E ink tablet for note writing

[mjheathcote]

After far too much research I've bought a Boox Air Note 2.
Seems strange buying a black and white device, and not cheap too, I guess I'll either love it, or hate it!

 

[CatmanV2]

After far too much research I've bought a Boox Air Note 2.
Seems strange buying a black and white device, and not cheap too, I guess I'll either love it, or hate it!

Would like to hear how you get on with it

Seems it's more aimed at the reader market than the pad market?

C

 

[mjheathcote]

Would like to hear how you get on with it

Seems it's more aimed at the reader market than the pad market?

C

The note making is just as advanced, if not more so, but it's basically a full B&W android tablet with play store, whereas the remarkable is fully locked down, and the Supernote is partially locked down.
I can therefore download select apps, such as outlook etc for work emails and calendar.
The Boox is also the only one out of the three to have a back light, if required.
I was so tempted to just buy say a Microsoft Go 3 at a similar price with one note, but I want a 'device' that can be instantly on, and on for hours at a time without the battery drain.
We will see!

 

[CatmanV2]

The note making is just as advanced, if not more so, but it's basically a full B&W android tablet with play store, whereas the remarkable is fully locked down, and the Supernote is partially locked down.
I can therefore download select apps, such as outlook etc for work emails and calendar.
The Boox is also the only one out of the three to have a back light, if required.
I was so tempted to just buy say a Microsoft Go 3 at a similar price with one note, but I want a 'device' that can be instantly on, and on for hours at a time without the battery drain.
We will see!

Seems like a good shout!

C

 

[linescanner]

Also interested to see how you get on. I use my iPad Pro for calls etc that I have been toying with idea of getting new iPad mini to take notes on.

looking forward to feedback.

 

[mjheathcote]

Only had it 6 hours, but very impressed with it so far.
The writing sensation is very good with no noticeable lag.
The note taking, well you have everything so customisable, pen types, shades, widths. Endless 'books' with endless pages and templates.
Very clever how you can circle your handwriting/scribble , move it, copy it, resize it, rotate it, and even paste it into another book, say a dedicated to do list.
Enabled the play store and downloaded outlook/word/excel. Logged onto my works 365 and all there, including one drive.
Also downloaded YouTube, it works, but eInk isn't really suitable for fast moving video.
Built in pdf viewer naturally very good, read all of the 180 page user manual!!
Set up the free Boox 5GB cloud, if you are connected via WiFi, it auto backs up your notes, in the native file format, so if you loose the device or delete a note by accident, you can recover everything.
You can also auto back up to Dropbox, at the same time. Haven't set this up yet but apparently it exports your notes to pdf when doing this.
Many say you have a steep learning curve, I appear to be making sense of it!
So happy so far.
Dropping back to a normal colour tablet/phone feels too bright and in your face after 6 hours of playing. But that's the point of it.

 

[CatmanV2]

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for the write up

C

 

[todd.the.submariner]

Only had it 6 hours, but very impressed with it so far.
The writing sensation is very good with no noticeable lag.
The note taking, well you have everything so customisable, pen types, shades, widths. Endless 'books' with endless pages and templates.
Very clever how you can circle your handwriting/scribble , move it, copy it, resize it, rotate it, and even paste it into another book, say a dedicated to do list.
Enabled the play store and downloaded outlook/word/excel. Logged onto my works 365 and all there, including one drive.
Also downloaded YouTube, it works, but eInk isn't really suitable for fast moving video.
Built in pdf viewer naturally very good, read all of the 180 page user manual!!
Set up the free Boox 5GB cloud, if you are connected via WiFi, it auto backs up your notes, in the native file format, so if you loose the device or delete a note by accident, you can recover everything.
You can also auto back up to Dropbox, at the same time. Haven't set this up yet but apparently it exports your notes to pdf when doing this.
Many say you have a steep learning curve, I appear to be making sense of it!
So happy so far.
Dropping back to a normal colour tablet/phone feels too bright and in your face after 6 hours of playing. But that's the point of it.

Great writeup!
You mentioned several Office apps, how about OneNote? That’s where I currently keep my “infinite notebook”, and having a pen based tablet for it would be a coup



——-\|/——-
2004 Maserati Coupe “Siluro” the Italian Torpedo
1979 MB 450SL “Greta”
2016 BMW x435i “Der Sonnenmaschine”
2022 Ford Mach-e “Macchiato”

 

[mjheathcote]

Great writeup!
You mentioned several Office apps, how about OneNote? That’s where I currently keep my “infinite notebook”, and having a pen based tablet for it would be a coup



——-\|/——-
2004 Maserati Coupe “Siluro” the Italian Torpedo
1979 MB 450SL “Greta”
2016 BMW x435i “Der Sonnenmaschine”
2022 Ford Mach-e “Macchiato”

One week in, won't go back to traditional paper based note book.
Can have it open all day, ready, without it going to sleep, only using say 10% of the battery capacity.
It's just the fact you can have infinite note books and pages. Note book per day, customer, project, whatever. Templates for anything, you can make your own.
This of course, is the built in note taking app.
Yes you can also use one note, and you have syn options for one note built-in. I don't use one note so can't really comment, however I understand that it can be laggy.
So one note is an android app working on an android tablet (which is what it is), where as the built in note taking is all part of the 'skin', you don't launch the 'boox note taker' app, if you know what I mean.
The reviews on YouTube are all very good.
Basically if you want the capability of running android apps, and/or would like a back-light in low light conditions, you don't have any other choice but the Boox brand.
Negatives.
It's Chinese.
The built in backup sync is to a Chinese server.
Depends how paranoid you are, but they could be viewing your notes I guess. They would soon get bored with mine very quickly!!
You log into your account via a Web page and you can see all your notes to view, and download to your PC as pdf images.
You can also push pdf documents to the tablet for viewing.
You can also backup to Dropbox, haven't tried this yet.
There is also an android app (possibly an apple app too).
Unfortunately the android app isn't on the play store currently, but you can side load it. I can't see the value of this so haven't bothered, plus possible security issues, who knows?
I find it suprising that there isnt a major brand name in this market using eInk. Sony have in Japan, but apart from that, nothing, as far as I'm aware.

 

[hunta]

Thanks for the account of your impressions thus far. Following with interest as I'm also considering a similar move, but in my case and for my usage I'm leaning towards the Supernote (active development, customer support, premium ballpoint feel, simpler UX than Boox but with more functionality than Remarkable).

 

[MarkMas]

Thanks for the account of your impressions thus far. Following with interest as I'm also considering a similar move, but in my case and for my usage I'm leaning towards the Supernote (active development, customer support, premium ballpoint feel, simpler UX than Boox but with more functionality than Remarkable).

Supernote also looks like it is more like A5 than A4 sized, is that right? I think that would work better for me.

I'm getting flashbacks to about 10 years ago when I was trying to do a content deal with Plastic Logic, who were burning through 100s of millions trying to do this before the tech was ready.

Plastic Logic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[CatmanV2]

Supernote also looks like it is more like A5 than A4 sized, is that right? I think that would work better for me.

I'm getting flashbacks to about 10 years ago when I was trying to do a content deal with Plastic Logic, who were burning through 100s of millions trying to do this before the tech was ready.

Plastic Logic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

They appear to come in a variety of sizes.

I really want to want this, but I really don't want to get rid of my Meisterstuck. Looks like I'm screwed. Closest I'd get would be buying a Starwalker and going full Mont Blanc, but the paper is silly spendy

humph

C

 

[mjheathcote]

Thanks for the account of your impressions thus far. Following with interest as I'm also considering a similar move, but in my case and for my usage I'm leaning towards the Supernote (active development, customer support, premium ballpoint feel, simpler UX than Boox but with more functionality than Remarkable).

I was seriously considering the same, but you have to import one with associate import tax, plus you can't actually buy one, but preorder one.
In the end buying from amazon UK with next day delivery won the day, plus having the extra functionality and back light.

 

[mjheathcote]

Supernote also looks like it is more like A5 than A4 sized, is that right? I think that would work better for me.

I'm getting flashbacks to about 10 years ago when I was trying to do a content deal with Plastic Logic, who were burning through 100s of millions trying to do this before the tech was ready.

Plastic Logic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The remarkable, supernote A5x, and Boox note Air 2/Note 5, are all A5 paper size (same A5 screen).
Boox do a A4 size, Lumi 2, but look at the price!!
I'm finding the A5 size absolutely fine.

 

[hunta]

Supernote also looks like it is more like A5 than A4 sized, is that right? I think that would work better for me.

Supernote also do a 6X which is, err, A6 paper size but more like a Kindle in terms of physical size.

 

[MarkMas]

The remarkable, supernote A5x, and Boox note Air 2/Note 5, are all A5 paper size (same A5 screen).
Boox do a A4 size, Lumi 2, but look at the price!!
I'm finding the A5 size absolutely fine.

Mrs MarkMas' Remarkable 2 is more like A4

 

[Ebenezer]

Mrs MarkMas' Remarkable 2 is more like A4

Lovely apostrophe!
Eb

 

[mjheathcote]

Mrs MarkMas' Remarkable 2 is more like A4

No, same 10.3" screen as the Supernote A5x and Boox air 2.
The remarkable has a lot of bezel!!

 

[MarkMas]

No, same 10.3" screen as the Supernote A5x and Boox air 2.
The remarkable has a lot of bezel!!

Well, the whole device is too big for me I think.

It seems that the Supernote A5 has a roughly A5 screen, like the remarkable, but both devices are about A4.5 in overall size. But there is also a Supernote A6 which is overall a bit smaller than A5.

 

[MarkMas]

I don't really understand why nobody has come up with a laptop or tablet with an e-ink screen one side and a full colour on the other. Sure there is very little extra hardware (or operating system) to worry about, apart from the screen itself.