I don’t know what’s going on with Onyx lately, but their current lineup of Boox devices has become really stale and boring.
They just keep re-releasing the exact same products over and over and over again with minor changes. They haven’t come up with any new ideas since the original Palma came out in 2023.
Now that Onyx has settled into a rut, they’ve discontinued more devices than they’ve released in recent years. They ditched all their “Tab” models except for the massively overpriced Tab X C. They no longer sell any devices with 7.8″ E Ink screens. They dropped the Palma 2 with a black and white screen in favor of the Palma 2 Pro with a color E Ink screen and a $120 higher price tag. They’ve discontinued their E Ink monitor line as well, probably due to lack of interest.
Every single model that Onyx currently sells is derived from a previous model with a 90% overlap in features. They literally just keep releasing the same devices over and over again. That’s pretty common in the ereader space, but Onyx used to be one of the most creative companies in the industry, and they were constantly pushing the boundaries with new products and ideas.
Now they’re releasing fewer new products than ever, while downgrading their eNotes from Wacom touchscreens to touchscreens that require using their own brand of styluses. And now you have to spend a minimum of $400 to get a Boox device that supports BSR for faster and smoother refreshing when you used to be able to get that with the Palma 2 for $279.
They just released a “new” 6-inch model called the Go 6 Gen II that runs Android 11 from 2020. It’s nearly identical to the previous version that came out in 2024, which was nearly identical to the Poke5 that came before it, but they bumped it up to 3GB of RAM from 2GB and they added stylus support. It doesn’t come with a stylus, though, so you have to spend an extra $50 to make use of that feature, and they increased the price of the device by $40 compared to the previous version.
I can see it now. In October Onyx will release the Note Air6 C. It’ll be the same as the current Note Air5 C expect they’ll drop EMR support and switch to their InkSense stylus or InkSpire or whatever they call it. They’ll change a couple of minor meaningless details, while switching to a newer CPU that’s 2% faster, and they’ll increase the price to $549 at a minimum.
Next year we can wait for the re-release of the Go 7 for third time, and maybe they’ll re-release their 13.3″ models again too. It’s all getting too predictable.
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