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mossblaser · 03-26-2018, 02:52 PM

So, I finally got a chance to play with my new Note so have some thoughts. I'll get the bad bits out of the way first:

First the bad: my device came with a defective screen with a column and row of pixels broken and stuck a light gray colour so will be going back for replacement...

The ugly:

The Note is terrifyingly flimsy compared with many of its predecessors. My reference point is the now-ancient M92 which was comparatively built like a tank. In particular the bezel seems to just be a thin sheet of plastic stuck onto the front rather than an integral part of the casing (as in many high end tablets) or robustly mechanically attached piece as in the M92. I definitely wouldn't like to use this without a case. I also seriously worry the device won't be as long-lasting as my old M92 has been.
While writing (even as lightly as possible while still registering) the screen visibly flexes, particularly in the middle of the screen. This is distracting and again doesn't reassure you about the sturdiness of the Note's general construction.
The pen digitizer is inaccurate in hard-to-predict ways when you're closer than 1cm to the edge of the screen. This makes writing up to the edge of the page basically impossible. The digitizer isn't just off consistently in these areas but out by a random amount and in random directions.
The capacitive touch layer goes absolutely haywire if you place your plam on display after a while. This can wreak havoc, so much so that the built in notes app has a 'disable capacitive touch' button. This ugly bodge really spoils the usability of the device. Hopefully a better fix will come at a later time...
The reading software is still buggy, particularly when using advanced features. Sometimes the PDF reader will start within the main tabbed reader UI, sometimes it'll launch full screen. Sometimes choosing certain auto cropping options will just crash the reader software. I'm confident this will improve but for now a little caution using these features is required.
The supplied USB-A to C cable is not a USB3 cable which I'm taking to mean the device does not support USB3 for faster USB-based IO. A slight shame but hardly a deal-breaker.

With that out of the way: the good: There are many things to like about this device, especially when coming from the Boox M92:

The Note is much lighter and more attractive at first glance than the M92
Though like the M92 the screen has more 'gloss' to it than some e-readers, it is somewhat better to read than most magazine-type papers. Its size probably exacerbates the gloss too.
The Wacom digitizer is a substantial improvement. I've not once had the experience of random lines being added to my sketches as was frequent with the M92 digitizer.
The larger stylus is a welcome improvement. (Alas, the pen is still unusually short and thin for a pen making it marginally less comfortable than a normal pen to my taste. Without a case it is also easy to loose!)
The friction while writing on the screen is slightly higher than the M92 and this makes writing more comfortable. It still lacks the texture of real pen/pencil on paper but it is no longer a hindrance to good writing. It is also worth highlighting the pen requires about as much pressure as a good ball point pen to write. The M92's pen would write with a bit less pressure (more like a fountain pen). Though I don't like having to press slightly harder, the writing experience is improved overall.
The eraser part of the pen is really useful. Alas, you have to press remarkably hard for this to function which is making me wary to use it too carelessly given others' warnings of scratching.
Having a capacitative touch screen is a massive improvement over the M92. Its much less clumsy navigating menus or typing without having to use a pen or 5-way-nav.
The bezel is wide enough to comfortably rest your fingers while holding the device. The display not being truly flush with the bezel actually counts in the device's favour by making it easy to feel whether you're about to accidentally touch the screen and turn pages. The bezel is still thin enough that writing near the edge of the screen is comfortable (it definitely wasn't on the M92).
The device is noticeably snappier than the M92 and though the epaper-induced sluggishness certainly makes the device a poor replacement for a conventional tablet for general web browsing, doing so is not completely impractical. In fact, for text heavy web browsing the device is actually worth the trouble to use since it isn't that much slower. In particular it doesn't do what the M92 did which was to sit repeatedly flashing the screen for 2 minutes every time you opened a new page.
A great relief is that the built in ebook reading software has not lost the large collection of power-user features which the M92 reader had. In particular, the built in reader has fairly sophisticated modes for reading multi-column documents or double-page scans. This is a really excellent piece of reading software. The Note is a device that is serious about reading all types of file, not just well formatted epub files!
Page turns in big PDFs are now only slowed down by the display hardware it seems: pages don't take a noticeable amount of time to render as they once did on the M92
Though I've not started playing yet, the choice of Android and the published pen and screen driving libraries will make hacking around with the Note much, much more pleasant than the M92 ever was.

Overall, the Note looks like it is a very favourable evolution of my beloved M92. Onyx appear to have remained true to their past emphasis on quality reading software with many well thought out niche features and I've no doubt this will only improve over time. Sadly sturdiness and build quality of the hardware really lets the Note down making it fall short of being the dream device I'd hoped. If you care about flexibility and the reading experience, the Note is comfortably the best device on the market.

03-26-2018, 02:52 PM	#241
mossblaser Member Posts: 12 Karma: 9034 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: Boox M92	So, I finally got a chance to play with my new Note so have some thoughts. I'll get the bad bits out of the way first: First the bad: my device came with a defective screen with a column and row of pixels broken and stuck a light gray colour so will be going back for replacement... The ugly: The Note is terrifyingly flimsy compared with many of its predecessors. My reference point is the now-ancient M92 which was comparatively built like a tank. In particular the bezel seems to just be a thin sheet of plastic stuck onto the front rather than an integral part of the casing (as in many high end tablets) or robustly mechanically attached piece as in the M92. I definitely wouldn't like to use this without a case. I also seriously worry the device won't be as long-lasting as my old M92 has been. While writing (even as lightly as possible while still registering) the screen visibly flexes, particularly in the middle of the screen. This is distracting and again doesn't reassure you about the sturdiness of the Note's general construction. The pen digitizer is inaccurate in hard-to-predict ways when you're closer than 1cm to the edge of the screen. This makes writing up to the edge of the page basically impossible. The digitizer isn't just off consistently in these areas but out by a random amount and in random directions. The capacitive touch layer goes absolutely haywire if you place your plam on display after a while. This can wreak havoc, so much so that the built in notes app has a 'disable capacitive touch' button. This ugly bodge really spoils the usability of the device. Hopefully a better fix will come at a later time... The reading software is still buggy, particularly when using advanced features. Sometimes the PDF reader will start within the main tabbed reader UI, sometimes it'll launch full screen. Sometimes choosing certain auto cropping options will just crash the reader software. I'm confident this will improve but for now a little caution using these features is required. The supplied USB-A to C cable is not a USB3 cable which I'm taking to mean the device does not support USB3 for faster USB-based IO. A slight shame but hardly a deal-breaker. With that out of the way: the good: There are many things to like about this device, especially when coming from the Boox M92: The Note is much lighter and more attractive at first glance than the M92 Though like the M92 the screen has more 'gloss' to it than some e-readers, it is somewhat better to read than most magazine-type papers. Its size probably exacerbates the gloss too. The Wacom digitizer is a substantial improvement. I've not once had the experience of random lines being added to my sketches as was frequent with the M92 digitizer. The larger stylus is a welcome improvement. (Alas, the pen is still unusually short and thin for a pen making it marginally less comfortable than a normal pen to my taste. Without a case it is also easy to loose!) The friction while writing on the screen is slightly higher than the M92 and this makes writing more comfortable. It still lacks the texture of real pen/pencil on paper but it is no longer a hindrance to good writing. It is also worth highlighting the pen requires about as much pressure as a good ball point pen to write. The M92's pen would write with a bit less pressure (more like a fountain pen). Though I don't like having to press slightly harder, the writing experience is improved overall. The eraser part of the pen is really useful. Alas, you have to press remarkably hard for this to function which is making me wary to use it too carelessly given others' warnings of scratching. Having a capacitative touch screen is a massive improvement over the M92. Its much less clumsy navigating menus or typing without having to use a pen or 5-way-nav. The bezel is wide enough to comfortably rest your fingers while holding the device. The display not being truly flush with the bezel actually counts in the device's favour by making it easy to feel whether you're about to accidentally touch the screen and turn pages. The bezel is still thin enough that writing near the edge of the screen is comfortable (it definitely wasn't on the M92). The device is noticeably snappier than the M92 and though the epaper-induced sluggishness certainly makes the device a poor replacement for a conventional tablet for general web browsing, doing so is not completely impractical. In fact, for text heavy web browsing the device is actually worth the trouble to use since it isn't that much slower. In particular it doesn't do what the M92 did which was to sit repeatedly flashing the screen for 2 minutes every time you opened a new page. A great relief is that the built in ebook reading software has not lost the large collection of power-user features which the M92 reader had. In particular, the built in reader has fairly sophisticated modes for reading multi-column documents or double-page scans. This is a really excellent piece of reading software. The Note is a device that is serious about reading all types of file, not just well formatted epub files! Page turns in big PDFs are now only slowed down by the display hardware it seems: pages don't take a noticeable amount of time to render as they once did on the M92 Though I've not started playing yet, the choice of Android and the published pen and screen driving libraries will make hacking around with the Note much, much more pleasant than the M92 ever was. Overall, the Note looks like it is a very favourable evolution of my beloved M92. Onyx appear to have remained true to their past emphasis on quality reading software with many well thought out niche features and I've no doubt this will only improve over time. Sadly sturdiness and build quality of the hardware really lets the Note down making it fall short of being the dream device I'd hoped. If you care about flexibility and the reading experience, the Note is comfortably the best device on the market.