In the Kindle Colorsoft review I talked about how the Colorsoft’s screen looks markedly better than screen on the Boox Go Color 7, and it’s not just colors that look better, it’s text as well, so I wanted to put together a comparison review showing the differences.
Both devices use the same 7″ E Ink Kaleido 3 screen, but Amazon seems to have done something a little extra to make the screen look better. It’s surprising how much of a difference there is when comparing the same content on both devices.
The Kindle Colorsoft downloads higher resolution versions of comics than the Kindle app on the Boox Go Color 7, so that accounts for some of the differences. But even when comparing the same ebooks using Onyx’s built in NeoReader app, the Kindle’s text looks clearer and darker.
Additionally, ghosting is more of an issue on the Boox. You can avoid it sometimes by getting the refresh settings just right, and making sure the page doesn’t scroll while turning pages, but even still there’s a lot of ghosting issues with Onyx’s devices in general. I haven’t noticed any ghosting issues at all on the Colorsoft; Onyx really needs to find a way to fix their refresh problems.
I uploaded a YouTube video showing both devices side-by-side. I meant to cover more topics in the video, but after eleven minutes I mostly just talked about the screen differences and some of the hardware and interface differences.
I like Onyx’s gesture-based navigation a lot more than the Kindle’s endless tap dancing navigation, where every action takes multiple taps while hunting for tiny icons.
The Go Color 7 also has a big edge in terms of versatility with the Android 12 OS that can install apps. There are some hardware advantages as well. It has a microSD card slot, double the storage space (64GB), and it has a rotation sensor, an external speaker, and page buttons. The Boox is also thinner and lighter than the Kindle.
The Colorsoft has a few hardware advantages over the Boox. Battery life is better, it’s waterproof, and it adds a light sensor and wireless charging. But the screen and frontlight are the biggest differentiators.
At $249, the Go Color 7 is $30 less expensive than the Kindle Colorsoft that Amazon sells for $279. But Kindles often go on sale and Onyx’s devices almost never go on sale unless they’re getting replaced by a newer model.
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