3 causes I am not giving up my Kobo for this Andro...

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

With this in thoughts, over the previous few weeks, I’ve seen that the Go Colour 7 has quite a lot of notable shortcomings that I do not see talked about fairly often, together with how difficult 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.

Associated

3 ways this Android E Ink tablet outshines my Kobo

If you happen to’re into customizing your gadgets, you will discover lots to love about Boox’s Go Colour 7.

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

It is simply too difficult

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

Once 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 folks would possibly choose 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 will be on the E Ink pill and finally 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

Associated

4 ways I make the ROG Ally X’s awful battery life a little better

Anyway you take a look at it, the ROG Ally X’s battery is fairly dangerous – however with the following pointers, you possibly can enhance it.

It takes too lengthy to get into truly studying

It could possibly generally take a couple of minutes to really open a ebook

Certainly one of my greatest points with Boox’s Go Colour 7 is that it could possibly generally 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 only a few seconds (I’ve had an identical expertise with Kindle gadgets, 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 frame, that minute-long boot-up course of seems 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 gadget. Severely, 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 possibly can’t flip the function off) and boot the Kobo or Pocket (RIP) app, which provides much more time.

Associated

This lesser-known Kobo feature helped me stop doomscrolling

Once you want a break from staring on the “dangerous display screen” to get some studying executed, Pocket is nice on the Kobo.

The Kobo app cannot be optimized

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

Positive, this may be a “me” situation, however the truth that the Go Colour 7 works with the Kobo Android app is each a blessing and irritating. It provides 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 remove the huge spacing within the margins of the pages, which is irritating, given I am used to adjusting that on my Libra Color. That mentioned, I respect you possibly can nonetheless regulate the textual content measurement 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, most of the greatest 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 operate accurately. If you happen to long-press on an app icon and choose Optimize, you are given a set of choices. Subsequent, flip over to Others, and you will see Customized Aspect Buttons, together with Web page-turn, Quantity, and Scrolling. Regardless that I’ve Web page-turn chosen, the Boox Colour 7’s facet 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 affords in the case of an e-reader. Different folks 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 gadget that is designed only for studying.

Associated

4 reasons I don’t regret buying the budget Kindle over the Paperwhite

I bought the bottom Kindle over the Paperwhite mannequin, and I’ve no regrets.