6 ONYX Poke Device
6.1 Activate Google Play Store
The Google Play Store app is not working out of the box, which is because the ONYX Poke 3 is not a certified Android device. The workaround is to override this and manual register your device. To do this,
Go to Apps
Click on the “hamburger” menu and select ‘App Management’
Enable Google Play: ON
Click ‘GSF ID’ (showing a unique ID for your personal device) to get to Google’s Device registration page.
Log into your Google Account.
Click ‘Register’ (after validating the reCAPTCHA)
The above registration didn’t work for me when I first tried it back in May/June 2022. Then I have up. I then revisited August 2023, and the registration worked.
WARNING: It is up to you to decide whether you trust the Poke device and Boox to do the following. If not, you can always create a separate Google Account.
Source: YouTube video How to activate google play (Firmware V3.2)
6.2 Transfer files
There are several options to transfer files back and forth between a computer or a smartphone and the Poke device. I found that the ‘BOOXDrop’ alternative is quite convenient since it requires no login or account setup.
I don’t think one can transfer these files via the ONYX Cloud Storage; it looks like you can only store notes and books via the cloud storage. See the Appendix for my notes on this.
6.2.1 BOOXDrop
Each BOOX device runs a built-in web server that can be access by other devices on the same local network (e.g. on the same WiFi network). [Comment: I need to figure out how to disable this /Henrik 2023-04-30]. To find the website address for your device,
Go to ‘Apps’
Click ‘BOOXDrop’ (might be grouped under ‘Onyx apps’)
That will should you a URL that looks something like http://192.168.1.8:8085
, where 192.168.1.8
is the IP number of the device (yours will be different) on your local network (e.g. WiFi). The 8085
number at the end is a port number, and we all have the same one. If you’re lazy to type this in on your phone, you can scan the QR code.
- Open your Poke’s BOOXDrop URL in your computer’s web browser. Your Poke and your computer must be connected to the same local network (e.g. WiFi). This will open up a webpage title ‘BOOX Drop’ where you can browser the files on your Poke, and upload (‘Send to BOOX’) and download (‘Save to Computer’) files.
6.3 Update firmware
I’m running firmware 2023-04-20_11-32_3.3.2_6c3976585 (last checked 2023-08-15).
6.4 Install apps by APK files
I failed to set up Google App Store on the ONYX Poke 3. The only way I found to install apps is by download their APK file.
6.5 Appendix
6.5.1 Create ONYX Account (optional/not useful)
On Poke 3,
Go to ‘Settings’.
At the very top, click on the icon for ‘ONYX Account’ (“Get 10GB Cloud Storage for Notes Sync and Other Cloud Services”).
Select ‘Servers’ (I picked ‘EUR(eur.boox.com)’ because of EU’s stricter privacy rules).
Scroll down to ‘Login Methods’ and select the ‘Email’ icon (so you can register without having to give out your phone number).
Under ‘Email’, enter your email address.
Click ‘Get verification code’
Check your email for the six-digit verification code.
Enter verification code.
Check that you agree on the terms and conditions.
Click ‘Login’.
You should now be logged into the ONYX account, which you can confirm by going to the ‘Settings’ screen. There it should now say ‘
6.5.2 Connect to ONYX Cloud Storage from web browser
Each ONYX device gets 10 GB of free cloud storage. This requires your to sign up for an account (see Appendix for instructions).
On your computer, or smart phone,
Go to your ONYX account server (e.g. https://eur.boox.com) in the web browser.
Enter your login information (e.g. email address).
Click ‘Obtain Verification Code’.
Check your emails for the one-time verification code.
Check ‘Agree …’.
Click ‘Sign in’.
You should now see a website titled ‘BOOX’ with menu items ‘Notes’, ‘BooxDrop’, ‘Library’ and ‘Import Reading’.
Comments: It looks like ‘BooxDrop’ page here also requires your computer and Poke to be on the same local network. In other words, I don’t think you can transfer files via ‘BooxDrop’ over the cloud or via the cloud storage.