Lenovo made a huge announcement at CES 2023, the company was going to release an e-note. This was going to be called the Smart Paper, and although the company did not take pre-orders for it, it did have a landing page that listed all of the key features, a number of pictures and even some video. It was supposed to go on sale sometime this Spring, there were even reports that some users got their copies early. The product page for the Smart Paper has been taken down, and all links to the page now reach a 404. I seriously doubt if Lenovo will ever release this e-note.
The Lenovo Smart Paper was basically built on the Yoga Paper that was released in China last year. This was actually a fairly solid unit, and available in English. The YOGA Paper e-note has a 10.3-inch E INK Carta HD e-paper screen with a resolution of 2000 x 1200 pixels and 227 PPI. This is the first purely E INK device that Lenovo has ever made and it is very compelling. The screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. Users can take advantage of the front light to comfortably read in dark or dimly lit environments, although you can also turn off the light and see the screen using only ambient light. And the tablet works with a cover that automatically puts the device to sleep when the screen is covered.
Underneath the hood are a Rockchip RK3566 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It has Bluetooth 5.2, USB-C and a 3,500 battery, which is rated 10 weeks before a recharge. It supports optical character recognition (OCR) for note-taking, although its stylus could also be used for drawing. You can connect the Yoga Paper to an external display since it has wireless support for this sort of thing.
The drawing experience was excellent. From what I have seen about the Smart Paper, it was basically just a non-Chinese version, and only supported English. Since the Lenovo Smart Paper is up in the air, I suggest buying the Yoga Paper, we also sell it on our website. You can also read our comprehensive hands-on review of the Yoga Paper.
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.