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Review | Onyx Boox Max2: e-reader you can annotate reports on is a black-and-white beauty

At first sight an e-reader twice as big as an Amazon Kindle and with a black-and-white screen may lack appeal, but wait until you see what it can do, and all the different file formats it supports

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The best thing about the Boox Max2 is that you can annotate PDFs and Word files on-screen using the stylus. It not only allows free-flowing handwritten annotations, but also saves them (as PNG files). Photo: Jamie Carter

So small and light you can hold it one hand. That was always the selling point of Amazon’s 6-inch Kindle, a revolutionary e-reader when it was launched in 2007. So why would anyone want a 13.3-inch e-reader, in the form of the new Onyx Boox Max2?

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Design and hardware

The Boox Max2’s screen is only slightly less than A4-sized, that’s why. Its size explains why there’s a loop for a built-in stylus on its right-hand side, for use when annotating PDFs, presentations, essays and scientific papers.

The Boox Max2 has an E-Ink Carta E-Paper display with a resolution of 2,200 x 1,650 pixels. Photo: Jamie Carter
The Boox Max2 has an E-Ink Carta E-Paper display with a resolution of 2,200 x 1,650 pixels. Photo: Jamie Carter

That’s not all it does. It’s possible to use gestures on its touch screen, just like on a tablet. And the reader has its own web browser, Wi-fi, and Bluetooth for use with wireless headphones.

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Software and features

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