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New Look at the Onyx Boox T68 E-ink Android Tablet – 6.8″ Screen, Android 4.0

If youonyx boox t68 1 thought Kobo was the only one with a 6.8″ ebook reader then you’re in for a shock. Charbax caught up with Onyx a few weeks ago at the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair and got us our second look at the Onyx Boox T68.

This device, which I first reported on last October, runs Android 4.0 on a 1GHz Freescale CPU. It’s been under development for nearly a year now, and according to one of my sources it is just about ready to enter mass production (this confirms what is said in the video).

The T68 is in many ways an Android tablet, and with a weight of around 250 grams it has the mass of one as well. It comes with a frontlight and touchscreen, and under the hood it packs in 512MB RAM, 4GB Flash storage, a microSD card slot, a headphone jack, Wifi, and Bluetooth.

Best of all. the Boox T68 is equipped with a 6.8″ Pearl E-ink screen – the same screen as on the Kobo Aura HD.This screen has a resolution of 1440 x 1080, and it also features E-ink’s latest partial and full screen refresh tech.

The video is rather short, but at least it does tell us that the T68 should enter mass production in June.

Later in the video Charbax gets his hands on the M96. This is Onyx’s newest 9.7″ device, and it too runs Android 4.0 on a 1GHz CPU. And like the T68, it will ship with Google Play and access to all the apps sold there.

There is no guarantee that the apps will work on either device, but just the possibility that they could work adds a lot of value to what would otherwise be a very expensive ebook reader.

Boox T68 product listing

 

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Comments


Nighty May 4, 2014 um 2:13 pm

The fact that it uses Android could also be beneficial to people who already have a kindle or Kobo library (or nook or whoever) since they can install the app and have it download the books automatically and sync between devices making it almost like having dedicated ereaders from those companies (though, at least with Kobo, the app is inferior to the Kobo hardware).


Rafa? May 5, 2014 um 5:59 am

Having Android on board is very useful for a foreign language learner who should consider buying the device. You could use multiple dictionaries tailored to your needs (Fora, Goldendict, Colordict) available while reading. Also, you could use a number of flashcard software: Anymemo, Anki, Teach2000, to name a few. Much better than all those Kindles, Kobos, Nooks, etc.


Juan Luis Chulilla May 5, 2014 um 6:04 am

As I told you in twitter, is the most promising ereader of the last 24 months. Although last kindle has a superb display, the functionality is the very same of 5 years ago. They are not interested in nothing else

But it is going to implement BT 2.0 and 4.0. Maybe USB port is OTG. The probabilities of pairing with a BT or USB keyboard are quite good, although we’ll have to wait and see.

Nate Hoffelder May 5, 2014 um 7:23 am

Same functionality?

Except for Kindle Cloud, Print Ready, KF8, X-Ray, TTS, Goodreads integration, and digital comics. Should I go on?

Juan Luis Chulilla May 5, 2014 um 8:43 am

You are right except TTS, which was implemented at least three years go.

OTOH KF8, Print Ready and digital comics are not very, very related with kindle e-ink reader, but with fire platform

Anyhow, paperwhite is not essentially different to my kindle DX. Quality has improved a lot, sure, and cloud is really nice, but it is still just an ereader. Possibly the best implemented ereader, with annotate and mark functions, but basically a passive appliance.

You cannot write with it. You cannot produce texts or interact properly with its webbrowser because of its limited virtual keyboard. Almost nobody develops for it.

And indeed it is a theoretical tablet. If not for the closures, a lot of more functionality could be added to an ereader, specially to those Android-based an with the last partial refreshing made by eInk. Of course it cannot compete with a tablet on general terms, but it has very valuable properties: autonomy, readability under the sun, huge decrease of eye-strain, etc.

Whateveragain May 5, 2014 um 3:25 pm

X-Ray struck me as a gimmick.

TTS? The Kindle doesn’t have text-to-speech if that’s what you mean.

Nate Hoffelder May 5, 2014 um 5:08 pm

It did, actually. But you’re right that Amazon took it back out again when they dropped sound from the Kindle Paperwhite and basic Kindle.


Whateveragain May 5, 2014 um 3:27 pm

Both the Onyx look awesome. Amazing OS and software functionality, and 6.8 and 9.7 inch screens? The E-reader Gods hate N.America.


Onyx Book T68 | Quoi lire ? May 5, 2014 um 3:58 pm

[…] Source : The Digital Reader. […]


Whateveragain May 5, 2014 um 4:06 pm

Full Specs listed at: http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2014/05/04/onyx-boox-t68-and-m96-android-ebook-readers-video/

Display: 6.8? E Ink Pearl V220
Resolution: 1440 x 1080
Touchscreen: Capacitive (two point)
Operating System: Android 4.0 (comes with Google Play)
Battery: 1700mAh Polymer Li-on
4GB internal storage space
MicroSD card slot for cards up to 32GB
Frontlight
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
3.5mm headphone jack
Cortex-A9 1GHz processor
512MB RAM
Supported eBook formats: PDF, EPUB, (Adobe DRM) TXT, DJVU, HTML, RTF, FB2, DOC, MOBI, CHM, PDB
Dimensions: 194.2 x 132 x 8.8mm
Weight: 250 grams

It’s an e-ink tablet, not a mere reader. I wonder if it supports non-flash e-ink so it can play Angry Birds. I recall a video of a previous of Onyx showing this functionality out-of-the-box.

Nate Hoffelder May 5, 2014 um 4:19 pm

I already linked to a page with the full specs.


Leonid May 7, 2014 um 5:12 pm

They already sell the M96 in Russia and it’s available for ordering.


Marcello May 23, 2014 um 9:38 am

Here’s another video, the Boox t68 has been presented at the Book Fair in Turin (Italy)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rsZiMeUB8M

Nate Hoffelder May 23, 2014 um 9:46 am

Thanks!


Onyx Boox T76SML eReader Launches in Russia – 6.8" Screen, Android 4.0, $261 – The Digital Reader May 27, 2014 um 4:08 pm

[…] The Onyx Boox T76SML Nefertiti might have a confusing name but it is for all intents and purposes a cut-down version of theT68 ereader that Onyx has been teasing us with. […]


Erik Vaughn Stott June 1, 2014 um 3:15 am

I have it. And, it’s awesome. I spent all my, Chinese translation power, to get one, sent to the United States. I got the E-43, phone too. It’s so cool. Not a miracle phone, but still worth the fun, joy, and, awesomeness.


Morey Altman June 2, 2014 um 8:31 am

I have the Onyx M92 9.7″ e-ink reader and I love it. Hundreds of books at my disposal, and the battery lasts for weeks instead of hours. Onyx readers also open every format, including PDFs and Word Docs.

Leonid June 2, 2014 um 9:06 am

Note that the M92 is fron the old Linux-based series of readers. Onyx have recently switched to Android to be the OS in their devices. While an open Android has it’s benefits (I’m a huge fan – I have an Android-based Onyx), in the first Android versions (for example the Android equivalent of M92 – the M96) the battery time is terrible (some people report only 3-5 days of usage when frontlight and wifi are on while reading). In T68 Onyx have introduced a new, more power-efficient CPU. We’ll have to wait and see if it solved the problem.


Miakoda Combies December 26, 2014 um 5:48 am

Someone close to me is an avid reader, and currently owns a nook. Her nook is starting to have issues (she’s had it a long time and it’s been through very heavy use) and this might be something I get for her. She could get her full nook library, be able to read articles on e-ink, and gain access to other book stores. She uses a tablet for things like facebook and email, but she really only uses it for text based things. This might be a good option for her.


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