The Hanvon N10 Max – The largest e-note in English: A Review

The Hanvon N10 Max is for those who are looking for a more spacious e-ink tablet. It comes with a 13.3-inch E Ink display which puts the device in the same segment as compact notebook devices. Coupled with a keypad cover and a stylus pen, the N10 Max can give vent to your inner creativity like none other. Read on to have a complete low down on the device.

Design and build

The Hanvon N10 Max is big and bold. It boasts a solid build quality but is still quite lightweight. Bezels are quite on the slimmer side though the chin and the forehead are slightly thicker compared to what you have on the sides. Nonetheless, none of that hampers the looks of the device given that it has a nice appeal to it. Flip over to the rear and you will find a silver metallic inlay that makes for a great contrast against the overall black finish on the rear. The portion inside the metallic rim has a brushed metallic finish which again looks and feels nice. All of it is quality stuff and is confidence inspiring.

At the bottom lies the power button right in the middle and is done up in bright red, which makes it hard to miss. Other bits also present at the bottom include a pair of speakers, the micro SD card slot, the USB Type-C port, along with a bunch of other ports. The e-note otherwise supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi connectivity options. Also, with a width of just 6.6mm, the N10 Max is easily among the slimmest e-note out there. Also, at only 480 grams, the N10 Max is extremely light and handy to hold and operate even for long. The single mic is placed within the lower bezel, slightly along the right.

Specifications

The N10 Max comes with some impressive under-the-hood specs. That includes a 1.8 GHz quad-core RK3566 processor that is coupled to 8 gigs of LPDDR4X memory along with 128 GB of storage. You can always add more storage when needed by way of microSD cards. A rather expansive 4000 mAh battery keeps everything going. The e-note runs Android 11 right out of the box.

Coming to the display, as already stated, it’s a 13.3-inch E Ink panel that you have at the top. With the least of blue light emission, the display is extremely safe for your eyes even when you use the device for long hours. Hanvon said the display features a 16-level grayscale algorithm that can simulate 256 levels of grayscale, which makes the display more natural.

Writing feel

Hanvon said the N10 Max is designed to offer a very natural and realistic writing experience. This has been achieved thanks to the incorporation of a flexible screen micro-suspension design that lends a soft and elastic character to the display. Writing on it offers a bit of resistance that is somewhat similar to what you have while writing on real paper. Hanvon also said the soft and elastic nature of the display will make it have the same feel as when writing on a thick stack of paper. This makes things quite different from the other e-notes with the glass writing surface that can be slippery at times.

Aiding in the writing experience by no small measure is the company’s proprietary wireless passive electromagnetic pen that does not need to be charged separately. With support for 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, it does a nice job but can be laggy at times. Also, there is no Wacom here, which means you can’t just interchange the nib with any other that you may have. The pen also can’t be used on any other device other than the N10 series such as the N10 Mini, the N10, and of course the N10 Max. The pen otherwise looks nice with the dark purple shade that it comes in.

Software features

The N10 Max practically has you covered with almost everything that you’d perhaps need. Take for instance the voice transcription feature which supports handwriting, transcription, and recording all in real-time. Also, with support for the most common e-book formats which include PDF, ePUB, TXT, PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, to name a few. Also, with a display this big, you have ample screen real estate at your disposal even in split-screen mode. For instance, you can easily do reading and note-taking simultaneously. That is not all as Hanvon is also offering unlimited access to its own OCR tech which it claims can quickly and accurately convert PDF files, images, or handwritten notes into editable texts which again can be shared easily.

One of the notable features of the device is its integrated Reference News feature, which provides users with a personalized compilation of newspaper articles that are refreshed daily at 8 a.m. This feature ensures that users have access to the latest news and updates.

Additionally, the device includes a versatile reading module that supports multiple languages including English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Users can enjoy a customizable reading experience with options to select their preferred voice, whether male or female, as well as adjust volume and speech rate according to their preferences. Unfortunately, the absence of glow lights can limit its functionality like when reading in the dark.

These unique features enhance the overall user experience and offer a range of customization options, making the device a truly personalized companion for staying informed and enjoying reading in various languages. Mention must also be made of the four speed mode settings it offers. You can easily switch between them to have the refresh rate that suits the purpose best while having the least ghosting effect. Yet another positive with the device is its ability to side-load apps of your choice.

All said and done, the UI can be considered a bit disappointing as it seems to have been made unnecessarily complicated. This makes things confusing at times what with the plethora of sections and sub-sections provided. That said, this might be welcome to those who love to tinker with their devices and explore around. Fortunately, you can still get started with the e-note right away and get along doing your job without requiring you to make extensive changes to the device settings.

Conclusion

It’s hard to find any value in any 13.3-inch e-note device in a world where Onyx exists. That said, there needs to be a wide array of players in the game when it comes to any sector or subsection of consumer electronics. The N10 Max is the first 13.3 released in nearly half a year. It is user-friendly when it comes to the UI, but is also slightly technical when it comes to the settings as it has a lot of them. The unit itself has basically everything, microphones, audio, SD card, etc. It also has four speed modes and is overall built very well and looks great. The presence of a plastic screen is also a huge positive for the device. Outside of the Quaderno, there aren’t any devices featuring a plastic screen anymore. Among its other positives include the ability to side-load apps as well as the four speed modes it has. Unfortunately, there is no glow light, and no Wacom either. All of this makes the Hanvon N10 Max more of a mediocre e-note device that is more on the plus side than otherwise.