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E-reader that plays video: Onyx Boox Max3 review – amazing battery life, screen mimics writing on paper

  • The 13.3-inch device can be used for reading e-books, making digital notes, annotating and editing PDFs
  • While the whole point is to mimic paper – something it does well – some kind of read-in-the-dark light would be welcome

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The Onyx Boox Max3 is a sleek, slight device that can be used as an e-reader, video player and for making digital notes, and annotating and editing PDFs. Photo: Jamie Carter

Power-saving e-ink technology has been around since the Kindle was introduced, but no such device has been able to offer users such a seamless video-viewing experience – until now. The new Onyx Boox Max3 is a 13.3-inch e-reader for making digital notes, annotating and editing PDFs and, impressively, playing videos.

Setting you back US$859.99, the Max3’s Android operating system means it can be used to listen to audiobooks, sync with cloud services like Dropbox and host Google Play apps.

Design and hardware

The Max3 is a sleek, slight device. Although it has a screen that’s just slightly smaller than a sheet of A4 paper, the 310x228x6.8 mm Max3 weighs just 490 grams. The bezel isn’t all that slim at 11mm, but it’s white matte, so doesn’t collect fingerprints, and can be held in one hand.

The Onyx Boox Max3 handles almost any file format, from PDF, ePub and MOBI to Word docx, HTML and JPG. Photo: Jamie Carter
The Onyx Boox Max3 handles almost any file format, from PDF, ePub and MOBI to Word docx, HTML and JPG. Photo: Jamie Carter

Its e-ink Mobius screen is designed mostly for reading and annotating, and tries to imitate the friction between pen and paper. It’s much more about handwriting and reading than image quality.

Jamie has been writing about travel, technology and astronomy for SCMP.com for almost a decade. He's visited over 60 countries, picking up travel hacks and tech tips along the way. However, he's usually in search of wilderness and dark skies to indulge his joint interests of photography and stargazing. Astronomy and travel clash in his latest venture, WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com
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