Is C67ML significantly better than T62?

[loviedovie]

Hi

I am thinking to get a new Android Eink device. I am wondering if I should consider C67ML over my current T62. I read some reviews and impressions but I am wondering if someone can give me real heads up on the battery/weight/performance comparisons between these two devices.

I am thinking to get the 8gb version


thanks

[loviedovie]

Any recommendation?

[susan_cassidy]

How about a brand name? Never heard of either of your two choices by those names, at least.

[loviedovie]

Really?

Onyx C67ML or Boyue T62

[downeaster59]

I happen to have both the Boyue T62+ and the Onyx Boox C67ML Carta devices. Both of them have Carta E-Ink screens and 8 GB of internal storage. Both have 6 inch screens. The Onyx feels lighter and is thinner, but that is because the Boyue has a larger battery. The partition for user apps in the Onyx is only 350 MB, while the Boyue has a partition of 1GB for user apps. Performance is similar for both devices. Both run Android 4.2.2. I prefer the frontlight on the Onyx, as I find the one on the Boyue a bit too bright even at its lowest setting.

For reading, I find the Onyx Neo Reader to be the best of the stock reading apps for either device.

In brief, the Boyue gives you better battery life and more room for user apps. The Onyx gives you a lighter device and a slightly better reading experience.

What I have done is make an image of the Onyx firmware and installed it on the Boyue. This gives me the best of both worlds. The battery life is better than the stock Boyue firmware - excellent, in fact - and I get the better Neo Reader app, as well as the 1GB of user app space on the Boyue.

[loviedovie]

@downeaster59

Thanks for the reply.

I have T62 not the plus one(I do not think it is Carta screen). And I am thinking to get C67ML 8gb version, in that respect I should be feeling like I am really going for an upgrade as far as the screen and battery goes?

I guess I am just trying to see if spending another $140 on another Android Ereader is a good idea.

Btw what kind of battery life do you get from C67ML, both standby and reading time wise? My T62's battery life is bleak in my view. It is worse than my normal android tablet. I have a Samsung device and I could use it all day and battery holds well all day. T62 not so, after couple days of normal reading (say 1 hour a day) the battery will be done. I am not sure if T62+ has a better battery than T62

[susan_cassidy]

I could have sworn the original post only had the model numbers, and not the brand names.

ETA: it is still showing in the list of threads page as just the mmodel numbers.

[loviedovie]

susan_cassidy
I edited it after you mentioned it.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by loviedovie

@downeaster59

Thanks for the reply.

I have T62 not the plus one(I do not think it is Carta screen). And I am thinking to get C67ML 8gb version, in that respect I should be feeling like I am really going for an upgrade as far as the screen and battery goes?

I guess I am just trying to see if spending another $140 on another Android Ereader is a good idea.

Btw what kind of battery life do you get from C67ML, both standby and reading time wise? My T62's battery life is bleak in my view. It is worse than my normal android tablet. I have a Samsung device and I could use it all day and battery holds well all day. T62 not so, after couple days of normal reading (say 1 hour a day) the battery will be done. I am not sure if T62+ has a better battery than T62

If you get the C67ML Carta, you'll get a screen upgrade and more data storage space. Everything else (battery life, performance, you name it) is just like the previous C67. I found that all these devices have battery life issues right out of the box. The T62 should be able to give us great battery life, but the firmware is not tuned enough to allow this. Look around on the threads in the Android Devices section of MobileRead, and you'll find how various people have gotten better battery life. It takes some work but if you want an Android E-Ink reading device, it's worth it.

My C67ML will get me something like 12-14 hours of reading time, if I have WiFi turned off. If I leave WiFi on, battery life can sink much more quickly than that. However, with my T62+ running the C67ML Carta firmware, I'll get 25-30 hours of reading time with WiFi turned off, with no trouble at all. I'm very pleased with that setup. Now, I use my T62+ with the C67ML firmware almost exclusively because of the great battery life.

So, since you have the T62, I'd recommend checking out some of the tips of various users on these forums to get better battery life. Root your device, use a CPU control app like SetCPU or No-Frills CPU Control Classic, and you should see an improvement in battery life right away. There is a difference between the Pearl and Carta screens, but maybe not $140 worth. The T62 and the T62+ have the same battery. You'll be fine sticking with your T62, if you're willing to tweak it a bit. Some people have had success installing the Energy Sistem Pro firmware on the T62.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

I happen to have both the Boyue T62+ and the Onyx Boox C67ML Carta devices. Both of them have Carta E-Ink screens and 8 GB of internal storage. Both have 6 inch screens. The Onyx feels lighter and is thinner, but that is because the Boyue has a larger battery. The partition for user apps in the Onyx is only 350 MB, while the Boyue has a partition of 1GB for user apps. Performance is similar for both devices. Both run Android 4.2.2. I prefer the frontlight on the Onyx, as I find the one on the Boyue a bit too bright even at its lowest setting.

For reading, I find the Onyx Neo Reader to be the best of the stock reading apps for either device.

In brief, the Boyue gives you better battery life and more room for user apps. The Onyx gives you a lighter device and a slightly better reading experience.

What I have done is make an image of the Onyx firmware and installed it on the Boyue. This gives me the best of both worlds. The battery life is better than the stock Boyue firmware - excellent, in fact - and I get the better Neo Reader app, as well as the 1GB of user app space on the Boyue.

If you use coolreader app you can get a finer control of the light in your T62 as they have an option to set the brightness by %1 increments. It goes a lot lower than the default settings. It only works inside the app though when you come out of the app the light goes back to default brightness

[loviedovie]

@downeaster59

Thanks for all the great points. Well described. I read about similar comparisons but I could not find any direct comparisons regarding the battery life, weight etc.

I wonder if I can take T62`s battery and put it in C67ML. Because the reading time of the Boyue device is significant based on your experience, compared to C67ML.

One of the issue I have with T62 is that there are bunch of buttons but no "home" button which makes it hard to navigate. I can use the bottom tray but that also steals/blocks screenspace from other apps. Or I disable the bottom tray, then I always have to quit apps to get to the launcher screen. I could not find a solution to that. And I see that C67ML has a nice and simple home button.

I know you already said that you are using C67's firmware but do you feel like the general Os experience and app experiences is superior to Boyue's?

@Dopedangel

Thanks for the tip. I use Coolreader (along with Fbreader). I will try that next time.


I wonder if I should go for T62+ given that bangwood is selling it for $117. It is $18 cheaper than C67ML.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by loviedovie

@downeaster59

Thanks for all the great points. Well described. I read about similar comparisons but I could not find any direct comparisons regarding the battery life, weight etc.

I wonder if I can take T62`s battery and put it in C67ML. Because the reading time of the Boyue device is significant based on your experience, compared to C67ML.

One of the issue I have with T62 is that there are bunch of buttons but no "home" button which makes it hard to navigate. I can use the bottom tray but that also steals/blocks screenspace from other apps. Or I disable the bottom tray, then I always have to quit apps to get to the launcher screen. I could not find a solution to that. And I see that C67ML has a nice and simple home button.

I know you already said that you are using C67's firmware but do you feel like the general Os experience and app experiences is superior to Boyue's?


I wonder if I should go for T62+ given that bangwood is selling it for $117. It is $18 cheaper than C67ML.

I suspect that the T62's battery will be too big to fit in the C67 - but it would be great if it did fit.

I use Button Savior to add a few buttons, including a home button, to my device. I just tap the small icon on the side of the screen (or wherever you want it to be) and the button menu slides out.

The T62+'s firmware is good overall, but the C67ML Carta's firmware provides a better experience for me. The contrast is better. Battery life is better than with any hack I have tried with the T62+ firmware. Frontlight control is better. The Neo Roader is better with ePubs. Some people like it with pdfs, but I haven't tried pdfs on mine. And - I still get the 1 GB of user app space on the T62+. Getting the firmware on my t62+ required installing a system.img from the C67ML, and making a change in the boot.img of the T62+ so that the C67ML frontlight control will work with the T62+. Takes a bit of doing, but worth it, in my book.

You could probably do something similar with your T62 and the older C67ML. But, if you are planning to buy one more device anyway, I'd recommend the T62+, because of the larger user app space and the larger battery.

Some people have been pleased with Moon Reader on the T62+. There are a few other reading apps that are designed with E-Ink in mind, like AlReader and Koreader. The stock Boyue reading app is good, but you may like one of these others a little better.

[kintrupf]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

The T62+'s firmware is good overall, but the C67ML Carta's firmware provides a better experience for me. The contrast is better. Battery life is better than with any hack I have tried with the T62+ firmware. Frontlight control is better. The Neo Roader is better with ePubs. Some people like it with pdfs, but I haven't tried pdfs on mine. And - I still get the 1 GB of user app space on the T62+. Getting the firmware on my t62+ required installing a system.img from the C67ML, and making a change in the boot.img of the T62+ so that the C67ML frontlight control will work with the T62+. Takes a bit of doing, but worth it, in my book.

Is there a detailed description of the process somewhere? Sounds quite interesting

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by kintrupf

Is there a detailed description of the process somewhere? Sounds quite interesting

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any complete, detailed description in any one place that outlines the whole process, step by step. It requires access to a Windows computer (Windows running on a Mac will work, too) and one or two tools found in the Android Devices section of this forum. Best place to start? This thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=265289 FOV has put together a package for the T62 and Energy Reader Pro to install the Onyx Boox C67ML 1.7.3 ROM. The whole process isn't given there (not yet), but people in that forum can help you out.

[SlantedChanter]

A new wrinkle to this comparison is the release of a 300 dpi version of the Oynx C67ML in 2016. I haven't found any English language sources about this "Carta2" version but the Chinese reviews on Taobao seem pretty positive.

I will probably go for the Boyue T62D anyway since it's available at a local store here in Taiwan for just 3000NTD (~90 USD). The new C67ML is available from a Taiwanese online reseller for about 170 USD, a significant mark-up over the ~130 USD price on Taobao.

Here's the link to a pretty comprehensive overview of the new C67ML from the Chinese Onyx site:

http://www.onyx-international.com/in...10-20-06-28-47