In the e-reader market, Amazon is playing the ball queen with its Kindle, recently updated in a color version, as well as a monochrome version with disconcerting fluidity. However, other players in digital reading are tending to establish themselves on the market, notably the Boox brand. The Note Air 3C model, flanked by color and an ambitious note-taking function, had already convinced us, to the point of becoming our main e-reader. But this is only the tip of the iceberg: the manufacturer has other formats to its credit, for all uses and all budgets. This is particularly the case with the small Boox Go 6, an affordable 6-inch model, which offers all the advantages of the brand in an ultra-compact format.
Design and screen
Rather accustomed to the brand’s 10.3-inch models, the Boox Go 6 stands out as a much more compact model, easy to slip into your pocket to be taken everywhere. With its protective folio case, and its contained borders, the brand’s small e-reader is not only the most affordable, but also the most compact in the Go range. We find all the ingredients of the manufacturer Onyx, namely a simple button of power, a USB-C charging and transfer port, and a microSD memory expansion port. Enough to ensure you library always fullthe device’s default storage memory being limited to 32 GB.
The screen of the Boox Go 6, as we have said, has a diagonal of 6 inches, with a touchscreen panel electronic ink E Ink HD Carta 1300. The rendering is monochrome, but offers a colored filter to reduce the effects of blue light on the eye, especially when reading at night. if the rendering is not as beautiful as on the higher models, we must admit that the screen – the same as on the Clara BW e-reader from Kobo shines with its efficiency. Adjusted to your convenience, the e-reader allows beautiful HD displaycapable of competing with the best printing on paper, and a perfectly correct latencywhich would however deserve to gain even more velocity.
On such a small format, Boox was smart enough not to include color. The Kobo Libra Color and Kindle ColorSoft models provide comfortable support for color nuances, but struggle to demonstrate their interests at less than 10 inches diagonal. For manga and comics, it’s honestly faireven if the zoom function coupled with a very correct latency does not eclipse the reading comfort, we prefer to reserve the Boox Go 6 for nomadic reading of novels or text documents, which are much more suitable.
A serious competitor to the Kindle Paperwhite?
Overall, the Boox Go 6 interface is clear, minimalist and rather well thought out. A side strip on the left provides access to applications, notes or settings, while a quick menu at the top right gives you control over the device. For the most picky, it will also be possible to personalize each application with a dedicated performance level. Practical for optimizing your experience as much as your battery. If the software provided natively remains basic, the whole point of the e-reader lies in its third-party software support.
This support has several advantages, such as the possibility of installing a press aggregator on the e-reader, of making a detour on Webtoonor take advantage of its Bluetooth compatibility to listen to your audio books on the device (which will inevitably have the effect of melting its battery faster). Overall, the Boox Go 6 allows all the options of a classic smartphone, which makes it much more interesting than its Kindle competitors in terms of user experience.
In terms of autonomy too, the e-reader plays the good role. Small black and white format obliges, the Boox Go 6 is much less energy consuming than its big sistersand has the merit of being able to be recharged in just one hour from the USB-C socket of your smartphone. To save even more battery, a dark mode allows you to increase the battery life of the tablet, while avoiding too long exposure to the backlight.
Android compatibility that changes everything
This is one of the main limitations of e-readers currently available on the market. Whether they choose the Amazon Kindle or the Rakuten Kobo, the user is inevitably confronted with the impermeability of their manufacturer ecosystem. More concretely, it is not possible to see if the grass is greener elsewhere. Even if the e-commerce giant has made serious efforts by allowing support for formats other than its traditional MOBI, it is still far from perfect. Officially, this choice is motivated by the desire to create a tool for concentration and relaxation rather than a duplicate of our smartphone, bombarded with notifications. In fact, it is mainly a question of the manufacturer locking us into its ecosystem, and therefore into its digital library.
Only rare exceptions offer Android support. This was the case in 2021 with the Bookeen Notea, but the latter required manual and somewhat tedious registration on the Google Playstore. Last year, TCL attempted a compromise with the NxtPaper 11, a real multimedia tablet equipped with new and very comfortable screen technology. The experience was particularly conclusive, without however matching the comfort of e-Ink.
In this (not so) niche market, Boox serves as an ideal compromise, with a real liquid ink screen, decent latency, and native Android support that changes the entire user experience. The tablet allows you to install all applications from the Google Playstore, which allows us to not have to choose between our different reading media. You will thus be able to enjoy your favorite digital librarybut also from any application, as well as from your audio and podcast playback platforms.
Price and availability
At less than €150, the Boox Go 6 is an alternative that is not only credible, but also affordable for those looking for a first, versatile e-reader, without really knowing which creamery to turn to (or even if they really want to). turn to a particular ecosystem).
Source: www.journaldugeek.com
