Boyue T61/T62 / Icarus Illumina E653 review and Onyx T68 comparison

[delph]

Could you let me know how the eInk version of the app works for you? Thank you!

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

A temporary solution to your problem, at least while reading books, could be using AlReader (the last eInk version from Mike Sinkovsky. It has full support for the Boyue T62 devices (even backlight intensity) and it has this nice inverted mode (black background-white text) which helps overcoming massive light attacks from the device. To find that inverted mode you have to switch to 4 profiles.

Okay, I've installed this version of AlReader. I have scanned all the options I could find, but I haven't found anything that tells me how to switch to 4 profiles, or how AlReader controls the backlight intensity (or if I can control the backlight intensity). I must be missing something! If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be helpful. I need to do other things, but I'll check back later.

[nhedgehog]

I know it takes some time to get used to all this settings. But afterwards you probably will not miss this program.

AlReader - Full program help

Backlight intensity: Slide finger on left or right site up/down
Menu:
1) Slide Finger on the upper side of the screen from left to right or vice versa.
or
2) Tap in the middle of the screen

Number of profiles:
You will find it under:
Settings - Master ? (first option from the top) - number of profiles (number four is inverted screen)

If you don't find it, you have to set:
Settings - View settings - All features and settings


don't forget

Settings - Master - start with fullscreen
Settings - Master - dictionary
Settings -finetuning - Hardware - E-Ink refresh
Settings -finetuning - Fonts - Dev_Kern_Text
Settings -finetuning - Fonts - Linear_Text

Use the 10 Tapzones, if you want to use dictionary support, assign the tapzone only to shortclick and leave longclick for dictionary selection.
Have a look at the finger gestures, those could be useful too (I use it to switch between profile, change line-distance, letter distance ...)

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

I know it takes some time to get used to all this settings. But afterwards you probably will not miss this program.

AlReader - Full program help

Backlight intensity: Slide finger on left or right site up/down
Menu:
1) Slide Finger on the upper side of the screen from left to right or vice versa.
or
2) Tap in the middle of the screen

Number of profiles:
You will find it under:
Settings - Master ? (first option from the top) - number of profiles (number four is inverted screen)

If you don't find it, you have to set:
Settings - View settings - All features and settings


don't forget

Settings - Master - start with fullscreen
Settings - Master - dictionary
Settings -finetuning - Hardware - E-Ink refresh
Settings -finetuning - Fonts - Dev_Kern_Text
Settings -finetuning - Fonts - Linear_Text

Use the 10 Tapzones, if you want to use dictionary support, assign the tapzone only to shortclick and leave longclick for dictionary selection.
Have a look at the finger gestures, those could be useful too (I use it to switch between profile, change line-distance, letter distance ...)

Well, I finally figured it out. It's written differently on my app than how you described. In order to get to the four profiles, I have to go to Options/Settings Complexity and choose "Professional". Then all the other options you describe appear. I can then choose "four profiles" from the main menu under Options.

To get to the inverted screen, I tap in the center of the screen when reading, and a menu bar appears at the top. choose the icon that's half white and half black (that's the Next Profile icon) and click it until I get to the fourth profile (the inverted screen).

It does work, but the wording is very different from what you describe.

The inverted screen does reduce the glare considerably. Unfortunately, the settings in AlReader can't make the backlight any dimmer than the first setting that the firmware provides, but this will help. Thanks for the input.

I'll use this as needed, but for other apps I'll just turn off the backlight.

Besides the backlight issue, AlReader seems very customizable. When I have a bit more time, I'll experiment with the settings a bit.

Thanks again.

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

It does work, but the wording is very different from what you describe.

Tried my best but my menu is in German....

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

Tried my best but my menu is in German....

Yeah, I should have realized you were translating, too. Sorry about that.

I was able to figure it out, and you were very helpful in that. That's what counts.

[blue_skies]

(Apologies in advance - this is a long story: )

You guys, I had such a terrible time yesterday and last night. After being so pleased with my new T-62, I decided to install a dictionary. I thought it would be a fairly simple task. I thought I would install the ColorDict app and use StarDict for the actual dictionary aspect... but when I went to download it, it seems StarDict has been very recently pulled from SourceForge due to copyright issues. I spent a long time searching for other free options, but eventually decided to go with ColorDict and WordNet.

I also had to look up how to sideload an App since I've never used Android. Well, it seemed easy enough. I just copied the ColorDict APK on to the root directory along with the WordNet folder. I tapped it to install it, which seemed to work. Then it asked about downloading dictionaries and I chose WordNet. So far, so good I thought. But when I opened the Colordict app, it was completely black with all the icons and text in a very dark color, which made it almost impossible to see or read anything. That was not what I was expecting. I had to turn the light all the way up just to be able to make out a few icons and the search bar at the top. I couldn't find any way to change it.

Then I opened a couple books and kept trying to get a definition to pop up, but it wouldn't work. I read online that it might be because the dictionary had to be indexed, but the option for that was missing in my ColorDict. I was able to type in words in the actual program and get a definition to pop up there, but after trying everything I could think of, I still couldn't get it to work with FBReader.

I wondered if the App file was somehow corrupted, since it really didn't even look like I expected it to look after seeing screenshots online. I ended up sideloading the GoodEreader store app and then installing ES FileExplorer because I wanted to just uninstall the Colordict and start over. But that didn't really look any different than the built in File Manager, and I didn't see any options for deleting apps or anything else. It was just all so weird and frustrating.

I am used to Windows, and being able to drag-n-drop and right-click to bring up menus and options and uninstall programs and stuff. (And being able to see what I'm supposed to see on the various program UIs.)

So... I had the brilliant idea that I would just restore the whole thing back to how it was the day before when I got it, and maybe try again sometime when I hopefully will have a clue about how all that stuff works.

I copied the small book folder and recording folder to my desk top to make it really easy on myself after it was restored/reset... and then started the process... {click - yes I'm understand my files will be erased; yes I want to proceed.}

And then when it finally restarted, I about gave myself a full-blown panic attack. Everything was in Chinese characters now! OMG, I erased the English UI! Now what do I do?! One day and I ruined the whole thing. Even if I could find a copy of whatever I needed to install on it to get the English version of the OS/Firmware back on it, how would I even manage to install it? Will I have to ship it back to China? Will they even take it back? Will I have to throw it away?

After freaking out and hyper-ventilating for more than a few minutes, I finally sat down with it and tried pressing various strings of characters to no avail. I even trying Google Translate to see what the word "language" looked like in Chinese - hoping I could find something that looked like those characters. I wasn't even sure if the base OS even had that option.

Well... after some very stressful minutes, I finally tapped on something that brought up a language menu, and English (UK) was on there as an option thank goodness! Choosing it set the device back to the way it was when I received it. What a relief!

Sorry for writing y'all a novel about that. It was kind of traumatic though.

I sure wish this device came with a good English User's Manual. There are so many basic little things, that are just confusing to me.

If anyone is still reading this, I have a very basic question that I'm hoping someone can clarify:

I always charged my Kindle Keyboard with my wall charger (which I'm hoping I can use for this.) The indicator light would be yellow when charging and green when charged. Is it the same thing for this device?*** Or is it just green when it's charging, and then the light turns off when it's done being charged?

I plugged in the USB cable when my computer was hibernating and there was no light on the T62, so I didn't know if it was charging. I thought I would test it out. But then when I came back about 1-2 hours later and woke up my computer, the indicator light on the T62 turned green, and it started displaying that screen that says "USB Storage in Use". Was it already charging, or just started charging when the light turned green? I'm guessing the latter. About how long would it normally take to charge from 40% to 100%?

---

Okay... I just ejected the device and turned it on, and it's still not fully charged. ***So much for the green light meaning it's fully charged. Hopefully it turns off to indicate it's done charging.

I'm also thinking it wasn't charging at all while both it and my notebook were sleeping. Does it have to stay on that USB screen to charge or can I use it while it's plugged in and still charging?

This is basic stuff I'm sure, but I've only ever used wall chargers. I wish I had a manual to consult instead of bothering you guys with such minor/stupid questions.

[nhedgehog]

1) You'll probably need a wall charger. USB notebook output is max 500mA, that can be insufficient.
2) Most notebooks don't leave power on USB while sleeping, but there are some exceptions.
3) There is an english user manual. You can download it from the Banggood site. I don't know if this is good but I guess its rather rudimentary.
4) This specific eInk device has some problems with apps, that are not adapted. Mine showed in colordict white letters on white background. I stick to Fora Dict.

BTW: It took me 5 min to google a 4GB download of Stardict dictionaries. Don't know if there are copyright problems.

[atonement]

Originally Posted by dnastase

For the knowledge base of Boyue T62:

I have tried to use 64Gb microsd. It doesn't work. Either the hardware doesn't support SDXC or the there is no exFat support. Or both.
The device can't mount the card and says card is damaged. It offers to re-format it. If you choose that it will format as a 32Gb card...

Could u try formatting ur memory card in FAT32 using this utility http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/ind...?guiformat.htm ?
Lots of people in Toms Hardware reported success with it. While u cant create FAT32 volumes > 32GB in Windows it does handle partitions >32GB with no problems. Also ext2/3/4 should work as they are native Linux filesystems. Ext2 drivers are available for Windows as well for accessing such partitions.

[blue_skies]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

1) You'll probably need a wall charger. USB notebook output is max 500mA, that can be insufficient.
2) Most notebooks don't leave power on USB while sleeping, but there are some exceptions.
3) There is an english user manual. You can download it from the Banggood site. I don't know if this is good but I guess its rather rudimentary.
4) This specific eInk device has some problems with apps, that are not adapted. Mine showed in colordict white letters on white background. I stick to Fora Dict.

BTW: It took me 5 min to google a 4GB download of Stardict dictionaries. Don't know if there are copyright problems.

.

Thank you very much for your reply.

1. Could I just use my Kindle wall plug? It seems to fit okay. Or do you mean some sort of USB charging station?

2. I didn't realize that.

3. I have the manual, but it's not very helpful. I think the only mentions related to charging are pointing out where the indicator light is, and the instruction to make sure it is charged before using the first time.

4. Thank you. I may try Fora Dict some time in the future.

About StarDict - This is where I think it used to be located: http://stardict.sourceforge.net/Dict...w.dict.org.php

I am unfamiliar with downloading it from unofficial sources, and am worried about possible malware. I was hoping the WordNet dictionary would be a good substitute, but couldn't get the dictionary app to work anyway.

I have two unrelated questions:

1. Why doesn't the pre-loaded FB Reader show up in Apps? Is there any way to access any settings with that app?

2. Is there a way to enlarge the system font? When I was messing around trying to get the dictionary working, I remember setting something to enlarge the font, but that may have been when I was in ColorDict and finally got a small definition window to display within the program.

[downeaster59]

I clicked "system update" on my T62+, and a new update downloaded this morning. I can't see anything new in the system menus, but the backlight seems a tad less bright at the lowest level. It's still a bit too bright at that lowest level for my tastes, but it may be more doable now. Anyone else with the T62+ can see what you think. This new update is 2015042209. They may have fixed a few bugs as well.

Edit: No, the backlight is as bright as before when on the lowest setting. I first looked at it during the day, when the brightness is less noticeable. But, in the evening, it is definitely brighter than i would like. The AlReader referred to above definitely helps the reading experience - unless you choose to not use the backlight at all, which I'll do now and then.

[petrovich]

Banggood is out of stock for T62+

[Rivak]

I also noticed, and after chatting with Banggood, it seems not to come back.

[Rivak]

However, the Energy eReader Pro, the european rebrand of the T62, seem to hit the market this summer with the new carta screen.

[downeaster59]

I am experimenting with some brightness control apps that can essentially replace the brightness control on the T62+. These apps don't seem to require root. The one I currently am using is simply called Brightness Control. It allows you to preset four brightness levels and then change the level by going back to the app and picking another preset. You can choose brightness levels lower than the lowest level that the Boyue firmware currently gives you. So far, so good. I was seriously thinking of selling my device. This little free app might save it yet!

Heck, when I raise the brightness level to the middle on the T62+, it gives the flashlight feature on my iPhone some serious competition!!