Onyx Boox dramatically enhanced their e-reader portfolio in 2014 with the advent of the T68 Lynx, M96 Universe and the Midia e-ink Smartphone. The company has just quietly released the last new product, the Afterglow 2.
The Onyx Afterglow 2 features a six inch capacitive touchscreen with e-Ink Pearl HD with a resolution of 1024×758. You will be able to read in the dark via the front-lit display, which is the same sort of tech you see in the Kindle Voyage and Kobo Aura H2O.
This e-reader has a few things really going for it that makes it standout in a crowded marketplace. I really like the dual core 1.2 GHZ processor which should keep things really speedy, most other digital book readers all have single cores. It also has a stock version of Google Android 4.2 and the Google Play store in order to access all of the apps you can shake a stick at.
There is a 3.55mm headphone jack to take advantage of Ivona text to speech. Onyx has incorporated this technology in the Lynx e-reader, but it was bug ridden and did not work properly, it remains to be seen if they have solved the bug with this new product.
I don’t know if there is much of a market for this product, despite the inclusion of a better processor and the ability to install your favorite apps via Google Play. Anyways, the Afterglow 2 is available now and costs $154 US.
Michael Kozlowski has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
