Boyue P10W - stylus/notetaking, ereader?

[d314]

Originally Posted by Onemack

I am in Australia and have the Likebook p10w for that very reason. Up until a few weeks ago I found it quite useless, mainly because the jnstructions were written in such poor English that they were hard to follow, some of the reading apps are quite buggy, such as Kobo and Kindle. However the native reading app on the device is quite good, particularly rewarding because the wireless transfer of books from the cloud (Onedrive) is so easy and fast, and the app is very good and responsive. The pen is a little tardy in its use, but quite satisfactory for minor annotations and doing crosswords.

I concur. Currently this reader is really the best in terms of price/features. Notetaking experience is quite satisfactory, the wacom layer is definitely an improvement over the proprietary tech of the original P10 + the nonsmooth screen cover makes it even more realistic. I also use it for reading PDF and making notes. The native PDF reader is quite versatile, it allows you to cut and re-flow PDFs in any way imaginable (I read a lot of math papers and books with formulas). It also supports hyperlinks within PDF, although the native app is missing the button/gesture to return back after the hyperlink jump (or at least I could not find it). The OS is open, so I managed to install FBReader, Calibre Companion, ReadEra, KOReader and even able to install Ivona TTS voices (now can read text books with no internet connection and normal TTS voice). Some other apps like bVNC server can also be installed. Now I'm working on the possibility to use it as a wacom tablet for performing highlights during online presentations (see https://askubuntu.com/questions/1160...ablet-on-linux). If anybody knows how to jump back from the hyperlink in the native reading app, let me know please! Also I was not able to figure out how to employ the side button on the accompanied wacom pen. Perhaps there is a way to assign some function to it ..?

[Warchild]

Originally Posted by d314

I concur. Currently this reader is really the best in terms of price/features. Notetaking experience is quite satisfactory, the wacom layer is definitely an improvement over the proprietary tech of the original P10 + the nonsmooth screen cover makes it even more realistic. I also use it for reading PDF and making notes. The native PDF reader is quite versatile, it allows you to cut and re-flow PDFs in any way imaginable (I read a lot of math papers and books with formulas). It also supports hyperlinks within PDF, although the native app is missing the button/gesture to return back after the hyperlink jump (or at least I could not find it). The OS is open, so I managed to install FBReader, Calibre Companion, ReadEra, KOReader and even able to install Ivona TTS voices (now can read text books with no internet connection and normal TTS voice). Some other apps like bVNC server can also be installed. Now I'm working on the possibility to use it as a wacom tablet for performing highlights during online presentations (see https://askubuntu.com/questions/1160...ablet-on-linux). If anybody knows how to jump back from the hyperlink in the native reading app, let me know please! Also I was not able to figure out how to employ the side button on the accompanied wacom pen. Perhaps there is a way to assign some function to it ..?

My big question is wondering if there is any support or updates at all? I'm interted especially at the price I've found but is it just going to become useless in a couple of years/months?

[d314]

Originally Posted by Warchild

My big question is wondering if there is any support or updates at all? I'm interted especially at the price I've found but is it just going to become useless in a couple of years/months?

So far (6 months) I saw one update. I would guess that updates are not gonna be frequent, but with the present usability level I don't think that it is an issue (I own Kindle touch 5 and its running great without any updates). The upstream seems to switch to Android 11. I personally hope that at some point the jailbreak is gonna be possible, so some minor patches (like the one I mentioned regarding the back button) can be made without the need to involve manufacturer

[Toodu]

They said in Facebook that last few for P10W: https://www.facebook.com/BoyueLikebook/photos/a.1989477791282812/3305259453037966/

[Toodu]

Price of P10W (wacom version)is very good on 10 inch size, especially if you prefer wacom. The native reading app support fast responsive feeling reading.I got one before, satisfy and I have used for almost half year.

[atl068]

Originally Posted by Warchild

My big question is wondering if there is any support or updates at all? I'm interted especially at the price I've found but is it just going to become useless in a couple of years/months?

Frankly, if the current firmware is reasonable, it won't become a paperweight. Sharing my experience... I invested in an Onyx Boox m96 back in 2014. I changed the batteries 1.5 years ago. It was useless for many years with so many bugs etc. But thankfully, the final ROM from Onyx Book in 2018 fixed many bugs, though some remains. It was usable with no unexpected resets and hang ups. I recently used it again to read journals and it works great in landscape, with zoom to fit the margins. Yesterday, I started using the Notetaking feature as I have set it up to sync to my network drive. Sadly the firmware doesn't do export to pdf, but only to PNG files. But that can be fixed on the desktop/computer easily. The experience using it as a notetaker was great! (Bought a big pen for it). So, an Android 4.0.4 device without updates since early 2018 is still useful (for ereading and notetaking) as long as the final firmware is good enough. I do hope Boyue update to Android 11 though.

As an update, I didn't end up buying the p10w. The above m96 works well enough! (No backlight is probably the biggest issue). I did however, buy a Think book Plus (Gen 1) that has an 10.8" eink screen in the front cover... for an experiment in dual screen and if it fits into my workflow. The price i got it for was decent (almost same price of equivalent laptops without eink), brand new so I didn't spend to get the Gen 2 (12" eink) that costs over twice as much.