Two-minute overview
All hail colour 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 kind that reveals any type of colour. Cue the Boox Nova 3 Color from Chinese language firm Onyx. Color is an extended overdue characteristic, however it comes with a couple of professionals and cons.
There’s much more to the Boox Nova 3 Color than 4,096 shades of colour. It’s bought an open Android 10 working system, it’s appropriate with a great deal of apps from the Google Play Retailer (together with Amazon's Kindle app), and it has an enviable means 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, strong battery life and pretty fluid efficiency, that makes this a flexible machine that is more succesful than most ereaders. It even has a speaker for taking part in podcasts and audiobooks.
That mentioned, the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is not with out its flaws. Whereas getting books onto it's simple - it doesn't matter what supply, retailer or file format you select - really studying them is not as nice here as on some rival units, corresponding to Amazon Kindles, because the display screen does not go as shiny as we would like and there is more ghosting than we have come to anticipate.
The colour E Ink used here can be removed from excellent, displaying in a disappointingly low decision, and with fewer colours used than you will discover on a pill.
Certainly, given the scale of its display screen, the Android working system, and using colour, the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color is sort of more a pill than an ereader - only one with longer battery life. However if you need a pill, the display screen here does 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 machine, for many who need to make heavy use of the included stylus, or who need a colour display screen that is not OLED or LCD. Or simply for early adopters who do not thoughts the compromises (and excessive worth) for a style of the ereading future.
For all of these individuals the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color comes beneficial, however for everybody else it is more likely to be a tough promote.
Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color worth and launch date
- Out now
- Prices $419.99 (round £340 / AU$585)
- Out there for consumers within the US, UK and Australia
Initially launched in March 2021, you'll be able to order the Boox Nova 3 Color on the retailer’s website now.
It prices $419.99 / €399,99, and whereas costs are in {dollars} (or euros if ordering from the European store), you'll be able to have it shipped to different areas too, with conversions coming in at round £340 / AU$585. It ships with a Wacom stylus within the field.
Design and show
- Appears more like a pill than an ereader
- Decision is disappointing when viewing colour
The principle distinction between the unique (and significantly more 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 affords 4,096 colours.
Nevertheless, that is first-gen stuff, since Kaleido Plus is actually a mono E Ink display screen with three colour filters. Consequently, for black and white it affords a 1404 x 1872 decision (300 dpi) whereas for colour 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 information onto its 32GB of inside storage. It additionally boasts dual-band 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.
There may be one other distinction between the 2 stablemates, and that’s with the entrance gentle. Whereas the unique affords heat and cool-colored LEDs in its entrance gentle, the Boox Nova 3 Color has solely a cool entrance gentle. Presumably that’s to forestall distorted colours, however it does take away a helpful choice 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). Although it weighs 35g lower than its pill rival and is considerably slimmer.
The Boox Nova 3 Color even appears to be like 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 aspect of the machine that sits barely happy with the curved again.
Studying and options
- Color is a helpful however not essentially game-changing addition
- The display screen is a bit dim and displays ghosting
- Web page turns are speedy
E-book covers look nice. So do comics. It’s additionally good to have the ability to take notes in colour. Good, however not precisely important. In actual fact, provided that E Ink doesn’t reproduce photographs all that properly, the introduction of colour to the digital paper expertise isn’t as momentous because it is likely to be.
However there’s one thing very slick concerning the Boox Nova 3 Color that’s solely improved upon by its splash of colour. If you wish to learn comics or magazines, that is the E Ink machine for you.
Nevertheless, there are three small points: brightness, decision and ghosting. Whereas the Kaleido Plus E Ink show is clearly colourful, it’s not blisteringly shiny. Definitely not as shiny because the Kindle Paperwhite. Although 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 pictures within the background.
E Ink shows all the time contain a steadiness of pace and refresh price flashes. Refresh settings embody Regular Mode (gradual refresh however no ghosting), Pace Mode (quick refresh and minimal ghosting), and A2 Mode (refresh charges so quick that video information imported or by way of the NeoBrowser web browser change into watchable, however there’s plenty of ghosting).
Elsewhere, web page turns whereas studying ebooks are fast and there are some helpful gestures, corresponding to a swipe as much as carry out a full display screen refresh. You too can tweak the font dimension, weight, main and every kind of different parameters to your coronary heart’s content material.
For those who're more into audiobooks, the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color does have one tiny, tinny speaker on the reverse aspect. No, you’re not going to need to play music by it, however you'll be able to drag and drop MP3s of podcasts or audiobooks (or obtain the Audible app) and hearken to voice-based fare completely properly.
Nevertheless, 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 program
- Typically clean efficiency
- Easy interface and broad file sort assist
- Potential to obtain 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 leading edge, however they don’t should be to usher in a fluid expertise that hardly ever hangs or freezes. Nevertheless, the Nova 3 Color does take some time to get up.
Its person interface is straightforward to know, simple to make use of and stuffed with surprising – and helpful – options. It’s divided down the backbone into Library, Retailer, Notes, Storage, Apps and Settings. The Library lets you learn and annotate any type of e book, however more uniquely it shows guide covers and illustrations in colour.
They’re an enchancment on mono, however not as shiny or as properly saturated as a full-blown pill. Ditto the Retailer, which is full of colorful-looking, free-to-download traditional titles.
The Notes app permits colour note-taking in 16 separate colours, with a small delay when swapping between them. The stylus works properly and shortly for those who persist with this home-baked app.
Simply as helpful is a scribbles-to-text mode that works properly 95% of the time. Storage divides the Boox Nova 3 Color’s contents into paperwork, pictures, music and so on. whereas Apps features a combination of home-baked applications and entry to the Google Play Retailer.
The power to obtain Dropbox, Evernote, Pocket and even Amazon’s Kindle or the Kobo app to the Boox Nova 3 Color does make it uniquely versatile when it comes to content material, as does its means to learn just about all file varieties. From EPUBs and MOBIs to PDFs and WAVs, it opened every part 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 totally different. Inside is a 3,150mAh battery that recharges by way of USB-C (a 1-meter USB-A to USB-C cable is offered within the field).
It’s rated to final for a few weeks with the machine in standby, which is about proper for an E Ink display screen, although how shortly it runs down will largely be all the way down to how usually Wi-Fi is switched on.
Must you purchase the Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color?
Purchase it if...
You need a colour E Ink display screen
The Boox Nova 3 Color is for many who need to keep away from LCD shows – particularly for the drained eyes they trigger – and nonetheless need some colour of their books, PDFs and comics.
You need to draw, annotate and take notes
The Boox Nova 3 Color is as a lot an enhancing and note-taking machine as anything. Behaving like paper in addition to wanting prefer it, it’s simple to sketch out notes and diagrams, although its 7.8-inch show will not be precisely ideally-sized for annotating PDFs and A4 paperwork.
You need to have the ability to get books from anyplace
With assist for many file varieties coupled with entry to the Google Play Retailer (that means you'll be able to load up the Kindle and Kobo apps), the Nova 3 Color makes it simple to obtain and browse books from anyplace and in every single place.
Don’t purchase it if...
You simply need 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 are proud of a pill
For those who do not particularly need an E Ink show then a pill may swimsuit you higher. They're brighter, sharper, show more 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 era of colour E Ink is not excellent, and neither is this machine. Coupled with a reasonably excessive worth, it is arduous to suggest to the typical purchaser.
First reviewed: August 2021
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