Returned Onxy N96

[billsmith008]

I wanted to really love this device...had such high hopes but the technology to me is not there yet.

Did hours of research comparing all the models and the sizes.

1) As a web browser not even worth the time to try to surf. As a novelty its ok as in pretending it's 2008 or so??

2) As a PDF reader it's "OK." It works in the most basic sense of the word. If you have as many pdfs as I do the Onxy N96 does not let you put groups of similar pdfs into folders. So they're all lose in the main library. Many pdfs it couldn't open. One of my huge book scans has over 30 separate pdfs that are sections of the chapters of the book. So having these lose in the library was a deal breaker. Speed of brining up the pdfs was too slow also. The editing ability was primative compared to GoodREader in my opnion. It was like taking a step back in time. The value of the e-ink just couldn't out weigh this.

3) Would have loved to use this as a digital notebook. But the apps that were useful were painfully slow and buggy. Kept crashing. The lag on the pen drove me nuts. The app that came with the device worked pretty good and the lag was not bad...but to take many hand writen notes was like using a 1990s device. The ipad now you can so many more things including convert handwriting to text and other really cool things.

4) In the end went back to my iPad/tablet. It just works better. GoodReader app just blows all the hassle with the N96 away. Easy to edit and copy and paste and see folders and trasfer and sync from laptop to device. FAST! Lag is much less with the pen. If I went for the ipad pro I think the pen would have zero lag and much much much faster. Over all a better experience. Even though I miss the e-ink the other aspect of the equation is far too great.

5) After reading how fragile the thing is I was afraid of dropping it or having it too lose in my backpack. The ipad I've tossed around for years a good bit and it's still doing fine.

6) The end balance was weighing the high price of the device compared with the abilities of the thing. The best comparision of technologies I have is using a Palm pilot back in the late 90s to then using the first iphone. Loved the Palm pilot back when it was the only game in town and made many work arounds for it to work but once something that really worked was around Palm was history.

7) When using my usual apps such as Toodledo, evernote, google calendar. It was too much for the N96. Evernote was semi useful but so slow and buggy...crash city. Toodledo didn't work but other apps that linked to Toodledo did work but not that great. It was again slow and the gradient of colors to grey scale made many columns not readable. Google calendar was "ok" but again a sacrifice in performance. All these app worked just "ok" and not even close to fast enough to use in a business setting. I still had to use my ipad for all meetings and especially finding information fast. Say I had to find a stat on one page in a pdf in a collection of 20 pdfs. I can do that on the ipad with ease. With the N96...NO way would that get done in any amount of time that's usable in a fast paced business setting. Even the ipad is too slow at times and need to use my laptop. Using the N96 at 1/2 usability eventually wore on me and I kept asking why am I using this thing if it takes 4x as long.

For many the N96 solves a problem but for me the problems it creates far outweighted the usefulness.

[lensmann]

Thank you for this review. I am considering a large screen ereader, and my use case seems similar to yours. Unfortunately, using a tablet is not an option for me. If it isn't too much of a problem, could you please explain in a bit more detail:

(a) why the reader didn't work for you as a web browser
(b) why you felt its PDF reading capabilities were poor - was it just the library management, or are there other issues?

Thank you!

[billsmith008]

Sure...read reply under each question...

(a) why the reader didn't work for you as a web browser

LOL...if you like surfing at legacy speed it's fine. Meaning I know some people like to boot up really old computers...say laptops from the 1990's and so forth. That's what it's like to surf the web with this ereader. You drag the scroll bar and it dithers the images then redraws the whole page. Crashes ever few webpages you surf...many sites can't even load. Takes time. When you scroll with a tablet it's instant. No lag. It's what the expereince should be in the year 2016. But if you don't mind waiting and if the e-reader experience trumps the wait then you'll love it. For me the e-ink did not trump going back in time to a 1990s using an under powered device. (if you remember back in the day if your ram was too low it would reek a hurt locker on your speed and refresh rate...that's what its like). I wanted to LOVE this device and if it was $250 to use just for a reading device...I would pay up.


(b) why you felt its PDF reading capabilities were poor - was it just the library management, or are there other issues?

Library mgmt was non existent. LOL Imagine throwing all your pdfs into a single folder. If you have 10 pdfs you'll be fine. But imagane you have multiple books over 20 chapters each...each pdf file represents one chapter. Doing searches for passages within a collection of pdf was terrible. So for instance say you need to find which pdf file among 100s has the blurb about "what vitamin to use when your blood test levels are xyz' On the ipad you can do that. You can do it several ways with the ipad. You open up evernote and search away. You can search the pdfs. With this device not happening. Or say you work in a busy office and you need to refer to several files at one time clicking and tapping on multiple pages and views at one time with people waiting who need the info NOW. LOL With the ereader it's too slow....not practiccal. Crashes like no body's business. hahah

AND i'll preface the above with...if all you're using this for is reading PFDs and having a quiet day to enjoy your books or to study from. And need to read for hours and hours for a class. This is the device for you. No rush. You can tap and wait and view your pdfs. (also the editing and annotation is not as good as GoodReader on the ipad.) It's great for quiet reading and studying. BUT if you're a power user and need info fast and call up multipe stats on the fly no way this is any way useful for you.

I think in about 5 years they'll having something good. Getting close.

[machinogodzilla]

I'm afraid your research was patchy at best. The limitations of e-ink displays such as refresh lag, ghosting etc. are widely known, as is the fact that any animations are a no-no for that reason, as is the fact that the screen is the sole reason behind the high price tag of ereaders as well as the modest hardware to keep the price in check.

So you bought a single-core 1GHz CPU powered device and now compare it to a dual-core 1.4GHz CPU with quad-core graphics iPad. LOL

If iPad fit your needs so well, why did you buy an ereader? I think what you really wanted was this ($25).

[franzli]

To be fair, one thing i would have hoped for in the n96 iterations would be a dual core imx6. One does notice how the device struggles even with searching larger pdf libraries. A bit of extra power might help to keep things responsive...

[franzli]

Sorry, i don't actually have the m96 just the t68, but it's got the same cpu

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by billsmith008

2) As a PDF reader it's "OK." It works in the most basic sense of the word. If you have as many pdfs as I do the Onxy N96 does not let you put groups of similar pdfs into folders. So they're all lose in the main library. Many pdfs it couldn't open. One of my huge book scans has over 30 separate pdfs that are sections of the chapters of the book. So having these lose in the library was a deal breaker. Speed of brining up the pdfs was too slow also. The editing ability was primative compared to GoodREader in my opnion. It was like taking a step back in time. The value of the e-ink just couldn't out weigh this.

You've expressed perfectly why I too stick with GoodReader on my iPad Air 2, Bill. I need the folder capability that GoodReader offers, and the ability to rapidly flip between documents using the tabbed interface when doing research work. Unfortunately eInk devices aren't up there with it yet. As soon as they get there, I'll happily switch to using one for PDFs. As things stand at the moment, though, for me it's eInk for novels, but my trusty iPad for PDFs.

[billsmith008]

machinogodzilla: I watched all the youtube reviews on eink and it looked doable. I wanted the eink because of eye strain. Even with the lag and flashing if they made a killer app to actually use and ORGANIZE and quickly access PDFs in a business environment it would have been very useful. They could have left out all the other extras and just focused on the primary use of people getting the larger ereader and it would have been a hands down winner. I was never planning to surf the web on the thing...that was bonus. App use was a bonus also. But the thing failed on everything besides leisure reading for fun with lots of time.

[machinogodzilla]

The problem is that I still don't know what it was you were after (the "business environment" could mean anything). Instead of learning the hard way you should've described your workflow or expectations and HarryT would have told you that it was unlikely to work.

I suppose, the simple advice for people like you, for whom reading books is not the primary reason for buying, would be don't, but you already know that

Alternatively do buy it just for reading nothing else and gently explore the extras it comes with including the possibility of installing any Android app (they may or may not work or look the part or be at all available) and perhaps you will find it useful for part of your workflow and if not, well, it still is a pretty cool ebook reader after all, keep it for that


P.S. One more thing 'business' users should keep in mind is the battery life. Ereaders have tiny battery because you are not expected to do much with them. For example, Nook HD+ had 6,000mAh battery, iPad has a whopping 11,500mAh, while N96 comes with just 3,000mAh, and M96 with a meagre 1,700mAh. So you get a lighter device as a bonus but don't expect to run around the office with it hooked up to wi-fi doing heavy processing for long.

Originally Posted by franzli

To be fair, one thing i would have hoped for in the n96 iterations would be a dual core imx6.

Apparently likely for the Max first but I would already see it as a great news.