Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
I’ve spent the last decade chasing a very specific kind of device. My love for all things E-Ink is well documented, and for years I’ve wanted a device that can combine the benefits of E-Ink with the versatility of a full-fledged tablet. I want a single device that can swap out my paperback, take notes as responsively as an old-school notepad, and handle a modern digital workflow without breaking a sweat. It sounds simple enough. We’ve had E-Ink readers for years, and we have had tablets for even longer. The logical endpoint, the holy grail, would be a fast and fluid color E-Ink reader. Imagine a screen that can render comic books in full color, handle highlighting for PDFs, and manage color-coded calendars, all while giving me the benefits of all-out sunlight readability and battery life. Sounds perfect to me.
I’ve spent years chasing a device that can merge the magic of E-Ink with the flexibility of a real tablet.
On paper, the Boox Note Air 5C is exactly that device. It’s certainly not the first color E-Ink tablet on the market, but it does strike an effective balance of hardware, software, and support to seemingly bridge the gap between a Kindle and an iPad. It runs full Android, has a stylus that can get pretty close to the Apple Pencil experience on my iPad, and it does this in full color. So far, so good. But after using the device for the last few weeks, I’ve come to a frustrating conclusion. As incredible as the technology package is, it breaks pretty much all the rules that make E-Ink so special.
Have you considered a color e-ink tablet? 10 votes Yes, I'm already using one. 20 % I've considered it, but its too expensive. 40 % No, the screen limitations aren't worth it to me. 40 % No, I'm not interested. 0 %
Where the Boox Note Air 5C absolutely shines
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Before I get into why I’m returning to my monochrome screens, I need to give credit where it’s due. The software experience on the Note Air 5C is leagues ahead of anything Amazon or Kobo is doing. Opinions like these tend to be very personal, of course, but if you are coming from a Kindle Scribe or similar tablet, you’ll love the openness on offer. Instead of a locked-down e-reader, the Boox Note Air 5C gives you a full-fledged tablet that just so happens to have an E-Ink screen.
That means you have full flexibility to customize your interface and install whatever apps you need. There’s no walled garden problem here. On my Kindle, getting a PDF or long-form article from the web is a long-winded process. On the Boox, I just grab it from my emails or open the browser. For long-form reading, I’ve got my preferred subscription app, Magzter, as well as Readwise Reader installed. This gives me my entire saved article library in a familiar interface with all the benefits of an E-Ink display. I’ve even downloaded Obsidian and Notion for some on-the-go productivity.
Full Android support gives the Boox Note Air 5C an openness that Amazon and Kobo simply do not offer.
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