3 causes I am not giving up my Kobo for this Android E Ink pill

Now that I’ve lined the issues I like about Boox’s Go Color 7 E Ink pill, it is time to dive into the stuff I’ve borderline hated in regards to the e-reader.

Do not get me fallacious, the Go Coloration 7 is a strong, very succesful machine that appears and feels higher than any e-reader I’ve used, however when it comes really utilizing it as a studying machine, I’ve realized that I do not want an E Ink pill that may do all of it. So long as my e-reader rapidly accesses my chosen library of books, affords strong battery life, and feels nice, I am bought — typically single-use tech gadgets actually are higher.

With this in thoughts, over the previous few weeks, I’ve observed that the Go Coloration 7 has plenty of notable shortcomings that I do not see talked about fairly often, together with how sophisticated the E Ink pill is, its boot time, and the truth that its helpful app optimization options do not work with the Kobo app, the platform I primarily use for studying books.

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In case you’re into customizing your gadgets, you may discover quite a bit to love about Boox’s Go Coloration 7.

In relation to an e-reader, I do not want Android

It is simply too sophisticated

Whereas I initially appreciated the truth that the Go Coloration 7 is Android-based, after forcing myself to check numerous apps (principally Google Maintain), I’ve discovered I want the purpose-built design of Kobo’s Libra Color. Positive, I am unable to use Google Maintain or Gmail on my Libra Color, however I needn’t.

Once I choose up an e-reader, I solely wish to learn and do nothing else. I’ve an iPhone 16 Pro and various iPads floating around for utilizing extra conventional apps. In fact, some individuals would possibly want their E Ink e-reader to be powered by Android as a result of they wish to do extra than simply learn books or saved articles on it, however that is not me. Over the course of a number of weeks of testing the Go Coloration 7, I’ve grown bored with how janky apps might be on the E Ink pill and ultimately stopped utilizing them altogether. Positive, that lag created a barrier that prevented me from doomscrolling, however that additionally resulted in me reaching for my Libra Color as an alternative

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It takes too lengthy to get into really studying

It could possibly typically take a couple of minutes to truly open a ebook

Considered one of my largest points with Boox’s Go Coloration 7 is that it might probably typically take as much as a minute or extra to get the E Ink pill out of sleep mode and truly into studying a ebook, whereas my Kobo boots out of sleep mode in just some seconds (I’ve had an analogous expertise with Kindle gadgets, too).

This would possibly sound like a minor grievance, however once I solely wish to learn for a couple of minutes to kill a quick time period, that minute-long boot-up course of appears like a irritating eternity. In a single scenario, I simply picked up my Libra Color as an alternative to learn whereas the Go Coloration 7 booted up and by no means bothered going again to Boox’s machine. Severely, it actually takes a very long time to rise up and working, even from its low-power state, after which after that, I’ve to place in a passcode (you possibly can’t flip the characteristic off) and boot the Kobo or Pocket (RIP) app, which provides much more time.

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The Kobo app cannot be optimized

That is extra on Kobo, however it’s nonetheless irritating

Positive, this may be a “me” problem, however the truth that the Go Coloration 7 works with the Kobo Android app is each a blessing and irritating. It offers me easy accessibility to the identical library of books I’ve used for years (that is one thing you possibly can’t simply do with Amazon’s Kindle library), however the app feels extremely restricted.

First off, you possibly can’t eradicate the huge spacing within the margins of the pages, which is irritating, given I am used to adjusting that on my Libra Color. That stated, I recognize you possibly can nonetheless regulate the textual content dimension and choose from a couple of completely different fonts. Nonetheless, pages look odd with textual content cramped within the center, particularly when the font is a bit bigger.

Moreover, lots of the finest app-specific Boox options are incompatible with the Kobo app, together with the power to customise the Go Coloration 7’s buttons, which do not seem to operate accurately. In case you long-press on an app icon and choose Optimize, you are given a collection of choices. Subsequent, flip over to Others, and you may see Customized Aspect Buttons, together with Web page-turn, Quantity, and Scrolling. Regardless that I’ve Web page-turn chosen, the Boox Coloration 7’s facet buttons nonetheless management the pill’s quantity, sadly.

I like Boox’s Go Coloration 7, however I’ve realized I do not want the flexibility it affords with regards to an e-reader. Different individuals will discover these Android-powered options helpful, however I’ve a number of different gadgets that fill that function for me, together with my smartphone — all I would like is an E Ink machine that is designed only for studying.

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