iReader has released a brand new Smart X3 Digital Paper and e-notebook. What are the big selling points behind this new device? It is the first product in the world to use the Carta 1300 panel. Carta 1300 panel boasts a 27 percent improvement in response speed and a 20 percent compared to Carta 1200, so this device will have truer blacks, better grayscale, and more vibrant pictures. Carta 1300 has a wide viewing angle and low power consumption. The entire device is in English, so it is functional. It is available on the Good e-Reader Store for $599.
The iReader X3 features a 10.65-inch E INK Carta 1300 e-paper display with 2560 x 1920 pixels and 300 PPI pixel density. The screen aspect ratio is 4:3. This device’s colour scheme is onyx black, and the screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. It has a ledger feel, where the page turn buttons are. The back plate is gunmetal grey.
It has a front-lit display and colour temperature system, with around 40 white and amber LED lights. The official announcement highlights the upgraded reading light, meticulously tuned over three months with dozens of adjustments. The light temperature is set at 3900K, making the front light emitted during reading closer to natural daylight, providing a more warm and comfortable experience when reading with the light on.
What I like about the X3 is that it is designed to be an e-note and an e-reader. It has two page-turn buttons on the front, so you can use these to turn the pages of books or PDF files. The buttons are also keymapped in the settings menu to do different things depending on long presses. If it also runs Android 11, you can sideload your apps but do not have access to the Google Play Store, so you would want to install the Samsung Galaxy Store or Amazon App Store. There are also 256 levels of the greyscale.
Underneath the hood is a a quad-core processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage space. You can connect to the internet via WIFI and listen to audiobooks, music and podcasts via Bluetooth 5.0. It has a gravity sensor, so it will automatically rotate from landscape to portrait mode. You can charge the device and also transfer data with the USB-C port. The device has a thickness of 5.6mm, weighs 365g, and supports the X-Pen3 electromagnetic pen.
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.