Charbax over at ArmDevices has posted a YouTube video filmed at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair showing a couple of upcoming Android-powered ebook readers from Onyx, the Boox T68 and M96.
The Onyx Boox T68 looks especially interesting. It uses the same 6.8-inch 265 dpi screen (1440 x 1080 resolution) as the Kobo Aura HD, but it has a lot more features going for it. The T68 has Android with Google Play, physical page turning buttons, Bluetooth, audio support, and two point capacitive touch—all things the Kobo Aura HD lacks.
The T68 also includes a frontlight, microSD card slot, and Wi-Fi. It has everything it needs to be one of the best ebook readers ever, if it can deliver. I hope to get my hands on one to review later this year. The representative in the video says that the T68 will go into mass production in the middle of June.
Onyx also has a 9.7″ E Ink ebook reader that runs Android called the Boox M96. The screen resolution is 1200 x 825. This model doesn’t have a frontlight and it uses a digitizer touchscreen instead of capacitive.
The video doesn’t show either device in action very much, but it does show the full list of specs:
Onyx Boox T68 Specs
- Display: 6.8″ E Ink Pearl V220
- Resolution: 1440 x 1080
- Touchscreen: Capacitive (two point)
- Operating System: Android 4.0 (comes with Google Play for installing apps)
- Battery: 1700mAh Polymer Li-on
- 4GB internal storage space
- MicroSD card slot for cards up to 32GB
- Frontlight
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Cortex-A9 1GHz processor
- 512MB RAM
- Supported eBook formats: PDF, EPUB, (Adobe DRM) TXT, DJVU, HTML, RTF, FB2, DOC, MOBI, CHM, PDB
- Dimensions: 194.2 x 132 x 8.8mm
- Weight: 250 grams
Onyx Boox M96 Specs
- Display: 9.7″ E Ink Pearl V220
- Resolution: 1200 x 825
- Touchscreen: Digitizer with stylus
- Operating System: Android 4.0 (comes with Google Play for installing apps)
- Battery: 1600mAh Polymer Li-on
- 4GB internal storage space
- SD card slot for cards up to 32GB
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Dimensions: 241 x 178 x 11mm
- Weight: 580 grams
Does a Google Play enabled e-ink reader mean that you will be able to load android apps onto it and actually use them? Like the Kindle, Kobo and other apps together on one machine? Will these have to be dedicated apps or just the regular ones?
Theoretically most reading-type apps should install and work okay, but it depends from app to app how well they will transition to E Ink. I’m surprised by how well a lot of apps work on a hacked Nook Touch, but the Android version is so old some apps don’t work well. Android 4.0 should help more than it hurts, I would think.
So the M96 doesn’t even have a front light and the T68 is only catching up with the Kobo AuraHD more than a year later.
And I would want to purchase something I already got a year ago because … ?
Because you want a bigger screen and Android. Being better at one metric does not make it the indisputable best for everyone. That’s why we have choices.
IDK freethinker, I’m interested for the chance to install multiple e-reader apps on the same device without needing to root and rom. I get ebooks from lots of different sources, so I’m not ingrained in any one ecosystem. It’ been awhile since I’ve been interested in an e-reader, can’t wait to see these in motion.
Best? That’s going to depend largely on battery life. Will it do 2000 page flips over the course of two weeks between charges like my Kindle, or will it be like a normal Android tablet with maybe up to twice the battery life?
Yeah because battery life is the number one most important thing to consider when buying an ebook reader (sarcastic eye-roll). Who cares if it has a 1440 x 1080 resolution screen and has Android 4.0 and can install apps…
You’re the only one saying number one, not that critical reading matters when you’re trolling.