Boox eReaders

For a few years now, I’ve been looking on and off at various eInk devices, both eReaders and larger form devices for note-taking. Initially I was intrigued by the Remarkable, but the subscription based system for their note-taking was a complete turn-off for me. I also read a lot and, despite preferring physical books, I don’t mind reading on an eInk display at all. In fact, I used to have a Kindle back when they first came out and loved it. Obviously anything Amazon isn’t on my purchase list these days though!

So, when reading the latest Redacted¹ magazine from Intel Techniques, I was delighted to see an article from Michael himself about a Boox eReader and how he seemed to enjoy it after getting it cleaned up a bit. It probably didn’t take a lot of convincing before I have a Max Lumi2 heading my way.

Initial Thoughts

The device was a good size and, despite being a little heavier than I expected, it was comfortable to hold but still had a large enough screen that it could be used to read magazines, newspapers or any journals/work-related documents easily enough.

One of the selling points (and reasons that I liked the idea of the Remarkable) for me was the pen and the ability to directly markup pdfs. I was delighted to see how versatile the pdf editing application was and how cleanly the imports were from device back to pdf.

Cleaning the Device

After re-reading the Redacted¹ article I started going through the list of pre-installed applications on the Lumi device. By disabling an application then using ADB and pm list packages -d, I was able to determine what package names matched what application on the device.

With this information to hand, and after adding F-Droid and my VPN application, I set about removing the following list of applications from the device:

• com.onyx.calculator
• com.onyx.appmarket (Store)
• com.onyx.easytransfer (I think that this is the BooxDrop)
• com.simplemobiletools.voicerecorder
• com.onyx.dict
• com.onyx.kime (keyboard)
• com.onyx.mail (calendar notes)
• com.onyx.igetshop
• org.chromium.chrome

I switched off all networking, unrequired permissions and rebooted a couple of times. I’ve had no issues with the device after removing the above applications. I chose to leave on the Boox Notes application as it was really good and I didn’t know of a good replacement for it.

Device Usage

Generally I use the device for reviewing pdf documents, taking notes during meetings, and other productivity related tasks. It’s not a device I find comfortable reading at night or in bed, but that’s what a smaller form factor device would be for.

Overall, I’m delighted with the Boox Max Lumi2, the stylus sensitivity is fantastic, the bare-bones (and cleaned!) Android version of the operating system is great and the form factor of the device is exactly what I was after. It’s much easier loading it up with documents to read and to use that over having to carry a laptop around for similar tasks. There have been no issues at all with battery life either, another big bonus over a laptop or tablet. This device can last weeks without recharging, albeit that’s with light usage only.

I recently got a Lamy EMR pen to go with it and this has improved things further. I’d definitely recommend trying one of the pens first before buying though as they have a completely different shape and style to the Boox provided one.