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

Now that I’ve coated 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 concerning the e-reader.

Do not get me improper, the Go Shade 7 is a stable, 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 shortly accesses my chosen library of books, affords stable battery life, and feels nice, I am offered — typically single-use tech gadgets actually are higher.

With this in thoughts, over the previous few weeks, I’ve observed that the Go Shade 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 Shade 7.

On the subject of an e-reader, I do not want Android

It is simply too sophisticated

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

After I decide up an e-reader, I solely need to learn and do nothing else. I’ve an iPhone 16 Pro and various iPads floating around for utilizing extra conventional apps. After all, some individuals may favor their E Ink e-reader to be powered by Android as a result of they need 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 Shade 7, I’ve grown uninterested in how janky apps could 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 will probably typically take a couple of minutes to really open a ebook

Considered one of my greatest points with Boox’s Go Shade 7 is that it may typically take as much as a minute or extra to get the E Ink pill out of sleep mode and really 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 may sound like a minor grievance, however once I solely need to learn for a couple of minutes to kill a short time frame, 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 Shade 7 booted up and by no means bothered going again to Boox’s machine. Critically, it actually takes a very long time to stand up and operating, even from its low-power state, after which after that, I’ve to place in a passcode (you may’t flip the function 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, nevertheless it’s nonetheless irritating

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

First off, you may’t eradicate the large spacing within the margins of the pages, which is irritating, given I am used to adjusting that on my Libra Color. That mentioned, I admire you may nonetheless regulate the textual content dimension and choose from a couple of totally 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 Shade 7’s buttons, which do not seem to perform 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 will see Customized Facet Buttons, together with Web page-turn, Quantity, and Scrolling. Although I’ve Web page-turn chosen, the Boox Shade 7’s aspect buttons nonetheless management the pill’s quantity, sadly.

I like Boox’s Go Shade 7, however I’ve realized I do not want the flexibility it affords relating to an e-reader. Different individuals will discover these Android-powered options helpful, however I’ve a number of different gadgets that fill that position 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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