Onyx Boox M96

[por]

Originally Posted by 2holdon

Quite frankly I am more than willing to help! But I am not begging to be heard while at the same time paying big bucks for a maybe type of product.

Since they can't sell many units and the screen is quite expensive the price can't go much lower than that . Bear in mind that they obviously have to pay wages for software development after launch as well... That's why small companies have a hard time generally.

[Booxtor]

Originally Posted by 2holdon

I did EXACTLY that.

Last time I checked (about an hour ago) no update was found.

you also can download it here : http://ereader-store.de/DATA/update.zip
Copy it to your root folder in M96.
Afterwards
Settings -> About ->System Update -> Check Update from local Storage

Are you sure you changed your language to English? I just checked it and OTA works for me just fine. You can also change settings to German - update is the same but from other server (in Germany download will be faster in this case)

And again. (not to you but to other users) Please try to press home button for 2 sec. For me it was very important to be able to refresh screen without stylus. It works now!

Please try out Neo PDF Reader (containing in the update). It is still beta, so don't be very Critical

I am open for suggestions and tips. Everything is possible (if it is possible)

[Neverm0re]

Originally Posted by 2holdon

No, it is not.

That's a bummer I was honestly expecting such basic (IMHO) features from the default reader. Hopefully this is possible through other apps. But, in my understanding, this built-in reader (Neo PDF or whatever it's name is) should perform (literally) the best - in theory - as it was developed specifically for this device(?). So the lack of full annotation support seems like a pretty big downside to me.

Speaking of performance, has anyone tried a large/scanned/image-based pdf file (like a few tens or hundreds MBs)?

[2holdon]

Originally Posted by por

Since they can't sell many units and the screen is quite expensive the price can't go much lower than that . Bear in mind that they obviously have to pay wages for software development after launch as well... That's why small companies have a hard time generally.

My (very) basic research skills show, that a 9.7 e-ink display can be bought at USD 45 (about 33 Euro). To me this does not seem to be overly expensive.
Surely touch and so on need to be added, but these are non specific things that should be available on the market.

At the current state keeping the software developers employed after launch seems to be an awesome idea.

And yet I do agree that it is really hard for a small company to get started and compete with these giants... but if I think about it ... there is no competition in the big ereader business?

[Booxtor]

Originally Posted by Neverm0re

Hi all!

In the default (Neo PDF?) reader, besides scribbling, is it possible to underline and highlight text?

Yes, You can highlight text by long press of stylus. Underlining as alternative to highlighting is in the work ( strike out too )

Are those annotations properly saved in the pdf file?

Annotations are saved for use in M96 with Neo PDF Reader
If you mean if you can see those annotations after copying of annotated PDF to PC? Not yet.. but very soon.

@Booxtor
Can you use a third party stylus? If so, can you name some specific brands/models?
Is there any difference between the screen in the M92 and this one?

When will the white version be released?

It is the same stylus as in M92 and same screen as in M92

Some customers use the stylus in a stabilo pen. Would be probably handy for some customers with big hands.

Stylus of M92 is an electronic device - not just piece of plastic. Our stylus and touch screen system are manufactured by Hanvon. Possible some other styluses of them could be compatible to ours, but I didn't investigate it.

White version of M96 is scheduled for August

[2holdon]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

Are you sure you changed your language to English?

Yes, I only use it in English.

Originally Posted by Booxtor

You can also change settings to German - update is the same but from other server (in Germany download will be faster in this case)

I may try that before manually downloading the file.

Originally Posted by Booxtor

Please try out Neo PDF Reader (containing in the update). It is still beta, so don't be very Critical

I will and at the same time stand by my attitude on beta testing (see post above).

[2holdon]

Originally Posted by Neverm0re

In the default (Neo PDF?) reader, besides scribbling, is it possible to underline and highlight text?

Well, I only get the four options in the bottom left corner:
Normal
Scribble
Erasing (the scribble)
Panning (which not always works)

Is this functionality hidden somewhere else? If so, where?

[Booxtor]

Originally Posted by 2holdon

Well, I only get the four options in the bottom left corner:
Normal
Scribble
Erasing (the scribble)
Panning (which not always works)

Is this functionality hidden somewhere else? If so, where?

You can highlight text by long press of stylus. Underlining as alternative to highlighting is in the work ( strike out too )

Additionally we are going to allow comments to every drawing (similar like in ezPDF Reader)

[por]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

you also can download it here : http://ereader-store.de/DATA/update.zip
Copy it to your root folder in M96.
Afterwards
Settings -> About ->System Update -> Check Update from local Storage

Are you sure you changed your language to English? I just checked it and OTA works for me just fine. You can also change settings to German - update is the same but from other server (in Germany download will be faster in this case)

And again. (not to you but to other users) Please try to press home button for 2 sec. For me it was very important to be able to refresh screen without stylus. It works now!

Please try out Neo PDF Reader (containing in the update). It is still beta, so don't be very Critical

I am open for suggestions and tips. Everything is possible (if it is possible)

I'm very satisfied with the way scribbling works, good job!

Suggestions:

You can try introducing a fullscreen mode (There doesn't seem to be an option to remove the tabs at the bottom and at the top of the screen). In the M92 it was possilbe to set the reader in a way such that there were no tabs on the screen and by pressing the menu button you could call a menu with all the functions.

Especially when scribbling the icons take a lot of screen space.

The page crop settings on the M92 were also superb (auto crop, global selections, odd/even pages selections etc ), you could try replicating those.

Adding blank pages to a pdf is also a very nice feature to have

[Booxtor]

Originally Posted by por

I'm very satisfied with the way scribbling works, good job!

Thanks!

Suggestions:

You can try introducing a fullscreen mode (There doesn't seem to be an option to remove the tabs at the bottom and at the top of the screen). In the M92 it was possilbe to set the reader in a way such that there were no tabs on the screen and by pressing the menu button you could call a menu with all the functions.

In Neo Reader: Settings -> System -> Disable System Status Bar; Disable Reader Status Bar

The page crop settings on the M92 were also superb (auto crop, global selections, odd/even pages selections etc ), you could try replicating those.

Work on it - will be better than in M92

Adding blank pages to a pdf is also a very nice feature to have

It is also on the "very soon" list

[por]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

Thanks!


In Neo Reader: Settings -> System -> Disable System Status Bar; Disable Reader Status Bar

Thx, I can't get rid of the scribble bar though (while scribbling). The bar with the pencil and eraser on it. Might be a bug since I tried switching it off from "Setting- scribble bar-Show status bar in scribble menu ".

Is there a jump to page function yet?

The "selection" function in "zoom" does not seem to work properly. After defining a "window" and pressing next page the "window" is displaced.

when in "Auto-crop" when pressing "page back" the previous page is displaced.

[Neverm0re]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

Yes, You can highlight text by long press of stylus. Underlining as alternative to highlighting is in the work ( strike out too )

Annotations are saved for use in M96 with Neo PDF Reader
If you mean if you can see those annotations after copying of annotated PDF to PC? Not yet.. but very soon.

It is the same stylus as in M92 and same screen as in M92

Some customers use the stylus in a stabilo pen. Would be probably handy for some customers with big hands.

Stylus of M92 is an electronic device - not just piece of plastic. Our stylus and touch screen system are manufactured by Hanvon. Possible some other styluses of them could be compatible to ours, but I didn't investigate it.

White version of M96 is scheduled for August

Thank you! Looking forward to see full annotation support ready. And yes, that's exactly what I meant about saving annotations: merging them with the file.

I admit I'm confused with regard to the use of a Stabilo pen. I've searched the internet and found only the Stabilo SMARTball (for capacitive screens). Does this work with M96?

Have you (anyone?) checked the annotation features in other apps?

Can't wait for some video reviews/demos to see all the features in action (when you guys find a little spare time )

[CampGareth]

Well, it's been... one day, maybe two days since receiving my Onyx Boox M96, I've already killed it :P

I really wanted to see where the weight in it was, so I pried it open, unfortunately the ribbon cable for the screen runs almost right next to the edge of the casing so one false move and bam you've messed up a ribbon cable which is a tricky thing to repair. Images included. The weight comes from a steel plate running through the entire device which is fair enough and avoids the apple approach of making the shell metal and then gluing everything in place. Not totally sure how I feel about that. There's space for a bit more battery capacity if that's a problem but they've obviously tried to balance it around the middle of the device.

http://imgur.com/a/Mk7Yf

On the software side, I'm still of a split mind. It works darned well as is if all you want is an ereader, but then, if you want that you could stick with an M92. The interesting side is android and that's been hurt quite a bit by the modifications to be an ereader. I guess I wanted a stock android device with e-ink more than an ereader though, so I'm odd.

[Jmirko]

"Our stylus and touch screen system are manufactured by Hanvon. Possible some other styluses of them could be compatible to ours, but I didn't investigate it."

I have tested this. Onyx devices are compatible with the Hanvon and PocketBook stiluses that I have tried. Ectaco should be compatible too, as they use Hanvon hardware. They are not compatible with Wacom Penabled styluses, such as those used by the older Irex devices. This is a pity, because I find those superior (less tip movement, more accuracy).

"I admit I'm confused with regard to the use of a Stabilo pen. I've searched the internet and found only the Stabilo SMARTball (for capacitive screens). Does this work with M96?"

No. What Booxtor means is that it is possible to increase the diameter of the stylus by inserting it in a traditional pen, to make it more comfortable. The brand doesn't matter - I used a ballpoint pen with sufficient internal diameter to accommodate the stylus. I cut off the tip of the pen so that the stylus tip can protrude from the inside, but not so much that it can fall out. If your pen has a clip, you can use it to attach it to the leather cover, so you don't lose it.

[punch_md]

I got mine yesterday (thanks booxtor!), and my first impressions are good, compared to the M92:
- speed seems pretty good, and for writing after the booxtor update above, the lag is minimal (I had to download the update from ereader.de, the ota trick didn't work for me either)
- the major improvement on M92 with M96 is the access to all the apps in the Google Play store... so now I have an embarassement of riches.

My two main uses of the M92 (and the Irex before that) are
1) note taking
2) pdf annotation (correction of scientific papers)

So now for these I'm looking at a couple of apps, and would appreciate any advice/suggestions.

1) For note-taking:
- Lecturenotes seems to be my best option for the moment, saving in an open format (png), and with the possibility to export to PDF. The saving of the file with a timestamp in the format I like (ISO date) is a big plus.
- Write from Stylus labs seems to have more functionality, but looks really adapted for a colour screen and active pen. Nicely saves in SVG format and can export to PDF. The menus are in colour, so become almost (or actually) unreadable. But maybe the developer (who is active) could look at adapting it for b/w stylus pads?
- Papyrus is professional, but has some strange way of saving the data in a database, so I'm afraid to be locked out of my notes if they go down the drain or cause vendor lock-in.

2) PDF annotation (haven't started to look at this yet, in detail)
- Booxtor's Neoreader could be okay once the promised possibility to merge the scribbles materializes (or maybe I can do this with Imagemagik on Linux already somehow, as a workaround?)
- ezPDF seems to come strongly recommended...

Suggestions are welcome, maybe there could be something on the mobileread wiki with a comparison table?

As an early adopter, I don't have a problem with the device's software not being perfect yet, but hope it will advance quickly!