this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Seconded, i love my Boox. it just runs android (with tweaks for e-Ink) and you can install what you want from the play store, it's not locked down.
You can even install the Kindle app if you ever do want an Amazon ebook, works really well.
It's also nice for using apps of various newspapers.
Plus the ones with a stylus make for a great notebook.
I wouldn't recommend the color ones, it's nice for comics but the colors just aren't vivid and it's not there yet in terms of quality.
I have the first Boox Nova (color) and while it's true that the colors aren't vivid, it actually makes for a great comic book (and manga) reader. The color pallete in comics is generally limited anyways, plus the grainy low-DPI image reminds me of how comics used to look like back in the day. So ironically the limited display actually makes it a great fit for comics.
But of course, it's not ideal if you have want to read full-color high-res content like magazines and modern webcomics (you can, but the performance isn't really that great).
For me though, as a manga/comic reader, instead of the display, the most limiting thing I found was actually the RAM - after a long comic reading session it would run out of RAM, bringing the OS to a crawl, and forcing me to restart my apps. But it's not a huge issue, or maybe there's a memory leak in Tachiyomi. Regardless, I feel 3GB isn't enough for any large device these days.
Still, right now, this is the best "open" ereader that you can actually buy, that doesn't lock you into any subscription (like the reMarkable tablets) or proprietary apps.
Oh don't get wrong, it works fine for comics. the small screen and having to move around whole pages, and sometimes struggling to read small writing are issues (you can zoom but it's not very responsive) aren't great, but I've read many a comic. But if comics are the main use case, I'd probably go for a tablet still. If you get one for books solely, then the color one has less DPI and more ghosting, that's why I wouldn't recommend it.
And I don't use the color feature much outside of reading comics. I thought it might be nice for color diagrams for work, but it's a bit hard telling the colors apart when it's just thin lines.
But I'm super stoked for where the color e-ink technology is heading.
I mostly used the stock boox neo reader for comics and didn't have an issue with ram. Do you know how it compares to Tachiyomi?
I actually haven't tried the Boox reader app at all! Tachiyomi is more of a downloader+reader, you can add multiple source plugins and it can search for and download (scrape) books from various sources.
It does have a few handy features for smaller screens though, such as the ability to crop borders, so you may not need to zoom into the content, plus there are various fit/zoom/crop options which you can play around with. So, at least for the comics I read (and my screen size/eyes) + Tachiyomi I don't need to zoom around at all, so the form factor is very convenient.
Do you know if there are any issues using either the Marvel or DC apps? I read one review of a color eink tablet (forget which) and the review said sometimes controls didn't appear correctly for certain apps and now I'm paranoid about getting one (I was looking at boox) and worrying somehow the apps won't work. I don't have anything but that random review from some forum but it was enough to worry me.
Not sure about DC/Marvel apps sorry, I don't use them (I usually avoid apps which have a dependency on the Play Store). I use Comixology and Tachiyomi for my comics instead, and don't have any issues with either of them. That said, generally speaking apps that aren't optimized for e-readers can in fact behave a bit odd, but this is why Boox included a per-app optimization tool, thru which you can customize the DPI, background color, fonts, refresh type etc for each app. For instance, Comixology has a dark background by default which doesn't look nice on e-ink, so you can tweak it via Boox's tool to display a bright background instead (the comics themselves display properly).
Does it support a web browser? Cause I've also been considering ditching play-dependent apps and could theoretically just use their web site for comics.
Yep, it comes with a skinned version of Chrome. It's just standard Android without Google Play Services, and a custom launcher. So you're free to install any browser or a third party app/store. I use F-Droid and Aurora Store to install my apps. They do have their own app store as well, but it has a very limited selection of apps.
Awesome, thanks for the info!