Android 9.0 upgrade status?

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by hobnail

That's rather a bit more hoop jumping than I think should be needed. But if it's that important to you to have android on your ereader, you're welcome to it.

Hardly hoop jumping at all. Dead simple. I have the other devices anyway. And it seldom takes long to discover how to adjust the visual settings for an app to make it usable on an eink screen.

As for Android, quite pleased to have it. NeoReader does not handle Japanese all that well. I don't run a lot of other apps on my Onyx devices, but the ones that I do make reading and studying much more pleasurable. Even for Chinese, there's a dictionary app which I have which is far superior to what NeoReader ships with.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

Hardly hoop jumping at all. Dead simple. I have the other devices anyway. And it seldom takes long to discover how to adjust the visual settings for an app to make it usable on an eink screen.

Whatever floats your boat.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Whatever floats your boat.

Mostly plain sailing for me. However, some people seem determined to see a tempest in a teacup. Whatever sinks your boat.

If you don't need other apps than the ones your ereader ships with, no need to install them. There are also plenty of ereaders which don't allow users to install apps.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

There are also plenty of ereaders which don't allow users to install apps.

I initially bought something like that, with the result that I read paper.
Now I only have one registered, switched off and unused ancient Kindle of these, because it allows me to download books without a new DRM.

[bluesnews]

Well now we have new readers with a newer version of android. I guess none of the older readers will be getting an update.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by bluesnews

Well now we have new readers with a newer version of android. I guess none of the older readers will be getting an update.

I haven't seen a single Android update from Onyx-Boox.
However, new releases with (somewhat) improved hardware.
In my opinion, Note 2, Nova 2, Poke 2 will not get an Android update either, because the 3-series versions are in the starting blocks.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by hobnail

That's my main rant about why I think exposing android on an e-ink device is a mistake. It's ok if it's hidden under the covers like linux is on the others.

I don't think it's a mistake. Having open(ish) on an e-ink device makes available literally a plethora of software. Sure, a lot of it doesn't work perfectly, or at all, but a lot is usable. For those of us who are willing to work with a less than perfect experience, and like to play, Android on e-ink offers huge freedom.

The other type of Onyx user wants to use it for PDF annotation and hand-writing. They want everything smooth and perfect, like a Kindle, but with different features. Onyx walks the line between the two types of consumers, but probably the academic PDF reading types are the priority as they seem to have more cash in general.

Originally Posted by hobnail

Apps written for LCD screens often use colors that don't map well to 16 levels of gray that e-ink provides.

Yeah, it's probably the colors more than the animations that cause problems. Onyx has done a decent job of trying to deal with LCD-style animation by providing app settings and different A2 modes.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

I've experienced that issue a number of times. Until I can optimize such apps so that they will work well with an eink screen, what I usually now do is open the app up on a tablet or a phone while I am setting it up on my ereader. That way, I can see where the "invisible" buttons are "hidden". Once I've adjusted an app's visual settings to work well on my ereader, I no longer need to have it open on a phone or a tablet.

I had a funny experience like this the other day. I installed a keyboard app, and I couldn't see the buttons to press to allow keyboard access permissions. So I just hit the screen randomly, hoping to find the invisible button, and somehow I ended up with the Onyx keyboard rather than the default Android keyboard. I didn't even know there was a separate Onyx keyboard. I don't know how to change it back, and I don't know how to access keyboard / input settings.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by bluesnews

Well now we have new readers with a newer version of android. I guess none of the older readers will be getting an update.

Really

[Crowriver]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I haven't seen a single Android update from Onyx-Boox.
However, new releases with (somewhat) improved hardware.
In my opinion, Note 2, Nova 2, Poke 2 will not get an Android update either, because the 3-series versions are in the starting blocks.

To give Onyx their due, they do update the firmware on older devices quite regularly. So for example the "Pro" line running Android 6 has pretty much identical software functionality to the "2" and "3" lines running Android 9. For my use case, the stock software functionality is more important than the Android version.

Onyx have confirmed they will be rolling out the v3.0 firmware to their recent Android 9 devices. I hope they will do similar for the Android 6 devices too, but we will see...

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Crowriver

To give Onyx their due, they do update the firmware on older devices quite regularly. So for example the "Pro" line running Android 6 has pretty much identical software functionality to the "2" and "3" lines running Android 9. For my use case, the stock software functionality is more important than the Android version.

Onyx have confirmed they will be rolling out the v3.0 firmware to their recent Android 9 devices. I hope they will do similar for the Android 6 devices too, but we will see...

Yeah, that's true. They update FW, but not OS. I don't think the Android 6 devices will get FW v.3. Onyx drop older devices pretty fast. Shame because the A6 devices are more than capable to run the newer FW.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Crowriver

So for example the "Pro" line running Android 6 has pretty much identical software functionality to the "2" and "3" lines running Android 9.

Not quite, so the Poke Pro didn't get the latest update, with which you can boot into a function other than the library

For my use case, the stock software functionality is more important than the Android version.

Ok I agree.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Crowriver

For my use case, the stock software functionality is more important than the Android version.

Yes. As a comparison, when is the last time you've heard anyone complaining about the Linux version on Kindles and other Linux based e-readers? (Maybe the people rooting and hacking, but they're a tiny minority.)

A tablet or phone is much more of a general purpose computer. An e-reader is a single purpose device, like a microwave oven, so the underlying OS version isn't of any concern to me.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Yes. As a comparison, when is the last time you've heard anyone complaining about the Linux version on Kindles and other Linux based e-readers? (Maybe the people rooting and hacking, but they're a tiny minority.)

None of these devices offer me the setting options with which I would like to read.
I have such, but I don't use them.

A tablet or phone is much more of a general purpose computer. An e-reader is a single purpose device, like a microwave oven, so the underlying OS version isn't of any concern to me.

Error - besides reading applications that correspond to my handling much more, there are many things that special reader devices can only dream of, such as Kiwix with offline Wikipedia or library management like Calibre Companion.
Books from Amazon or those with Adobe DRM or those with CARE DRM can only be read on an open Android system (DRM removal is prohibited by law here).

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Error - besides reading applications that correspond to my handling much more, there are many things that special reader devices can only dream of

Yeah, my needs are rather simple and basic. The only thing I do with my e-reader besides read books is look up words in its dictionary.