New "Mars" device from Likebook?

[Johann Cat]

This device is really promising in terms of its hardware specs (quad core processor, lots of RAM, hi-res screen, etc.), but despite years in the e-ink Android business, Boyue inexplicably sent the Mars to distributors with an operating system that is both minimalist, and (odd in my experience of e-ink Androids), proprietary, largely locked down, and buggy. The result is something like a Kobo that has been rooted with partial success and that accepts some side-loaded apps, but none of them work well. If you only wanted to read epubs and did not care about customizing this or using it as a black-and-white tablet, then you might make peace with it, but then you'd be better off with a Kobo or Kindle, really. My experience with the Mars is overall: poor. It won't use an alternate launcher accurately, and tries to force one to use the minimalist Boyue homescreen. It sometimes takes minutes (over three) to boot, and sometimes (and not just after an update, but at random times) reboots in Chinese. Not good. Play Store did not come with this and can only, in my experience, work very provisionally with this, even if one manages to force Play into this system. The point of this--a quad core processor and 2gb of ram--could have been to offer people a lightning fast e-reader with the abilities of a color tablet. What was shipped is less than the average Kobo in terms of functionality. Another significant impediment that Boyue places on the reader is a block against side loaded fonts, something that even Kindles allow. That was really the last straw against my thin patience with this tablet. A baffling regression in the development of e-readers, given the easy possibilities.
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addendum:
I find it hard to believe that there is something wrong with the hardware (though a physical back/ refresh button would be nice) of this and maybe all it needs is a different operating system. But I wish we did not have to look forward to two years of trial-and-error posts here from people explaining their efforts to get an Onyx or some Polish eReader's operating system to replace the one that shipped with the Mars. Is it rocket science to get Android 6.0 to work on a tablet? An option: offer a version as an Android tablet (and still sell the Boyue homepage version), and let us put reading apps on it. This needn't be an ordeal at the e-ink tablet customer's end.

[FastFingers]

Originally Posted by crane3

Overdrive & installed works even tho I have not borrowed books yet. The 1st update, on the 1st power up, did not have a decent rendering of the colors which made the library web page less than readable; the recent 2nd update made the library site colors readable & usable.

Libby is by Overdrive & probably work on the Mars. Evidently, Libby is integrated with Overdrive regarding one's profile & "knows" what has been borrowed or not as a Libby borrowed book showed up in Overdrive, nagging about expired book included. I installed Libby & Overdrive using my library card number id.

I see. They're both made by the same company but libby's much easier, at least on my phones. I guess I'll wait for the International Play Store firmware (since Pocketcasts is paid and probably needs it) and grab it.

[GryphonBR]

Hey everyone, just wanted to chime in on to let you know that I received today my Lifebook Mars from the AliExpress vendor posted by Matilo. Device was shipped through DHL and arrived in an astonishing 3 days from China.

When I received it, device came with an older firmware (can't tell which one because I didn't pay attention), apparently the Chinese version? At least, upon rebooting after update to 1.0.2 it switched to Chinese, but I was able to get it back to English.

Long story short, before the update I tried enabling Google Play as in the video posted by Matilo as well; I did see the switch to enable Google Framework, but there was no apk available to install GPlay. I was a bit let down, but I received the notification regarding completion of the update; device rebooted (to Chinese, as I mentioned), but GPlay was installed! Confirmed it's working since I installed FBReader and Moon+Reader from the Play Store already.

[airbus02]

Here's my question. While the Mars clearly has better hardware, what does it actually do better than the Likebook Plus?
As an owner of a Likebook plus (the Icarus version actually), my sense is that it's being held back more by e-ink's inability to refresh quickly than it is by processor or memory.
For those who use the Boyue's strictly as readers, I doubt that a higher end processor matters or even having a newer Android version. I, however, would like to be able to use Pocket, write, etc. a little more effectively.
Does anyone have first-hand experience with both?

[azw409]

Check out this guy's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Q...IUjjU7foqrgJQg

I can't make a direct comparison, but this device looks a million times better than the Onyx Boox M96C I had previously in terms of usability of Android apps. It has a separate contrast dial for text and pictures which I think will help enormously in making the Android apps clearer. It's also Android 6 and the speed looks very good on the videos.

My Onyx was a very poor experience and this device looks like it's addressed all of those. I expect that battery life will be poor though - but you can't have everything

[eReader fan]

Originally Posted by azw409

Check out this guy's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Q...IUjjU7foqrgJQg

I can't make a direct comparison, but this device looks a million times better than the Onyx Boox M96C I had previously in terms of usability of Android apps. It has a separate contrast dial for text and pictures which I think will help enormously in making the Android apps clearer. It's also Android 6 and the speed looks very good on the videos.

My Onyx was a very poor experience and this device looks like it's addressed all of those. I expect that battery life will be poor though - but you can't have everything

This is actually my actual question. Is the Mars more android like than the Onyx? I only have 2 Onyx with android 4, so I cant tell about the android 6, but if someone could say if at least is bwtter than the Onyx with the old android tht would be very good, ans a comparision with android 6 would be amazing

[DarkCookie]

In range android 4.0 onyx devices have better apps compatibility.

[airbus02]

for the youtube link. It looks to be better, but really not that much different, especially if the demo was done in a2 mode. The bottleneck does seem to be e-ink.
It would still be nice to be able to use google docs, but I've found ways to work around it, though it means I have to keep whatever I write in a .txt file until I do final edits on either my desktop or chromebook.
I don't use my likebook plus a lot for editing or other non-reading tasks, so I'll probably stick with it for now. If I were buying fresh, I'd definitely go for the Mars.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

I'd love to see the auto-refresh bug on third party apps get fixed. It's not that bad, in that it doesn't make text hard to read, but it's there.

Auto-refresh doesn't work on 3rd party apps on the T80s, so I would be surprised if they do it for the Mars. If you set the refresh based on time that works, but it's annoying to have the page refresh when you are reading as apposed to when the page is turned.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Auto-refresh doesn't work on 3rd party apps on the T80s, so I would be surprised if they do it for the Mars. If you set the refresh based on time that works, but it's annoying to have the page refresh when you are reading as apposed to when the page is turned.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I can't find any place in Settings or in BySettings where you can set the refresh based on time. The only option I can see is to choose how many pages it takes before refresh happens - and that only works in the stock reader app.

Maybe that option isn't implemented in the Mars - but, just in case I missed it, where is it in the T80s?

Thanks!

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

Thanks for the suggestion, but I can't find any place in Settings or in BySettings where you can set the refresh based on time. The only option I can see is to choose how many pages it takes before refresh happens - and that only works in the stock reader app.

Maybe that option isn't implemented in the Mars - but, just in case I missed it, where is it in the T80s?

Thanks!

What is BySettings? I don't see that on the T80S, but there are two settings icons.

On the T80s there is a Refresh settings section and it has three choices - Auto refresh time setting, A2 refresh setting, and full screen refresh setting. The full screen is the one where you set how many pages.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

What is BySettings? I don't see that on the T80S, but there are two settings icons.

On the T80s there is a Refresh settings section and it has three choices - Auto refresh time setting, A2 refresh setting, and full screen refresh setting. The full screen is the one where you set how many pages.

BySettings = Boyue Settings. The Mars has a Settings icon that has all the usual stock Android settings, while the BySettings icon has all the settings specific to this firmware & device.

In the Mars, there is no Refresh settings section. Refresh is found under Reading Settings. In Reading Settings, you can choose what page turning mode you want (i.e. where you want to touch or swipe the screen to turn a page forward or back), you can choose ordinary or fast mode for refresh, and the refreshing rate - which is given only in number of pages turned. No refresh time setting; no A2 refresh setting. I have to tap the icon that toggles normal/A2 mode to get the screen to manually refresh whenever using a third party app, or the stock browser.

As far as the difference between "ordinary" and "fast" refresh mode goes, I haven't seen it!

So, I can't find any way to do an auto-refresh time setting or to get into A2 refresh setting.

Boyue says (through their Amazon seller) that there will be an update this month to fix the auto-refresh issue.

[DarkCookie]

I can write something like that. I already binded refresh directly to status bar as better solution than switching A2 mode. If they will not release update then you can contact me for auto-refresh timer app. I also figured out status bar enforcing for full screen apps, auto WiFi switching, Input/Output boosting and menu key workaround.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by DarkCookie

I can write something like that. I already binded refresh directly to status bar as better solution than switching A2 mode. If they will not release update then you can contact me for auto-refresh timer app. I also figured out status bar enforcing for full screen apps, auto WiFi switching, Input/Output boosting and menu key workaround.

You have some good stuff there! If this update doesn't come soon, I will contact you. Thanks.

[Sonofrobot]

Originally Posted by DarkCookie

I can write something like that. I already binded refresh directly to status bar as better solution than switching A2 mode. If they will not release update then you can contact me for auto-refresh timer app. I also figured out status bar enforcing for full screen apps, auto WiFi switching, Input/Output boosting and menu key workaround.

How did you do all of this? I would love to have it on mine.

On another note, anyone who bought your Mars from Amazon when it was first released seems to be SOL on the Play Store update. I am having to send mine back to the seller for a replacement. Communication is not great because English is likely his second language but I gather that there's an issue with the firmware on the first batch of devices that can't be corrected with an OTA.

TL;DR if you don't have the Play Store yet, you might want to contact the seller about it because it might not be coming with an OTA.