I have been instilled in reading books since childhood, so I have always been enrolled in the library since school. But in our time, the library fund is replenished quite rarely, and it is not always convenient to carry books with you. Therefore, the use of an e-book greatly simplifies the reading process. And the possibilities of modern e-books have expanded significantly. And now it is a multifunctional device with Internet access, listening to music and much more.
Specifications
- screen — 6″, E-Ink Carta with a resolution of 1024 * 758 and support for 16 shades of gray. Capacitive touch screen with support for Multi-touch and SNOW Field;
- built-in backlight — MOON Light 2;
- processor — 4-core with a frequency of 1.2 GHz;
- memory — RAM 512 MB / built-in 8 GB;
- memory expansion slot — microSD / microSDHC;
- wired connection interface — USB-C (there are versions with the ability to connect via micro USB);
- support for graphic and text, music file formats — TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, FB3, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, DOCX, PRC, EPUB, CBR, CBZ, PDF, DjVu, JPG, PNG, GIF , BMP, WAV, MP3;
- wireless interfaces — Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1;
- built-in non-removable battery — Li-ion 3000 mAh;
- pre-installed operating system — Android 4.4;
- body color — black;
- cover — included;
- case size — 156 * 112.5 * 8.8 mm;
- weight — 160 g.
Packaging and equipment
Laconic white cardboard box on a magnetic fastener. There is a minimum of information on the case. And only the inscription confirms the content. On the side there is a sticker with the serial number of the device, and on the back there are full technical specifications. And in addition, key points are highlighted, which are duplicated on the screen at the moment it is turned off.
Under the magnetic latch is the book itself with a cover. It certainly looks spectacular, as the brown finish is combined with a plastic case.
Deeper in the box you can find the power cord and connection to the computer and a small instruction. By the way, it is only in Russian, which once again shows that these products are fully adapted to Russian-speaking users.
The wire for powering and charging the built-in battery is already Type-C, although there are no fast charging protocols. The length of the wire is about 1 meter, and the insulation is rubber.
The instruction is quite detailed and includes a huge amount of information, as the book is really functional compared to ordinary readers.
Appearance
Taking the book in hand, you can feel the pleasant good quality of the materials. The brown trim looks like leather, but this is most likely a substitute, but the edges are finished with quality and do not stand out anywhere. The cover covers the screen and the sides, and only the top and bottom are open. Because there are controls and installation of additional memory.
The top cover is magnetic and won’t open on its own. The magnetic properties are quite good. On the front of the book is a screen and a physical control button. And two additional keys are displayed on the case. Therefore, if you remove it, the case will be slightly smaller and more compact. The signal from the buttons is transmitted to the book through spring-loaded contacts on the back.
Using the book without these keys is, in principle, possible because the touch screen is quite functional than they are. On the back side, the serial number and power parameters are duplicated.
The power button is located on the top edge. On the bottom there is a Type-C power connector and a slot for installing a microSD memory card.
Shell
The e-book is preinstalled with the Android 4.4.4 operating system, which allows you to get a kind of tablet out of it, but with electronic ink in the form of a screen. In principle, this does not scare or repel, since the battery saves energy, and the contrast is good. More detailed information can be found in the «settings» section, but more on that below.
After turning on, the last read book and the reading progress are displayed on the screen. And just below the entire library loaded into the book is displayed sorted by authors and other filters. Of course, by clicking on a specific item, you can get into more detailed filters. Mode shortcuts are located at the top and bottom (which can be activated immediately with a quick tap).
I liked that the backlight can be turned on from any operating mode or while reading books. It is located at the top in the form of a «bulb» label. In total, 3 modes are preset with the possibility of self-editing.
The library includes all the works uploaded to the e-book, and they must be placed in the appropriate “books” folder. There are also filters by writers, genres, titles.
The internal memory tab displays the corresponding section of memory available for file manipulation without harm to the device. Usually there is access to books, music and graphic files.
The display of books can be configured by title, resolution. Here they can be edited, selected, deleted, moved to another folder. The functionality is quite large and outwardly resembles the work of a regular tablet on Android. But here it has its own shell optimized for an e-book.
Here you can also see ZIP archives with books. It is not necessary to unpack them, you can read them directly from the archives and the book will be included on the last read page after opening. This is quite handy if you have a large library.
Applications include various pre-installed programs. Just below you can see exactly the stock state. For me personally, labels have become relevant:
- download — since files get into it after downloading to the tablet. In the future, you can transfer to other folders;
- browser — for browsing the Internet and checking mail, although mail can be configured in the appropriate section;
- music — the usual simplest player. Reads quite a lot of different music files;
- dictionary — file translator (it is also updated).
Settings, quite a big item. In general, this section partially duplicates the menu items of the usual android. Therefore, anyone who has ever set up devices on the Android operating system will not cause any difficulties.
First about the device. Here is the version of the sensor, and the setting of the buttons. The function is convenient, as it allows you to choose the best values. Moreover, each button can perform up to two actions, depending on a short or long press.
I think it’s not worth considering all the items, since they are one-pagers and allow you to configure, for example, the language or date / time.
So let’s move on to setting up a wireless connection. After all, thanks to him, you can go online and download new works without connecting to a computer. Determines WiFi pretty quickly, the password is entered adequately. The reception in the apartment is excellent.
Applications and system update. It is precisely in these paragraphs that the settings for installing applications from unverified sources are contained. Yes, and all actions with applications. Well, accordingly, the update is made with an appeal to the manufacturer’s website. Although you can install the update manually. To do this, download the update for your device from the site and add it to the memory card / to the root of the device. The next time you turn it on, the book will prompt you to update.
In work
It makes no sense to talk about viewing angles, since this is electronic ink and they do not change color and brightness depending on which angle to look at. Everything is quite clearly visible even with the backlight on.
Yes, the book is indeed omnivorous and capable of opening various formats of widely used text files. But in addition, it also digests archive files. Moreover, it opens them quite quickly and remembers the last read page. The second and subsequent opening of the file is much faster.
While reading, there is the ability to change the scale of the page, the size of the text, page inversion and other features. But I especially liked the text playback function. Thus, you can not read, but listen to an e-book in voice performance. There is also a translator here. The database is updated when connected to the Internet.
Read the book, now you can listen to music. To do this, download your favorite songs and turn on Bluetooth. Wireless headphones are detected almost instantly. Adjust the volume with the side buttons up or down. In principle, music can also be played through online applications and online radio on the site.
Using the book you can crawl on the Internet. Why crawl, because it seems to load quickly, but still the pages open a little slower than on a regular tablet or smartphone. Although scrolling without strong jerks.
Small presentation
findings
The ONYX BOOX Volta 3 e-book is a bright representative of the world of electronic devices for reading on the E-Ink Carta (electronic paper) screen. 6 inches is enough for comfortable reading, and this device takes up very little space, while already in the case. Built-in MOON Light 2 with the ability to manually adjust or turn on already 3 settings. Wireless interfaces allow unlimited access to music and audiobooks and at the same time use a full-fledged browser.
Still, Android devices are more functional than their counterparts, but perhaps slightly slower, but this is not certain.