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 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 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, 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 stop me from doomscrolling

I all the time discover it tough 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 would like. This is the reason I have been large 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 just a few weeks with Boox’s Go Colour 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 want to finish, and even Pocket-lint headline or story concepts. Because the Go Colour 7 is powered by Android, I can simply open up

Keep
and write down no matter I have to with out having to tug out my cellphone. The expertise is not precisely clean, even while you flip up the app’s refresh fee (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 Colour 7 work is you could’t comfortably use it as an E Ink Android pill (The Verge’s David Pierce had related ideas in regards to 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 shortly 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 uninterested in typing in your passwords manually and wish to set up

1Password
on the E Ink pill, similar to you’ll 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 wish to be utilizing once 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 comfy 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 of switching to a Kindle is as a result of I have already got a reasonably substantial library of Kobo books. Fortunately, making the bounce to Boox’s gadgets is straightforward should you’re

coming from Kobo land
. All I have to 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 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 actually well-liked 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 may actually make Boox’s Go 7 your personal

Excluding Kobo’s app for some cause, you’ll be able to 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 prime of that, every app’s refresh fee will be custom-made.

I’ve shortly 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 choice 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 too can change different settings like an app’s DPI and shade by long-pressing on its icon and choosing 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 while you swipe down on the show. You too can change the Residence Display to launch a number of completely different choices, together with your apps or settings. It is even attainable to vary what number of presses you have 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 Colour 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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