The Best Color E Ink Tablet I've Used Isn't A Remarkable (and It's Almost $200 Cheaper)

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Boox Note Air 4C is simply a colour e-paper tablet designed for note-taking and reading, disposable for $500 pinch a deal.
• The tablet's show is crisp and paper-like, and nan included pen is meticulous and sensitive, making it easy to create highly elaborate sketches.
• The Note Air 4C isn't cheap, astatine a regular value of $530, and nan included pen is overmuch thicker than nan tablet, truthful it falls disconnected easily.

For months now, I've utilized nan Boox Note Air 4C tablet arsenic my go-to integer notebook. This tablet is nan cleanable companion for those who for illustration taking notes connected nan go, but it's besides go nan champion substitute for my slug journal.

Writing connected nan Boox Note Air 4C tablet feels akin to penning connected paper, though it's ne'er precisely nan same. However, nan included pen is accelerated and responsive. The pressure-sensitive Boox pen is unforgiving, providing a contrasting acquisition to nan Apple Pencil Pro. 

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I've been utilizing nan Apple Pencil Pro connected nan iPad Mini 7 and iPad Air, and it makes calligraphy easy, disguising mildly uneven strokes and making astir handwritten cursive fonts look appealing. The Boox pen connected nan Note Air 4C is superior to nan Apple Pencil Pro for much precise and meticulous work, specified arsenic sketching and drawing. The pressure-sensitive system besides useful beautifully for calligraphy, but it sometimes fails to modulation smoothly from heavy to bladed lines. 

I'm an avid bullet-journaler -- I emotion nan state of creating almanac and page layouts that suit my needs. Naturally, I transitioned to making nan Boox Note Air 4C my caller journal, particularly because slug journaling arsenic a hobby is difficult to maintain, pinch activity consuming a batch of my clip and my kids consuming my pens.

The Boox Note Air 4C's 10.3-inch show is simply a Kaleido 3 colour E Ink screen. This display's black-and-white solution is 300 ppi, but its colour solution is only 150 ppi. Color images look somewhat blurry and noisy connected nan Boox Note Air 4C, lacking crispness and detail. 

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The Kaleido 3 display, besides utilized successful nan Kindle Colorsoft, features a guidelines monochromatic E Ink furniture pinch electrophoretic technology, rendering crisp specifications astatine 300 ppi. But adding colour is done done a colour select array layered connected nan black-and-white screen. This divides each pixel into RGB subpixels, each occupying nan abstraction of a azygous pixel, thereby halving nan colour display's resolution. 

An illustration of nan ocular texture erstwhile utilizing color

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

Aside from photos often looking unintelligible from up close, this show besides shows immoderate colour images pinch a denim-like texture, which bothers immoderate users. The Boox Note Air 4C colors are besides limited, truthful you don't get a afloat spectrum of complete 16 cardinal colors, and they look much muted than connected accepted tablets. The aforesaid applies to different colour e-paper devices, specified arsenic nan Kindle Color E-Reader and reMarkable Paper Pro. 

Though muted, I for illustration nan Boox Note Air 4C colors because they support nan aforesaid artistic passim my work. I admit having a dedicated note-taking tablet, truthful I'm not bothered by nan limitations of colour ePaper. 

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Performance-wise, nan Boox Note Air 4C runs connected Android 13, pinch an octa-core processor and 6GB of RAM. It has up to 64GB of soul storage, expandable up to 2TB pinch a microSD card. Don't expect it to beryllium arsenic accelerated arsenic an iPad, though. While you tin considerably velocity up its refresh complaint by changing its settings, nan Note Air 4C is sluggish compared to a accepted tablet -- but is not arsenic slow arsenic a Kindle. 

Pressure-sensitive pen test

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

Some ghosting issues are communal pinch E Ink tablets, including nan Note Air 4C, erstwhile switching from 1 page to another, but this didn't fuss me.

My bigger complaints pinch nan Boox Note Air 4C are highly specific. Depending connected nan content, each page takes a agelong clip to render, up to 30 seconds, which tin get annoying. The display's thenar nickname fails erstwhile I zoom successful to activity connected elaborate drawings, causing my image to displacement pinch nan accidental touch of my manus and causing nan tablet to region for a fewer seconds while rendering.

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The Boox's AI features person a batch of room for improvement, but that's communal crossed galore companies' AI offerings. I tried each nan features and recovered they grounded truthful often that it was champion to support them toggled off. The astir glaring 1 was erstwhile nan tablet automatically "corrected" my drawings, inadvertently deleting portion of my work.

The Boox Note Air 4C tablet's Smart Scribe AI features.

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

I besides wish handwriting optical characteristic nickname (OCR) were imaginable by default, but it's included arsenic an AI characteristic and isn't very accurate. Handwriting conversion often requires machine resources that are beyond a tablet's capabilities, which whitethorn beryllium why nan Boox Note Air 4C, for illustration nan reMarkable Paper Pro, doesn't connection it arsenic a default feature.

The Boox's pen attaches magnetically to nan broadside of nan tablet but is prone to falling off, apt owed to nan tablet's 5.8 mm bladed profile. I urge buying a lawsuit to support nan pen attached erstwhile transporting. The pen operates utilizing electromagnetic resonance (EMR), eliminating nan request for charging; it attaches magnetically for added convenience. 

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The Boox Note Air 4C useful wonderfully arsenic a slug journal, particularly because nan pen is meticulous and responsive, making precise drafting aliases coloring easy. I tin prevention each my pages successful a single, lightweight instrumentality and don't person to lug astir a pencil lawsuit afloat of pens and markers erstwhile I want to beryllium down and drawback up connected my journaling. I besides admit nan prize of being capable to adhd outer files, specified arsenic photos, to sphere memories without needing to people them out. 

ZDNET's buying advice

After weeks of use, my nib is fresh for a replacement.

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

The Boox Note Air 4C is awesome for professionals and creatives. It's not a productivity tablet aliases a replacement for a laptop, but it is cleanable for note-takers who for illustration handwriting, journalers, reference enthusiasts, and moreover designers.  

Aside from different Boox tablets, nan only existent competitor for nan Boox Note Air 4C is nan reMarkable Paper Pro, a colour ePaper tablet that retails for $629. Although some tablets stock akin shortcomings, I'd take nan Boox Note Air 4C complete nan other. Aside from being complete $100 cheaper, nan caller Boox is an Android tablet that doesn't require a paid subscription to entree other features, dissimilar reMarkable, which does pinch nan Connect membership.

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Like immoderate accepted Android tablet, nan Boox Note Air 4C allows you to download apps disposable successful nan Google Play Store, including games and societal media applications. However, those seeking a instrumentality focused connected penning and reference tin support their Boox tablet distraction-free. I downloaded nan Kindle app for reading, Google Docs for work, and OneDrive to transportation files and adhd photos to my notes, keeping my Boox Note Air4 C arsenic a versatile device.