Boyue Likebook Mars or Onyx Boox Nova?

[muniek66]

I am considering buying a new Android e-reader. Is it worth to wait and pay extra to Onyx Boox Nova?

I'm a bit worried about reports of poor battery management at Boyue Likebook Mars ...

Thank you very much for any advice .

[Rbneader]

I'm in the same boat. I suggest waiting just a bit until this new round of releases is out and there are a few more side by side comparisons.

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/ has a lot of information and comparisons. They also review software and ease of use, not just hardware specs. I find that site very useful.

Battery life is less in Android based ereaders, because it's not an OS designed for eInk. It's measured in days instead of weeks, so it's still not like a tablet that needs charging every day. It's just noticeably less than in non-Android ereaders. I haven't found it to be that big a deal in my day to day use.

[muniek66]

Originally Posted by Rbneader

Battery life is less in Android based ereaders, because it's not an OS designed for eInk. It's measured in days instead of weeks, so it's still not like a tablet that needs charging every day. It's just noticeably less than in non-Android ereaders. I haven't found it to be that big a deal in my day to day use.

Therefore Onyx Boox Nova may have the same problem with battery life...

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by muniek66

Therefore Onyx Boox Nova may have the same problem with battery life...

I see that you have a Nook - which is also an Android-based E-Ink device, by the way!

I don't know about the Nova, as it hasn't reached buyers just yet, but I do have a Likebook Mars. Battery life is reduced when WiFi is on. I always turn WiFi off when I want to just read. At the rate that the battery discharges while I read, I would get at least twenty hours of battery life if I just read with WiFi off.

Also, be aware that when companies like Kindle and Kobo talk about weeks or months of battery life, they always base that on a half hour per day, WiFi off, four or five days a week. When you look at it that way, the differences in battery life between Android E-Ink devices and others aren't quite so much.

[helen19770707]

I heard that Onyx Boox is promoting a new firmware that is able to minimize the power consumption. Have no idea how is the effect, but at least they're doing something on it. Why not wait a while and let's see.

[Loretta Unal]

I have a mars. And have used for more than a month. Just shear some using experience here:
1. The front light satisfy me. It is spread. I prefer to use cold light at the daytime and warm light for my night reading. My eye feel good much than reading from tablet.
2. Battery life is ok for me. Every day I always have an reading 1-2 hours, some more for weekend. And I would like to open light when reading at night. It is ok to read more than a week after full charged.
3. I bought from aliexpress shop, they ship from Spain directly.
4. This size is really like a real book size, and easy to take outside for reading for me.
5. The page reflash is fast, I think it should thanks to the CPU(8core).
6. Small suggestion: the translation/language can be better, it is ok to understand now but if improved, that will be great! ( I think it is possible as there are several firmware update already after I bought, lol)

[Dennell]

I chose Mars finally, althought I spent much time to compare two before I bought.. Mars's battery, price, reading speed is better I think.

[Asiorent]

Actually it would be nice if somebody make a comparison review between the two e-readers. Was searching the web and forums and still nothing.

Looking forward to read more opinions about these models, for me they give the best of the both worlds (tablet and e-reader) and would definitely like to soon have one of them.

[eReader fan]

I have the LIkebook Mars for the last 5 days. I did some testing and almost everything is good, but only ALMOST.

Some apps crashing, fluid but not as fluid as it could be supposed to be, OTG not working, etc So almost a tablet but still with some work to do.

I am thinking to return it because it fails in a point which is important for me (and it seems is only for me jaja), and this point is the video reproduction. Youtube don-t work properly in any of the scenrios I prepared for it. I tried with many web browsers and the problem changes between browsers, but never works fine. Also with apps like YouTube Vanced and NewPipe, and it also doesn't work there.

I asked on the Onyx boox Nova thread if someone can try this on the Onyx Nova, but nobody is paying me atenttion :'( Just hope someone here say it and try it before my testing product days on Aliexpress ends.

[Lparsons21]

Originally Posted by Dennell

I chose Mars finally, althought I spent much time to compare two before I bought.. Mars's battery, price, reading speed is better I think.

Me too. The Mars does what I got it for and does it well, and after a few updates the battery life is about what you can expect from most mid level Android tablets. But part of the problem with researching is the lack of any real reviews. The final thing that tipped me to the Mars was I could get it from a US seller via Amazon.

I use the Kindle and scribd apps mostly as I like their subscription services. I also use Nook for web with the Chrome browser as the actual Nook app won’t work on it.

As to watching any videos on any eink device, I’ve never seen one that did that in an acceptable manner.






Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[eReader fan]

Originally Posted by Lparsons21

As to watching any videos on any eink device, I’ve never seen one that did that in an acceptable manner.

For me its is. Cartoons are played more than acceptable, and to watch YouTube videos punctually it is also good for me

[downeaster59]

I have the Mars, and my Nova arrived yesterday. The Nova is more expensive, so the main question is whether the extra cost is worth it.

I bought the Mars soon after it became available on Amazon. Now, I have the Nova soon after it became available. Initially, my Mars couldn't run Play Store at all. The seller needed to email me a link to where I could download updated firmware from Boyue, and software to wipe my Mars and install the new firmware. The Mars initially couldn't refresh the display for third party apps, or for its own browser. Updates have largely addressed those issues.

The Nova is ahead of the game at this stage. Play Store does work, though it doesn't seem to remember what apps I have already bought. Refresh works well. I imagine that updates will address any glitches in the Nova soon.

The Mars has certain advantages. It has a microSD card slot. You can enable adoptable storage and have that sd card become part of internal storage. If you do that, however, Boyue's updates will not install. I also prefer the Mars' home screen to that of the Nova.

The Nova has certain advantages. Its warm light has more of an orange tint, and therefore seems warmer, than that of the Mars. The Nova has twice the internal storage of the Mars (but no microSD card slot). The Nova's firmware allows you to optimize every third party app individually - and has many more options for this than the Mars offers, including screen refresh options. The Nova weighs a little less than the Mars.

Overall performance is very close between the two. I'll need more time to get a sense of the Nova's battery life. I haven't tried audio on either device, or the Bluetooth connections.

When I've had more time with the Nova, I may try to do a more detailed comparison.

At this point, I'd say that the decision for one or the other is based largely on two factors. One - do you want the microSD card slot or more internal storage? Two - which one's light do you like best?

[downeaster59]

I installed the Nook app on my Nova, and it runs just fine. For some reason, it won't run at all on my Mars.

The Nook app actually runs well on the Nova. If you disable the animated page turns, there's very little wait when you tap or swipe to turn a page.

I haven't tried the Kindle app, but I assume it would run - if a little slowly - on either device.

PS - I'm in the process of trying to decide which device I like the best and will keep. I actually keep flipping back and forth between the two. Each has a strong point or two that the other doesn't, and each one makes a strong case for itself. (Of course, I could just keep both...)

[eReader fan]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

PS - I'm in the process of trying to decide which device I like the best and will keep. I actually keep flipping back and forth between the two. Each has a strong point or two that the other doesn't, and each one makes a strong case for itself. (Of course, I could just keep both...)

It could be interesting to benchmark them and do the comparison. It could seem ridiculous to compare two devices when one of them have the double of CPU&RAM, but this can show to us how well build is the firmware. If you want to do it it would be great, and also you only have to do it to the Nova, because I did it to the Mars. The app is called AnTutu, and I uploaded two results image because it's very very different when the A2 mode is enabled, not only because it skips the 3D test, but also in the CPU results. I repetead the A2 test and it was almost the same result.

Can I also ask you to try the YouTube Vanced app on Nova? You will not have the problems with google with this app. ( https://www.xda-developers.com/youtube-vanced-apk/ ). If you want to do it just chose the Non-root version

[downeaster59]

I hadn't considered trying AnTuTu on an E-Ink device, as the results weren't likely to be impressive - but it may be worthwhile for comparison's sake.

It is interesting to see the difference that A2 mode makes.

I'll check out the YouTube Vanced app as well.