Verdict
The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is a classy e - reader with an unusually slender and strong build , and it bundle in a decent stylus and a example . However , it lacks a front light source , pack limited memory board , and lacks the performance to make the most of its Google fun Store accession . It finger slightly circumscribe for its request price .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
For most mass , the condition ‘ e - reader ’ is standardized with the term ‘ Kindle ’ , so everlasting is Amazon ’s hold on the industry . Even Kindle ’s biggest rival , Kobo , sticks pretty tight to the Kindle playbook .
Onyx does things other than , and that makes it interesting . Its Boox range of devices get to classy design and Android O underpinnings all part of the core experience , while knock-down note - take aim feature and colour display frequently influence their way in as bonus lineament .
The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 strike three of those four distinguish features , but it goes especially intemperately on the ‘ classy design ’ front . It ’s a 10 - inchE Ink tabletwith a startlingly slight body , a bundled - in stylus and caseful , and even a few AI smartness .
At a not - inconsiderable toll of £ 379.99 / $ 379.99 / € 419.99 , is it enough to break away Amazon ’s hold on your recital clip ?
Design and accessories
Onyx e - readers tend to go above and beyond when it comes to the tactile experience of using e - reader , but the Boox Go 10.3 may just be its most appealing invention yet .
While a step of 235 x 183 mm is decidedly tablet - like , it ’s the strange thinness of the gadget that really take a leak an impression . At just 4.5 millimeter it makes both the pad on your coffee board and the smartphone in your pocket seem downright clumsy . While a weight of 375 gibibyte still feel rather real , it balances out well across such a bombastic surface country .
The anatomy of the Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is immaculate , with an Al frame and a lovesome faux leather back . Thanks to an protracted asymmetrical side bezel , it ’s comfortable to go for in one hand despite its strange dimensions .
The only strong-arm control is a clicky power button on the top edge , while the opposite sharpness contains a USB - C embrasure for recharging and old - school information transfer purposes . This same edge also houses a duo of stereo verbalizer , which are firm for spoken word contentedness ( i.e. audiobooks and podcasts ) , but too thin and skinny for euphony playback .
Every Boox Go 10.3 comes bundled with a bespoke version of the Onyx Boox Pen 2 Plus stylus , which here come with a grippy ridged refinement . It ’s substantially thicker than the pad of paper itself , so it wobbles around rather precariously when magnetically seize to the right - hand side of the e - reader . I felt far more safe stashing it on the back edge of the twist , right behind the larger side bezel .
In usance , this style supply a comfortable committal to writing experience , whether jot down down notes or annotating ebooks , with a comely 4096 degrees of pressure sensitiveness . You get a box seat of five spare marking peak included , too , though I do wonder just how much furious scribbling you ’ll be doing with this most casual of tools to warrant the inclusion of so many spares .
You also get a magnetised compositor’s case included with the Boox Go 10.3 . It works sanely well , with a fake leather close that oppose the back of the Boox Go 10.3 . It ’s far from arrant though , and it can be tricky to visualise out where the magnets array in ordering to attach the due east - lecturer to the case . I ’m also not a huge lover of the clench organisation , which can too - well become detached from the case and lose .
Screen
While the Boox Go 10.3 impress with its invention , it does n’t quite wow with its display in the same direction as last year’sOnyx Boox Tab Ultra C.
This is no colouring screen , unlike the aforementioned Ultra C , but rather a fairly distinctive tocopherol Ink Carta 1200 black and white e - paper display with a resolution of 2480 × 1880 . With a very honorable pixel density of 300ppi , it produces laconic and readable text that ’s barely distinguishable from print .
The fact that this is n’t a colour presentation really is n’t a drawback to my mind . Such colour E Ink display incline to have a severely restrain palette , and anyone looking for a comic reader would probably be better off with an iPad or equivalent tablet .
If there ’s one glaring issue with the Boox Go 10.3 presentation , it ’s that it does n’t have any form of front light . Your mileage will vary as to how much of an issue this is , but there ’s no denying that this has become a standard feature among much cheaper due east - readers . With an asking damage of around £ 400 , its omission is somewhat unforgivable .
The payoff for this omission is two - fold . For one thing , it enable that body to be as impossibly skinny as it is . Personally , I would choose a somewhat wooden-headed physical structure and some grade of front light source , but it ’s clearly a deliberate conclusion from Onyx , and it adds a neat degree of pick to the wider reach depending on your precedence .
This lack of a front light also mean that there ’s much less of an obvious crack between the text and the top deoxyephedrine , which arguably score it feel more immediate and print - like . If what you ’re looking for in an e - reader is a actual refilling for physical books , that ’s arguably the most important thing that it could provide .
I did distinguish the eld - old job of ghosting from time to time , whereby late projection screen schoolbook would continue to show through for a metre . It never blight my interpretation experience within ebooks , though , which is the independent thing .
Performance and software
Onyx has used an nameless 2.4Ghz Octa - core processor to function the Boox Go 10.3 , backed by 4 GB of RAM . Whatever the constituent , it produces a slow , laggy experience that will be all too familiar to anyone who ’s ever used an e - reader .
Part of the problem is that the Boox Go 10.3 , like late Onyx e - reader , is a bit of a cross . Despite having all the trappings of a regular e - reader , it runs on a version of Android 12 , like a veritable ( if slightly old and creaky ) tablet .
Onyx has gone to great pain to slim down the UI to put the bare lower limit of nervous strain on that limited ironware , but the fact remains that navigate through the various menu and apps is an practice in solitaire . The authoritative aspect of navigating through individual book is n’t so spoiled , but even here there ’s a slight intermission when tapping between simple pages of text .
The benefit of having that weighty Android OS underpinning everything is accession to Google Play Services , and more in particular the Google Play Store . This intend that you do n’t have to make do with the rather determine ebook store that comes bundled with the Boox Go 10.3 , but can download Amazon ’s Kindle app and the vast ecosystem of digital and audiobooks that entails . you’re able to also access Google ’s own Play Books services , and the thousands of other provision that live on on this pop app storage .
Together with the ability to side - load ebooks and medium from across some 25 digital formats , include PDF , CAJ , DJVU , CBR , CBZ , EPUB , AZW3 , MOBI , TXT , DOC , DOCX , and FB2 , the Onyx Boox Go 10.3 rise to be a gravely flexible document proofreader . It also makes it big for download and go through podcasts and audiobooks ( WAV and MP3 files are also supported ) , in particular with those aforementioned stereo speakers onboard . Bluetooth connectivity also lets you hook up your headphones .
Onyx has also jumped onboard the AI bandwagon , with a couple of AI tools include . That includes access to OpenAI ’s GPT-3 chat tool , which can answer whatever questions you have in a natural way via the cloud . Do I want my e - reader to be able to do these things ? Not when I have a much faster and more responsive smartphone in my scoop , no , but it ’s there and it works .
With all this media potential , the provision of 64 GB of storage seems a little meagre , especially with no microSD expansion slot . It would have been nice to see a baseline 128 GB , especially at this high-flown cost . But if you ’re keeping things fairly wakeful , as Onyx clearly want you to do here , it ’s fine .
This is n’t simply an eastward - reviewer , of course of study . It ’s also a note - taking creature , courtesy of that bundled stylus . There ’s a consecrated Notes chit available from the home screen , which offers a reach of pen and drawing tools . you’re able to stick in schoolbook boxes , have your doodle interpret to digital text , and more .
That Google act Store also grants you access to other note and sketch apps , of form , though the aforesaid performance bottleneck renders many of them unusable . I loaded up the popular Sketchbook app , and the delay between my pen apoplexy and the resulting marks appearing on cover was excruciating .
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Should you buy it?
The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 gives you a full - sized 10.3 - inch vitamin E Ink display , but in a top-notch - underweight 4.5mm - thick soundbox .
With no mannequin of front light whatsoever , the Onyx Boox Go 10.3 postulate you to supply your own lighting , whether natural or artificial .
Final Thoughts
The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is an interesting take on the classical Es - reader , but its priorities seem a piddling confused . It ’s a exchange premium full - sized eastward - reader with a stylish , skinny body , yet it lack introductory functions like a front light .
It issue you with a nice stylus and access to the Google Play Store , but does n’t have the carrying out to run anything beyond the lightest of apps .
Reading record on that unobstructed E Ink screen is a pleasure , and being capable to get at einsteinium - books from right across the wider ecosystem feels genuinely authorise . It ’s a disgrace there ’s a relative lack of storage potentiality , however .
All in all , the Boox Go 10.3 is a posh bit of kit , but you might justifiably gestate a more complete e - lector offering this close to £ 400 .
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How we test
We test every vitamin E - reader we review good . We use the equipment over the review point . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to look back a product .
FAQs
Yes , the Onyx Boox Go 10.3 ship with both a style and a vitrine .
