ONYX BOOX Darwin 8 E Reader :: ONYX BOOX electronic books

ONYX BOOX Darwin 8 is a device for reading electronic books with the E Ink Carta Plus screen of the latest generation, which has a higher definition and contrast. The model has touch control and a built-in MOON light 2 system with color temperature control and with no flickering. The SNOW Field function allows you to decrease the amount of artefacts while partial screen refresh. A Wi-Fi module allows you to use different online-services and transfer files from other devices. Thanks to a standard audio output and a Bluetooth module, you can listen to music and audiobooks from the E Reader. Pre-installed reading programs have numerous settings with the help of which you can choose the most comfortable display of texts. The model is based on the Android 4.4 operating system which allows the user to install and use some third-party apps^*. The device is made in a classical housing with side buttons, has an up-to-date USB Type-C connector and comes with a case cover.

What E Ink Carta Plus is

E Ink Carta Plus is the latest generation of screens made by "electronic paper" technology. Compared to the previous models, this screen has a higher definition and contrast. Pixel density of the screen is 300 dpi that is a record for this type of E Ink screens and corresponds to the high-quality paper printing. Reading on such screens is as comfortable as on regular paper pages.

What SNOW Field is

SNOW Field is an operating mode of the screen, allowing to reduce the number of artifacts on the screen within partial refresh. If this function is on, full refresh of the screen is not needed.

Screen frontlight system

The MOON Light 2 technology enables one to use the device in the dark or under poor lighting conditions. When this function is in use, soft luminescence of the screen comfortable for reading in dark rooms is being generated. It also has a color temperature control and, thanks to the use of Flicker-Free technology, the front-light system is perfectly smooth.

Capacitive Multi-touch screen

Capacitive sensor, supporting a Multi-touch function, provides an easy control with fingers – turning pages with a short touch, zooming documents with a pinch, making annotations in the text and other functions.

What MOON Light 2 is

The latest researches have shown that blue light prevents the production of melatonin (daily rhythms regulator), which is necessary for a person to sleep. Therefore, after reading on a glowing screen of an ordinary tablet or smartphone, it is often difficult to fall asleep. MOON Light 2 allows you to adjust the brightness of cold and warm LED lights independently, choosing at will white light for reading during the daytime, and more yellow for reading before sleeping. The Flicker-Free technology completely eliminates shimmering of the LEDs used in this screen frontlight system. This is due to the use of a DC power supply.The Flicker-Free technology significantly reduces discomfort for sight and eye fatigue and decreases the chances of headache, caused by long use of the E Reader.

High performance

A quad-core processor with 1,2 GHz clock rate and 1 GB of RAM ensures comfortable work with difficult documents. And 8 GB of nonvolatile memory and a microSD-slot supporting memory cards up to 32 GB allows the user to store a considerable library.

Format support

The BOOX software allows the user to open files of various text and graphic formats. When reading you can change font style and size, disposition of pages, insert bookmarks, add your own fonts and zoom documents at will.

Built-in dictionaries

There are pre-installed English-Russian and Russian-English dictionaries in Darwin 8. To translate an unknown word just choose and touch it in the text.

Smart cover

The E Reader comes with a smart cover which not only provides effective protection of the screen, but when closed turns automatically the device to sleep mode.

User-friendly library

The library sorts ebooks by author, title and series. Convenient search and filters allow you to find quickly any needed book by genre, language, date of publication etc. In addition, standard folders, created on PCs, are supported.

User-friendly ebook writing into the memory

In addition to the standard way of copying ebooks with the help of a USB cable, you can transfer them via Bluetooth or a Wi-Fi channel when connected to the Internet. Also a new cloud PUSH service "Send2boox" is available.

Bluetooth module

Thanks to a built-in Bluetooth module of the 4.1 standard you can connect external devices, such as a keyboard or earphones.

Audio player

The device has a pre-installed audio player that allows you to listen to music and audiobooks. To use it, just connect headphones or speakers to the E Reader via Bluetooth or via a 3,5 output and run a corresponding file.

Apps installation

ONYX BOOX Darwin 8 allows you to install additional software for the device. If you got used to a certain reading program, install it into your ONYX BOOX and read with comfort.

Long-lasting work

Low power consumption by the E Ink display and a capacious battery provide long-lasting autonomous work.

Language support

The BOOX allows the user to read documents in different world languages. Amongst them there are such languages as Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Chinese, Japanese and many others.

^* This model does not support Google services. Therefore, the following programs such as Google Play, Google Books, Google Drive, etc. will not work. Besides them, other third-party applications, which use Google services, will not work.

Display	6", E Ink Carta Plus, 16 shades of grey, contrast ratio 14:1, 1072 × 1448 pixels, capacitive Multi-touch screen and the SNOW Field function
Front light	MOON Light 2
Processor	4-core, 1,2 GHz
Audio	3,5 mm output
RAM	1 GB
Internal memory	8 GB
Expansion slot	For micro SD/microSDHC cards
USB interface	USB Type-C
Supported file formats	Форматы книг: TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, FB3, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, DOCX, PRC, EPUB, PDF, DjVu Image files: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP Other formats: CBR, CBZ, MP3, WAV
Wireless interface	Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth	4.1
Battery	Li-on 3000 mAh
Operating system	Android 4.4
Size	170 × 117 × 8,7 mm
Color	Black
Weight	182 gr
Complete set	ONYX BOOX Darwin 8 E Reader User's manual Smart cover USB cable Warranty card
Warranty period	1 year

Note: Since a part of the Flash memory size is system software, the portion available to the user is less than the total size of the memory chip.

The device is designed primarily for reading electronic books, but has some additional features which are defined by the installed software. For example, the current firmware has functions such as calendar, dictionary, access to the Internet, and others.
The device is freely reprogrammable on request of the user who can install, delete and create programs.
The device has a battery that provides long, autonomous usage.

Current firmware version Jan 20, 2022

Version: 2022-01-20_21-02_2.1.2_5b90d57
MD5 checking sum: 66ef5cde71ab0de49939ae97ddea1f9b
Download: firmware update file (366.994 MB, UPX-file)

Revisions

Updated version of Alreader X Pro.
Fixed a bug in the operation of the PUSH service and Wi-Fi Transfer.
Removed battery percentage indicator from the system.
Fixed interface translation.
Fixed other known bugs.

Setup

Download the update.upx firmware file to your desktop PC.
Charge the device battery to at least 50%.
Connect the e-book to your computer with a USB cable.
Copy the update.upx file to the root directory of the device's internal memory, that is, simply to the ONYX disk, as it is defined in the system, next to other folders and files.
Go to Settings > System Updates > Check for Updates in Memory.
There will be a question about confirming the desire to update the system. Click "Update".
The firmware will start. Lasts about 8 minutes.
Wait for the user interface to load.
After installing the firmware, you need to calibrate the battery. Before calibrating, you must reset the device to factory settings (Settings> Right arrow (top right of the screen)> Reset to factory settings). During the reset process, uncheck the "Clear internal memory" box, otherwise all files will be deleted. The procedure consists of four stages:
- Write down the books that you will read soon.
- Charge the book to the maximum without removing it from the charge until the orange LED turns off.
- After that, disconnect from charging and use the device in normal mode until the battery is completely discharged (the cable icon appears with a request to charge), regardless of the rate of battery discharge. In the process of discharging, the reader cannot be connected to a computer or charger. Also, before the process is complete, you cannot do a factory reset.
- Then recharge the book with continuous charge up to 100 percent.