Amazon Kindle may still be a household name when it comes to e-book readers (e-reader), but people can argue it’s no longer the king on the market that helps popularize. Of course, the combination of massive Amazon libraries and cheap-cheap reading devices is still unbeaten even by people like Rakuten Kobo and especially Barnes & Noble, but Amazon seems satisfied to leave things like that. All of the devices, however, are just a portal to the empire of larger digital content and shopping.
Meanwhile, the world of e-readers has moved forward in leaps and limits, with new competitors and technologies that try to redefine what the device can be offered. Onyx is one of the new players who go upstairs, and the latest Nova Air C Boox is the most ambitious product. Naturally, we must understand the Nova Boox for ourselves to see if we can finally move beyond the world of digital books specified – and are limited – by the Kindle.
Design and feel
If you expect some design innovations from newer e-reader makers, you might be very disappointed. Even though digital book readers slowly but surely penetrate the tablet area (more about it later), they still have a completely different goal and, therefore, very different priorities. E-readers are designed to make the device focus content and the company is fine by allowing the entire body of the device it remains less neat, as long as it allows you to hold it for a long time.
That alone makes the device design stand out, because it uses metal, not plastic. The new Nova Boox maintains the same drab appearance and a thin profile like most e-readers, but the material is assured for durability and longevity. It won’t look or felt as a premium as a metal or glass on several tablets today, but it’s not a priority for e-reader.
This is not a complete knock on the design of the Boox Nova Air C, which is clean and minimalist, except for unavoidable branding in the bottom bezel. This device is light and comfortable to hold, even with an optional magnetic cover. It covers the magnetic hook to the left side e-reader, where the PIN connector allows the button on the edge of the cover to play the page without having to move your hands.
Display and reading comfort
Just like other scoring devices, display is the most important part of e-reader. Even more important in the case of Boox Nova Air C because of relatively young innovations, carrying colors to the table. In the past, the appearance of e-paper was limited to different gray nuances, which looked boring for some and could not be used for books or magazines that needed color to be enjoyed. E Ink has pioneered a step towards administration of this battery, saving the eye displaying color, and you can see fruits of labor on this device.
To be clear, even the latest E Ink Kaleido Plus technology will not be suitable for the LCD screen, especially OLED, but it’s not really disgusted. E Ink uses a color filter to reflect various light colors, unlike LCD and OLED which really emits colored light. What this means in practice is that the color will not be as bright and vibrant as you would expect, but considering this is the ink screen e, 4,096 colors that can be supported have been astounding.
The E 7.8 inch ink screen has a resolution of 1404×1872 (pixel density 300 ppi) when displaying a black tone. It makes text and even the image is quite sharp, which is perfect for reading which is comfortable. The numbers drop sharply when the color filter is used, but, it drops to 468×624 (100 ppi). Decreasing resolution is not visible unless you are very special at seeing points. In practice, it still makes color very visible, so you can finally enjoy magazines, comics, and colored manga on a convenient and same reading device.