foreign [Music] folks, welcome back to my channel. So a little over a year ago, I did a video that was a little bit different from my normal stuff. I did a like top-down comparison review of this um Android e-reader. Uh, this is the Onyx Books Poke 3. Um, and I was comparing it to my nine-year-old Kindle that had finally stopped being usable. Um, and I had seen someone talk about an Android-based digital ink e-reader, and that really intrigued intrigued me because I, I as much as I love the Kindle functionality, I wanted to be able to read. I didn't want to be locked into acquiring books through Kindle. Um, so I took a chance, I bought it. I did a little in-depth review. That video to this day remains my most watched video. I get more reviews per month of that video than I do of all of my other videos combined. It's wild. Anyway, um, it's a little bit late, but as promised, here is my one-year update of reading this. I think one year would have

actually been like end of June, beginning of July. It's now the end of August. You know, for me, that's we're doing pretty good. So I have a few notes following up on some things, um, and addressing like some questions I may have gotten in the comments. Um, I do, I'm absolutely going to link that original review video in the description box below, along with I think I had two like tech review channels who had reviews of, um, this e-reader that I had found very helpful when I was deciding whether or not to buy this. And I will have those linked, um, and also in my original, um, video, there's some very useful comments. There's people, other people who, um, have this model or have a similar or have another version of, um, a tablet from this company, um, and they talk about the way they use it and how some things are different, and they talk about some of the more in-depth Tech stuff. Because I'm, for the record, this is a casual review. I am not a tech reviewer. I am usually very

chaotic, disorganized book reviewer. Um, but, um, but hopefully, this is still a good starting point if you're just curious about having an Android-based e-reader. Um, so just like to give an overview. What I mean by Android-based is, uh, it's all apps. So, I have the Kindle app, Kobo app, NetGalley, Libby, my must-reads. And then if I go down into Library, down in this corner, I also have books I have downloaded directly to this device. This company does make color versions, and I've heard that these tablets are pretty good if you read a lot of digital copies of like manga or graphic novels. Um, I had my personal experience with that, but throwing that out there if that appeals to you. So, all right, let's just go down my notes. Um, first thing I say is I am able to read about three, three and a half books on a single charge. Um, and I have a little bit of backlight going just to counteract any glare from like lamps or daylight or whatever.

um, it is digital ink, so it is very like direct sunlight friendly. Um, you know, and I'm a pretty fast reader, and I tend to read the majority of my books. Tend to be between like three and four hundred pages on average. I definitely read a whole Spectrum, but just for someone who can read, you know, an average of two to three books a week, probably read about three books on a single charge. Um, and that's not necessarily back-to-back. That's, you know, I read a book, I put it down, and I read a physical book and pick this up like a week and a half later and read another two books. I have a note that I miss turning pages with my left hand with a tap. That was something that my um, my Kindle hat is. If I was holding it in my left hand and I just like tapped in the middle of the page, it would turn the page. But this one, I have to swipe it. Um, after a year, I've gotten pretty used to it. I know they make like you like it's basically just like a

Bluetooth remote that you can use for any device with Bluetooth. And I thought about getting a remote to turn pages. Not just I have tendonitis and I have like wrist issues. So sometimes trying to like hold something and swipe it is just this. It's not excruciating but it's annoying. But it's annoying. So I thought about getting a remote. It's also nice to be like all snuggly under your blankets and not have to like reach an arm out into cold winter air to turn a page. I haven't played around with the remote yet. But what I have done that has helped is for Christmas I got this thing. It's called Flippy. Um, I had seen another YouTuber I follow, Lady Love Said Reads, say that she got this as a gift and it was really useful for her for holding very large books. This is just like a cushion. The I mostly use it in bed. Um, just to have a good angle. But basically like it holds your e-reader, iPad, very large book. And just puts less strain on your hands.

find that this helps a lot. None of this is sponsored. What was I saying? I don't know, sorry y'all. Um, anyway, so I found that since I have that cushion, I haven't really thought about that Bluetooth remote like that. I think if I had the remote, I would use it. Um, but I think, uh, that this cushion helping me not, um, have to hold it and reach and swipe as much has helped a lot. In my original video, I didn't have my case yet, but this is the case I ended up getting. There weren't a lot of case options, but this one, it's pretty bulky. It has a little magnet in it, so it, you know, it puts it to sleep when I close it and then turns it on when I open it. And on the back, it has this elastic strap. I kind of wish it was in the middle so it was easier to like hold it with my left hand, but it's fine with my right. And then this is useful. It has a little, um, kickstand. And I actually find like if

I'm eating. Um, it's as useful to like put at my desk and have my book up here while I'm eating, and then I can just reach over and turn the page. Um, so, so I like the case. I like that it's pretty bulky, and I, you know, if I do drop it or just throw it in my bag and kick it around, I know that the device is protected. The only thing is the edging is fairly thick, and it does interfere with like the swipe up, some of the side swipe options. So pretty much any of those options you can, um, move to this little floating ball menu. You see these little things that pop up. So after a year, I totally forget that, um, the case impedes some functionality because I found a workaround, um, but that's something to note that this particular case, it, you know, there's some like swipe up, like swipe up from the corner, from the middle, from the other corner. You can customize like those swipe options, but, um, this case in particular interferes with that Precision since that last.

review, I have downloaded Google Play. I was able to download my must-reads. I haven't purchased a book from there yet, so I can't really speak to things like font size and image ghosting yet. If you don't know what my must-reads is, it's the ebook retail partner of bookshop.org, which is like one of the largest independent booksellers, kind of a competitor to Amazon. I find that most the books don't have an ebook option through my must-reads, but if you are very much an ebook reader and you want options besides Kindle, my must-reads is another one that's out there. I just haven't had a chance to buy a book and make it. I haven't had a chance. I just haven't gotten around to making an account and buying a book and seeing what that reading experience is like on here. Comparing the reading apps I do use, I mostly use these days Kindle, NetGalley.

and the device. I have also read some stuff on Kobo, but I haven't um or just purchased anything from them in a while. So the thing with Kindle is if I touch into Kindle, it does go to the page of the last thing I was reading. The device Library will do the same thing, uh, Kobo will always take you to your library, um, so it's one more step, it's one more touch, and one more load to get back into what you were reading. And I think the same with netgalley, oops, yeah, netgalley will also take you to your downloads Library, um, it won't go directly into what you were reading, um, and as you just saw there, there's quite a bit of lag sometimes, and I do feel like the lag has gotten worse in the past year. It's not to the point where it's unreadable, but it is noticeable, and it's definitely more than what I was experiencing on my Kindle when my Kindle was functioning perfectly, um. What else, let's see if you're in the Kindle app, if

you own the book. You can access it from multiple devices. So, like, I can be reading a Kindle book I own on this, and then also open the Kindle app on my phone and look at it. If you're reading a borrowed library book, you have to send it to - you have to tell um your content menu in your Amazon account to send it to a specific device, and then you're locked into that specific device. And I made the mistake of like sending something to my Kindle, which is like my old Kindle instead of this device, and then I had to like cancel my loan and re-borrow it in order to resend it to this device. Talking about NetGalley, if you don't know what NetGalley is, it's a platform to get early advanced copies for review. Um, you can get both um e-books and audiobooks, and that's the app where I seem to have the most issues. Um, I can't seem to get the email to Kindle to work, so I can't read stuff in my Kindle app. I don't have a functioning

Kindle device. So I don't know if it works there. I see a lot of formatting issues to the point where there are some um arcs that I can't read on this. I have to read it on my phone. I don't know if it's like an issue with a digital ink or the Android version or something, but I will have like fonts where like every eighth letter is randomly capitalized um or like the image ghosting is so bad that like it just becomes like an almost matte gray screen um. I can't seem to adjust the page refresh in the netgalley app um. I think most of my other gripes with the netgalley app have to do with the app and not necessarily its functionality on here, but I have found that especially like formatting stuff. If I if something feels very difficult to visually read on netgalley on this device, I move it to my phone and it works just fine there. Okay. I mentioned that the lag seems to be getting worse um. I have started seeing some

um glitches and force closing of the Kindle app. I'll be reading something, I'll be like have a ride like two pages, and it'll just exit out and go back to the main app screen. I particularly notice it when I've been like off Wi-Fi and then back on Wi-Fi, and it's like updating Library loans, like it's getting rid of loans that have expired and downloading new stuff. And it just, it's like there's too much going on and it just can't stay in what I'm reading. Um, so that's super annoying. Um, I do find that just a forced restart seems to fix the problem for several weeks, and I don't know if I demonstrated this in my other video, but that is just I press and hold the power button up here, and then you get this menu of power off, restart, or standby. Um, so as always with tech, when in doubt, turn it off and on again. Um, but it's still really annoying to just settle down to read and be like I have to weigh in.

the start, um, and like, then the restart takes a minute. Um, oh, I do have to say this is my, um, I do like that you can, like, customize your off-screen and your standby screen. I have a series of, um, steampunk zodiac signs, so that brings me joy. Last final questions, like, do I regret purchasing it? Would I repurchase it again? I don't regret purchasing it. I think it does enough of what I want, um, and it works fine. Uh, financially, I was able to kind of take a chance, like, make a calculated decision to take a chance on this thing, and I think it worked out. Um, I think I would not purchase this model again. I would look, definitely look at reviews of some of the, like, color versions, um, and just see if the operating system runs more smoothly in those. Um, I've seen a couple people make comments, but like, just the operating systems that this brand uses on their devices is just never gonna run as smoothly as like a Kindle or, um, an up-to-date like a brand new like.

Android phone or something. Um, so there's that. I think hopefully this lasts me a good long time. I think whenever it does come time for me to repurchase an e-reader, I'm gonna look really, really closely at um an iPad Mini because I think that's going to do everything that I want. It's going to work more smoothly, um, and I probably won't have the formatting issues like what I have in um netgalley. Um, the big, the big thing, like the reason I wanted to try this one rather than just getting an iPad is um the digital ink ability to not have eye strain while we're like reading in sunlight. And I'm, I know that um, you know you can really like turn up the brightness on an iPad to be able to read in bright light, but then what does that do to the battery? But you know what, if the cost of having a device that works more smoothly is that I just need to charge it more frequently, I think that's fine. Um, but I probably would like see if I have if I have a

friend or someone who's got an iPad mini, and see if I can have them meet me in a park and let me play around with it, or if they would let me borrow it for like a week to play around with it. Um, so either that, or a secondhand Kindle is also an option of not being, you know, completely tied in and locked into all things Amazon, but you know, with the Kindle, I wouldn't, I just wouldn't have the flexibility of being able to purchase ebooks from other places. Um, I would be curious if, like I mentioned, I would be curious if the netgalley sent to Kindle would actually work on a newer Kindle device. Um, but yeah, I'm like, you know what, for me, for the way I use it, it's like, I think, um, I just rewatched my original review video, and I said, like, I'm super happy with it, and now I'm like, I'm happy with it, I'm happy with it, I will use it until it starts lagging so

bad or doesn't charge anymore or whatever. Like, I'll get my use out of it. Um, but my feelings that have definitely cooled down a little bit. Okay, so there's that. Um, let me know if you have some more specific questions, and I'll see if I can answer them. And again, I will link my original review video and like the other review videos that I had used in purchasing this. You know, I can't promise I will in-depth answer every single question. You know, if you're gonna ask me to buy a certain type of document to see if it works on here, like, no, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna do a thing that is outside of the way I already use it. Um, but if it's just like poking around and seeing if I can find a specific menu option for this thing, sure. Okay, um, anyway, I hope that is useful for you. And if you have like other solutions for how you read ebooks and digital content that is not being locked into purchasing a brand new Kindle from.

Amazon let me know. Let me know. I hope you have a good rest of your day. I encourage you to go out into the world and be curious. And I will catch you folks in my next video. Bye. [Music] [Music]

1 Year Update: Onyx Boox Poke 3 Android Ereader

Hi! My name is Lali and my pronouns are she/her.
Chatting about my hobbies- mostly books, conscious consumerism, occasionally decluttering, whatever strikes my fancy.
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1 Year Update: Onyx Boox Poke 3 Android Ereader

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