Throughout the past few weeks, iReader has released a bevy of new e-readers, such as the Neo and Neo Pro; these are dedicated book readers, something that needed to be added to their entire lineup. The Smart 4 is their first large-screen e-note of 2023 and is looking to be a serious contender for one of the year’s best new products. This product was designed to freehand draw and edit PDF files and read books; it has excellent features and a free stylus that magnetically attaches to the side. Manual page-turn buttons on the left side make it easy to quickly turn pages of books or manga.
The Smart4 e-note comes with a 10.3-inch E-Ink display with a resolution of 1404×1872 with 227 PPI resolution. The tablet is designed with a new process that reduces the thickness of the front panel by 30%, making the screen display more transparent. At the same time, the paper-sensitive soft light screen can reduce 97% of interfering light and simulate the damping feeling when writing on paper, bringing a more realistic writing feel.
This device has a front-lit display with 28 levels of warm and cold lights; you can read at night or in low-light conditions. The bezel edges are black, but there is a strip of blue where the page-turn buttons are.
Under the hood lies a 2.0 GHz dual-core MT8113T processor with 1GB of memory and 64GB of onboard storage. There is a USB-C port, WIFI, and Bluetooth 5.0. You can connect Bluetooth headphones and listen to audiobooks, music or podcasts. There is, of course, WIFI, which provides access to the internet browser and also the bookstore. It is powered by a 4000mAh large battery with up to 60 days battery life on standby.
One of the big selling points is the real-time translation features as well. Also, the integrated dual silicon microphone lets you record proceedings during meetings or a classroom lecture. You will also have the option to mark critical points of the recordings for easy comprehension later. Screen mirroring feature allows for real-time sharing of screens for enhanced workspace efficiency.
The main reason why you would want to buy this is to take notes. It all starts with the stylus. It comes bundled with one of the best on the market, the X-Pen3 stylus, which supports 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and a sampling rate of 360 times per second. The stylus utilizes a spine body design making it comfortable to hold. The stylus also has a physical page-turning key that flips the pages with a single click. There are over 150 different templates.
This is a very affordable e-note, it retails for $399.99 from the Good e-Reader Store. One of the biggest reasons to buy this, is due to the English support. Almost all modern i-Reader ebook readers and e-notes support English, which is a massive step forward for the Chinese company. They are getting serious about competing with other domestic brands such as Meebook, Bigme, and Onyx Boox.
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.