Replacement for lost Boox Poke3

[OneiroDancer]

I have lost my Boox poke3. Or maybe I've been stolen it while commuting, I am not sure. Anyway, I have to replace it.

What I liked about it:

- good display and front light
- almost as customizable as a standard Android tablet, to that...
- ...it runs Moon+ reader, and so...
- ...I could install custom dictionaries.

What I didn't like:

- upgrading android version can be an hassle
- power management is bad – so much that I had to turn it off between my reading sessions, and it took 20-30 seconds to return where I was (restart it, launch moon+ reader an open the book).

What can you suggest that will keep the things I liked, and improve the ones I didn't?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by OneiroDancer

What I didn't like:

- upgrading android version can be an hassle

Why do you want such?

- power management is bad – so much that I had to turn it off between my reading sessions, and it took 20-30 seconds to return where I was (restart it, launch moon+ reader an open the book).

Turn off WiFi

What can you suggest that will keep the things I liked, and improve the ones I didn't?

Boox Leaf 2, dont trust sleep by cover.

[OneiroDancer]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Why do you want such?

Upgrading Moon+, upgrading dictionaries, keeping it secure in the rare occasions when I connect it to the wifi to get books from my dropbox. But I get your point – for an ebook reader upgrades are certainly much less important than for phones or tablet, and as a matter of fact I didn't feel much of a REAL need to upgrade it since, well, since I bought and configured it

Turn off WiFi

I've been told this many, many times. I don't keep WiFi active, I only activate it when needed; but battery time is awful, a few days at most, compared with a few WEEKS of dedicated readers. For example, while waiting to buy a new one I am using my previous reader, a Boyue, and the battery went down by 1% (or less) in three days. I have been told many times that I cannot expect the duration of a dedicated reader in an android tablet, but I cannot see why not, if wifi is off and there are no active apps and the system is configured in a smart way.

Boox Leaf 2

Thank you, it is in fact one of those I have found in my searches, but I was hoping for more details

dont trust sleep by cover.

...this may actually be one of the problems I had with my poke3 – if I have problems with my next device I will try and experiment with explicit sleep rather than sleep by cover (which is actually quite convenient, but ok, I may take it as a test).

[ottischwenk]

When I'm not reading, I can get by for weeks with one charge (Poke 2/3, Leaf 1/2) - but I've found that the cover doesn't work reliably.
This is one of the reasons why I don't use any.

but I was hoping for more details

Which ones do you want?

[arturg]

Basically Boox Pokes are tablets with an e-ink display. You will not get the same battery run time as with, say Kindle or Kobo. Android itself I believe drains battery, just turn off the wifi, bluetooth and mobile data on your cellphone and see how long your battery lasts.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by OneiroDancer

... it took 20-30 seconds to return where I was (restart it, launch moon+ reader an open the book).

I'm a big fan of the Poke3.
It's a good quality reader where they didn't cut every corner.
When people talk about battery longevity I just scratch my head.
Ok, everybody uses devices differently.
WiFi is a power hog, but you ought to see any device with bad cell reception.
It can suck a battery dry.
I can honestly say that I've never "charged" my Poke3.
It spends enough time on USB for syncing and development.

If you unlock your Poke3 that 30 seconds will go to a full minute.
See my patch in this forum to cut it back to the original 30 seconds.

I've never had a problem with my cover. It works reliably.
(Oh, yeah, I've patched the cover logic too.)
Even if it didn't I have sleep set to 5 minutes.
I always leave the frontlight at 30% even in sunlight. I don't have to futz with it.

For now, since Onyx is fairly open for modding, I'm their biggest supporter.
If they start clamping down I'll be the first to ditch them.

[OneiroDancer]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Which ones do you want?

Well, the main advantages and issues – but going back to my original questions I realized it depends a lot on expectations and usage, so... never mind, thank you

Originally Posted by arturg

Basically Boox Pokes are tablets with an e-ink display. You will not get the same battery run time as with, say Kindle or Kobo. Android itself I believe drains battery, just turn off the wifi, bluetooth and mobile data on your cellphone and see how long your battery lasts.

Well, that's quite a difficult experiment, because to check battery one has to turn on the screen every once in a while, and that already consumes power that on an e-ink tablet is negligible. Still, I inadvertently did such an experiment when I switched from my penultimate phone to the one I have now: after migration I forgot it switched on with no network connection, no open app and the battery around 50%: it started beeping at 20% battery after a couple of weeks, maybe more. So you may say that modern android devices do not consume a lot of power, if not used...

Originally Posted by Renate

I'm a big fan of the Poke3.

Well, me too, actually – I'd perhaps have better phrased my question by saying "looking for a better poke3"

Originally Posted by Renate

When people talk about battery longevity I just scratch my head.

My experience had been with network connections off and the device used only for reading: the battery drop was noticeable from morning to afternoon (I read mainly on commute). I'll try again with my next device, but that's unlikely to be a poke3: poke4 and leaf2 are the most likely choices, at the moment.

Originally Posted by Renate

If you unlock your Poke3 that 30 seconds will go to a full minute.
See my patch in this forum to cut it back to the original 30 seconds.

I've never had a problem with my cover. It works reliably.
(Oh, yeah, I've patched the cover logic too.)

I can't find it – but I guess that's not so important, since I don't own a poke3 any longer

Is there something similar for poke4 or air2?...

[Renate]

Originally Posted by OneiroDancer

I can't find it – but I guess that's not so important, since I don't own a poke3 any longer

Is there something similar for poke4 or air2?...

No, but there could be.
I've spent a bunch of time making these modifications automated.
That means that it takes less than a second to patch some Onyx software regardless of model and software version.
The minus side is that it uses a bunch of "glue" utilities so at this point the process itself is not that distributable.
But, as I just did for mergen3107, they sent me their abl and I turned it around in less than a minute.

The Poke 4 Lite is a chopped down Poke 3, decide if you really want that.
For me the decision on 6" or 7+" is easy.
For book reading I find 6" optimal, although German justification can get funky.

[OneiroDancer]

Originally Posted by Renate

The Poke 4 Lite is a chopped down Poke 3, decide if you really want that.
For me the decision on 6" or 7+" is easy.

Good points.

I hadn't noticed the "lite" in the poke4 description, and I hadn't checked the physical size – I wrote "air2" by mistake but I meant leaf2, and that is already too large for my purpose – it has to fit in my suit's pockets, so the pokes' size is perfect.

Thank you for your notes, they helped me avoiding mistakes.

Apparently my best choice is to buy another poke3 – the little geek in me was hoping to take the opoprtunity to get a newer, cooler device, but functionality wins hands down...

Originally Posted by Renate

For book reading I find 6" optimal, although German justification can get funky.

...speaking of which – Italian justification is quite simple but my older readers never managed it correctly, while on the poke3 it worked well

[Renate]

Originally Posted by OneiroDancer

Apparently my best choice is to buy another poke3...

Murphy's law says that Onyx will release a new 6" ereader after you order.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by OneiroDancer

It has to fit in my suit's pockets,

For on the go I prefer InkPalm5 (Android 8.1, 5.2 Inch, 115 g).
I always have him with me.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Renate

Murphy's law says that Onyx will release a new 6" ereader after you order.

I should bite my tongue.
It looks like the Poke3 is discontinued???

And the Poke4Lite is sold out?

[OneiroDancer]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

For on the go I prefer InkPalm5 (Android 8.1, 5.2 Inch, 115 g).
I always have him with me.

...you know, you may have a point, now I'm tempted by the Hisense A5

Originally Posted by Renate

I should bite my tongue.
It looks like the Poke3 is discontinued???

And the Poke4Lite is sold out?

Well, they seem somewhat difficult to find, but I see them on the Onyx store, with prices ridiculously high: I bought the poke3 for 188 € in mid '21, now I'm supposed to spend 199$ plus VAT plus shipping???

Anyway, I reduced the choice there to this list, and the most interesting seems the Darwin 9, but still... maybe I'll go with a cheaper Xiaomi mireader (I have been using xiaomi phones for a few years, so I trust them enough)... but I'm really tempted by the Hisense A5, which could also be my secondary phone

[OneiroDancer]

Ok, I gave in to temptation and ordered a Hisense A5:

• I'm pretty sure it will satisfy my needs for a reader, since I occasionally have been reading on my phone, and I know the size is not annoying;
• It will be my secondary phone – if it satisfies me, it may even become the primary;
• it will add a little drive to the market for e-ink smartphones
• it satisfies the little geek in me who wanted to try something new
• it costed me just 188 € for the 64 GB model, so a reasonable price both for a phone and for a reader;
• even if with time I won't be able to stay on 4G, it will still work as an e-reader with wifi.

The only drawback is that it will take some time to arrive from China – but I can wait, in the meantime I have the Boyue to read on!