Onyx Boox Max2 Issues

[andreontherock]

when I use teamviewer and wacom pen touch the screen the device go out a2 image mode to a slowly refresh mode this is the most annoying bug

[bastelquastel]

Among those many changes that the latest firmware update (November 30th, 2018) has brought me, just to mention a few, in case somebody has some work-arounds:

Before, I could add one app as shortcut to the launch bar on the bottom. I did this with the most often used app: Browser. Clicking Browser would bring up the WiFi activation dialog, when not in WiFi, and clicking OK was just enough (it would auto-return once the connection was established). Browser had this nice small see-through button for full screen, which, in case it would hide something, could be moved around.

All gone now:

Now, the Browse symbol can no longer be added to the launch bar (now at the left side). There is this totally useless Shop symbol (for Chinese books only, not useful, at least not for some of us) and you cannot replace anything in the launch bar. So you have to click App first, then search for Browser, click that, say OK to the WiFi dialog, which will then no longer auto-return. You have to slide the activiation slider to the right, instead, and click the return arrow afterwards, once this was successful. I hate starting the browser now.

Also, the full screen symbol is now super big, hiding a lot of content. And it cannot be shifted around anymore.
Besides that, it is really redundant, because it shows backward and forward arrows. And that just above the hardware buttons for backward and forward, which could be used instead. And resizing buttons. Resizing could be achieved by touchscreen swipes instead.
The Lab function, which hides non-content, is no alternative to this, for me, because it is way too complicated for me to handle.

Hence, I can no longer easily start my browser and no longer use it in full screen mode.

Any help?

Apart from that, only minor annoyances:
* You have to re-register your device to google play store, and probably to all other services as well.
* The settings button is no longer underneath the top bar (where it could easily be reached from anywhere) but in the side bar (where it could accidentically be clicked).
* When using new two page mode in pdf reader, and clicking on words for the dictionary, max2 changes back to portrait mode for the dicitionary, and back to landscape afterwards (it should rather stay on landscape mode all the time).

Other features are still way too complicated, for example going to annotation in pdf reader is still:
* press menu button
* click on More ...
* click on Notes
* click on Scribble
* click on symbol for pen style
* use pen
* click on symbol for thickness
* click on "2"
* click on left arrow to minimize.
Why is there no mode that will always remember my pen preferences and will always be active for pdfs? Or a single button for toggling between annotating and highlighting, which would always stick to the last mode when starting to read a pdf?
I, then, could always be in annotating mode. Without hours of clicking first.

Any hints on this maybey?

There's still no real home-button-shortcut-long-press-sort-of-workaround anywhere.

[plusz]

Originally Posted by bastelquastel

Among those many changes that the latest firmware update (November 30th, 2018) has brought me (...)
(...)
Any help?
(...)

I wish I read your post just one day ago I did waited a bit with the upgrade to read honest opinions first but I waited too short. People were posting ahs and ohs about the new firmware on the other thread when in fact I don't see any improvements for me but annoyances.

I don't see any speed improvement in NeoReader (the default PDF reader) which people reported. The new launch panel on the left instead of the bottom provides easy touch use of the button near your thumb, i.e. Note app, which I'm not using but I cannot modify the shortcuts on the panel. I find the Library still useless and so I would prefer to set the Storage view as the default but I cannot. Anyway on my Max 2 there is space for additional 5 shortcuts on the vertical bar, too bad I cannot use it.

Battery drains quickly in 3rd party app (Supermemo) which I had been using before without such issue. I'm going to investigate it further, hope that re-install of the app will help. Anyway, as I reported in a different thread, the app Optimize feature always set the text to black so in apps which have dark background it is a disaster. I would like to use the DPI scaling and refresh mode optimization tweaks but I cannot due to the black text.

[DenisR]

Hello,

We lost screenshots in some version, but I just found out that it is back on my Max2 (with 1.9.1).
Simultaneously press < and > buttons for some seconds, then a message will popup (Save or Register). After your choose Register, it tells you where it is registered (strangely in Screenshot directory ).

Enjoy !

[bastelquastel]

Your "I should have read that" feedback encourages me to write something more.

I had written that you had to re-register to google play services. Well, that only worked for one session. After shutting down the device, it no longer works.

In settings, you can enable google play services, it will then tell you that your device is not registered and that you should start google play services. Doing this (either from the settings screen entry just below enable entry, or from playstore app button) will bring up a play store start screen with a "SIGN" button. A text says you should press it to sign in. Well, pressing it just ends the application. I tried all back and forth. No way, also not with clearing cache data (using the android settings app from this forum). It just doesn't work anymore.

Besides from not being able to update apps or to install new apps from google play store now, there's one more annoyance that I'd like to mention:

Somehow the new firmware now tries to disable all applications so that they can no longer run in the background. This is supposed to help save energy. Somehow it cannot be stopped. There was a way of clicking "enable" for apps that showed "disabled" (they all show "disabled"...) in the play store. Since this is no longer possible (see above), I tried doing it with the android settings app (also see above). But it changed nothing. Also unclicking, in settings, that this disable thing shall be done to all newly installed apps doesn't help. Some apps do not show the enable button at all.

Here are the two consequences of this feature which are most annoying to me:

1st - my Epson iPrint app will no longer be available via share-buttons in other apps (epson app has no "enable" button, useless as it might be, anyways). Therefore, I can, for example, no longer print from Browser app or from FreeGeo or from HereMaps (these three I used most often). (There is a very complicated way of starting the epson app and then searching for documents and then print, but hey, this is not very convenient, is it? And it also does only work for some document types (namely, pdfs and txts, and for urls).

2nd - my simple_ssh app will no longer let me transfer any data to and from my max2. I used simple_ssh to mount max2 to my filesystem. It now keeps saying that the app is not responding. I do not fully know whether this has to do with this background disabling thing, but I suppose so.

To sum up (from both of my messages) no firmware 2.0 "features":
* Browser much less usable than before,
* no more play store,
* no more direct printing from apps,
* no more file transfer to and from max2 via simple_ssh.

An 800 Euro device has turned from helpful to mostly useless.

I hope that either they will fix this with another update, or someone has some hints on what can be done to get the old functionality back to the device.

Any hints from booxtore, maybe, he seems to be the most knowing among us.

Or from anybody else?

Any hints strongly appreciated.

[bastelquastel]

Just a note on screenshots: for me, firmware 2.0, pressing < and > immediately saves the screenshot image. It does not (or no longer) bring up a dialogue containing "register". -- What would this register thing be good for, by the way?

[DenisR]

Originally Posted by bastelquastel

Just a note on screenshots: for me, firmware 2.0, pressing < and > immediately saves the screenshot image. It does not (or no longer) bring up a dialogue containing "register". -- What would this register thing be good for, by the way?

If you don't want the screenshot (error in timing for example), it will avoid to have a file to delete somewhere.
But I agree with you, I will prefer not having the popup (when I go to 2.0).

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by bastelquastel

I had written that you had to re-register to google play services. Well, that only worked for one session. After shutting down the device, it no longer works.

Very strange. The Google Play Store works as usual on my Onyx Note since updating to the 2.0 firmware. I didn't have to re-register. Can't remember doing anything special at all. I am able to update apps that I already had installed. I am also able to install new apps, including ones which I have paid for. I was also able to get back into my account after changing my Google password on another device.

For reference's sake, I am in Canada. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it. I also waited for the international version of the 2.0 update rather going for the Chinese version which came out a little bit earlier.

[Faeryink]

My Google Playstore is working after following the instructions by Booxtor on a youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd1rUSmFBVw

I have a Max Boox 2 Pro Limited edition (4gb ram) by the way, and I also have the international update too (based in Austria, Europe). But I can't reinstall my purchased apps which I already purchased. I use ESF explorer to backup the apps as apk before doing a factory reset for some reason. So what I do is after signing into google playstore connected to the purchased apps I install the apk files and this seems to work. Not sure if this method will hold in the case of app updates.

[bastelquastel]

Although this doesn't explain why we have differing (non-)problems with Google Play Store, I'd like to mention that the bugfix update (26Dec2018) has helped a lot. Unfreezing apps is working now, using this, I could unfreeze my printing app and also Google Play Store app, and could afterwards sign in to play store, again. Printing is also possible now in the normal way, using share dialog of apps.

They are working on the software. Maybe it's a bit unexpected that things come out so early (not so well tested), but then, things get improved.

I think it's only fair to mention this.

I guess it's okay to go to the new firmware now. You will have to live with a few annoyances mentioned above, but then, it's no longer a show stopper.

And then, typing in your searches in Browser app has been cleaned up, it's working well now in touchscreen mode (with fingers) --- had become slow after a while, before.

[Robert Bitzer]

I installed the APKPure appstore which updated Google play for me... Kind of bizarre but I was then able to install old paid apps and everything is running very well.... There really are plenty of Android app sources out there.. Google play isn't all that necessary.

[booxie]

Hello,

i've got huge problems installing the firmware 2.0 or 2.0.1 on a Max 2 Pro. I have no wifi and want to install it from local root directory. I've changed the system language to english and chinese none of them worked. It started to check the update but display an error "package verify failed". I really don't know what went wrong. Can anybody help?

[DenisR]

Hello,
I always install updates from the internal memory and without any problem. I don't change the language : this is necessary if you want to download a "chinese" update before it becomes available for "international".
So if the system tells you your package check failed, you should consider downloading it again from Onyx.
Good luck,
Denis

[booxie]

Thank you very much Denis! I've downloaded it a several times, because this seems to be the most obvious. But it was same - not working. I don't know what the problem is. I am totally out of ideas. It's a brand new Max2Pro...

Used Links:
http://www.boox.com/de/downloads-3/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...7Y_CDl3C6csiP0
http://www.boox.com/downloads/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...5UFjWAwo8ZIGBC

The Max2 found the update. The onyx OTA Service is updating, but then stopping with again with error "package verify failed".

Please help!

[cqman]

Originally Posted by booxie

Thank you very much Denis! I've downloaded it a several times, because this seems to be the most obvious. But it was same - not working. I don't know what the problem is. I am totally out of ideas. It's a brand new Max2Pro...

Used Links:
http://www.boox.com/de/downloads-3/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...7Y_CDl3C6csiP0
http://www.boox.com/downloads/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...5UFjWAwo8ZIGBC

The Max2 found the update. The onyx OTA Service is updating, but then stopping with again with error "package verify failed".

Please help!

The firmware of Max2 pro isn't the same as Max2's.