The Boox Go 10.3 Part III: Battery Life and More

[@persim100]

I have watched every single Boox Go 10.3 video, and I must say these videos have been an amazing help with my deciding to buy this device or not. Extremely thorough and is very obvious that your comments come from someone who have actually used the device enough, as well as used other comparable ones enough to make great comparisons. Again thank you for the videos, super helpful!

[@Rsmin]

Jeff, just wanted to say a big "Thank You" for these video's on the GO 10.3. They are very thorough and professional. I recieved mine since your last video and I am really liking the device so far. I also appreciate your discussion on saving and printing the pdf to "vector or bitmap" option. Glad you mentioned the "tip" on using the flap to secure the tablet while in landscape. Would love to see other options for a case but may have to eventually go with the Boox case. Thanks again for your expertise on these videos.

[@SteamyPMcGee]

Nice one, JM. I have no regrets on my 2nd week owning this device, it is the right one for me. I still enjoy these videos as I always learn new functionality!

[@em4me-Dan]

🙋‍♂Hi Jeffrey! Wonderfully done...!💗 I can't wait for the final video in this series. Kudos from NYC.🗽

[@CyrilJap]

I’ve been using it for a week and I don’t miss the front light.

[@davidr1431]

Another interesting video. Looking forward to the review!

[@liketheduck]

Great video series! Thanks very much!

[@stavros2cotsoglou705]

Thank you very much... now in French (Un grand merci pour ces vidéos très instructives et mettant en évidence de manière objective les principales caractéristiques de cette tablette. Le côté pratique et les instructions simples permettent d'opérer les mêmes instructions sur sa propre tablette. Je ne peux que vous encourager à poursuivre. Un très grand merci encore).

[@jeffreymoss]

Merci beaucoup.

[@Cons2911]

I just got mine a few days ago ,and it’s already helping me out at my job. I tend to forget a few things with so many things going on, so I list them down and since this is expensive I tend to use it lol

[@steverolfeca]

Lovely job, mate. BTW, video performance is better on the Note Air3C thanks to BSR. Boox Super Refresh involves a separate GPU that performs localized cleanup within white areas to reduce the need for full-page refresh. Obviously there’s a cost, and if Boox published battery draw stats for each device, their lineup would be better understood. Unfortunately, they seem to have left that to reviewers like yourself. Regardless, AFAIK Boox is still unique in offering a choice at time of purchase between long, Kindle-like battery life (NA3 and Go 10.3), VS more frequent charging in return for better anti-ghosting performance (NA3C and Tab series).

[@jeffreymoss]

I should have thought of the GPU. Good call.

[@rnbdanny]

True, I wish they did a Tab series without any LED lighting though. Both, a black and white, and a colour one... or this one with BSR 😅

[@mroek]

To me, it sounds odd that the vector files are larger than the bitmaps. Generally, vector files tends to be much smaller, since the contents are represented by maths rather than pixels.

[@jeffreymoss]

In the examples I printed, the Vector was 141kb and the Bitmap was 51kb. I assume the distinguishing feature is that the Bitmap is an image PDF and the Vector file is an editable PDF?

[@mroek]

@@jeffreymoss Yes, but that doesn't explain why the vector PDF is larger. It certainly isn't due to the vector format itself. I did a quick test with Inkscape, which is a vector editor. When exporting a PDF with vectors, the resulting PDF actually ended up being smaller than the native SVG vector file that I created it from. Reason being that the PDF doesn't need all the information that is in the native file. Perhaps Boox is embedding lots of other information in the PDF, making the file size larger? Sounds weird, though.

[@Stopherage]

The data from the tables seem to indicate that the Note Air 3C generally offers superior battery life compared to the Go across nearly every usage category. However, many reviews contradict this, highlighting that the 3C actually has noticeably shorter battery life.

[@jeffreymoss]

I do my measurements consistently across devices and isolate the factors with each test (e.g. I don't have wifi on when I'm testing stand-by time, etc). I don't think most reviewers use this particular approach, but I may be mistaken in that regard. Actual battery drain is so dependent on how a device is actually used, I go with my approach to at least compare devices on level terms. In my tables, the Go beat the NA3C on two measures, lost on two, and tied on the fifth, so that's more of a mixed result in my mind. It makes sense that the two devices are close, as they use the same processor and have the same battery size. I am a little surprised the NA3C doesn't fare worse overall due to the GPU it has that the Go does not, but maybe my tests don't rely on the GPU and that's the factor that is impacting other reviewers' observations. Those are the only factors I can think of that might explain the difference.

[@martinranger2433]

Awesome review. Thank you. My battery performance while reading is somewhat better at a bit below 1% per hour with both NeoReader and KOReader, but that is probably within the margin of error.

[@jeffreymoss]

I'd agree about the margin of error potentially being a factor. Or maybe the Kobo app is less battery efficient.

[@TimGalloVids]

Now can we talk about how you use this device for your dnd campaign needs? And share some apps and usability advices... :) I cannot stop staring at that wall :)

[@jeffreymoss]

I haven't played D&D in years. I remember the great innovation then was having an excel version of the character sheet. I used to bring a laptop into sessions just because of that. Now, I don't know this from experience, but I'd imagine that an e-ink tablet would be even better as it would take up less space, wouldn't need to be plugged in, and of course replicate the paper experience of a character sheet. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of wishing I still played just to try that out. After all, you can run mobile Excel on the Go.

[@TimGalloVids]

@@jeffreymoss yes, actually ordered Go 10.3 because of your videos. will use it on my sessions for note taking and other stuff. but still, would love to hear story about that wall behind and all those swords:)

[@jeffreymoss]

@@TimGalloVids Take a look at my short videos. I think I only did 5 or 6 of them, but they all center around talking about my study/studio and a bit of background on some of the objects there, including the swords.

[@liketheduck]

In the review I’d like to see a section on search-ability. For example, can I find any note at any time with just a few key words. When syncing to Google Drive, can that OCR be preserved (or do I need to rely on Google’s ocr). Also, when using Google Drive is there a “feedback” route so that if I markup a PDF hand written note (originating from the Boox Go) can that change be reflected into the device with a sync?

[@jeffreymoss]

I did a video on search that heavily featured the Boox devices, so you might want to check that out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3ysqHacmNdlb68. I have my Boox set up to copy notes into a PDF and then back that up into Google Drive. Each time a change is made, it writes over the last PDF for that notebook, and then uploads that to the Drive. So any additional notes in the notebook will get reflected on the document in Google Drive. That does not work the other way, however, as any changes in Google Drive don't end up on the Boox device (as far as I know anyway). I don't see the OCR moving from the device onto the PDF on Google Drive. However, you can open the document and Google seems to apply their own OCR when opening the document and that does create searchable text. The results are a bit of a mess this way so it's best to view the PDFs on Google as view-only, preserving the original writing. Let me know if I missed anything.

[@rajnishsaha9073]

was just curious about the feel of CERAMIC NIB or METALLIC NIB on this surface or any alternative stylus or screen-film that can achieve the feel of SUPERNOTE A6X2's FEELWRITE 2 film with ceramic nib . any idea ? BTW very very relaxed and satisfying reviews as always!!

[@jeffreymoss]

Yeah, I'm not sure about that. At one point I tried a special film on the Tab Ultra C with a titanium nib, and it definitely had a unique sound and feel. Ultimately, I peeled the film off and returned to plastic nibs, which I prefer. I think part of the reason why I'm good with plastic nibs is that I rarely have to replace them given I don't put a lot of pressure on the stylus. And the sound they create isn't as harsh to my ears. Of course, I use my Supernote with a ceramic nib, and I do love that. I actually prefer the film on the original screen over the Feelwrite 2. Anyway, that's my two cents on that. I'd suggest going to the Reddit forums, like Onyx_Boox and asking about different screen films there. I know there are a lot of people in the forum that use things like titanium nibs, so you should get a lot of good information there.

[@Litehamer]

I’m thinking about a boox go 10.3 so but I’ve never owned an e ink . The boox website offers a better deal but Amazon has better returns policy. Can you buy the case separately?

[@jeffreymoss]

Yes, I was just seeing that today on Amazon, oddly enough. You can buy a bundle with the case.

[@erichardman5458]

Can you explain how in standby screen off the Go was 1.7 but with screen on it dropped to .4. that seems odd

[@jeffreymoss]

I can't explain it, but I can speculate. We know with screen on there should be no drain happening because nothing on the screen is changing except for the battery meter. So, based on that, I think the difference is that the system is more active in this state than being on standby.

[@michaelherzog5826]

I am a user of the Nebo app for a long time. So i have an interest to see how this app perform one the Boox 10.3.

[@jeffreymoss]

I may have missed something, but I thought it performed terribly. I'd write on the screen and it looked like nothing was captured. A few seconds later, I would see writing, but with lag like that, the app is unusable. I only tried stylus input, I didn't look into the keyboard. The performance wasn't great either, and the contrast meant that I had a hard time seeing some of the system pop up screens. It's possible I could have tweaked things to make some of that a bit better, but the pen lag is something I don't see how to get around.

[@Narcopia]

Does the go have the 'animation filter time' option? Apparently this is something that can be set for an app to get rid of transition animations, like those on shonen jump.

[@jeffreymoss]

There is. I've never used it before. But while in the app, you can go into the E-Ink Center, and then next to Refresh Modes you can see an icon for More. Click on that and at the bottom there's a slider for Animation Filter Time. It can only be used if the app is in either Normal or Regal refresh modes. I tried it out and it does reduce the flicker of the pages when switching to a new one. Thanks for asking, I've learned something!

[@bishallakha9962]

I just got the boox go 10.3 and I am trying to sync my pdf highlights and notes to google but it is not working. Is there any tutorial on this ?

[@jeffreymoss]

I'm not aware of a tutorial, but I might be able to help. Let's start with the first steps. You have to bind your Google account. To do that, go to Settings > Accounts > View (next to Notes Sync Accounts) > Bind Account, and then follow the instructions from there. If you have done this already, you should be good to go. Keep in mind that auto sync will not work with Google Drive, so you will have to either manually sync or save the file (by exiting it) in order to trigger the upload. Be sure to have wifi on when that occurs, otherwise the upload won't occur. If none of this helps, feel free to provide more information and I'll see what I can do to help.

[@bishallakha9962]

@@jeffreymoss Thank you for the help

[@Diorphe]

The battery drain on stand by is the thing i disliked the most of the air 3c. Is it the fault of the processor or does it have a lot of things running in the background?

[@jeffreymoss]

I'm not sure. Before every test, I close any programs running in the background to make sure that doesn't influence the results.

[@wernerarts]

A keyboard alone is not enough - this obviously includes a mouse or touchpad; and how does it work? I tried it with a Note Air 1 (without BSR) - the mouse or touchpad are hardly usable.

[@jeffreymoss]

I tested a bluetooth mouse, and it was ok. Passable, but not something I'd recommend. It seems to work best in X mode, but A2 is a close second, which is good since typing works best in that mode. I did appreciate being able to use the scroll wheel on the mouse though, that was a nice touch.

[@baltgames1]

Why you have so many swords and shields?

[@jeffreymoss]

I blame my parents. My first two swords came from them when they abandoned the weapons, I took them, and that's when my trouble started.