Boyue has released a number of new e-readers this year. The P series includes the P6, P7 and P10, they were primarily used just for reading digital content and did not have any note taking functionality at all. This was a far cry from a couple of years ago, when they were all about e-notes, with the advent of the Ares, Muses, Mimas and Alita. I believe Boyue released that with their 2021 model, they did not have a product that was designed for people who wanted to take notes, freehand draw or edit PDF files. This is why they released the Likebook P10W, which has a WACOM screen.
Hardware
The Likebook P10W features a 10 inch capacitive touchscreen display with E INK Carta HD e-paper technology. It has a resolution of 1200×1600 and 200 PPI. It has 28 LED lights, they offer a combination of white and amber, this is used for the front-lit display and color temperature system. The screen is completely flush with the bezel and has a layer of glass. The great thing about this device is the inclusion of a WACOM screen, which supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and has palm rejection technology.
Underneath the hood is a quad core 1.5 GHZ CPU processor, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage, there is no SD card to enhance the storage further. It has WIFI 2.4GHZ, 5.0GHZ, which is used for browsing the internet or downloading apps. Bluetooth 5.0 will ensure that you can plugin a pair of wireless headphones or earbuds and listen to audiobooks, music, podcasts or TTS e-reading apps. There is a single mono speaker the bottom, next to the USB-C port. It is powered by a 3,900 mAh battery, which should last a couple of weeks, before a recharge. It has USB-C to recharge the device by plugging it into your computer or a wall outlet. The dimensions are 178x239x8.5 and weighs 458g.
The P10W a pure hardware level, provides a ton of value. There are no other 10 inch e-readers on the market, except for the Pocketbook InkPad X, which is more expensive, running Linux and doesn’t support apps. I believe the P10 is the best bang for your book right now, Boyue is back.
Software
The Likebook P10W is running Google Android 8.1 out of the box. This gives you full access to Google Play, without the need to install anything extra. You can basically get going right away by attaching your Google Account in the settings menu and login to Google. You can access all of the paid apps that you have made on your smartphone or tablet, as well as a wide selection of content. Google Play on an e-reader is critical, and if this is important to you, buy the P10W.
The UI comprises of bright and bubbly boxes, which are shortcuts to various aspects of your device. By default there are 8 boxes. There is a setting to to expand the boxes, to fit even more on the screen or less. There is an option in the settings menu to adjust the homescreen. So you can remove the ones you don’t normally use and keep the ones you do. For example, I don’t often visit the gallery or downloads, so I removed them from the home screen and instead have shortcuts to launch the Kindle app and Comixology. The home screen is tremendously flexible, so you can keep the things you access regularity and remove the ones you don’t.
The stock options on the home screen out of the box is library, internet browser (webkit), gallery, music player, settings, file manager , downloads, dictionary and apps. On the top left, there is the home screen button, back button, refresh and front-lit display option to control the luminosity. These are software based features, because Boyue eliminated hardware buttons awhile ago. On the top right of the screen is an option to view all of the open apps and background processes, which you can close. There is also WIFI connectivity symbol, battery life remaining and a clock.
One of the things I like about the UI/software is the new file manager. If you sideload things onto the root directly, it will break everything down. It will show you how many EPUB ebooks you have, and group them, showing a numerical value. Ditto with txt files, PDFS, Mobis, DOCX, ZIP, APKS and Pictures. I have never seen a file system like this on an e-reader before.
There are a few global options that will allow you to craft the Boyue P10W to your liking. If you drag your finger from the top/center downwards you will get a few options. You can adjust the global contrast, to make everything darker or lighter, in terms of the text and menus. There is also an A2 mode, which will degrade image quality, while increasing system performance. This is great if you are running apps, with complicated animations, such as page turns. You will want to turn A2 mode on when using apps, accessing Google Play, or for using the desktop versions of websites, via Chrome or Firefox.
Note taking
Boyue has crafted a new digital note taking app and it is has more functionality than their previous generation. There are a wider array of pens/pencils and highlighter options and advanced features. This app was designed to appeal towards novice and advanced users. It was designed to give people the ability to freehand draw and make notes. Most of the note taking experience also carries over to viewing/editing PDF files and ebooks.
You can select a pen/pencil and there is a slider bar to control the line thickness. There are also different colors for each pen/pencil, black, red, blue, green and white. Since the screen does not have color, you won’t see the colors on the screen, it is only when you save the notes and export them as a PNG/PDF file, and copy them to your PC/MAC will you see the colors.
At the top of the UI, there are a number of options. You can create a new page, do a full page refresh (to remove ghosting), add clipart or pictures you have on your file manager. It also has text recognition software, driven by AI. You can jot down some text, and will automatically convert it to pure text. This is useful if you are jotting down notes in a class or something similar.
Reading
The Likebook P10W makes for a phenomenal e-reader. The 10 inch display really makes reading a pure joy, since more text can fit on the screen at once, then smaller e-readers like the Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Nia. This means you will be turning pages less, which breaks immersion when reading digitally. It supports all of the major formats out of the box, including XT, CHM, FB2, MOBI, HTML, RTF, HTXT, EPUB, PDB, DOC, PRC, PDF, DJVU, ASW, PRC, CBR and CBZ.
The default reading app is good enough to get you started. There is good functionality to increase the font size, font type, line spaces or margins. There are good settings and drawing options to edit ebooks, comics or PDF files.
The real power of the P10 is nothing to do with the stock app, since many people don’t have an extensive ebook or comic selection that they would sideload on their e-reader, I mean people do not, but it is an ultra-small population. The vast majority want a large screen Android e-reader because of the apps. Did you have an old Nook e-reader and buy a few books and gratitate away and invest in Amazon? You can install both apps and read all of your books. Install Overdrive Libby to read free library books, download tons of manga, comic, newspaper or magazine apps.
Reading comics, manga or magazines is a great experience. During our review, I did not have to pinch and zoom, because the text was too small. I could read everything on a specific page, and quickly turn to the next one. Pinching and zooming is one of the major drawbacks to E INK because it is not as seamless as your smartphone or tablet, due to the limitations of refreshing.
Wrap up
I really think the P10W has a ton of value for someone who wants a 10 inch digital note taking device and doesn’t want to break the bank doing it. The P10W employees all the capabilities of the P10, with a Wacom layer which means you can now use any pen on the market. A drawback to this is the fact that they’ve cannibalized their own active capacitive stylus in that, it no longer works. However you can now use the Stadler, Lamy, Mitsubishi, Onyx, Fujitsu, and so many more pens. It’s rocking Android 8.1 and comes with a free case at time of purchase.
Boyue P10W
$319.99Pros
- WACOM screen
- Speaker
- Good Drawing Experience
- Android 8.1 and Google Play
- Great PDF experience
Cons
- Simplistic UI
- No SD
- Advanced features hard to find
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.
