Ofer

charlesn said:

I understand why you love this device--it's literally a dupe of the Kindle Oasis from 5 years ago that I own and love, with the addition of a color screen in the Boox. Don't take my word for it--have a look at the Kindle Oasis page on Amazon and you'll see an identical device. So that extra wide bezel on the one side with the page turn button is hardly "genius" on the part of Boox--that's called "theft," lol. Fortunately for Boox, Amazon has already EOL'd the Oasis and you can only buy one used, so if you like that form factor and want a new device, Boox is now the only way to go. 

I would really appreciate more specifics in a product review than the broad generalities given here. About the only thing we get about "performance" in the performance section is a vague comparison with an iPad and an iPhone... ummm, how about performance comparisons with other e-readers? How quick are the page turns, how fast does it boot up, how subject is the screen to ghosting, what is the OS like, how even is the backlighting--where does Boox position the LEDs and how many are used? What is e-ink color like compared to what we're accustomed to seeing on backlit screens? Is color all that useful or necessary in an e-reader? Also, since it's now 17 years since the Kindle debuted, do we really need to be telling people that e-readers are not gaming devices? Honestly, with Amazon seeming to have suspended further development of the Kindle (I don't know that for a fact, but it sure seems that way) the most curious potential buyers for this Boox device are likely current Kindle owners looking for a next gen device. Is there any way to use their Kindle library on a Boox? Is there an equivalent to the Amazon Kindle Store for purchasing books for the Boox? Overall, this review reads more like the written version of an unboxing video and is a missed opportunity to really inform. 

I do wonder about the future of Kindle hardware on Amazon. I'm sure that entire business amounts to no more than a miniscule rounding error on their balance sheet, so in this era of cost-cutting at Amazon, it would be hard to justify the R&D investment to continue bringing new Kindles to market for a loyal and passionate user group that is unfortunately fairly small. Perhaps Amazon abandons the e-reader hardware business and focuses on being the best online bookstore for e-titles no matter what brand of e-reader you use? Maybe--if they abandon the hardware business--they make Kindle purchases readable on other brands of e-readers so that people can continue to access their Kindle libraries. I'd be curious to hear what other e-reader users think in the comments below. 

randominternetperson said:

I do agree that "impossible" should be avoiding in favor of a more accurate term like "economically infeasible."

Obviously it's not "impossible" to make iPhones in the US. They might be as scarce and expensive as a Hermes handbag, but not impossible.

chadbag said:

JamesCude said:

Yeah welp people at Apple need to justify their jobs and when you hit version 17 of a piece of software these are the kinds of things done to show progress.

Politicians, middle managers, long running software (developers).  Everyone needs to justify their existence.  I find it irritating that things are constantly changing for no real UX reason.   Sometimes I think it is that changes are not thought through.  

MacOS (this may go back to OS9?) would not remove focus from an app automatically unless the system health required it.  Ie a system level issue that would damage the system or your data had happened and immediate attention was required.   Any other time a way was provided to notify the user of a change that needed attention.  Now any app can instigate system actions that grab focus.   Terrible experience.  I am typing in a window and all of a sudden so non essential service finished and grabs focus with some non essential dialog.  

The red button, the thing I describe above , are all symptoms of the “make changes and don’t think them through and justify them” syndrome. 

sagan_student said:

I do think Apple’s need for control (which I do appreciate) over the entire user experience may play against them in the generative space. Choosing to pick benign objects, shapes, animals, etc it does a very good job of. But I can’t for the life of me get it to make an image of me giving an annoyed or disgruntled or angry or mad or sad or any other expression other than pure joy and jubilation. Even something like giving a thumbs down is apparently a faux pas in Apple’s generative AI world. I get one maybe two images with a thumbs down with a huge smile on my face and the rest are giving a thumbs up with a huge smile on my face. What’s the point of this if I can’t generate what I want. It’s one thing to be directed and coerced about how to manage files or how to interact with a UI but limiting the images created in my likeness to only ever being happy is something that I am finding very disconcerting.