Onyx Boox M92 review

Sometimes a 6 ″ reader is not enough and, for various reasons, we are looking for something bigger. However, although at 6 ″ we have a great variety of readers, when we talk about something bigger the number is greatly reduced and the price increases exponentially. In a small world of large format readers there are three that have taken the lead: the Kindle DX, the PocketBook Pro 912 and the Onyx Box M92.

Today we have to analyze the Onyx Box M92, a large format reader, versatile and with a more than remarkable quality.

We will start with the basics, Technical specifications:

• 9,7 ″ e-link pearl display
• Grayscale - 16 levels
• Processor - 800 Mhz
• Storage capacity - 4 GB expandable by SD card in another 32 GB
• Battery - 1.600 mAh Lithium Polymer
• Wifi 802.11 b / g / h
• USB - 2.0
• Weight - 528 grams
• Measurements - 241x178x11 millimeters
• Audio Out for Audiobooks (3,5mm Stereo)
• Touch screen (with stylus)
• Firmware version (factory default) - 1.6.20111213

We can buy it in two colors, white or black and, although the manufacturer does not update the firmware appropriately (neither adequately, nor in any way), the community, and especially the distributor German brand bring continuous improvements in updates.

One of the biggest advantages over the Kindle DX is that the Onyx sold in Europe, with European guarantee and with a more than acceptable support from some of its distributors. In that sense, one of the best-rated sellers is www.ereader-store.de, although we can also buy it in other online stores.

Inside the box we can find the reader with its cover (which, although not particularly pretty, conveniently protects the reader), a stylus (It only supports this specific type of pencil and it is not exactly a cheap accessory), USB cable (standard microUSB) and adapter for current.

The outward appearance is very attractive, It reminds me a bit of the iPad. Is very intuitive in operation, both through the buttons and through the on-screen menu with the stylus. The interface in Spanish with the original firmware is terrible, but it has improved a lot with successive versions. A very sharp screen, but it requires adjusting the refresh well, in fact, it is best to activate it for each page.

At the top of the main screen are the recently opened books and the configuration of Date and Time. At the bottom there is a preferences button on the left, a progress bar and the battery indicator on the right.

 

La main screen allows you to manage internal storage, SD card, recent documents, dictionaries, hand notes, notes taken while reading, Wi-Fi browsing, applications (expanded with new firmware versions) and settings. It allows you to choose between thirty languages, although being so intuitive it would not be a big problem if it was not in our mother tongue.

We can choose the reading engines for the different formats, so that the final result is the one that is most pleasant for us:

• ePub to choose between PDF Reader, FBReader and Cool Reader.
• FB2 to choose between FBReader and Cool Reader.
• Chm to choose between Html Reader, FBReader and Cool Reader.
• Doc to choose between Office Reader and FBReader.

For ePub and chm I have selected Cool Reader and for FB2 and doc I have chosen FBReader. For pdf it does not let you choose.

The energy control allows us to decide whether to suspend or turn off after a certain period of inactivity. If we choose to suspend, an image remains that rotates between those that it brings by default but that we can change quite easily.

The battery consumption depends on the use and the configuration that each one gives it, of course, but with a couple of hours of reading a day it can last around three or four weeks, which is not a negligible time. Obviously if we activate Wi-Fi, play games or choose to listen to music while reading, the duration is considerably reduced.

Now that I mention the Wireless, I have to say that It is one of the points that I like the least, because it does not allow configuration. So if you are on a network with a fixed local IP, it will be impossible for you to connect. If, on the other hand, you do not have the IP problem, once connected you have direct access to the Onyx website, Wikipedia and Google. Here I must remind you that it is a reader, not a tablet, so keep in mind that the image needs time to refresh, but to consult Wikipedia and take a look at the mail will be more than enough.

Now comes the most interesting part: handling formats. One of the great advantages of this reader is that it handles numerous formats, some very well, others not so well, but the most common ones it handles with great ease. Obviously how much better configured are the books, the better result it will give us when passing them to the reader.

ePub - With well-laid out ePub there is no problem. It justifies them perfectly, even cuts the words with hyphens when necessary (although the syllabification is not correct on many occasions). Indicate in the upper part the author, the title and the pages that you have read (1/1093). There is the option to go to a specific page, choose the font, size, line spacing, dictionary searches, indexes, audiobook, bookmarks, as well as specific Cool Reader settings.

As I said, you can choose between different reading engines (PDF Reader, FBReader and Cool Reader), although the one that best handles this format is PDF Reader, I think the one that best emulates the experience of reading in a printed book.

FB2 - As with ePubs, it works really well. And there is also the possibility to modify the parameters of the book while you are reading it.

PDF - I have made the tests with PDFs prepared for A4 and it has responded really well, unlike other readers. It has several zoom options that work quite well and allow you to modify the appearance of the font size as well as the zoom of the page. Among others, you have the option of hiding the margins, which I found very practical. Allows you to make annotations, view thumbnails, search, add bookmarks, modify links, audiobook, hand tool, etc. In fact, of all the readers I have tried, it is the one that best manages pdfs, by far.

For fans of comics and manga, the most interesting formats will be cbz and cbr - In both cases it handles them without problems, lightly, even files of a certain weight (15 MB the largest I have tried).

Apart from these formats, we can use .doc, .txt, .xls, .azw, .prc, .mobi, .chm, which although they are not so usual for electronic books, they are there and we can find them at some point.

Playback of audio files is correct, both through the rear speaker and through the headphones. They can be managed independently (for example an audiobook) or as a "soundtrack" for a reading, you have easy access to audio playback from the same menu of the book you are reading. It plays mp3s without problems but, for example, .m4a does not see them.

The dictionaries must be in stardict format and are handled perfectly while reading, simply selecting the word and then in the tools icon, dictionary search and a small window appears below with the definition and explanation.

After this in-depth review, it seems to me a powerful, versatile reader, which I would recommend without hesitation to anyone who is interested in buying a large format reader.

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