{"id":3272,"date":"2021-06-05T03:10:46","date_gmt":"2021-06-05T03:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamez.it\/blog\/?p=3272"},"modified":"2021-06-05T18:01:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T18:01:28","slug":"brief-experience-onyx-boox-nova-3-color-ereader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/2021\/06\/05\/brief-experience-onyx-boox-nova-3-color-ereader\/","title":{"rendered":"My brief experience with the ONYX BOOX Nova 3 Color eReader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamez.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7f4784e9-ad71-4f06-81cd-32487423cdf8.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jamez.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7f4784e9-ad71-4f06-81cd-32487423cdf8.jpeg\" alt=\"ONYX BOOX Nova 3 Color eReader\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7f4784e9-ad71-4f06-81cd-32487423cdf8.jpeg 1080w, https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7f4784e9-ad71-4f06-81cd-32487423cdf8-190x300.jpeg 190w, https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7f4784e9-ad71-4f06-81cd-32487423cdf8-768x1212.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7f4784e9-ad71-4f06-81cd-32487423cdf8-649x1024.jpeg 649w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>tl;dr: I got myself a color ePaper reader and concluded after a month of usage that the tech ain&#8217;t ready.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A new desired feature has emerged in my perennial quest to find the perfect computing device: does it have an ePaper screen?<\/p>\n<p>ePaper screens offer one big advantage, they go easy on the power consumption, and two smaller ones: there are some (still disputed) health benefits that supposedly could derive from the lack of backlight; and there&#8217;s a particular tech-noir feeling that makes them look antiquated and hyper-modern at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>The holy grail is something with the refresh rate and color vibrancy of an LCD, but using an ePaper screen. That technology does not exist today.<\/p>\n<p>With these considerations in mind, I got my hands on an Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color, an Android tablet that uses the latest iteration of Kaleido tech for the display. I&#8217;ve used it every day for about a month and these are my findings.<\/p>\n<p>Pros:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The battery life is magnificent. I basically charged it only once a week and each week used it for a few hours every day.<\/li>\n<li>The CPU is fast enough for anything I threw at it.<\/li>\n<li>The screen size hits the perfect spot for me. Not too small, but still fitting my man-purse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The colors are dead. I know they are a lot better than the previous iteration, but I just can&#8217;t stand a mediocre contrast. Whites are dirty and blacks are washed out. Every other color suffers from the original sin of how Kaleido technology addresses the mix of b\/w and color.<\/li>\n<li>Ghosting is a huge problem. If you are using this device for work, you have to choose between a slow refresh rate (half a second or more) or accept the spirit of the previous screen onto your view. You can get used to that, or, if you are like me, you won&#8217;t.<\/li>\n<li>Blue back-light means that using the reader at night is basically as bad for my eyes as reading from my mini-laptop.<\/li>\n<li>The UI and settings provided by Onyx atop the standard Android experience are quirky. I know fans of the company love it, but I was very underwhelmed by the look and feel. The on-boarding is particularly bad since a ritualistic rain-dance is required to activate the Play store. The default behavior of the standby mode makes it turn\u00a0the device\u00a0completely off after just a few minutes of non-use, requiring a full reboot to get back to where you left it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I was dreaming of hacking code on this device from the park, using an external keyboard\u00a0in direct sunlight. Instead, I found myself impatiently trying to find a purpose for this gadget. When\u00a0the initial excitation wore off and realized that even as a bare reader it didn&#8217;t offer the contrast I needed, I just gave up and sold the device. What remains is the enthusiasm of the ePaper revolution that will be, and the joy of having\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamez.it\/blog\/2021\/03\/31\/case-wondered-whats-like-play-doom-color-epaper-display\/\">played DOOM<\/a> on a color ePaper screen. I&#8217;ll try again with the next generation.<\/p>\n<p>P.S.<\/p>\n<p>If you do go and buy this device, stay away from Good e-Reader. My experience with them was appalling and not worth a second try. They are definitely taking advantage of the quasi-monopoly they have built for themselves in\u00a0that space, thanks to their good product-reviews and videos. Just remember to shop elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got myself a color ePaper reader and concluded after a month of usage that the tech ain&#8217;t ready. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"understrap-read-more-link button button-black\" href=\"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/2021\/06\/05\/brief-experience-onyx-boox-nova-3-color-ereader\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[100,18,78],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3272"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3278,"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272\/revisions\/3278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamez.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}