Onyx Boox 60 - first impressions

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

One thing I forgot to mention before was that when I am zoomed in on a page, I can drag and drop with the stylus to scroll around the page. The ouch Edition works the same way.

Only the zoom is lost when you turn the page with the 600 (not the case for the ONYX, if I understood right)

[bjrnfrdnnd]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The equations were dropped only in the reflow mode. I can see them when I zoom in. I can also annotate comfortably when zoomed. I can read it in landscape mode, but not very easily. This is an 8.5 by 11 PDF, after all. There is an inherent limitation that is caused by the difference between the screen size and the size of the page. There's no way around it (other than reflow).

One thing I forgot to mention before was that when I am zoomed in on a page, I can drag and drop with the stylus to scroll around the page. The ouch Edition works the same way.

Sounds great!
If I understood you correctly, reading your example pdf in reflow mode is not a pleasure anyways. Or am I wrong? What is your personal opinion for your example pdf: reflow or zoom in? In your very personal opinion, is it a pleasure to read this pdf on this small a device, or is it still kind of awkward?
I like the underline feature of the prs-600. I suppose that you have a pre-release model, as search function is not yet built in but should be available in the production version, is that correct? Does that mean that we
might expect more features in the production version than in your model, for example underlining and maybe equation display in reflow mode?
Do you know anything about the release dates of the larger devices?
Looking forward to your full review!

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by bjrnfrdnnd

Sounds great!
If I understood you correctly, reading your example pdf in reflow mode is not a pleasure anyways. Or am I wrong? What is your personal opinion for your example pdf: reflow or zoom in? In your very personal opinion, is it a pleasure to read this pdf on this small a device, or is it still kind of awkward?
I like the underline feature of the prs-600. I suppose that you have a pre-release model, as search function is not yet built in but should be available in the production version, is that correct? Does that mean that we
might expect more features in the production version than in your model, for example underlining and maybe equation display in reflow mode?
Do you know anything about the release dates of the larger devices?
Looking forward to your full review!

I don't expect to be able to see the equation in the future. I looked at that PDF on my laptop, and I tried and was unable to copy the equations even though I could copy the text around them. I suspect that they don't exist as text. I'm beginning to think that PDFs include a page image for each page of text. The equations are only there as part of the page image (but I could be wrong).

This PDF was an awkward reading experience, and without a large enough screen to display it full size I expect the experience to stay awkward.

[schmolch]

How useable is the Boox without the Wacom-Pen?
And can you tell already if the Wacom-Digitizer has a significant negative impact on battery-life, even if you dont use it?

[bjrnfrdnnd]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I don't expect to be able to see the equation in the future. I looked at that PDF on my laptop, and I tried and was unable to copy the equations even though I could copy the text around them. I suspect that they don't exist as text. I'm beginning to think that PDFs include a page image for each page of text. The equations are only there as part of the page image (but I could be wrong).

This PDF was an awkward reading experience, and without a large enough screen to display it full size I expect the experience to stay awkward.

Thank you for for all the information!
You do confirm my feeling that none of these small devices will be able to display these kinds of pdfs in a really usable way. Maybe I should think about getting a small one for everyday carry-with-me purposes and occasional pdf reading, and wait for one of the larger devices that will allow comfortable reading and annotating letter and a4-sized pdfs. In this spirit,
I would like to repeat my question whether you know anything about possible release dates for the larger boox devices? As you didn't answer these questions, I suppose that you don't know anything about that. The irex dr1000 is a bit too expensive and has too short battery life in my opinion. I wonder whether the sony daily edition might be a good competitor for the irex dr1000, or the new plastic logic device, both should be available by early 2010. Would be interesting to know whether we will be able to purchase larger boox devices by that time...

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by schmolch

How useable is the Boox without the Wacom-Pen?
And can you tell already if the Wacom-Digitizer has a significant negative impact on battery-life, even if you dont use it?

All you can do without the stylus is read the book you have open.

I'm not sure yet of the effect the Wacom has on the battery life. But I do know that there is a switch inside the slot where the stylus goes. Storing the stylus closes the menu, and I suspect that the Wacom screen is turned off as well.

On Friday I managed to drain the battery, though I think that was because I forgot to turn of the Wifi. Over the past 2 days I've used the Boox a lot and the battery meter is down to about half.

[Faenad]

I just watched the video on the Onyx website (http://www.onyx-international.com/en/) and I'm very impressed by their firmware.

I don't like the Ipod-like design of the device, seems quite cheap, but at least their team of programmers actually looks like that they know what they are doing.

their firmware looks far more complete than any competitor, and if it's no unstable/bugged it would be the best by far.

[Nate the great]

I heard back from Onyx about the USB problem. They told me to flash the internal memory. I did, and when I plugged it into my computer the Boox was recognized by DE. I now have both of my DRMed PDFs on it. Shiny.

[CleverClothe]

Here are some comparisons from the iLiad for you (I'm starting to get more excited about the Boox):

- View PDFs in portrait or landscape
- View single page, or in continuous mode (Note: I like continuous landscape pode)
- "zoom to fit" button
- Zoom in/out buttons
- Zooming by drawing shapes with stylus
- Remembers your history of zoom levels separate from your navigation history (very useful feature!)
- Drawing:

• 4 line thinknesses
• 4 shades (including black and white)
• erase by drawing over a line (but this leaves some ghosting that needs a refresh to clean up)

Also, some battery tests on the iLiad show very little power drain for the Wacom when you aren't touching the screen.

[chmreader]

(1) Can I browse sites on the webkit browser on Boox? What are limitations for this browser?

(2) Is there a Search option for an open CHM file?

(3) Is the CHM Table of Contents in the form of a tree or just links?

(4) Can you ask Onyx if there is an option for adding a 3G module? I want a break from my PC screen even for reading emails etc.

Thanks in advance.

[mtravellerh]

Is there a margin removal (crop) function for PDF files?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

All you can do without the stylus is read the book you have open.

I was wrong. I just discovered that the silver ring that I thought was decoration was in fact arrow keys. (Yeah, I know, it's in the manual. ) The silver ring is not easy to use, though.

[charlie72]

Hi Nate the Great:
supports hyphenation?
the contrast and the letters are well defined?
sources can be increased?
thanks

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by charlie72

supports hyphenation?

See Soft Hyphens for a test case. It seems to work ok with the most recent mobile ADE, e.g. on the EZ Reader's, (no dash at the end of the line when a break occurs though). ADE does not do automatic hyphenation.

[Sweetpea]

You've had it for some time now, so, how's the battery holding up?