A couple days ago I posted about the Boyue T62 Mega that recently turned up for pre-order on Banggood for $120.
They also have another new listing for a second Boyue ereader that’s available to pre-order for $196, the Boyue T80.
It’s not exactly new, however. Last year at this time it was selling under different brand names with the InkBook 8 and Icarus Illumina XL.
However, those two devices are no longer being sold, at least not in the US (both Amazon listings show them as no longer available, and have for some time now).
The unique thing about the Boyue T80 is the fact that it has an 8-inch E Ink display.
The main negative with this ereader is the lower resolution 1024 x 758 screen. It only has 160 ppi, nearly half that of the T62 Mega and other 300 ppi ereaders. But at least there’s a frontlight.
It has a dual-core 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage space, plus there’s a microSD card slot. It also supports audio and has a 3.5mm headphone jack.
It runs Android 4.2.2 and can install Android apps. Supported formats include ePub, PDF, FB2, HTML, and others.
I really like 8-inch E Ink ereaders and wish there were more options but the price of this one makes it a tough sell up against the Kobo Aura One with it’s 300 ppi 7.8-inch screen for only $30 more. Plus the Kobo is waterproof and has an adjustable frontlight color, not to mention a better design.
But the T80 has a couple of advantages with the memory card slot, audio support, and Android software.
What I found to be the biggest flaw of an android e-reader is its inconvenience. With a Kindle or Kobo or Nook, you close the cover/turn it off and when you return you can resume simply by opening the cover/turning it on.
That’s not the case with an Android tablet, especially if you have a 3rd party reader. That’s because you have to turn it on, find the e-reader icon, click on the icon, find the book you were reading then open the book you were reading.
It is more than irksome to read on a tablet without a dedicated e-reader OS, it is painful. Reviewers never mention that problem.
One other issue that’s never mentioned in reviews of these off-breed readers? Support. Boyue? Inkbook? Good luck trying to contact Poland or China with problems. Good luck trying to get system updates. My inkbook never did show correct battery-life remaining. No updates ever came, no one to contact; just a bunch of folks in Poland laughing at the dumb-ass American who bought this piece of trash.
I don’t know about Boyue, but on my Onyx Boox reader the cover I got along with it does just that: suspend the device when I close it and unlock when I open it, just like with other half-decent Android tablets.
As for firmware, Onyx has relatively decent support and does get updates, partly from the European distributor, partly from Onyx themselves.
What I find unfortunate about the Boyue readers is the lack of blueooth, otherwise I might even consider this, since it does at least have a dual core CPU on contrast to most other e-ink devices that size available atm.
Thank you. Good information.
Also, IF you use the Amazon Kindle app (which you can use on any Android tablet), it behaves like the Kindle, and will automatically continue in the book you had opened last time, at the exact position where you left off.