Ares Note E-Reader - Black, 7.8” E-ink HD Carta Screen, Octal Core 1.5GHz, Built-in Audible, 2GB +32GB Storage Android System 6.0

The Mimas is built well but the PDF Reader exports corrupt annotated files. Until that's fixed it's pretty much useless for what I intended so it gets only two stars. Fix the software bugs Boyue and I'll revise my score. Unlike Onyx, there is no customer support blog and the bug fixes come a lot slower. I also own the Boox Max 2 and the Likebook Mars so my opinion is based on experience of both these competing companies.

If you think ink readers is better for your eyes than other android tablets then read this. The basic idea is to use ink like papers to not harm your eye and read longer. Although the old ereaders used the same principle, the new ereaders has no advantage over other android tablets, not only because they are using andoid graphics technology which enhances the viewing but deviate from the main goal of ink readers. Also i am 100% sure this device use light despite fully disabling brightness.

Ok first the good: • Pen accuracy and latency is actually very good, inking will appear where the tips is and lag is pretty much imperceptible. • Screen is excellent, I was able to read comfortably outside - eink was a revelation, visibility improves in brighter light. Adjustable text sizes on epubs etc. • Device was reasonable snappy with optimised apps. Boyue’s ereader app allows less eink refreshes, 20+ pages of more. • connected to wifi quickly (only 2.4GHz compatible though) • Device is light and easy to hold in one hand.I'll say again, the screen is absolutely brilliant, especially the loading screen of the yacht, but quality will differ depending on quality of epubs/pdfs and becomes really hit-and-miss with apps not designed for Eink.The bad: • After setting UI to Eng, notifications appeared in Chinese, dictionary in Eng and Chinese. (I didn’t mind seeing another lang but majority of text would be in Chinese). Lang/timezone settings separate, again, why?!? Came preloaded with Chinese books ?!?• The UI/software is basically beta. Device is marketed as a note taking tool but after you handwrite notes you can't do anything with them - handwriting conversion no, handwriting searching no, tagging no; from a functionality perspective pretty pointless - digital notes with no searching? I frequently checked for firmware updates - never updated.Oh, you could move a drawn shape around the screen and resize (with ghosting), I really, just could not see the point, would not, development of handwriting searching/conversion been a better investment in time? • There were some marks on the lower front bezel. In fact, if I held it up to the light the plastic colouring wasn't uniform so maybe this mark was just the cheap plastic. • 3rd party android apps were hit and miss - if you enjoy wasting your precious time on earth feel free… I tried the best android handwriting apps, lagged so much were unusable. • 3rd party apps would sometimes show a blackened screen… • Android 6.x something • manufacturer provides a free case with this - the seller didn’t provide the case. • I was unable to adjust refresh rate for any of the 3rd party apps.In it's current incarnation this is just a glorified ereader albeit with an excellent & good sized screen.The ugly:For nearly £400 the build quality of the plastic housing is extremely cheap - kind of plastic you find on cheap toys. Black of the front bezels weren't a consistent black. For the cost and considering the device's limited functionality, casing should have been made of quality materials.Cheap rattly buttons.The slightly rubberised material on the back casing sucked up any oil from clean hands - needed elbow grease to shift.NO manufacturer's support site for this model (twitter links to store on Aliexpress) - speaks volumes about company's commitment to this product.Reading on a good eink screen, especially outside in the sunshine, is a real pleasure but did it relieve eyestrain, no. Reading for long periods caused me the same eye strain as when I use an LCD screen for long periods (without breaks).I think, if you've grown up with books, you're likely to prefer eink (my kids think eink with its current limitations is pointless), and using a different non-backlit screen technology, well, it was just nice, and as it's like paper, you feel like it's better for your eyes.I think if and when Eink devices drop in price and provides similar functionality to an iPad pro's handwriting apps / apple pencil accuracy/robust build quality and design I would definitely invest. Maybe I'm being overly ambitious, considering the technology, so I'd be satisfied with: a device with good build quality, handwriting conversion/searching, export pdfs with said search functionality intact, and finally the ability to word-process any takers?Yep, I know about the remarKable but £500+ (in 2019), for a device with 512MB/8GB/old CPU - no matter how good the screen and software algorithms are - I would say, definitely No!