Icarus Illumina XL

So far, there’s been little to choose from when it comes to larger eReaders. The Illumina XL aims to change that with its 8-inch display.

At a Glance

With the Illumina, the Dutch company Icarus already has a solid eBook reader in its lineup. Thanks to a recent hardware update to E-Ink Carta, it was able to further improve its score in our review, and it’s a particularly good choice for tech-savvy individualists. The device runs on Android 4.2, making it open to app installations—which means you can add a wide range of programs to significantly expand its features.

Icarus has long recognized the importance of serving this niche. For some time now, the company has also been selling the Illumina with the Skoobe app pre-installed.

Now, they’re taking it a step further and expanding the lineup: starting in November, the Icarus Illumina XL will be available. As the name suggests, this is a larger eBook reader. The screen measures 8 inches diagonally, putting it on par with the PocketBook InkPad and the Bookeen Cybook Ocean.

Is Software the Secret Weapon?

Like Bookeen’s eReader, however, the Illumina XL still sticks with a comparatively modest resolution of 1024×768 pixels. The display uses E-Ink Pearl technology, and like its competitors, it comes with a built-in frontlight.

Icarus Illumina XL with 8-inch display (right) compared to the Icarus Illumina with 6-inch display (left)

But the main thing that sets the new 8-inch model apart isn’t actually the hardware—the Illumina XL is aiming to outshine the competition through its software. Like its smaller sibling, it runs on Android 4.2. As with the other device, the system is open for app installations. The press release highlights that you’ll once again be able to install third-party reading apps (such as Kindle) or eBook subscription services (like Skoobe).

The specs are solid: the 8 GB of internal storage is expandable via MicroSD card. WiFi is on board for internet access, and there’s audio support as well—the output is through a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The dimensions are 200 x 145 x 9 mm, and at 275 grams, the weight is perfectly reasonable for its size. The generous 2,800 mAh battery should provide ample operating time.

It All Comes Down to Execution

All in all, the device makes a good first impression. While the E-Ink Pearl display and lower resolution are a bit outdated, as always, it’s really about how the whole package works in practice. Even a Pearl display with lighting can provide excellent contrast values. So it remains to be seen how well Icarus has implemented it with the Illumina XL.

A price tag of around 200 euros is fairly steep, especially considering recent market developments (300 ppi E-Ink Carta displays are now considered standard in the upper tier).

It’ll also be interesting to see whether the exact same user interface is used as on the 6-inch model. The smaller Illumina is, after all, a rebranded version of the Boyue T61. However, the Chinese company doesn’t offer an 8-inch eReader. Presumably, the Illumina XL comes from a different manufacturer, which could mean the Android interface has been customized in a different way.

Summary

One thing’s for sure: unlike the 6-inch model, you’ll have to do without page-turn buttons and the refresh button. The latter, in particular, is really handy on the Illumina for instantly refreshing the screen and eliminating ghosting at the push of a button.

The Icarus Illumina XL has been available since December 2015.

Icarus Illumina XL: Full Review

With the Illumina, the Dutch eReader maker Icarus has made a name for itself in German-speaking countries as well. Especially among tech-savvy users and fans of the Skoobe ebook flat rate, the E Ink Carta device is very popular thanks to its Android operating system. At the end of 2015 a second model hit the market, targeting a different niche: the Icarus Illumina XL.

With its 8-inch screen, the new eReader ventures into a territory many avid digital readers have been asking for, but which has often only been half-heartedly served. In the following review, we’ll see whether Icarus’s new 8-incher does a better job.

Unboxing, build quality & features

The Icarus Illumina XL comes in a stylish and sturdy cardboard box that makes a good first impression. That impression is confirmed when you unpack it: the eReader feels premium the moment you pick it up.

The device doesn’t just have a pleasant, matte-black, smooth finish (front and back), it also feels very solid. Nothing creaks or flexes, even if you grip it a bit harder.

Icarus Illumina and Icarus Illumina XL

The Illumina XL measures 200 x 145 x 9 mm. While that’s not much smaller than other 8-inchers, the slim side bezels make it look more compact than the PocketBook InkPad (195.5 x 162.8 x 7.3 mm) in a direct comparison. And not just against the competition—thanks to its sleek proportions, the device looks very dynamic on its own as well.

Its very low weight of 280 grams adds to that impression. Other 8-inch models are noticeably heavier:

• PocketBook InkPad: 350 grams
• Onyx Boox i86: 350 grams
• TrekStor Pyrus Maxi: 320 grams
• Bookeen Cybook Ocean: 300 grams
• Icarus8: 300 grams

This makes the Icarus Illumina XL the lightest of its kind.

Home/back button below the screen

Unlike its smaller sibling, the Illumina XL has only a single, round Back/Home button on the front (below the display). It has a crisp, precise click. There are no page-turn buttons or a screen refresh key on the 8-incher. Along the top edge you’ll find the micro USB port, the 3.5 mm headphone jack (for audio), the microSD card slot, and the power button.

Ports along the top edge

A small criticism here: because the back is strongly beveled, the micro USB port doesn’t work well with every USB plug. The length of micro Type-B plugs isn’t standardized, so with some cables the nose can be too short (see the picture below), and the eReader won’t charge or be recognized by a PC.

To be fair, the supplied cable works flawlessly, and other cables may work just fine too. It would just be nicer not to have to think about it at all.

Due to the slanted shape of the device’s back, the cable can’t be pushed in any further. This USB cable’s plug is long enough, but others may not make proper contact

The Icarus Illumina XL offers a generous 8 GB of internal storage, of which 5.54 GB are available to the user. You can expand that with a memory card if needed. A total of around 1 GB is available for apps; in the factory state, 224 MB are already used. In other words, out of the box you can install apps using up to 784 MB of storage. That should be more than enough for most use cases.

The Illumina XL is powered by a fast dual-core SoC clocked at 1 GHz, and the 512 MB of RAM are sufficient. Battery capacity is 2,800 mAh.

Apart from that literally small USB gripe, there’s nothing to complain about in terms of build and features. All in all, the Icarus Illumina XL leaves a very good impression in this regard.

Display & lighting

As mentioned several times, the Icarus Illumina XL has an 8-inch display with integrated lighting. Besides the unusually large diagonal, the technology is no longer commonplace either: it uses an E Ink Pearl panel with a resolution of 1024×758 pixels, which works out to 159 ppi.

That puts the Illumina XL in line with the rest of the 8-inch market, where only E Ink Pearl or OED e-paper displays are used so far.

Those are the specs on paper—but how does it fare in practice?

The modern 6-inch competition (left: Icarus Illumina) with E Ink Carta offers a visibly brighter background.

Like PocketBook’s competing model, the Illumina XL’s Pearl display delivers lower contrast than various modern 6-inchers.

Readability is still fine—you just need to be aware of this before buying. You won’t suffer any major usability drawbacks because of it. Using bolder fonts in particular helps offset this point nicely.

Text sharpness, ghosting & touchscreen

The 159 ppi pixel density is comparable to older 6-inch models (with 800×600 pixels). Anyone who’s been reading digitally for a long time won’t be surprised. Edge sharpness is naturally lower than on 6-inchers with 212 ppi or 300 ppi. The PocketBook InkPad is also visibly sharper at 250 ppi.

The lower resolution is noticeable in certain situations, but in my view it doesn’t interfere with reading.

On closer inspection, text does look more pixelated. However, if you hold the Illumina XL at a reading distance of 30 cm (or more) and don’t use overly small font sizes, this is barely noticeable.

It’s worth mentioning the sometimes clearly visible ghosting effect. While it’s not particularly distracting when turning pages while reading, when you launch an Android app, for example, a few artifacts from the previous screen may linger like ghosts.

Since there’s no refresh button, Icarus came up with a small workaround to address this: in the device settings you can set the screen to do a full refresh automatically at fixed intervals. Starting at 30 seconds (in 30-second steps), you can use this option. The solution is unconventional but definitely makes sense in Android use. It would also be nice to be able to assign the Back button (e.g., via double-click) to a manual full refresh.

The Illumina XL’s capacitive touchscreen is precise and reliable. Typing on the virtual Android QWERTZ keyboard actually works even better than on the already good 6-incher.

At the start of my test, pinch-to-zoom didn’t work well. In the reading apps it didn’t work at all initially. Occasionally the UI even froze and, after waking up, randomly changed the font size. After I ran my fingernail along the gap between the bezel and the screen, the problem disappeared. Apparently some tiny foreign particle was wedged in there and interfered with touch detection. If you run into the same issue with your Illumina XL, give this a try.

Once the issue was fixed, multi-touch detection worked perfectly. The screen recognizes up to five simultaneous touches quickly and reliably.

Lighting quality

Just as important as the above is of course the quality of the built-in light. Let’s start with color temperature: the Illumina XL’s lighting has a relatively neutral, pleasant tone.

As always, it should be noted that color temperature can vary from unit to unit, even within the same model line. That’s true for every manufacturer.

Illumination could be more even, especially along the edges, but overall it’s fine.

The light shines from the top via nine LEDs embedded in the bezel. Uniformity is largely convincing. Across the main viewing area the light spreads relatively evenly. The bottom area is a bit brighter (see photo), but thanks to the large display this doesn’t disrupt reading.

The fairly noticeable light strip along the left edge can be a bit distracting at first, though.

Contrast with the light on is roughly the same as with it off. Brightness can be adjusted sensibly. In 25 steps you can set the light intensity between 2.2 cd/m² and 75 cd/m².

Frontlights of the PocketBook InkPad (left) and Icarus Illumina XL (right) compared

Interim conclusion

All in all, the Illumina XL’s display has strengths and weaknesses. It was clear in advance that the E Ink Pearl panel wouldn’t match the contrast of today’s common E Ink Carta screens, so that’s no surprise.

In the end, display quality is roughly on par with the PocketBook InkPad, where you trade the more pleasant color temperature and slightly better contrast for a lower resolution.

Reading & usability

Owners of a 6-inch Illumina will feel right at home with the XL as well. The eReader uses exactly the same UI as the smaller model. That’s worth noting because Icarus (and other resellers) generally use multiple operating systems and interfaces (e.g., on the Icarus eXceL).

In other words, the Android 4.2.2 operating system is once again the Illumina XL’s key differentiator.

Android apps

Using it is familiar, intuitive, and smooth: the Android UI has been very well adapted to the needs of a monochrome E Ink display.

The following apps come preinstalled:

• Amazon Kindle (version 4.5.1.6)
• App Store (not Google Play)
• Calculator
• Dropbox
• Email client
• File manager
• gReader (RSS feed reader)
• Kobo Reader (version 5.4.12225)

The Skoobe app isn’t present out of the box, but you can install and use it manually (see below).

Initial setup is completely straightforward: turn it on and you’re ready to go. The home screen is clean and tidy—though initially in English. A quick trip to the settings fixes that so the UI is displayed in German as well.

Home screen

The top half of the home screen shows your most recently read titles, with the four most recently added files underneath. Along the bottom are four shortcuts: Books, Apps, Settings, and Browser. If you wish, you can change three of these shortcuts.

Library and reading

You can authorize Adobe DRM either directly on the eReader or, as usual, via PC.

Library view

The library offers several display modes and sorting options, as well as a search function. It mirrors the folder structure of the file system, so you can copy your existing folders from a PC and keep using them. The edit mode lets you make some changes directly on the device, though you still can’t create new folders. For that you either have to use a PC or an alternative Android app.

Text appearance settings

Text customization is extensive and works quickly and reliably. In addition to stepwise font-size adjustment (also via two-finger pinch-to-zoom), you can change the font, line spacing (12 steps, from 0.8 to 1.9), and margins (12 steps, 0 to 55 pixels). You can also install your own fonts.

The screen orientation can be rotated in 90-degree steps up to 270 degrees.

Highlights, notes & dictionary

The reading app again includes notes, highlights, and bookmarks. Selection is made via the context menu after tapping and holding on a word or dragging across a text passage.

Write a note

Bookmarks can be created via the reading menu and are collected in the bookmark overview.

The dictionary function is also accessed via the context menu, with the Quickdic app used by default. The popup opens in the middle of the screen. The downside is the relatively long delay before the (first) definition appears. As always, it should be noted that free dictionary apps can’t match the quality of editorially maintained offerings like Duden & co.

What was genuinely problematic in the software version I tested, however, was that you couldn’t configure which dictionaries were shown. Unlike the smaller Illumina, the XL lacks a Quickdic app shortcut in the app list, so you can’t adjust the settings. Hopefully this will be addressed with the next firmware update.

PDF display

The Icarus Illumina XL’s PDF handling is among the better ones in the eReader segment. That’s thanks in part to the fast dual-core CPU and ample RAM, but of course also to the large 8-inch display. Navigating large-format documents works surprisingly well, with the low pixel density only really becoming an issue at small text sizes. In landscape mode, A4 documents are still very easy to read.

Large-format documents are very readable in landscape thanks to the big display.

It’s also great that large files (tested up to 120 MB) can be opened and navigated. Responsiveness does drop, but other eReaders often stop responding entirely at that point.

For PDFs you get several useful navigation and display options, including pinch-to-zoom, contrast enhancement, text reflow, and margin crop.

Unfortunately, there are still no dedicated paging modes (e.g., column mode) to move the viewport step by step. Instead, you always have to pan the magnified section manually.

Open Android app installation and audio output

The Illumina XL’s biggest plus is undoubtedly the ability to install apps. As mentioned, that’s enabled by the open Android 4.2.2 interface. Thanks to the relatively modern version, compatibility issues are rare. Google apps don’t run due to the missing Google framework (or only with tinkering).

Kindle app on the Icarus Illumina XL

You should always keep in mind that the E Ink display imposes certain limitations—not every app makes sense to use on it.

You can install programs either via the built-in app store or by sideloading APKs manually onto the device. With root access, you can also customize the Illumina XL extensively—beyond what third-party apps already allow.

Skoobe installed via sideloading

A nice bonus of the Icarus Illumina XL is audio support. You can plug in headphones or speakers via the 3.5 mm jack to listen to music and audiobooks. You’ll need to install the apps for that yourself. There’s no text-to-speech function out of the box, but thanks to Android you should be able to add it if needed.

Software stability was very good throughout the roughly two-week test period. Apart from the multi-touch issue mentioned earlier (which was thankfully easy to fix), there were no crashes or errors.

One downside remains: the Illumina XL’s battery life is comparatively short. In both standby and normal use, the battery drains noticeably faster than on other dedicated readers. The dual-core Rockchip clearly takes its toll here.

Conclusion

One request from avid digital readers keeps coming up year after year: eReaders should be bigger! The standard 6-inch size that has become the industry norm is too small for many.

So it’s somewhat surprising, at least to me, that the big players (Amazon, Kobo, Tolino) completely ignore this niche. There is hope, though, as smaller providers try to meet customer demand: recently PocketBook (with the InkPad) and Bookeen (with the Cybook Ocean) stepped in, and now the Icarus Illumina XL has joined them.

In testing, the Dutch eReader specialist’s new 8-incher turns out to be a very solid, surprisingly compact (for this size) and, thankfully, even more open alternative to the other two brands. Like the 6-inch Illumina that’s been available for quite some time, the new XL scores with great flexibility—a welcome change of pace.

The Icarus Illumina XL is a solid 8-inch eReader.

The lighting quality is fine overall, but it doesn’t deliver any wow moments. The Illumina XL isn’t alone in this among large-screen models—achieving uniform, high-contrast illumination appears to be harder on big displays than on 6-inchers.

You also have to accept a lower screen resolution: at just 159 ppi, pixel density is relatively low compared to many current eReaders.

Ultimately, the Icarus Illumina XL delivers a good overall performance and earns a 2.3 in our test.

Photos

Icarus Illumina XL: Technical Specifications

All information provided without guarantee.