Google Workspace includes a fast, cloud-based office suite. It runs in most web browsers, the collaboration features are dead simple, and the mobile apps are decent. It auto-saves as you go and keeps a record of changes, so you can easily go back to an older version. Docs, Sheets and Slides are far less complete than Word, Excel or PowerPoint (or their LibreOffice counterparts), but theyâre sufficient for most purposes. Itâs the only online office suite Iâve used that allows you to share a document with comment-only permissions, which is kind of surprising.
Unfortunately it only runs in the cloud. (Even if you use the offline extension for Chrome, itâs still syncing to Google Drive when you go online.) And I donât trust Googleâs services any more than Microsoftâs these days. Back in the day I trusted that they wouldnât use my writing for targeted advertising. Now I wouldnât be surprised if they trained their LLMs on it even if they claimed otherwise, and itâs not at all clear in their privacy policy
I used it a lot during the 2010s, but Iâve switched back to using regular files and my own cloud sync when needed. Mostly plain text, Markdown and LibreOffice, except when I really need live sharing features.
Iâve been happy with the Boox Poke3 as my main eReader for almost five years, but itâs been showing its age. It was time to replace it with a newer, faster model. Preferably with physical page-turning buttons, possibly with color.
Boox specializes in Android-based e-ink tablets ranging from pocket size to full sketchpad. I like the idea of the phone-sized device, and I really like the idea of the convertible e-ink tablet/laptop, but I donât need either of those as much as I could use a new paperback-sized multi-source eBook reader.
First Impressions
The Go 7 Color is slightly larger than the Poke3 (which is roughly the size of a Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Clara), and does indeed have physical page-flip buttons! (Judging by photos, itâs comparable to the Kobo Libra or Sage.)
The screen is the size of the old device, edges included, and of course this one adds a wider edge for the buttons. I canât fit it in my jacket pocket anymore, but itâs still light enough to hold directly above me while reading in bed.
Itâs also a lot faster than the previous device, and it can run apps like Wallabag and Bookshop.org that the Poke3 struggled with.
Its touchscreen handles gestures and taps well. I no longer feel like I need to press hard on the screen to get it to react. Itâs still not fast enough for typing comfortably (and besides, itâs too small for ârealâ typing and too big for two-thumbs phone typing), but itâs good enough for search terms, passwords etc. I suspect it would be decent for sketching or note-taking with a stylus. And itâs responsive enough that I donât really need the physical buttons most of the time.
The battery seems to run out a little faster than the Poke3, but it still lasts a lot longer than most phones and tablets. Especially if you keep it set to power off completely when itâs not being used. Iâve only had to charge it a couple of times in the month Iâve been using it.
Display
The black ink is still sharp for letters and line art, and the size isnât bad for black-and-white manga.
Colors are very pastel, lower resolution than the black ink, and noticably dithered. You wouldnât want to use it for photos or even color comics unless it was all you had available, but itâs good for diagrams, and helps immensely with displaying websites legibly.
The e-ink is easily visible in bright sunlight, and an adjustable front light takes care of indoor and dimmer lighting.
The built-in apps are well optimized for the display. General apps, not so much, but the fact that itâs color (and faster) makes this a lot less of a problem than on the older model.
You can still customize the style, input and refresh modes on a per-app basis. Iâve found that it helps to enable high-contrast mode on all the eBook readers apps, but havenât had to change too much otherwise.
Some third-party apps still have trouble with button color schemes that end up being a totally illegible solid black or solid white. Setting the app to use outlined text usually makes it possible to read these buttons, and usually doesnât affect the normal text in the app.
I still wouldnât use it for games or video, though! Refresh and input are both way too slow for that.
Speaking of media, the Go 7 also has a speaker. Itâs not a very good speaker, so Iâd rather not use it for music, but itâll do for audiobooks and podcasts. Or you can just pair it with bluetooth headphones.
Reader Apps
Like the Poke 3, the Go 7 ships with Neo Reader, which handles every DRM-free book Iâve thrown at it.
In addition to side-loading books over USB-C, thereâs a cloud service, Onyx, that I still havenât used after five years with the older reader!
Of course what sets Booxâs devices apart is that you can install any third-party eBook reader that supports Android. Google Play is included, and I had no problem installing F-Droid alongside it.
Kobo, Kindle, Bookshop, eBooks.com, B&N Nook, Hoopla and Libby all work well so far. Bookshop and recent versions of Kobo have been struggling on the Poke3, and I have a lot of stuff still to read in my Kobo library, so having that work reliably again is a relief. (I mean, we still have the Clara, but itâs nice to have everything on one device.)
Hoopla still has the additional quirk where you need to customize it using the Boox dot to âStay active in the background.â (The usual Android app setting doesnât do it in this case.)
Page-Flipping Buttons
The buttons work out-of-the-box with Neo Reader and some other apps. For the rest, the major eBook apps all have the option to flip pages with the volume buttons (which these map to), but you need to configure the apps one by one.
And yes, the buttons adjust when you rotate the screen. So whether you hold it left-handed or right-handed, theyâll still jump down/forward and up/back.
I havenât found a way to reverse them, though, which seems like it might be helpful depending on how you grip the tablet.
Other Apps
Boox devices ship with Neo Browser, a fairly simple Chromium web browser. It runs a lot better than it did on the older device. Plus, you know, color. I suspect Iâll be using it more often than I used to, though I want to avoid getting too distracted. (I am not putting any social media apps on here!)
Iâve also been using:
KeePass2Android for password management, synced over Nextcloud. The only problem so far is that I had to use the outlined-text trick to make some of the buttons visible.
Nextcloud News as a feed reader, also synced over Nextcloud. It was a bit slow on the Poke3, so I didnât use it much on there, but runs well on the Go 7.
Wallabag is a read-it-later app for articles, synced over its own service. This is another one that the old tablet could barely handle, but that runs smoothly now.
Bottom Line
I liked the Poke3 a lot, and I considered getting the Go 6, which appears to be the current equivalent. But Iâm glad I paid the extra for this model. Itâs such a drastic upgrade.
â â â â â The Bookshop.org website is great for buying print books online and still supporting indie bookstores. When you buy books, they contribute part of your purchase to a local bookshop of your choice.
Iâve been using them for pre-orders for several years now. The prices can be slightly higher than Amazon, but the selectionâs good, and I like being able to credit a local (or previously local) bookstore even when I donât actually get out to shop in person.
EBooks
â â â â â They launched eBook sales early in 2025, providing another alternative to Kindle. The books are in ePub format, making them a lot more portable than Amazonâs, especially the ones from publishers that donât insist on locking access with DRM. You can just download from the website and put them on whatever reader you want. Off the top of my head, Tor publishes most of their books DRM-Free, and Bookshop has a deal to include Standard Ebooksâ catalog of free public-domain books.
For books that do have DRM, you can read them on the website, or with Adobe Digital Editions, or using Bookshop.orgâs mobile app. Similar to Kobo or eBooks.com, really.
Reader App
â â â â â Bookshopâs mobile app has improved since launch. Initially I rated it 3, but itâs a 4 now.
The app still complains when youâre offline, popping up first an alert (âLooks like youâre offline. Time to do some reading.â with a mismatched sad-looking book, slouching under a rain cloud) and then popping up an error message about how it couldnât load your library. But after you dismiss both alerts, you can get at the books youâve already downloaded now.
Itâs also just a little bit slower than other apps Iâve used, which isnât a problem on most devices, but made it completely unusable on the Boox Poke3 I was using as my main reader at the time they launched. The Go 7 I eventually replaced it with handles the app fine.
On larger displays it can do a 2-page landscape layout, but only for books, not for the home screen.
Like Kobo, the app tries to sell you more books. But this one directs you to their website for making purchases. (Apple and Google take 30% of all in-app purchases on their platforms.) It does, however, let you add a book to your wishlist, so itâll be there the next time you open the website.
Bottom Line
Iâm happy to keep buying new physical books from here! (Though I try to check Better World Books first on anything thatâs been out for a while.)
As for eBooks, I went back to eBooks.com just because because I could use it on the Poke3. Though I have continued to buy the occasional DRM-free book from Bookshop and just read it in a faster app. Now that I have hardware that can handle Bookshopâs app, itâs a closer call.
An absurd, character-focused, darkly humorous, psychological take on people with the super-power/body horror combo.
The title sequence sets the tone perfectly with Dave McKean-style imagery and music that sounds like the His Dark Materials theme as played by Garbage.
They start out playing up some of the X-Men similarities (the original comics for both debuted almost simultaneously). Costumes and code names mostly donât show up until a couple of seasons in. (Though Rita seems to have a fondness for red and white outfits.)
Mostly itâs just weird.
The first two seasons are strongest. After that it gets very uneven.
Characters
Aside from Cyborg, âCrazy Janeâ â the one with 64 personalities (each with its own super-power) â is the most stable and even-keeled of the bunch. Rita, Larry and Cliff spend decades hiding from the world in Niles Caulderâs oversized mansion (the fact that they havenât aged isnât acknowledged until at least the second season), in various forms of depression.
Putting Cyborg in the Doom Patrol instead of the Titans is a bit of an odd fit at first. Heâs from the brighter side of the DCU, and an actual super-hero in this world. But heâs always had a streak of insecurity (at best) about his transformation and what he feels heâs lost of his humanity. Even the Teen Titans cartoon had that ârepairs are not yet completeâ episode. So he ends up being simultaneously a foil for the rest and still being one of them. Itâs especially interesting to compare him to Cliff, whoâs only a brain in a robot body at this point.
Rita Farr is an interesting case, since the Doom Patrol run that most directly informs the show is Grant MorrisonâsâŚin which she wasnât a member, having been killed years before. My knowledge of the comic book version mostly comes from the 1980s run of The New Teen Titans, in which sheâs Gar Loganâs fondly-remembered dead adoptive mother. I do remember that she mainly had stretching powers in the comics, and thought of herself as a freak after gaining them. Which kinda worked in the 1960s, but doesnât work for the 2010s. Giving her uncontrolled powers here, such that when she gets upset she starts melting into a blob, fits the tone of the show and justifies her self-loathing more effectively.
(In theory the whole team was killed off in the comics of the 1970s, but by the time Morrison picked it up, everyone except Rita had turned out to still be alive.)
Specifics
Cliff seeking a father-daughter relationship with Jane (not realizing at first how horrible her own father was), then finally working up the nerve to get in touch with his family. (And I must say, Brendan Fraser is perfect for the role.)
Rita is such fun as sort of a glamorously-drunk den mother.
Larry coming to terms with the fact that he skipped out on the decades-long struggle for gay rights - today (well, in the late 2010s, anyway) he could be himself, if he wasnât radioactive and bonded to an alien creature.
Itâs fascinating to see a storyline in which Vic actually regains his human appearance for an extended period of time, and ultimately chooses to reactivate his tech, appearance and all.
I got so tired of the butts.
The obligatory musical episode, âImmortimas Patrol,â wasâŚnot very good. With the exception of âThe Elements of Love,â a well-performed dance number full of chemistry puns. (Weirdly enough, I ended up watching it in the same week as one of the Magicians musical episodes and âSubspace Rhapsody,â which was a lot more fun. Of course Star Trek is all about people who are competent at what they do, and Doom Patrol is the opposite. Including, as it turns out, music.)
The last scene (Cliff and the vision of the future) was a perfect bittersweet coda to the whole show.
Itâs been ages since I last read the original, and two days before Christmas I wanted a break from Toilers of the Sea, so I figured Iâd pick it up again yesterday. And yeah, the story holds up. The emphasis on kindness and charity and human connection makes it timeless, beyond the specifics of poverty in England during the early Industrial Revolution or 19th-century Christmas traditions.
Dickens as narrator is more cheerful in âA Christmas Carolâ than he is in heavier works like Great Expectations (though even that has its moments of levity), even when describing Scroogeâs cruelty, the Cratchetsâ poverty, or the black market pawn shop where items stolen from his corpse are sold off. The Cratchets making the most of what little they have is of course part of the point, but thereâs a sort of perverse he-had-it-coming-to-him glee in the latter scene.
The trickiest part is making Scroogeâs conversion believable, and while I think some screen versions fall into because-the-theme-demanded-it territory, the original makes it work. The spirits cover all the bases of persuasion, sometimes hinting, other times bluntly throwing Scroogeâs own words or actions back in his face. You see just enough of his youth to believe that he could still have some compassion and capacity for joy somewhere, buried deep down, slumbering where they might be rekindled. And you see hints of it beginning as early as Christmas Past. Even if it takes a bunch of ghosts traumatizing him to do it.
Of course, just about every adaptation Iâve seen popped up in my head while reading it, starring everyone from George C. Scott to Mickey Mouse. Patrick Stewart used to perform an amazing one-man stage show that I was lucky enough to see back in the 1990s.
And yet after all this time, itâs still not clear whatâs so particularly dead about a doornail.
