The Boox Go 7 Monochrome let me see life in black and white

Right here within the US, the e-reader is sort of synonymous with Amazon’s Kindle. After I first acquired into e-reading a number of years in the past, I did not even contemplate that there have been e-readers past the Kindle, as everybody I knew personally with a studying system had one in every of Amazon’s ubiquitous little tablets.

I used to be hesitant to step out of Amazon’s ecosystem, however the Boox Go 7 Monochrome challenged me to strive one thing new with the promise of an e-reader that might do more than just open books. Powered by Android, this little beast can obtain any app, making it potential not solely to learn and take notes, but in addition to browse the net, play video games, take heed to music, and do just about the whole lot that you’d do on a normal pill, simply in black and white with an E-ink display.

The liberty this gave me at first was a bit overwhelming, however as soon as I acquired into the groove with this system, I used to be pleasantly stunned by all it might do.

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Worth, availability, and specs

Extra horsepower than your common e-reader

The Boox Go 7 has a vibrant, lovely 300 ppi (pixels per inch) e-ink show that renders textual content sharply and cleanly on the system’s petite 7-inch show. And because of the system’s onboard octa-core processor with 4 GB reminiscence, looking the web or utilizing apps like Spotify is a breeze. With default sleep and energy settings, the system’s battery is pretty spectacular; I charged the system to 100% as quickly as I obtained it and after two weeks of heavy utilization I am nonetheless working off that preliminary cost, although I might want to plug in quickly.

The system is on the smaller facet, measuring 6.1 x 5.4 x 0.25-inches (56 x 137 x 6.4mm) and weighing 6.8oz (195g), making it solely simply barely greater and heavier than a normal Kindle. It has a big bezel on the precise facet with two buttons that can be utilized for web page turning when you’re studying, adjusting the quantity whereas listening to music, and even scrolling a social media feed. Although the built-in audio system do not precisely ship the very best high quality sound, they work effectively for listening to music or podcasts when you’re studying, and for those who want one thing a bit extra high-quality, the system does have Bluetooth help, so you may simply join your wi-fi earbuds.

The bottom Boox Go 7 is reasonably priced at $220 straight from Boox. This makes it a bit dearer than a Kindle Paperwhite, however it does include much more options. The mannequin I examined out additionally included a case and an InkSense Stylus, which bumps the value as much as $287. And whereas that does seem to be quite a bit, it is lower than the Kindle Scribe, which retails for $400.

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What I preferred in regards to the Boox Go 7 Monochrome

A flexible little system

Should you’ve at all times wished that your e-reader might perform a little extra than simply learn books, that is hands-down the system for you. The Boox Go 7 Monochrome can principally do the whole lot your commonplace Android pill can do, simply with an E-ink black and white show. After I first began testing the system, I used to be actually a bit overwhelmed by the probabilities. In spite of everything, I used to be largely planning on utilizing the system to learn. What else would I even do with an E Ink pill?

Nonetheless, I shortly answered my very own query after downloading the assorted library and studying apps I’ve entry to, shortly making myself a bit studying oasis on this system that did not require me to obtain and sync books through my cellphone or use third-party instruments to get the content material I needed. I might merely obtain the app I wanted, and regardless of whether or not I needed to learn one thing on Hoopla, Libby, Kindle, or seize one thing instantly from an internet site like AO3, I might simply faucet the app I wanted and instantly begin studying. I had grow to be so used to going by additional steps to entry content material on a Kindle that I forgot such simplicity was even a risk.

I additionally discovered myself actually loving the Boox Go 7 Monochrome’s onboard notes app, which makes use of the Boox-branded InkSense Stylus to permit customers to attract and take notes on the fly, with little to no lag or ghosting from the E Ink show. Throughout my time with the Boox Go 7 Monochrome, I used to be deep in Blue Prince, a rogue-like online game that requires gamers to take notes to unravel puzzles. I had a blast utilizing the assorted templates within the app to attract diagrams, write down essential clues, and I discovered the interface to be very responsive, permitting me so as to add textual content the place I wanted to, circle essential knowledge, and mark issues like codes, puzzle solves, and merchandise mixtures with particular icons so I might refer again to them later with ease.

One other side of the Boox Go 7 Monochrome that got here in useful whereas I used to be enjoying Blue Prince was the onboard browser. I like to unravel puzzle video games alone, however with Blue Prince’s twisty timeline and big lore infodumps, I used to be getting actually confused as to how a few of the story parts within the recreation match collectively. Happily, GameRant has an awesome explainer that I used to be capable of simply boot up as soon as I reached the sport’s preliminary ending. I used to be very skeptical that the onboard browser could be all that helpful, however I discovered scrolling by textual content to be surprisingly easy, with most websites loading shortly with minimal ghosting due to the automated optimization settings within the onboard browser.

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What I did not like in regards to the Boox Go 7 Monochrome

A steep studying curve

As soon as I acquired a deal with on all I might do with the Boox Go 7 Monochrome, I needed to try to use the pill to its fullest extent, taking notes, enjoying video games, looking the Web, making to-do lists, I needed to do all of it on my useful new system. Nonetheless, I shortly bumped into an issue: settings.

Although every of the Boox Go 7 Monochrome’s onboard apps are completely calibrated to work with the system, third-party apps suffered from huge points proper off the bat, and I had to enter every app’s settings and calibrate the E Ink so it had acceptable refresh charges and minimal ghosting. I truly spent over an hour making an attempt to calibrate the Libby app, which has a page-turn animation that actually harm to take a look at with the default settings. Like with so many tech points, I discovered myself reaching out on Reddit to others experiencing these issues to try to get recommendation on the way to make the app usable, which does not really feel nice once you’re used to an e-reader simply working proper out of the field.

And sadly, this concern repeated itself with virtually each different third-party app I attempted to make use of on the system. Button performance additionally needs to be manually set, so even for those who’re in an app for studying, the Boox Go 7 Monochrome will not routinely know that, and you will have to set web page flip performance each time, for each app, which is an even bigger ache than I anticipated.

Although that is most likely the other of a nasty factor for individuals who crave management over their gadgets and revel in tinkering with settings, I need to admit I had a tough time optimizing my system for what I needed it to do, which led to some severe frustration on my half.

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Must you purchase the Boox Go 7 Monochrome

Should you crave management, personalization, and selection, that is your e-reader

I actually loved utilizing the Boox Go 7 Monochrome, and one thing so simple as having the ability to take heed to music whereas I learn a e-book or write a to-do listing actually helped open my eyes to the potential of E Ink tablets. It additionally helped me understand how closed off the Kindle collection of e-readers is, and what I had been lacking by staying in Amazon’s ecosystem for thus lengthy.

I would not say that the Boox Go 7 Monochrome presents readers an ideal expertise, as coping with a few of the extra technical points of the system left me annoyed, and I think I am not alone in that. Nonetheless, for those who do not thoughts placing some work in to not solely studying the way to use the system but in addition the way to optimize it on your personal wants, it is a nice little pill that provides stunning versatility for the value. It could not change your iPad, however your Kindle could have simply been placed on discover.

Decision

300ppi monochrome

Storage

64GB

Model

Boox

Display screen Dimension

7-inch

The Boox Go 7 Monochrome is an Android-powered E-ink pill that’s appropriate not just for studying, however for drawing, Web looking, listening to music and extra.

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