Onyx Boox M92 sample has arrived. First imression - I love it!

[kamizase]

Wow, 4 pages to read since last visit and so many great videos to watch. Even one dedicated to my question, even though I only asked for a text link to read about - this is amazing. Vielen Dank!!

You certainly made the choice hard after showing the multitasking and bookmarking capabilities of the PB903. Quick Question: do the chosen pages get saved somewhere, so when you open the same book next time, they're ready to pick again? Onyx have a similar popup window to jump to a certain page, maybe they can implement something similar too? After all, both devices have 256MB of RAM, so that shouldn't be a problem here.

I noticed on your videos, that on both devices the stylus doesn't register sometimes. I know this behaviour from my own little Onyx. Booxtor also complained about innacuracy of the M92 stylus. Could you share your opinion on the subject from your own testing, how both devices compare? From my own PB903 testing, I thought the reactions there are a bit better.

Thanks again for your amazing work!

[jbaach]

Originally Posted by kamizase

I noticed on your videos, that on both devices the stylus doesn't register sometimes. I know this behaviour from my own little Onyx. Booxtor also complained about innacuracy of the M92 stylus. Could you share your opinion on the subject from your own testing, how both devices compare? From my own PB903 testing, I thought the reactions there are a bit better.

I don't think there is much difference in how the devices register touch (or sometimes don't). The feeling of the 903 stylus is somwhat softer (which I like), and it also helps that the 903 has the green 'thinklight' (so you get an idea why it might not have registered). They are also both not precision instruments (nothing like e.g. the stylus on the n900), but for clicking large icons its enough. Underlining in text with a small font is sometimes difficult, and the m92 is bit better there - not because the stylus would work better, but because you can make the line thinner :-)

[maindoor]

Originally Posted by jbaach

Here you are: http://youtu.be/eizivegEM2I

I have the feeling that the file is quite a nasty one. Besides that: fbreader does not handle it good (903 and m92), but htmlreader on m92 does. Seems to work 'ok', the buttons/joystick could be integrated better. Paning on the page with the stylus doesn't work.

@Jbaach

Thank you very much for testing it out. Decent handling of chm files.
Sorry about the bad file. I'm currently using windows and it did not have
any issues, so i used that.
I'm currently sold on this product, just a black bezel and I'm ready to order.

[PF4Mobile]

Originally Posted by jbaach

@PF4Mobile



From what I understand the pdfs themselfes are not touched. Both devices store the annotations externally. I made another video that shows how I made some annotations to a sample pdf on moodle. The exported annotations are attached.

The m92 files (two files, one starts with a dot '.' are actual sqlite databases). Not sure about the format of the contained blobs.

The 903 is html + images (png, svg). From a quick test I did one could write a little parser to modify the html to include the pngs as backgrounds for the pen annotations that are stored as (transparent) svgs.

Yes I can confirm that they are both liteSql files. The .sketch file can also be opened with a sqlite db viewer ..
Excellent work. I am now thinking about buying one although I am contemplating the idea of an Asus eee 121 for the some color PDFs. I just missed a deal ..refurbished for 600$ ..not far from a M92.

thanks a lot
PF

[Schmitti]

Originally Posted by PF4Mobile

Yes I can confirm that they are both liteSql files. The .sketch file can also be opened with a sqlite db viewer

Could you clarify that. I'm on a Mac, and I was able to find several SQLite3 database browsers/editors (incl. cross-platform software) that could open and read the M92 .sketch file, but it didn't have any real value, because none of the M92 annotations could be made visible. (But maybe I'm missing something here.)

[PF4Mobile]

Nope you are not missing anything.

"The m92 files (two files, one starts with a dot '.' are actual sqlite databases). Not sure about the format of the contained blobs."

blob= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_large_object
http://effbot.org/zone/sqlite-blob.htm

At least there is hope you can somehow script it to add the objects back to the PDF file as layers after you have the files exported to desktop. It would had been worse to have them in a proprietary format. In other words we did not solve the problem of exporting the annotations but at least we defined what the problem might look like.

[jbaach]

Originally Posted by Backi

@jbaach: Thanks to you for the interesting videos! How is the sound quality and TTS?

Lets hear the books reading out loud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W80ilCsBeQg

(Reading the first lines of http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/103.epub.noimages)

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by PF4Mobile

Nope you are not missing anything.

"The m92 files (two files, one starts with a dot '.' are actual sqlite databases). Not sure about the format of the contained blobs."

blob= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_large_object
http://effbot.org/zone/sqlite-blob.htm

At least there is hope you can somehow script it to add the objects back to the PDF file as layers after you have the files exported to desktop. It would had been worse to have them in a proprietary format. In other words we did not solve the problem of exporting the annotations but at least we defined what the problem might look like.

I think you might have missed a video and parts of the discussion

[Dulin's Books]

my impression is that the m92 is a bit quieter and more mechanical sounding but it also seemed to enunciate the words more clearly especially towards the middle/ later part. is that a correct impression do you think?

[Backi]

Originally Posted by jbaach

Lets hear the books reading out loud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W80ilCsBeQg

(Reading the first lines of http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/103.epub.noimages)

Thanks!
The 903 sounds better. The M92 sounds a little bit as if the speaker is going to cry. Also the M92 speaker on the back side doesn't look good. Could you please make a picture from the back side?

I have some more questions about the M92 :
Is the quality better using headphones?
How is the quality playing songs?
What about the built-in microphone? Can you easily take audio notes and how do they sound?

[measure]

I've ordered the M92 from Onyx USA and hope to answer questions as jbaach has once it arrives, although he's left very little to ask about.

[PF4Mobile]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

I think you might have missed a video and parts of the discussion

TRUE! Thanks a lot.
I bookmarked jbaach's blog and his youtube channel hopping to catch up later with the info he posted there..
That discovery is very important, thanks for pointing that out. Saving the scribbling is good but not enough... my workflow includes processing especially the highlights on the desktop.
However it is better than nothing, I think I could survive with just scribbling :-). The highlighted text might be stored in clear in one of the sqlite files.

@ jbaach: thanks a lot for your work on this. I can't thank you enough. You did exemplary work and I believe that Onyx should reward you for this. Seriously!
Would it be possible for you to upload on your site the file obtained after merging? If you could it would help to have the following:
-the original file
-annotate the file (1 text note, 1 highlitghing, 1 scribbling)
-the sqlite files associated with the above
-the merged file

I would like to see if the highlighted text is by any chance stored in one of these DBs. From what I remember you did highlight some text but you added a note there as well. What would happen if you do not add anything? The reader should and must make a reference to that highlighted text somehow...

thanks a lot
This is on track to become one of the best and most complete reviews I have seen for such a device.
PF

[frigo]

Thanks to the forum members who took so much time to review this new device. The thread was so interesting that I finally decided to quit lurking and to register - and, well, ask some more questions, since I don't own any e-reader yet, about which I could contribute myself...

Maybe I missed something in the videos, but I don't think I've read any answer to the following question. It concerns both the Onyx and the PB903: when you get rid of the margins of one page in order to improve its readability, either by automatic crop or by manual zoom, can you keep this zoom template for all the following pages? Or do you need to perform the same operation at every page, however in most cases the margins remain the same in the whole book ?

Thanks !
Frédéric

[Booxtor]

Originally Posted by frigo

Thanks to the forum members who took so much time to review this new device. The thread was so interesting that I finally decided to quit lurking and to register - and, well, ask some more questions, since I don't own any e-reader yet, about which I could contribute myself...

Maybe I missed something in the videos, but I don't think I've read any answer to the following question. It concerns both the Onyx and the PB903: when you get rid of the margins of one page in order to improve its readability, either by automatic crop or by manual zoom, can you keep this zoom template for all the following pages? Or do you need to perform the same operation at every page, however in most cases the margins remain the same in the whole book ?

Thanks !
Frédéric

Hello and Welcome, Frédéric!

The m92 keeps the zoom settings automatically so you don't have to repeat zooming every new page. Just read and enjoy it

You can actually see it here http://youtu.be/0EL43EQg8YM?t=13m34s
The eBook is opened in hide margine mode. On the next page M92 adjusts/hides margins automatically

[a.a.k]

Booxtor..
Any update about the delivery? I have ordered mine last Sunday,