New "Mars" device from Likebook?

[Matilo]

Now available on Aliexpress for less than 216 $:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2018...ceBeautifyAB=0

[crane3]

I just create a font folder in the "usual" place for system fonts: '/sdcard/fonts'.

Did read in either the KOreader or the Kobo forum that the fonts need to be under Koboreader/fonts for the Koboreader; at least that is what I did on the Kobo Aura One.

[romevi]

First time poster!

I just got the Likebook Mars today after ordering it Monday. Talk about a speedy delivery!
It came with the cover too. No noticeable scratches or other such QC issues. My first ereader and so far very pleased. First thing I did was install the MR+ apk. Waiting the Google Play update so I can sync it with my account and get the updates.

Originally Posted by crane3

For MoonReader users, one might try the "more operations" selection & checkout the "brightness" line item.

I have my Mars checked 'fast page' & refresh rate at '5' pages.

In MR, I fiddled & lowered the brightness somewhat from the system(?) setting which is/was high; then lowed the 'opacity' down to around 10%. Surprised me that MR page turns are snappy without flashing(?). Think that it is the opacity value that made thing different but don't know why.

So far, I quite happy with the settings now even tho the whit on grey leaves a lot to be desired; wish that the grey can be a bit darker but a dark theme do not work well on e-ink.

This helped a lot of the ghosting issues. One other thing I did, besides setting the text to fully black and the background to fully white, was hit "Miscellaneous," then "Image display options at the bottom." I checked "Make white background transparent" and "Use white background in full screen" (the latter assuming you're using MR+ in full-screen mode).
That got rid of some more ghosting, but the ghosting does pop up every so often and not in accordance with BySetting's refresh rate.

One thing I did find odd was that an ePUB like Game of Thrones has some text missing. Not sure what the issue is. It's not appearing like that with my other devices that have Moon Reader+, and even the stock reading app on the Boyue shows all the text just fine.

But I can't read my books without my Miller font, so I have to use MR+.


Edit:
I figured out what was causing the text to appear off.
I had to turn off "Justified" in Visual Options, whether I'm using hyphenations or not.
And under Miscellaneous I had to toggle Disable CSS styles on, then Disable Alightment (justify). I wonder if that's fixable as I prefer justified text, but at least all my text appears normal, so far as I can tell now.

[bubnikv]

Hello. I am looking at the like book mars for eBook reading and for reading text books, learning from services like the coursera, watching educational videos. Would somebody owning the device try to sideload the coursera app and test it for me, please?

Also does it support USB OTG? I own an 6 inch Onyx Boox C67 and it supports USB OTG, although only if externally powered.

Thanks, Vojtech

[downeaster59]

The Likebook Mars supports adoptive storage in Android 6.0. So, all data can be moved to the SD card. It seems to work correctly. The performance of the Mars is not affected.

[crane3]

Originally Posted by bubnikv

Hello. I am looking at the like book mars for eBook reading and for reading text books, learning from services like the coursera, watching educational videos. Would somebody owning the device try to sideload the coursera app and test it for me, please?

Also does it support USB OTG? I own an 6 inch Onyx Boox C67 and it supports USB OTG, although only if externally powered.

Thanks, Vojtech

Likebook Mars does support USB OTG; BUT the Android 6 bug is still there. i.e. you have to get to developer mode & toggle the usb from mtp to charging then back to mtp. Also after powered off, you have to toggle the usb mtp mode again, I thnk, & not each time one wants to use it.

LM does something different from how Kobo or a flashdrive does the connect as LM is not listed as a separate drive in the win10 file explorer. LM is listed as LM after the "Desktop", "Documents", "Download" but before "Music"; guess win10 sees LM as a special folder in its system.

[Sonofrobot]

Originally Posted by romevi

Edit:
I figured out what was causing the text to appear off.
I had to turn off "Justified" in Visual Options, whether I'm using hyphenations or not.
And under Miscellaneous I had to toggle Disable CSS styles on, then Disable Alightment (justify). I wonder if that's fixable as I prefer justified text, but at least all my text appears normal, so far as I can tell now.

If you install the latest version of MR, this is fixed. I had this problem too after installing a slightly outdated version.

[eReader fan]

And how stable is? I am doubting between the Mars and the future Onyx Nova, but also I want to use them like a tablet. I know the limitations of the eInk, but is the firmware stable or its full of bugs and crashing apps?

Web browsing is also important for me. In android 4 Onyx it was crashing every 5-20min.

Thanks in advance

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by eReader fan

And how stable is? I am doubting between the Mars and the future Onyx Nova, but also I want to use them like a tablet. I know the limitations of the eInk, but is the firmware stable or its full of bugs and crashing apps?

Web browsing is also important for me. In android 4 Onyx it was crashing every 5-20min.

Thanks in advance

I've only had my Likebook Mars for three days, but I'm not finding many bugs yet. When I had the Boyue T63, the stock File Browser and Library apps crashed so often that I used third party apps for their functions. No such crashes yet on stock apps or the stock browser.

The only issue I see so far is ghosting. Auto-refresh only seems to work consistently with the stock reader app. It also works for third party reader apps that are designed with E-Ink in mind and include auto-refresh settings. Text remains very readable even with ghosting, but it may be annoying. You can tap the icon that toggles normal and A2 mode to manually refresh the screen.

Boyue says that an October update will fix the auto-refresh/ghosting issue.

The third party apps that I have installed have not had problems with crashing so far.

If Boyue fixes the auto-refresh problem, the Likebook Mars will be an excellent e-reader. I haven't seen specs for the Onyx Nova, but it could be just as good.

[romevi]

Originally Posted by Sonofrobot

If you install the latest version of MR, this is fixed. I had this problem too after installing a slightly outdated version.

That did it! Thanks!
I have the full version through Google Play, but since no Play Store yet I Googled for an apk, which was 4.5.1. Didn't realize that was outdated.
I downloaded a newer version and the justification is fixed.

[romevi]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

I've only had my Likebook Mars for three days, but I'm not finding many bugs yet. When I had the Boyue T63, the stock File Browser and Library apps crashed so often that I used third party apps for their functions. No such crashes yet on stock apps or the stock browser.

The only issue I see so far is ghosting. Auto-refresh only seems to work consistently with the stock reader app. It also works for third party reader apps that are designed with E-Ink in mind and include auto-refresh settings. Text remains very readable even with ghosting, but it may be annoying. You can tap the icon that toggles normal and A2 mode to manually refresh the screen.

Boyue says that an October update will fix the auto-refresh/ghosting issue.

The third party apps that I have installed have not had problems with crashing so far.

If Boyue fixes the auto-refresh problem, the Likebook Mars will be an excellent e-reader. I haven't seen specs for the Onyx Nova, but it could be just as good.

Ghosting is an issue I'm noticing too. Even with Koreader, and the refresh settings set to 6 pages, I still see remnants of previous pages. Switching A2 on and off seems to fix most of it.
Only Boyue's stock reading app is consistent with refreshing according to the settings.

[Amon_Re]

Does Safari work on this? This would be the primary use i have for an android based device

FYI: https://www.safaribooksonline.com/apps/

[ilyats]

Originally Posted by romevi

Even with Koreader, and the refresh settings set to 6 pages.

I was told by a Koreader developer that refresh rate setting does nothing on Android.

[romevi]

Originally Posted by ilyats

I was told by a Koreader developer that refresh rate setting does nothing on Android.

Yeah, it doesn't seem like it does. The ghosing isn't as bad as MR, at least.

[DarkCookie]

Today I received Mars version from China (from official store as their "early bird"). Great store support by the way.
Device is named Likebook-T80D and running firmware version BYRead-V1.0.0-2018092015 with no updates available after first device boot.
I very like screen frontlight (quite dark on minimal setttings plus optional color) and the device weigh is very light. First impression is good.
Tomorrow they should release new firmware with Google Play.
Someone has rooted device already?