BOOXTablet Note Air 4C 6G 64G E Ink Tablet Color ePaper Notebook

I am extremely happy with this device there is no regret in my purchase. I seriously considered the Boox Go Color 7, but it uses a different pen, and the pen cannot be found and is not shipped with the device. I also considered the Boox Go 10, it lacks the front light and at the last minute I decided to give the 4C a try. I know the price feels high for a reading device – but the note taking ability is a feature not to be missed. You can have all your notes in one place. Any student should be using something like this. The Calendar shows what notes you took on a given day and what you read. There is a calendar memo that can be used much like a journal. I find it extremely functional.I imported most of my technical books in epub format. You can then open them and use the side-by-side mode - and your notes will be stored in a manner that ties them to the document. You can do something similar in Kindle, but it can be done in Boox as handwritten notes and you can copy relevant text (and more) with your note.The ability to add apps to the device is something that you shouldn’t overlook. I have generally kept this to things I truly need and have left time wasting, interrupting apps like email for my phone. Add Google’s Gboard and you can use handwriting recognition in apps that expect you to type text. I don’t understand the comment about not supporting Office apps. I installed OneDrive early on to get to files store there. I just installed Word and it seems to function without issue. It might be more challenging to write a Word document without a keyboard, but with Gboard and handwriting recognition, it could be done. I see no issue with Office applications – other than input issues. I installed ToDo early on and use it often on the Boox device.You should not buy this if you want vivid color. But the color is good enough for those with less demanding expectations. You can have ghosting, frankly I have gotten to the point where I look past the ghosting. But you can set up a gesture to force a refresh in the apps where this occurs. The apps themselves can be configured for a full refresh on change – but there is a slight performance hit, and a battery hit. The Kindle app allows continuous scrolling – something I truly appreciate. Thei e-ink Kindle does not do that. If you are reading something technical or with diagrams that is being explained, I find having to flip back and forth to be a problem.Battery life is quite good. It depends on how you use it. I am sure some will be critical that it doesn’t last longer, but I really think that you will get hours and hours of use with little interruption for charging.The weight is good, and the device is solid. I have not tried carrying it unprotected as the e-ink technology is more fragile than others. They have made another update to the app since I got it and I have only had it a couple of weeks. More features. Using the Boox pen probably provides a sense that you are writing on paper. I got another pen that has a button than notes recognizes as the lasso erase function – and it seems to be harder, and the sensation is less like writing on paper. Still, it is more satisfying that writing on my Surface. They should put something with more friction on the back as it can be slippery on some surfaces. The pen does not attach as firmly as I would prefer - you should plan to find a way to handle that.

First, it's a bit of a stretch to call this a "tablet". Yes, it runs Android. Yes, it's the size of a tablet. But if you buy this thing hoping to watch Youtube videos, you'll be sadly mistaken.However, if you're looking for a device that works as an eBook reader, note-taking device, and news/email reader, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.I come to the Books Note from the Kobo Elipsa. Both were bought for the same reason. I wanted a large screen book reader that would also allow me to take notes for work in PDF format that could then be uploaded to my work computer. The Elipsa was a good ebook reader, but the note-taking functionality was painful. There was a significant amount of lag in the stylus while writing, and the stylus was battery powered (and required "AAAA" batteries, which can be challenging to find).Let me preface this by saying that, yes, the Note Air is at least one (or maybe two) generations newer with its e-ink technology. Which leads to smaller/thinner screens, performance enhancements, etc. It feels surprisingly thin in the hand, but it has a good heft to it, and the "build quality feel" (highly subjective), "feels good." Even though the screen sizes are similar, the Note Air feels significantly less bulky. The screen pixel size spec is identical to the Elipsa when in black-and-white mode, and is twice the size of Elipsa pixels when in color mode.In most ways that's where the direct comparison ends. The Note Air gives you so much more control over how the screen operates that it's almost scary. As we noted above, since the Note Air runs a modified Android, you can actually go to the Play store and download apps. The Note Air allows you to individually configure how the screen works with each app, how frequently it refereshes, etc. You can also force an immediate refresh if you're seeing ghosting.The eBook reader app works very well. I left it on default settings and the font was easy to read, linespacing did not appear cluttered and refresh going from page to page was NOTICEABLY faster than the Elipsa. The one gotcha is DRM. I'd expect most people reading this to know, but the built-in eReader app for the Note Air doesn't work with DRM'ed epubs. There are multiple ways around this, however:1. You can go to the App Store and download the Kindle, Nook, or Barnes & Noble reader of your choice, synchronize all of your books, and away you go.2. As the wise say, you can become familiar with Apprentice Harper and his facinating work.The note-taking app, on the other hand was just out-and-out phenomenal. When I first opened the stylus that came with the Note Air, I looked for a battery level, couldn't find one, and hoped that it had enough battery left to let me test. And then I found out that the stylus was Wacom-compatible and was completely passive. No need to charge the stylus. Having used active styluses on iPads and Pixel tablets, this was more of an earthshattering revelation than it should have been. The digitizer on the Note Air is FAST and accurate, and it feels like I really am writing on paper.The only gotcha with the stylus is that, since it's passive and requires neither circuitry nor battery, it's very light, and I dislike the longitudinal lines or ribs they put on it. They reduce comfort in long writing sessions.Battery life is great - I use the thing probably 3 - 4 hours a day as either an eReader or a note taking device, and I can comfortably get 3-4 days out of a battery charge. I know some have complained about the Boox cover/sleeve/case, as it does not have a hole in front of the charging port. This means you need to either leave your case open (or remove it altogether) for charging. I expect they did that to prevent accidental damage to the USB4 port, but regardless, it's not a big deal to me.Last, color - the color accuracy/saturation is very good for an eink device, but that's damning it with faint praise. When it comes to eink technology, we're still in the 1990's dithered era of digital images. Even though I'll freely admit that a picture on my Note 4 doesn't hold a candle to the same picture on my Pixel Tablet, it's better than any color picture I've ever seen on any other eink devices. However, when it comes to things like cover art for my library, things look perfectly fine.Last thing is synchronizing content to and from the Note Air. The easy path is to go to the referenced boox website and set up an account. You only need either a cell number or an email. It wants you to give both, but one or the other will work. Once that is done, you can open your Note Air on your home's wifi system, and drag-and-drop content to or from the tablet to your desktop. Note that this is browser-based, so it works on all operating systems (Windows, MacOS, and Linux). Supposedly, there's a better synchronization app available for Windows only, but that's not an option for me.Bottom line: if you want an ebook reader that you can take notes on (and can annotate books), this is the device you've been waiting for. If you want a regular tablet, you'll hate this device.