A Turning Point for BOYUE | Meebook M7 Review

Summary

The Mebook M7 e-reader is a significant departure from previous Mebook devices, featuring high-quality materials, customizable keymap buttons, and a 7-inch ePaper screen. Despite being on the heavier side, the M7 boasts impressive build quality, support for external storage via SD card, and audio capabilities. The device offers a refreshed UI, adjustable contrast, and various reading settings for an enhanced user experience. However, the key mappable buttons lack inherent features for page turns, and the company's ecosystem and market stability remain concerns. Overall, the Mebook M7 represents a turning point for the brand, offering a premium product with a competitive edge.

Takeaways

• 📉 Mebook faced challenges in the e-reader market with declining sales and minimal market share after taking a year off in 2020.
• 🆕 The Mebook M7 is a significant departure from previous Mebook devices, featuring high-quality materials and an attractive design.
• 🔘 This model introduces customizable keymap buttons, a 7-inch ePaper screen, and standard audio support, enhancing the user experience.
• 📊 The Mebook M7 is heavier than the Kindle Paperwhite, weighing in at approximately 247-248 grams.
• 💽 The device supports external storage via an SD card, a feature increasingly common in e-readers.
• 🎨 The M7 offers impressive grayscale levels with IMG 256, and a system-wide contrast dial for reading customization.
• 🔧 Users can customize button functions for page turns, lighting, and other features, though this limits some inherent page-turn features.
• 🌐 Google framework is enabled by default, and the device offers options to hide the store and tailor the user interface.
• 📚 The reading experience is highly customizable, allowing adjustments to spacing, font size, and other text settings.
• 🎮 Google Play integration provides access to a wide range of apps, games, and books, with a focus on books and manga.
• 🔄 Despite the M7's improvements, Mebook's ecosystem and company stability remain concerns compared to competitors.

Q & A

What is the main issue that mebook has been facing since their year off with Boyu in 2020?

Mebook has been facing a decline in sales and struggles to retain their market share in the e-reader industry.

How does the mebook M7 differ from previous mebook devices?

The mebook M7 is uncharacteristic as it is built with high-quality materials, has a good weight, and features a 7-inch epaper screen, tactile customizable keymap buttons, SD card support, and standard audio.

What is the approximate weight of the mebook M7 compared to the Kindle Paperwhite?

The mebook M7 weighs around 247-248 grams, which is on the heavier side compared to the Kindle Paperwhite's benchmark weight of approximately 200 grams.

What new features does the mebook M7 offer in terms of user interface and settings?

The mebook M7 offers a refreshed UI, customizable keymap buttons, IMG 256 grayscale, a contrast dial that works system-wide, and various device settings including button customization and Google framework support.

How does the mebook M7 handle the display of text and reading experience?

The mebook M7 provides a highly customizable reading experience, allowing users to adjust nearly every aspect of text display, including spacing, font size, and indentation.

What is the main limitation of the mebook M7's key mappable page turn buttons?

While the page turn buttons are key mappable, they do not allow for inherent features such as jumping chapters or volumes that are available on other e-readers like those from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

How does the mebook M7 support external storage?

The mebook M7 has a small door for an SD card, indicating support for external storage which is a feature increasingly seen in e-readers.

What is the mebook store's main limitation and how does the mebook M7 address it?

The mebook store mainly offers Chinese content which may not appeal to all users. The mebook M7 addresses this by allowing users to hide the store from the main screen.

How does the mebook M7 perform in terms of frame rate and movement refresh?

The mebook M7 can handle movement refresh and overall frame rate without major drops, making it one of the better-performing units from mebook-boyu.

What are the advantages of the mebook M7's implementation of Google Play Books?

With Google Play Books, the mebook M7 offers a wide range of books, manga, and audiobooks. It also allows for features like pinch-to-zoom and the use of page turn buttons across different apps.

What is the main drawback of the mebook M7's web browsing capability?

Web browsing on the mebook M7 can be slow and sluggish, especially when in full HD Regal mode, although forcing a refresh can mitigate this to some extent.

Outlines

00:00

📘 Mebook M7 Review: An Impressive Comeback in the E-reader Market

This section discusses Mebook's recent struggles in the e-reader industry, following a significant break in 2020. The focus shifts to their latest product, the Mebook M7, which marks a notable improvement in quality and design. The M7 is characterized by its high-quality build, appealing aesthetics, and convenient features like tactile customizable buttons, a 7-inch e-paper screen, SD card support, and audio functionality. The video compares the weight of the M7 to a Kindle Paperwhite, noting the M7’s slightly heavier, robust build. The review highlights the M7's distinct design elements, including its rail bezel and key-mappable buttons, power button placement, speaker, and the inclusion of an SD card slot. The device's back panel is praised for its sturdy, attractive gunmetal black finish. The segment also explores the M7's improved UI, notably its grayscale options, contrast dial, and refreshed look and feel, signaling a potential turnaround for Mebook in the e-reader market.

05:02

📲 Advanced Features and Customization of Mebook M7

This paragraph explores the advanced features and customization options of the Mebook M7. The reviewer notes how Mebook has missed out on some advanced features found in competitors like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, due to the M7’s high level of button customization. The video illustrates the customizable reading experience, with extensive settings for text appearance. Attention is given to the Google Play integration for accessing a wide range of apps, including Google Play Books for reading eBooks and manga. The M7’s versatility is further demonstrated by its ability to adjust refresh modes, allowing for smoother animations and better performance. This is especially notable when reading manga or using animation-heavy apps. The video concludes by showcasing the web browsing experience on the M7, highlighting its performance in different modes and the utility of the device's customizable glow light settings. This segment reinforces the M7’s potential as a versatile e-reader with customizable options, despite some limitations in advanced features.

10:03

🌟 Mebook M7: A Potential Turning Point Despite Some Drawbacks

The final section provides an overall evaluation of the Mebook M7. While acknowledging its strengths, such as customizable page turn buttons, onboard audio, and Google Play access, the reviewer also points out some shortcomings. The M7 is not as fast as its competitors, lacks a diverse ecosystem for purchasing books beyond Chinese content, and raises questions about the company’s stability. However, the reviewer expresses optimism about Mebook’s future, considering the M7 as their most attractive product since the Boyu Mimus in 2018. The video concludes with an encouragement to check out the M7, suggesting it represents a significant turning point for Mebook, despite the mentioned drawbacks.

Keywords

💡Mebook M7

The Mebook M7 is the central product discussed in the video. It is an e-reader device that stands out from previous Mebook offerings due to its high-quality materials, good weight, and attractive design. It features tactile customizable keymap buttons, a 7-inch ePaper screen, and standard audio support. The device represents Mebook's attempt to regain market share in the e-reader industry after facing challenges since 2020.

💡Sales Decline

Sales decline refers to the reduction in the number of products sold over a period of time. In the context of the video, Mebook has experienced a drop in sales and a loss of market share in the e-reader industry, which is a significant challenge for the company. This decline is attributed to the company's decision to take a year off in 2020 and the subsequent impact on their competitive position.

💡E-Reader Industry

The e-reader industry consists of companies that produce and sell electronic reading devices, which are designed specifically for reading digital books and other written content. These devices often use ePaper technology for a reading experience that mimics ink on paper. The industry is competitive, with major players like Amazon's Kindle dominating the market. Mebook is one of the companies operating within this industry, and the video discusses its efforts to innovate and remain competitive.

💡Customizable Keymap Buttons

Customizable keymap buttons refer to the physical buttons on the Mebook M7 that can be programmed by the user to perform different functions. This feature allows for a personalized user experience, as readers can assign actions such as page turning, adjusting the light, or refreshing the screen to these buttons according to their preferences.

💡ePaper Screen

An ePaper screen is a display technology designed to mimic the look of ink on paper, providing a reading experience that is similar to traditional books. These screens are typically used in e-readers to offer a glare-free and visually comfortable reading experience, even in bright light conditions. The Mebook M7 features a 7-inch ePaper screen, which is a key component of its design and functionality.

💡Build Quality

Build quality refers to the materials, design, and construction of a device or product. A high build quality indicates that the product is well-made, durable, and visually appealing. In the context of the Mebook M7, the video praises the device for its 'very nice' build quality, which includes aspects like the 'Sparkle gunmetal black' color and the non-snapping back design.

💡Google Play Integration

Google Play Integration refers to the inclusion of Google's app and content store within a device, allowing users to access a wide range of apps, games, and other content directly on their e-reader. This feature enhances the functionality of the Mebook M7 by providing access to not just e-books, but also audiobooks, manga, and other digital content from Google Play's extensive library.

💡Reading Experience

Reading experience encompasses all aspects of how a user interacts with an e-reader device to read digital content. This includes the user interface, customization options, page-turning mechanisms, and any additional features that contribute to a comfortable and enjoyable reading session. The Mebook M7 aims to enhance the reading experience with features like customizable UI elements, support for external storage, and various reading modes.

💡Market Share

Market share is the percentage of sales within an industry that a particular company or brand controls. It is a key metric used to measure a company's relative success and competitive position within its market. In the video, Mebook's struggle with retaining market share reflects the company's challenges in competing with other established e-reader brands.

💡Audio Support

Audio support in the context of e-readers refers to the device's capability to play audio content, such as audiobooks or music. The Mebook M7 includes standard audio support, which means it has the necessary hardware and software to provide an integrated audio experience for users, enhancing the overall functionality of the device.

💡User Interface

User interface, or UI, is the space where interactions between the user and the device occur. It includes the design, layout, and controls that allow users to navigate and operate the device. A well-designed UI enhances the user experience by being intuitive, visually appealing, and easy to use. The Mebook M7's UI is described as refreshed and customizable, indicating that it has been updated to provide a more modern and user-friendly experience.

Highlights

Mebook has faced challenges in the e-reader market since 2020 with dropping sales and minimal market share.

The Mebook M7 is a departure from traditional Mebook devices, featuring high-quality materials and an attractive design.

The M7 includes tactile customizable keymap buttons, a 7-inch ePaper screen, SD card support, and standard audio.

Weighing in at 247-248 grams, the Mebook M7 is on the heavier side compared to the benchmark Kindle Paperwhite at 200 grams.

The device features a nice quality back with a sparkle gunmetal black color, resembling an onyx gem.

Mebook M7 offers improved UI, build quality, and overall design, providing a refreshed experience.

The M7 includes a contrast dial that works system-wide and offers 256 grayscale levels for an enhanced reading experience.

Mebook has introduced button customization, allowing users to allocate functions to the device's buttons, such as page turns and adjusting the light.

The M7 comes with Google framework enabled by default, offering a more seamless user experience.

The device settings allow users to hide the store, addressing previous user dissatisfaction with the Mebook store's content.

Mebook M7 supports external storage through an SD card, a feature increasingly common in e-readers.

The reading experience on the M7 is highly customizable, with extensive options to adjust text, spacing, and indentation.

Google Play is fully integrated, providing access to a wide range of apps, games, and especially books and manga.

Despite being customizable, the page turn buttons lose some inherent features, such as double tap or long press actions for advanced navigation.

The Mebook M7 shows Mebook's potential to regain market share with its premium design and competitive features.

The device's performance is commendable, handling movement refresh and frame rate well in top speed mode.

Web browsing on the M7 is functional but can be slow and sluggish in full HD Regal mode, with forced refresh improving fluidity.

The adjustable glow light is preferred over preset options, offering more customization for the user's reading comfort.

Transcripts

[Music]

mebook has found themselves in a little

bit of trouble ever since they took that

year off with boyu back in

2020 sales have dropped and they hold

nearly no market share of the current

e-reader industry but things may be

turning around a little bit with this

this is the mebook

M7 this unit is uncharacteristic of

mebook devices thus far and that's a

good thing it's built out of high

quality materials feels good in the and

has a good weight and simply looks

gorgeous it has tactile customizable

keymap buttons on it and a 7-in epaper

screen SD card and audio is standard so

with that let's take a

look before we get rocking and or

rolling as per the usual Trend as of

late we are going to weigh this and

remember Benchmark is a Kindle paper

white at 200 g approximately this is

247 248 this is on the the heavier side

of things this is a chunky dunker this

one has quite a good build quality I

must say and let's get into the build

right now you see a standard 7in unit in

front of you with a very nice

accompanying rail bezel it looks like

it's separate from the actual bezel of

the unit itself it has these really cool

buttons that are key mappable you can do

long press or single press on both of

them we'll show you that in the UI

elements page you have a power button up

top and you have a speaker with an SD

card and look a little tiny door for the

SD card that is awesome finally we have

some steady stream of e-readers coming

out that have a support for external

storage we have a very nice quality back

it does not snap it doesn't push in it

is a very very nice kind of Sparkle

gunmetal black look at that it's almost

like an onyx not an onyx device I mean

an onyx color like like Onyx like the

the precious gem let's look at the unit

itself starting with this which we set

up because it is very very beautiful the

way they do this I love how they got rid

of just A2 mode and they've gone into

industry standard which is normal HD

Regal normal mode fast mode and top

speed mode which is the A2 moniker they

have there and look at this they have

IMG 256 or 256 grayscale and they have a

contrast dial that works

systemwide I love that new layout I must

say

everything from the UI to the build

quality to everything else the way it

feels the way it looks everything is

just so refreshed on this unit it is

just a weight off our shoulders because

mebook has been struggling it is an

objective fact they've been struggling

to retain their market share and get

back on track they do have a top drop

down with various things it's all icon

base until you expand it then it has

some text these are all just kind of

standard things Wi-Fi Bluetooth sound

auto rotate Etc what we want to look at

is settings because there's a couple

things here under device settings we

want to go over look what they have here

they have button

customization I really like this I like

how you can allocate it to Page turns

just by pressing it then you can

allocate the long press to be something

else turn on the light turn off the

light and refresh they also leave it to

you as to how long you want to set the

long press too no other manufacturer has

has done that this thus far and it is a

small thing but it is interesting to see

companies always trying to advance eaper

and usability for their consumers they

also have enabled Google framework you

don't need to do it because it comes

default as switched on they have a

couple other things as well if you go to

user settings they have hide store now

they have found that a lot of people

didn't like the store on the main screen

because if you go to the home screen

you'll see here that it says read

bookstore and app and why they know this

is because it only has Chinese content

on it so what they leave it to you to do

now is to actually hide the store once

you do and you go home it's just read an

app and you no longer have to be

bombarded by the less than amazing store

that is the mebook store because it's

just littered with free public domain

stuff and 98% of it is Chinese now you

do have a reading experience that is

very nice now there's a small problem

with the page turn buttons yes they are

key mappable but because they're key

mappable they don't allow you to do any

inherent features with page turns

outside of single page for example if I

do double tap it's not going to jump

chapters or jump volumes or anything

like that it's just going to go forward

a couple Pages if I long press it's not

going to whip through the book because I

have mapped long press to be refresh and

I've mapped page back to be the glow so

that's a little bit of a downside to

having that level of customization is

that they actually take away from you

unknowingly these Advanced features that

Barnes & Noble and things like Amazon

take advantage of so now that we're done

talking and through into an actual book

let's check it out we do have the stock

reading experience which is pretty

customizable honestly you get a lot of

features upon long press and if you go

down to text this mebook has just their

Infamous with giving you a ton of

customization you can change everything

to make it look crazy whatever you want

up and down spacing left and right

spacing font spacing indentation just

about everything they allow you to

change now that's not only it when you

comes to reading and we're going to

tangent a little bit because we are

going to go to apps and look at Google

Play why because Google Play is the be

all and all of apps games and everything

else and why we want to touch on this is

not because of the apps and everything

although you can do it it has full gole

Google Play and we've shown it a million

times on devices but this tab that goes

overlooked a little bit this is books

and yes they have manga and ebooks and

audio books and everything else so if we

want to click on something you can click

on something you can buy it for a penny

for this particular one one yen or you

can read a free sample once you do open

free sample it opens up Google playbooks

automatically and then you're into

reading an actual book in which case you

do get Patron animations things start

getting in the way and you might say

okay you know what I'm not good on Regal

anymore that's just not going to fly so

what you have to do is you got to go

here and you have to change the refresh

and this is a good opportunity for us to

show top speed mode now you see the

problem with A2 mode is that there's a

lot of staining traditionally because it

tries not to refresh as much although

you can mitigate this by long pressing

your quick key key mapped button to

force a refresh in which case it gets

very fast and you will see now you can

take advantage of animations and I must

say this is one of the units from mebook

boyu that can handle movement refresh

and overall frame rate without major

drops in overall frame rate rating

properly I do appreciate the fact that

they've really have redone their lineup

to get away from that boring

basic entrylevel P line they have and

move over to more of a premium unit

because this is more in tune with

something like a page with something

like a xiaomi it's just faster and

fresher and it is more of a fighter than

something that just gets pushed to the

Wayside now talking about this we do

also have manga as we touched on a

second ago we can go back here we can go

to manga and we can click on something I

don't know what it is we're just going

to read a free sample because there's

some cool features that Google Play

Books allows you to do now when this

opens up we are going to kind of

struggle and say you know what what mode

do I want I am going to go go back to

Regal mode because that looks better on

manga and we do have IMG 256 implemented

there is a little bit of an animation

when you turn pages but that can be kind

of pushed to the Wayside because it is a

great looking unit traditionally you

don't want to Read Manga on six 6.8 but

seven starts to get into the point where

you get those small mangas cuz if I'm

holding it like this it does look like

the mangas in Japan now unfortunately

because it's Google and it's not

comixology they don't have guided view

but they do have the ability to pinch

and zoom have double tap to zoom in and

you can take advantage of the page turn

buttons because they work regardless of

what app you're on if you're on the

Kindle app if you're on the Cobo app if

you're on anything manga is completely

usable on this no problem whatsoever one

more thing we have to look at before we

get into the audio video portion is web

browsing how does it work let's go over

to the browser and show you a little bit

of an uncut unbridled look at what it is

like to browse now that we're on the

browser let us go over here and type in

our URL for good e-reader so we can go

ahead and navigate over to there so

we're going to go like that go to goody

reader and then click on the blog this

is really what it's going to be looking

like when you're navigating through

things now remember this is the full HD

Regal mode so it is going to be a little

bit slower and again Force refresh if

you want to get rid of that staining in

the background you see that the images

pop up everything is very slow and

sluggish and choppy does go into a

little bit of a forced A2 mode

regardless while you're moving around

you see that you get that fluidity back

but then once you let go it takes a

second and refreshes and corresponds to

the refresh mode that you are on quick

note I have never liked glow lights that

give you presets uncustomized locked in

presets I think they're silly I think

there's no reason to have them they have

off day night and bed they're terrible

presets customize is the only one you

want because customize is the one that's

going to allow you to change everything

you can change the intensity and the

color of it don't worry about those

presets at

[Music]

all customizable page turn buttons

onboard audio and Google Play allowed

this unit to flourish amongst a less

than inspired lineup however it's not as

fast as the competition there's still no

ecosystem to buy books other than

Chinese books and the stability of the

company is still to be questioned

regardless of the cons we do have to

point out we personally believe that

mebook is on a turning point this is

literally the nicest looking product

that they've had since the boy you mimus

back in

2018 if you want to grab one of these

details are down below thanks for

[Music]

watching