Over the holidays I got to playing around with a couple of Android e-ink tablets. The Likebook Mars and Onyx Boox Nova Pro. Both pretty well reviewed in various places and mostly positive reviews. Here’s my take on the two I have currently.
Likebook Mars - about 8” plastic screen. Limited currently at Android 6 though there are rumors of an upcoming update to Android 8. For the approximate $200 cost it isn’t bad, but could be better IMO. It supports the Google Play Store though you have to ‘activate’ it because of some licensing issues. For whatever reason it won’t run the current version of the Nook reading app, you have to find and sideload a much older and very much less useful version.
It has a night setting and adjustment that changes the screen to something very orangey that’s supposedly is easier on the eyes for night reading. As with all Android e-ink devices, it is a bit sluggish with screen flashes as you change what is on the screen. It is just the nature of the e-ink beast.
Onyx Boox Nova Pro - a bit over $300 usually. It is also approximately an 8” screen, but it is a glass screen. It comes with a basic Wacom pen and can be used for note taking and so forth. That works pretty well. Again it supports the Google Play Store with a similar ‘activation’ process needed to be able to use it. Currently it is on Android 6x but the manufacturer has promised Android 9, and even has Android 9 on some of the models above the Nova Pro.
Performance is better than the Likebook Mars, but is still a bit laggy because of the way e-ink works. It also has a night mode, but in this case it allows for mixing the orange and white lighting for what I consider a more pleasing color.
Both of these, as well as almost all Android e-ink tablets are made by Chinese companies that are not very big. Support, other than updates, is sorely lacking with virtually all of them I’ve looked at. Essentially support comes from the selling company. Boyue, the mfg of the Likebook is said to have a fairly good site with some support stuff on it, but it is in Chinese and you have to dig around to even find it. For that reason alone, it is better to buy one to try from a seller with a good return policy as that is the primary solution to problems, especially hardware ones. If you have one that needs repair under warranty, they have to go to China to be fixed. Long turnarounds are common in that scenario.
The biggest issue for e-ink tablets is that there are few apps actually written with e-ink in mind and the bulk of Android apps really don’t work well on them because of the lack of e-ink awareness. Apps that present well on a LCD screen don’t necessarily look good at all on e-ink, even to the point of being unusable. IMO, think of e-ink as electronic paper with only a black pen. There has been work for years on color e-ink and some recent articles have come out that indicates there has been some success though it will probably be awhile before a commercial product becomes available. But even if it comes out the lag issue will be there.
For me the attraction is having one device to read ebooks on that can read them from multiple sources. DRM is alive and well in the ebook marketplace though there are some places that sell non-protected versions.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Likebook Mars - about 8” plastic screen. Limited currently at Android 6 though there are rumors of an upcoming update to Android 8. For the approximate $200 cost it isn’t bad, but could be better IMO. It supports the Google Play Store though you have to ‘activate’ it because of some licensing issues. For whatever reason it won’t run the current version of the Nook reading app, you have to find and sideload a much older and very much less useful version.
It has a night setting and adjustment that changes the screen to something very orangey that’s supposedly is easier on the eyes for night reading. As with all Android e-ink devices, it is a bit sluggish with screen flashes as you change what is on the screen. It is just the nature of the e-ink beast.
Onyx Boox Nova Pro - a bit over $300 usually. It is also approximately an 8” screen, but it is a glass screen. It comes with a basic Wacom pen and can be used for note taking and so forth. That works pretty well. Again it supports the Google Play Store with a similar ‘activation’ process needed to be able to use it. Currently it is on Android 6x but the manufacturer has promised Android 9, and even has Android 9 on some of the models above the Nova Pro.
Performance is better than the Likebook Mars, but is still a bit laggy because of the way e-ink works. It also has a night mode, but in this case it allows for mixing the orange and white lighting for what I consider a more pleasing color.
Both of these, as well as almost all Android e-ink tablets are made by Chinese companies that are not very big. Support, other than updates, is sorely lacking with virtually all of them I’ve looked at. Essentially support comes from the selling company. Boyue, the mfg of the Likebook is said to have a fairly good site with some support stuff on it, but it is in Chinese and you have to dig around to even find it. For that reason alone, it is better to buy one to try from a seller with a good return policy as that is the primary solution to problems, especially hardware ones. If you have one that needs repair under warranty, they have to go to China to be fixed. Long turnarounds are common in that scenario.
The biggest issue for e-ink tablets is that there are few apps actually written with e-ink in mind and the bulk of Android apps really don’t work well on them because of the lack of e-ink awareness. Apps that present well on a LCD screen don’t necessarily look good at all on e-ink, even to the point of being unusable. IMO, think of e-ink as electronic paper with only a black pen. There has been work for years on color e-ink and some recent articles have come out that indicates there has been some success though it will probably be awhile before a commercial product becomes available. But even if it comes out the lag issue will be there.
For me the attraction is having one device to read ebooks on that can read them from multiple sources. DRM is alive and well in the ebook marketplace though there are some places that sell non-protected versions.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
