3 methods this Android E Ink pill outshines my Kobo

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

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

Given the Boox Go 7’s 7-inch shade 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 Colour 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 concerning the E Ink pill that I am going to cowl in an upcoming story, nevertheless it’s additionally shocked me in just a few methods, significantly with regard to how versatile it’s.

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The tiny e-reader has a number of points, nevertheless it helped me overcome certainly one of mine and browse extra.

Getting 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 tough to focus on studying longer-form content material on my smartphone, pill, or laptop computer. The siren track 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 rapidly than I might like. This is the reason I have been huge on single-use e-readers just like the Kobo Libra Color. Regardless of their limitations, they maintain me targeted and, in flip, really studying.

However after spending just a few weeks with Boox’s Go Colour 7, I perceive the enchantment. All through the day, I am going to typically take down Notes in Google Preserve, whether or not it is grocery lists, duties I want to finish, and even Pocket-lint headline or story concepts. For the reason that Go Colour 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 once you flip up the app’s refresh fee (extra on this later), nevertheless 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 Colour 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 Colour 7 E Ink show, no matter how excessive you flip up the display screen’s refresh fee. However a podcast on Spotify or Pocket Casts, or launching Firefox to rapidly look one thing up? Boox’s Go Colour 7 can simply deal with these duties should you flip the app refresh fee 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’d 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 Colour 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 Colour 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-about switching to a Kindle is as a result of I have already got a fairly substantial library of Kobo books. Fortunately, making the leap to Boox’s units is straightforward should 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 Colour, 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 basically in style with Boox customers), and extra. The truth that the Boox Go Colour 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 possibly can 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 Colour 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 fee could be personalized.

I’ve rapidly discovered that the Kobo app would not want a quick refresh fee, but when I am utilizing Pocket Casts or Firefox, I’ve to show up the refresh fee 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 possibly can then choose between Regular, Velocity, A2, and Regal. You can too change different settings like an app’s DPI and shade 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 once you swipe down on the show. You can too change the House Display to launch a number of completely different choices, together with your apps or settings. It is even attainable to alter what number of presses you must 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 Colour 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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