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A**K
Very usefull device for me.
It is first time i'm using note taking device. I don't have experience to compare with.Boox note 2 have perfect size for me. Before i was using 8 inch ereader, but for a technical PDF isn't good.Note taking experience a very cool. There are couple of features i'm missing:- there is no arrow template to draw (i'm sometime drawing software diagrams, and it is hard )- few draw primitives available (line, triangular, round, squire)- there is a AI converter for note, which works pretty good, but the you are not able to save result of conversion in same notebook. It is only export available. I think that would be pretty cool to make some handwritten diagram and then save them as nice digital diagram and continue to work with it.Display is pretty responsive, i installed and removed protector because i didn't like the filling of writing on film.
R**8
Best eReader tablet in 2020
First we had white text on black screens. Then we had green text on black screens. Then came black text on white screens and colors. Then, technology progressed and now we have... black OR white text on white OR black screens :)Joking aside, eink is a fantastic technology. Paired with Android 9, some impressive internal specs, solid build quality, and a wacom pen digitizer layer, the Note 2 is a versatile winner. It's got its drawbacks (as any device does, discussed later), but there's no doubt that it's the leader of the pack in 2020.I've owned dozens of laptops, dozens of phones, and a handful of tablets, so I know what of I speak. I know what modern tech can do - or I thought I did before I started looking for a large format ereader. I was somewhat impressed with other 10.3" A3-sized eink devices (the ReMarkable tablet and Sony epaper have a WOW factor to them) but found each one lacking. Although they were designed to do one thing well, and they do that one singular thing very well, they're also ridiculously locked down for a device released in 2018/19/20. Not so with the Note 2, which is in the same (or slightly lower) cost bracket. It was a no-brainer for me to buy one to try, and after a week of use I'm fully sold.So what's so bloody good about it? Well, to start, I can read again without my eyes bleeding (figuratively of course), on the generous 10.3" eink screen - during the day or at night, thanks to the frontlight that some similarly sized models don't have (again what an oversight!) Frankly, I'd have preferred an even larger 13.3" Onyx Max 3, but the lack of frontlight, the 2x the price (I understand the economics of why the larger size eink screens cost so much, I just can't justify paying for it), and the added heft/decreased portability made the Note 2 the perfect choice in April 2020. I'd planned to use it primarily for reading a stack of scientific papers (PDFs look great in portrait without cropping - fit to width and PgUp/PgDn) and completing my PhD thesis, but found it to be a very competent news reader, email reader, and in general android tablet.So here's what I did that was a bit naughty. I didn't use the stock Boox launcher. I found it too limiting. Thankfully, as this is an android tablet, you can do anything you want with it! After enabling the google play store, I installed "Nova Launcher Prime", "LinesX" and "Lines Free" icon packs, and went about customising it to my preference. I have most useful apps that I have on my Samsung S20, and have found a gesture app to simulate the "multi view, home, back" button-by-swipe you find on the S20. Using swiftkey (resized for the bottom right corner) I'm able to type/swipe one-handed(thumbed) and keep the same feel I have on my S20.My Note2 came with a case, pen, replacement nibs, and screen protectors but no bluetooth keyboard. No problem - I had a "ThinkPad Tablet 2" Bluetooth keyboard laying around from another project, and it paired fine so I can use my Note2 as an eink notebook on-the-go if I choose to.Now a simple list of pros and cons.PROS:-Large, comfortable 10.3" high DPI screen, with great legibility, frontlight, and refresh options-Android 9 means you can customise it to do almost anything your phone can do - ereaders from amazon/nook/kobo/adobe, spotify, onenote, email, messenger, reading news, ebay, web browsing, etc. etc. - and using a custom homescreen launcher like Nova unlocks the full capability of the device (imho the stock launcher is quite limited)-fairly lightweight for the package you get-very reasonable cost compared to other ink tablets of similar size, and even compared to similarly spec'd tablets with eye-killing LCD screens+backlight-You can treat it as an ebook/PDF reader, note taking device, full android tablet, or eink notebook - it's your choice-note taking by hand writing / AI text recognition works surprisingly well in "original recognition" mode, but terribly in "reflow recognition" mode that often adds or removes spaces for no apparent reasonCONS-the back is an absolute fingerprint magnet. Not 3 hours after first using it, I showcased my new purchase to my girlfriend and was disgusted by how gross it looked already. The case is the solution to this, but adds weight-case options are very very limited (basically 1 - in 2 color options) but it's better than no options-the screen tech is great don't get me wrong, but you won't leave it in 'normal' mode unless you want to impress your friends with how clear it looks, or you're just reading ebooks. Speed mode visibly degrades clarity and increases ghosting, but is a must for using it as anything but a static-text reader. It's a limitation of eink technology, and I look to eink to resolve this in future generations-the pen is nice to play with but too lightweight for 'real world' long term use imho. It feels like more thought could have been put into this by the Onyx team, especially considering how many generations of their products have used this exact same pen. It also does not feel in any way 'paper-like' to write on like the (very locked down) ReMarkable tablet but I suppose it wasn't designed to do that.-after resetting to factory defaults in android, the language is reset to Chinese, and you'll have to rely on luck to tap into the right menu to set it to your choic of language. The tech diagnostics app (hidden in the stock launcher, but found using Nova Launcher) was also only in Chinese with no option but to use google lens/translate to figure out the functions.-no camera (I know, not necessary for what the device is intended for, but nice to have in an emergency) and no way to make phone calls even using skype, since there is no headset speaker (a failing of the skype software is that it doesn't recognise the stereo speakers)CONCLUSIONSWhat it comes down to with the Note 2 is choice. You can do as little or as much as you like, and have probably one of the best eink screens on the market today. Will color eink replace it eventually? Probably, but there's a good 2-3 years before competent, eye-pleasing eink screens will be available commercially at a reasonable cost. The Note 2 is the best option for an eink Android 9 tablet-laptop/PDF reader/ebook reader in 2020. Period. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better quarantine buddyRATINGOverall 4.5 stars out of 5 - for those looking for an "everything" eink device
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