The Boox Go 7 Monochrome let me see life in black and white

Right here within the US, the e-reader is sort of synonymous with Amazon’s Kindle. Once I first acquired into e-reading a number of years in the past, I did not even take into account that there have been e-readers past the Kindle, as everybody I knew personally with a studying gadget had one in all Amazon’s ubiquitous little tablets.

I used to be hesitant to step out of Amazon’s ecosystem, however the Boox Go 7 Monochrome challenged me to strive one thing new with the promise of an e-reader that would do more than just open books. Powered by Android, this little beast can obtain any app, making it potential not solely to learn and take notes, but in addition to browse the online, play video games, take heed to music, and do just about every part that you’d do on a typical pill, simply in black and white with an E-ink display.

The liberty this gave me at first was just a little overwhelming, however as soon as I acquired into the groove with this gadget, I used to be pleasantly shocked by all it may do.

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Value, availability, and specs

Extra horsepower than your common e-reader

The Boox Go 7 has a shiny, stunning 300 ppi (pixels per inch) e-ink show that renders textual content sharply and cleanly on the gadget’s petite 7-inch show. And due to the gadget’s onboard octa-core processor with 4 GB reminiscence, searching the web or utilizing apps like Spotify is a breeze. With default sleep and energy settings, the gadget’s battery is pretty spectacular; I charged the gadget to 100% as quickly as I acquired it and after two weeks of heavy utilization I am nonetheless working off that preliminary cost, although I might want to plug in quickly.

The gadget is on the smaller facet, measuring 6.1 x 5.4 x 0.25-inches (56 x 137 x 6.4mm) and weighing 6.8oz (195g), making it solely simply barely larger and heavier than a typical Kindle. It has a big bezel on the correct facet with two buttons that can be utilized for web page turning when you’re studying, adjusting the amount whereas listening to music, and even scrolling a social media feed. Although the built-in audio system do not precisely ship the best high quality sound, they work properly for listening to music or podcasts when you’re studying, and if you happen to want one thing just a little extra high-quality, the gadget does have Bluetooth assist, so you possibly can simply join your wi-fi earbuds.

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What I appreciated concerning the Boox Go 7 Monochrome

A flexible little gadget

In case you’ve all the time wished that your e-reader may perform a little extra than simply learn books, that is hands-down the gadget for you. The Boox Go 7 Monochrome can mainly do every part your commonplace Android pill can do, simply with an E-ink black and white show. Once I first began testing the gadget, I used to be actually just a little overwhelmed by the chances. In any case, I used to be principally planning on utilizing the gadget to learn. What else would I even do with an E Ink pill?

Nevertheless, I shortly answered my very own query after downloading the assorted library and studying apps I’ve entry to, shortly making myself just a little studying oasis on this gadget that did not require me to obtain and sync books through my cellphone or use third-party instruments to get the content material I needed. I may merely obtain the app I wanted, and regardless of whether or not I needed to learn one thing on Hoopla, Libby, Kindle, or seize one thing immediately from an internet site like AO3, I may simply faucet the app I wanted and instantly begin studying. I had turn into so used to going by further steps to entry content material on a Kindle that I forgot such simplicity was even a risk.

I additionally discovered myself actually loving the Boox Go 7 Monochrome’s onboard notes app, which makes use of the Boox-branded InkSense Stylus to permit customers to attract and take notes on the fly, with little to no lag or ghosting from the E Ink show. Throughout my time with the Boox Go 7 Monochrome, I used to be deep in Blue Prince, a rogue-like online game that requires gamers to take notes to unravel puzzles. I had a blast utilizing the assorted templates within the app to attract diagrams, write down necessary clues, and I discovered the interface to be very responsive, permitting me so as to add textual content the place I wanted to, circle necessary knowledge, and mark issues like codes, puzzle solves, and merchandise combos with particular icons so I may refer again to them later with ease.

One other facet of the Boox Go 7 Monochrome that got here in useful whereas I used to be enjoying Blue Prince was the onboard browser. I like to unravel puzzle video games by myself, however with Blue Prince’s twisty timeline and large lore infodumps, I used to be getting actually confused as to how a number of the story components within the recreation match collectively. Luckily, GameRant has a terrific explainer that I used to be in a position to simply boot up as soon as I reached the sport’s preliminary ending. I used to be very skeptical that the onboard browser could be all that helpful, however I discovered scrolling by textual content to be surprisingly easy, with most websites loading shortly with minimal ghosting because of the automated optimization settings within the onboard browser.

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What I did not like concerning the Boox Go 7 Monochrome

A steep studying curve

As soon as I acquired a deal with on all I may do with the Boox Go 7 Monochrome, I needed to attempt to use the pill to its fullest extent, taking notes, enjoying video games, searching the Web, making to-do lists, I needed to do all of it on my useful new gadget. Nevertheless, I shortly bumped into an issue: settings.

Although every of the Boox Go 7 Monochrome’s onboard apps are completely calibrated to work with the gadget, third-party apps suffered from huge points proper off the bat, and I had to enter every app’s settings and calibrate the E Ink so it had acceptable refresh charges and minimal ghosting. I truly spent over an hour making an attempt to calibrate the Libby app, which has a page-turn animation that actually harm to have a look at with the default settings. Like with so many tech points, I discovered myself reaching out on Reddit to others experiencing these issues to attempt to get recommendation on easy methods to make the app usable, which does not really feel nice if you’re used to an e-reader simply working proper out of the field.

And sadly, this difficulty repeated itself with nearly each different third-party app I attempted to make use of on the gadget. Button performance additionally needs to be manually set, so even if you happen to’re in an app for studying, the Boox Go 7 Monochrome will not mechanically know that, and you will have to set web page flip performance each time, for each app, which is an even bigger ache than I anticipated.

Although that is in all probability the other of a foul factor for many who crave management over their gadgets and luxuriate in tinkering with settings, I have to admit I had a tough time optimizing my gadget for what I needed it to do, which led to some critical frustration on my half.

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Must you purchase the Boox Go 7 Monochrome

In case you crave management, personalization, and selection, that is your e-reader

I actually loved utilizing the Boox Go 7 Monochrome, and one thing so simple as having the ability to take heed to music whereas I learn a guide or write a to-do checklist actually helped open my eyes to the potential of E Ink tablets. It additionally helped me notice how closed off the Kindle sequence of e-readers is, and what I had been lacking by staying in Amazon’s ecosystem for thus lengthy.

I would not say that the Boox Go 7 Monochrome affords readers an ideal expertise, as coping with a number of the extra technical elements of the gadget left me annoyed, and I believe I am not alone in that. Nonetheless, if you happen to do not thoughts placing some work in to not solely studying easy methods to use the gadget but in addition easy methods to optimize it in your personal wants, this can be a nice little pill that gives stunning versatility for the worth. It might not exchange your iPad, however your Kindle could have simply been placed on discover.

Decision

300ppi monochrome

Storage

64GB

Model

Boox

Display screen Measurement

7-inch

The Boox Go 7 Monochrome is an Android-powered E-ink pill that’s appropriate not just for studying, however for drawing, Web searching, listening to music and extra.

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