Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II: Two-minute review

As you can probably tell from my Onyx Boox Go Color 7 review, I didn’t take a shine to the original model released in 2024, which meant I had higher expectations from its successor.

The Boox Go Color 7 Gen II launched in April 2025 alongside a monochrome edition called the Boox Go 7, both sharing the same design and and feature set – the only difference being the screen: the former uses the color E Ink Kaleido 3 display while the latter is the grayscale E Ink Carta 1300.

Physically, both the 2025 Go Series siblings are nearly identical to the Go Color 7 from 2024, with one tiny design change that I’m pleased with – the page-turn buttons on the new models are smaller, rounded and separated a little to improve ergonomics.

On paper, the Go Color 7 Gen II is the better device compared to its predecessor, running Android 13 (rather than Android 12), getting a generation newer processor and adding writing capabilities that the previous model lacked. Like many smaller-screen epaper tablets like it, you will need to purchase the stylus separately, although at the time of writing, the only pen that works with the Go Color 7 II – the Boox InkSense – has been discontinued and no official replacement has been made available.

According to Boox, it’s preparing a new stylus after taking on user feedback, and the new pen “is expected to be available in the third quarter” of this year. Reimagining a stylus is admirable, but it still begs the question: why release ereaders with stylus support (this affects the monochrome Boox Go 7 as well) if their only pen isn’t available to buy?

When I started testing the device about 11 weeks ago, third-party retailers still had stock of the InkSense, which is how I was able to source one for this review, but even those are no longer available. That said, I’m glad the pen is being replaced as I didn’t enjoy the writing experience with a hard nib on a very smooth screen. I’ll update this review when the promised stylus is released.

While I’m not docking any points for the lack of a supported stylus at the time of publication, I’m disappointed to see that the 7-inch color screen on the Gen II isn’t as nice to read on as its predecessor. Text on the Gen II is 'fuzzy', for the lack of a better word. Compared to its predecessor, its monochrome Go 7 sibling and the Kobo Libra Colour, text within ebooks and speech bubbles clearly lacks crispness. You can still read, that's not the issue, but it's hard to recommend an ereader when others do a better job.

And while some colors are more saturated here than on the older model and the Kobo Libra Colour, the additional contrast means small details are lost in the darker areas. Strangely, though, the color 'inks' when writing lack this same saturation and look washed out compared to what I've experienced on older color Boox models like the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C.

Boox has somehow managed to make the display yellower (or warmer) than on any of its other tablets, and it's a stark difference between the Gen II's monochrome sibling as well. This warmth sadly affects the displayed colors as well. The yellowness is exacerbated when the frontlight is switched on, giving comics and graphics novels what I call the 'jaundiced look'. In fact, the frontlight isn't even as bright on the Gen II as other Boox ereaders (or even Kobos and Kindles).

The overall user experience is also marred by constant ghosting. It’s not as obvious as I’ve seen in older Boox devices, but it is distracting enough to be an issue. Setting the device to higher refresh rates, however, eats into the battery life, which also drains at a faster rate than other ereaders. Even the preset refresh modes that can be set on a per-app basis weren’t well optimized here, causing excessive stuttering while scrolling on the native web browser.

The good news is that the software issues I’ve had with the previous generation have been fixed and I was thrilled to see that wired transfer via OTG (directly plugging an external hard drive or portable SSD to the USB-C port) works smoothly – something I’ve had problems with in previous Boox tablets I’ve tested. Even the fonts folder within Storage is correctly bound, so things work a little more smoothly now, although the user interface continues to be slightly complicated.

Better implementation of the software doesn’t make up for the subpar reading experience, and neither does selling it at the same price as its predecessor – in fact, I'd say it’s hard to recommend at any price.

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: Price & availability

• Announced end April 2025 for US, Europe and Australia
• List price: $299.99 / €279.99 / AU$439
• Available directly from the Boox Shop and select retailers, including Amazon

As alluded to earlier, the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II was announced alongside the monochrome Boox Go 7, both becoming available at the end of April 2025.

Despite the added note-taking functionality, the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II carries a similar price tag to its predecessor (which is already listed as out of stock on the Boox Shop, indicating it might get discontinued soon). Where the older model had a launch price of $249.99 / €279.99 (about £245) / AU$459, the Gen II is listed for $279.99 / €279.99 / AU$439 at the time of writing. As you can see, only US customers face a slightly higher charge likely due to tariffs on several imports. This price includes a magnetic case that features a loop to secure a stylus.

In comparison, the Kobo Libra Colour is cheaper at $229.99 / £209.99 / AU$379.95 for the standalone ereader, but you will need to add on the $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$119.95 for the Kobo Stylus 2 if you want to use it for writing notes, and you’ll need to purchase a case separately if you want one.

The only compatible stylus for the 2025 Go series was the Boox InkSense, which has been listed as “out of stock” since the release of the Go Color 7 II (and its monochrome sibling), and at the time of writing is no longer available from third-party retailers either. I have official confirmation that the pen has been discontinued, and while the Boox Shop lists a bundle that includes the stylus, I’d recommend holding off purchasing the full package until the replacement pen has been released. There’s no confirmed release date at the time of publishing this review, and neither is there any indication of how much the stylus would cost. I’ll update this article as soon as I know more.

Given my subpar experience with the Go Color 7 Gen II, I think the monochrome Boox Go 7 would be the better buy and it retails for $249.99 / €249.99 / AU$399, a price that includes an identical magnetic case as well.

• Value score: 3 / 5

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: Specs

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: Design & display

• Exact same dimensions and weight as Gen I model, but design tweaks to buttons
• Compact and lightweight, lacks waterproofing
• 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 screen lacks contrast and sharpness

As the old adage goes: if it ain’t broke… The original Go Color 7 was a lovely compact ereader that I liked the design of, except for the closely placed page-turn buttons. That's been changed on the Gen II model, which now sports smaller, rounded buttons with some space in between.

This tiny change, in my opinion, makes the Gen II a touch more ergonomic in use, but there’s a case to be made for the asymmetric design of the Kobo Libra series (and the Kindle Oasis models) – it provides a nice resting place for the thumb along the edge of the broader bezel. The slim and flat form factor of the Go Color 7 II can be harder on the fingers and wrists in comparison, although the added thickness from its magnetic case helps a alleviate the soreness a little.

As before, the page-turn buttons automatically become volume controls for apps that don’t require scrolling or page turning, and this functionality can be set on a per-app basis in the Settings menu.

Where the buttons on the older model were a different color to the rest of the chassis (silver on the white colorway and dark grey on the black), the Gen II – and its monochrome sibling – are a single color, available in black (as reviewed here) or white. The one-color look without any trimmings or accents makes the device look a little dated, but that’s not a complaint, merely an observation made in comparison to the older model.

All other physical attributes are identical to the Gen I model, including the textured rear panel which, to me now seems just a smidge rougher that makes the Gen II a little grippier if you prefer not to use its magnetic case. In terms of dimensions and weight, nothing has changed since 2024 and that’s not a bad thing as the Go Color 7 II is compact and lightweight, making it quite portable.

There’s a tiny power button on the bottom right corner of the device, while the right edge is home to the USB-C port, the speaker grilles and a microSD card tray. Only the mic has moved, now housed on the opposite edge.

What it lacks is waterproofing; there’s no IP rating for it listed on the official website, so if you plan to travel with it – it's the perfect compact size for doing so – steer clear of the pool.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, the Go Color 7 II uses a 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display, the same as the previous generation, although Onyx has made the newer model more naturally yellow in comparison. This has the unfortunate effect of adding a yellow hue to all the colors on screen, giving them what I call the 'jaundiced look'.

This is exacerbated by the frontlight on the Gen II as it enhances the yellowness of the display. It’s also, rather strangely, not as bright as the Gen I model which, at the time of testing it in 2024, I said wasn’t bright compared to the even older Onyx Boox Page. In fact, the light on the Go Color 7 Gen II is dimmer than its own 2025 sibling, the Boox Go 7.

I had complained about the lack of sharpness on the Go Color 7 (Gen I) when compared to the Kobo Libra Colour, but Boox has managed to make that a lot worse on the Gen II, and that is its biggest failing – a subpar display (more on this below in the User Experience section).

• Design & display score: 3 / 5

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: Android software & apps

• Runs a custom version of Android 13
• User interface takes time to get used to
• Access to the Google Play Store; AI Assistant app available on board

Where the older model from 2024 was running Android 12, the Go Color 7 II has been upgraded to a custom version of Android 13. There’s usually no need to worry about a device like an ereader running an older version of Google’s OS as there typically aren’t any security issues here, and I doubt anyone would save sensitive information on a device like this.

The trimmed-down version of Android on the Go Color 7 Gen II caters specifically to reading and writing, and should be familiar to anyone who has used a Boox tablet before. If not, the user interface will take some getting used to as it’s not the most streamlined UX I’ve come across. For a simpler setup, you’ll need to turn to a Kindle or a Kobo ereader.

The home screen, once you’ve connected to Wi-Fi, is easy to get around, with a navigation menu at the bottom of the display. This gives you quick access to your library, the storage menu and your apps, plus it’s customizable via the device’s Settings menu. There’s space here for five options and, strangely for an ereader with writing capabilities, the native Notes app is not one of them.

Finding it wasn’t easy, but Boox at least has a quick guide online on how to access it: you’ll need to navigate to Settings > System Display > Homescreen Navigation Bar where It’s listed as one of the options for the aforementioned customization. This may not seem like a big issue, but my expectation from a device like this is to highlight its main features up front rather than tuck them away, highlighting the unintuitive UX. In my case, I swapped out the Bookstore as it’s not as enticing a source of content as the Kindle or Kobo stores.

Given its open Android ecosystem, the interface on the Boox Go 7 II includes a lot of advanced settings that help you use third-party apps as smoothly as possible, but submenus for native applications are difficult to find. For example, you need to open an ebook in the NeoReader app (the native library), tap onscreen to open the top menu bar, click on More, then select Settings from there – another example of a convoluted interface.

Thankfully adjusting fonts and overall styling for individual books is easier to do, but there’s a lot going on here compared to what you’d see on a Kindle or Kobo. The setup for styling, however, is now improved, which makes it easier to understand than previous iterations of Boox’s interface.

In fact, there’s another improvement to the software that I’ve previously had trouble with on Boox devices – taking advantage of the USB-C port’s OTG support for wired file transfer. Previously, the menu required to copy files across from an external hard drive to a Boox tablet would disappear as soon as I tried to navigate back to the Storage pane, thus not letting me add files to the default Books folder. Now that is no longer an issue and I was able to select multiple ebooks saved on my Samsung T7 portable SSD and save into the Go Color 7 II without any issues.

I had no trouble downloading third-party Android apps to the Go Color 7 II. These included the Kindle and Kobo apps as the bulk of my library is on these two platforms, plus an app called CPU X that detects the exact chipset a device is using. I didn’t try any third-party note-taking applications as I’ve always found Boox’s native Notes app to be full featured and more than enough for my needs.

• Software score: 3.5 / 5

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: User experience

• Excessive yellow hue on screen affects colors
• Subpar reading experience due to lack of text sharpness
• Writing experience could change depending on the new stylus

An unintuitive user interface aside, the Go Color 7 Gen II is quite usable. It’s when you compare it to other models, including its own predecessor and its 2025 monochrome sibling that you begin to realize there are better color ereaders to spend your money on. And that’s exactly what my job, as the reviewer, entails – doing the side-by-side comparisons so you, dear reader, can make the most informed buying decision.

As you will see in the comparison photos below, the Go Color 7 Gen II doesn’t hold up well as an ereader. As for writing, it’s hard to rate the experience when you can’t purchase a compatible stylus yet.

Reading

I’ve tested several ereaders in the last eight years and I don’t think I’ve ever been as disappointed with the reading experience as I was with the Go Color 7 Gen II. Admittedly that’s because I’m comparing it directly to a few of its contemporaries, but even if you didn’t do a side-by-side comparison, it’s easy for anyone who’s used an ereader before to say the display looks hazy. I suspect that’s because of the anti-glare layer on the screen, and it’s just a lot more pronounced here when compared to other brands and Boox models.

The 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display used here is naturally more yellow than other ereader I’ve previously tested and found this affected how colors appear on screen. I compared it to its predecessor and the Kobo Libra Colour, both of which have paler backgrounds in light mode and made the displayed colors appear as close to natural as is possible on an epaper screen. While I can't say this alone affects the reading experience, I found the monochrome Boox Go 7 was nicer to read on in light mode because of the whiter background – it added a touch more contrast to the page.

The frontlight, which isn’t as bright as I’ve seen previously on other Boox tablets (even the Go 7 that released alongside this ereader is brighter), exacerbates the ‘jaundiced look’. Boox doesn't list how many amber LEDs are used on the Go Color 7 II, but the frontlight is warmer compared to five other ereaders I had with me at the time of this review (two other Boox tablets, two Kindles and a Kobo), which makes the screen look yellower when switched on. The only other E Ink tablet that surpasses the Gen II's warm display and light is the Kobo Elipsa 2E, but here it's not a problem as the epaper tablet doesn't display color.

As with every color ereader using the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen technology, the Go Color 7 II has a screen resolution of 150ppi for color and 300ppi in grayscale. Colors appear more washed out when compared to its own predecessor which, at the time of writing the Boox Go Color 7 review, I said was pale beside the Kobo Libra Colour. And while I don’t expect the Gen II to match what I would see on an LCD display, I did expect it to be similar to its older sibling, if not better.

The flip side to that is colors on the Gen II look more saturated compared to the Kobo Libra Colour. Newer firmware may have made the Gen I better at displaying colors, but the release notes for v4.1 on the Boox website make no mention of changes that would account for this improvement. The more saturated hues, however, do come at the cost of some details in darker areas being diminished, but this may not be a deal breaker for many readers of comics and graphics novels.

What is truly disappointing is how the text is displayed, whether in ebooks or in speech bubbles – letters are fuzzy on the Go Color 7 II compared to the Gen I and the Go 7. Even the Kobo is better at displaying text.

The new Boox interface allows you to have custom styling for individual titles you’re reading, but enhancing text weight (or boldness) didn’t help, although setting the Dark Color Enhancement to its maximum improved the text a tiny bit, but note that you will lose further details in darker areas when reading in color. Switching to dark mode also made no difference as overall contrast is lacking.

Long story short, it’s hard to recommend the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II as an ereader.

Writing

It’s hard to rate the Go Color 7 Gen II’s writing experience objectively as the Boox InkSense is no longer available (although it still works if you can find stock at a retailer) and will be replaced by a new stylus that I hope will add a touch of friction.

The hard plastic nib of the InkSense just slides across the screen of the Go Color 7 II, and I often felt like I was losing control over my writing because of that. I think a softer nib would be ideal, but we’ll just have to wait and see what Boox releases for its 2025 Go series 7-inch ereaders.

However, as with reading, the color ‘inks’ available for writing look washed out compared to what I’ve experienced on older Boox tablets like the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, and black is the only option that stands out clearly.

The native Notes app, though, is the same as you’d find on the brand’s more high-end epaper tablets like the Onyx Boox Go 10.3 and is more than enough for the average user who needs to jot down some thoughts or doodle. Power users would appreciate the Notes app better, thanks to several tools that could prove handy for productivity. For example, the Insert option allows you to add images and audio files to your notes, and the same tool lets you hyperlink selected text to an external URL or to a different page within the same notebook.

The adjustable Lasso tool gives you a lot of flexibility for text selections, and promptly adds the AI tool for instant handwriting-to-text conversion. Handwriting recognition is not always accurate, but then it’s very simple to make edits manually.

• User experience score: 2.5 / 5

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: Performance

• Not the fastest ereader I’ve tested
• Lots of light ghosting that quickly becomes annoying
• Battery drain is higher compared to other similar models

The Boox Go Color 7 Gen II uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM to keep things running as smoothly as possible. The CPU is a small improvement over the Snapdragon 680 used in the older Go Color 7, but it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference in overall performance.

Boox tablets aren’t known for being speedy loaders, and the latest Kindle and Kobo ereaders boot up faster from sleep mode than the Go Color 7 Gen II. Even the native Library app takes its time to open a chosen title, even if it’s been saved locally to the device. It’s not a deal breaker in terms of overall usability, although it’s undeniably slower than the 2024 Kindles and Kobo devices when opening up a book to read.

Even wired file transfer via USB-OTG was very quick. Wireless transfer of files has always been easy using the BooxDrop platform, but I had no trouble signing into my Google Drive account either, with cloud transfer also working quite well.

Third-party apps, however, load quickly and, during my testing, worked smoothly, with no app crashes experienced with the few that I downloaded for this review. That said, reading on the Kindle or Kobo app also suffered from the same screen issues as when using the native NeoReader application.

My biggest performance issue with the Go Color 7 II was ghosting. Adjusting refresh rates using the presets available for individual apps didn’t help at all and the only way I found to counter this was to set system refresh rate to a faster option. I tested a full-refresh frequency set at 10 taps and 5 taps, with the latter working fine for the most part, although it came at the cost of battery life. There was still some ghosting on the display between the 5 taps, and the only way to eliminate this was setting full-refresh frequency to 1 tap. This drains the battery even more significantly, but was the best solution for me.

In fact, the preset refresh rates that can be set on a per-app basis didn’t even help smoothen stuttering while scrolling web pages on the native browser. I wasn’t expecting seamless scrolling like on a phone, but I’ve experienced better refresh-rate presets on other E Ink devices: case in point, I had no such problems in my ViWoods AiPaper review which also runs a custom version of Android 13 like the Go Color 7 II.

As I’ve already mentioned, battery drain for me on this ereader was quite significant after I changed the system refresh rate to a quicker option, but even on default settings, the Go Color 7 II chews through its 2,300mAh battery quite quickly.

I had the ereader set to powering off after 48 hours of no activity, but upon switching the Go Color 7 II on again I found the battery life would be significantly lower than when I put it into sleep mode. I expect about 5% to 10% drain for ereaders in scenarios like this, but the Go Color 7 II would drop by 25% on average – in one instance where it was in sleep mode for 48 hours and powered down for a further 36 hours, battery life dropped from 81% to 56%.

This isn’t behavior I’ve experienced with any other Boox tablet, so I suspect there’s a bug that’s affecting battery efficiency and a future firmware might be able to fix it. In the meantime, you’ll still get about a week of reading from every top-up with the system refresh rate set to 15 taps. This will reduce if you use faster refresh rates and will also be affected by how bright you set the frontlight to and how often you use Bluetooth connectivity.

Recharging, thankfully, isn't slow and it went from 12% to full in 1 hour and 57 minutes plugged into a wall adapter during my testing. Connected to a dock slowed down the charging rate only marginally, going from 17% to full in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

• Performance score: 3 / 5

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II review: Alternatives

How I tested the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II

• Used as main ereader for approximately 11 weeks
• Used wireless and wired file transfer methods for books and audio files
• Separately purchased the Boox InkSense to test writing

When Boox sent the Go Color 7 Gen II for review without a stylus, I was a little surprised. On enquiring, I was told that the Boox InkSense – the supported pen – had been discontinued and I would be sent its replacement as soon as it was released. However, that meant delaying this review until later this year, so I purchased the InkSense myself from a third-party retailer in Australia (where the the testing was done) who still had stock. The stylus is now no longer available anywhere.

It was fantastic to see that I didn't need to manually pair the stylus to the Go Color 7 II – it just worked. To test the writing features, I wrote some notes and tried doodling a little (I can't draw to save my life).

To test the Go Color 7 II as an ereader, I used USB-OTG to transfer a few ebooks, but also signed into my Google Drive account for cloud transfer of other files, including the Bookerly font family I'm partial to and some MP3s. I also 'pushed' a couple of existing files I had in the cloud via the BooxDrop platform as well.

I compared the Go Color 7 II to two other color ereaders: the older Boox Go Color 7 and the Kobo Libra Colour. I also compared it to its 2025 sibling, the Onyx Boox Go 7, as well as the 2024 Amazon Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite for direct text comparisons.

I listened to some audio files using the native music player. I downloaded a couple of other reading apps (Kindle and Kobo) and used the native web browser to see what the experience is like on an E Ink tablet.

I've tested more than 30 ereaders in the last eight years, giving me the knowledge and expertise to comment on the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II's usability and performance.

Read more about how we test

[First published August 2025]