06-25-2019, 02:47 AM
I thought folk might be interested in my results trying out a Boox Max2 with MobileSheets. Firstly the app works perfectly, as expected, usual excellent product. The eInk display customisations work well. My only issues have been with the eInk technology itself. The Book Max2 is an excellent piece of technology - incredibly light and slim, and feels solid nontheless (light presumably because the display tech doesn't require glass). It worked as designed with great battery life. So, fundamentally, my gripes are with the state of the art with eInk displays this size:
- You can't get back-lit displays this large, so its only front lit (like the early eReaders). This means it can be difficult to view under certain lighting conditions (e.g. if its dim in the room). I tried clip-on front lights, but its hard to get a uniform illumination with such a big display (the front lights are designed for "normal" eReaders);
- Page turn is quick, but certainly not as instant as on a normal Android tablet. There is still a noticeable lag from clicking the foot pedal to the new page refreshing and appearing - just too much to not have to think about it. Perhaps I'd get used to this in time;
- The on/off button on this device is on the bottom - and very slightly raised. This means that when I have it on e.g. a Piano, the flat bottom of the music stand is sufficient to push the button and either put it to sleep or re-boot it. I have to raise it on a couple of small rubbers to stop this happening. It would be fine (and the viewing angle is actually better) if you could use it upside down - but I haven't discovered how to let the screen rotate;
- It's grey scale, not colour - this means if you've been annotating your MobileSheets songs, or adding links, they all show up in faint grey - and e.g. if you used "bright yellow" marker, this shows up as quite light grey. Of course this is adjustable - but means you might not find it easy to see them if you simply import your database from a normal android device.
I read rumours that there's a Max3 in the works --- although no specs or dates are available. Adding back-light to the display would have been enough to convince me to keep it - I could overcome or get used to my other gripes
--Andrew
- You can't get back-lit displays this large, so its only front lit (like the early eReaders). This means it can be difficult to view under certain lighting conditions (e.g. if its dim in the room). I tried clip-on front lights, but its hard to get a uniform illumination with such a big display (the front lights are designed for "normal" eReaders);
- Page turn is quick, but certainly not as instant as on a normal Android tablet. There is still a noticeable lag from clicking the foot pedal to the new page refreshing and appearing - just too much to not have to think about it. Perhaps I'd get used to this in time;
- The on/off button on this device is on the bottom - and very slightly raised. This means that when I have it on e.g. a Piano, the flat bottom of the music stand is sufficient to push the button and either put it to sleep or re-boot it. I have to raise it on a couple of small rubbers to stop this happening. It would be fine (and the viewing angle is actually better) if you could use it upside down - but I haven't discovered how to let the screen rotate;
- It's grey scale, not colour - this means if you've been annotating your MobileSheets songs, or adding links, they all show up in faint grey - and e.g. if you used "bright yellow" marker, this shows up as quite light grey. Of course this is adjustable - but means you might not find it easy to see them if you simply import your database from a normal android device.
I read rumours that there's a Max3 in the works --- although no specs or dates are available. Adding back-light to the display would have been enough to convince me to keep it - I could overcome or get used to my other gripes
--Andrew