April 4, 2010 at 22:30Onyx Boox 60 - book or tablet?
I present to you the Onyx Boox 60 device.
The creators position it as just an e-book, but after a few days of using it my
language doesn’t turn my hand to write it.
Why? Welcome to the review ...
So, I would call this book a multifunctional device, because It has several significant differences from a regular e-book.
Firstly, it has a built-in Wi-Fi module and a Web browser, secondly, a music player, thirdly, you can record something yourself, and a few more functions, which I will discuss in detail below.
Perhaps, the only thing related to the e-book is that this model has a high-quality E-Ink Vizplex screen with 8 gradations of gray color, based on eye-friendly electronic ink technology, which minus is probably only a long response. You can read more about technology on Wikipedia , and I will continue the story about the book.
You get a beautiful looking and pleasant to the touch matte black rectangular box in which the book is hidden.
All the inscriptions on the packaging are in Russian, which is especially pleasing.
The black box is white. But in it already:
Official website of the company: Onyx Boox
Cables and adapter are made in white, the cover is also white, but more about it later.
I especially liked the fact that the kit has everything that is needed to use the device, that is, you only need to buy a memory card, and even then, at first you can do without it, because 512 MB is built into Onyx. Well, since we are talking about the stuffing, then I present to your attention the technical characteristics:
And a little extra. information:
By the way, for fans of formats, Onyx Boox 60 can read even zip and PDF files, so there will be no problems with downloading. The only thing is you cannot rename the file. It sometimes gets in the way.
The photo shows that the book supports Adobe PDF.
As can be seen from these specifications, this is a workhorse on a good processor with the Internet with the main function of an electronic book.
It pleases those who love versatility, because here is miniUSB, and a slot for SD, MMC and 3.5mm cards for headphones.
This is an undeniable plus, because you don’t have to carry different wires with you for different devices.
Composite housing. Front - matte white plastic, pleasant to the touch, rough, so it does not slip out of the hands.
Szadi- metal + plastic. The plastic insert is removed by hand, under it is a “hole” Reset. In principle, it is convenient, because Often it is not necessary to restart it (during my use, I never had to do it at all), and Reset does not light up in sight. The metal part is the case itself and it contains all the technical stuffing.
The joystick of the electric book consists of 3 parts.
Outer ring - wide white and rough, buttons: Menu, next, previous, back. The meaning of the buttons is very clear (used to navigate the book, call up the menu and return).
The inner ring is thin silvery smooth, also consists of 4 buttons: up, down, left, right. It is used for scaling in the reading mode and navigating through the menu.
OK button - confirmation of selection.
Above the joystick is an LED that flashes blue when a book is loading or other capacious work of the book (for example, opening a file).
By the way, when charging, the OK button is lit with a soft blue light.
Oh yes, at the bottom there are sound volume switches for a music player. They are standard, but their presence brings pleasure.
There is also a power button at the end. 2sec press - turn on or standby. Long press to turn off.
Well, the last technical thing is the stylus. In principle, the most ordinary one, but if it is inserted into the socket, the touchscreen is turned off, which saves energy, and anyway, you won’t use the screen without a stylus (just like with an iPhone, you can use your finger). And also, with the stylus you can press the Reset button.
From technical outpourings and appearance I will pass directly to the most important function of this device - a book.
And I must say, he copes with this with a bang.
We turn on the book (it sounds funny, but it is)
The main menu looks like this. In principle, everything is visible in the photo. Standard functions:
Settings for displaying the main menu + additional settings and calling the player, but about it below.
The E-Ink display provides clear text that is easy to read. There are no extra icons or buttons on the screen. Only text and a small line at the bottom with the display of pages on which you can navigate through the text and call extra. settings.
As I said, almost all file formats are supported. Moreover, the book can give you texts of different languages up to Chinese and Japanese characters.
And also a very large number of fonts are available.
Plus, you can move not only back and forth, but also to a specific page. Although when you turn off the book, the place where you finished is saved. Yes, and bookmarks can be created.
These functions are available when you click on the menu button, or on the arrow in the lower left corner. Search, bookmark management, even coding change.
In principle, a standard e-book. Communication with her was a pleasure. Everything is very conveniently located, no need to go anywhere to find something. Everything is simple and affordable.
Yes, you can configure it yourself when the Boox 60 goes into standby mode or turns off. In standby mode, a beautiful picture will appear on the screen, like this:
In this device, you can write notes with a stylus. Like on modern communicators. Very comfortably. Sometimes it is necessary to write or sketch something, for example, on the road or at a meeting.
Moreover, there are several background patterns, for example for musicians. It seemed to me convenient, although it was somewhat unsuitable to draw notes in the subway.
As I wrote earlier, the book has a built-in browser. A simple but full-fledged browser.
And if there is a browser, then there is some kind of communication tool. In this tablet, this role is played by the Wi-Fi module.
Of course, you won’t download torrents here, and it will be difficult to watch the video on youtube (although Onyx supports Flash, I was surprised myself), it will come in handy in several cases:
Downloading books
Downloading music
Viewing and reading
Google sites :
Habr looks like this:
Naturally, everything You can scroll, enter text, click on links, etc. Only everything is in gray colors.
I was very surprised and pleased by this opportunity. You can listen to the player while reading books. The sound is quite decent, on the level, you can and should listen. Very convenient function, as If you have a large memory card, you can not carry an extra player with you. The player as well as the browser is very simple, but of high quality.
White velcro case. Great thing. Well, that is included in the kit. There is a pocket for inserting paper records. The only minor minus is that when you turn it on (as the button is from below), the device itself comes out from above, because there is no mount on top.
You can install a dictionary, additional pictures, even a Linux terminal in this book.
In general, I did not experiment with this, and you can read on the Official Forum if you want
The price of the device is 12.890 rubles. For a device of this level and quality it is a little expensive, but if you take into account the fact that it has many other functions besides an electronic book, and all the functions you need and come in handy in life, then this is quite an acceptable amount.
Average rating: 4+ out of 5.
Onyx Boox 60 is no longer an e-book, but also not a full-fledged tablet. All the functions that are now embedded in it perform perfectly. Before a full-fledged mini-computer, it remains to add a color screen. The device frees you from carrying books, a player, even to some extent - a communicator (for the Internet). Perhaps there is not enough GSM module, or at least bluetooth communication, but judging by the development and updates of the product, it will soon be there (read the forum).
The book was an incredible pleasure when working with it, so the impressions are only positive despite the insignificant minuses.
Well, here's the last collage =)
The creators position it as just an e-book, but after a few days of using it my
Why? Welcome to the review ...
So, I would call this book a multifunctional device, because It has several significant differences from a regular e-book.
Firstly, it has a built-in Wi-Fi module and a Web browser, secondly, a music player, thirdly, you can record something yourself, and a few more functions, which I will discuss in detail below.
Perhaps, the only thing related to the e-book is that this model has a high-quality E-Ink Vizplex screen with 8 gradations of gray color, based on eye-friendly electronic ink technology, which minus is probably only a long response. You can read more about technology on Wikipedia , and I will continue the story about the book.
You get a beautiful looking and pleasant to the touch matte black rectangular box in which the book is hidden.
All the inscriptions on the packaging are in Russian, which is especially pleasing.
The black box is white. But in it already:
- Onyx Boox 60 + stylus
- Instruction manual
- Warranty Card
- Case (Leather or leatherette)
- USB cable
- USB adapter - 220 ~ V
Official website of the company: Onyx Boox
Cables and adapter are made in white, the cover is also white, but more about it later.
I especially liked the fact that the kit has everything that is needed to use the device, that is, you only need to buy a memory card, and even then, at first you can do without it, because 512 MB is built into Onyx. Well, since we are talking about the stuffing, then I present to your attention the technical characteristics:
Technical features
And a little extra. information:
- RAM - 128MB
- Processor - 532MHz
- Radio Interfaces - WiFi: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
- Connectors - 3.5mm stereo headphone output, mini USB
- Operating temperature range - from 0 ° С to 50 ° С
By the way, for fans of formats, Onyx Boox 60 can read even zip and PDF files, so there will be no problems with downloading. The only thing is you cannot rename the file. It sometimes gets in the way.
The photo shows that the book supports Adobe PDF.
As can be seen from these specifications, this is a workhorse on a good processor with the Internet with the main function of an electronic book.
It pleases those who love versatility, because here is miniUSB, and a slot for SD, MMC and 3.5mm cards for headphones.
This is an undeniable plus, because you don’t have to carry different wires with you for different devices.
Appearance
Composite housing. Front - matte white plastic, pleasant to the touch, rough, so it does not slip out of the hands.
Szadi- metal + plastic. The plastic insert is removed by hand, under it is a “hole” Reset. In principle, it is convenient, because Often it is not necessary to restart it (during my use, I never had to do it at all), and Reset does not light up in sight. The metal part is the case itself and it contains all the technical stuffing.
The joystick of the electric book consists of 3 parts.
Outer ring - wide white and rough, buttons: Menu, next, previous, back. The meaning of the buttons is very clear (used to navigate the book, call up the menu and return).
The inner ring is thin silvery smooth, also consists of 4 buttons: up, down, left, right. It is used for scaling in the reading mode and navigating through the menu.
OK button - confirmation of selection.
Above the joystick is an LED that flashes blue when a book is loading or other capacious work of the book (for example, opening a file).
By the way, when charging, the OK button is lit with a soft blue light.
Oh yes, at the bottom there are sound volume switches for a music player. They are standard, but their presence brings pleasure.
There is also a power button at the end. 2sec press - turn on or standby. Long press to turn off.
Well, the last technical thing is the stylus. In principle, the most ordinary one, but if it is inserted into the socket, the touchscreen is turned off, which saves energy, and anyway, you won’t use the screen without a stylus (just like with an iPhone, you can use your finger). And also, with the stylus you can press the Reset button.
What was created for
From technical outpourings and appearance I will pass directly to the most important function of this device - a book.
And I must say, he copes with this with a bang.
We turn on the book (it sounds funny, but it is)
The main menu looks like this. In principle, everything is visible in the photo. Standard functions:
Settings for displaying the main menu + additional settings and calling the player, but about it below.
The E-Ink display provides clear text that is easy to read. There are no extra icons or buttons on the screen. Only text and a small line at the bottom with the display of pages on which you can navigate through the text and call extra. settings.
As I said, almost all file formats are supported. Moreover, the book can give you texts of different languages up to Chinese and Japanese characters.
And also a very large number of fonts are available.
Plus, you can move not only back and forth, but also to a specific page. Although when you turn off the book, the place where you finished is saved. Yes, and bookmarks can be created.
These functions are available when you click on the menu button, or on the arrow in the lower left corner. Search, bookmark management, even coding change.
In principle, a standard e-book. Communication with her was a pleasure. Everything is very conveniently located, no need to go anywhere to find something. Everything is simple and affordable.
Yes, you can configure it yourself when the Boox 60 goes into standby mode or turns off. In standby mode, a beautiful picture will appear on the screen, like this:
Extra features
Notes
In this device, you can write notes with a stylus. Like on modern communicators. Very comfortably. Sometimes it is necessary to write or sketch something, for example, on the road or at a meeting.
Moreover, there are several background patterns, for example for musicians. It seemed to me convenient, although it was somewhat unsuitable to draw notes in the subway.
the Internet
As I wrote earlier, the book has a built-in browser. A simple but full-fledged browser.
And if there is a browser, then there is some kind of communication tool. In this tablet, this role is played by the Wi-Fi module.
Of course, you won’t download torrents here, and it will be difficult to watch the video on youtube (although Onyx supports Flash, I was surprised myself), it will come in handy in several cases:
Downloading books
Downloading music
Viewing and reading
Google sites :
Habr looks like this:
Naturally, everything You can scroll, enter text, click on links, etc. Only everything is in gray colors.
Player
I was very surprised and pleased by this opportunity. You can listen to the player while reading books. The sound is quite decent, on the level, you can and should listen. Very convenient function, as If you have a large memory card, you can not carry an extra player with you. The player as well as the browser is very simple, but of high quality.
Song of the Case
White velcro case. Great thing. Well, that is included in the kit. There is a pocket for inserting paper records. The only minor minus is that when you turn it on (as the button is from below), the device itself comes out from above, because there is no mount on top.
Additional features
You can install a dictionary, additional pictures, even a Linux terminal in this book.
In general, I did not experiment with this, and you can read on the Official Forum if you want
Price
The price of the device is 12.890 rubles. For a device of this level and quality it is a little expensive, but if you take into account the fact that it has many other functions besides an electronic book, and all the functions you need and come in handy in life, then this is quite an acceptable amount.
Calculation of results
pros
- E-ink display
- Ergonomics
- Beautiful design
- Convenient controls - stylus and joystick
- Connector Versatility
- Wifi
- Player
- Notes
- Ability to change fonts and languages
- Extensions (dictionaries, pictures, etc.)
- Good equipment
Minuses
- Drops out of the case when you press the On button.
- White soiled
- Price
Average rating: 4+ out of 5.
Conclusion
Onyx Boox 60 is no longer an e-book, but also not a full-fledged tablet. All the functions that are now embedded in it perform perfectly. Before a full-fledged mini-computer, it remains to add a color screen. The device frees you from carrying books, a player, even to some extent - a communicator (for the Internet). Perhaps there is not enough GSM module, or at least bluetooth communication, but judging by the development and updates of the product, it will soon be there (read the forum).
The book was an incredible pleasure when working with it, so the impressions are only positive despite the insignificant minuses.
Well, here's the last collage =)