Onyx Boox M90 available - Page 23

PF4Mobile · 06-30-2011, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reprep

I don't want to steal the topic or anything but you can annotate in kindle DXG. I have the 3.2.1 firmware loaded on my kindle DXG and by this i have the superior PDF capabilities of a kindle 3. Though i agree it is not very useful as it lacks a touchscreen and the fast refresh rates for a comfortable experience if you heavily use annotation.

Hi reprep

We can continue the discussion here or you can start a new thread under Kindle and leave a reference to it here. I would be curious to learn more about the annotation steps
Could you please describe what it takes to annotate a PDF?
How about highlighting ? Is that available? How easy is to do it?
Yes you are right I believe most of us are looking for productivity in that respect otherwise we wouldn't be making a big case out of it...

Vlimo · 06-30-2011, 11:31 AM

Someone already tried the new firmware(Version 1.2.5) on the website? I'm curious if the IR sensor issue is getting solved. I am interested in buying the M91S device.

http://www.onyx-boox.com/onyx-boox-f...x-m90-firmware

Siedler · 06-30-2011, 11:51 AM

I would also be interested if the poor page turning performance was improved (see the videos of Booxtor)?

davidjoseph1 · 06-30-2011, 01:15 PM

Some notes from about a week of M90 ownership, which I bought in pre-order from the ONYX USA website.

Due to confusion in the initial mailing, the package dawdled in the bowels of the USPS system in Georgia/Florida for a week. Finally the shipment made it, ten days after I was given a USPS delivery confirmation tracking number. (9101 1501 3471 1772 8718 26 - if you want to watch its progress).

The M90 (in white) came with wall charger, USB mini-cable, leatherette/cardboard/felt cover folder, and penabled stylus.
I haven't used the wall charger, because I charge whatever I need to charge from my powered USB hub, which rests behind surge protection. If it were still justified to judge the potential reliability of electronic components by weight - I'd say the charger (A UL listed Huntkey switching adapter model hka00605010-28, .2A at 100-240V 50/60Hz to 5V DC 1A) felt a bit heavier than other power supplies, but they might have stuffed it with concrete instead. They're still a fire risk.

The penabled stylus will be lost at some point, and I will be unhappy, because the poorly designed retention stretch loops in the hinge of the cover suck. They do accept the stylus (pockets at each end) but the elastic is very fiddly and hard to stretch, since the stylus has a blunt end that does not slide easily into its pocket. The stylus is small and hard to hold for big hands like mine.

I had an installation of Calibre ready to go and began installing books on the device as soon as I got it. That was simple, however the folder system on the M90 is by author, not title, which can get tiresome if you are perusing summaries of legal research or cases in PDF, RTF, or DOC format.
I don't care to try to use any nesting folders in order to segregate by subject area - I don't want to break the file tree parser.

The UI is intuitive and easy to navigate - my wife picked it up in a couple of minutes. The IR mouse works fine indoors, with few failures to pick up a digit sweep - those times I've needed to sweep more than once seem to be associated with processor load, as though there were time-sharing issues between different modules.

I haven't noticed any auto-Portrait/Landscape render changing - and I thought this was a feature of the device? One can shift orientation manually.

I haven't used the M90 in sunlight yet. When I was using the M90 in line-of-sight from a 150W 3-Way light fixture (about three feet) I noticed that the odd angle change could actuate the IR mouse and turn the page or shift font zooming. This behavior was not observed, however, when I was working under a halogen lamp (with a significantly brighter and hotter light).

Software issues - the reader has crashed a couple of times reading non-encrypted .epubs (converted from .lit files via Calibre). There's an issue with one of my PDF's (a simple scanned document - 600 pages - no deep structure) that refuses to zoom properly. The Scribble worksheet doesn't recognize writing on a strip across the top 1.5 cm of the Wacom screen, nor across a similar strip across the bottom, but touch functions in those areas function in different system apps.

I can't seem to get the reader to log into our SSID-less, WPA2 home network. I have inputted the appropriate identifier and passkey, and set the appropriate conditions, but the reader chugs and chugs. I scanned for but did not notice any attempted access by the M90 in the logs of our WIFI router. So there may be software issues with the WIFI module, in terms of recognizing networks which do not announce SSID's in the clear. I also haven't been able to log into the open WIFI network to which I have had access in the last week.

I have not used an SD card with the M90 yet - 2GB seems to be more than enough for right now (with two 180MB PDF's rendering properly).

Otherwise, the M90 is my first baseline for experimenting with e-paper devices - I had avoided the prior iterations by Sony, Irex, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Jinke et al because:

1) I wanted an A4/8.5x11 rendered screen,
2) The limited ecosystem of e-book purchase options
3) Irex's collapse, and the crappy reputation of the DRS-1000
4) getting a Jinke A9 direcly from China was going to be a major hassle - Telegraph bank transfer - in 2011?!

I have to say, I'm not unhappy with the purchase. The screen is very clear. I don't use internet functions on the pad yet, so I can wait for the WIFI issue to be fixed - meanwhile, I use Calibre and simple folder management to handle documents. and WIFI is off, conserving battery power. Battery life seems fine - (1500 pages of reading, 2.5 bars of 6 in battery).

pidgeon92 · 06-30-2011, 01:22 PM

The current firmware is at 1.5.1 for the M90, and that is what came loaded when my device arrived.

I have not experienced the spontaneous page turns in the sun. What I have experienced quite often is no page turns on the first try. Or the second try. Perhaps they adjusted the IR sensitivity a bit too much.

PF4Mobile · 06-30-2011, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidjoseph1

Some notes from about a week of M90 ownership, which I bought in pre-order from the ONYX USA website.

...

Hi Joseph

Would you have the time to test and answer a couple of questions regarding the PDF highlighting, annotation and handwriting? I would also be intrested to see if these reamin visible of the PDF is exported on the desktop.

These have been partially answered but nobody has had the skills or the time to extensively try then and get back to us

thanks
PF

K_Dua · 06-30-2011, 02:10 PM

Hi everyone,

How's the handwriting delay on the device, both over text (notes) and on the canvas ?

Pigeon. I realize u have received yours as well.. so.. have you jumped online with it , yet ?

I'm above all very curious about the web browsing cos the Nook Touch is blazing fast and the Sony 950 is not that far behind, either..

As for size.. can one work with it as in a netbook-like distance? like with those iPad stands with keyboard ? meaning -> Is the screen/reasonable font sizes ..big enough to read at laptop distances ?

I was thinking of going with the reliability & finger-touch enable Sony 950..
Would anyone here talk me off of it ?

thanks

Duarte

pidgeon92 · 06-30-2011, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_Dua

Pigeon. I realize u have received yours as well.. so.. have you jumped online with it , yet ?

Nope. The only thing I've done with it is read, and now that I've given up on turning the pages with the IR and with the stylus, and gone exclusively to using the page turn buttons, I'm quite happy.

I also determined today that the "spontaneous font size changing" I had been experiencing while trying to turn pages with the IR is actually a feature, not a bug. If you swipe up on the IR, it increased the font size. If you swipe down, it decreases. It takes forever and a day, but it does it. Obviously, I had been swiping at a slight angle instead of straight across. I'm really hating the little IR button.

QueenPepper · 06-30-2011, 05:14 PM

Hi everyone,

First time poster here. I've been following this thread on the Onyx Boox M90, trying to decide whether to take the plunge and buy one -- if I do, it will be my first ereader ever.

Anyway, I ran across this (fairly detailed) Russian review of the M91s:

http://www.project-ebooks.ru/Proekt_...Boox_M91S.html

Google translate sort of garbles part of the page, but there are a lot of nice photos at least.

pidgeon92 · 06-30-2011, 06:04 PM

I would hesitate to recommend the M90 to a first time ereader user. It's expensive, and not as user-friendly as your more common Kindle/Sony/Nook.

*sigh* It just locked up.... This is my first time using the web browser. I clicked on bookmarks, and now it's stuck. Oh well, at least getting it to connect to my wireless network was painless.

QueenPepper · 06-30-2011, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I would hesitate to recommend the M90 to a first time ereader user. It's expensive, and not as user-friendly as your more common Kindle/Sony/Nook.

*sigh* It just locked up.... This is my first time using the web browser. I clicked on bookmarks, and now it's stuck. Oh well, at least getting it to connect to my wireless network was painless.

Yes, it sounds like there are a lot of kinks that still need to be worked out.
The thing is, I'm an academic, and I'm interested in an ereader for pretty much one reason only: to read scanned (and mostly image-based) PDFs. I figure that a 9.7" screen is the way to go, for my eyes' sake (same reason I'd like an e-ink device); annotation is relatively unimportant to me.

Can anybody tell me how the M90 handles zoomed (not reflowed) PDFs? I'd be particularly interested in hearing how navigation works once you've selected a zoom level.

K_Dua · 06-30-2011, 07:54 PM

well.. It will be my 1st ereader as well... and i've been delaying the acquisition since the 1st Kindle came out.. ... so..... I really wanted a 9"7 screen... .. but i might surrender and go for the Sony 950 .

Again.Pigeon.
Can you give me like ehrr.. a "5 for & 5 against" between the M90 and the Sony ?

PS: Do u use the original stylus.. for the Sony.. or have u got a better one ? i think i i've read sth about that issue before .. but i cant remember if it was u..
I own a Wacom Intuos 4 and i was thinking of buying a similar one physically speaking off course. lets say ehrr.. a 'decent' stylus.. one that one can actually feel, in the hand. what ou reckon ?

PS2 : What about web surfing on Wikipedia for eg? Is it alright ? Can you read and go through the hyperlinks with a nice flow? And dictionary wise ?

K_Dua · 06-30-2011, 07:58 PM

"...questions regarding the PDF highlighting, annotation and handwriting? I would also be interested to see if these reamin visible of the PDF is exported on the desktop.

These have been partially answered but nobody has had the skills or the time to extensively try then and get back to us ... "

Second that!

K_Dua · 06-30-2011, 08:02 PM

Interaction with text is pretty vital (at least for me) .. and consequently,, the versatility of being able to actually USE the notes is fundamental.. or else..

...it wold defeat the purpose.. i believe .

thats one of the things that really had me worried when i saw one of them videos (the one that's got the Korean chick talking about the M90) and the guy asks -> "Can u save the notes&scribbles to the computer.." and she goes -> "No"

AkumaTakeshi · 06-30-2011, 08:21 PM

As pidgeon92 said I wouldn't recommend this e-reader as a first one too or any other 9.7" reader. But that depends of the use you're going to give it, if its for PDFs only, I think it really is the best but as for reading novels may be way too big, distracting (because of so many lines) and just a great wall of text.

When I first though of buying an e-reader the purpose intended was to help me read and access all the Programming and Game Designing PDFs I have, but I don't have enough money for a 9.7" now and as I wanted to read some books too secondarily I bought a Kindle and thought I could still try to use to read PDFs. But now I use Kindle much more for reading novels.

On the product itself, I'm a potential buyer, but I'm waiting for it to mature and I have to save some money. So I recommend that you wait a bit if this is going to be your first reader. Kindle DX I think is only worth it if you exploit it to update it to the Kindle 3 software, and you can use Duokan too that may still be better for PDFs. The other option is Pocketbook Pro 902/903, this one still has some problems but is a bit more stable, particularly the 902 is the more secure one if I'm not mistaken, as 903 still has some issues. And sony 950, I think it may be a bit small in relation to the other ones.

Well sorry for the long post. Bad habit of mine, hope I don't bore you to death

06-30-2011, 01:15 PM	#334
davidjoseph1 Connoisseur Posts: 56 Karma: 130472 Join Date: May 2011 Device: BooxM90,M92*3,M96,N96, I86ml,C67ml,Kepler, Poke2,Nova3,MaxLumi2,TabUPC	M90 Review Some notes from about a week of M90 ownership, which I bought in pre-order from the ONYX USA website. Due to confusion in the initial mailing, the package dawdled in the bowels of the USPS system in Georgia/Florida for a week. Finally the shipment made it, ten days after I was given a USPS delivery confirmation tracking number. (9101 1501 3471 1772 8718 26 - if you want to watch its progress). The M90 (in white) came with wall charger, USB mini-cable, leatherette/cardboard/felt cover folder, and penabled stylus. I haven't used the wall charger, because I charge whatever I need to charge from my powered USB hub, which rests behind surge protection. If it were still justified to judge the potential reliability of electronic components by weight - I'd say the charger (A UL listed Huntkey switching adapter model hka00605010-28, .2A at 100-240V 50/60Hz to 5V DC 1A) felt a bit heavier than other power supplies, but they might have stuffed it with concrete instead. They're still a fire risk. The penabled stylus will be lost at some point, and I will be unhappy, because the poorly designed retention stretch loops in the hinge of the cover suck. They do accept the stylus (pockets at each end) but the elastic is very fiddly and hard to stretch, since the stylus has a blunt end that does not slide easily into its pocket. The stylus is small and hard to hold for big hands like mine. I had an installation of Calibre ready to go and began installing books on the device as soon as I got it. That was simple, however the folder system on the M90 is by author, not title, which can get tiresome if you are perusing summaries of legal research or cases in PDF, RTF, or DOC format. I don't care to try to use any nesting folders in order to segregate by subject area - I don't want to break the file tree parser. The UI is intuitive and easy to navigate - my wife picked it up in a couple of minutes. The IR mouse works fine indoors, with few failures to pick up a digit sweep - those times I've needed to sweep more than once seem to be associated with processor load, as though there were time-sharing issues between different modules. I haven't noticed any auto-Portrait/Landscape render changing - and I thought this was a feature of the device? One can shift orientation manually. I haven't used the M90 in sunlight yet. When I was using the M90 in line-of-sight from a 150W 3-Way light fixture (about three feet) I noticed that the odd angle change could actuate the IR mouse and turn the page or shift font zooming. This behavior was not observed, however, when I was working under a halogen lamp (with a significantly brighter and hotter light). Software issues - the reader has crashed a couple of times reading non-encrypted .epubs (converted from .lit files via Calibre). There's an issue with one of my PDF's (a simple scanned document - 600 pages - no deep structure) that refuses to zoom properly. The Scribble worksheet doesn't recognize writing on a strip across the top 1.5 cm of the Wacom screen, nor across a similar strip across the bottom, but touch functions in those areas function in different system apps. I can't seem to get the reader to log into our SSID-less, WPA2 home network. I have inputted the appropriate identifier and passkey, and set the appropriate conditions, but the reader chugs and chugs. I scanned for but did not notice any attempted access by the M90 in the logs of our WIFI router. So there may be software issues with the WIFI module, in terms of recognizing networks which do not announce SSID's in the clear. I also haven't been able to log into the open WIFI network to which I have had access in the last week. I have not used an SD card with the M90 yet - 2GB seems to be more than enough for right now (with two 180MB PDF's rendering properly). Otherwise, the M90 is my first baseline for experimenting with e-paper devices - I had avoided the prior iterations by Sony, Irex, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Jinke et al because: 1) I wanted an A4/8.5x11 rendered screen, 2) The limited ecosystem of e-book purchase options 3) Irex's collapse, and the crappy reputation of the DRS-1000 4) getting a Jinke A9 direcly from China was going to be a major hassle - Telegraph bank transfer - in 2011?! I have to say, I'm not unhappy with the purchase. The screen is very clear. I don't use internet functions on the pad yet, so I can wait for the WIFI issue to be fixed - meanwhile, I use Calibre and simple folder management to handle documents. and WIFI is off, conserving battery power. Battery life seems fine - (1500 pages of reading, 2.5 bars of 6 in battery).

06-30-2011, 02:10 PM	#337
K_Dua Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	What about web connection? And the scribble delay ? Hi everyone, How's the handwriting delay on the device, both over text (notes) and on the canvas ? Pigeon. I realize u have received yours as well.. so.. have you jumped online with it , yet ? I'm above all very curious about the web browsing cos the Nook Touch is blazing fast and the Sony 950 is not that far behind, either.. As for size.. can one work with it as in a netbook-like distance? like with those iPad stands with keyboard ? meaning -> Is the screen/reasonable font sizes ..big enough to read at laptop distances ? I was thinking of going with the reliability & finger-touch enable Sony 950.. Would anyone here talk me off of it ? thanks Duarte

06-30-2011, 05:14 PM	#339
QueenPepper Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kobo Touch	review of Onyx Boox M91s Hi everyone, First time poster here. I've been following this thread on the Onyx Boox M90, trying to decide whether to take the plunge and buy one -- if I do, it will be my first ereader ever. Anyway, I ran across this (fairly detailed) Russian review of the M91s: http://www.project-ebooks.ru/Proekt_...Boox_M91S.html Google translate sort of garbles part of the page, but there are a lot of nice photos at least.

06-30-2011, 07:58 PM	#343
K_Dua Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	"...questions regarding the PDF highlighting, annotation and handwriting? I would also be interested to see if these reamin visible of the PDF is exported on the desktop. These have been partially answered but nobody has had the skills or the time to extensively try then and get back to us ... " Second that! Last edited by K_Dua; 06-30-2011 at 08:10 PM.

06-30-2011, 08:02 PM	#344
K_Dua Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	Interaction with text is pretty vital (at least for me) .. and consequently,, the versatility of being able to actually USE the notes is fundamental.. or else.. ...it wold defeat the purpose.. i believe . thats one of the things that really had me worried when i saw one of them videos (the one that's got the Korean chick talking about the M90) and the guy asks -> "Can u save the notes&scribbles to the computer.." and she goes -> "No" Last edited by K_Dua; 06-30-2011 at 08:09 PM.

06-30-2011, 11:31 AM	#332
Vlimo Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Onyx Boox M91S	Someone already tried the new firmware(Version 1.2.5) on the website? I'm curious if the IR sensor issue is getting solved. I am interested in buying the M91S device. http://www.onyx-boox.com/onyx-boox-f...x-m90-firmware

06-30-2011, 11:51 AM	#333
Siedler Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: none	I would also be interested if the poor page turning performance was improved (see the videos of Booxtor)?

06-30-2011, 01:22 PM	#335
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	The current firmware is at 1.5.1 for the M90, and that is what came loaded when my device arrived. I have not experienced the spontaneous page turns in the sun. What I have experienced quite often is no page turns on the first try. Or the second try. Perhaps they adjusted the IR sensitivity a bit too much.

06-30-2011, 06:04 PM	#340
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	I would hesitate to recommend the M90 to a first time ereader user. It's expensive, and not as user-friendly as your more common Kindle/Sony/Nook. sigh It just locked up.... This is my first time using the web browser. I clicked on bookmarks, and now it's stuck. Oh well, at least getting it to connect to my wireless network was painless.

06-30-2011, 07:54 PM	#342
K_Dua Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	well.. It will be my 1st ereader as well... and i've been delaying the acquisition since the 1st Kindle came out.. ... so..... I really wanted a 9"7 screen... .. but i might surrender and go for the Sony 950 . Again.Pigeon. Can you give me like ehrr.. a "5 for & 5 against" between the M90 and the Sony ? PS: Do u use the original stylus.. for the Sony.. or have u got a better one ? i think i i've read sth about that issue before .. but i cant remember if it was u.. I own a Wacom Intuos 4 and i was thinking of buying a similar one physically speaking off course. lets say ehrr.. a 'decent' stylus.. one that one can actually feel, in the hand. what ou reckon ? PS2 : What about web surfing on Wikipedia for eg? Is it alright ? Can you read and go through the hyperlinks with a nice flow? And dictionary wise ?

06-30-2011, 08:21 PM	#345
AkumaTakeshi Lounge Lurker Posts: 669 Karma: 1635154 Join Date: May 2011 Location: Portugal Device: Kindle 3 Wifi (Screen Broken)	As pidgeon92 said I wouldn't recommend this e-reader as a first one too or any other 9.7" reader. But that depends of the use you're going to give it, if its for PDFs only, I think it really is the best but as for reading novels may be way too big, distracting (because of so many lines) and just a great wall of text. When I first though of buying an e-reader the purpose intended was to help me read and access all the Programming and Game Designing PDFs I have, but I don't have enough money for a 9.7" now and as I wanted to read some books too secondarily I bought a Kindle and thought I could still try to use to read PDFs. But now I use Kindle much more for reading novels. On the product itself, I'm a potential buyer, but I'm waiting for it to mature and I have to save some money. So I recommend that you wait a bit if this is going to be your first reader. Kindle DX I think is only worth it if you exploit it to update it to the Kindle 3 software, and you can use Duokan too that may still be better for PDFs. The other option is Pocketbook Pro 902/903, this one still has some problems but is a bit more stable, particularly the 902 is the more secure one if I'm not mistaken, as 903 still has some issues. And sony 950, I think it may be a bit small in relation to the other ones. Well sorry for the long post. Bad habit of mine, hope I don't bore you to death

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Onyx readying M90 9.7" ebook reader	Dulin's Books	News	194	09-12-2011 09:26 PM
Boox M90 at CES 2011 by Charbax	Dulin's Books	News	12	01-17-2011 09:54 PM
ONYX BOOX 1.5.1 A60/X60/X60S(onyx-international.com)	samerghafik	Onyx Boox	4	01-03-2011 01:32 AM
Onyx Boox in UK - how much and where?	m-reader	Onyx Boox	2	06-25-2010 02:00 AM