I don’t need my Kindle anymore

I’m always on the lookout for e-ink tablets and e-readers, and that search brought me to the Onyx Boox Go Color 7. The Onyx Boox Go Color 7 is a premium color e-reader that doubles as an Android tablet. It features a 7-inch display that uses color e-ink with an adjustable refresh rate and physical page turn buttons.

Boox sent me the Go Color 7 to review, and I’ve spent the past two weeks testing it. In that time, it’s become my daily driver for reading books, news articles, comics, PDFs, audiobooks, and podcasts. I’ve used several tablets and e-readers over the years, but the Go Color 7 is great enough that it might become my main device.

Price, specs, and availability

The Boox Go Color 7 was released in June 2024 following Boox’s popular Note Air 3 and Air 3 C tablets. The e-reader fits into the middle of Boox’s line, costing $250. You can purchase it directly from Boox or you can buy one from major retailers such as Amazon, B&H, and Best Buy.

At $250, the Boox Go Color 7 is a premium e-reader, but it doesn’t break the bank. It’s only $100 more expensive than the 16GB model of the Kindle Paperwhite. However, that extra $100 goes a long way, with the Go Color 7 featuring colored e-ink, audio, physical page turn buttons, Android 12 functionality, and 64GB of flash memory.

The Boox Go Color 7 features a 7-inch touchscreen and weighs just 6.8oz (roughly 195g). It’s incredibly lightweight but feels sturdy. I don’t worry about throwing the Go Color 7 into a bag for my commute, and the screen is designed to withstand minor liquid spills and drops.

What I liked about the Onyx Boox Go Color 7

Spectacular battery life, Android 12 support, and open-ended compatibility

Using the Boox Go Color 7 for about two weeks straight, the battery barely dropped. Even though it has a relatively small 2,300 mAh battery, I found the battery life among the best in its class of e-readers. I was able to read multiple e-books, listen to hours of podcasts and audiobooks, and browse news apps with barely any decline in battery life.

Even while testing Android apps on the Go Color 7, I was able to test for hours on end with little change in battery life. By the end of nearly two weeks using the Go Color 7, I had 15% battery life, which I was able to charge back up to full in under two hours thanks to USB-C charging.

Android 12 support on the Boox Go Color 7 means you have access to several apps for reading. You can download your app of choice, whether it’s Kindle, Libby, Viz Manga, or Koreader, among others. With nearly open-ended compatibility for text formats, the Go Color 7 supports everything from comic books to textbooks to standard EPUB novels. For testing purposes, I was able to switch between reading Death Note to an academic text with ease.

While the screen size is smaller than the average printing standard for comics, I didn’t have any issues reading both comics or manga with the Go Color 7, aside from slight color washing and a slight lack of contrast in black-and-white images compared to black-and-white only e-readers such as Boox’s Note Air 3. It should be noted, though, that you will need to make use of the pinch zoom feature to read comics or manga with the Go Color 7, which can be a distracting experience if you aren’t used to reading comics on a smaller-sized device already.

While I probably won’t be using the Go Color 7 for audiobooks or podcasts often, as I prefer using my phone for those purposes while running errands, it’s nice to see audio support and built-in Bluetooth support on the Go Color 7. The built-in speakers aren’t the best, but they get the job done, especially if you need pronunciation help in an e-book with the Go Color 7’s text-to-speech feature, which can read a sentence or a paragraph aloud to you. Boox has included a built-in file sharing app called BooxDrop with the Go Color 7. It operates the same way as DropBox would, and you can sync multiple file-sharing apps to it for easy access to all of your e-books.

What I didn’t like about the Boox Go Color 7

Lack of contrast, refresh issues, and input lag

Some of Boox’s e-readers and tablets include their BSR (Boox Super Refresh) technology. The Go Color 7 is not one of these e-readers, so you’ll notice a bit of ghosting when you pinch and zoom on an e-book. This is normal for e-ink e-readers, and I didn’t find it too distracting, but I use a lot of e-readers daily, so I’m accustomed to e-ink ghosting. However, BSR on other Boox devices is known to be a significant drain on battery life, which is probably why, even with a small 2,300 mAh cell, the Go Color 7 features spectacular battery life.

While the Go Color 7 doesn’t feature BSR, you can choose between three e-ink refresh rates to turn down ghosting. In my own testing, these pre-sets helped turn down unclear text in comics, but ghosting still remained a problem. Image ghosting is a common issue with e-ink devices, and the Go Color 7’s ghosting isn’tt the worst I’ve ever seen. However, it’s definitely noticeable.

While Boox includes its own “Store” on the device, it’s only filled with public domain e-books. While this is a great feature for reading classics, you’ll absolutely need to download your own e-reading app of choice through the Android store. This might be initially misleading for some users. Still, with Android 12 support, it’s easy to download any e-reading app, which was a delight coming from the locked-down Kindle ecosystem.

While browsing the Google Play Store, I noticed a few instances of input lag between the touch keyboard and what was happening on screen. This isn’t a dealbreaker for me, but it did cause a few short-lived moments of frustration while operating the Go Color 7 and is something to take note of.

While the release of the Go Color 7 is marked by issues related to Android 12 and the included Boox software suite, many of these problems had already been fixed by the time I received my unit. Software issues are persistent on any tablet, but it’s a great sign that Boox has worked quickly to patch these glitches. Still, you should be aware that there are some bugs, mostly related to page refreshing issues.

Related

Do you care about color e-readers?

Kobo has released two color e-readers, including the Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour, adding a dash of vibrancy to the typically grayscale world of digital book readers. The hues are muted, but they still look great, allowing you to add colorful notes, doodles, and enjoy book covers in all their colored glory. Still, this makes the devices more expensive, and a lot of e-reader users might not care about color in their books and notes. Amazon still hasn’t released its take on a color e-reader, though the tech giant is rumored to be working on several devices. With all of this in mind, do you care about color e-readers? Or is it an addition you wish you didn’t need to pay for?

Should you buy the Onyx Boox Go Color 7?

A premium e-reader with a high degree of functionality

The Onyx Boox Go Color 7 is a great first e-reader and a solid alternative to the Kindle if you’re looking for a device with a higher degree of functionality and compatibility. If you’ve been frustrated with the lack of color e-ink and formats available from Amazon’s Kindle, then I’d recommend the Onyx Boox Go Color 7, as long as you are willing to spend the extra $100. I prefer e-readers for their lack of distractions and long battery lives, and the Boox Go Color 7 hit my most desired points in an e-reader. Android functionality is also great, although this is an e-reader with tablet functionality, not a tablet that doubles as an e-reader.

I wouldn’t recommend the Boox Go Color 7 to anyone that has a more premium e-reader, however. This is an entry-level premium e-reader from Onyx, and if you already own a Note Air from Boox or a recent Kobo, it might not be worth it, as it’s technically a downgrade. However, for those who are considering their first e-reader, and want a colored e-ink screen, I can’t recommend the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 enough.

This device was provided to Pocket-lint by Boox.

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