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 flawed, the Go Colour 7 is a strong, very succesful system that appears and feels higher than any e-reader I’ve used, however when it comes truly utilizing it as a studying system, 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, presents strong battery life, and feels nice, I am bought — typically single-use tech units really are higher.

With this in thoughts, over the previous few weeks, I’ve seen that the Go Colour 7 has various 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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For those who’re into customizing your units, you will discover quite a bit to love about Boox’s Go Colour 7.

In the case of an e-reader, I do not want Android

It is simply too sophisticated

Whereas I initially appreciated the truth that the Go Colour 7 is Android-based, after forcing myself to check varied apps (largely Google Maintain), I’ve discovered I desire the purpose-built design of Kobo’s Libra Color. Certain, I am unable to use Google Maintain or Gmail on my Libra Color, however I need not.

Once I choose 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. In fact, some folks would possibly desire 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 Colour 7, I’ve grown bored with how janky apps may be on the E Ink pill and ultimately stopped utilizing them altogether. Certain, 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 truly studying

It could typically take a couple of minutes to truly open a e book

Certainly one of my largest points with Boox’s Go Colour 7 is that it may well typically take as much as a minute or extra to get the E Ink pill out of sleep mode and truly into studying a e book, whereas my Kobo boots out of sleep mode in only a few seconds (I’ve had the same expertise with Kindle units, too).

This would possibly sound like a minor criticism, however once I solely need 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 Colour 7 booted up and by no means bothered going again to Boox’s system. Significantly, it actually takes a very long time to stand 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 function off) and boot the Kobo or Pocket (RIP) app, which provides much more time.

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If you want a break from staring on the “unhealthy display screen” to get some studying achieved, Pocket is nice on the Kobo.

The Kobo app cannot be optimized

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

Certain, this may be a “me” subject, however the truth that the Go Colour 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 possibly can’t simply do with Amazon’s Kindle library), however the app feels extremely restricted.

First off, you possibly can’t get rid of the large 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 alter the textual content dimension and choose from a number 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 Colour 7’s buttons, which do not seem to perform appropriately. For those who long-press on an app icon and choose Optimize, you are given a set of choices. Subsequent, flip over to Others, and you may see Customized Facet Buttons, together with Web page-turn, Quantity, and Scrolling. Regardless that I’ve Web page-turn chosen, the Boox Colour 7’s aspect buttons nonetheless management the pill’s quantity, sadly.

I like Boox’s Go Colour 7, however I’ve realized I do not want the flexibility it presents in terms of an e-reader. Different folks will discover these Android-powered options helpful, however I’ve a number of different units that fill that position for me, together with my smartphone — all I would like is an E Ink system that is designed only for studying.

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