Several tablets advertise paper-like displays that are easier on the eyes than traditional tablets like iPads or Galaxy Tab S10 Series. The TCL Nxtpaper 11 and the new Magic Note Pad are the most popular tablets. Is it better to buy something with a high refresh rate and cutting-edge specs or an E Ink tablet instead?
The Magic Note Pad had a 10.95-inch LCD with a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, a 90 Hz refresh rate, and up to 400 nits of brightness. It boasts a 95 percent sRGB gamut and supports 16.7 million colors in full-color mode. The display is nano-etched, which dramatically reduces reflection and glare. It is not an e-paper display that the tablet comes with, as one might be tempted to believe it is when viewing things in Ink Paper mode. However, the company isn’t revealing all the details related to the display, so we don’t know how it can offer a look and feel precisely like e-paper displays. It isn’t a transflective LCD screen, but as Liliputing speculated, it seems similar to the TCL NXTPAPER display technology.
TCL Nxtpaper 11 features an 11-inch IPS LCD with a 2,000 x 1,200 pixels resolution with 213 PPI and a 15:9 aspect ratio. It has a paper-like laminated display that gives the impression of E Ink but with the benefits of a color display. TCL employs a nano-chemical material coating that sits on top of the display and gives it a matte appearance. Not only does that help to stop reflections from all angles, but it also helps to reduce harmful blue light, making the display easier on your eyes. At the same time, a light sensor is built in that adjusts the color temperature automatically depending on the external lighting conditions.
The material coating makes it feel like you are not writing on a glass screen with the stylus. The screen has grip and texture, making drawing, taking notes, editing PDF files, or creating to-do lists easier. Our review unit came with a stylus, but I am unsure if this will come inside the box of the commercial release or as an optional purchase.
This tablet seems to be a good e-reader. It can read comics, magazines, and replica newspapers in full color. If you want to read an ebook, there is a “Reading Mode” option, which inverts the colors of the text so that the background is black and the text is white.
E INK Tablets
E-INK tablets seem to be the best solution for people who need an e-paper screen that is easy on the eyes and does not have a backlight. E INK screens are available on popular e-readers like Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble NOOK, or Kobo. These are primarily consumer-grade e-readers, made just to read digital books, manga, and comics. Some have traditional black and white displays, while others use the color E INK. Kobo Sage, Kobo Elipsa, and Kindle Scribe take things up a notch, adding note-taking functionality.
Multipurpose E-ink tablets are productivity powerhouses, and few brands have made it a business to cater to this market. The most popular is Onyx Boox, which offers an entire product line of Android tablets with a current Android version and full access to the Google Play Store. Some have black and white displays, but most of their devices use color E INK, which gives you a tablet experience but with a true e-paper. Here are the best ones
The Onyx Boox Note Max features a 13.3-inch E INK Carta 1300 e-paper display with a black-and-white 3200×2400 and 300 PPI resolution. It is the first tablet with this screen size and resolution. However, this device does not have a front light, so you must use it in a well-lit environment.
Underneath the hood is a Qualcomm 2.8 GHz octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage. There is no SD card slot to expand the storage further. It has two stereo speakers and a microphone, which allows users to listen to audiobooks, podcasts, and music. It also has Bluetooth 5.0 for pairing wireless headphones or earbuds. A microphone allows for audio dictation for notes and voice communication apps such as Discord or WhatsApp. WiFi (2.4GHz + 5GHz) internet will provide fast internet browsing. It has USB-C for charging and transferring data. The battery is a respectable 3700 mAh. The dimensions are 287.5x243x4.6mm and weighs 615g.
The Note Max has Google Android 13 and full access to the Google Play Store, where users can download millions of free and paid apps. Onyx has optimized the Amazon Kindle app to avoid page-turn animations, making it an excellent experience for an e-paper screen. Evernote and Onenote have received similar treatment. This device also supports many languages, including English. Many competitors, such as Mooink and Dasung, only support Chinese and English.
Onyx Boox recently introduced the new Note Air4 C with an I10.3-inch E Ink Carta 1200 display with a Kaleido 3 panel. The resolution is a lovely 2480 x 1860 with 300 PPI when viewing B/W content but gets halved to 1240 x 930 or 150 PPI for color content. When viewing PDF files, journals, comics, or web content, all of this can be viewed with 4,096 colors. The screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. Reading at night is possible, thanks to the warm and cool lights.
Further, with the onboard Boox Super Refresh or BSR tech, you have ultra-clear displays and fast page refresh times. There are zero remnants of previous displays to mar the viewing experience. The accompanying stylus, which Onyx refers to as the Pen Plus, offers a natural paper-like writing feel. The Pen Plus is ideal for expressing creativity in notes, annotations, or drawings. The capacitive pen sensitively supports 4,096 levels of pressure.
Underneath the hood is an Octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. It has an SD card slot capable of 1TB of extra storage if you need further storage. There are dual microphones for audio dictation or voice communication apps. Dual speakers are suitable for audiobooks, podcasts, music, or audio playback, but they have Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless earbuds or headphones. WIFI is available to install apps and access the internet. A USB-C port can be used as an audio jack and has OTG, also used for charging. A 3,700mAh Li-ion Polymer battery powers it. The dimensions are 226 x 193 x 5.8 mm (8.9″ x 7.6″ x 0.23″) and weighs approx. 420 g (14.8 oz)
The Boox Note Air 4C runs Google Android 13, which makes it one of the few e-notes or e-readers on the market with such a recent version of Android. This includes not only performance increases but also major security updates. Onyx is one of the few companies that include Google Play and Play Services on all its devices. Bigme is another brand that does this.
The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 features an E INK Carta 1200 e-paper display panel with a resolution of 2480×1880 and 300 PPI. The resolution is one of the best on the market; the only other 10-inch with 300 PPI is the Amazon Kindle Scribe. Don’t get me wrong, the Scribe is pretty good; it runs Linux and is relatively stable. The advantage of Boox is that it runs Android 12, offering more flexibility. Boox doesn’t lock you in a walled garden.
The screen only displayed black-and-white e-paper content and did not use a color display. This device should be used indoors or outdoors in the shade. This is due to the glass layer protecting the screen, and this tech tends to reflect direct light. One of the drawbacks of this product is the lack of a front-lit display and color temperature system; there are no LED lights at all. Some users might think this is bad, but modern front lights use a gel layer underneath the capacitive screen; fewer layers mean more room for the text to pop. The color scheme is off-grey around the bezel and surrounding the e-paper screen. It has a pseudo ledger design, with a white strip running from the left-hand side to the top.
Underneath the hood is a 2.4ghz Octa-core processor, making Android perform well since you will always have a series of background processes active. There is 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, but no SD card exists. You can listen to music or audiobooks via the stereo speakers. If you don’t want to broadcast to everyone what you are listening to, it does have Bluetooth 5.0 support for wireless headphones or earbuds. Surf the internet or download apps via WIFi 2/5 and transfer data to your unit via USB-C. It is powered by a respectable 3700 mAh battery, suitable for a week or two of constant use. The dimensions are 235x183x4.5mm and weighs 375g.
Wrap Up
Boox makes proper paper tablets because you can do more with them than with the competition. Meebook makes some excellent tablets, but it is hard to buy them since the new ones are only on Aliexpress and one or two on Amazon. Remarkable bills itself as a paper tablet, but it’s a distraction-free writing slate with no apps. It does have a color screen and some cloud storage.
I have used many paper-like tablets and made a few devices. I have even used paper-like screen protectors, both matte and ones that help with writing. However, I can’t get past the backlit screens that shine light into my eyes. For productivity or a simple book e-reader, I prefer an E Ink tablet. I like that no light shines in my eyes, and it’s as close as you can get to reading a paperback novel in digital form.
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.