[Drew22]

@Brigader

Onyx Boox Max is very good at handling PDFs. Besides, they are preparing for the end of the year a massive revamping of their apps, which will be even better. The Scribble App, meant to make notes both independently and within the PDF, becomes slow after a while if you write a lot and they want to change this with the from scratch recreated app.

Zooming - Once you cut edges for example, the text becomes larger. However the screen is so big, one really doesn't need zooming and the edges could be practical for taking notes. Pay attention, the e-reader has not a touch screen. Nonetheless, the menu has plenty of easy options for zooming and generally tackling the way you view your document.

Different pages being displayed side by side will be part of the next app changes (note that one or two updates are still probable before the big software revamp), hopefully till the end of the year as they hinted to me.

They are also working on using Boox Max as a second monitor for PC, probably via an app.

It makes no sense to go for a 9.7 inches e-reader - they're all a headache when reading pdfs, because of the constant zooming necessity and different zooming ways for so many different pdf formats.

Regarding the magazine subscription service, can you download and visualise the magazine as pdf (the simple way) or it runs via an app? In the second case, please check with the magazine's company if that app is compatible with Android 4.04, the current OS of the e-reader. Onyx promised since may this year that they would soon upgrade all their devices to Android 4.4 but for the moment there is only a beta version available, and that is NOT for Boox Max.

The vendor had to split his research resources between the necessities of the internal Chinese market and the international one. Thus the updates are now slower in pace. However big changes are coming.

Now about the shortcomings. The Boox Max is not comparable in speed and functionality with a medium to high specifications tablet or smartphone. It is slow and has no colours. The processor is 1 Ghz, i.e. there is not much space for many other apps unless you're prepared to slow down even further the device. Several of them are ok, but keep their number limited.

For the time being there are some problems with reading the DRM protected E-books (unless you remove the protection, of course) - related to the Adobe account's registration - but Booxtor transmitted this week the information to his colleagues and they should come with a solution within few weeks.

Last, but not least, the device is truly expensive, though such are the costs as well. If the sales progress well, the hardware producer (who is not Onyx, but E-Ink) will be able to cut the production costs in the second half of the next year. I have also asked about the prospects of a next generation 13.3 inch e-reader. Most important would be for me a higher resolution screen and colour. We will see maybe towards the end of 2017 a new e-reader and colour will certainly not be a feature of it.