Simply cannot download firmware from BOOX website

[maplesyrupnjam]

Hi! I recently purchased a Onyx Boox Nova Pro but I can't for the life of me find a way to download the new update from their website. I have tried three different browsers but nothing seems to work. Has anyone else been able to get the new V2.1.1 update? How did you manage to get the update file?? I really need help.

[lumpynose]

I'm extremely disappointed with my Note Pro which came last week. I definitely would not recommend it to anyone.

[Hrod]

Originally Posted by maplesyrupnjam

Hi! I recently purchased a Onyx Boox Nova Pro but I can't for the life of me find a way to download the new update from their website. I have tried three different browsers but nothing seems to work. Has anyone else been able to get the new V2.1.1 update? How did you manage to get the update file?? I really need help.

With the wifi on, the Nova Pro detects automatically the update. Go to Settings/Firmware update to download and install it.
Alternatively, go to https://www.boox.com/downloads/, but as you noticed when you select the Nova Pro there is no download when clicking on the link.
The problem is with Boox's website, not your browser. It did work as I managed to download a previous update.

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

I'm extremely disappointed with my Note Pro which came last week. I definitely would not recommend it to anyone.

Hi lumpyonse,

Could you share your opinion why you don't recommend it to anyone?

I have Note Lite, I think Note Lite is a good e-reader that I will recommend it to my friend.

In my opinion, Note Pro should be better than Note Lite except its glass screen.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by tylpk

Hi lumpyonse,

Could you share your opinion why you don't recommend it to anyone?

I have Note Lite, I think Note Lite is a good e-reader that I will recommend it to my friend.

In my opinion, Note Pro should be better than Note Lite except its glass screen.

At the moment it's very buggy. For example, I've uploaded all of my books to it and have set it to sort the library by author and it shows a few whose author's last name starts with A, then shows some C authors. If I long click/press on a book, in the box that comes up the Title: and Author: fields are empty. I've installed FBReader, Moon Reader, and Koreader; when I long click/press on a book, in the box that comes up when I tap Open With it only gives me Neo Reader as an option.

A problem that's not specific to this ereader but all eink android readers is that apps that aren't specifically written for a grayscale screen often (typically) don't work well. Their UI can use different colors for contrast, e.g, a yellow clickable thing on a blue background, but when those colors are mapped to grayscale they can end up being very close in grayscale values and then it's very difficult to figure out what's on the screen. I briefly fiddled around with android development and I don't recall seeing a flag that says the screen is grayscale, although back then I don't think there were any grayscale screens. I started thinking about what advantages android provides and I haven't been able to come up with anything. It does give you a windowing system, so to speak, but given the simple job ereaders do that seems to be not too difficult to roll your own for the developers. They're all using linux from what I've heard (as does android) so multitasking is already there.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

At the moment it's very buggy... I've installed FBReader, Moon Reader, and Koreader; when I long click/press on a book, in the box that comes up when I tap Open With it only gives me Neo Reader as an option.

There are definitely some bugs with the new firmware. That seems to be the case with all software. Just check out the other forums and you will see.

As for other reading apps, I am not experiencing the same issues as you. I can open books with any of the other ereading apps I have installed on both my Nova Pro and my Note Pro on the 2.1.1 firmware. I regularly use Moon+ Reader Pro at the moment for a book that I am reading in Japanese. I am also using Cool Reader to verify what I have read in a translation. I also have various other ereading apps installed and have not experienced any difficulties using any of them.

Originally Posted by lumpynose

A problem that's not specific to this ereader but all eink android readers is that apps that aren't specifically written for a grayscale screen often (typically) don't work well. Their UI can use different colors for contrast, e.g, a yellow clickable thing on a blue background, but when those colors are mapped to grayscale they can end up being very close in grayscale values and then it's very difficult to figure out what's on the screen.

This is very definitely a problem and can be frustrating. However, adjusting the optimization settings can make a huge difference. With the 2.1.1 firmware, I use the optimization function as one of the five possible options for the floating Navigation Ball app. I can then adjust the settings while inside the app.

By unchecking options like "whiten background" or checking options like "enhance font", things which were not visible beforehand can sometimes be made visible. This has certainly helped me with the usability of certain apps.

Although there is still room for much improvement, I'm very happy with both my Note Pro and my Nova Pro and would certainly recommend them to others. But an individual's experience will depend largely upon their needs and their expectations. Such devices will not appeal or suit the needs of everyone.

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

A problem that's not specific to this ereader but all eink android readers is that apps that aren't specifically written for a grayscale screen often (typically) don't work well.

Hi lumpynose,

Maybe I can understand your feelings about grayscale screen.

I must adjust contrast for different app to get good reading experience. But I don't have good solution to protect my eyes if I don't use e-ink reader. If I don't need to use Note Lite to visit Web content, Kindle is enough for me.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

I can open books with any of the other ereading apps I have installed on both my Nova Pro and my Note Pro on the 2.1.1 firmware.

Once I have koreader open I can read anything. It's only when I'm in the boox's library and I long press on a book and select Open With, then it only gives me Neo Reader as an option.

In the end it's not really a problem, just an example of another bug. When I use koreader it displays the folder structure I'm using when uploading books, which is "{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}" (I think, I can't check right now because calibre is busy copying all of my books to the boox).

For some reason the plugin's save template for storing books is what I'm using as stated above and there's also a check box for using subdirs; you can see it when you go to Preferences>Plugins and then select the plugin and click on the Configure button. Whereas if you click on the button in the menubar for the device where you can select eject, etc. and Configure this device, there the save template is just "{title} - {authors}" (I'm doing this by memory).

And as I said before, when the books are stored in a directory of the author's name then koreader shows a list of authors which is one thing I've always wanted.

And as a final note, I was frustrated because I had calibre delete all of my books so that I could upload them again using the updated save template using the author names directories, but the boox library page showed the books still there, so I did a hard reset. Android is doing some smoke and mirrors trickery and hiding the real filesystem structure when you look at it via the usb connection on the pc.

[lumpynose]

I forgot to say that after I did a hard reset it stayed with the latest firmware, but there were 2 new apps, in Chinese, which I deleted. Google play doesn't want to "play", and I had a hard time getting it to work the first time around, but I'm not going to worry about it since they look crappy on an eink display.