The Onyx Boox Poke 4 Lite is a phenomenal e-reader that gives the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 11th generation and Kobo Libra 2 a run for their money. The Poke 4 is an affordable alternative that does not have a glass based screen, unlike their competition. Instead, it has a sunken screen and bezel design, which really makes the text pop. You will also not experience glare from lights or the sun, since its glass that reflects the light, whereas e-paper absorbs it. The key selling points of the Poke 4 Lite is Android 11 and Google Play, giving users the ability to craft their own experience.

The Onyx Boox Poke 4 Lite features a 6 inch E INK Carta HD touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024×786 and 212 PPI. The screen is not flush with the bezel and does not have a layer of glass. The vast majority of e-readers have glass displays, which reflect light. The only way you can get around this is via a matte screen protector and no OEMS make their own anymore.

This e-reader has a front-lit display and color temperature system with a series of white and amber LED lights that project light evenly across the screen and not into your eyes. There are 64 levels of control via the slider bars, so it can be optimized for your environmental conditions.

Underneath the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2 GHZ Quad-core with Arm Cortex-A53. There is 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage for all of your books. You can transfer data via the USB-C port and also charge it, speaking of charging, it is powered by a 1500 mAh battery. There is no speaker or microphone, this is meant to keep costs low. However, it does have Bluetooth 5.0, so it is easy to use wireless headphones or earbuds to listen to audiobooks, music or podcasts.

The overall color scheme of the Poke 4 Lite has two different colors – black or white. The entire device would be a single color, including the bezels and the front of the display, wrapping around to the back. The backplate does not have any texture it is basically just a slab of plastic. There is a power button the top and an USB-C port on the bottom, with a small microphone next to it. Basically, since this is an affordable e-reader, the bezels are kind of chunky, and the bottom of the device is really big, I suppose this is where Onyx housed the internal battery.

The Poke 4 Lite does not have a sexy looking design and won’t win any Red Dot awards. When it put it side by side with the Nook Glowlight 4, Paperwhite Signature Edition or even the Kobo Libra 2, you will notice that these other models visually look better. The Kindle also uses the latest generation E INK Carta 1200 display panels, which increases performance and page turn speed by around 35%. So why is the Poke 4 Lite compelling? Amazon, Kobo and B&N have extensive ecosystems, and the main draw is to easily buy books and other media directly from the company. They are all really easy to use. Whereas the Poke 4 is much more utilitarian and platform agnostic. Google 11 and Google Play are the main draws, since you can install everything from productivity tools such as email clients or Microsoft Office or just download your favorite reading apps. Access your personal collection from cloud storage and access any walled gardens, but on your own terms.

You can purchase the Onyx Boox Poke 4 Lite from the Good e-Reader Store for $149 and you can choose between black or white. If you want to protect your device with a case, there are two designs to choose from and they cost $39.99.

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