I’ve tested many e-readers, but the Onyx Boox Go 7 is the first Android e-book reader that I really like.

Onyx Boox Go 7: Two-minute review

I received the Boox Go 7 months ago for review, along with the Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II), and I’m glad I delayed my testing. A few firmware updates since I tested its color sibling have improved overall performance and I now have the new pen for it.

That’s right: the Go 7 is more than just a basic e-reader, offering pen support and a full native Notes app. However, you’ll have to buy the stylus separately, but that’s not unprecedented – you’ll also have to do the same for the Kobo Libra Color, for example. Although the new InkSense Plus is an improvement over the old Boox InkSense pen sold previously, writing on the Go 7 isn’t as pleasant as on other e-readers – there’s just not enough friction.

That said, the 7-inch E Ink Carta 1300 display is the standout feature here and there’s nothing more important to an e-reader than its screen. Right from the start, it made the Go 7 the better device compared to its sibling – something I said in my Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II) review and I still stand by that statement – ​​putting it on par with the current generation Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024). Text is sharp and crisp, while the overall reading experience is enhanced by very snappy performance. Page changes are quick, whether you tap to turn or use the buttons.

Speaking of which, access to the Google Play Store gives you a lot more flexibility on how you want to use the eReader – the native apps are great, but if you have personal preferences for a specific reading or productivity app, they’re easy to install, with fast load times and smooth third-party features.

Another reason I love a Boox device is the impressive file and font support. You can upload a wide variety of files and fonts, and you don’t even need a wired connection for that – support for Google Drive and Dropbox makes transferring to the cloud quick and easy. Transferring directly from a USB-C external hard drive or portable SSD is also remarkably simple and very fast and, in all honesty, I don’t see the need to connect this device to a PC for file transfer at all.

Boox’s interface has also improved but, as I have already said in several of my previous reviews, there is still too much going on and some configuration options are still hidden in the native application and accessible from different submenus. Better streamlining is definitely needed, which would be a big help for new Boox users.

Another reason I note the Go 7’s marks is its lack of waterproofing. Considering its price and the fact that all of its main competitors are IPX8 certified, this is a huge oversight. If you pay attention to it when traveling or reading by the pool, in the bath, or by the kitchen sink, this is arguably the best Boox device I’ve tried in a long time.

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: price and availability

• Released April 2025 in most major markets
• List price: $295.99 / €249.99 / AU$419
• Available to purchase directly from the Boox Shop and at select retailers

It seems very strange to me that if you’re in the US and buying directly from the Boox online store, the Go 7 costs more than the Go Color 7 (Gen II) – the latter costs $279.99, while the former costs $295.99 full price at the time of writing.

On the other hand, the price for Europe and Australia is more logical: respectively €249.99 and AU$419 for the Go 7 compared to €279.99 and AU$459 for the color variant.

No matter where you live, the monochrome Go 7 is a relatively expensive e-reader, although you could argue that its price is justified by the open operating system and 64GB of onboard storage expandable via a microSD card.

Additionally, its features include writing (although the InkSense Plus pen will need to be purchased separately for $45.99 / €45.99 / AU$69) and built-in stereo speakers (the sound isn’t great, though). That said, not everyone will need the freedom that the Android operating system offers and models like the Kobo Libra Color are cheaper at $229.99 / £209.99 / AU$379.95.

• Value rating: 4/5

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: Specifications

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: design and display

• Clear and crisp 7-inch E Ink Carta 1300 display
• Slim, lightweight and compact body with page turn buttons
• Includes speakers and microSD card tray

The Go Color 7 II and Go 7 are siblings, which means they are physically identical – the only difference being the screen technology they use. In fact, the design was inherited from the original Go Color 7 and that’s not a bad thing at all.

The Go 7 is thin, light and compact enough to take with you anywhere. And the page turn buttons are well placed to be exactly where your thumb would sit when holding the tablet in one hand. Personally, however, I would still prefer the old Kindle Oasis asymmetry (still used in the Kobo Libra Color) which had a bit more thickness along the larger bezel to make it more ergonomic. The thinness of the Go 7 may hurt your fingers if you are someone who reads for long hours. Having a case to add some overall thickness helps solve this little problem.

I like the feel and operation of the page turn buttons – there’s a nice little feedback that makes them satisfying to use. They become volume buttons if you’re using an app that doesn’t require scrolling or page switching, which is good since you can listen to audio files here.

As with the color variants (Gen I and II), the back is textured and there is a small power button on the bottom right corner of the tablet. A thin edge is just thick enough to house a USB-C port for charging, as well as a microSD card tray and speaker grills. A small microphone is on the opposite edge.

Boox unfortunately continues to avoid waterproofing its e-readers, the Go 7 also being absent. In my opinion, this is an unforgivable oversight given its price.

The star of the show, however, is the Go 7’s screen. As the name suggests, it’s a 7-inch screen using E Ink’s Carta 1300 technology. This screen has proven itself time and time again on other e-readers and does again here where it has been well optimized.

Text and images display beautifully and the anti-glare coating on the top ensures that the bright ceiling lights don’t distract you while reading. The LEDs on the screen are fantastic, much better than the screen lighting on the Go Color 7 II. The light is brighter and not as yellow as the color version of this e-reader. In fact, I’m amazed at how different the two screens are: the Go 7 is practically perfect while the Go 7 II is blurry and too warm.

• Design and display rating: 4.5/5

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: software and applications

• Runs a lite version of Android 13 with great native apps
• Full access to the Google Play Store offers a lot of freedom
• Clean user interface, but some settings are hidden in submenus

An e-reader running Android is a great choice for anyone who doesn’t want to be locked into the Kindle or Kobo ecosystems. The freedom to use third-party apps or find content from any platform can make a huge difference in user experience.

That said, native apps have a lot to offer and the average user may not even need to download anything else from the Play Store. The library app called NeoReader, for example, offers a lot of customization options that you don’t need to use MoonReader or KoReader… unless that’s really what you prefer. The same goes for the native Notes app. There is also, among other things, a browser and a music player.

Some of the third-party apps I’ve used on this Boox device are Kindle, Kobo, and Evernote, but I’ve used Libby on another Boox e-reader.

The Boox interface has evolved into a much cleaner version of the convoluted UI of years past, but there is still room for improvement. P For example, it’s not at all obvious that some library settings in NeoReader are hidden in the top menu bar under More – they’re very easy to miss unless you have the patience to explore every menu option on the device.

The Notes app is also not available by default on the home screen navigation; you need to go to the device’s system settings to find it and apply it to be visible if you plan to use it often. For me, since the Boox Go 7 supports the stylus, one would expect the Notes app to be available on the home screen by default.

I saw a major change in the way the ebook style menu in the library app was set up in 2025 and this has been carried over, which is a good thing. However, complications still exist: tap the middle of the screen when an ebook is open to bring up the menu, choose Style and the setup is much cleaner than before, but you have to tap More Settings to adjust fonts, spacing and margins. These are much easier to access on a Kindle or Kobo.

Long story short: I can see that Boox’s UI is improving, but there’s just too much going on and the average user doesn’t need that many customization options. I don’t think even a power user like me needs that many options on an e-reader. Less is more, Boox.

• Rating of software and applications: 3.5/5

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: user experience

• Arguably one of the best reading experiences on an electronic device
• Complete, but requires some learning to configure it according to individual needs
• Not a good writing experience

Most of us read text-heavy books, so opting for a monochrome e-reader makes economic sense, because there’s really no point in opting for a color screen if you’re not viewing anything more than a color book cover. But the Go 7 clearly demonstrates that it is the better e-reader compared to the Go Color 7 (Gen II) by offering a much more pleasant reading experience.

As I’ve mentioned before in this review, the Go 7’s screen stands out. The text is sharp and the contrast is also good, making it one of the best Boox e-readers I’ve used. This is further enhanced by the fact that pages turn quickly, whether via screen or button pressure. That said, individual books take a little longer to open than the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024), but all other library features are fast. Boox really did a great job optimizing the E Ink Carta 1300 display for this device.

Selecting text to highlight or annotate is also quick, and very precise if you use the InkSense Plus pen. However, the Boox Go 7 doesn’t support global handwriting, meaning you won’t be able to annotate or annotate books using NeoReader – and that’s despite a feature called FreeMark (which lets you write on the screen when an app is open but without annotating). The native Calendar (for memos) and Notes apps are the only places where the pen is supported by default.

This may seem restrictive, and for a power user like me it certainly is, but the average user looking for a capable e-reader won’t necessarily need all the features of a more advanced epaper tablet like the Boox Note Air series.

If you want to use the Notes app, be warned: the writing experience isn’t great. The InkSense Plus glides across the screen with virtually no friction and it can be a little disconcerting at first, but you get used to it. That said, there is absolutely no lag and pen input is instantaneous. I used it for writing and drawing rough designs on the Notes app and didn’t mind it, but I would much rather use the Boox Go 7 as an e-reader than a note-taker.

• User experience rating: 4/5

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: performance

• Fast and snappy performance
• Occasional ghosting only when reading image-heavy books
• Battery consumption is higher than the competition

The Go 7 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM – the same combo powering the color variant – and performance is generally very good for an E Ink device.

Although the NeoReader app is not the fastest book loader, this is not a fault of the device but of the app. However, using third-party apps is smooth, with fast loadings and all other features within them working well. Where I’ve previously experienced third-party app crashes on older Boox tablets, I had no such issues here.

As with the Go Color 7 II, I found wired file transfer via OTG remarkably fast and, for the first time testing a Boox tablet, I didn’t even bother using Google Drive or BooxDrop to access my ebooks. I only logged into my Google account to access the Play Store.

Thanks to the Carta 1300 screen, the Go 7 does not suffer from ghosting as much as the color version. I actually didn’t experience any ghosting when reading text-only books, but there was occasional layering when reading graphic novels, which is common when reading image-rich titles on epaper screens.

Battery life is disappointing, however. The wait for an e-reader with a 2,300 mAh capacity would last a few weeks, but in the real world, Android devices like the Go 7 don’t offer as much use on a single charge as a Kindle or Kobo.

If you have Wi-Fi turned on at all times, you’ll get about a week of use reading for about two hours a day and the screen brightness will be set to medium levels. You’ll make more money with Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) turned off and the lights dimmed.

Start doing more than just reading and you’ll see the battery drain even faster. The browser and music player are power hungry, and the more you take notes, the sooner the Go 7 will run out of juice. Battery drain, even in sleep mode, is quite significant – something I’ve seen in almost every Boox I’ve tested so far.

Although there’s no fast charging here, you don’t need to wait too long for the battery to recharge. On average, the Go 7 took about two hours to go from 9% or 10% to full over the several months I used it when plugged into a USB-C port on a 65W wall charger. It will be slower if you use a dock connected to your PC or a USB-A to C cable, but that’s pretty standard for most e-readers.

• Performance rating: 4/5

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Go 7?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: Alternatives

If you’re unsure whether the Boox Go 7 is worth picking up, I’ve listed a few alternatives below, with the Kobo Libra Color, despite having a color screen, being its closest rival from a design perspective. There are other standard e-readers as well and I’ve listed their specifications in the table below to help you compare them all.

Drag to scroll horizontally

Header Cell – Column 0	Onyx Boox Go 7	Kobo Color Balance	Kobo Clara BW	Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024)
Price	$295.99 / €249.99 (around £217) / AU$419	$229.99 / £209.99 / AU$379.95	$139.99 / £129.99 / AU$249.95	from $159.99 / £134.99 / AU$299
Screen	Carta 1300 7 inch E ink	7 inch E Kaleido 3 Ink	Carta 1300 6 inch E ink	Carta 1300 7 inch E ink
Resolution	300ppi in B&W	300ppi in B&W; 150ppi in color	300ppi in B&W	300ppi in B&W
Operating system	Android 13	Based on Linux	Based on Linux	Based on Linux
Storage	64 GB (expandable)	32 GB	16 GB	16 GB
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 690	Undisclosed dual-core 2GHz chipset	Undisclosed dual-core 2GHz chipset	Undisclosed 1GHz dual-core chipset
Battery	2300mAh	2050mAh	1500mAh	Undisclosed
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (in some regions), USB-C
Waterproofing	None	IPX8	IPX8	IPX8
File support (including images and audio)	25	16	16	17
Speakers	Yes	No	No	No
Dimensions	156 x 137 x 6.4mm	161 x 144.6 x 8.3mm	112 x 160 x 9.2mm	176.7 x 127.6 x 7.8mm
Weight	195g	199.5g	174g	211g

How I tested the Onyx Boox Go 7

I may have had the Boox Go 7 for months, but I only used it for two months before writing this review. It’s because I was distracted by other Boox devices…

I digress, though. For this review, I tried different ways to upload files, including connecting to Google Drive. I moved a font folder, but used OTG support to import the ebooks I wanted onto the device for my testing. I used the same method to transfer a few music files to test the built-in speaker as well.

I received the new InkSense Plus pen towards the end of December and was pleasantly surprised to find that setup was remarkably simple as long as the pen was charged.

From the Play Store, I downloaded the Kindle and Kobo apps to access my existing libraries and test how the third-party apps worked. I also used Evernote and Libby on this device, as well as downloaded CPU X to confirm what hardware was powering this device.

I used the stylus for writing and drawing, but spent most of my testing hours reading. I used the browser briefly.

I’ve been testing e-readers for almost a decade now for TechRadar and have built up a solid knowledge base to help me objectively compare different models from different brands – and the Go 7 definitely stands out.

Learn more about how we test

[[First published in January 2026]

Although she’s happiest with a camera in hand, Sharmishta’s main priority is being TechRadar’s APAC editor, looking after the day-to-day running of the site’s Australian, New Zealand and Singapore editions, handling everything from news and reviews to e-commerce content like deals and discount codes. Although she enjoys reviewing cameras and lenses when she can, she is also an avid reader and has become an expert on E Ink e-readers and writing tablets, having appeared on Singapore radio to talk about these underrated devices. In addition to her role at TechRadar, she is also the editor-in-chief of the Australian edition of Digital Camera World and writes for Tom’s Guide and T3.

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