3 methods this Android E Ink pill outshines my Kobo

Boox is an fascinating 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 dimension and total design, the $250 pill is designed to compete straight 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 just a few issues I do not like in regards to the E Ink pill that I am going to cowl in an upcoming story, however it’s additionally stunned me in just a few methods, significantly with regard to how versatile it’s.

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Accessing Android apps is extra helpful than I anticipated

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

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

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

However after spending just a few weeks with Boox’s Go Shade 7, I perceive the enchantment. All through the day, I am going to usually take down Notes in Google Preserve, whether or not it is grocery lists, duties I would like to finish, and even Pocket-lint headline or story concepts. Because the 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 telephone. The expertise is not precisely clean, even once you flip up the app’s refresh charge (extra on this later), however it works and has me turning to my telephone rather less, which I admire.

This brings me to my subsequent level. A part of what makes the Boox Go Shade 7 work is which you can’t comfortably use it as an E Ink Android pill (The Verge’s David Pierce had comparable ideas in regards to 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’s refresh charge. 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 in the event you flip the app refresh charge up.

Perhaps you are uninterested in typing in your passwords manually and need to set up

1Password
on the E Ink pill, identical to you’d on a smartphone? You are able to do that too. There’s simply sufficient friction right here to stop me from diving into apps I do not need to be utilizing once I’m centered on studying, however the Boox Go Shade 7 remains to be succesful sufficient for easy duties like quick note-taking or listening to a podcast. This implies I am snug leaving the home with simply Boox’s Go Shade 7 if I need 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 soar to Boox’s units is easy in the event 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 (in fact, with the assistance of 1Password), and my library is there. I am even in a position to 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 widespread 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’ll be able to actually make Boox’s Go 7 your individual

Apart from Kobo’s app for some purpose, you possibly can customise precisely what you need the Boox Go Shade 7 two aspect buttons to do. That is one thing I’ve actually appreciated over the previous few weeks. On high of that, every app’s refresh charge will be custom-made.

I’ve shortly realized that the Kobo app does not want a quick refresh charge, but when I am utilizing Pocket Casts or Firefox, I’ve to show up the refresh charge 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’ll be able to then decide between Regular, Velocity, A2, and Regal. You can too change different settings like an app’s DPI and colour by long-pressing on its icon and deciding on Optimize.

Perhaps you need 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 be concerned, simply make it solely seem once you swipe down on the show. You can too change the Residence Display screen to launch a number of completely different choices, together with your apps or settings. It is even attainable to alter what number of presses it’s good to make on the display 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 a few of the key points I’ve skilled with the E Ink pill over the previous few weeks.

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