Individuals typically ask if Onyx ever updates the Android model on their Boox ereaders and eNotes, so I believed I’d put collectively an article answering that query.
Onyx does usually launch software program updates for his or her gadgets, even for fashions which might be a number of years outdated. However the reply is not any, Onyx doesn’t replace the Android variations on their Boox gadgets.
There was a time just a few years in the past once they did provide an Android improve from Android 6 to Android 9 for a few of their gadgets, however I feel they bumped into some problems. The improve was thought-about “excessive threat”, they usually stopped providing Android updates after that.
I can see why folks ask the query contemplating Onyx tends to make use of older variations of Android on their gadgets. Their present lineup of ereaders and eNotes include both Android 11 or Android 12. I’ve a cellphone that’s 6 years outdated and it runs Android 12, and the present Android model is 14, so I can perceive the priority.
I don’t know why Onyx at all times makes use of older variations of Android, however one factor to take into accounts is the truth that Onyx’s gadgets don’t run common Android such as you’d get on a pill or a cellphone. Onyx’s Android software program is closely modified to run smoother on E Ink screens. A variety of issues have been eliminated and tweaked to optimize efficiency on E Ink, they usually use a customized homescreen launcher that’s quite a bit totally different than common Android.
Onyx can have two gadgets with two totally different variations of Android that look and performance nearly identically from a software program standpoint.
One factor to be involved about is app compatibility with older variations of Android as a tool ages. However most apps assist older variations of Android for fairly awhile, particularly in terms of studying apps. For instance, the Kindle app nonetheless helps Android 9 from 2018 so it goes again fairly far, and you’ll most likely discover older variations of the app that also work on earlier variations of Android.
For some motive Android-powered E Ink gadgets, and never simply Onyx’s however different manufacturers too, don’t include the newest model of Android; they’re at all times just a few variations behind.
In the event you purchase an ereader or eNote that runs Android, don’t count on it to get up to date to a more moderen model of Android sooner or later. It simply doesn’t occur. The one method to get newer variations of Android is to purchase new {hardware}.