Around the World with an e-book: a review of ONYX BOOX James Cook 2

“Do at least once what, according to others, you can not afford. After that, you will never pay attention to their rules and restrictions. ”
^{James Cook, English naval sailor, cartographer and discoverer}



By choosing an e-book each is different in its own way Some people think and read thematic forums for a long time, others follow the rule “if you don’t try, you don’t know,” they buy Monte Cristo 4 from ONYX BOOX, and all doubts about the reader’s purchase disappear, after which the device gains its deserved place in a separate compartment of the backpack. After all, it is worth buying an e-book only because it is the only gadget of its kind with which you can make a round-the-world journey on a single charge (but only on a more modern form of transport than Fedor Konyukhov).

The debt calls to tell about another reader, which primarily attracts with its price (7 000 rubles) and the presence of the E Ink Carta screen with the backlight MOON Light +. Today our guest is James Cook, or rather his second iteration.
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No, we have not created a hologram of a famous researcher and discoverer who will read books aloud (although the idea is the place to be) - just the ONYX BOOX brand released the second generation of its reader James Cook. I remember that in 2017, I really liked the first version, even then the manufacturer installed E Ink Carta screens, which did not have worthy counterparts. The more interesting it is to see what James Cook 2 is like (the spoiler is like a “Terminator”, where the second part was even better than the first).

Where does the reader have such a name, where are traditional for many manufacturers notation like “MVF413FX” or at least “5s”? ONYX BOOX approaches to the “names” of its books no less responsibly than to the stuffing and capabilities (Apple calls its operating systems in honor of geographical sights, so why not?), So its readers can be easily identified by the name Robinson Crusoe, Cronos, Darwin , Cleopatra, Monte Cristo, etc. So James Cook got into these rows with a new 6-inch E Ink Carta screen, MOON Light + backlight and battery life, which is enough for at least one expedition of the great navigator. The device is based on a new four-core processor with a clock speed of 1.2 GHz, which provided the operating system speed and reduced the speed of opening books. Thanks to the new hardware platform, battery life (3000 mAh) battery life has increased significantly up to 1 month at an average load.



In general, for a reader of this segment, the adjustment of color temperature is a real luxury: it was only in January of last year that ONYX BOOX was shown by the first reader in Russia with this opportunity (it is named after the Queen of Egypt), and now we see MOON Light + in the budget device. The necessary addition to this is expressed in the face of 512 MB of RAM, which adds to the electronic book of speed, as well as the amount of built-in memory of 8 GB.

3,000 mAh is a decent figure for modern smartphones, which is really revealed when used in an e-book. Through the use of an energy-efficient processor and screen reader can work without recharging up to one month in the mode of average use.

First Expedition: Specs and Package of the ONYX BOOX James Cook 2

The book comes in a beautiful package with a photograph (well, almost) of James Cook, it briefly describes the discoverer and his achievements. The set is modest and of significant elements is a microUSB cable for charging and the reader itself, the cover for them is not put. However, let's not forget that we have a device from the budget segment.

The second expedition: the appearance and features of the screen

The e-book case is traditionally made of matte plastic with a soft-touch coating. Its advantages are that the tactile sensations it causes are very pleasant, and, besides, less sensitive to fingerprints than glossy surfaces. However, to remove the imprint imperceptibly, if it already appeared, it will be difficult. But without a cover to wear - it is a pleasure.





Compared to other e-books, James Cook 2 weighs a little - only 182 g. Dimensions are used almost as efficiently as possible, so the reader remains very compact with a 6-inch screen diagonal. You can easily take a book with you and on a trip on the ship, and on a balloon - what a fantasy is enough for.

If some readers control only the buttons, others only joysticks, then ONYX BOOX offers both. The buttons are located on the sides: they are responsible for turning the pages when reading, and the left one by default gives access to the “Menu” sections (with a long press) and “Back” (with a short one). Given that the screen reader is not touch, the buttons should be responsive and tactilely pleasant, with which there are no problems. Reading and holding an e-book in one hand is also possible without problems.





A five-way joystick, located under the screen, allows you to move between menu items. He also serves as the main navigation tool when reading in embedded applications.

Well, at the bottom of everything, as we used to - a micro-USB port for charging, a slot for a memory card and a power button. In the world tour, of course, moisture protection would be useful (you suddenly have to shout “Polundra!”), But you can hold the steering wheel with one hand and the book with the other, since there are no elements on the other ends, so that the buttons sticking to the side do not interfere with comfortable reading.



For convenience, the buttons can be swapped so that, for example, the previous page opens by pressing the right button. It is also possible to completely change the purpose of the buttons - this can be done in the settings.



Let us leave the controls to the controls, because we are most interested in the screen - it should work well during the night journey, and in the afternoon under the scorching sun somewhere around the island of Hawaii (for Cook, however, this was the last stop, but we are in 2019 year, and the aborigines are not so scary). James Cook 2 is suitable for both: the 6-inch screen has a good resolution; the screen type used is already familiar from other ONYX BOOX E Ink Carta readers. The display may not be the largest, but you can still use it for reading fiction and for documents (all of a sudden, you will want to download the map).



MOON Light + will be an indispensable assistant in the expedition. This is a specially designed type of backlight, with which you can not just adjust the brightness, as in other readers, and change the temperature of the backlight. For warm and cold light, there are 16 divisions of "saturation" that regulate the hue of the backlight. With active backlighting, the maximum brightness of the white field is approximately 215 cd / m².



Let's look at the differences between MOON Light + and the backlight used in other readers using a specific example. In e-books with normal backlighting, the screen simply glows with either white light or white with some shade that does not change the essence. By adjusting the color temperature, the light changes very much, so if you want to read about the adventures of Captain Nemo during twilight, it is better to adjust a more yellow tint with the filtered blue part of the spectrum. This light makes it possible to read in low light conditions: this is especially noticeable before bedtime, when a warm shade is much more pleasant to perceive the eye than a cold one (it’s not for nothing that Apple has a similar Night Shift function; and f.lux has millions of users). With this light you can sit for your favorite piece before going to bed for several hours, and your eyes will not get tired. Well, you will fall asleep faster, because it is cold light that negatively affects the production of the sleep hormone - melatonin.





Isn’t it on ordinary tablets?

Many tablets and smartphones do now offer adjusting the hue of the backlight. The difference of the e-book in this case lies in the type of screen: in the case of OLED and IPS, the light is directed directly into the eyes, so if you read for a long time before going to sleep on the same iPhone, your eyes may start to water or other discomfort will arise. If we talk about E Ink, here the backlight illuminates the screen from the side and does not strike directly into the eyes, which ensures comfortable reading for several hours. In case the expedition does not go according to plan, and will have to be in the role of Robinson Crusoe - not an extra feature.

Why do you need SNOW Field



This is a special mode of operation of the screen, which has become the hallmark of ONYX BOOX readers. Thanks to him, a reduction in the number of artifacts on the E Ink screen is achieved with partial redrawing, which is what often pushes away from buying an e-book. When activated, you can disable in the settings a full redraw while reading simple text documents.

All is well with E Ink, but there is still its own fly in the ointment: its responsiveness leaves much to be desired. For an e-book, the screen is good, including through fine-tuning the temperature, but if you start using the reader for the first time, you will have to get used to it.

Third Expedition: Reading and Interface

The screen resolution of this reader is 800 × 600 pixels: you can forgive if you take into account the price, but after Darwin 6 and MAX 2 I was ready to frown while watching the pixels. Nevertheless, due to well-chosen fonts, pixelation is imperceptible, although a picky reader with an “eagle eye” will be able to find points even where the pixel density is 300-400 per inch.

The impressions from reading are mostly only positive: it is pleasant to look at the letters, they are smooth and clear. SNOW Field removes small artifacts, and an e-paper screen gives you the maximum feeling that you are reading a regular book (but which book can you read without a lamp under a blanket? And this one is possible!). Reader supports all major book formats without conversion, so you can read PDF and Arthur Conan Doyle's favorite work in FB2. Where to get books for such readers is a purely individual question, but it is better to give preference to official sources. Especially now there are a lot of shops in the Network, where electronic versions of books are sold.

For works of art it is most comfortable to use one of two built-in reading applications - OReader. Most of the screen is occupied by text, and if you need to adjust some settings, just go to the menu where you can select options - from orientation and font size to line spacing and page margins. Though I am not an adherent of e-books, I found convenient for flipping through physical buttons, although it is a bit unusual after an iPhone.



If during the reading you need to go to the table of contents or save a quote, it can be done in a couple of clicks.



Access to increase / decrease the font and its quick settings is implemented using the central button on the joystick - press it once and select the desired item.



To fine-tune (line spacing, font type, margins), you must hold down the left scroll button, then select the desired item using the buttons on the joystick - press the left button. Accordingly, if you press another button, the backlight settings menu is activated, etc. Due to the lack of a touch screen control is not the most intuitive, but you can quickly get used to it.





Those who like to read books in English may need to translate one or another word, and here it is done in the most native way (yes, they have already built dictionaries here). Press the central button of the joystick and in the pop-up menu select “Dictionary”, then highlight the desired word with the up / down, left / right buttons near the joystick. After that, the Dictionary application will open, where the translation of the word will appear.





And to work with formats like PDF and DjVu it was even more convenient, there is an additional built-in ONYX Neo Reader application. The interface is almost the same, plus this program looks more minimalistic and somewhat resembles a browser. There are useful functions like automatic page turning (for example, if you are rewriting notes). At the same time, this is clearly not the device with which it is convenient to work with a large amount of documentation, for this it is better to take something like Monte Cristo 4 .





As for the main technical characteristics, in James Cook 2 they are represented by a quad-core processor with a clock frequency of 1.2 GHz and 512 MB of RAM. When the current smartphones already have 8 GB of RAM, this at first glance sounds frivolous, but in fact it is enough for the reader to quickly open the book and flip through the pages, and also quickly perform operations like smooth flipping. Especially during the test, the reader never asked for a forced reboot.

The reader was not surprised by the interface - it's all the same Android, which uses ONYX BOOX in its readers, but with its own shell. The desktop includes several items: "Library", "File Manager", "Applications", "MOON Light" and "Settings". At the top, the battery charge level is displayed, just below - the last open book, after it - recently added ones.





The library stores all the books available on the device, which can be viewed both as a list and as a table or icons (alternatively, the file manager), in the “Applications” section you can find a clock, calculator and dictionary. In the system settings, you can change the date, see the free space, configure the buttons and so on. You can also customize the field of recent documents, automatically open the last book after turning on the device and other useful gadgets. For example, you can set the off time of the reader so that it is not discharged in the background.

We sweep around the world?

If you remember, for James Cook, the third expedition did not end very well, but for the reader, which bears the name of the great discoverer, it has nothing to do. She will easily survive the fourth, and the fifth, and 25th expeditions, the main thing is not to forget to charge her even occasionally (we understand that the battery lasts about a month for average reading activity, but still).

During various interviews they like to ask tricky questions like “what subject would you take with you to an uninhabited island”, etc. If there was a choice to take a box of matches with me, I would certainly prefer James Cook 2 (well, and a survival kit). Of course, now few people go on round-the-world expeditions, we mostly prefer winged multi-ton vehicles, but even there is a place for an e-book, especially if you have two long flights with a night transfer.

I liked the fact that ONYX BOOX added the backlight to the second generation of James Cook (and not the usual, but the advanced MOON Light +), in the first iteration of the reading room this was really not enough. This may be a fundamental factor when choosing this e-book, and of course the price of 7,000 rubles, of course. This is a good option for the first reader with an E Ink screen, with which you can take your favorite works of art with you, read the story to the child for the night (even if this is the ONYX BOOX “My first book” ), and the enthusiast will go on to repeat all three expeditions of James Cook .

Only in Hawaii is better not to call. Well, just in case.