3 methods this Android E Ink pill outshines my Kobo

Boox is an attention-grabbing firm. The China-based E Ink system maker sells so many products that it is troublesome to determine what one is best for you. There’s the tiny, phone-like

Palma 2
, the expensive, stylus-equipped Note Max, after which the extra e-reader-like Go collection, together with the Go Shade 7 (and shortly, the Go Shade 7 Gen II).

Given the Boox Go 7’s 7-inch colour display screen dimension and total design, the $250 pill is designed to compete immediately with e-readers like

Kindle’s Colorsoft
and

Kobo’s Libra Color
. Whereas I am nonetheless loyal to my Libra Shade as a result of I admire its single-use simplicity, over the previous few weeks I’ve jumped into Boox’s versatile, Android-powered E Ink world.

There are fairly a number of issues I do not like concerning the E Ink pill that I am going to cowl in an upcoming story, however it’s additionally shocked me in a number of methods, notably with regard to how versatile it’s.

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Gaining access to Android apps is extra helpful than I anticipated

There’s nonetheless simply sufficient friction to forestall me from doomscrolling

I at all times discover it troublesome to focus on studying longer-form content material on my smartphone, pill, or laptop computer. The siren music of the endless doomscroll or a random

YouTube
video at all times calls out to me, and I discover myself ditching no matter I am studying much more shortly than I might like. For this reason I have been massive on single-use e-readers just like the Kobo Libra Color. Regardless of their limitations, they hold me targeted and, in flip, truly studying.

However after spending a number of weeks with Boox’s Go Shade 7, I perceive the enchantment. All through the day, I am going to typically take down Notes in Google Maintain, whether or not it is grocery lists, duties I would like to finish, and even Pocket-lint headline or story concepts. For the reason that Go Shade 7 is powered by Android, I can simply open up

Keep
and write down no matter I must with out having to drag out my cellphone. The expertise is not precisely clean, even if you flip up the app’s refresh price (extra on this later), however it works and has me turning to my cellphone rather less, which I admire.

This brings me to my subsequent level. A part of what makes the Boox Go Shade 7 work is that you could’t comfortably use it as an E Ink Android pill (The Verge’s David Pierce had comparable ideas concerning the Palma). Social media apps are a laggy mess and YouTube movies look terrible on the Go Shade 7 E Ink show, no matter how excessive you flip up the display screen’s refresh price. However a podcast on Spotify or Pocket Casts, or launching Firefox to shortly look one thing up? Boox’s Go Shade 7 can simply deal with these duties when you flip the app refresh price up.

Perhaps you are bored with typing in your passwords manually and wish to set up

1Password
on the E Ink pill, identical to you’ll on a smartphone? You are able to do that too. There’s simply sufficient friction right here to forestall me from diving into apps I do not wish to be utilizing after I’m targeted on studying, however the Boox Go Shade 7 continues to be succesful sufficient for easy duties like brief note-taking or listening to a podcast. This implies I am snug leaving the home with simply Boox’s Go Shade 7 if I wish to do some phone-free studying at a close-by park.

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Accessing my library of Kobo books was simpler than I anticipated

Simply obtain the app and also you’re in

sw

One of many causes I’ve by no means thought of switching to a Kindle is as a result of I have already got a reasonably substantial library of Kobo books. Fortunately, making the leap to Boox’s gadgets is easy when you’re

coming from Kobo land
. All I must do is obtain the Kobo app from Google’s Play Retailer and signal into my account (after all, with the assistance of 1Password), and my library is there. I am even capable of pick-up books the place I left off on my Palma 2, or Kobo Libra Shade, making the studying expertise that rather more seamless.

This additionally makes putting in apps like Libby, which is often utilized by libraries, very straightforward, alongside Pocket (which you

can also use with a Kobo
), Google’s eBookstore, Moon+ (which is actually in style with Boox customers), and extra. The truth that the Boox Go Shade 7 runs Android opens up app compatibility that is a lot wider than e-readers from Kindle and Kobo.

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I’ve by no means used a E Ink pill that is this customizable

You may actually make Boox’s Go 7 your individual

Excluding Kobo’s app for some cause, you possibly can customise precisely what you need the Boox Go Shade 7 two facet buttons to do. That is one thing I’ve actually appreciated over the previous few weeks. On high of that, every app’s refresh price may be personalized.

I’ve shortly realized that the Kobo app does not want a quick refresh price, but when I am utilizing Pocket Casts or Firefox, I’ve to show up the refresh price significantly for the app to be usable. To do that, choose the three-line settings possibility beside the refresh button on the backside of the Go 7’s navigation menu. You may then choose between Regular, Velocity, A2, and Regal. You may also change different settings like an app’s DPI and colour by long-pressing on its icon and deciding on Optimize.

Perhaps you wish to change the system-wide font? You are able to do that within the settings. Maybe the usual

Android System Bar
is an eye-sore for you. Don’t fret, simply make it solely seem if you swipe down on the show. You may also change the Dwelling Display screen to launch a number of totally different choices, together with your apps or settings. It is even doable to alter what number of presses it is advisable to make on the display screen earlier than it does a full-system E Ink show refresh (the default is 10).

I am going to have extra on Boox’s Go Shade 7 quickly, together with among the key points I’ve skilled with the E Ink pill over the previous few weeks.

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