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polemarkh · 04-05-2016, 10:48 AM

Greetings all,

Before making my most recent reader acquisition, I looked through this forum to see if anyone else had any experience with the C67ml Carta2, without finding anything. As such, I thought it might be useful to post my own first impressions.

To give some idea as to where I'm coming from, I have in the past, owned a number of ebook readers. Sony PRS-700, PRS-350, Cybook Opus, Kobo Glo and Aura H2O (the H2O remains both in my possession and functional, and so far as I know the Glo is functional though not in my possession).

I chose the Carta2 because I wanted an ereader that had an SD card slot, a high resolution screen, a smaller size than the Aura H2O, and (preferably) some variety of reader application that would synchronize with both iOS and Android (I fairly quickly got frustrated with Kobo's sync only working for purchased content).

The Carta2 cost ~$200, shipped from China. I ended up buying from <http://beststore-online.com>, and they included a case (which I hadn't expected) (I'm not endorsing the store, just noting that their Carta2 is indeed labelled correctly). I ended up using NovaLauncher as my launcher application, swapps as my quick launcher, Calibre Companion as my book storage, and Mantano Reader as my reading app (of those that offer both iOS and android versions, it did the best synchronization, gave me the most display options, and let me turn off the animation on the Carta2).

The good:

Beautiful screen
CalibreCompanion integrates well with Mantano
Front light comparable to my Aura H2O in quality and brightness
Easy to turn wifi on for sync and then off again for power saving
Runs for about a week on a charge if I'm mostly using it for reading
Hardware forward/back buttons are nice
Sleep/wake case works well
Decently small size and light weight

The not-so-good:

If wifi is left on, the battery drains very quickly
Powering up takes a long time, so the "turn off after n minutes of sleep" feature is pretty much useless for me (on the other hand, the power drains quite slowly during sleep with wifi off)
No way to get the Onyx launcher to recognize Mantano as the reader app
A2 reading most, whilst faster, is hard to use with Mantano reader because it doesn't refresh the UI elements
Not being able to upgrade Android beyond 4.2.2 is annoying but not crippling (especially since I spend very little time connected to the internet)

Overall the Carta2 works well for me, and I'm glad I ended up with it. If you prefer high-resolution displays for reading, and (especially) if you occasionally open books at very small font size in order to maximize screen space, I think that the better screen is definitely worth the price increase over the Carta. I don't yet have anything to say about durability, but I hope to post again in a few months with an updated report.

04-05-2016, 10:48 AM	#1
polemarkh Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2016 Device: Onyx Boox C67ml Carta2	Boox C67ml Carta2 preliminary review Greetings all, Before making my most recent reader acquisition, I looked through this forum to see if anyone else had any experience with the C67ml Carta2, without finding anything. As such, I thought it might be useful to post my own first impressions. To give some idea as to where I'm coming from, I have in the past, owned a number of ebook readers. Sony PRS-700, PRS-350, Cybook Opus, Kobo Glo and Aura H2O (the H2O remains both in my possession and functional, and so far as I know the Glo is functional though not in my possession). I chose the Carta2 because I wanted an ereader that had an SD card slot, a high resolution screen, a smaller size than the Aura H2O, and (preferably) some variety of reader application that would synchronize with both iOS and Android (I fairly quickly got frustrated with Kobo's sync only working for purchased content). The Carta2 cost ~$200, shipped from China. I ended up buying from <http://beststore-online.com>, and they included a case (which I hadn't expected) (I'm not endorsing the store, just noting that their Carta2 is indeed labelled correctly). I ended up using NovaLauncher as my launcher application, swapps as my quick launcher, Calibre Companion as my book storage, and Mantano Reader as my reading app (of those that offer both iOS and android versions, it did the best synchronization, gave me the most display options, and let me turn off the animation on the Carta2). The good: Beautiful screen CalibreCompanion integrates well with Mantano Front light comparable to my Aura H2O in quality and brightness Easy to turn wifi on for sync and then off again for power saving Runs for about a week on a charge if I'm mostly using it for reading Hardware forward/back buttons are nice Sleep/wake case works well Decently small size and light weight The not-so-good: If wifi is left on, the battery drains very quickly Powering up takes a long time, so the "turn off after n minutes of sleep" feature is pretty much useless for me (on the other hand, the power drains quite slowly during sleep with wifi off) No way to get the Onyx launcher to recognize Mantano as the reader app A2 reading most, whilst faster, is hard to use with Mantano reader because it doesn't refresh the UI elements Not being able to upgrade Android beyond 4.2.2 is annoying but not crippling (especially since I spend very little time connected to the internet) Overall the Carta2 works well for me, and I'm glad I ended up with it. If you prefer high-resolution displays for reading, and (especially) if you occasionally open books at very small font size in order to maximize screen space, I think that the better screen is definitely worth the price increase over the Carta. I don't yet have anything to say about durability, but I hope to post again in a few months with an updated report.