Nice device (Note Air), poor software
Yes, a fine device. I have a Boox Note Air. But the software is pretty awful when you actually sit down to use it. For some reason in early 2021 it's still ok for this to happen -- make a nice device, load it with software that hasn't been through rigorous "usability" testing. What you have in the Onyx Boox operating system (an Android version) is a patchwork of interfaces that do the same things, but in different ways, layouts and workflows. It's quite annoying and quite clear that multiple programmers had their hands in it all, each with their own idea of how to implement things. If you're in the Notes area, there's a simple and useable UI. But move over to the vaunted NeoReader and you're in for a nightmare of mish-mashed toolbars and icons top and bottom that make your head spin. And then there are odd third UIs that show up when certain pop-ups happen. In the end, it's an unnecessary mess. My advice to Onyx, invest in cleaning up and unifying the numerous UIs that exist on the device. And, let's not even get into their horrible spelling and language usage errors that pepper all of it -- a product of English not being the first language of this device's creators. Nor, the non-standard ways of logging into their bizarre online cloud system with nomenclatures that require looking up, studying and trial by error. I'm still within my 15 day free-return window and am in doubt about whether I'll keep it, though I know there's little real competition in this market.
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Official comment
Hello Greg,
Thanks for your feedback. Apology for any inconvenience that has caused.
We will transfer your feedback and request to our technical team to see if they could improve it in the near future. Thank you for your attention.
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I couldn't agree more, I have seen many versions come and go, and even though there are improvements, there are many things that get worse, and over time it diverges more and more from android, plus, quality-wise it is much much worse than most softwares out there (by most I mean, really most).
Really, it is that bad imo.
If you guys are concerned about the costs of improving the system, imo, simple: open source. I guarantee that it would get much better. Yes, there is the licensing "problem", but honestly guys, if you are in it for the long haul, software is your weak point.
This is how I see things:* Open source the software, listen to the community, let the community help (could be difficult for people to let go though)... but, more energy to focus on what you guys do best: the devices.
* Rethink/rewrite the whole thing (risky), I think this would also mean a huge shift on how you guys handle and think about software development (extremely difficult to do, could takes years).
I don't know what is your business model guys, I am technical mostly (software engineer), but looking from outside, that is what I see, I hope my input can help somehow..... for sure it won't change a thing though :D
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I would like to add my vote here for spending some serious time unifying and streamlining the whole software and ui. I'm really glad that I bought supernote for the wife instead, because she has no time or background for guessing how software might work.
And I am glad that I got my Note, but I just can't recommend boox to anyone who isn't at a level 8 or more in tech mastery. I feel like I'm back in a playtesting job. Boox platform gets the job done but as soon as the task changes a bit there's a constant grinding of teeth.
You might seriously consider making some things open source. The software already feels like it's running on a raspberry pi, except that recent pi desktops are more cohesive, thanks to open source contributors.
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Agree with all the above and also would be happy to see A massive update to software.
In its current state, there are a lot of improvements to make.
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