Apple iPad and Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C are both tablets. But Onyx Boox is an e-reader that uses electronic ink, whereas iPad is an LCD LED tablet. Here, we have compared both devices on the basis of specifications and functionality.
Display
iPad: iPad features an LCD or OLED display, providing vibrant colors and high resolution for multimedia consumption. The screen of the iPad is completely reflective and best for watching HD videos.
Onyx Boox: It is equipped with an e-ink display, which mimics the look of real paper. You can read it even in direct sunlight as it has no glare. This e-reader is an over-clocked and advanced Kindle, and you don’t need a glow light to use it. It causes no strain on your eyes when used in dim light or bright light.
Refreshing Rate
iPad: This tablet is always ready to go, and its screen flickers anywhere between 20 to 240 times a second. You cannot notice it as it moves around with micrometers fractions of millimeters. Therefore, everything changes on the iPad in tandem. But this does not happen with the Onyx Boox e-reader.
Onyx Boox: This e-paper device needs to refresh its entire screen’s real estate. It must drop all the particles to the ground and back them up. Its little microcapsules filled with ink particles work swiftly, making it quite remarkable. But the refresh action is necessary for the device to work properly. Some versions of the Onyx Boox Ultra offer a fast mode, enabling a slightly quicker refresh rate.
Battery Drain Time
iPad: After regular use for a few hours, the iPad will start displaying you’re running out of battery, it’s one percent left. Things like iPad and cell phones will use batteries regardless of the state. Now you may think of turning down all glow lights to save the battery of the iPad, but still, it will not last as long as the battery of Onyx Boox Ultra with regular use.
The iPad uses energy, and its battery keeps draining even if the Wi-Fi is off or the glow lights are dim. Now, many can say that they charge their tablet once a day or once in two days, but this is also incomparable to the Onyx e-reader as it needs charging once a week or month, depending upon usage.
Onyx Boox: One of the significant advantages of the Onyx Boox Ultra is its exceptional battery life. Due to the e-ink display’s low power consumption, Onyx Tab can last for weeks or even months on a single charge, depending on usage. You will never drain an Onyx device. The battery of an e-ink reader can last days, weeks, months, or years.
Also, after Wi-Fi is off, Onyx Boox Ultra will last until the dinosaurs come back. This e-reader doesn’t use energy for all elements on the screen when not doing anything. So, it will stain and can last a year with the same look.
Web Browser Experience
iPad: When you open Safari on iPad, you will see fluid videos on Instagram feeds, YouTube, and more. It can run upwards of 120 hertz and can do 60fps.
Onyx Boox: Watching the same videos on an e-reader is not as good as on an iPad. It is because the e-reader is a very fast device, and Onyx will never be as fluid as an iPad. It can only run upwards of 20 to 30 frames per second. So, unfortunately, the Onyx Boox e-reader will never look like an iPad in terms of fluidity or for watching videos.
Colors
iPad: Colors and images look really good on iPad as compared to the e-reader. It is because the iPad has various options of colors to choose from. Also, it has a pencil that you can move around. In simple words, an iPad is a ready-to-use device. But, the downside is that the iPad uses an Apple pencil, and it doesn’t come with the unit, which means you have to spend an extra hundred dollars to buy the Apple pencil.
Onyx Boox: It is a black-and-white e-reader with a color array filter on top. So this unit has color, and you can choose from Pinks, Blues, Browns, and Yellows. Moreover, you can select your pens to do some shapes on the side. Also, Onyx Boox Ultra allows you to use the pen that either comes with the unit or is very cheap to buy from any shop.
Onyx has a layer on top that gives you a little bit of a realistic feel when using a pen compared to the iPad or anything in the industry. It feels like you’re writing on actual eight-and-a-half by-eleven printer paper.
Final Words
We hope this comparison gives you an idea to make a choice between iPad-style tablets and e-reader-style tablets. Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C is a tablet for all intents and purposes. But the difference is that the actual screen panel inside it is an e-paper the company bought from e-ink.
Onyx is catching up with everyone else, and many manufacturers are in the scope, like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Fujitsu, Sony, Lenovo, Huawei, and more. And, a dozen e-paper all come from literally one company on planet Earth e-ink. Whereas Apple buys the screen panel from LCD/LED panel-making companies.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.