PCMag Digital Group. Filed Under: e-Reader Reviews, Onyx Boox e-Reader News, >retails for $879.99 from the Good e-Reader Store, The best sites to download free e-books and audiobooks, Millions of Kindle e-readers will lose store access next month, Amazon unveils Kindle Epic Summer Challenge, Bigme and Good e-Reader are introducing the InkNote Color, A large number of lawyers think ebook piracy is not theft, Hands on Review of the Pocketbook Era e-reader. Onyx's built-in NeoReader app can handle many formats, including CBR/CBZ, EPUB, and PDF; it's the only app on the platform that lets you use the bundled pen to draw and annotate PDFs. It offers very similar features to the discontinued Sony Digital Paper. A4 measures 210 297 millimeters or 8.27 11.69 inches. I found that X-Mode is ideal for streaming music, podcasts or audiobooks from dedicated apps, like Spotify. In any case, Onyx is probably trying to drive E Ink monitor users toward its dedicated monitor, the Mira. It lets you read, annotate, download, and upload documents using your favorite applications on an expansive 13.3-inch screen. November 6, 2021 By Michael Kozlowski 14 Comments. The Lumi default eraser mode (controlled by button press) is a line delete mode, which while less natural is also arguably more useful as it saves you having to rub your marker over a potentially large area, just cross a line with the button depressed, and the whole line goes. The Onyx Boox Max Lumi 2 is the most powerful e-note in the world and nothing else comes close. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. There is also vector export, after you finish drawing, you can export it as a vector quality layout, for further editing on your PC with professional design software. The A4 size of the Lumi is a blessing and a curse, as you can read books two pages side by side like a real book, and it has split screen and things, and large PDFs are usually at their native print size. If all you want is a capable ebook reader, meanwhile, the $139.99 Kindle Paperwhite is our Editors' Choice within Amazon's ecosystem. So now PDF reading is a bit easier when reviewing larger format documents. A feature that I really wish I could have is syncing book position between both devices via Calibre (which I use to manage my ebook library). The screen texture is a little smoother than the ReMarkable but still feels good to me, it has some resistance unlike an iPad, and I did not apply the stock screen protector as I value getting the pen as close to the screen as possible. Both devices support different modes for erasing though, I just find the defaults give an insight into the designers mindset. That said, it costs quite a lot at $879.99. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. One of the best features is the layering system. Should you buy the Onyx Boox Max Lumi 2? Given the above, I am somewhat confused as to where the Lumi fits in in my life. You can embolden, sharpen image, bleach a watermark, dark color enhancement, change the contrast, split screen view, access the table of contents or just jump to another page. The library is your default screen, it basically lists all of the content on your device, if you just bought it, this will be blank, unless you download content from the Boox Store, or sideload in your own content. A pen end-eraser rather than a push button is a great example of how ReMarkable view the world they want it to feel like using a real pencil, even though the push button is more ergonomic as you don't need to turn the stylus upside down to erase, they make you do that anyway. It >retails for $879.99 from the Good e-Reader Store. The Max Lumi 2 looks and feels almost exactly like the previous Max Lumi. As with other Onyx tablets, the software is a little quirky. This is called E INK Center and it provides a number of advanced customizations. For people who want to replace physical notebooks specifically, this is the best option. Ergonomic shaft with grooves can help you grip firmly. I noticed a bit of delay when switching focus between windows, but it's manageable. The technology took three years of development and was only released in February. As with Onyx's Mira monitor, which is a better option for productivity, we recommend the Max Lumi 2 without reservation to the few people who may prefer its specific size. On the back, there is a white color scheme and lists a bunch of tech specs, written in like 8 different languages, it provides the full breakdown on all of the key selling features. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. The Lumi on the other hand lets you choose from a few base colours with all pens and I don't find it too much of a stretch of the imagination to use them when I want to. As with the Note Air 2, the Max Lumi 2 lets you independently adjust its blue and yellow front lights to taste. Once you do, you can safely ignore Onyx's app store, which mostly just lifts a handful of APKs from the APKPure library. On the ReMarkable my wife wished to change font of an e-book, and the tablet froze, and I ended up deleting and re-adding the book and not risking changing the font again. This emphasis the grey screen and the bezels melt away when staring at the screen for a few minutes. This provides a clear avenue to listen to audiobooks, music or podcasts, without having to utilize Bluetooth for wireless headphones or speakers. There is no SD card to expand the storage further, but it does have access to the Onyx Boox Cloud. 1996-2022 Ziff Davis. My writing is not very neat, and I find that for me the ReMarkable calligraphy pen mode is the most forgiving (which surprised me), and I feel it also makes my writing look somewhat like a pirate wrote it which I enjoy. The Max Lumi 2's screen doesn't have the textured coating that the Note Air 2 does, so the pen feels a bit more slippery on the screen. Next to that is a volume slider. There is basically only one other 13.3 inch on the market, the Fujitsu Quaderno A4, which is very good in its own right, but does not have all of the advanced features as the Lumi 2, but this is a good thing, it is more accessible to the average user and for businesses who want to replace paper in their office. This is really a must for e-writers. Overall, performance has been increased across the board by about 20%. Speed Mode, which slightly degrades image quality and increases performance. There are all sorts of icons here, to launch Miracast or a recording feature, that will record anything you do on the screen or initiate split screen view. However, Onyx told me that you can use software for Android, PC or MAC for the Lumi 2 to be used wirelessly as a secondary monitor, but nothing beats a dedicated HDMI port for better communication protocols. The only other company that did something similar is Supernote, but their film depth is larger than Onyx, which means you will not be able to use ceramic nibs on the Lumi display. They have also introduced a new feature called Boox Drop, which makes it easy to transfer ebooks and notes from the device to your PC and from your PC to your Boox device. On a pure software level, Onyx provides something that few in the e-reader and e-note industry can match. I am very happy I got on board. The UI is based on the sidebar and has icons that link to the bookstore, library, notes, storage, apps, and settings. The Lumi can do loads, can play sound and can even read to you via text to speech so while that is a bonus for accessibility, and might be nice for audio-books the first thing I did was to turn it into do-not-disturb mode. The Lumi on the other hand, is big, bold and backlit (actually front-lit, but that doesn't alliterate). As mentioned at the start though, I have been struggling to draw this review out of myself, because there are so many factors, and the occasional update (both devices receive them probably once ever 2-3 months so far) can make a massive difference, so I have been curious to wait and see if anything solidified and clarified my thoughts, but in the end I'm somewhat conflicted. The RM2 doesn't have a Calibre plugin however I was excited to discover that somebody posted a solution yesterday, while the Lumi is supported so you can plug in via USB and it is easy to sync books to the device via that way. Additionally, if the way that LCDs flicker and refresh bothers you, the Max Lumi 2 might be more enjoyable to use because of its grayscale, E Ink panel. The fact is I use it probably daily when I'm reading a book on it (even if I write notes on the RM2 more generally), and then sometimes weeks go by and I won't touch it. The writing experience with the 'marker' feels good to me, and I think they have done well at emulating the experience of using a pencil. The RM2 is arguable the winner here, as there are several major projects like Remarkable Hacks, it runs Linux so you can modify many parts of the system if you are brave enough, and somebody even worked on an alternative open source OS Parabola-rM which frankly I would not recommend most users try, but it could give these devices life beyond the stock system, should the company ever go bust for example. It also leverages the same updates from Carta 1200, which is a faster ink, enabling faster page turns and faster pen input, which reduces latency. I have been meaning to write a review of these two fascinating e-writer devices since I received them both at the end of last year, but I kept putting it off because I never felt sure how to conclude such a review. Light Color Enhancement basically emphasizes all of the greyscale, whether you want this lighter or darker. You can think of these as global contrast settings, some users will really want to tweak these settings to get your ideal screen layout. With the RM2, I payed extra for the Marker Plus (which does seem a bit of a big jump in cost just for an on-pen eraser), but I generally like it well and I have not felt compelled to replace it. As part of the cloud features both devices will attempt to convert your handwriting to text, but to be honest for me that's been a gimmick. The tablet doesn't feature a headphone jack, but it does have built-in speakers and a microphone. A physical home and back button sits below the bezel, while the bottom houses a single USB-C port. Like the Note Air 2, the Max Lumi 2 includes Onyx's $45.99 active stylus. As I noted in the original Max Lumi review, a 13.3-inch screen is ideal for displaying 8.5-by-11-inch documents at 100% zoom, because one of those pages measures 13.9 inches diagonally. You would probably only notice the difference if you compare the experience side by side, however. There are two stereo speakers on the back of the device, that are positioned near the bottom. The screen isn't as sharp as those on smaller ebook readers, but its huge size more than makes up for that loss in density: You get more words, more lines, and more note-taking space than on a 10.3-inch device. I have not found it's open ended possibilities distracting, and I use basically the same features on both devices the whole time (reading, writing). A2 mode is typical for almost all e-readers and tablets. You will likely want to get Google Play to access a a wide variety of others, but it is not installed by default. All of the settings on this ball are really redundant, and I disable it as soon as possible. You can sort books by format, author, date, and browse by list view or image view. The VIZ Manga app, on the other hand, had zooming issues that made manga unreadable. Options include: brush, pencil, pen, ballpoint ben and highlighter. You will be able to read at night with the front-lit display via the white LED lights, and it also has a series of amber LED lights to provide a warm candlelight effect. I'm that 5G guy. Most of the Android apps I loaded worked well, especially when I tweaked the tablet's refresh rate or contrast settings. When I used the pen with the built-in drawing app, I didn't experience too much lag, although it's certainly not as smooth as using the Apple Pencil 2 with an iPad. The aesthetics of the written content look good, but can be a bit rough around the edges as there isn't any line smoothing which the Lumi does. Evernote was also unstable. Google Play isn't preinstalled because E Ink tablets can't pass Play certification (due to video frame rate requirements), but the Play Store is easy to install if you follow Onyx's instructions. The battery life of the Lumi is hands down the winner, and you could measure it in weeks. The $499.99 Note Air 2 is simply more affordable, more portable, and more manageable, however, and we think that its 10.3-inch size is ideal. I've actually been here for every "G." I've reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also write a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsess about phones and networks. Onyx is heavily invested in the Google Android ecosystem for all of their devices and each major product release often provides a new version, giving users not only a modern OS, but all of the benefits, including security. On the download, with the global EPD and chip shortages, the Quaderno is in short supply, but things should get better in December or January. Although this is not a color e-note, it does have red, green and blue, which are only seen in color when the note is exported as a PNG or PDF file. Maybe since the update I'll give the RM2 another go at font changing. If you frequently work with or consume large-format documents, a smaller device simply wont work as well. Underneath the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 octo-core CPU with 6GB of RAM. There is 128GB of internal storage, which should be enough for your PDF and ebook collection. https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/onyx-boox-max-lumi-2, Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. The default erase mode is also to rub out only the parts your stylus eraser touches (rather than whole lines). They have reduced the latency and improved stylus interactions with Onenote, Evernote and WPS, which now make them an extremely viable alternative to Onyxs own drawing app. This is sort of what they did with the Kindle app a couple of years ago, where they eliminated the animated page turns, making it easier to use the app. The primary reason why 13.3 inch e-notes cost a lot, is because there really isnt that many that are being made anymore. Onyx has developed a new stylus for their latest generation hardware. The Store is primarily populated with royalty free books, such as the ones you would find on Project Gutenberg, they are all free and dont cost any money. Luckily the RM2 being a Linux device itself means I can actually SSH into it, and tools like rsync and third party software can easily interface with it too. In this release theyimproved the Neoreader ebook reading software. The 3.2 update is available not only the Lumi 2, but also Note 5 and Note Air 2. By contrast, the 14-ounce Note Air 2 sports a metal frame for what feels like a more durable build. We will be doing an advanced note taking video and embedding it into this review when we are done, this should take a couple of weeks, although our review video at the end of this post, should provide everything you need to understand all of the core functionality. With full-page PDFs, the sharpness of your eyesight matters a bit. It provides e-notes with a higher higher contrast ratio. I do use at least one of them every day. For example you can click on the lines icon and do 8 different lines, in addition to 6 geometric shapes, which can be imported into the document and resized. It is running Google Android 11 and has full access to the Play Store, so millions of free and paid apps are available. The pricey Onyx Boox Max Lumi 2 tablet can handle large-format documents and sheet music on its 13.3-inch E Ink display. Things can sometimes get overwhelming if you have never had an e-note before, or are switching brands, but there are a enough advanced options to really take customizations to a new level. You can create multiple pen templates on the UI, and quickly switch between them. Dark color enhancement, which makes all of the blacks lighter or darker, depending on how you want your device to look. The side bar can quickly become overwhelming with the sheer number of options. You have to do a bunch of things in the settings menu and then reboot your device, we have a video tutorial that walks you through this entire process. Notes leads you to the note taking experience and files is basically just a file manager app. You trade flexibility and power for form factor and a very custom UX, and you do get to join their pretty cool cult of devotees. Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. But as a result it is a bit heavy (especially in its case) so while I do frequently read in bed with it, it is a bit heavy after a while. Onyx runs their own app store, but it is barebones and they only have 48 apps to download. If you like tech, taking notes, e-ink, e-books and thinking peacefully while planning, you will love e-writers. The color scheme is black on the front and sides, and has a big picture of the Lumi. I am still using both devices, and occasionally wanting to read a book I cannot get DRM-Free (yes I know stripping it is possible), or wanting to use the device in the dark does mean that, as I am lucky enough to own both, I probably will keep using them both. I prefer the portability of the Note Air, but text is undeniably larger on the Max Lumi 2. The RM2 has just this week begun receiving pinch zoom in the official update (which they role out slowly and randomly so my wife has it already, but I don't). Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. Despite a large frame that measures 12.2 by 9.0 inches (HW), the tablet is very slim at 0.3 inch and weighs only 20 ounces. There is customized pen brush slot, which you can establish your own pen layout and save it to the toolbar. The stock pen on the Onyx Max Lumi is so bad that I replaced it immediately with the Lamy Al-Star, which I have found perfect for my use. They always push out firmware updates to solve existing bugs and introduce new features. Each new generation has a new version of Boox OS, which has things not found on any other device, likely they do this to encourage people to upgrade to the latest and greatest, although over time, they do push it out to older devices. You can decide what you want on one side of the screen, such as a PDF file, app, web browser or anything else and have the note taking on the other side, so you can take notes or make references. Access to the Play Store cannot be understated, there are virtually no other e-notes out there that have it and this has built a very strong loyalty to the Boox brand as a whole. The Lumi 2 is running Android 11 and has full access to the Google Play Store, and they are the only brand besides Boyue to include this for their users. Onyx runs a custom Kernel called Boox OS, which provides a ton of benefits and software enhancements. The chief benefit of buying this model is the support for A4 documents. This is something that most e-reader brands dont do. That said, the Max Lumi 2 is the only 13.3-inch E Ink slate available stateside, and is the best one among its few global competitors. The Lumi is Android, and I haven't tried but I believe you can use adb to sideload and develop Android apps with it, just like any other Android device. The Max Lumi 2 triumphs with sheet music and with PDF brochures that include detailed maps and graphics. In addition, the Max Lumi 2's pen doesn't work consistently with third-party apps. You can send articles to the RM2 via their Send To ReMarkable chrome plugin. For example, you can read and directly annotate a court decision on the left half of the screen and also take freehand notes on the right half. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0, which means you can connect a pair of wireless headphones or earbuds. The ReMarkable requires you to jump through hoops and install custom launchers and things to be able to open apps on it so it's simultaneously inflexible and yet still hackable. In PostScript, its dimensions are rounded off to 595 842 points. Onyx uses a lightweight black plastic material to make the tablet easier to hold in one hand, but it's still too big to balance effectively in that position. The system caches strokes, and then, when you pick up the pen, it pauses. This is great tool for not only the average user, but also graphics, character or environmental artists. Onyx has one of the best drawing apps in the business, that is more advanced than Remarkable. This pen is magnetic and can attach itself to the side of the Note 5 and Note Air 2, but does not attach itself to the side of the Max Lumi 2. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. This is also the ideal screen for replica newspapers and also digital comics. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. and with its faster processing it is much better when you want to change settings. For such an expensive device, they really should have provided a more premium stylus. You can configure all sorts of options here, including Bluetooth devices and WIFI networks. It also has an OCR mode, which is excellent. The Onyx Boox Max Lumi 2, an oversized tablet that runs a custom version of Android 11, sets the bar high for large-format E Ink computing devices. If I had either device on its own, I'd have loved it for what it was, and lived with what it lacked. It also has USB-C OTG, so it can also support not only headphones, but also wireless accessories such as keyboards or page turn buttons. Next to the USB port is a small microphone, this was put there to take advantage of the voice to text system in the Onyx drawing app, where you can make audio dictations and will convert it to text. For standard books, such as Kindle ebooks and textbooks, the Note Air is plenty large. The note taking app also has some new improvements, which helps make it a better creative tool. Perhaps one day that will occur. Speaking of PDF files, if you are using the stock Neoreader, there are all sorts of options to make them look really good. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. As such, the Note Air 2 is the E Ink tablet we most recommend. After a day of testing, I was down to about 80%. This provides quick access to core functionality, and you can drag/position it wherever you want it on the screen. The home screen is likely going to be the first thing that you see, and where you will spend most of your time. Your subscription has been confirmed. Onyx also supports OneNote and Evernote, although the experience is a little odd. The downside is that without the front-light things like reading on an aeroplane can be a disappointing struggle. The stylus is ridged to improve grip and has one flat side, but lacks any buttons or an eraser. That said, Onyx is pretty good about deploying bug fixes and has issued several updates for each of its existing tablets. That wasn't helped by the fact the RM2 sidebar overlays the text, so when margins are too small (or you draw in the whole content area) the sidebar overlays it. Persistently all over every screen, menu and UI element is a floating ball. One of the downsides of this generation is the lack of an HDMI port, this is something that has bene a staple of the MAX franchise since the Max and then carried over to the MAX Carta, Max 2, Max 3 and Lumi 1. I believe that Onyx decided to forgo this port because they recently released the Mira and Mira Pro dedicated E INK monitors and they did not want e-notes to compete against them and canalize their own products. It has an improved nib, which renders a close-to-paper writing experience. Each one has 16 different shades, including very dark and ranges to very light. If you don't need as much screen real estate, the 10.3-inch Onyx Note Air 2 offers greater value at $499.99, earning our Editors' Choice award for large-format ebook readers. I think e-book DRM is not something a lot of end users will appreciate learning about when they can't read a book they want to (even though I hate DRM with a passion and would rather pay extra to have DRM-free if given the choice).

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