Onyx Boox launched the new Boox Tab 8 just weeks back. Also, while there are reports of the Boox Tab 8 being part of a series that also includes the Tab 10 and the Tab 13 devices as well, the Tab 8 has been making waves in the market with its excellent performance and enhanced readability.
The company is in fact claiming its new Tab 8 device brings about a paradigm shift in the way E Ink-based devices perform. It said they worked on the usual drawbacks of the E Ink display, which include a relatively slow refresh rate, low contrast, and above all, the issue of afterimages. The result is that the Boox Tab 8 quick-brush reading tablet delivers a superior reading experience that is silky smooth in its operation, has a fast refresh rate, and does not leave the remnants of past images to linger on the display. This way, users won’t have to resort to frequent manual screen refreshes to clear up the display.
There have been changes introduced in the design of the screen module as well which too is playing its part in ensuring excellent readability of the tablet. For instance, the outer tempered glass panel has been built as per a new nano-microcrystalline etching process which has led to a 93 percent light transmittance rating. Apart from this, the touch screen module too has been upgraded which has increased sensitivity by 30 percent. The front light guide module too has been redesigned which has led it to be thinner – it is now just 0.2mm in thickness – while also reducing the distance between the text and the human eye.
Apart from the above features which Onyx Boox said make its new Boox Tab 8 superior to the Kindle, the other inherent advantage with the Tab 8 is its adoption of an open ecosystem thanks to the Boox OS that it comes pre-loaded with. Users of the Tab 8 can source content from both Get Bookstore and JD which, unlike the Kindle is tied to the Amazon ecosystem.
User feedback on the tablet has also been largely positive so far. Users hailed the extremely fast refresh rate of the device while the overall performance of the device has also been largely positive. With compact proportions, the Boox Tab 8 is as good as an e-reader as it is as a tablet device. Stylus support has opened up a new dimension to the tablet’s functionality. All of it makes the new Boox Tab 8 perhaps the most compact sized e-note device currently available. No wonder the tablet has received a 97 percent positive rating on JD.com while scoring 4.7-star rating at Tmall out of a max of five stars.
As for its specs, the Boox Tab 8 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core chipset and BSR fast-brush independent graphics chip combo under the hood. For software, there is the BSR fast-brush algorithm developed in-house. Both the hardware and software innovations introduced to the tablet make it have a 50 percent higher refresh rate while there is a considerable improvement in performance as well. The integrated handwriting prediction algorithm delivers a smooth reading and writing experience.
Unfortunately, Onyx Boox has decided to keep the Boox Tab 8’s availability confined to only mainland China. The tablet is designed to be operated only in the domestic market and there are no plans to launch it elsewhere. It remains to be seen if the forthcoming Boox Tab 10 and Boox Tab 13 too are going to be China-specific. It’s not known when the bigger Boox Tab variants are set to be launched.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.