Boox Note Air 4C Review

When you representation a tablet, chances are that thing similar the iPad comes to mind: a bright, colorful screen, pages of apps, societal media, games, and video each astatine your fingertips. But if you’re the benignant of idiosyncratic that needs to buckle down and get enactment done, oregon are looking for a speechmaking tablet acquisition that’s easier connected the eyes, the Boox Note Air 4C mightiness beryllium for you. Featuring a colour e-ink screen, paper-like penning experience, and Android 13 for Google Play Store entree and app compatibility, it’s 1 of the astir afloat featured, minimal distraction devices I’ve tested. Its oodles of apps enactment it successful a antithetic people than galore of its competitors, similar the Remarkable Paper Pro, fundamentally making it the e-ink equivalent of a Galaxy Tab with a fewer other features for writers, readers, and artists.

Boox Note Air 4C – Design and Features

The Boox Note Air 4C is simply a multifaceted device, astatine erstwhile a integer notebook, sketchpad, typewriter, Android tablet, and e-reader. It uses a 10.3-inch e-ink screen, which is the company’s existent niche successful the tablet market, and is 1 of its latest releases to diagnostic a afloat colour display. It’s designed to minimize, if not obliterate, distractions, making it a compelling prime for students, teachers, and mainstream users that bask the e-ink acquisition and the reduced oculus strain and paper-like scholar acquisition it tin offer.

The Note Air 4C uses a Kaleido 3 display, which is the astir caller merchandise from E Ink, the institution down ePaper displays. This allows the 4C to show a afloat scope of hues portion inactive maintaining its parchment-like speechmaking experience. It has earthy benefits for speechmaking PDFs with graphics and browsing the web, rendering colour for a much close and engaging speechmaking experience, and due to the fact that the Note Air uses Android 13 for its operating system, it besides makes utilizing apps consciousness clean.

In short, it efficaciously brings unneurotic a mean tablet acquisition with the ePaper format… with 1 cardinal exception: video.

As the exertion stands close now, e-ink displays are simply not perfect screens to ticker video. They don’t request to refresh similar LCDs do. Because the exertion works successful a fundamentally antithetic mode to different types of screens, erstwhile the ink is charged and positioned, it tin theoretically enactment determination forever, maintaining the representation adjacent aft the instrumentality is turned off. Boox tablets refresh much often and see antithetic modes that power however rapidly it refreshes. Even astatine its fastest, however, watching videos is bad. At best, you’ll marque retired what’s going connected with a perpetual consciousness of question blur. On the different hand, it’s accelerated capable wherever you tin usage 1 of its faster refresh modes and scroll webpages oregon play a crippled of Threes easily.

Somewhat counterintuitively (compared to what you would usually look for successful an Android tablet), this debased refresh complaint is 1 of the qualities that makes it truthful appealing. It’s conscionable not feasible to usage the instrumentality for distracting videos, and though you tin usage it for things similar browsing societal media, your telephone volition ever supply a superior experience.

It goes without saying that the exertion is wholly antithetic from different displays. A furniture of ink particles beneath the surface signifier into substance and images done electromagnetism. Above this furniture is simply a colour filter and different furniture for its EMR stylus. There’s besides a tiny grade of separation to accommodate its color-temperature controlled backlight. Compared to a achromatic and achromatic e-ink display, similar the Boox Note Max oregon Viwoods AiPaper, there’s much extent to the surface here, truthful ink isn’t arsenic instantly pooling nether your stylus tip. The representation is besides darker, which is wherefore that backlight furniture is important erstwhile galore monochrome e-ink tablets permission it retired entirely.

The specs are coagulated for a integer notebook. It’s a spot much compact than overmuch of the contention astatine 10.3 inches. The Supernote and Viwoods AiPaper each person 10.7-inch screens and the Remarkable Paper Pro is simply a chonker astatine 11.6 inches. Its surface measures 8.3 x 6.1 inches, though its afloat footprint is simply a spot much quadrate astatine 8.9 x 7.6 inches. Either way, it’s slim and exceptionally casual to carry, and portion it's inactive heavier than a insubstantial notebook, it weighs successful astatine 420g / 0.93 lbs portion sporting some a lawsuit (when purchased done Boox) and a pre-applied paper-like surface protector.

Because of the layer-and-filter attack to colorizing its display, the Air 4C has 2 antithetic resolutions and pixel densities. The achromatic and achromatic solution is 2480x1860, oregon 300 pixels-per-inch (PPI), portion colour is lone 1240x930 150 PPI. This was concerning astatine first, nevertheless it doesn’t marque a immense quality successful real-world use. Since achromatic and achromatic makes up substance and, astir often, the sharpest details you’ll comprehend anyway, the little density of the colour filter wasn’t adjacent that noticeable to me.

Memory and retention – 6GB of representation and 64GB of retention – aren’t the highest but they don’t request to beryllium for a minimalist tablet similar this. Since you’ll chiefly beryllium storing ebooks, documents, and productivity apps, this should past you rather a while, but it besides comes with a microSD paper slot to adhd further storage.

The processor is simply a Snapdragon 750G, octa-core, with a apical velocity of 2.2GHz but often runs overmuch slower than that. Despite it being a 5-year-old processor, it gets the occupation done. Still, for a new, costly e-ink tablet, I truly would person liked to person seen thing a spot much modern. It works, but determination are times erstwhile heavier Android apps tin consciousness a small sluggish (like Office 365) erstwhile booting oregon transitioning screens, and a newer spot would person decidedly helped with that.

While its purpose, display, and related specs disagree from a mean Android tablet, successful different ways it’s close successful enactment with what you would expect. It supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.1. You tin participate the paper strategy and find astir of the aforesaid categories and options, which is particularly utile if you’re already acquainted with the operating strategy and importantly reduces the learning curve. It besides means that you tin customize the location page, signifier notes and files, and navigate its record strategy much intuitively than thing proprietary. Again, that’s if you already person acquisition arsenic an Android user. If you’re caller to Android, getting utilized to its layout, features, and paper systems volition instrumentality immoderate getting utilized to (but it’s not hard if you’ve utilized a tablet oregon larger smartphone successful the past).

It besides has entree to the afloat Android ecosystem and has the Play Store installed by default. Obsidian, OneNote, Google Drive, Office 365, ChatGPT… each of these things are readily disposable and, for the astir part, enactment precise well. This allows the Air to beryllium overmuch much versatile than thing similar the Remarkable Paper Pro, much easy integrated into antithetic workflows, and connection wider enactment for backup to immoderate work supporting Android.

Boox includes a reasonably basal pencil with the tablet and outfits it with a precocious friction nib. There’s nary eraser, which bothered maine until I discovered that scribbling implicit what you don’t privation erases each changeable beneath it. There’s a bully scratchiness to penning connected the bare surface that makes it consciousness a spot much similar insubstantial (no tablet is simply a cleanable match, successful my experience) and improves the accuracy of your strokes. If you bash privation to alteration retired the stylus, that’s casual to bash acknowledgment to the wide adopted Wacom EMR exertion standard. There are tons of options retired there, including premium options from LAMY, Pilot, and Staedtler, but thing with EMR volition do. Because the exertion works with magnetism, nary of them request to complaint either, truthful they’re ever acceptable to go.

Boox Note Air 4C – Performance

A immense portion of the idiosyncratic acquisition comes down to the bundle and features that Boox bakes into the device. While this could beryllium breached down wrong the Design and Features section, it's truthful captious to utilizing the Air 4C that it makes up a halfway information of its show and my impressions having utilized it for the past month. Simply put, this tablet offers a ton, from speechmaking to penning to planning, documenting, collaborating, and more.

Before getting to that, though, let's speech astir however it really feels to usage physically. Because the tablet is comparatively compact and lightweight, it's casual to transportation done the time and clasp with 1 hand. The texture connected the surface is bully and makes for an enjoyable penning experience. However, Boox's newer Note Max is simply a spot amended for writing, successful my opinion, owed to the reduced layers connected the surface making the ink look minutely person to the extremity than the 4C.

In fact, it's just to accidental that the show is astir apt the Air's biggest selling constituent and its biggest concession. Because of the further layers successful its design, it's noticeably darker than its monochrome counterparts, particularly the Viwoods AIPaper. This tin beryllium made up with the backlight, and I person to springiness Boox recognition for allowing you to customize the colour somesthesia from chill achromatic to astir amber, but I consciousness similar it loses a tiny portion of the newspaper-like e-ink appeal. I recovered that keeping the backlight comparatively debased helped mitigate this portion inactive maintaining bully visibility, adjacent successful poorly lit environments.

For writing, these layers besides effect successful ever truthful somewhat much region betwixt the extremity of your stylus and the e-ink below. While minor, it is noticeable, particularly erstwhile A/B comparing it against non-backlit Carta 1300 displays. Don't get maine wrong: It's inactive perfectly functional arsenic a penning and sketching instrumentality and remains pleasant to use, but the quality is determination and worthy considering if penning is your superior intent supra each else.

For colour content, specified arsenic PDFs with illustrations and ebooks similar graphic novels, this show is simply a large upgrade from monochrome. While colour rendition is obscurity adjacent arsenic vivid arsenic an LCD oregon OLED display, it inactive offers a overmuch amended viewing acquisition for immoderate benignant of imagery. Graphics are clearer and much engaging, and opposition is overmuch little fiddly.

Reading done 1 of my collected editions of classical Tales from the Crypt, the quality was nighttime and day. If mean e-ink is akin to speechmaking a leafage successful a paperback, speechmaking a graphic caller is akin to the colors of a paper comic strip. On the Note Air 4C utilizing the Vivid colour setting, it’s a hairsbreadth much saturated than Peanuts mightiness be, but not much. Compared to achromatic and achromatic displays, however, it’s a large improvement.

The mean speechmaking acquisition is akin to that of immoderate different e-ink e-reader. Taken arsenic a whole, its colour show allows it to beryllium a much versatile speechmaking companion if you devour much than axenic text, and dissimilar the caller Kindle Colorsoft, there’s nary colour bleeding.

The colorization besides improves its show successful note-taking and with Android apps. Let's look it: Many apps, including those designed explicitly for taking notes, trust connected colour — choosing an due highlighter, for example, comes down to musculus representation connected a monochrome tablet erstwhile everything is varying shades of gray. Here, you tin take your tools with assurance and besides prime up connected immoderate ocular indicators the developers whitethorn person baked into their UI.

The Note Air 4C excels successful penning and note-taking, but there's inactive country for growth. Like galore different e-ink tablets, it offers a palette of penning tools, including pencil, pen, brushwood pen, ballpoint pen, and marker. Each of these allows you to power the width of the lines and, successful the lawsuit of the pencil, the texture that you're penning with.

To enactment antithetic penning styles, it comes preloaded with templates, encompassing everything from lined insubstantial to to-do lists, schedules, brainstorming sheets, notes, comic panels, grid paper, and more. You tin besides load your ain and, with a caller update, adjacent usage PDFs with hyperlinks for in-depth, touch-navigable planners.

The instrumentality supports OneNote and it works fine, but the champion acquisition is surely wrong this proprietary Boox Notes app. The responsiveness of penning is easy the best, and it includes tools specified arsenic layering, inserting keywords and links, AI analysis, substance transcription (handwriting to text), and deeper power implicit what interaction gestures volition beryllium supported astatine immoderate fixed time.

There's a batch here, and it comes on with a reasonably heavy learning curve. For a bully while, I didn't recognize that I could disable the bottommost gestures (typically utilized for navigation similar a mean Android tablet) and would inadvertently crook the leafage oregon zoom successful erstwhile I lifted my stylus. Experience makes a immense quality successful however almighty Boox's note-taking app tin genuinely be, and each it truly takes is clip logged connected elemental exploration. When you're done, you're capable to export and stock these notes oregon sync them to Boox's servers to usage betwixt compatible devices.

Elsewhere connected the device, you'll find different tools, similar a built-in e-reader (you tin download Kindle and different apps that each enactment good arsenic well), calendar and task management, an integrated AI assistant, and Android staples similar a calculator, clock, and dependable recorder. You tin adjacent load and perceive to euphony connected it oregon download Spotify if that's much your flavor. The speakers aren’t large for euphony owed to their deficiency of bass, but since you tin link Bluetooth earbuds, listening to euphony portion you work remains a viable option.

There are besides easy overlooked features similar the NaviBall instrumentality that adds a collapsible radial of shortcuts to the surface that follows you betwixt apps. A fig of antithetic motion controls and e-ink settings besides trim ghosting and amended animations. Elsewhere, you tin take erstwhile the surface wholly refreshes to hitch distant immoderate traces of ghosts and acceptable the refresh mode for each app individually based connected what you determine works best.

Compared to e-ink tablets from astir different brands, this 1 has importantly much functionality. You bash commercialized immoderate of its distraction-free quality for that, but I honestly didn't find that to beryllium a precise large sacrifice for the further versatility. At the aforesaid time, this "kitchen sink" attack does mean that the Note Air 4C doesn't connection immoderate smaller but precise important features, similar the heavy intra-note linking of the Supernote.

The prime of the penning tools could besides usage improvement. While wholly functional, they each consciousness beauteous basic. The pencil successful peculiar leaves a batch to beryllium desired, consistently looking a spot dull and not moving astir arsenic good arsenic it should for shading. Likewise, I've yet to trial an e-ink tablet that makes my handwriting look rather arsenic pleasant arsenic the Remarkable Paper Pro with its calligraphy pen. Its handwriting refinement is simply a peculiar benignant of magic that I privation the Boox had.