Boox Go 6 (Gen II) review: A worthy Android ereader, with some tradeoffs

Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget Add Engadget on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover RATING : 7.9 / 10 Pros Runs Android, so you can download your preferred reading apps Stylus support Compact enough for reading anywhere MicroSD slot for additional storage Cons Runs Android 11 Battery life is shorter than other ereaders Not water-resistant Kindle and Kobo may lead the ereader space, but for anyone seeking a bit more flexibility in how they read on the go, there are options like Boox. Boox's E Ink devices run Android, opening up access to Google Play and all the various apps you may use to read, buy, rent and listen to books and other documents. Its newest ereader, the $200 Go 6 (Gen II), arrived earlier this summer. With the latest model, the Go 6 gained stylus support and got a design refresh. The company went for a suitcase-inspired appearance that's gently textured on the back with columns of smooth ridges, and it looks and feels great. It comes in four soft colors: the creamy off-white Shell, pale yellow Custard, deep purple Plum and light gray Stone. The Go 6 (Gen II) works with Boox's InkSense Plus stylus (but not the company's other styluses) so you can directly mark up your books, take notes and draw. The $46 stylus is sold separately, or in a bundle with the ereader that saves you about $13. Aside from bumping up to 3GB of RAM versus the Gen I's 2GB, that's about it for what's different. Like the Gen I, the new Go 6 runs a version of the outdated Android 11. While that should be fine in the immediate term, it's still a choice I raise an eyebrow at in 2026. Google ended security updates for Android 11 some two years ago. Nevertheless, you shouldn't have any trouble downloading apps, and most will still be compatible with it for some time to come. The Boox Go 6 (Gen II) comes with 32GB of storage and it has a microSD slot so it can be expanded. Using the Boox Go 6 (Gen II) The size of the Go 6 is perfect, both for reading when you're out and about and at home. Its 6-inch screen puts it on par with the entry level Kindle and the Kobo Clara BW for compactness, landing right in the Goldilocks Zone of portability and readability. It fits in my smallest bags while still having a large enough display to read comfortably. It can sit in the back pocket of most jeans and even some front pockets (barring those afflicted by Bad Designs for Women's Clothing). There is at least one limitation to consider when bringing it around, though. The Go 6 (Gen II) doesn't have an IP rating for water or dust resistance, so I'd hesitate to take it to the beach, camping or even use it poolside without a protective case. Kobo has it beat there. At roughly 160 grams, it is noticeably lighter than the other device that spends the most time in my hand, my Galaxy Z Flip 6. That makes it great for reading in bed or lying down on the couch. So does its adjustable front light, which you can dim and brighten to your likeness, and shift from cool to warm tones to prevent eye strain. Additionally, its 300PPI ePaper display is crisp and bright. Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget I did notice a fair amount of ghosting when switching between different apps and device menus, but Boox offers a number of refresh and color modes to cut down on this sort of thing if it bothers you. There's also the option to set how frequently the screen refreshes. I found ghosting was much less of an issue while I was actually reading and I ultimately set my Full Refresh Frequency to every 30 taps. Never is an option as well, and you can set different settings for each app to optimize them for the display. A quick-access gesture launches BOOX EinkWise, where you can fine-tune any given app's refresh and color modes, layout, contrast and anti-flicker levels. The 1,500mAh battery will get you several days of use if you're reading for a few hours a day and using apps moderately. You can get lots more out of the battery by turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you're not using them, freezing apps to prevent them from running in the background and keeping the front light low or off when lighting conditions allow. It's currently been eight days since I last charged it and I still have 24 percent left. That's still far less than you'll get with the comparable Kindle and Kobo devices, which have weeks-long battery life, but that's the tradeoff of having Android. Putting books on the Go 6 (Gen II) is painless. You can transfer files wirelessly to the device using its BooxDrop file sharing tool, by syncing with several cloud-based storage platforms it supports, like Dropbox and Google Drive, or using the USB-C cable. The built-in Boox store is extremely limited, containing only a small selection of public domain works, so if you want to buy or rent books on-device, you're going to need to turn to another app. I've really enjoyed the freedom this ereader allows in using my go-to apps to source and read books, as my reading habits tend to be all over the place. I can buy and download a book from the Bookshop.org app, which is only available on iOS and Android, and then go to The StoryGraph app to jot down a review immediately upon finishing it without having to switch over to my phone. Moon+ Reader works alright too, but you'll want to play with your books' settings to make them more readable for E Ink, otherwise you're likely to experience a ton of ghosting. Writing with the stylus Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget I can't imagine many people will be using the Go 6 for heavy note-taking due to its size, but the stylus works really well with the default reader app and with third-party apps (once you get the hang of the latter), and I liked having it as an option for annotations. For one, it makes the process of highlighting text much smoother than using your fingers. When using Boox's own Neo Reader, you can write directly on your books and documents. If you tap the tab on the side of the screen while reading, you'll find options to change your pen type and line width, along with tools like Boox's Smart Scribe suite, which lives under the AI button. Here, there are toggles for Underline to Highlight and Scribble to Erase — two features that I found made annotations feel very natural. And you can easily find all of your annotated pages for a given file organized in the Contents section under the tab labeled with a pen and scribble line, to revisit your notes later. Writing works a bit differently in third-party apps, relying on Boox's FreeMark tool. With this enabled, you can take notes in any app, but they won't stay on the page after you close it out. Instead, notes created with FreeMark are more of a temporary overlay; when you hit save, they'll disappear, but a screenshot of your marked-up page will be stored in the device's Gallery, organized by app. You can also find these screenshots without leaving the app by tapping the three-lined menu button inside the FreeMark toolbar. It's not as seamless as working within Boox's native reader, but it still does the job. For taking notes and doodling, writing with the stylus is just fine. There's no lag, everything will appear on the page instantly as you're scribbling it down. But, it doesn't feel quite as nice as writing on an epaper device that's specifically for writing. (I remain spoiled by the exceptional experience of writing on a Supernote Nomad). The Boox Go 6 (Gen II) is primarily an ereader, though, not a digital notebook, so it doesn't really need to mimic a real paper feel. Should you Go for it? The Boox Go 6 (Gen II) is a great, versatile ereader. If you already own the first-generation Go 6 from two years ago and it's still running fine, it's probably not worth upgrading right now. These devices are just too similar inside. But if you're in the market for a new ereader, you've soured on Amazon products and you feel like you need more third-party apps than what's available on Kobo, the Boox Go 6 (Gen II) is a solid choice. Getting the device set up with all of the apps you want and tweaking their settings so everything looks just right might be a more involved process than you'll find on other ereaders, but that's part of the fun (or maybe I'm just a nerd).