The Fujitsu Quaderno A5 second generation is a brand new 10.3 inch digital note taking device. The major selling points is being able to freehand draw, take notes, and edit PDF files. It has a split screen view system, which allows you to have the note app, or a PDF on one side of the screen and something else on the other. If you want to read PDF files, you can do it with the two page spread. It is available on the Good e-Reader Store for $569.99.
The Fujitsu Quaderno A5 is using E INK Carta 1250, which is the first E INK product to employ this brand new technology. It has a thinner film, which results in a wider gamut and higher contrast ratio. It also leverages the same updates of Carta 1200, which provides lower latency when using a stylus, currently it has 30 miliseconds. PDF files will load faster and the pages will turn faster.
The A5 gen 2 features a 10.3 inch E INK display with a resolution of 1404 x 1872 with 227 PPI. The screen is capacitive, so you can use your finger to interact with it and for the first time, Fujitsu is utilizing a WACOM display. You can assign your favorite functions to the side buttons and tail switch of the stylus pen. You can freely select from five functions: pen color, eraser, highlight, range selection, and enlargement. For example, if you assign an eraser to the tail switch, you can erase handwriting in a natural way.
This device is geared towards reading A5 documents, and although A5 isn’t as popular as its A4 paper size cousin, it is still considered the go-to size for a number of paper projects. Examples include flyers, leaflets, marketing mailers, greeting cards and stationary. It will easily read formats that have been optimized for 5.83 by 8.27 inches.
Underneath the hood is a Cortex A53 Quad-core 1.8 GHZ processor, 32GB of internal storage, which is good for storing around 10,000 PDF files and 4GB of RAM. It has a USB-C port, which is great for people who want one cable for all of their devices. It has WIFI, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC support for FeliCa (screen unlock) and NFC Forum Type 4 Tag (easy connection with QUADERNO Mobile App). You will easily get up to 4 weeks of usage before you have to recharge it. The dimensions are 173.2mm x 242.5mm x 5.9mm. This device is one of the lightest on the market and you can easily hold it with just two fingers. The weight is 261g.
The design of the A5 2nd gen is white and has a grey e-paper screen, that is black and white, and doesn’t produce color. It comes with a stylus, but not a case or screen protector, those you have to buy separately. There are three replacement nibs and nib removal tool and a black USB-C cable. The retail packaging is cardboard stock that has a picture of the device on the front with some light tech specs on the back. You get a quick start guide, user manual and warranty documentation, but it is all in Japanese.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
