The Onyx Boox Note 2 is primarily geared towards freehand drawing and taking digital notes. A new firmware update is in the works that will provide the same note taking experience and apply it towards comics, ebooks and manga. Will the Note 2 suit your needs? Good e-Reader has produced a new video that just shows drawing.
The first thing you need to know about this new Onyx device is that it has a WACOM display and the stylus has over 4,000 degrees of pressure sensitivity. The harder you press, the thicker the lines become, whereas the Sony Digital Paper does not have this technology. It also has palm rejection, so you can easily rest your palms on the screen and it will not result in a false positive.
When taking notes or drawing you have a pen or pencil settings to select, this will influence how fine the lines will be. The pencil is ideal for taking notes and jotting down quick reminders, the pen is great for drawing or shading. The Pen and Pencil both have various grayscale shades, so you draw an outline in black and then use 6 gradients to shade. There are even a few RGB colors to choose from, but the colors will not be evident on the screen, since this is an E INK panel. You will only see colors when you export the notes to your MAC/PC/.
There are two pages of templates. Most people use a blank canvas, which is the default. There is also a list, college rules, sheet music, various grids and even a calendar.
Onyx tends to lead the pack when it comes with firmware updates. One of the new features on the Note 2 is being able to import images using the file manager. You can import in shapes, objects, logos, or a selfie. You can basically import in any JPEG or PNG file. Once imported, you can rotate, scale or draw on it.
When you are done making some notes or work, you can export all of your pages as PDF or PNG. You can save these locally and export them later, email them to someone or even upload them to cloud storage. The Note 2 is running Android 9.0. so as long as you have Dropbox, Box, Amazon SS, or other online storage, you can send everything directly to that account and access later.
The Note 2 is pretty well a productivity machine and the E INK display makes it easy on the eyes. People go with this type of technology because it does not have a backlit screen, where light is shining into your eyes. It does have white and amber LED lights, but they are on the bottom of the bezel and project light evenly across the screen, so you can read an ebook at night, or keep on drawing until you pass out.
This device is relatively expensive, but Good e-Reader is running a sale with a coupon and is available for $529.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen 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.
