🌂 📇 🖊️ Comparative review of e-books ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) 🦇 🤚🏿 🎃

Hello everyone!

Today we have two e-books at a party (they are readers, they are also “readers”): ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018), aka Kindle Paperwhite 10th Generation.

Table of Contents

1. Specifications
2. Packaging
3. ONYX BOOX Livingstone
Design 4. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Design
5. ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Screens
6. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
Software 7. ONYX BOOX Livingstone Software
8. Book Reading and Translation in readers
9. Working with the Amazon bookstore
10. Wireless interfaces
11. Conclusion

First, a couple of words about how good readers are and why reading books is better with their help.

"Readers" are good for their screens based on electronic ink. Thanks to such screens, they retain excellent legibility of the text in high ambient light (and even in direct sunlight, it’s even better!), There are no problems with viewing angles; and besides, they are very economical in energy consumption (if you do not need to turn on the backlight, then energy is consumed only at the time of page turning). And they even look like real paper!

These two e-books have screens with the same size and the same resolution. For this reason, they will have the same high definition image (you can even say, the printing level), and for this item the competition between them will not work. And on all other points, the competition promises to be interesting.

(images from official sites are shown)

ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) e-book specs

For clarity, the main technical parameters are summarized in the following table:

Model	ONYX BOOX Livingstone	Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018)
Screen (size, type, resolution)	6 ", E-Ink Carta Plus, 1072 × 1448, 300 ppi, capacitive multitouch	6 ", E-Ink Carta Plus, 1072 × 1448, 300 ppi, capacitive multitouch
Screen backlight	Yes, with color temperature adjustment	there is
CPU	Rockchip RK3128 Cortex-A7 (4-core), 1.2 GHz	Freescale 6SLL Cortex-A9 (1-), 1
	1	512
-	8 (5.2 )	32 (27.3 )
	-SD 32
	Android 4.4.4	Linux
	Wi-Fi + Bluetooth	Wi-Fi + Bluetooth

	TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, FB3, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, DOCX, PRC, EPUB, CBR, CBZ, PDF, DjVu, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP	Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PMP ( ); Audible audio format (AAX)
	3000	1500
		($29 — $39)
		IPX8
,	156 × 112,5 × 8.8	167 × 118 × 8.2
	160	182
	onyx-boox.ru	amazon.com
	12300 .	9800 . ( )

Some nuances should be noted here.
Firstly, if earlier Amazon e-books could be bought only by mail, only from the United States and only through intermediaries; now there are already retail outlets in Russia where they can be bought. The question of whether everything is good there, or whether it is a “gray” import, is left behind the scenes.
Secondly, Amazon produces Kindle Paperwhite e-books in two versions: without showing ads on the lock screen and with showing. Without advertising, they naturally cost more.
A cheaper book (with advertising) is participating in this review.

With the word “advertising”, many readers may have an association with something obsessive and bad. In fact, the advertisement here is “soft” and unobtrusive - the reader shows an advertisement for books (most noticeable on the lock screen). In the process of reading there is no advertising; so there’s absolutely no reason to pay extra for buying a Kindle without ads.

As for the hardware of the considered readers, it differs very much from them; Moreover, different readers win different parameters.

Another important difference is operating systems. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages; more details on them during the review.

Packaging ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) readers

We start the review with the simplest: packaging comparisons.
This is the packaging of ONYX BOOX Livingstone: The

box in which the reader is packaged is made of thick and durable white cardboard. The box closes to the magnetic “clasp” on the side.
The emblem with a lion and the inscription “Livinstone” are made with mirror paint.

Now - Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018)

packaging : Kindle packaging is the exact opposite of ONYX packaging: thin, soft cardboard; True, with good printing.

Each package has its pros and cons.
Kindle packaging is very simple and, accordingly, inexpensive (which is a plus from an economic point of view).
Onyx packaging - looks more solid, in a "gift" style. Surely such a package has contributed to the final cost of the product (this is an economic minus, albeit a small one).
But, on the other hand, after all, it is sometimes really necessary to use gift wrapping! In such situations, this is a plus.

Now let's move from simple to more complex and consider the design of products.

ONYX BOOX Livingstone Reader Design

The design of the ONYX BOOX Livingstone is very complex. Here, perhaps, the design with the symbiosis of the reader and cover was first applied. Therefore, the cover will be considered as an integral part of the reader, and not just as a protective cover (although it also performs this function).

The book cover is made of leatherette that imitates genuine leather; from which, in the old days, book bindings were made:

If you open the cover, you can see that two mechanical side buttons are outside the reader itself and are located on the expanded right cover of the cover:

Both sides of the cover are reinforced with plastic inserts; but that part of the cover where the book is inserted has been strengthened with particular strength:

On this part of the cover there are spring-loaded contacts with which the buttons on the cover are connected to the reader: The

reader is fully functional and without these buttons, they only give additional convenience. At the same time, they serve to some extent as an aesthetic refinement.

The cover has another function. Thanks to the magnets hidden in it (and the Hall sensor in the reader), the reader automatically falls asleep when the cover is closed and wakes up when it is opened.

We will study the body of the reader.
The case is plastic. Let's look at it from the front, now without a cover:

Front - a screen located about 1 mm below the level of its own frame.
Under the screen is a mechanical button. Its main purpose is “Return”; long press - turn on / off the backlight.

Take a look at the back:

At the back, there are only three pads for connecting to the buttons on the cover.

View from the bottom:

Here you can see the micro-USB connector for charging and communication with the computer; as well as a slot for expanding memory using a micro-SD card.
Theoretically, memory expansion may be required with the active use of documents of "capacious" PDF and DJVU formats; but practically because of the limitations of these formats, readers with a larger screen are better for them (for example, ONYX BOOX Note 2 with a 10.3-inch screen, review ).

View from the upper side:

On the upper side there is only the on / off / sleep button. In the same button there is an LED that glows blue when loading a book and red when it is charging.

Now let's move on to the design of Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018).

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Reader Design (2018)

The design of the Kindle is minimalistic. He has all the management of the reading process carried out only through the touchscreen, mechanical buttons for these purposes are not provided. Reader housing - plastic, black.

The screen is flush with the frame; and to protect the screen from not too extreme troubles, a small side (about 0.5 mm) was made along the outer edge of the frame.

Rear view:

There is nothing on the back side, except for the emblem of the Amazon company, made in embossed pattern.
The back cover itself has a soft-touch coating. But, despite such a nice coating, it would be very nice to get a case to protect the device.

View from the bottom side:

Here are the micro-USB connector and the only mechanical button. By inertia I wanted to write that this is an on / off button; but this reader has no shutdown! This button can wake / sleep, turn off the screen or send the device to reboot.

Between the connector and the button there is an LED indicating the state of the charge process: The

LED lights up yellow during charging and switches to green when it is finished.

Now, just for the sake of order, let's look at the upper edge of the reader, but there is nothing there:

Now we need to separately and specifically clarify the issue of moisture resistance of the Kindle.
The manufacturer promises moisture resistance according to the IPX8 standard with safe immersion to a depth of 2 m for an hour.

First of all, I decided to check the reader for leaks by trying to blow air into the micro-USB connector. And he "puffed"! And he went out through the cracks around the sleep button.

A study of the issue on the Internet showed that the moisture protection of the device is provided not by its tightness, but by a moisture-proof coating of internal elements.

This is a popular protection method now, but usually devices protected in this way are assigned only the level of “splash protection”; Therefore, I did not begin to check the protection with a complete immersion of the reader. You never know what ...

In addition, it should be borne in mind that with such protection it is extremely contraindicated to drop the device into contaminated or salt water (sea).

ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Screens (2018)

This chapter is very important, but small; therefore, in this chapter, the tested readers will meet again.

Reader screens have the same size and resolution. And if we recall that the manufacturer of screens on "electronic ink" is only one in the world, then it is unlikely that any differences can be found in the quality of the screens.

But their backlighting is different. We’ll deal with this issue.

The ONYX BOOX Livingstone has a backlight with color temperature adjustment. Such illumination was achieved by installing five “cold” and five “warm” LEDs at the bottom of the screen with independent brightness control of one and the other.

On the following images - ONYX BOOX Livingstone reader screen in various combinations of positions of the “warm” and “cold” light engines with movement from a colder backlight to a warmer one:

The photographs show that with the equal position of the “warm” and “cold” engines, the screen turns out to be slightly “warm”, i.e. “Warm” LEDs are stronger than “cold” ones.

Accordingly, a neutral white color of the screen is obtained if the “cold” engine is slightly ahead of the “warm” engine (the second photo from the screen above).

To adjust the backlight during reading, there is no need to go to the menu: to adjust the warm light, just swipe your finger up or down along the right edge of the screen, and to adjust the cold light along the left edge.

The uniformity of the backlight is good, but on some photos you can see that the lower right corner is a little “cooler” than the rest of the screen.

At the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite reader, the backlight is monophonic, and therefore there can not be such a problem there in principle.

The screen turns out to be pure white:

To check the purity of white, I had to uncover the good old X-Rite Colormunki colorimeter. He showed a color temperature of 6430K, which almost perfectly matches the white standard at 6500K.

The reasonable question remains: why make displays with a variable color temperature of the backlight?

This can be very helpful to the user.

Firstly, by adjusting the color temperature, you can "adjust" the color tone of the backlight to the color tone of the external lighting. This combination of backlighting and ambient lighting will give the screen the most natural tone (because the color tone of paper pages always coincides with the color tone of external lighting).

Secondly, the user can adjust the backlight to his own preferences or to the contents of the book (for example, when reading "pirated" novels, you can set a "warm" backlight that mimics an old parchment).

Thirdly, doctors recommend setting a “warm” color environment closer to night, as it has a calming effect; and in the morning and afternoon - an invigorating slightly “cool” or neutral environment.

The last question is about the “flickering" of the backlight.

Backlight flickering in screens usually occurs due to the adjustment of the backlight brightness using pulse-width modulation. Its frequency - this is the frequency of flickering backlight.

The screen illumination in the ONYX Livingstone reader is carried out by direct current, so the screen does not flicker.

As for the Kindle backlight, the manufacturer does not mention anything about the organization of the backlight in this reader. Verification by the folk "pencil-strobe" method does not detect flicker. So the backlight is organized either similarly to direct current, or using PWM at a very high frequency (which is also good).

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Software (2018)

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) software is mainly focused on working online, although no one forbids just reading books offline.

Let's start with the main page and the main menu (The image on the left is the main page; on the right is the same, but with the menu invoked):

In order for the menu shown in the right screenshot to be fully functional, you need to not only connect Wi-Fi, but also log in to your Amazon account (or create one if it isn’t; it’s easy). Without this, more than half of the points will be inoperative.

A couple of items in this menu were not translated into Russian. These are “Goodreads” (recommendations of books) and “Amazon FreeTime” - settings for children (which is not quite obvious from the name of this item).

Let's look at the settings.
In the Kindle, you can enter the “quick” settings (a couple of clicks right in the process of reading books) or go further into the full settings. Both those and others are presented in the following screenshots:

And from the full settings, “decode” the items “Device Settings” and “Reading Options”:

If you do not delve into the subtleties, then the most important thing here is the ability to set an access code to the device. The ONYX BOOX Livingstone reader and many other manufacturers' readers do not.

Of course, I understand that “an honest man has nothing to hide” / sarcasm /, but privacy is never excessive.

ONYX BOOX Livingstone Software

ONYX BOOX Livingstone software is highly developed, and, most importantly, it is an “open list”. That is, thanks to the Android operating system, the user himself can install additional applications without any jailbreaks and other violence against the device.

But this does not mean that you can install right here absolutely any application. They should in principle be compatible with the reader and its version of Android 4.4.4, should not be too “colored” (the screen is monochrome), and, finally, should not show fast-changing images (screens on “electronic ink” are much more inertial than the screens of smartphones and tablets).

But even with these requirements in mind, the number of compatible applications is very large.

But these were some "general considerations." Now let's see what and how it works in the reader.

To begin with, the main element of the reader’s main page is the library; and for it you can set two completely different types (done in the "User Settings" section).
One type - relatively speaking, the “main”, and the second - borrowed from the application for reading books OReader. Both types are presented in the following screenshots:

By properties, these two types of libraries differ.
Both libraries support various types of sorting and filtering, but collections can only be created in the first (“main”) library.

There are no collections in the second library (in the OReader style), but you can add the books selected by the user to your Favorites (this is also a kind of collection).

In addition, the library in OReader can be switched to the file manager style (this will be convenient for those users who like to arrange books in folders). To do this, click on the gray three dots in the library and select "Open File".

Yes, and the file manager itself can also be used to classify, search, and open books (although this option is "amateur").

The following screenshots show the OReader library in the style of a file manager and the file manager as such:

Take a look at the screenshots of preinstalled applications and settings:

The two most important applications, namely, applications for reading books, are not in the list of applications (they are hidden, despite the fact that the main ones).

In order to verify their existence, it’s enough to click on a book for a long time, then the following request will pop up:

By and large, the Neo Reader 3.0 application is more multifunctional than OReader. Only it can open PDF, DJVU and image files, and also has the ability to scroll through pages.

In addition, it can translate not only individual words, but also entire fragments of the text (however, it does this by contacting the Google translator).

But it is quite possible that one of the users will like OReader in their organization, and it’s good that the user will have a choice.

As for the settings, everything is clear with them, but there is a subtlety: the ability to customize the reaction to the orientation sensor.

This setting turned out to be well buried. On the settings page, tap on the icon with the image of the reader itself; this is actually the “About the device” section. And already there will be button customization and G-sensor setup:

The competitor (Kindle Paperwhite) does not have such a sensor. True, his “elder brother” (Kindle Oasis) has it, but Oasis already belongs to a different price category.

Reading books and translating on ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) readers

Thanks to the presence of touch screens, the management of the reading process for both readers is very similar.

Perhaps we can only mention that with ONYX BOOX Livingstone, page turning can be done either using the touch screen or using the mechanical buttons on the cover; Kindle only with the touch screen.

Font size adjustment in both devices is carried out with two fingers (just move or slide them on the screen).

As for the translation of words and texts, their similarity or difference in devices will depend on the ONYX Livingstone reader application used (as mentioned above, there are two of them).

When using the Neo Reader 3.0 application, there will be no significant differences in translation from the Kindle. Individual words are translated using offline dictionaries in devices, and phrases are translated online using external services.

Examples of translations of words and phrases will be given only for Kindle (so as not to clutter up the review with unnecessary pictures):

Dictionaries for both readers in abundance can be found on the Internet, it is enough to download, unzip and put them in the correct folders.

In addition to translation, other standard tools also work: bookmarks, notes, quotes, etc.

The ONeX Livingstone OReader reader is, as already mentioned, a little special. It can only translate individual words, it does not translate phrases (it does not know how to access external services). But it can connect to OPDS book catalogs and supports network synchronization of the reading position. For Kindle, network synchronization is an inherent feature.

Now the important question is about the formats of books that readers can work with .

The list of formats that ONYX BOOX Livingstone “understands” is significantly larger than the Kindle Paperwhite. But in fact, the difference is even greater than according to official specifications: thanks to the open ONYX Livingstone ecosystem, external readers can be installed on this reader and thereby make the reader “understand” even those formats that were not available to him initially (if such a situation happens that unlikely).

In contrast, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is “tuned” to work with Amazon’s own formats: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3) and Kindle (AZW).

Of the common book formats for this reader, essentially only mobi is available.

How critical is this situation?

Amazon's position is clear. The vast majority of books in her service are paid; including those for which copyrights have long passed into the category of “public domain”. So for Amazon, limiting the supported formats is beneficial.

Therefore, Russian (and not only Russian) users will want to read books from other sources. How to be

Firstly, many book sites offer books in several formats at once; including the popular site blocked by Roskomnadzor.

Secondly, there are format conversion programs. So if some kind of book does not exist in mobi format, then it can be downloaded in another book format and converted. But this will require some additional gestures from the user (and spoiled modern users are used to the fact that all operations are performed “in one click”).

So we assign the problem of formats to the rank of not a “critical problem”, but only “some inconvenience”. But it is real.

And quite a bit about performance.
Although the ONYX processor is quad-core, while the Kindle has only a single-core processor, the difference in performance is small. You can, for example, notice that the first time you open large files, they open on ONYX a few seconds faster than on the Kindle; but with repeated openings, this difference disappears (apparently, caching works).
The difference in speed of reaction to pressing is also very small.

Working with the Amazon Preset Bookstore

On the Kindle Paperwhite, of course, Amazon’s bookstore itself is preinstalled. Contrary to popular belief that there is nothing Russian there, there are a lot of books in Russian. There are classics and works by contemporary authors (don't be remembered by night):

But still there are problems: there are no settings in the search to search for books in Russian. The user will have to "dodge", or trying to type the name of the book (author's name) in Cyrillic (which does not always give a successful result); or type in the Latin alphabet with the addition of "Russian Edition". The problem in the end is solved (including through the main Amazon site), but again, with unnecessary gestures.

Amazon Book Price Example:

There is no similar on-line bookstore at ONYX BOOX Livingstone. The user is given complete freedom: he can install as many bookstore applications as he wants (or not install any). Examples of bookstores tested for operability are in this article on Habré .

But ONYX is already working on a bookstore - it has already appeared in "older" models, although so far it does not please users with books in Russian.

ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) Wireless Interfaces

Both readers have wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but their application has its own nuances.

Let's start with the simplest: we will use them to view web pages through built-in browsers.

For example zaydom through browsers on a couple of web pages: habr.com and rbc.ru .

So ONYX BOOX Livingstone shows them :

Now let's go to the same pages in the browser browser Amazon Kindle Paperwhite :

By the way, the browser on the Kindle is still called the Experimental Browser, although it is many years old.

A comparison of sites in different browsers shows that the browser in ONYX opens sites in their versions for mobile devices, so the text there is large and legible.

On the contrary, the Kindle browser opened the usual (desktop) versions of sites, which is why all the text turned out to be small and difficult to read.

Of course, e-books are not intended for web surfing, but this is one of the methods of "mining" books, and using ONYX will be much more convenient to use this method. And at the same time you can read the mail or the latest news in black and white "newspaper" version.

But downloading books from sites is not the only way to get them through the Internet. For this purpose, each reader has additional features.

In the ONYX reader , the Transfer application serves for this . It allows sending books to the reader in two versions: through a local subnet or via the "big" Internet.

When the application starts, the reader shows a picture with the address that you need to go to to send the book from another device:

Then go to that address in the browser from another device, drop the file there and it will be on the reader.

If the devices are not on the same subnet, the process becomes more complicated: the file from another device must be sent to the ONYX cloud storage at push.boox.com, and on the reader, “catch” it through the “Transfer” application in the “Push file” section ".

In the Kindle reader, the process of sending books from another device is even more original.

The entire file reception infrastructure on the reader side works behind the scenes and does not require application launch.

From another device, you can send the book to the Kindle using applications for PC or Android, as well as simply sending it to the e-mail assigned to the Kindle reader.

You can “peek” your Kindle e-mail after logging into your account on the Amazon website (underlined in red in the screenshot):

You can send only from the address from which you registered; and only those formats that Kindle supports.

Now - a few words about the use of Bluetooth wireless technology available in each of the considered devices .

Manufacturers of devices have used this type of communication in completely different ways.

With the ONYX BOOX Livingstone Reader, Bluetooth wireless technology lets you share files with other devices. Alternatively, you can connect a wireless mouse or keyboard (although it is unlikely that anyone will be interested).

And in the Kindle reader, it serves to listen to audio books using wireless headphones. For no other Bluetooth is impossible to use here!

But in this regard, extremely severe restrictions apply.

With the Kindle reader, you can listen to audio books only in AAX format and only purchased in the official Amazon store. Dot.

Finding audio books using the reader itself proved to be very difficult, audio books in Russian are searched hard and inconvenient. It is easier to find them on the main Amazon site, and then send them to a reader (the benefit on the main site can be filtered by language).

An example of an audiobook:

Perhaps at this time it is time to complete the narrative so that it remains a review, and does not turn into a dissertation.

Conclusion

At the end of comparative reviews, it is customary to write something like "primacy is awarded to such and such a device."

Here such a conclusion would be more than inappropriate.

The devices turned out to be so different that comparing them with each other is very problematic. If we go to sports terminology, it will be the same as comparing a runner and a jumper. Both seem to be athletes; and both are athletes, but how different!

The main (we can say strategic) difference between them is that ONYX BOOX Livingstone is primarily a hardware device; and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is a shareware addition to Amazon's bookstore.

Why shareware?

If you believe what they write on the Internet about salaries in the States, then a mid-level worker can buy this reader for a day of work; and a highly skilled employee - per hour.

As a result, Amazon’s main income will be slow, but true - due to the user acquiring books; and in terms of audiobooks, binding to Amazon services will be very tight.

This is understandable: in our time, companies more like gradually getting money from using services than selling a finished product once; continue to forget about money.

Such a scheme has the right to life (and many companies are switching to such a scheme); and here, perhaps, the main complaint will not be with the Kindle reader, but with Amazon services: the operation of their services in languages other than English is not convenient enough.

ONYX has the opposite situation : it sells readers just like a hardware device; and to be bought more, this product must support as many formats as possible; and in general should give the user the possibility of maximum "liberties".

As such, you can blame the ONYX BOOX Livingstone reader except in an insufficiently modern version of Android, which is why some applications will have to look for old versions. However, for simple use as a device for reading books, you don’t have to strain at all - everything works right away out of the box.

As a final result, we can say that even for such devices with a small set of functions, diametrically opposite approaches to the organization of their work may exist; and all matches can be considered random.

Thank you all for your attention!

Comparative review of e-books ONYX BOOX Livingstone and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018)