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Most of the time, you won’t hear the words “Android tablet” and “E-Ink display” in the same sentence or even in the same set of ideas. What happens, then, when the two worlds meet? You get the strange and unique Onyx Boox, which is a family of Android tablets with a black-and-white E-Ink display. We’ve been looking at the Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus, which is one of the top models, to see how it compares to other colorful Android tablets.
We usually think of E-Ink screens as being in e-readers like the Amazon Kindle series or in simple devices like digital watches where the screen doesn’t need to be updated very often. Android tablets, on the other hand, are usually made for heavier tasks like pleasure, gaming, replacing your laptop, and, in some cases, taking notes and drawing. This makes the Boox Note Air 2 Plus stand out in a group of e-readers where the Amazon Kindle is far more popular.
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus SPECIFICATIONS
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Display | 10.3-inch E Ink Carta HD, 1872 x 1404 resolution |
| Processor | Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB/128GB |
| Battery | 3000mAh |
| Operating System | Android 10 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Dimensions | 245.2 x 174.4 x 6.3 mm |
| Weight | 462 g |
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus review: Design
Like the Kindle Oasis, the Note Air 2 Plus looks like an e-reader. The bigger bezel on the left side of the screen makes it easier to hold. The Note Air 2 Plus weighs 445g, which makes it a bit heavy, but we were able to hold it in one hand without any trouble. It feels solid because of how heavy it is, and we didn’t have to worry about the screen getting scratched or dirty because it’s made of Carta glass. You can buy this tablet from its official website
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus: Display
The Boox Note Air 2 Plus is very thin, which is probably the first thing you’ll notice about it. It’s about twice as thick as the USB-C port that’s used to charge it, at 5.8mm. Thin doesn’t mean weak, and the Note Air 2 Plus is a solid piece of metal with rounded sides that bend into the flat front and back.
The Plus is not navy blue like the original Note Air and the plain Note Air 2. Instead, it is forest green. It has orange details that make it stand out, and all things considered, the tablet’s design is one of its best features.
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus review: Performance
The Note Air2 Plus has an 8-core, 2 GHz SoC and 4 GB of RAM. It won’t be able to compete with the newest smartphones or tablets on the market, but it should be able to handle any job that a tablet like this should be able to do. Since the Note Air2 Plus runs Android 11, you can get everything from the Google Play Store. However, as we said before, anything made for rich media won’t work on this device. Most social media apps seem to work well, and the e-ink screen makes reading very easy.
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus: Battery Life
Even if you use the Note Air 2 Plus a lot, it will be hard to kill it in a day or two. It has a 3700mAh battery, which is bigger than the batteries in most E Ink laptops. This long battery life is one of the main reasons to get the Plus instead of the regular Note Air 2 with 3000mAh.
If you turn off the lighting, you can use the tablet for a week or more while reading and taking notes for an hour each day. If you turn on the backlight, this time goes down by a lot, but you can still use the Note Air 2 Plus for a few days straight with the backlight on.
Price and availability
Because of these things, the Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus is a better buy than the Kindle Scribe and the Remarkable 2. The company sells the Boox Note Air 2 Plus for $479.99. It comes with a free folio case and extra stylus tips. If you buy everything together, you can also get a deal on the other magnetic case or stylus.
Final Words
A Kindle, on the other hand, isn’t as useful and doesn’t let you choose which apps to install. It keeps you in the “walled garden” of Amazon, where you can only buy ebooks from Amazon or move ePUB titles you already own. You can’t do much on a Kindle when you want to surf the web.
The only thing that makes the Kindle Scribe, which comes with a pen, better than the Boox tablet is that you can make notes on books right in the Kindle app. But you can get around this problem on the Boox Note Air 2 Plus by opening two apps, like Chrome and Notes, in split screen view to write down your points.
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus Ratings
Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus review: THE GOOD AND THE BAD
The Good
- Support for Amazon Kindle
- Decent battery life
The Bad
- Not waterproof
FAQS
Do not buy the Onyx Boox from the site onyxboox.com. It looks like a Russian scam resale site.
If you can afford it, the ONYX BOOX Note Air 2 is a great way to update your e-ink reader. It can do a lot of things at once and is very powerful. With so many combination e-readers coming out, it’s hard to tell which ones are really good at multitasking and which ones are just regular e-readers with a few extra features.