I’ve already posted a video review of the Onyx Boox T68 Lynx, along with several individual app reviews, so I figure it’s time to get the written review finished.
I’ve been stalling waiting for a software update to fix some of the bugs that I’ve experienced while using the T68, and the first update came out earlier in the week and helped make the touchscreen better, but there are still some issues to be worked out.
Onyx support has given me something to try to fix the low battery issue that seems to affect some units. But that’s going to take several more days to run the battery down before I can try it. Speaking of battery, battery life is not mentioned in the review because at this point it is too hard to gauge.
Frnogero says
Dear Nathan, is it possible to test if a print app works on it? The best to test would be the app HP Eprint. But I guess that if one app works on, the others shall work as well. Many thanks, best.
Nathan says
Sorry but I don’t have a printer that’s going to work with anything like that to test.
Kannon says
Hello Nathan, thanks for keeping us updated on what I consider the best e-reader on today’s market. I also picked up an Onyx T68 and despite the buggy firmware and weak battery life (due to poor WiFi management), absolutely love this thing. It’s better than even a rooted NST.
I just wanted to give a shout-out about FeedMe and correct some minor mistakes regarding some of the perceived flaws of the T68.
The best RSS app so-far is FeedMe. It includes baked in full-text support with a double-tap. You can’t get better than this app. What’s really important is that the dev just released an e-ink optimized skin (it’s the default skin), which works even in fast mode (A2). I’ve tried dozens and FeedMe is the absolute best. It even supports launching in external browsers.
On that second note, it appears that the rebooting is caused by power adapters with insufficient output. I’m in Europe right now and rebooting “bug” only shows up when I use US AC adapters. The T68 was designed for European markets. I suspect that the issue is caused by poor quality AC adapters with low amperages. I suggest using different AC adapters and checking to see if the reboot problem is evident. In my experience, higher quality adapters don’t cause the rebooting. It should be amperage dependent. Somewhere around 2.0 to 2.1 amps is the sweet spot.
Right now the only thing I think they should have offered is a scalable refresh rate with a hardware button as the toggle.
Thanks for the great work Nathan! Keep it up!
Nathan says
I just checked the AC charger that I’ve been using with the T68 since I got it and it says the output is 2 amps.
Rick says
Hi Nathan,
I’m a long time reader, first time commenter and I have a question about the T68 (and other Android-powered ereaders as well): do the turn-page button works well with the various reading apps (primarily Kobo and Pocket)?
Nathan says
No, Android devices normally don’t have page-turn buttons so apps aren’t coded for them. The page-buttons only work with pre-installed apps because they’ve been tweaked to support them. However, the nav-wheel buttons turn pages with all the reading apps that I’ve tried.
Anders says
I like my T68 very much but it keeps rebooting over and over again both when charging and when not charging.
Did Onyx support give you a solution that worked?
Nathan says
I don’t know if what they said to do worked or not because I haven’t gotten the battery low enough yet. But I really doubt it will work; the solution was pretty silly. I had to drain the battery all the way down, so I just let it boot loop all it wanted overnight. Then when I plugged it in it showed the battery charge at 11% so it wasn’t all the way down but I got sick of waiting at that point. Then they said to plug it into an AC charger and hold the reset button for 10-15 seconds. It didn’t really seem to do anything so I doubt it worked. I don’t even know if I was holding down the reset button right. I hate reset ports. It’s too small to find anything small enough to fit into it. I tried using a paperclip and even that was too fat. It’s seriously annoying. I don’t have anything laying around that’s smaller diameter than a freaking paperclip. After wasting several minutes I got irritated and made the paperclip fit. It separated the case a little bit but seemed push down on an inner button.
Terry says
I am randomly getting the boot loop problem at lower battery levels. I managed a work around. Press the power button for “a few seconds” until the unit stops the boot loop cycle. Recharge the unit from ANY USB charger. Boot loop problem alleviated until the next time.
I believe the problem is firmware related versus a hardware problem.
Piotr says
HI, I’m kindle classic user but my dad has just bought one of these and I have single question about dictionary usage. Is it possible to configure t-68 so the translation appears as a foot/head note (just like in kindle) and not as separate book page?
Nathan says
Since the dictionary is a separate app I don’t think that’s ever going to be possible.