A YouTube video has turned up showing the new 10.3-inch Likebook Note that is expected to get released in June.
The video shows a couple of surprising details. First off, the Likebook Note has a frontlight, a capacitive touchscreen, and it has a stylus for writing on the screen.
That would make it the first to offer all three of those features.
With Onyx they only offer 2 of the 3; for example, the Boox N96 models had the option for a capacitive touchscreen or a frontlight, but not both, and none of the new larger Onyx models have a frontlight.
Second, the software on the Likebook Note appears to be pretty responsive despite the 1GHz single-core processor mentioned in the specs on Boyue’s website.
However, an ebook is being demoed, not a PDF, and ebooks aren’t very big and usually load rather quickly; it will be interesting to see what performance is like with PDFs.
Also another thing to note is the fact that the Likebook Note runs Android 4.4.2, which is old but that’s actually a step up from the Android 4.2.2 software that’s on Boyue’s other ereaders.
As a big fan of frontlights, it’s nice to see at least one of these larger models coming with a frontlight. But after using the Onyx Boox Note for the past two weeks, I’m not sure it’s as important as it is on smaller ereaders. These larger E Ink screens seem to catch the ambient light more; I actually don’t mind the Boox Note not having a light. The contrast is quite good even in lower lighting conditions.
Either way it’ll be interesting to see how the Likebook Note stacks up against the Boox Note and other large-screen ereaders when it gets released.
” These larger E Ink screens seem to catch the ambient light more”
May be true, but rules out the no-light situation altogether! I couldn’t live without the light, because I mostly read at bed at night with the lights off. That’s a huge plus.
Is there a price for this thing?
No price has been mentioned yet. I’d expect it to be $500-$550.
But that price is almost the same Sony’s DPT-CP1.
This device has older hardware than DPT-CP1, it has to be cheaper
The Remarkable has similar specs and it’s $599, but it was $499 for awhile so hopefully Boyue will go toward the lower end. Plus the Sony for $599 only being a PDF reader hurts it some, and the Likebook adds the light so it has something the others don’t, but the Boox Note at $550 is the far superior device in most ways so they should price at $500 or less if they want to compete.
That original super thin, flexible Boyue’s design of T103 was far more attractive: https://youtu.be/U_YOXFlytnE
I don’t care about the light.
Hope they are going to release that flexible form in 13 inch size.
The first large ebook reader with capacitive touch support, stylus support, and frontlight was actually the Hanvon E930 which came out a few years ago. It was sold primarily in China but also availale on Aliexpress, and you could set the interface to English. The OS was Android-based but not open, unfortunately (no app store and apks could not be installed). I really liked the hardware though.
Boyue is slowly for sale its device, may be they like do it better.
But this week I can find Onix Boox Note 10,3″ at Amazon, and Aliexpress (Note ereader: 549 USD; Note – case cover in black: 590 usd. Ereader + screen film: 559 usd. Ereader + case cover + screen film mate or antiglare: 600 USD.
I still waiting for Boyue likebook note: not yet for sale at aliexpress, banggod either.