The First Four Settings You Need to Change on Any Boox E-Ink Tablet
While their name will never be as recognizable as Amazon’s Kindle, Chinese tech company Onyx International’s e-ink devices, sold under the slightly silly Boox brand, are gaining a cult following in the US. I’ve reviewed three of their e-readers and digital notebooks over the past year and I’m a huge fan. And if you’re reading this article, you probably are too (or soon will be).
I love Boox devices not only because they are well-built and feature-rich (though if you want to know more about my thoughts, check out my reviews of the Boox Palma , Note Max , and Note Air 4C ). I also can’t get enough of their customizability. Nothing drives me more crazy than trying to do something simple with a device only to be stymied by locked software that doesn’t want to let me. The big companies seem determined to let me do only what they want with my devices, from downloading books on the Kindle to doing, well, anything unauthorized on the iPad. Boox devices are different: they run an open version of Android that allows you to do almost anything you want. You can download any app from the Google Play Store, so you’re not tied to one e-reading platform. If you want to download apps, don’t hesitate: connect the device to your laptop and it will connect directly to your desktop. If you’re really ambitious, you can even install your own launcher to completely change things up. While all this freedom is good, it also means that Boox devices have a slightly longer learning curve than, say, a plug-and-read Kindle. So, if you’re the new owner of one of these fantastic devices – be it an e-reader or a full-fledged digital laptop – here are four settings you should change right now to get the most out of it.
Install the update with one touch
Like any e-ink tablet, Boox devices suffer from occasional “ghosting” or visible after-images after turning the page. Although the device automatically updates after a certain number of taps (basically touches on the screen), I like to set up a one-touch update that I can trigger whenever I want. Depending on your device, this can be done in several ways: a button or a gesture.
Setting up manual updates on your Boox device using buttons
If you have a Boox Palma or other device with page turn and volume buttons, you can map one of them to a screen refresh. For the Palma, the smartest way to do this is with the Smart Button, a button on the left side of the device that can do different things depending on whether you press it once, twice, or hold it down. On my own device, I’ve mapped a manual update to a single smart button press since that’s what I do most often (that or going back to the home screen, which is another of the many options you can choose from). However, you can also assign refresh to the volume buttons if you want (though I prefer to use them for page turns). To reassign a smart button, open the Settings app and tap Smart Button . Tap your preferred option ( Short-click function , Double-click function , or Long-press function ) and select Full update .
Set up manual updates using a gesture
Not all Boox devices have buttons, so if yours doesn’t, you’ll have to match a manual update with a gesture. (Although you can also do this on Palma if you prefer.)
To get started, open Settings and scroll down to System Navigation . Under the Bottom Navigation Bar, click More Settings . Select the area of the screen you want the update to be mapped to by swiping between the left, center, or right options. Click Custom and then select Full Update from the list of options.
Choose a cloud storage option
Boox devices typically have plenty of storage space, but you’ll get more out of them by connecting your preferred cloud storage service at the system level. This will allow you to move files to and from your device without having to connect it to your computer.
To get started, open Settings , then Accounts . Click Move to Cloud Storage in Library , then select your preferred option from the list. You have many options, including Dropbox and Google Drive. Click on the one you need, then log in.
Manage your sleep settings (if you listen to audiobooks)
To use my phone less, I also moved my audiobooks to the Palma (the 128GB of storage comes in handy here). However, I was initially disappointed with the device as an audio player because I use a protective cover and every time I closed it, it went into sleep mode, muting the sound. I found myself awkwardly trying to put it in my pocket with the lid open without accidentally hitting the screen.
Then I discovered that there was a setting that could fix this. Open Settings, scroll down to Display and turn off the Sleep switch or wake your device using the screen protector. Now your audio will continue to play even after you close the case and put it in your pocket. Hooray! While you’re at it, you might also want to turn off the auto-sleep option, as I found that the device doesn’t always know if you’re playing audio in the background and will turn itself off if you haven’t touched it for a while. Open Settings and tap Power, then Auto Sleep. You can choose options from 3 minutes to one hour. (If you select Never, the OS will warn you that this will reduce battery life, but if you’re not using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and haven’t turned on the front light, it won’t make much of a difference since e-ink screens only consume power when refreshing.)
Change your lock screen image and screensaver
Boox devices come with some beautiful preset lock screen images, but if you want to make the device yours, you can set your own screensaver and wallpaper. It’s pretty simple: select “Desktop & Screensaver” in the Settings app, but if you want a custom image, you’ll have to save it to the desired location first.
The easiest way to do this is to find an image you like by browsing the Internet using your Boox device. Long press it and select Download to save it to your downloads folder (naturally). Then open the Gallery app, tap your Downloads folder, and then tap the image you want. In the bottom right corner, click “More” and then “Set As.” You can set it as your screensaver , wallpaper or power-off image.
Alternatively, you can connect your device to your computer and manually add images to your Pictures folder. From here, you can change your wallpaper as described above, or simply long-press on the Home screen and select the Wallpaper icon in the bottom right corner; tap Local to find images saved in your Pictures folder. (And here’s another helpful tip: if you want to create your own wallpaper image in Photoshop or Canva, the dimensions for the Boox Palma are 824×1648. For the Note Max or Note Air 4C, you’ll want to use 1404 x 1872.)