Two-minute evaluation
All hail color E Ink! Its mono incarnation could have been popularized by the unique Kindle units, however Amazon is but to promote its icon of digital paper in a type that exhibits any form of color. Cue the Boox Nova 3 Color from Chinese firm Onyx. Color is a protracted overdue function, but it surely comes with a couple of execs and cons.
There’s much more to the Boox Nova 3 Color than 4,096 shades of color. It’s obtained an open Android 10 working system, it’s suitable with a great deal of apps from the Google Play Store (together with Amazon's Kindle app), and it has an enviable capability to open nearly any file. It additionally comes with a Wacom stylus for annotating, writing and sketching.
Coupled with a big 7.8-inch display screen, stable battery life and pretty fluid efficiency, that makes this a flexible system that is extra succesful than most ereaders. It even has a speaker for enjoying podcasts and audiobooks.
That stated, the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is not with out its flaws. While getting books onto it's straightforward - it doesn't matter what supply, retailer or file format you select - really studying them is not as nice right here as on some rival units, akin to Amazon Kindles, because the display screen would not go as brilliant as we would like and there is extra ghosting than we have come to anticipate.
The color E Ink used right here can also be removed from excellent, displaying in a disappointingly low decision, and with fewer colours used than you may discover on a pill.
Indeed, given the dimensions of its display screen, the Android working system, and using color, the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is nearly extra a pill than an ereader - only one with longer battery life. But if you would like a pill, the display screen right here would not actually reduce it, and if you wish to learn books, Amazon's choices are higher.
That leaves the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color as a distinct segment system, for many who wish to make heavy use of the included stylus, or who desire a color display screen that is not OLED or LCD. Or only for early adopters who do not thoughts the compromises (and excessive value) for a style of the ereading future.
For all of these individuals the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color comes advisable, however for everybody else it is prone to be a tough promote.
Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color value and launch date
- Out now
- Costs $419.99 (round £340 / AU$585)
- Available for patrons in the US, UK and Australia
Initially launched in March 2021, you may order the Boox Nova 3 Color on the retailer’s web site now.
It prices $419.99 / €399,99, and whereas costs are in {dollars} (or euros if ordering from the European retailer), you may have it shipped to different areas too, with conversions coming in at round £340 / AU$585. It ships with a Wacom stylus in the field.
Design and show
- Looks extra like a pill than an ereader
- Resolution is disappointing when viewing color
The essential distinction between the unique (and significantly extra inexpensive) Boox Nova 3 and this new Boox Nova 3 Color is, after all, its show. The Boox Nova 3 Color sports activities a 7.8-inch Kaleido Plus E Ink display screen, which provides 4,096 colours.
However, that is first-gen stuff, since Kaleido Plus is actually a mono E Ink display screen with three color filters. Consequently, for black and white it provides a 1404 x 1872 decision (300 dpi) whereas for color it’s simply 468 x 624 decision (100 dpi).
That panel is a touchscreen, with the Boox Nova 3 Color’s field containing a Wacom stylus, in addition to a USB-C cable for recharging and for transferring recordsdata onto its 32GB of inner storage. It additionally boasts dual-band 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.
There is one other distinction between the 2 stablemates, and that’s with the entrance gentle. While the unique provides heat and cool-colored LEDs in its entrance gentle, the Boox Nova 3 Color has solely a cool entrance gentle. Presumably that’s to stop distorted colours, but it surely does take away a helpful possibility when studying an e-book.
Measuring 197 x 137 x 7.7mm and weighing 265g, it’s considerably bigger than the current 6-inch Amazon Kindle Paperwhite – which is just too small for annotating and writing – however is comparable in dimension to the iPad mini (2019). Though it weighs 35g lower than its pill rival and is considerably slimmer.
The Boox Nova 3 Color even seems like a pill, with a bezel round its show that’s 14mm on the prime and 8mm on the sides. There’s a bodily ‘home’ button on the backside of the display screen, and a USB-C slot on the facet of the system that sits barely pleased with the curved again.
Reading and options
- Color is a helpful however not essentially game-changing addition
- The display screen is a bit dim and reveals ghosting
- Page turns are speedy
Book covers look nice. So do comics. It’s additionally good to have the ability to take notes in color. Nice, however not precisely important. In reality, on condition that E Ink doesn’t reproduce photographs all that effectively, the introduction of color to the digital paper expertise isn’t as momentous because it is perhaps.
But there’s one thing very slick in regards to the Boox Nova 3 Color that’s solely improved upon by its splash of color. If you wish to learn comics or magazines, that is the E Ink system for you.
However, there are three small points: brightness, decision and ghosting. While the Kaleido Plus E Ink show is clearly colourful, it’s not blisteringly brilliant. Certainly not as brilliant because the Kindle Paperwhite. Though that in all probability will not make a lot distinction to most readers when utilizing the Boox Nova 3 Color indoors.
More noticeable when in comparison with a Kindle Paperwhite is the slight lack of readability and a hint of ghosting photographs in the background.
E Ink shows at all times contain a stability of pace and refresh price flashes. Refresh settings embody Normal Mode (gradual refresh however no ghosting), Speed Mode (quick refresh and minimal ghosting), and A2 Mode (refresh charges so quick that video recordsdata imported or through the NeoBrowser web browser develop into watchable, however there’s plenty of ghosting).
Elsewhere, web page turns whereas studying ebooks are fast and there are some helpful gestures, akin to a swipe as much as carry out a full display screen refresh. You may tweak the font dimension, weight, main and all types of different parameters to your coronary heart’s content material.
If you are extra into audiobooks, the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color does have one tiny, tinny speaker on the reverse facet. No, you’re not going to wish to play music by means of it, however you may drag and drop MP3s of podcasts or audiobooks (or download the Audible app) and hearken to voice-based fare completely effectively.
However, if you wish to hearken to music you’d do higher to connect a pair of USB-C earphones to the Boox Nova 3 Color (there’s no devoted 3.5mm jack).
Software
- Generally clean efficiency
- Simple interface and vast file kind assist
- Ability to download apps - together with Kindle and Kobo
The Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color’s octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset and 3GB of RAM aren’t precisely innovative, however they don’t must be to usher in a fluid expertise that not often hangs or freezes. However, the Nova 3 Color does take some time to get up.
Its person interface is easy to grasp, straightforward to make use of and stuffed with sudden – and helpful – options. It’s divided down the backbone into Library, Store, Notes, Storage, Apps and Settings. The Library permits you to learn and annotate any form of e-book, however extra uniquely it shows e book covers and illustrations in color.
They’re an enchancment on mono, however not as brilliant or as effectively saturated as a full-blown pill. Ditto the Store, which is filled with colorful-looking, free-to-download basic titles.
The Notes app permits color note-taking in 16 separate colours, with a small delay when swapping between them. The stylus works effectively and rapidly when you stick with this home-baked app.
Just as helpful is a scribbles-to-text mode that works effectively 95% of the time. Storage divides the Boox Nova 3 Color’s contents into paperwork, photographs, music and so on. whereas Apps features a combination of home-baked applications and entry to the Google Play Store.
The capability to download Dropbox, Evernote, Pocket and even Amazon’s Kindle or the Kobo app to the Boox Nova 3 Color does make it uniquely versatile in phrases of content material, as does its capability to learn just about all file sorts. From EPUBs and MOBIs to PDFs and WAVs, it opened every little thing we threw at it.
Battery life
- 3,150mAh battery
- Lasts round two weeks in standby
Most ereaders have lengthy battery life and the Boox Nova 3 Color isn't any completely different. Inside is a 3,150mAh battery that recharges through USB-C (a 1-meter USB-A to USB-C cable is supplied in the field).
It’s rated to final for a few weeks with the system in standby, which is about proper for an E Ink display screen, although how rapidly it runs down will in massive half be right down to how usually Wi-Fi is switched on.
Should you purchase the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color?
Buy it if...
You desire a color E Ink display screen
The Boox Nova 3 Color is for many who wish to keep away from LCD shows – particularly for the drained eyes they trigger – and nonetheless need some color in their books, PDFs and comics.
You wish to draw, annotate and take notes
The Boox Nova 3 Color is as a lot an modifying and note-taking system as the rest. Behaving like paper in addition to wanting prefer it, it’s straightforward to sketch out notes and diagrams, although its 7.8-inch show isn't precisely ideally-sized for annotating PDFs and A4 paperwork.
You need to have the ability to get books from wherever
With assist for many file sorts coupled with entry to the Google Play Store (that means you may load up the Kindle and Kobo apps), the Nova 3 Color makes it straightforward to download and browse books from wherever and all over the place.
Don’t purchase it if...
You simply wish to learn books
Color is not a lot current in most books, and with its dim show and ghosting the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is not pretty much as good for black and white content material as most rival ereaders.
You're pleased with a pill
If you do not particularly need an E Ink show then a pill may swimsuit you higher. They're brighter, sharper, show extra colours, and could be cheaper too.
You’re not an early adopter
The Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is a flexible and in some methods spectacular ereader, however this primary technology of color E Ink is not excellent, and neither is this system. Coupled with a reasonably excessive value, it is arduous to advocate to the typical purchaser.
First reviewed: August 2021
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