Inkbook vs Onyx Boox?

Elfwreck · 05-21-2017, 01:05 PM

Longtime e-ink user and former forum regular *waves hello at everyone*; I won't need help with the basics.

I'm looking for a new ereader; I've been using a Kobo Mini for a few years, and I'm not entirely happy with it but haven't seen anything that suits me better.

I loved my Pocket PEZ. Am very disappointed that there's nothing comparable on the market anymore. If I've missed something and there is, please let me know. (Button navigation. 5" screen. Support for non-DRM'd epub and mobi.)

I'm considering either an Inkbook or Onyx Boox - both are similarly-priced at Amazon (less than $150; some versions less than $100) and it's hard to sort out the actual differences from the advertising hype.

What I want:

E-ink
Support for epub (no Kindles)
Support for PDF, txt (preferred, and expected) (I'm fully aware how pathetic PDF support is for e-ink readers; I mean that it'll read ones I create myself with pages that fit);
Support for rtf, doc, docx, or html (not expected, but would be nice) (many readers claim to offer this, but what they mean is "it will show these as raw text, and sometimes cut off lines in the middle of words. No indents, no bold/italic support, no page breaks.")
Push-button page turning (not required, but preferred)
5" screen (yeah, not gonna happen-but definitely do not want larger than 6" screen)
Long battery life (nothing required to run in the background that eats more battery than standard e-ink usage)

What I don't care about:

Wifi
Glow/light/etc screen (never had one - might be nice to try, but not looking for it)
DRM support of any sort
Storage capacity (I want at least 2gb, so any modern reader has me covered)
Touch screen (prefer not, but I don't think I can get away from that anymore)
Music support; games
Connection to any kind of store

What I'm looking at:

Do the Boox ereaders offer anything that justifies the higher prices? Looks like an extra $30 gets the Onyx Boox Vasco de Gama which includes a light (might be nice), touchscreen, and wifi (both meh).

Given the features I care about, is there any reason not to go with the least expensive available?

Anyone know which has a better navigation system?

Fbone · 05-21-2017, 06:20 PM

What are your screen resolution preferences? The Mini has a higher res than the Classic 2.

church mouse · 05-22-2017, 01:51 AM

Any particular reason you have only listed Android ereaders?

There is nothing wrong with them (I use one) but they do not have anything like the battery life between charges of dedicated readers like Kindles and Kobos.

Inkbook readers do not have Google Play installed, but apps can be sideloaded (their own store is very limited).

The Carta2 is the only one you have listed with the current 300dpi screen.

Elfwreck · 05-22-2017, 11:32 AM

Screen resolution isn't a priority - I was content with 200 dpi when I had a 6" reader. Might be nice to keep the 300 dpi I'm now used to, but I'm not sure it's worth $70. I expected to miss the 5" screen more than I miss the resolution; I keep considering getting a Jetbook instead but I'm not quite willing to give up e-ink.

I hadn't even realized they were all Android based. I don't intend to add apps or connect to any stores, and I'm really not up to rooting, so OS is fairly unimportant for me. (With my Kobo mini, I had to turn on the wifi and create an account to authorize it at first; I did that, turned off the wifi, and haven't used the sync function since I acquired it a few years ago.)

Argh, lower battery life for Android? Why? Does that change if you only read books only it, never use apps or wifi?

I don't want a new Kobo; the navigation system is horrible. I've been tolerating it because it was the only 5" reader I could find when I bought it. It annoys me to no end that it doesn't have "jump to page" options, neither in the library listings nor inside books; there's a slider bar and it's impossible to go to a specific page. (Almost understandable inside the books; ridiculous in the library, where I often have to keep clicking past the first several pages to find the next one in the series.)

Don't want a Kindle because my entire library is epubs, and while Calibre can convert them, that's a whole lot of effort.

I'll be sideloading ebooks rather than downloading them, because I'm not dealing with DRM, and Smashwords doesn't have an app (eep is that really the last non-DRM ebook store that's not tied to a specific publisher?).

If either Boox or InkBook reads with "an app" instead of ebooks being the main, default function, that's a strong mark against it.

church mouse · 05-22-2017, 02:22 PM

@Elfwreck - Android simply seems heavier on batteries. With no wifi and minimal use of backlight you should be good for approaching 3 weeks (I used to get about 6 weeks life when I had the 5" Kobo).

The Boox and Inkbook readers have an integrated reading app, so you do not need to download a separate app if you do not wish to. For both, the UI is designed to make it easy to select and read a book

Since you use Calibre, an advantage of an Android reader may be the availability (for a small fee - but free demo version available) of the Calibre Companion (CC) app on Google Play Store. It provides good mimicking of your main Calibre library organisation. However, since Inkbook does not integrate Play Store, getting CC on there is not straightforward.

robko · 05-22-2017, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I don't want a new Kobo; the navigation system is horrible. I've been tolerating it because it was the only 5" reader I could find when I bought it. It annoys me to no end that it doesn't have "jump to page" options, neither in the library listings nor inside books; there's a slider bar and it's impossible to go to a specific page. (Almost understandable inside the books; ridiculous in the library, where I often have to keep clicking past the first several pages to find the next one in the series.)

FYI - if you tap the "Page x of xx" at the bottom of the screen in your library you should be able to jump to a specific page in your library. It may be that the Mini is on old enough firmware that this option isn't in it, but the newer firmware allows this.

davidfor · 05-22-2017, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robko

FYI - if you tap the "Page x of xx" at the bottom of the screen in your library you should be able to jump to a specific page in your library. It may be that the Mini is on old enough firmware that this option isn't in it, but the newer firmware allows this.

The released firmware for the Mini is 3.4.1. That will have the page jump in the library lists.

Elfwreck · 05-22-2017, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by church mouse

Since you use Calibre, an advantage of an Android reader may be the availability (for a small fee - but free demo version available) of the Calibre Companion (CC) app on Google Play Store. It provides good mimicking of your main Calibre library organisation. However, since Inkbook does not integrate Play Store, getting CC on there is not straightforward.

Not important. I use Calibre too much for conversion to want the library on a device - I do ebook conversions for other people, and combine short stories into single epubs, so my Calibre listing includes swarms of things I have no interest in reading.

More than happy to just drag-and-drop sideload. Haven't dealt with tagging or bookshelves; they both seem like potentially useful features that involve adding admin time to what's supposed to be my leisure activity.

Sounds like there's no major diffs between the Inkbook and Boox, from my perspective - there's one that has 300dpi, but if I don't care about that, the other features are minor.

JSWolf · 05-23-2017, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

The released firmware for the Mini is 3.4.1. That will have the page jump in the library lists.

Which affiliate gives the 3.4.1 firmware for the Mini? geek1011's The Kobo Firmware Downloader page says the latest firmware for the Mini is 3.19.5761

davidfor · 05-23-2017, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Which affiliate gives the 3.4.1 firmware for the Mini? geek1011's The Kobo Firmware Downloader page says the latest firmware for the Mini is 3.19.5761

According to that, only rakutenbooks gives 3.19.5761. FNAC, BOL and Kobo give 2.6.0 and the others that site tests give 3.4.1.

Elfwreck · 05-26-2017, 11:23 PM

It doesn't matter what the sites say; I haven't updated my Mini's firmware since I got it, sometime in 2014.

Might be worth updating to get specific-number page jumps, but I'm always worried about losing content in an update. Heard too many horror stories about updates that resulted in e-bricks.

(I know, not likely. But I have no idea what kind of weird error messages it'll throw at me for skipping the last several updates, and it's likely to be a hassle.)

Elfwreck · 06-01-2017, 11:19 AM

SHORT TL;DR SYNOPSIS: Inkbook Prime frozen during setup process. Sending it for a refund; will try again.

I bought an Inkbook Prime, because the Onyx Booxes sold at Amazon look sketchy (third-party seller, ships from China, seller has no sales history and only sells three items... nope nope nope), and the company page for Onyx sells through Ectaco, and the prices are higher. Decided that 300dpi is not worth an extra $80, which is what the current versions cost.

Plugged it in. Let it charge for a while. Sideloaded some ebooks onto it, about an hour after it showed up on the computer. Charged some more. An hour after the light switched from red to green-blink to off, I ejected it, unplugged it, and looked at the books.

Only saw a few titles because screen was full of "Download Android Update" notice. Did that. Connected to house wifi; started downloading.

After a while, I got the Android logo with a spinning star in his chest. No info about what this is or how long it takes.

Eventually hit restart. (I may have screwed up here. But there's no instructions on how to do firmware updates, and I've never had an Android device before.) Got dead Android logo. (Had to google for that. There is no documentation for this; the "quickstart guide" only talks about plug it in, here's where the buttons are; don't hit it hard or get it wet.)

Hit restart again (hold "on" button down for 5-10 seconds), and got the loading screen.

Put on charger overnight.

Wake up - still have loading screen. Can't find any way to do a "hard reboot." Attempted to hold On button with several of the side page-turn buttons; no difference.

Called Amazon tech support. Quickly established that I know a whole lot more about ereaders than he does. After a very friendly chat where he asked me to hold the "on button and the down button at the same time" with no results - he agreed to refund it.

I'll ship it back to them and order a new one. If that doesn't work, I'll probably try the Boox from the Ectaco store, which costs a bit more and doesn't come with Amazon's support.

Also, if the 2nd one doesn't work, I'll leave a one-star review with details at Amazon, explaining that it may have been a terrific device in the past, but it no longer works.

As it is, I'm planning on leaving a 3-star review after I get the new one up and running - the combination of "no detailed documentation" and "device's first screen when plugged in is Polish, and nowhere in the quickstart guide tells you how to fix that" (a right-swipe gets the language choice page - I pushed several buttons before I discovered that.)

Rbneader · 06-16-2017, 10:10 PM

That's really disappointing to hear. My inkbook Obsidian is a great ereader and I really like it. I don't remember if the startup screen was in Polish but I don't think so, and I didn't have any problems with setup.

Hope the next one works for you!

jviscosi · 08-16-2017, 06:18 PM

Probably too late to help the OP decide, but I have both an Inkbook Obsidian (which I used for about a year) and an Onyx Boox C67ML Carta2 (which I've been using for a couple of weeks). I use Moon Reader with both. Having compared them side by side, the Boox's Carta2 screen is much sharper than the Obsidian's, with clearer text and a less yellow/more white backlight with more even illumination. No doubt that's to be expected with a Carta2 vs. Carta screen.

However, I would say that the Obsidian has better hardware -- it seems sturdier, the page turn buttons have a nicer feel, and I like that its screen is flush with the case. Also, the Obsidian seems to be less buggy -- not that the Boox is crashing all the time or anything, but the Obsidian does a better job scrolling Moon Reader menus, the left side "swipe to change brightness" doesn't work on the Boox (even though it shows the brightness percentage changing), sometimes the Boox backlight doesn't wake up when the device does, that sort of thing. All fairly minor. On the other hand, the Boox doesn't suffer from the Obsidian's odd behavior of the hardware page turn buttons not working in Moon Reader the first time I use them after using the touch screen.

Anyway, the screen being the decisive factor, I'm probably going to stick with the Boox, at least until there's an Obsidian with a Carta2 screen (and I have the money to buy it) ...

05-21-2017, 01:05 PM	#1
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	Inkbook vs Onyx Boox? Longtime e-ink user and former forum regular waves hello at everyone; I won't need help with the basics. I'm looking for a new ereader; I've been using a Kobo Mini for a few years, and I'm not entirely happy with it but haven't seen anything that suits me better. I loved my Pocket PEZ. Am very disappointed that there's nothing comparable on the market anymore. If I've missed something and there is, please let me know. (Button navigation. 5" screen. Support for non-DRM'd epub and mobi.) I'm considering either an Inkbook or Onyx Boox - both are similarly-priced at Amazon (less than $150; some versions less than $100) and it's hard to sort out the actual differences from the advertising hype. What I want: E-ink Support for epub (no Kindles) Support for PDF, txt (preferred, and expected) (I'm fully aware how pathetic PDF support is for e-ink readers; I mean that it'll read ones I create myself with pages that fit); Support for rtf, doc, docx, or html (not expected, but would be nice) (many readers claim to offer this, but what they mean is "it will show these as raw text, and sometimes cut off lines in the middle of words. No indents, no bold/italic support, no page breaks.") Push-button page turning (not required, but preferred) 5" screen (yeah, not gonna happen-but definitely do not want larger than 6" screen) Long battery life (nothing required to run in the background that eats more battery than standard e-ink usage) What I don't care about: Wifi Glow/light/etc screen (never had one - might be nice to try, but not looking for it) DRM support of any sort Storage capacity (I want at least 2gb, so any modern reader has me covered) Touch screen (prefer not, but I don't think I can get away from that anymore) Music support; games Connection to any kind of store What I'm looking at: inkBOOK Classic 2: $80 inkBOOK Prime: $120 ONYX BOOX C67ML: $140 Onyx Boox C67ML Carta 2: $150 Onyx Boox Amundson: $150 Do the Boox ereaders offer anything that justifies the higher prices? Looks like an extra $30 gets the Onyx Boox Vasco de Gama which includes a light (might be nice), touchscreen, and wifi (both meh). Given the features I care about, is there any reason not to go with the least expensive available? Anyone know which has a better navigation system?

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05-21-2017, 06:20 PM	#2
Fbone Is that a sandwich? Posts: 8,189 Karma: 100500000 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	What are your screen resolution preferences? The Mini has a higher res than the Classic 2.

05-22-2017, 01:51 AM	#3
church mouse Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 5277078 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: UK Device: Kindle Voyage, Kobo Clara HD, Kobo H2O, Boox Poke 2	Any particular reason you have only listed Android ereaders? There is nothing wrong with them (I use one) but they do not have anything like the battery life between charges of dedicated readers like Kindles and Kobos. Inkbook readers do not have Google Play installed, but apps can be sideloaded (their own store is very limited). The Carta2 is the only one you have listed with the current 300dpi screen.

05-22-2017, 11:32 AM	#4
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	Screen resolution isn't a priority - I was content with 200 dpi when I had a 6" reader. Might be nice to keep the 300 dpi I'm now used to, but I'm not sure it's worth $70. I expected to miss the 5" screen more than I miss the resolution; I keep considering getting a Jetbook instead but I'm not quite willing to give up e-ink. I hadn't even realized they were all Android based. I don't intend to add apps or connect to any stores, and I'm really not up to rooting, so OS is fairly unimportant for me. (With my Kobo mini, I had to turn on the wifi and create an account to authorize it at first; I did that, turned off the wifi, and haven't used the sync function since I acquired it a few years ago.) Argh, lower battery life for Android? Why? Does that change if you only read books only it, never use apps or wifi? I don't want a new Kobo; the navigation system is horrible. I've been tolerating it because it was the only 5" reader I could find when I bought it. It annoys me to no end that it doesn't have "jump to page" options, neither in the library listings nor inside books; there's a slider bar and it's impossible to go to a specific page. (Almost understandable inside the books; ridiculous in the library, where I often have to keep clicking past the first several pages to find the next one in the series.) Don't want a Kindle because my entire library is epubs, and while Calibre can convert them, that's a whole lot of effort. I'll be sideloading ebooks rather than downloading them, because I'm not dealing with DRM, and Smashwords doesn't have an app (eep is that really the last non-DRM ebook store that's not tied to a specific publisher?). If either Boox or InkBook reads with "an app" instead of ebooks being the main, default function, that's a strong mark against it.

05-22-2017, 02:22 PM	#5
church mouse Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 5277078 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: UK Device: Kindle Voyage, Kobo Clara HD, Kobo H2O, Boox Poke 2	@Elfwreck - Android simply seems heavier on batteries. With no wifi and minimal use of backlight you should be good for approaching 3 weeks (I used to get about 6 weeks life when I had the 5" Kobo). The Boox and Inkbook readers have an integrated reading app, so you do not need to download a separate app if you do not wish to. For both, the UI is designed to make it easy to select and read a book Since you use Calibre, an advantage of an Android reader may be the availability (for a small fee - but free demo version available) of the Calibre Companion (CC) app on Google Play Store. It provides good mimicking of your main Calibre library organisation. However, since Inkbook does not integrate Play Store, getting CC on there is not straightforward.

05-26-2017, 11:23 PM	#11
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	It doesn't matter what the sites say; I haven't updated my Mini's firmware since I got it, sometime in 2014. Might be worth updating to get specific-number page jumps, but I'm always worried about losing content in an update. Heard too many horror stories about updates that resulted in e-bricks. (I know, not likely. But I have no idea what kind of weird error messages it'll throw at me for skipping the last several updates, and it's likely to be a hassle.)

06-01-2017, 11:19 AM	#12
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	SHORT TL;DR SYNOPSIS: Inkbook Prime frozen during setup process. Sending it for a refund; will try again. I bought an Inkbook Prime, because the Onyx Booxes sold at Amazon look sketchy (third-party seller, ships from China, seller has no sales history and only sells three items... nope nope nope), and the company page for Onyx sells through Ectaco, and the prices are higher. Decided that 300dpi is not worth an extra $80, which is what the current versions cost. Plugged it in. Let it charge for a while. Sideloaded some ebooks onto it, about an hour after it showed up on the computer. Charged some more. An hour after the light switched from red to green-blink to off, I ejected it, unplugged it, and looked at the books. Only saw a few titles because screen was full of "Download Android Update" notice. Did that. Connected to house wifi; started downloading. After a while, I got the Android logo with a spinning star in his chest. No info about what this is or how long it takes. Eventually hit restart. (I may have screwed up here. But there's no instructions on how to do firmware updates, and I've never had an Android device before.) Got dead Android logo. (Had to google for that. There is no documentation for this; the "quickstart guide" only talks about plug it in, here's where the buttons are; don't hit it hard or get it wet.) Hit restart again (hold "on" button down for 5-10 seconds), and got the loading screen. Put on charger overnight. Wake up - still have loading screen. Can't find any way to do a "hard reboot." Attempted to hold On button with several of the side page-turn buttons; no difference. Called Amazon tech support. Quickly established that I know a whole lot more about ereaders than he does. After a very friendly chat where he asked me to hold the "on button and the down button at the same time" with no results - he agreed to refund it. I'll ship it back to them and order a new one. If that doesn't work, I'll probably try the Boox from the Ectaco store, which costs a bit more and doesn't come with Amazon's support. Also, if the 2nd one doesn't work, I'll leave a one-star review with details at Amazon, explaining that it may have been a terrific device in the past, but it no longer works. As it is, I'm planning on leaving a 3-star review after I get the new one up and running - the combination of "no detailed documentation" and "device's first screen when plugged in is Polish, and nowhere in the quickstart guide tells you how to fix that" (a right-swipe gets the language choice page - I pushed several buttons before I discovered that.)

06-16-2017, 10:10 PM	#13
Rbneader Fanatic Posts: 500 Karma: 2661351 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: None	That's really disappointing to hear. My inkbook Obsidian is a great ereader and I really like it. I don't remember if the startup screen was in Polish but I don't think so, and I didn't have any problems with setup. Hope the next one works for you!

08-16-2017, 06:18 PM	#14
jviscosi Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 2563362 Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: California Device: Inkbook Focus, Nook Glowlight 4/4+, Inkbook Obsidian, Kindle Keyboard	Probably too late to help the OP decide, but I have both an Inkbook Obsidian (which I used for about a year) and an Onyx Boox C67ML Carta2 (which I've been using for a couple of weeks). I use Moon Reader with both. Having compared them side by side, the Boox's Carta2 screen is much sharper than the Obsidian's, with clearer text and a less yellow/more white backlight with more even illumination. No doubt that's to be expected with a Carta2 vs. Carta screen. However, I would say that the Obsidian has better hardware -- it seems sturdier, the page turn buttons have a nicer feel, and I like that its screen is flush with the case. Also, the Obsidian seems to be less buggy -- not that the Boox is crashing all the time or anything, but the Obsidian does a better job scrolling Moon Reader menus, the left side "swipe to change brightness" doesn't work on the Boox (even though it shows the brightness percentage changing), sometimes the Boox backlight doesn't wake up when the device does, that sort of thing. All fairly minor. On the other hand, the Boox doesn't suffer from the Obsidian's odd behavior of the hardware page turn buttons not working in Moon Reader the first time I use them after using the touch screen. Anyway, the screen being the decisive factor, I'm probably going to stick with the Boox, at least until there's an Obsidian with a Carta2 screen (and I have the money to buy it) ...