The Queen deigns to read: a review of the e-book ONYX BOOX Cleopatra 3
For the beauty of this woman was not that which is called incomparable and striking at first sight, but her appeal was distinguished by irresistible charm, and therefore her appearance, combined with rarely convincing speeches, with tremendous charm, penetrated in every word, in every movement, firmly hit In the soul.
// From Plutarch's Cleopatra Records
')
You can relate to the last queen of Hellenistic Egypt as you like, especially as historians still argue about many facts from her life, but no one doubts the greatness and beauty (by the standards of that time) of Cleopatra. Despite her open femininity, Cleopatra was able to show a strong, courageous character in time, which rather annoyed the Romans, while the queen combined many qualities that allowed her to rule Ancient Egypt for 21 years. What is this historical introduction? It was in honor of Cleopatra that one of the updated e-books of the “Egyptian” series ONYX BOOX - Cleopatra 3 was named, with which we will take a closer look today.
ONYX BOOX is not the first time giving the names of its e-books by the names of famous historical personalities - the manufacturer made it his “chip”, thanks to which his readers can be recognized among many others (if even Google calls its mobile operating systems after sweets, why not? ). Therefore, if you see an e-book with the name Robinson Crusoe , Chronos , Monte Cristo, etc. - in front of you is the device from ONYX BOOX. In addition, these readers can be found on the antique inserts on the box: from the same Chronos, with whom we have already communicated , this is a large number of old watches; on the box with Cleopatra 3 there is the profile of the Queen of Egypt and antique symbols.
One of the innovations of the model was the advanced 6.8-inch E Ink Carta screen along with the MOON Light + backlight: this is the first reader in Russia where color temperature adjustment has become available. An additional 512 MB of RAM added an e-book of speed, which, however, no one complained about; and the amount of internal memory increased up to 8 GB allowed to place even more readable content on the device (without support for memory cards with capacities up to 32 GB, too, it wasn’t). So Cleopatra 3 is worthy of looking at it not only in profile, but also in full face.
If, in the review of most devices, this item is paid more attention to “tick off”, then in the case of ONYX BOOX I want to talk a lot about the box of each device. The manufacturer is always pleased with interesting packaging, and the box Cleopatra 3 is no exception. It is made of high-quality thick cardboard, on the front of which is emblazoned the name and profile of the queen of Ancient Egypt, made of gilded letters, as well as antique symbols. Packaging looks so expensive and beautiful that there is no need to wrap it with additional paper or bows, if, for example, you decide to make an interesting and useful gift. On the reverse side, the main technical characteristics and advantages of the e-book are listed - an idea is formed immediately that you are dealing with.
The company creatively approached the process of “opening”. At a time when most devices are unpacked by simply separating the cover from the main compartment, here the cover rises, and the gadget appears on a special pedestal in front of the user. True, he is in a case: on the one hand, they lay out all the cards on the table - they say, they don’t have to buy an additional accessory for a couple of thousand rubles; on the other hand, they keep the intrigue, hiding the reader’s appearance to the last. As a sarcophagus)
The case deserves special attention at least because of the unusual design - it is also decorated with the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. If you look closely, you can see, for example, a falcon, personifying Choir - the god of the sky and the sun of Egypt, or symbols associated with the supreme god Ra. It may seem that the historical component was slightly overdone, but they retained the style in every detail (even the instructions were stylized antique, the inscriptions were made as if on papyrus).
The accessory itself imitates rough, embossed leather and has a hard frame. Inside there is a soft material to protect the screen.
So that the cover does not accidentally open in a bag or backpack, it has two magnetic latches. The e-book itself "sits" in it securely, so that the accessory performs not only an aesthetic, but also a protective function. The cover is also endowed with smart functions: thanks to the presence of the Hall sensor, the book automatically goes into sleep mode when the cover closes and wakes up when it is opened.
The remaining equipment is presented in the form of a familiar micro-USB charging cable and a power adapter.
ONYX BOOX love to keep different “Easter eggs” for users, and the new Cleopatra is no exception. So, when you turn on and download an e-book, an image of Pharaoh Tutankhamen appears, which personifies the download by moving your eyes left and right. Why not Cleopatra? The question is interesting: most likely because the queen of Egypt was more good in profile, it was not for nothing that the Egyptians portrayed her mainly in this form. Yes, and Tutankhamen with his "beard" and the famous golden crown looks more solid.
In the sleep mode on papyrus, the main characteristics are indicated, while the “leaf” on its sides is held by the gods Anubis and Horus.
And one more “Easter egg” was found out already at the stage of transition to sleep mode - here briefly appears ... then Caesar, then Cleopatra herself and other personalities of that time. Yes, the developers did not bypass the relationship of the great commander and Cleopatra, thanks to whom she became the undivided ruler of Egypt under the Roman protectorate.
The e-book body is made of matte plastic with soft-touch coating. Tactile sensations it causes very pleasant, besides less sensitive to fingerprints than glossy surfaces. True, to remove the imprint imperceptibly, if it already appeared, is not so simple.
Compared to other electronic books, Cleopatra weighs a little - only 236 g (with a case of adding 119 more g). Dimensions are 192 Ă— 132 Ă— 9 mm and are used almost as much as possible, therefore, with a screen diagonal of 6.8 inches, the reader is barely larger than its 6-inch competitors. You can easily take a book with you on a trip, since it is thin and will not take up much space even in a small handbag. Of course, one could also remove the logo from the front panel to make the screen even bigger, however, there is a risk that this will affect the autonomy (and much more?).
The five-way joystick located under the screen allows you to move between menu items. It is equipped with a small LED indicator that lights up when charging the device. The joystick is also customizable: the first option is to turn on / off the backlight, the second is to show / hide the status bar.
On the sides there was a place unobtrusive, but useful buttons: the two on the right are responsible for turning the pages when reading, the two on the left are the Menu (top) and Back buttons. At first it is necessary to get used to the buttons a bit (to press almost on the very edge with a little effort), but then it seems that this is the way to go. There are no complaints about the arrangement of technical controls, but the buttons for browsing could be made a little lower: if you read and hold an e-book in one hand, reaching the top with one thumb is problematic if you do not have pianist fingers. Fortunately, in this case, we made it possible to turn the pages through not only with physical buttons, but also by touching the screen.
The bottom end is traditionally minimalist: a micro-USB port for charging, a memory card slot and a power button. They are not closed by the cover, so access to all slots and controls is always there. The side and top ends are devoid of any significant elements, so that the buttons sticking out from the side do not interfere with comfortable reading in the “one hand” mode.
In the settings you can choose as many as five options for configuring buttons. The first (by default) was described above, then customization begins. For example, the upper and lower right buttons can be swapped so that the previous page opens by pressing the bottom button. It is also possible to completely change the assignment of buttons, so that the left is responsible for flipping, and the right to perform the functions "Menu" and "Back." Without a combined option, too, was not.
What is the main thing in any e-book? Correct display. And Cleopatra 3 has arguments in this regard. The 6.8-inch screen has a high resolution of 1440 × 1080 pixels with a density of 264 pixels per inch. As the type of screen is used already familiar to other readers ONYX BOOX E-Ink Carta. The screen is really large, which allows you to use the reader not only to read fiction, but also to work with technical documentation. The standard update modes of the A0 display (also known as “Standard”) and A2 are supported.
Continuing the conversation about the screen, I immediately want to point out his two main pieces.
MOON Light +
If in the last generation Cleopatra (T76ML), the customizable MOON Light backlight was implemented simply as a slider with brightness control (the screen always remained white), then MOON Light + uses a completely different approach. This is a specially designed type of backlight, with which you can not just adjust the brightness, as in other reading rooms, but change the backlight temperature. And the setting is very subtle: for warm and cold light, there are 16 divisions of "saturation" that regulate the hue of the backlight. In fact, this is an independent adjustment of the brightness of the “warm” and “cold” LEDs, which not only makes the reading useful for the eyes, but most importantly - it does not negatively affect the battery consumption. With active backlight, the maximum brightness of the white field is approximately 215 cd / m².
To understand all the differences between MOON Light + and the backlight used in other readers, it’s enough to pick up any e-book with a regular backlight, where the screen just glows with either white light or white with some shade that does not change the essence. By adjusting the color temperature, the light changes dramatically: for evening reading of Bulgakov, before going to bed, it is better to adjust a more yellow tint to the filtered blue part of the spectrum, since the blue color prevents the production of melatonin, the “sleep regulator”. And if you wanted to feel like a foreign classic with a day off in the country, white light would do. A wide range of adjustments available will allow you to choose the right shade even the most sophisticated book lover. And you won't hear the famous phrase “stop reading at night, plant all your eyes”. In the dark, it is comfortable to use about half the value of the backlight; You can even read on the beach - you will not encounter any glare and noise (unlike reading on a tablet, where the screen constantly flashes).
Nowadays, adjusting the backlight colors is available on many smartphones, tablets and computers, but in cases with the same mobile devices, the light is directed directly into the eyes (which is why it is difficult to read before going to bed on an iPhone or other device), which is why they start to water, and in general, the practice of such reading may subsequently lead to serious problems with vision. In the e-book, the backlight illuminates the screen from the side and does not strike directly into the eyes, so comfortable reading using the reader for several hours is quite a reality.
SNOW Field
In the OReader settings, the SNOW Field screen mode is turned on and off - it reduces the number of artifacts on the E-Ink screen when it is partially redrawn, which is why most e-books sin. When activated, the full redrawing is disabled while reading simple text documents. If you open PDF files with graphs and charts (such as an electrician's plan in the house or a fire evacuation), the artifacts, of course, remain, but in order to notice them, you need to look hard. And working with such documents with and without SNOW Field is just heaven and earth.
With all this, the display is touch-sensitive and supports multi-touch, although the latter’s responsiveness is, of course, not as fast as the tablets, but here everything depends on the E-Ink update speed and nothing can be done about it. For an e-book, the screen is truly flagship, not only due to the fine temperature setting, but also good responsiveness and high definition of letters, even when choosing a small text size. On the "readable" features of Cleopatra 3, we'll talk more below.
The “core” of the e-book is, albeit not the newest, but the proven ARM Freescale i.MX6 processor with a frequency of 1 GHz. It boasts low power consumption and high performance, so there is no problem with the speed of the Cleopatra 3. Ordinary books open very quickly, “heavy” will require 20-30 seconds, but this is in the case of the presence of complex charts and graphs. Speed ​​also provides increased to 1 GB of RAM. For the storage of books, as we have said, 8 GB of internal memory is provided (a couple is reserved for the system), which can be completely dispensed with if you read only works of art. For everyone else, there is a slot on the bottom for microSD memory cards of up to 32 GB.
Pleases the reader and wireless interfaces. They feature Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b / g / n and Bluetooth 4.0. The first one is mainly used to work in the built-in browser (otherwise, how to read your favorite blog on Habré or Hiktimes), as well as for the Play Market application store, but more on that later. By the way, Wi-Fi is configured to automatically turn off, if you do not use it for a long time - another plus in the karma of power consumption. Bluetooth is also suitable for listening to audiobooks: once the familiar plug is in place of the audio jack, nothing else remains.
Cleopatra is running out of the box with Android 4.0.4 with an adaptive launcher from ONYX BOOX with large and clear elements - both the child and the aged person can use it. So the interface not only has a nice appearance, but will also be quick to learn. There is a developer mode and a point to enable USB debugging. Immediately after switching on, the user encounters a desktop with a set of books: at the very top is the status bar, where the battery charge level, wireless connection status and time are displayed, below is the last open book, after it the newly added ones. Access to the main functions of the e-book is provided by a line with the icons "Library", "File Manager", "Applications", "MOON Light", "Settings" and "Browser".
Library
As the name implies, all books available on the device are stored here, which can be viewed both as a list and as a table or as icons. It allows you to quickly navigate the presented range of books, although it does not support the display of folders - for this you need to refer to the "File Manager" section.
File Manager
In general, it can be used instead of the library, since you can navigate in folders and books just as well. Thanks to sorting by alphabet, name, type, size and creation time, searching for the desired file will take even less time than in the Library. Just looks like this section is not so beautiful, but a little geeky.
Applications
In this section are all the pre-installed applications, here also get downloaded from the Play Market program. Yes, this is Android, albeit with a different launcher, so you can perform the same tasks as on an Android smartphone or tablet. This opens up broad horizons for expanding the functionality of the device. You can download a simple toy, and even download the metro map. And if you want diversity in terms of applications for reading, and there is a place for Amazon Kindle.
NB Some screenshots are colored due to the specifics of Screenshot Ultimate. This is actually electronic ink.
I would like to positively note the pre-installed browser, which quickly loads pages and is intuitive. You can download almost any application from the Google store to the reader, but you have to be prepared that some programs will not start or look ridiculous on the E-Ink screen. However, most applications that do not require a constant change of the image are displayed quite well.
Settings:
There are not so many menus in the settings - “System”, “Language”, “Applications”, “Network” and “About Device”. Compared to Android devices, the view is clearly simplified: in the system settings, you can change the date, power saving options, see the free space, adjust the buttons (we talked about this at the beginning), and so on. If we go deep, we find the settings of the field of the latest documents, the automatic opening of the last book after turning on the device, and also scanning only the folder “Books” in the built-in memory or on the card.
It is a pleasure to read with Cleopatra, the reader impressed even those who thought that the time of e-books was over several years ago. The device qualitatively displays the text without extraneous pixels, ladders and other artifacts. Look at the letters nice, they are sharp and smooth. Also, SNOW Field, which we talked about earlier, gives its own, removing artifacts without completely updating the screen. Yes, and the screen of the type of "electronic paper" is harmless to the eyes, so you can not get tired even with prolonged reading (and when the book captures, you do not want to let go of her hands for long hours).
Clickable:
The reader supports all major book formats without conversion, so you can open a multipage PDF and Gogol’s favorite work in FB2 and even connect to the network library (OPDS catalog). This allows you to access thousands of free books with easy sorting, and four catalogs are already pre-installed. Innovation has become and support for the format FB3, which is still evolving, but has good prospects.
Reading with the built-in OReader is comfortable - almost 90% of the screen takes up a field with text, and the lines with information are placed above and below. You can access the settings while reading by clicking on the center of the screen; all the main parameters, including the screen orientation, are changed. The emphasis is on the most important thing - setting the text. You can change the font by yourself, choose the size (with two fingers it is done as quickly as possible), boldness and much more. You can scroll through the pages with both physical buttons and gestures on the screen - here you already like what you like.
Text navigation is implemented in the top five. In addition to searching by text, you can go to the table of contents or to the desired page. Favorite quotes can be saved, and on special pages also insert bookmarks (you need to touch the triangle in the upper right corner). And if you are fond of reading literature in a foreign language, translate the necessary word in a couple of clicks. To do this, press the "Menu" button, select the dictionary icon, select the word, after which the translation will appear.
To work with the PDF and DjVu formats, you need to use another Onyx Neo Reader embedded application. The interface is almost the same (navigation with buttons or touching the screen, changing the scale of the page with two fingers and so on). You can navigate through the document conveniently using the progress bar. This program is seemingly more minimalistic and somewhat reminiscent of a browser.
Since the presence of Android provides for the installation of any third-party reader, you can always use the same Cool Reader or Kindle application, but the standard OReader solution completely copes with its task. , .
Cleopatra 3 — 1 700 . - — .
, Wi-Fi ( ?) , 20 , . «» , Wi-Fi. , : 50%, «» .
, ! ONYX BOOX Cleopatra 3 6,8- , , . 6- 30% , — , . E-Ink Carta Android-. , — SNOW Field.
, 15 . , , E-Ink , , , , . , ( ). «» «», , .
Ave!
: ONYX Boox Robinson Crusoe 2 / ONYX BOOX Chronos
// From Plutarch's Cleopatra Records
')
You can relate to the last queen of Hellenistic Egypt as you like, especially as historians still argue about many facts from her life, but no one doubts the greatness and beauty (by the standards of that time) of Cleopatra. Despite her open femininity, Cleopatra was able to show a strong, courageous character in time, which rather annoyed the Romans, while the queen combined many qualities that allowed her to rule Ancient Egypt for 21 years. What is this historical introduction? It was in honor of Cleopatra that one of the updated e-books of the “Egyptian” series ONYX BOOX - Cleopatra 3 was named, with which we will take a closer look today.
ONYX BOOX is not the first time giving the names of its e-books by the names of famous historical personalities - the manufacturer made it his “chip”, thanks to which his readers can be recognized among many others (if even Google calls its mobile operating systems after sweets, why not? ). Therefore, if you see an e-book with the name Robinson Crusoe , Chronos , Monte Cristo, etc. - in front of you is the device from ONYX BOOX. In addition, these readers can be found on the antique inserts on the box: from the same Chronos, with whom we have already communicated , this is a large number of old watches; on the box with Cleopatra 3 there is the profile of the Queen of Egypt and antique symbols.
One of the innovations of the model was the advanced 6.8-inch E Ink Carta screen along with the MOON Light + backlight: this is the first reader in Russia where color temperature adjustment has become available. An additional 512 MB of RAM added an e-book of speed, which, however, no one complained about; and the amount of internal memory increased up to 8 GB allowed to place even more readable content on the device (without support for memory cards with capacities up to 32 GB, too, it wasn’t). So Cleopatra 3 is worthy of looking at it not only in profile, but also in full face.
ONYX BOOX Cleopatra 3 Specifications
| Display | touch, 6.8 ", E Ink Carta, 1080 Ă— 1440 pixels, 16 shades of gray, 14: 1 contrast ratio |
| Backlight | MOON Light + |
| operating system | Android 4.0 |
| Battery | Lithium-polymer, capacity 1700 mAh |
| CPU | Freescale i.MX6 1 GHz |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Internal memory | 8 GB |
| Memory card | MicroSD / microSDHC |
| Supported Formats | TXT, HTML, RTF, FB3, FB2, FB2.zip, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, DOCX, PRC, EPUB, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, PDF, DjVu |
| Wireless connection | Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Dimensions, mm | 192 Ă— 132 Ă— 9 |
| Weight, g | 236 |
"Open your face"
If, in the review of most devices, this item is paid more attention to “tick off”, then in the case of ONYX BOOX I want to talk a lot about the box of each device. The manufacturer is always pleased with interesting packaging, and the box Cleopatra 3 is no exception. It is made of high-quality thick cardboard, on the front of which is emblazoned the name and profile of the queen of Ancient Egypt, made of gilded letters, as well as antique symbols. Packaging looks so expensive and beautiful that there is no need to wrap it with additional paper or bows, if, for example, you decide to make an interesting and useful gift. On the reverse side, the main technical characteristics and advantages of the e-book are listed - an idea is formed immediately that you are dealing with.
The company creatively approached the process of “opening”. At a time when most devices are unpacked by simply separating the cover from the main compartment, here the cover rises, and the gadget appears on a special pedestal in front of the user. True, he is in a case: on the one hand, they lay out all the cards on the table - they say, they don’t have to buy an additional accessory for a couple of thousand rubles; on the other hand, they keep the intrigue, hiding the reader’s appearance to the last. As a sarcophagus)
The case deserves special attention at least because of the unusual design - it is also decorated with the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. If you look closely, you can see, for example, a falcon, personifying Choir - the god of the sky and the sun of Egypt, or symbols associated with the supreme god Ra. It may seem that the historical component was slightly overdone, but they retained the style in every detail (even the instructions were stylized antique, the inscriptions were made as if on papyrus).
The accessory itself imitates rough, embossed leather and has a hard frame. Inside there is a soft material to protect the screen.
So that the cover does not accidentally open in a bag or backpack, it has two magnetic latches. The e-book itself "sits" in it securely, so that the accessory performs not only an aesthetic, but also a protective function. The cover is also endowed with smart functions: thanks to the presence of the Hall sensor, the book automatically goes into sleep mode when the cover closes and wakes up when it is opened.
The remaining equipment is presented in the form of a familiar micro-USB charging cable and a power adapter.
Path to the throne
ONYX BOOX love to keep different “Easter eggs” for users, and the new Cleopatra is no exception. So, when you turn on and download an e-book, an image of Pharaoh Tutankhamen appears, which personifies the download by moving your eyes left and right. Why not Cleopatra? The question is interesting: most likely because the queen of Egypt was more good in profile, it was not for nothing that the Egyptians portrayed her mainly in this form. Yes, and Tutankhamen with his "beard" and the famous golden crown looks more solid.
In the sleep mode on papyrus, the main characteristics are indicated, while the “leaf” on its sides is held by the gods Anubis and Horus.
And one more “Easter egg” was found out already at the stage of transition to sleep mode - here briefly appears ... then Caesar, then Cleopatra herself and other personalities of that time. Yes, the developers did not bypass the relationship of the great commander and Cleopatra, thanks to whom she became the undivided ruler of Egypt under the Roman protectorate.
The e-book body is made of matte plastic with soft-touch coating. Tactile sensations it causes very pleasant, besides less sensitive to fingerprints than glossy surfaces. True, to remove the imprint imperceptibly, if it already appeared, is not so simple.
Compared to other electronic books, Cleopatra weighs a little - only 236 g (with a case of adding 119 more g). Dimensions are 192 Ă— 132 Ă— 9 mm and are used almost as much as possible, therefore, with a screen diagonal of 6.8 inches, the reader is barely larger than its 6-inch competitors. You can easily take a book with you on a trip, since it is thin and will not take up much space even in a small handbag. Of course, one could also remove the logo from the front panel to make the screen even bigger, however, there is a risk that this will affect the autonomy (and much more?).
The five-way joystick located under the screen allows you to move between menu items. It is equipped with a small LED indicator that lights up when charging the device. The joystick is also customizable: the first option is to turn on / off the backlight, the second is to show / hide the status bar.
On the sides there was a place unobtrusive, but useful buttons: the two on the right are responsible for turning the pages when reading, the two on the left are the Menu (top) and Back buttons. At first it is necessary to get used to the buttons a bit (to press almost on the very edge with a little effort), but then it seems that this is the way to go. There are no complaints about the arrangement of technical controls, but the buttons for browsing could be made a little lower: if you read and hold an e-book in one hand, reaching the top with one thumb is problematic if you do not have pianist fingers. Fortunately, in this case, we made it possible to turn the pages through not only with physical buttons, but also by touching the screen.
The bottom end is traditionally minimalist: a micro-USB port for charging, a memory card slot and a power button. They are not closed by the cover, so access to all slots and controls is always there. The side and top ends are devoid of any significant elements, so that the buttons sticking out from the side do not interfere with comfortable reading in the “one hand” mode.
In the settings you can choose as many as five options for configuring buttons. The first (by default) was described above, then customization begins. For example, the upper and lower right buttons can be swapped so that the previous page opens by pressing the bottom button. It is also possible to completely change the assignment of buttons, so that the left is responsible for flipping, and the right to perform the functions "Menu" and "Back." Without a combined option, too, was not.
Caesar did not dream
What is the main thing in any e-book? Correct display. And Cleopatra 3 has arguments in this regard. The 6.8-inch screen has a high resolution of 1440 × 1080 pixels with a density of 264 pixels per inch. As the type of screen is used already familiar to other readers ONYX BOOX E-Ink Carta. The screen is really large, which allows you to use the reader not only to read fiction, but also to work with technical documentation. The standard update modes of the A0 display (also known as “Standard”) and A2 are supported.
Continuing the conversation about the screen, I immediately want to point out his two main pieces.
MOON Light +
If in the last generation Cleopatra (T76ML), the customizable MOON Light backlight was implemented simply as a slider with brightness control (the screen always remained white), then MOON Light + uses a completely different approach. This is a specially designed type of backlight, with which you can not just adjust the brightness, as in other reading rooms, but change the backlight temperature. And the setting is very subtle: for warm and cold light, there are 16 divisions of "saturation" that regulate the hue of the backlight. In fact, this is an independent adjustment of the brightness of the “warm” and “cold” LEDs, which not only makes the reading useful for the eyes, but most importantly - it does not negatively affect the battery consumption. With active backlight, the maximum brightness of the white field is approximately 215 cd / m².
To understand all the differences between MOON Light + and the backlight used in other readers, it’s enough to pick up any e-book with a regular backlight, where the screen just glows with either white light or white with some shade that does not change the essence. By adjusting the color temperature, the light changes dramatically: for evening reading of Bulgakov, before going to bed, it is better to adjust a more yellow tint to the filtered blue part of the spectrum, since the blue color prevents the production of melatonin, the “sleep regulator”. And if you wanted to feel like a foreign classic with a day off in the country, white light would do. A wide range of adjustments available will allow you to choose the right shade even the most sophisticated book lover. And you won't hear the famous phrase “stop reading at night, plant all your eyes”. In the dark, it is comfortable to use about half the value of the backlight; You can even read on the beach - you will not encounter any glare and noise (unlike reading on a tablet, where the screen constantly flashes).
Nowadays, adjusting the backlight colors is available on many smartphones, tablets and computers, but in cases with the same mobile devices, the light is directed directly into the eyes (which is why it is difficult to read before going to bed on an iPhone or other device), which is why they start to water, and in general, the practice of such reading may subsequently lead to serious problems with vision. In the e-book, the backlight illuminates the screen from the side and does not strike directly into the eyes, so comfortable reading using the reader for several hours is quite a reality.
SNOW Field
In the OReader settings, the SNOW Field screen mode is turned on and off - it reduces the number of artifacts on the E-Ink screen when it is partially redrawn, which is why most e-books sin. When activated, the full redrawing is disabled while reading simple text documents. If you open PDF files with graphs and charts (such as an electrician's plan in the house or a fire evacuation), the artifacts, of course, remain, but in order to notice them, you need to look hard. And working with such documents with and without SNOW Field is just heaven and earth.
With all this, the display is touch-sensitive and supports multi-touch, although the latter’s responsiveness is, of course, not as fast as the tablets, but here everything depends on the E-Ink update speed and nothing can be done about it. For an e-book, the screen is truly flagship, not only due to the fine temperature setting, but also good responsiveness and high definition of letters, even when choosing a small text size. On the "readable" features of Cleopatra 3, we'll talk more below.
Performance and Interface
The “core” of the e-book is, albeit not the newest, but the proven ARM Freescale i.MX6 processor with a frequency of 1 GHz. It boasts low power consumption and high performance, so there is no problem with the speed of the Cleopatra 3. Ordinary books open very quickly, “heavy” will require 20-30 seconds, but this is in the case of the presence of complex charts and graphs. Speed ​​also provides increased to 1 GB of RAM. For the storage of books, as we have said, 8 GB of internal memory is provided (a couple is reserved for the system), which can be completely dispensed with if you read only works of art. For everyone else, there is a slot on the bottom for microSD memory cards of up to 32 GB.
Pleases the reader and wireless interfaces. They feature Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b / g / n and Bluetooth 4.0. The first one is mainly used to work in the built-in browser (otherwise, how to read your favorite blog on Habré or Hiktimes), as well as for the Play Market application store, but more on that later. By the way, Wi-Fi is configured to automatically turn off, if you do not use it for a long time - another plus in the karma of power consumption. Bluetooth is also suitable for listening to audiobooks: once the familiar plug is in place of the audio jack, nothing else remains.
Cleopatra is running out of the box with Android 4.0.4 with an adaptive launcher from ONYX BOOX with large and clear elements - both the child and the aged person can use it. So the interface not only has a nice appearance, but will also be quick to learn. There is a developer mode and a point to enable USB debugging. Immediately after switching on, the user encounters a desktop with a set of books: at the very top is the status bar, where the battery charge level, wireless connection status and time are displayed, below is the last open book, after it the newly added ones. Access to the main functions of the e-book is provided by a line with the icons "Library", "File Manager", "Applications", "MOON Light", "Settings" and "Browser".
Library
As the name implies, all books available on the device are stored here, which can be viewed both as a list and as a table or as icons. It allows you to quickly navigate the presented range of books, although it does not support the display of folders - for this you need to refer to the "File Manager" section.
File Manager
In general, it can be used instead of the library, since you can navigate in folders and books just as well. Thanks to sorting by alphabet, name, type, size and creation time, searching for the desired file will take even less time than in the Library. Just looks like this section is not so beautiful, but a little geeky.
Applications
In this section are all the pre-installed applications, here also get downloaded from the Play Market program. Yes, this is Android, albeit with a different launcher, so you can perform the same tasks as on an Android smartphone or tablet. This opens up broad horizons for expanding the functionality of the device. You can download a simple toy, and even download the metro map. And if you want diversity in terms of applications for reading, and there is a place for Amazon Kindle.
NB Some screenshots are colored due to the specifics of Screenshot Ultimate. This is actually electronic ink.
I would like to positively note the pre-installed browser, which quickly loads pages and is intuitive. You can download almost any application from the Google store to the reader, but you have to be prepared that some programs will not start or look ridiculous on the E-Ink screen. However, most applications that do not require a constant change of the image are displayed quite well.
Settings:
There are not so many menus in the settings - “System”, “Language”, “Applications”, “Network” and “About Device”. Compared to Android devices, the view is clearly simplified: in the system settings, you can change the date, power saving options, see the free space, adjust the buttons (we talked about this at the beginning), and so on. If we go deep, we find the settings of the field of the latest documents, the automatic opening of the last book after turning on the device, and also scanning only the folder “Books” in the built-in memory or on the card.
Reading
It is a pleasure to read with Cleopatra, the reader impressed even those who thought that the time of e-books was over several years ago. The device qualitatively displays the text without extraneous pixels, ladders and other artifacts. Look at the letters nice, they are sharp and smooth. Also, SNOW Field, which we talked about earlier, gives its own, removing artifacts without completely updating the screen. Yes, and the screen of the type of "electronic paper" is harmless to the eyes, so you can not get tired even with prolonged reading (and when the book captures, you do not want to let go of her hands for long hours).
Clickable:
The reader supports all major book formats without conversion, so you can open a multipage PDF and Gogol’s favorite work in FB2 and even connect to the network library (OPDS catalog). This allows you to access thousands of free books with easy sorting, and four catalogs are already pre-installed. Innovation has become and support for the format FB3, which is still evolving, but has good prospects.
Reading with the built-in OReader is comfortable - almost 90% of the screen takes up a field with text, and the lines with information are placed above and below. You can access the settings while reading by clicking on the center of the screen; all the main parameters, including the screen orientation, are changed. The emphasis is on the most important thing - setting the text. You can change the font by yourself, choose the size (with two fingers it is done as quickly as possible), boldness and much more. You can scroll through the pages with both physical buttons and gestures on the screen - here you already like what you like.
Text navigation is implemented in the top five. In addition to searching by text, you can go to the table of contents or to the desired page. Favorite quotes can be saved, and on special pages also insert bookmarks (you need to touch the triangle in the upper right corner). And if you are fond of reading literature in a foreign language, translate the necessary word in a couple of clicks. To do this, press the "Menu" button, select the dictionary icon, select the word, after which the translation will appear.
To work with the PDF and DjVu formats, you need to use another Onyx Neo Reader embedded application. The interface is almost the same (navigation with buttons or touching the screen, changing the scale of the page with two fingers and so on). You can navigate through the document conveniently using the progress bar. This program is seemingly more minimalistic and somewhat reminiscent of a browser.
Since the presence of Android provides for the installation of any third-party reader, you can always use the same Cool Reader or Kindle application, but the standard OReader solution completely copes with its task. , .
Autonomous work
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Ave!
: ONYX Boox Robinson Crusoe 2 / ONYX BOOX Chronos
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/371175/
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