If you have not caught on already, Onyx Boox is slowly beginning to make a reputation for itself within the e-reader and E Ink pill area. The model’s merchandise are usually costly, particularly when pitted towards Amazon’s low cost Kindle gadgets, however they greater than make up for it by way of specs. If you ever discovered your Kindle gadget to be extraordinarily restricted in performance, an Onyx Boox is the best way to go.Just like all e-readers, Boox tablets have E Ink shows. This means you get weeks of battery life and a supremely comfy viewing expertise. Unlike hottest e-readers although, Onyx Boox gadgets include Android 11 and the Google Play Store. This opens the door to limitless potentialities as a result of it lets you set up any app you want in your Boox gadget. That’s a far cry from something Amazon or Kobo offers you.I’ve all the time been an enormous fan of Onyx Boox tablets as a result of they provide all you might ever need in an e-paper gadget with out being too distracting. If you need, you possibly can entry your e-mail and browse the online, nevertheless it’s not as simple. It’s an important steadiness for a succesful studying gadget that does not destroy your eyesight. Not to say, all Boox tablets include a battery-free stylus and optical character recognition, so you possibly can take notes and mechanically convert them into digital textual content.(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)We’ve reviewed a few attention-grabbing Onyx Boox tablets right here at Android Central, together with the Nova Air C and the Nova3 Color which include coloured e-ink shows. While the imaginative and prescient and innovation are appreciated, the distinction and sharpness of conventional B&W e-ink tablets are undeniably higher, no less than till the know-how catches up.Now, we have got our arms on the most recent vary of Onyx Boox tablets that was introduced in January 2023. This contains the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, Tab X, and Note Air 2 Plus. Today, I’ll be looking on the mid-range Tab X. If you are within the different two, don’t be concerned. We have critiques lined up for the Tab Ultra and Note Air 2 Plus within the coming weeks.Today’s greatest Onyx Boox Tab X, Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus and Onyx Boox Tab Ultra offersOnyx Boox Tab X hands-on: The X is for eXcellenceWhy you possibly can belief Android Central
Our professional reviewers spend hours testing and evaluating services and products so you possibly can select the very best for you. Find out extra about how we check.(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)There are two sides to any story, and this rings true whereas testing gadgets hands-on as properly. First, you have obtained your on-paper specs, after which there’s the matter of real-life efficiency and supply. In each regards, I discovered the Onyx Boox Tab X to be distinctive.Inside the shockingly slim 6.8mm-wide physique of the Tab X, Onyx Boox managed to cram quite a lot of juicy fixtures and fittings. The attractive e-ink pill has a beautiful 13.3-inch E Ink Mobius show with a 207 ppi pixel density and 16 shades of grey. Words cannot describe how beautiful and actually paper-like the display screen is. It has an anti-glare end and a Wacom layer on high, so you should use any appropriate stylus with it and never simply the one which got here with the Tab X.With that stately dimension, you’ll anticipate it to weigh an entire lot greater than all of 560 grams. It’s superb how modern and light-weight this pill is. I’ve eaten biscuits thicker than the Tab X. In truth, if tablets have been biscuits, then the Onyx Boox Tab X can be a skinny mint.Image 1 of 3(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)Ghosting was a significant problem with Boox tablets of the previous, however the Tab X performs leaps and bounds higher than its predecessors. This is essentially due to the unnamed Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core chipset that powers the rig, together with the pill’s 6GB LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 inside storage.As I discussed earlier, the Tab X runs a tweaked model of Android 11 out of the field. Onyx Boox is all the time rolling out significant updates to its gadgets. You nonetheless get the Google Play Store in all of its unrestricted glory, so you possibly can set up apps like Google Drive, Bilibili, Audible, Comixology, and even the Kindle app. Since the e-ink pill has audio system, a mic, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, you possibly can go all out and put all of your favourite Android apps on there. Some good ones are apps for podcasts, information, note-taking, drawing, cloud storage, and music streaming.If you feel significantly naughty, you might set up YouTube or Netflix too. Although the Tab X is not meant for use for video playback, it is good to have the power to mess around. You even get a screencasting characteristic and issues like Boox Drop and Nearby Share make it tremendous simple to ship and obtain information to and from the Tab X.(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)Anyone who’s a pupil, professor, author, editor, or somebody whose job includes taking a variety of notes will make wonderful use of the Onyx Boox Tab X. The native OCR is unbelievable and the stylus feels actually good towards the E Ink show. Writing on this e-paper gadget may be very satisfying. You additionally get voice typing along with typing and handwriting inputs.Can you think about that the Kindle Scribe doesn’t even have OCR? Time and time once more, I could not assist however examine the 2 e-ink gadgets. While the stylus on the Tab X is certain to get a variety of use, the one on the Kindle Scribe is sort of completely wasted as a result of you possibly can’t search your handwritten notes or export them anyplace within the type of digital textual content. The Onyx Boox Tab X however makes it really easy.Image 1 of two(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)The Tab X’s ecosystem is not restricted like it’s on a Kindle, you will have 1,000,000 methods to share stuff to and from it, and the textual content recognition converts the nastiest-looking physician’s hand into searchable textual content anyplace, whether or not it is within the search bar on an app or whereas taking notes. It’s unbelievable.Ironically, you possibly can’t buy ebooks from Amazon on a Kindle however you possibly can on the Onyx Boox by accessing Amazon on an internet browser of your selection. This factor makes a Kindle look lame and severely outdated. Sorry Amazon, you will have been outclassed.To borrow the phrases of Wiz Khalifa, all it does is win, win, win it doesn’t matter what.Let’s additionally not neglect that the Onyx Boox Tab X comes with a USB-C port that helps OTG, so you should use a USB-C thumb drive to learn or switch knowledge in your Onyx pill. This is a cool characteristic that compensates for the shortage of expandable storage. Let’s be sincere although, who wants greater than 128GB on an e-reader slash note-taking gadget? You also can set up your common cloud storage app to increase storage, so it is most unlikely that anybody would possibly truly use the OTG characteristic.To put the ultimate cherry on high, the big 6,300mAh battery within the Onyx Boox Tab X lasts for weeks on a single cost. This is with heavy to reasonable use with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, making it much more spectacular. To borrow the phrases of Wiz Khalifa, all it does is win, win, win it doesn’t matter what.Onyx Boox Tab X hands-on: Should you put money into one?(Image credit score: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android Central)The solely cause why I’d draw back from freely recommending this factor is the value. Clocking in at a hefty $880, that is some huge cash for an e-ink pill. That’s nearly a thousand {dollars}, which might simply get you top-of-the-line Android tablets such because the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+.If Onyx Boox have been to scale back its costs only a tad bit, the world would neglect Amazon’s sub-par Kindle tablets exist. The solely cause why Kindles have gotten so large is due to Amazon’s dirt-cheap costs and the shortage of any actual competitors. This utter state of monopoly could also be good for Amazon, however shoppers don’t get a lot out of it. Competition is all the time wholesome, because it pushes manufacturers to do higher.If Onyx Boox have been to scale back its costs only a tad bit, the world would neglect Amazon’s sub-par Kindle tablets exist.To summarize, the Onyx Boox Tab X is superb and higher than each different e-paper pill in each conceivable approach. But, the elephant within the room is the gut-wrenching price ticket connected to it. It makes me so mad simply fascinated about it. You may buy a correct Android pill or an iPad for a similar amount of cash, and people issues are feature-rich and have beautiful coloration shows.If you have obtained your coronary heart set on an e-ink gadget from Onyx Boox, I like to recommend the extra reasonably priced Note Air 2 Plus. It might not be as highly effective because the Tab X, nevertheless it simply defeats the Kindle Scribe any day.
A daring transfer from Onyx Boox
The ludicrously costly Onyx Boox Tab X can also be ludicrously good at serving its function. Everything from studying to writing is an absolute delight on this Android-powered E Ink pill, and there is not any restrict to what you are able to do with it. You’re solely held again by one factor: the value.
ForUnreal 13.3-inch E Ink Mobius displayPowerful internals and reminiscence specsRuns Android 11 and has Play StoreSpeaker and micUSB-C charging with weeks upon weeks of battery lifeBattery-free stylus included