Elipsa Note-taking freezing

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Quoth

A 3rd party stylus makes no difference as long as it's compatible. The Elipsa (original) screen is slower with Nebo (Advanced Notes) maybe because it's bigger?
The Sage is better for notes than my original Elipsa, though the Sage has more pixels, they are smaller.
No difference with 2 x third party pens and original pen.

Thanks for the third-party stylist review. I’ve been doing some research and it seems the Sage is quad core, but not the Elipsa. This, and the size of the screen, is likely why the Elipsa note taking performance is inferior to the Sage. There’s only so much information it can process, so it pauses input while it catches up.

I don’t recall Elipsa writing being so sluggish when I first got it. This may also be the result of firmware updates tailored for the 2E. I’m curious if downgrading to the firmware just before the 2E’s release would improve freezing, but then I’d lose all those lovely improvements like folders and expanded templates.

TBH, I just preordered the Libra Colour, so I’ll be selling my Elipsa to help pay for it. I’ll be all in then!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Thanks for the third-party stylist review. I’ve been doing some research and it seems the Sage is quad core, but not the Elipsa. This, and the size of the screen, is likely why the Elipsa note taking performance is inferior to the Sage. There’s only so much information it can process, so it pauses input while it catches up.

The Sage and Elipsa have an Allwinner B300 quad Core CPU @1.8GHz. The Elipsa 2E has a MediaTek MT8113 dual core CPU @ 2GHz. The Allwinner CPUs are somewhat notorious for less than top of the line power management. The Libra Colour and Clara Colour are also using a MediaTEK MTK8113T @2GHz while the Clara BW has 1GHz CPU. Some test results I've seen show that the MediaTek running at 2GHz compared to the Allwinner B300 running at 1.8GHZ give ~45% better performance though I haven't seen enough to give me any certainty.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The Sage and Elipsa have an Allwinner B300 quad Core CPU @1.8GHz. The Elipsa 2E has a MediaTek MT8113 dual core CPU @ 2GHz. The Allwinner CPUs are somewhat notorious for less than top of the line power management. The Libra Colour and Clara Colour are also using a MediaTEK MTK8113T @2GHz while the Clara BW has 1GHz CPU. Some test results I've seen show that the MediaTek running at 2GHz compared to the Allwinner B300 running at 1.8GHZ give ~45% better performance though I haven't seen enough to give me any certainty.

Thanks! So it seems that both Sage and Elipsa have the same CPU, but the Sage works better for people. I haven’t heard people griping about laggy note taking with Sages, but everyone who owns a first gen Elipsa has the same complaints. Screen size is the obvious difference.

Nothing we say here is going to change it. The solution I found was to learn to write blind (meaning I generally write faster than the screen can render), then compose my thoughts as the unit freezes while it tries to catch up. It’s a serious flaw, made worse by later firmware updates it seems, but I learned to live with it.

BTW, where did you get such juicy info about the CPUs? I searched quite a bit on this subject before posting and came up empty.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Cootey

BTW, where did you get such juicy info about the CPUs? I searched quite a bit on this subject before posting and came up empty.

You can find the CPU information scattered in several places but my starting spot is the Wikipedia Kobo eReader page.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cootey

So it seems that both Sage and Elipsa have the same CPU, but the Sage works better for people. I haven’t heard people griping about laggy note taking with Sages, but everyone who owns a first gen Elipsa has the same complaints. Screen size is the obvious difference.

No doubt because the screen is mechanical. The Elipsa actually has fewer pixels than the Sage, but as the screen is nearly 30% larger, the fewer pixels are much bigger cells.

Elipsa 1404 x1872 and 227 ppi (Both models).
Sage 1920x1440 and 300 ppi

So Elipsa pixel is 1.32x bigger X or Y, so as area is a square law, if the little balls are the same size (they may not be, but it's a good assumption) then if the Sage pixel cell had 64 balls approximately, the Elipsa would have about 112.
The current system may have white and black balls, thus all white is all the balls at the front and all the black ones to the rear. Most eink panels seem slightly translucent and do indeed have a faint negative image on the rear.

However I'm only guessing. But I do have a Sage and an Elipsa. I've rarely seen either freeze, but the Sage "keeps up" with the writing better on Advanced notebooks. Occasionally the Sage also seems to "freeze" but not as often as the Elipsa. A screen refresh reveals the writing if it doesn't catch up. I ordered the Sage not long after getting the Elipsa as I found it too heavy and found it better for note taking with conversion. Though the Elipsa has less pixels it was easier to read PDFs with smaller print as the Sage would have needed better eyesight.
I now don't use either for notes and don't use the Elipsa at all. I still use the Sage to read novels for enjoyment or annotate proof reading with the highlight and keyboard (because that exports as plain text). I've replace the Sage with the Nxtpaper11 for notes and use it also for PDFs, even though it's heavier than the Sage, because Nebo on the NxtPaper11 makes the Sage's version of Nebo (advanced Notebooks) look like junk. The eink can't compete. The Nxtpaper version has live preview of conversion on Nebo and you can type text using Gboard and your finger (offline), even on an Android 7 phone faster and more accurate than Nebo/Advanced notepad on Sage, though the Digitiser pen on the tablet is better.

Sadly the Elipsa isn't much good for someone with Macular Degeneration compared to a €220 Lenovo 10″ tablet. Not sure what to do with it. Seems now only marginally more use than my Kindle DXG 9.7″ 150 dpi ereader. Perhaps someone that likes to doodle on PDFs (would work fine for crosswords, no internet needed, just USB and PC with PDFs to transfer).

And yes, I installed Gboard on the Android eink, 7.8″ Boyue Likebook Mar T80D. It's OK to type in Jota, better than the old ASOP keyboard, but abysmal for handwriting. The eink is too slow. Nebo needs a digitizer, so only works on some Android, iPads that work with an Apple Pencil and MS Surface 3 or later that have an NTrig/MPP pen (with pressure) or MS Pen. Separate Wacom tablets not supported.

Of course Google's Android Gboard has some evil default settings! Check them all. Turn on all privacy, turn of all gadgets, voice and glide except slide finger on spacebar. Go to Language Keyboard and add Handwriting and PC and turn off Google's QWERTY. Holding space allows swap between keus and handwriting, which can use finger, dumb stylus or digitizer pen if available.