Boox Tab Ultra C impressions after a full day of use

[rowe]

TLDR; I really like it. In most ways it exceeds my expectations, in other ways it's disappointing. To me it seems like a breakthrough product, but there's lots of room for improvement.

The battery is good enough for me. It had about 70% charge when I received it after waking. After using it for most of the time till I went to bed it still had 20% left. I'm fine with charging my devices overnight.

I bought it via the Boox shop. It arrived within 24 hours. I would have preferred to use Amazon for their return policy, but it was both cheaper and came with a case ordered direct.

It's quite heavy. I very rarely hold a device this size while using though. 99% of the time while I'm using it I'll either be at my desk or sofa. At my desk I use heavy raised stand so it's at a comfortable height while being stable. On the sofa I put a cushion on my lap, with an iPad pillow stand on top. Both are very comfortable ways to use the Ultra C.

The screen finish is a nice satin. The right mix of reflection reduction and clarity for me.

I don't like the front light on this device. It gives me a headache so I don't plan on using it at all. I have abnormally sensitive vision, and imagine this won't be an issue for most people. Many other e-ink device front lights give me a headache, including the Boox Nova 2 / Poke Pro / Mira / old Kindles / Hisense A5 / Dasung Paperlike. Other ereader back lights I have no issue with e.g. Hisense Hi Reader Pro / Xiaomi InkPalm and leave them on most of the time. This isn't great on the Ultra C, especially as it has a lower contrast screen than B/W devices. But I'll only be using it in environments with good ambient lighting the vast majority of the time and it's not too dark for me. Reduced contrast can be good for eyestrain.

Boox should be embarrassed by the (non-keyboard) case. The surfaces feel nice (fake leather/suede) but using adhesive strips instead of magnets to keep it closed is ridiculous. It makes a slurping sound every time it's opened and these strips on Boox cases usually age poorly. Also the front sags when it's carried.

I braced myself for dead points (some say 'pixels') before it arrived. Large e-ink screens tend to have more dead points than smaller, and it seems to be even more common on colour screens. All three of my previous large e-ink screens have had dead points on arrival. This has the least. Just one that I only noticed by having a fully black screen with the light on full. I'm fine with that, and haven't noticed it at all in normal use.

I like playing board games, and my current obsession is Wingspan. I play the physical game sometimes, but was mainly playing on my iMac/iPad/iPhone depending on where I was. It gave me a headache and eye strain. This is ridiculous, but I impulse bought the Ultra C to play Wingspan on it (and the future board games I will get temporarily obsessed by). Stupidly, I didn't check the Google Play version is compatible with the old version of Android on the Ultra C - it isn't. Thankfully I found an .apk that seems to run as well as the latest store versions. I can now play my current favourite game with no eyestrain. Which is a joy. Unfortunately Wingspan has lots of unnecessary animations that can't be turned off, and the text isn't black. So I have to run it in 'balanced' mode that doesn't look as good, but it's fine for me.

I get lots of free magazines and newspapers from my local library via Pressreader. I used to view the print editions on a 13" Boox Max 3, but found I preferred reading them in single article view on my pocket Hisense Hi Reader Pro (via E-ink Bro instead of the app so the physical page turn buttons work). However, when the format is appropriate I'll now switch to print view on the Tab C as some magazines look amazing on it.

Print publications that looked great:

• BBC History Magazine
• BBC History Revealed
• History of War
• Mac Format
• Macworld
• Science Illustrated

Unfortunately many of my favourite print publications don't suit the Tab C screen (text isn't legible enough as too small, or isn't high contrast enough):

• The Guardian/Observer (including supplements)
• The Telegraph (including supplements)
• Evening Standard (including supplements)
• The Week
• The Economist
• BBC Wildlife
• Mojo

Graphic novels look fantastic IMO. I've only tried with Tachiyomi. Needed some tweaking in the app, and the e-ink settings. After that using Regal on good sources white/black text is really sharp, ghosting is minimal, and the colours look great to me. The colours won't be accurate, but compared to black/white e-ink screens that also typically have a lower PPI at this size this is a really great experience.

I usually read a chapter or two of manga a day. It looks fine on the Tab-C, but I prefer smaller devices for manga and will be sticking with my Nova 2 for this.
The Ultra C really should have a volume rocker switch that doubles as a page turner. Really simple way to make it a much nicer reading device.

Nice it has a stylus, and it works pretty well. I find using tablets with a stylus more ergonomic, and it keeps the screen clean. Everything about it compares well with the old Boox Stylus (e.g. bundled with Nova 2/3 and Max 3), and poorly with the more premium Apple Pencil. This stylus occasionally needs more than one tap on buttons/links and the friction feel isn't as pleasant as the Apple Pencil on an iPad.

I read 2/3 books a week. Novels on an InkPalm, non-fiction on a Hi Reader Pro. No plans to switch this to the Ultra C as I prefer short line lengths on a small device for long form reading. There will be the occasional exception e.g. PDF books not optimised for small screens.

I try to keep my internet time down, but put the Reddit/Facebook apps on it and bookmarked a few favourite sites. They all worked fine for me. I try to avoid videos anyway, so being on a device that's more suited to text will help.
Work. I've tried to integrate e-reader devices into my workflow before and failed. I'm too used to OSX, and find other environments frustrating for work. I use a MacBook Pro in combination with a Mira e-ink monitor (I work on the design of GOV.UK).

Overall, despite several shortcomings I'm really pleased with it so far.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by rowe

the Ultra C, especially as it has a lower contrast screen than B/W devices.

This statement is incorrect - the brightness is lower, the contrast remains the same; this is clearly visible when using the lighting, because then there is no difference to Carta 1200 screens.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by rowe

The battery is good enough for me. It had about 70% charge when I received it after waking. After using it for most of the time till I went to bed it still had 20% left. I'm fine with charging my devices overnight.

That does sound like quite a bit of discharge. OTOH that usage could equate to a month's usage by the advertisement bogus usage of 30 minutes a day.

Originally Posted by rowe

At my desk I use heavy raised stand so it's at a comfortable height while being stable.

You may find a Bluetooth clicker will make things more comfortable.

[rowe]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

This statement is incorrect - the brightness is lower, the contrast remains the same; this is clearly visible when using the lighting, because then there is no difference to Carta 1200 screens.

The colour layer over the top of the B&W layer on Kaleido 3 affects the contrast for the viewer. If they both had the same front light level, why would the contrast then be the same for the viewer?

Photo of one of my Carta 1200 screens above the Kaleido 3 screen. Neither with front light so it's a fair comparison. The Kaleido 3 is clearly lower contrast:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...5-0A5BCBBC18E5

Less fair comparison, but with both the front-lights on full, the contrast difference is more pronounced:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...5-0A5BCBBC18E5

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by rowe

The colour layer over the top of the B&W layer on Kaleido 3 affects the contrast for the viewer. If they both had the same front light level, why would the contrast then be the same for the viewer?

Photo of one of my Carta 1200 screens above the Kaleido 3 screen. Neither with front light so it's a fair comparison. The Kaleido 3 is clearly lower contrast:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...5-0A5BCBBC18E5

Less fair comparison, but with both the front-lights on full, the contrast difference is more pronounced:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...5-0A5BCBBC18E5

Your mistake is that you didn't set the front light to the same brightness level with white - then black has the same value as with Carta 1200.
Foto: Boox Tab Mini C vs Tolino Epos 3 = Kobo Sage, Carta 1200: and here is my impression that the white/black difference (contrast) is larger in Tab Mini C and that the black and white font boundaries are less sharp on the Tolino Epos 3

[rowe]

I’ve tried, but the lighting is difficult to match up between the Hi Reader Pro and Ultra C. They’re always a different colour. The different lights make a difference, as do the other layers used between different manufacturers e.g. how matte/gloss the outer surface is.

The HRP contrast is higher than the TUC both off, and fully on. And at any on lighting level the HRP screen is much less straining to me than the Boox screen. The HRP protector reduces sharpness slightly more than the Boox outer layers, but that’s a different issue (and not a bad thing for text to have this level of smoothing).

It’s only really a fair test with the two bare panels under the same lighting conditions, no device specific additional layers. Which all of the devices mentioned have.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by rowe

It’s only really a fair test with the two bare panels under the same lighting conditions, no device specific additional layers. Which all of the devices mentioned have.

No - it is not a fair, even false test.
Only the brightness is reduced when unlit, the contrast percentage remains the same - all shades of gray reflect less light by the same amount. When illuminated, all shades of gray are more reflective by the same percentage.
This phenomenon is comparable to viewing the same (unlit) screen in different ambient light; Dusk doesn't change anything on the screen - it just looks darker.
The film doesn't do anything other than let less light through - but doesn't change anything on the reflective screen.

[rowe]

Without the light the TUC screen is much lower contrast than modern B/W screens, so it needs more light to compensate. Which isn’t great for people who don’t like using a front light. That’s all I meant to get across in my original post on this point, and it’s objectively true. Forcefully arguing against that is strange to me. Arguing that the device specific layers above a panel make no difference is also strange.

So I’m not going to spend any more time on this conversation. Bye.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by rowe

Without the light the TUC screen is much lower contrast than modern B/W screens, so it needs more light to compensate. Which isn’t great for people who don’t like using a front light. That’s all I meant to get across in my original post on this point, and it’s objectively true. Forcefully arguing against that is strange to me. Arguing that the device specific layers above a panel make no difference is also strange.

So I’m not going to spend any more time on this conversation. Bye.

I don't care if you read my answer - unteachable cannot be taught.
Your claim is nonsense, because all the film changes is that less light hits the reflective screen, which therefore reflects less and that is brightness evenly across all gray levels - neither does darkness change the slightest bit of contrast.

And to the physics:
Contrast = (Light Amount Max - Light Amount Min)/Light Amount Min
And that remains the same with different amounts of illumination

Also, you may not have understood the proof in my picture

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

This statement is incorrect - the brightness is lower, the contrast remains the same; this is clearly visible when using the lighting, because then there is no difference to Carta 1200 screens.

No, the contrast is lower.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Quoth

No, the contrast is lower.

Wrong:
Read and try to understand!
Adapted:

Weber contrast

(I − Ib)/Ib

with I and Ib representing the luminance of the features and the background, respectively. The measure is also referred to as Weber fraction, since it is the term that is constant in Weber's Law. Weber contrast is commonly used in cases where small features are present on a large uniform background, i.e., where the average luminance is approximately equal to the background luminance.

Michelson contrast

Michelson contrast (also known as the visibility) is commonly used for patterns where both bright and dark features are equivalent and take up similar fractions of the area (e.g. sine-wave gratings).

(Imax − Imin)/(Imax + Imin)

with Imax and Imin I representing the highest and lowest luminance. The denominator represents twice the average of the maximum and minimum luminances.

Only the brightness is different; the contrast is unchanged according to both Weber and Michelson and is verified by spectrometer measurements - no difference to e.g. Kobo Sage.

And for those who know the basic arithmetic- assume example 2 has 50% less light:

Weber:
I=10, Ib=1
I=5, Ib=0.5

(I − Ib)/Ib

9/1=4.5/0.5

Michelson:
Imax=10, Imin=1
Imax=5, Imin=0.5

(Imax − Imin)/(Imax + Imin)

9/11=4.5/5.5

Proof: less light means darker, but unchanged contrast

[lepau]

Originally Posted by rowe

That’s all I meant to get across in my original post on this point,

Thanks for your helpful impressions.
That's the information I was looking for at this moment.
Looks like - apart from color - some ereader performance criteria deteriorated ...

Can you comment on how fast the device is booting?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by lepau

Looks like - apart from color - some ereader performance criteria deteriorated ...

No, apart from the fact that light makes sense and the stronger battery makes it heavier, there are only improvements

[rowe]

@lepau. No worries, thanks.

'Can you comment on how fast the device is booting?'
I usually just put it to sleep, which takes about a second to get back from.
Power off is also quick, about a second.
From powered off to the working home screen is nearly 40 seconds, including holding the power button for a while to trigger the startup.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by rowe

@lepau. No worries, thanks.
From powered off to the working home screen is nearly 40 seconds, including holding the power button for a while to trigger the startup.

If you have fastboot unlocked it may throw in another 30 second delay (where most LCD Androids would display the "Unlocked state" warning, but Onyx doesn't).