incomplete product.
I previously had a PocketBook 912 (cracked the screen), now bought the Boox M96. While the screen looks the same to me, there have definitely been improvements in speed between those two. However the design of the hardware interface (buttons, pen) is a complete disaster!
The PB912 had buttons which really worked, one could really use the device with the buttons, and the inductive pen was housed inside of the machine body, so it was always at hand for highlights and scribbles.
The M96 is pretty much useless without the inductive pen, all you have to rely on is ONE tiny wobbly joystick-like button, accompanied with four useless buttons on the other side which are small, hard to press and work only occasionally. The worst part - the inductive pen, which is the only way to navigate the device properly is NOT HOUSED in the device. This means when you loose that little plastic stick, you are doomed.
I really can't get my head around the designers thinking: (1) to design a device which only works with an inductive pen, but does not house the pen in the device body. (2) to design a device for reading, where one can assume that the "next page" (or previous page) buttons will be the most used, and make these two buttons small and of hard-to-press rubber. (3) put all of this in a cheap-feeling, squeaking plastic body.
Overall I acknowledge the speed (processor, memory) improvements, but that's just not enough. The current result feels like a disabled android tablet and not like a purpose-built e-reader.
To me, the "advantages" which
dpayment praises, are just geek-advantages, and not user advantages. Honestly, the PB912 speed was slow but was enough for me. (how fast can you read books anyway?), and I didn't care about opening any format, opening major formats was completely sufficient. Same goes for web browser, I have other devices for that. Editing ebooks? Do you ever have to edit the paper books you read? No. And yes, now I can waste a couple of months trying to find out which of the many erader softwares compatible with android will work best for me, but I preferred one pre-installed ereader software which was exactly tailored to the PB912 hardware.
I expect something I buy to work out of the box, deliver an optimal hardware-interface-software combination, and provide a pleasant user experience, which wasn't the case here. I will still try to live with this device, but these were my first impressions after a month of use: definitely not a dream product, more like a factory prototype.