Tag eReader

The current generation of e-book readers has torn down the walls separating it from typical Android tablets. In fact, except for the display and customized home screen, these devices are pretty much Android tablets using E Ink panels instead of LCDs or OLEDs. While this empowers e-readers to be able to do more things, there’s also the risk of going overboard with features that may burden the user, both literally as well as figuratively. Fortunately, there’s quite a wide range of options for those who want different things from an e-reader, ranging from the most basic to the most powerful, but that also makes it harder to choose the right one for your needs. The new Onyx BOOX Note Air3 C promises the middle ground between these two extremes, so we give it a good test to see if it really offers a new experience or is just a rehash of a recent product.

Designer: BOOX

Aesthetics

Although BOOX is probably better known for blurring the lines between e-readers and tablets, it can also be credited with changing the face of e-readers for the better. While these devices started out as simple yet uninspiring small slabs of plastic, the current generation can stand with their heads held up high, proudly displaying their more elegant designs. The BOOX Note Air3 C carries this tradition with a minimalist yet elegant appearance that attempts to resemble the appearance of a thin book. In addition to the wide bezels surrounding the display, the left side has a very wide margin similar to the spine of a book. Of course, you can flip the e-reader around if you prefer that margin to be on the right side, and the UI will rotate as well.

The overall design of the BOOX Note Air3 C is mostly flat, from the front to the back to the edges. It’s the trend in tablets these days, so it gives the device a more modern appearance compared to the curved backs of typical e-readers. It’s arguable whether this design is more ergonomic, as we’ll see later, but there will be little debate that it looks premium. It also feels premium, with a light yet solid aluminum chassis that is sure to stand the test of time and your bag. There are very few markings on the device, most of them on the “margin” side and its edge. There isn’t much visual noise that will distract you from what matters the most: reading on the screen.

That 10.3-inch screen size is admittedly still a novelty among e-readers, most of which are designed to easily slip inside small bags or hold comfortably in bed above your head. It is, however, also the perfect size for viewing most reading material, including comics, manga, and magazines. Some papers, particularly those in A4 size, will look a bit compressed, but the crisp and sharp Kaleido 3 E Ink panel still makes such content comfortable to read. Of course, it’s a color E Ink panel, which looks fantastic on the matte screen. Of course, colors are limited and muted compared to regular tablets, but we’re talking about eye-friendlier e-paper displays here anyway.

All in all, the BOOX Note Air3 C presents a minimalist design that really contains the basics for an e-reader. There isn’t even a camera, a.k.a. document scanner, unlike its BOOX Tab Ultra C look-alike. Save for the minimum branding accents, it has very few distractions in terms of appearance and even controls, allowing you to be fully immersed in what you’re reading instead.

Ergonomics

The Onyx BOOX Note Air3 C is by no means a small device, especially when compared to common e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. While that does mean it has more screen space for comfortable reading, it also means it’s larger and heavier than your typical e-book readers. That, in turn, has implications on how comfortable it is to use, especially for long periods of time.

With a weight of 430g and a size of 226 x 193 x 5.8 mm, it is almost comparable to a 5th-gen iPad Air (2022) but also considerably lighter. That still means it’s going to tire out your arms when you hold it up too long and it will hurt a lot when you accidentally drop it on your face while lying in bed. There’s still an ongoing debate on whether flat edges are more ergonomic because they don’t easily slip from your hand or if curved is the way to go because it’s kinder to your skin.

Where the BOOX Note Air3 C really shines is in the comfort it brings to your eyes thanks to E Ink technology. Unlike typical LCD or OLED screens, it doesn’t shine light directly toward your eyes and uses front lighting instead. It is gentler on the eyes and solves most of the blue light problems that screens have (if you don’t turn on the front light), so it’s definitely a significantly better option for those who love reading all the time. Like most of BOOX’s devices, you also get to select the level of brightness and the warmth of the light that you’re comfortable with, allowing you to fine-tune the reading experience to your personal tastes.

Performance

Similar to the latest generations of BOOX devices, the BOOX Note Air3 C is really an Android tablet at heart, both in hardware and in software. It’s powered by a 2.4GHz octa-core processor, most likely a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The screen is a 10.3-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 panel with a 300 ppi pixel density for black and white content and 150 ppi for colors, pretty much the gold standard for now. It has a Wacom digitizer layer for input with a stylus, which we’ll get to later. Rounding up the specs is a microSD card slot, built-in speakers and mic, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a fingerprint scanner on the power button.

If most of these sound familiar, you might have already seen or even bought the Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra C. They’re almost identical, save for the smaller 3,700 mAh battery and the lack of a camera that serves as a document scanner. The latter is honestly something that felt quite superfluous on the BOOX Tab Ultra, so it’s a bit encouraging that an unnecessary feature was removed to help cut down on costs. Cutting the battery capacity in half, however, is a bit too drastic, even if it results in a lighter build. Battery life is still a lot better than regular tables, running for days rather than just hours, but it won’t last more than 2 or 3 days of constant use, especially when running a lot of apps.

Those apps will mostly come from the Google Play Store, thanks to being a certified Android 12 device. That means you have access to the same library of apps available to tablet owners, whether or not they make sense to use on an E Ink screen. Performance won’t be the same of course, especially for apps with fast-changing content like games and videos, but you can run them at least. It also means that you won’t be lacking sources for content since you can install the likes of Amazon, Kobo, and more. And yes, you can do your Web browsing, social media, or even work on this device. The built-in speakers are serviceable but not that great, so you’ll want to pair it up with wireless earphones if you really want to enjoy audiobooks or podcasts.

Of course, the real star is the Kaleido 3 E Ink screen, which shows clear, crisp, and sharp text, especially in black and white. Colors are naturally not vibrant and look more like pastels, but that’s on par with current technology. The screen is quite responsive and fast, thanks to the BOOX Super Refresh technology, and it is really at the top of its class. The BOOX Note Air3 C offers the usual four speed modes where you get to trade quality for quick refreshes. Thankfully, the custom user interface lets you choose the mode on a per-app basis rather than just as a global switch.

The BOOX Note Air3 C ships with the Pen 2, the version of BOOX’s Wacom-compatible stylus that doesn’t come with a dedicated eraser on the opposite end. Thanks to using a standard technology, however, you can use different kinds of Wacom styluses if the free one isn’t your cup of tea. On built-in apps as well as a few chosen ones like OneNote, the stylus is smooth, fluid, and accurate. Unfortunately, any other app outside those will reveal the lag that is more a limitation of the slow E Ink screen rather than a flaw in Wacom technology. Hopefully, BOOX will open up its pen optimizations to all apps soon.

Another big difference from the BOOX Tab Ultra C is a lack of pogo pins for connecting a keyboard folio cover. In fact, BOOX doesn’t have such an accessory for this model, which means people who want to type will have to make do with a Bluetooth or USB-C keyboard instead. It’s not a huge deal-breaker per se, but it does change the narrative a bit. While the BOOX Tab Ultra C seems almost geared for productivity, including typing documents, the BOOX Note Air3 C goes back to the roots of enjoyable reading, just with a few productive apps on the side.

On the one hand, the feature set of the BOOX Note Air3 C doesn’t sound so sensational, especially compared to the discontinued BOOX Tab Ultra C and the new BOOX Tab Ultra C Pro. On the other hand, it actually checks all the right boxes and delivers on its promise without excessive features that few people actually use or even ask for. It performs admirably, with just a few kinks here and there, offering a solid E Ink tablet experience without unnecessary cruft that comes at a literal price.

Sustainability

Onyx hasn’t really scored well in this department and, unfortunately, it is keeping its track record. It’s definitely comforting to see it use more metal and less plastic in its devices, though that seems to only be true for its larger readers. It at least has been quite restrained in its packaging and doesn’t ship with a charger, so material and e-waste are reduced. It still uses plenty of plastic, though, so that knocks off a few marks from its grade.

The BOOX Note Air3 C is, fortunately, built to last thanks to its durable body and solid build quality. There’s no formal dust or water resistance, of course, but that’s also not surprising for this line of devices. When accidents do happen, repairs are going to be quite difficult considering there won’t be many shops offering services. You’ll have to gamble on sending the unit back to Onyx or the few authorized service providers they have around the world.

Value

At $499.99, the BOOX Note Air3 C is hardly inexpensive as an e-reader or even as an Android tablet. That price does include the BOOX Pen 2 and a folio cover, so you do save a bit in the long run. It’s still not something you’ll be buying on a whim and will definitely require some decision-making. How many of the things you read are magazines, comics, manga, or other kinds of content that are easier to read on a larger screen? How many of those would require color to really enjoy? And why would you choose it instead of Onyx’s other e-readers that come in a variety of sizes and prices?

It all boils down to having the right ratio of features and price, bringing the core features you need for an E Ink device, including a few hues of color, without bumping the cost up too much. The BOOX Tab Mini C might be good for reading anywhere, anytime, but it might be too small for some types of content. The new BOOX Tab Ultra C Pro, on the other hand, has all the bells and whistles, practically replacing the BOOX Tab Ultra C, but has a significantly higher asking price as well.

Verdict

Where there were once just three or so e-book readers in the market, we now have a wide variety of brands and models to choose from. While that’s great for the market and users, it can also make things a bit more complicated when choosing to buy one. Onyx itself has quite a selection, and its newest lineup expands the roster even further. With the discontinued BOOX Tab Ultra C, the new BOOX Tab Ultra C Pro, and the smaller BOOX Tab Mini C, you will definitely wonder what the new BOOX Note Air3 C can offer to make a difference. The answer: a solid E Ink experience with a reasonable price tag.

The BOOX Note Air3 C doesn’t simply heap on features just for the sake of having them there. It carefully distills the experience down to the basics but delivers it in a way that’s almost perfect. You get a well-performing Android tablet with a fast and sharp color E Ink screen wrapped in a subdued but elegant design. Yes, it could use a bit more battery, though that would have also made the device heavier as well, and yes, the price tag is a bit hard to swallow. But if you’re looking for a long-term investment in an e-reader that’s going to last you for years, then the BOOX Note Air3 C is definitely something you should consider adding to your cart.

Despite all the multimedia content available today, people seem to be reading even more, whether it’s directly through eBooks or indirectly through the Web and social media. We have plenty of devices that make this activity possible and easy almost anywhere, but while phones and tablets are indeed convenient, they are ironically the worst way to enjoy this type of content, especially as far as our eyes are concerned. eBook readers or eReaders have long been known to be the better choice for reading, and these devices are undergoing an innovation phase. New technologies, such as color E Ink panels, are popping up left and right, but it seems that all these changes are also pushing eReaders to bigger sizes. Onyx BOOX, however, is taking things in another and opposite direction to bring the world’s most portable eReader, and so we take the BOOX Palma for a ride to see where it could fit in your life.

Designer: BOOX

Aesthetics

It’s almost impossible not to mistake the Onyx BOOX Palma for a smartphone, even if you have the monochrome E Ink display turned on. If you’ve been keeping tabs on news in this market segment, you might already be aware of attempts to integrate such screens on the back of smartphones or even sell a phone with an E Ink display. As they say, however, looks can be deceiving, and the BOOX Palma isn’t really a smartphone, at least not in the technical sense of a “phone.” For all intents and purposes, however, it could almost be one, and it could even be better than your handset, especially in the design department.

The BOOX Palma embraces a completely minimalist aesthetic, in contrast to the classy yet busy designs of smartphones. You wouldn’t be able to make out any of its features unless you take a closer, more scrutinizing look. Even the camera sits almost flush against the back of the phone, so there is very little wobble or visual distraction. It’s an example of a design that gets out of your way to let you enjoy the content you want, which comes in the form of the books you’ll be reading on the screen.

Minimalist, however, doesn’t mean plain or boring. The BOOX Palma employs what the company touts as a water-repellent material on the back of the phone that also gives it a rougher, almost paper-like texture. It helps give you a better grip so that the device feels more secure and comfortable in your hand. Considering it’s meant to be held a lot in your hand, that’s a very important trait. The camera comes with a flash and sits on a small black strip that adds a contrasting accent without totally distracting your eyes.

The sides of the BOOX Palma are just as bare aside from the lone speaker grille and USB port at the bottom, buttons for power and volume on the right, and a special button on the left that triggers a screen refresh. One rather unusual design detail for the buttons is that the frame itself rises around these buttons, creating lumps that may or may not suit your taste. The front of the device is similarly devoid of extraneous details, and the screen is completely flush with the bezels. Those bezels are rather wide, as is common with eReaders, but the curved corners of the screen make them look a little more stylish. All-in-all, the BOOX Palma has an understated design that derives its elegance from its simplicity.

Ergonomics

Although smartphones are naturally designed to be easy to hold in your hand, the combination of hardware and materials gives them a lot of weight. If you compare eReaders to tablets of the same size, the former category easily wins the lightweight contest. Given that backdrop, it’s no surprise that the BOOX Palma is significantly lighter than a smartphone, especially at 160g. What this means is that it won’t strain your hand when you’re reading for hours on end. That’s a win even against almost every eReader in the market today.

The phone-sized eReader is also easy and comfortable to grip thanks to the textured water-repellent material on its back. All the physical controls are on the sides within easy reach, and there are no special cases like an under-screen fingerprint scanner that will require you to shift your hand at any given point in time. That brings not only stability but also confidence, freeing you from worries while you get engrossed in your reading.

Performance

Truth be told, it’s difficult to categorize the Onyx BOOX Palma. The brand’s devices are already blurring the boundaries between tablets and eReaders, and this muddles the waters even more. This time, confusion arises between a smartphone and an eReader, especially considering how the BOOX Palma is almost a smartphone internally. That’s thanks to an octa-core Qualcomm CPU, 6GB of RAM that is generous for an eReader, 128GB of expandable storage, and, best of all, Android with Google Play Store pre-installed.

Yes, it’s pretty much an Android phone, except for the lack of one critical feature. It doesn’t have a SIM card slot, not even hardware to support cellular networks. Yes, it does have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but that’s as far as connectivity goes. In other words, this is pretty much a Wi-Fi phone, which some manufacturers have tried to offer before without much success. Given how a lot of communication today happens over the Internet, that might not be a total deal-breaker, at least as long as you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. Then again, almost all eReaders have this limitation, so the BOOX Palma isn’t exactly an outlier, except for the fact that it looks and behaves almost like a phone, which unfortunately sets the wrong expectations.

Whatever you might think the BOOX Palma is, what isn’t arguable is that it has a top-of-the-line display as far as E Ink panels are concerned. The 6.13-inch screen has a resolution of 824×1648, giving it a high 300 ppi density, making every text look crisp and sharp. Yes, it’s not the color E Ink variant, but those have yet to become available in smaller and denser sizes. This screen shares many of the traits of the most recent BOOX devices, particularly bearing a dedicated graphics processor to really kick up performance to the next level. The result is one of the fastest E Ink screens you’ll see in the market, which makes reading even more pleasurable.

The display is also front-lit and, like its siblings, it has two kinds of light that you can tweak to your comfort. What the Onyx BOOX Palma does differently is that it has an ambient light sensor, which means it can automatically adjust the brightness or even turn off one or both front lights, depending on the environment. You can still manually control the settings, but you don’t have to worry about them every time.

All these make the BOOX Palma an ideal reading device no matter where you are, especially for times and places where holding up a larger device isn’t convenient or even possible. That said, that same size is also the device’s biggest Achilles’ heel because it caters to only a specific kind of content, text that can be reflowed to fit the screen without shrinking the fonts. That applies to Kindle books, ePubs, and most web pages, but documents with fixed font sizes like PDFs, or content with lots of images like comics are a poor fit for a screen of this size. Granted, most people with eReaders probably read eBooks from Kindle or Kobo or ePubs so that might not be relevant. But as the use cases from these devices grow, so do the types of content people read from them.

As an Android device, you’re not limited to just reading books either. You can install almost any app from the Google Play Store and use them normally, though your experience will vary greatly. Even at its fastest setting, watching videos or playing games is still going to be painful, especially with the ghosting and lower quality. Reading from social media apps is definitely doable, except when it comes to photos that are best viewed in full color. You can technically do anything that you would also do on a phone, at least within some expectations, but you’ll have to remember that the device isn’t really a phone, which might be a bit difficult to do considering it looks exactly like one.

Rounding up the hardware is a 3,950mAh battery that can last for 2 or 3 days with constant use. It’s not the week-long life of most eReaders, mostly because of everything that can happen in the background, just like a regular phone. The BOOX Palma also has a 16MP camera with an LED flash that can take color photos, even if you can’t view them with color. It’s intended more as a document scanner, though it remains to be seen how useful it really is.

Sustainability

As with many of Onyx’s products, there’s not much to be said about the BOOX Palma when it comes to sustainability. Making matters a bit worse is the thorough use of plastic instead of aluminum seen in some of its larger eReaders. The decision was most likely based on making the device light to hold, not on its long-term impact on the environment. We’re still waiting for the day when Onyx makes sustainability one of the selling points of its products, embracing recycled and eco-friendly materials, both for packaging as well as for the devices themselves.

The BOOX Palma does score points in other aspects, though. Because it uses considerably less power than mobile devices, charging it becomes less frequent, reducing its carbon footprint in the long run. Its water-repellent back and overall durability means you won’t be losing the device any time soon. It has the same longevity and long-lasting use as all eReaders, just that you’re getting it in a smaller package.

Value

Simply based on its features, the Onyx BOOX Palma is definitely an impressive device. It has a sharp and crisp E Ink display made better by a dedicated graphics chip that really pushes the envelope of performance. Its small size makes it trivial to slip the device inside your bag or even your other pocket, allowing you to pick up where you left off on your favorite novel or self-help book. The fact that it runs Android with Google Play Store already installed is the icing on the cake, making it just as versatile as a regular Android phone, except it has an eye-friendly, power-efficient monochrome screen.

That, unfortunately, is also where the BOOX Palma becomes a little bit less convincing. It looks like a phone, but the lack of cellular network support doesn’t make it one. It behaves like an eReader, but its size also limits what you can comfortably read from it. It’s like sitting in a no man’s land, which is often the case for pioneering designs and products. It’s not like it doesn’t have any use, but you’ll have to really think hard about what you’ll use it for and whether you’ll be reading that much on the go in order to justify that $280 price tag.

Verdict

eBook Readers have come a long way since the days of the first Kindle. There are large, 13-inch slabs that can almost function as laptops, as well as color E Ink screens that add a bit of vibrancy to your reading. Perhaps the biggest and boldest change, however, is offering that experience on a significantly smaller scale, something that can almost be your smartphone. Almost.

The Onyx BOOX Palma is undoubtedly an intriguing device, offering nearly the same capabilities as the company’s other eReaders but in a size you can slip into your pocket. It almost sounds like heaven for those who constantly rub their eyes from strain after reading for hours on their phones. That phone size, hover, can be a bit confusing and misleading because it is definitely not a phone. But for those who want a distraction-free, strain-free, and simple reading experience anywhere and everywhere, the Onyx BOOX Palma definitely meets expectations, as long as you set those expectations right.