Live photos

Content

1. TECH SPECS
2. Positioning
3. Equipment
4. Design, dimensions, controls
5. Screen
6. Software features, processor, speed
7. Stylus, working with a stylus
8. Synchronization, interfaces
9. Battery
10. Impressions, competitors

TECH SPECS
Screen	10.3 inches, E Ink Carta, 1872 × 1404 dots, touch (induction + capacitive), Asahi safety glass, 16 shades of gray, contrast ratio 16: 1, 227 ppi, adjustable backlight MOON Light 2
Memory	3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage
Performance	Qualcomm Qualcomm 636 Octa-Core Processor up to 1.8GHz
Battery	Non-removable, Li-Pol 3000 mAh
Wireless Interfaces	Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0
Supported file formats	TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, FB2.zip, FB3, MOBI, CHM, PDB, DOC, DOCX, PRC, EPUB, PDF, PPT, DjVu, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, CBR, CBZ, MP3, WAV
Body color and materials	Blue; aluminum-magnesium alloy
Dimensions	229.4 × 195.4 × 5.8 mm
Features	Android 10.0, proprietary reading shell, USB Type-C with OTG support, speaker, Wacom touchpad and stylus included
Price	47 990 rubles

Positioning

When we talk about the world of e-books, we usually mean something relatively budgetary. Since the functionality is less than that of a tablet, then the price should be lower. But this time I have in my hands a sample of a different approach – a premium, which not only received a stylish design and some individual high-tech elements, but an almost uncompromising device. According to the manufacturer, “ONYX BOOX Note Air is one of the most advanced and interesting E Ink e-readers in the world. It has a 10.3-inch high-resolution display, runs Android 10 and can even partially act as a tablet. ” Well, for 48 thousand rubles it would be strange to expect something less. But already in the next sentence, the clarification follows that “the main purpose of Note Air is to read a variety of books and documents, and since the screen installed here is slow and not color, not all additional applications will work normally (about complex games and watching videos is better forget immediately) “. In general, you are immediately told that this is never an iPad. But the stylus and touch panel from Wacom moved to the background.

As for me, Onyx Boox themselves did not quite understand what they created and for whom, because they simply added everything they could from more or less new and perfect to the device. And how to use it – the buyer will figure it out himself. It seems that one company in the world already professes a similar approach: having paid for a gadget at the top of the market, anyone will already find a justification and application of their very device itself. And if there is something in it, then it is not needed.

It should be understood that the Note series occupies an intermediate position in the line of e-book readers with Onyx Boox stylus between the more compact Nova series (7.8-inch screens) and the larger MAX series (13.3-inch screens). Inside the Note Air series itself, the Note 3 is located above, which is distinguished by a large amount of internal and RAM, a fingerprint scanner, a plastic screen backing, a larger battery capacity, and all this with less weight, but a greater thickness of the case. And at a price of 55 thousand rubles. Plus the main field, to hold the book with one hand, you will have below the screen, and not to the left of it.

Equipment

• eBook
• stylus
• USB to USB Type-C cable
• instructions and warranty card

Yes, yes, there is no error in the list above. For 48 thousand rubles, you get neither a charger nor a case. And if everything is clear with the first one, absolutely any charger from most smartphones will suit you, then you need to buy a cover separately. And you will have to buy it, unless you planned to give up the stylus. The standard magnetic mount does not allow it to be securely fixed, and, having thrown a book, for example, into a backpack, you are guaranteed to then rummage over it in search of it.

Design, dimensions, controls

Photos never fully convey the feeling of a gadget. Especially if we are talking about those devices that are positioned as more expensive than the market average. And that’s exactly the case with the Note Air. When you pick it up, you understand why they want to take money from you. This is the very pleasant heaviness and the feeling of a dense, fused body. Plus color and design that only looks simple. However, taste is already underway here. The only color available is navy blue, close to what is called Navy Blue. At the same time, the shade on the front panel will be different, which is due to the protective glass that is uniform with the screen. You may not like the orange inserts of the Wi-Fi antenna if you perceive the e-book reader as an extremely conservative device. Otherwise, you can only find fault with the bumpers slightly protruding above the display. And so this is an excellent example of minimalist design.

The minimalism of the design also led to a minimum of physical connectors and control elements. Three side faces are generally devoid of them. Only on the left was there a place for the speaker holes, microphone holes, Type-C connector and power button. Does this somehow affect functionality and ergonomics? Not. They just are there. With any grip, you will not cover the speaker with your hand, and the power button must be recessed so deeply into the case for it to work that accidental activation is almost impossible. The absence of other controls on a high-quality touchscreen does not raise any questions – they are simply unnecessary. On-screen control is implemented in the same way as in other Onyx Boox models, plus you get some gesture control capabilities of Android 10. In this regard, the transition to a modern OS is a huge step forward, after which using the reader with earlier versions of Android is no longer comfortable. , all the time there is a feeling that something is missing.

It was a barrel of honey. Now let’s add some tar to it. Firstly, as it was said, there is no cover in the kit. If you use the device without it, then gradually the aluminum-magnesium alloy case will begin to collect small scratches. You don’t have to worry about the screen, it is covered with Asahi glass, but if you scratch the anodized coating, metal will shine through the beautiful blue color of the case, which is not very aesthetically pleasing. The second point, which has already been mentioned, is the weak hold of the stylus. There are two zones where it can be attached: the right side edge and the left margin next to the screen. On the stylus itself, one of the edges is devoid of ribs and is flattened, so that even by touch, you can easily understand what it should grasp. It holds very weakly on the edge, you can even shake it hard, and the stylus will fall. On the field, it can “hang” closer to the upper or lower end, it is held there better, but it is still not enough to carry it in any bag. So, either without a stylus, or in a case. And this leads to the third disadvantage. The book reader weighs 420 grams. This is a lot. With all the comfort and good ergonomics of the case, the hand will get tired. Yes, you can move it without any problems, as you would with a weighty volume of a paper edition, but, in general, I would like it easier. And the last thing, so as not to break away from trends. As it became known after the release of the iPhone 12, any more or less sharp edges are inconvenient. For Note Air, these are the sides around the screen. They can also crash into the hand of an unaccustomed user. Previously, it was considered normal, but I don’t know what to do now, so I pay attention.

The dimensions of the device are 229.4 × 195.4 mm, which is somewhat atypical for 10-inch e-book readers. The device is wider than usual due to the lateral holding field, whereas traditionally it is placed under the screen in this format. As a result, the book turned out to be slightly wider than the typographic format 70×100 / 16. This change can be considered justified due to the greater comfort when using the e-book reader to create notes. And in general, the more natural position of the human hand will be to hold on to the left, and not from the bottom, no matter what marketers of the highest order may explain. The thickness of the case came out even less than 6 mm, but this fact is unlikely to be of significant importance, except for a purely aesthetic one.

Screen

• Screen diagonal: 10.3 inches
• Display resolution: 1872 × 1404 dots
• PPI value: 227
• Matrix type: E Ink Carta
• Protective coating: ASAHI glass
• Oleophobic coating: yes
• Automatic brightness control: no
• Support for “multitouch”: present, with gesture control
• Touchpad: dual, capacitive and inductive, with optional Wacom module

The screen is the watershed where the Note Air cannot be considered a full-fledged tablet. Maybe someday the technology of electronic ink will reach the level when the normal human eye (not seeing the “pentyle” and PWM everywhere and everywhere) will no longer have time to track the rendering, but for now any E Ink screen will leave its mark on the experience of using the e-reader … Yes, it saves battery power a lot. Imagine for a moment how much battery capacity you would need to run a 10-inch LCD screen at maximum brightness for 12 hours, while the Note Air uses a 3000 mAh battery, which would not be enough for a smartphone (with a much smaller screen). … But it does not allow to realize all the possibilities of a fast (by the standards of the world of book readers) chipset. What the manufacturer had to warn about.

And this is true not only for video playback and games, but in general for any applications that were not originally developed for this type of screens. That, in the case of a model with a Wacom touchpad and stylus, exacerbates the gap between what the gadget could and actually can. Actually, I could not find a program in the Play Store that would work faster than a regular note-taking application. Fortunately, it is very convenient, but more on that in the corresponding section.

Otherwise, the Note Air’s screen is a very good solution. E Ink Carta technology, 227 ppi resolution, Snow Field artifact suppression, 16 shades of gray and MOON Light 2 backlight. One thing to regret is the lack of automatic backlight brightness control. Manual is not very convenient, and mainly due to the great possibilities. Since the warm and cold tones can be adjusted separately, you won’t get exactly the shade you want at every intensity. It is possible to reduce the intensity proportionally, but it does not give the desired effect.

Another interesting point is the use of a glass screen substrate. In the more expensive Onyx Boox Note 3 model, it is plastic, which gives more shock resistance and less weight, but the image quality on the screen will be slightly worse. As for the weight, it was said above, and as for the shock resistance, I have doubts that a large book reader in a metal case is, in principle, capable of surviving a fall without additional losses, which would lead to the destruction of the screen. If we assume that someone will sit on top of it, then, due to its large dimensions, there will be a problem of deformation of the entire case, and not just the screen. In general, use it carefully, and a sharper image will be your reward.

The presence of capacitive and inductive touch panels allows you to realize the capabilities of the stylus at a high level. Accidental touches while drawing or marginal notes do not lead to false positives. Here the situation is similar to what we have on Samsung tablets, the user experience is very similar. The differences are mainly in the sensitivity to finger control (it is above average for the world of e-book readers, but still somewhat inferior to top-end tablets from Samsung, Huawei and Apple). There are also questions about gesture control. On the one hand, an unconditional plus is the very fact of its presence. On the other hand, it does not reach the level that was laid down in the Android 10 OS. But, perhaps, the question here is not to the manufacturer, but to the limitations imposed by the E Ink technology.

Software features, processor, speed

I’ll start at the end. With the speed of work. This is the first e-book reader in my hands that received both a productive chipset and a fresh version of Android OS. And this was not slow to affect the impressions, just as expensive gin and high-quality tonic influence the taste of a cocktail. Onyx Boox has a more powerful bundle with 4 GB of RAM, but the combination of Snapdragon 636 + 3 GB LPDDR4 1333 MHz is more than enough for the e-book reader. Yes, the chipset is hello from 2017 (on the market since 2018), but it was obtained by cutting down on the mid-range model (Snapdragon 660) and has performed well in mid-range smartphones. On the reader, he pulled the 10th Android without any problems. According to subjective impressions, the platform processes information much faster than the screen can display these changes, so by the time you see a new picture, the processor has already managed to fall asleep. This is indirectly confirmed by the very high indicators of autonomy. And in the case of the Note Air, this headroom is just right. Because on it you can really comfortably not only look at “heavy” files (for example, drawings in PDF), but also make notes in them. I have no doubt that in practice someone may come across the fact that some extreme file will not be “digested on the fly” by a book reader, but during testing I could not find such files. The feeling that the model is “flying”.

But Android interfaces and the work of a truncated shell in general do not cause such delight. Yes, everything is fast. I mean, everything that’s left of Android 10 is fast. The only pity is that there is not much left, and besides, it is not without flaws in implementation. For example, on the Note Air, you can easily install the Google app store. Easy, but not without adventure. Signing up for Google services looks weird. First, you are asked to register the device by specifying its ID. You can only guess that a couple of lines of code that give an ID in the corresponding field are clickable. But this is not so bad. Further, by clicking on the captcha and registration, you will not receive any notifications. In the menu, there is still a proposal to register your device, but when you repeat the actions, you receive a notification that such a device has already been registered. You will learn about the success of the process only at the moment when you try to enter your account data and log into Google Play, just like on a regular Android. I find it difficult to say whose implementation is lame on both legs here (Onyx or Google), but, you see, it looks strange.

In general, Note Air left the impression that you need to either use it out of the box (satisfy the needs of 98% of users), or be a fan of improvements. That’s why geeks love Android OS. 1% will enjoy finding apps that end up performing 1% better than the pre-installed ones. Another percent will fall on fans of Chinese devices from China, who will experience a feeling of deep satisfaction when the found custom shell works at all. The share of people who will climb to edit the code or write it themselves can probably be neglected.

Unlike some Onyx Boox models, the Note Air reader has abandoned the simultaneous installation of two reading shells, leaving the user only Neo Reader 3.0. The shell has no modifications in comparison with other models. The program supports work with dictionaries in the Stardict format, out of the box it already has its own dictionary, which allows you to translate both individual words and whole phrases. There is a possibility of dubbing books in TTS format, but this is done through the Google service, and it does not work out very well with the Russian language. In general, the only complaint about this reading application is the slightly limited possibilities of customizing the text for yourself. If you need something different, you can always download the app from the Play Store.

By default, the e-reader shows the following components in the list of applications:

• Neo Reader
• Dictionary
• The calendar
• Quick menu
• Player
• Dictaphone
• Email
• ONYX Store
• Calculator
• Gallery
• Watches
• Transmission
• Screensavers
• Push reading
• Google Play Market

Most of them have no special features. Calendar, media player, voice recorder, email application, calculator, image gallery and clock are familiar simple variations for Android OS with minimal functionality. In addition, if you have a need for an e-book, it is only by chance. Therefore, I will focus on those that have some remarkable points.

The first time you click on Dictionary, you will know that there are no dictionaries on your device yet. You will need to download them to use them. In the future, you will be able to choose between the downloaded dictionaries. The Onyx Store offers a number of applications, most of them are various reading shells adapted for one kind or another of sources (books, news, drawings, etc.). If you have the opportunity to use all the content of the Google application store, the need for it is very conditional. Only for those who don’t want to waste time on more choices. The Transfer and Push Read icons are two different options for syncing the device with your file libraries. “Screensavers” – storage of screensavers for the screen of your e-book reader.

“Quick menu” – setting the on-screen button, excluding movement. It is carried out by simply pressing a button, which can then be dragged to almost any place convenient for you on the screen. It itself can be adjusted according to the degree of transparency and double-tap function (by default, this is the transition to the main one). In total, it can have up to nine functions: “Back”, “Full reboot”, “Optimization” (quality / performance), “Multitasking switch” (carousel of running applications), “Shutdown”, “Scroll buttons” (setting the position and other ), “Screenshot”, “Open quick menu settings” (settings of the button itself) and “Hide quick menu” (the button will be removed from the nearest side edge).

I will also say a few words about the media player and working with music. It is standard for Onyx Boox readers – slow and with very limited functionality. Given the availability of the entire variety of players from Google Play, there is practically no sense in its existence. However, we must remember that not every player for Android OS can work economically in the background, so you have to choose the right one. For example, I was very disappointed with AIMP – with it the autonomy of the e-book reader significantly decreases (although, perhaps, the fault is not the player itself, but the Bluetooth connection). Another important point is the actual work of the player. Unlike many models, there is no problem with listening to the lossless format. Performance for the same FLAC is enough for the eyes. Another thing is that there is no practical sense to listen to it on this device – the memory capacity is small, and hardly anyone will be able to hear the differences from MP3 via Bluetooth or USB-C headphones (no other connections are provided, unless you use the built-in speaker). However, a media player on a reader is always an option, an extension of functionality, not a base. Therefore, for example, it makes no sense to say that it is inconvenient to control the sound volume from the e-book reader (if there is no adjustment on the headphones or other connected device, then this can only be done from the shutter).

Stylus, working with a stylus

And yet, if we are talking about the features of the Onyx Boox Note Air, then it is the stylus and its touch panel in the screen that determine the general character of using this e-book reader. Actually, the target audience for him is those for whom it is not enough just to read from the screen, and who also need to quickly mark something. There may be a lot of reasons for this, but whatever the choice of an e-reader for a tool as notes, you need to constantly realize that this is a gadget with an E Ink screen. It is a non-pluggable tablet used for digital painting. Yes, there are similar elements here that are traditional for any Wacom implementation, but overall the user experience will have little in common. There will be exactly one advantage on the Note Air’s side – seamless operation. Notes can be created without stopping from reading, and there is a lot of functionality for creating sketches. The connected device, accordingly, loses precisely in the aspect of mobility. Comparison with a tablet with an IPS or AMOLED screen and the ability to work with a stylus is out of the question. The only argument in favor of the eBook reader is its enormous autonomy, but when it comes to the use of an electronic pen, hardly anyone will seriously consider Note Air as a replacement for a tablet. In this regard, even the function of using color in the e-book reader looks like a marker for notes, and not an artistic tool.

Nevertheless, there is one very popular in the world and also not too cheap device, which can be considered an analogue of the Onyx Boox Note Air from a certain point of view. I mean Samsung Galaxy Note series smartphones. With all the seemingly huge difference between the technological flagship among Samsung smartphones and the e-book, they have a common point in the ideology of creation: work with notes on the go, when there is no point and time to switch to another, more suitable device. Therefore, here is the question of what you most often deal with when working with an e-book reader or a smartphone. And also how important screen size is to you. In both cases, the ideology of the device is identical – seamless work with notes or drawings.

Since I draw a little better than I sing (and I can’t sing even with karaoke), for a more adequate assessment of the quality of the implementation of work with the stylus, I had to resort to the help of a person who can draw, including those who use a stylus like on a Wacom tablet, and on the Galaxy Note 9. And here are the conclusions. The tablet itself is perfect for drawing in terms of ergonomics, its size, weight and grip allow you to use it both by weight and by putting it on your knees. The stylus itself does not give rise to any complaints in terms of size, thickness and grip – everything is convenient. Only the screen cover is not quite familiar. The oleophobic layer causes the stylus to slip, but not critical, it just takes some getting used to.

Of the positive features – the very broad capabilities of the basic program for notes. Various tools (pencil, brush, marker, etc.), setting line thickness, drawing shapes, adding text, working with layers. Actually, the installation of additional applications specifically for drawing is not required – for sketches and sketches of functionality out of the box is more than enough. As for the added ability to “paint with color”, this is a purely decorative piece, it has little practical use for drawing. So the application can only be as markers for text or document.

Now about what’s not so good. Here, problems arise not only with the E Ink, which is obviously slower than any other LCD screen (you can get used to it), but also with the fact that the combination of hardware and software does not always work in the best way. This manifests itself in some dulling of individual instruments. So, for example, a pencil almost does not slow down, while displaying work with a marker, and even more so in color, causes a noticeable lag. And this is again a minus, if we consider the E Ink reader as an artistic tool. In case you are just taking notes, nothing that you cannot get used to will not be encountered. Another question is that for 48 thousand you don’t really want to compromise and get used to it. There are analogs among tablets that have significantly fewer restrictions.

Another important point is the ability to use Onyx Boox Note Air as a note-taking tool or, in principle, writing down handwritten text. Here my opinions and those of the respondents differed. It seemed to me that writing, in principle, is possible, but writing quickly and legibly is not. However, the opinions of other users did not coincide with mine in everything. Perhaps the problem is who, how and how quickly they got used to writing. Although, trying to remember when I last wrote a large and coherent text (more than a couple of paragraphs), I failed. In general, there is no unambiguous conclusion on the issue – just try it personally.

As a result, I must admit that Onyx Boox Note Air in terms of working with a stylus is a rather interesting alternative to tablets with similar functionality. Losing in the speed of work, it makes it possible to keep the screen active for an unlimited time, ready every second to make notes and notes. This can be as simple markings in the margins of books, and full-fledged handwritten editing of the text. All forms of document marking, regardless of format, are also fully available. You can keep handwritten notes, you can make notes in the drawings (the 10-inch form factor already makes it more or less comfortable to work with them). There are also limited artistic possibilities.

Synchronization, interfaces

One of the key advantages of book readers with Android OS is the maximum breadth of possibilities for synchronization and optimization of your library. And in this regard, the Note Air is doing well, better than the market average, thanks to the fresh version of Android. But even if you do not want to use all the provided opportunities, but limit yourself to the functionality out of the box, then everything will be fine in this regard. The model has three synchronization options. The simplest option is a classic cable connection. You can connect the e-book reader to a computer, or you can connect a USB flash drive to it via a cable (USB OTG protocol is supported). The second option is Wi-Fi synchronization. Connect the book reader and the device with which you want to synchronize the library to the same Wi-Fi network, enter the address indicated on the screen of the book reader in any browser of your computer or smartphone, or scan the QR code, after which the files can be sent directly in the browser. The third option is also a Wi-Fi transmission, but if the devices are not on the same subnet. Then the transfer will go through the cloud storage push.boox.com.

The device does not have a memory expansion slot, so if you do not have enough of the remaining 32 GB of approximately 22-23 GB of memory, then the only expansion option is to connect via a USB cable. If you do not store multimedia on the e-book reader, then there is enough space, although large pdf files, and even re-saved after making notes in them, of course, will quickly consume space.

The e-book received a completely modern Wi-Fi module with support for IEEE 802.11 b / g / n / ac communication standards, including support for the 5 GHz band. The default Wi-Fi connection does not work all the time, you will need to select the appropriate item in the menu to enable it permanently. I have not experienced any problems with connections and synchronization with a laptop and a smartphone.

Bluetooth 5.0 is more than a modern and adequate solution for the e-book market. The device connection is standard, there are no problems with data transfer. The sound quality is the most common, there are no surprises or failures.

The USB connector conforms to the modern Type-C standard, for the absence of which many more affordable devices are invariably criticized. In this model, it serves both for connecting the device and for charging.

Of the sensors, the presence of a G-sensor and a Hall sensor is declared. Accordingly, Note Air can interact with “smart” covers (there is no one included), as well as automatically flip the screen. You can rotate it 360 degrees, the delay will be only for drawing. The sensitivity of the G-sensor is average, it can ignore the table tilt angle of 1-3 degrees.

Battery

The e-reader has a 3000 mAh Li-Po battery. Considering the presence of backlighting, automatic screen orientation, two touch panels and a diagonal of 10.3 inches, this volume looks rather modest. In fact, due to optimization, Onyx Boox was able to achieve a very good result. At the maximum brightness of the backlight in paging mode, Note Air showed a result of 5.5 thousand paging. Which was 12 hours of screen operation. And this is when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are constantly connected. Considering that the maximum brightness is not enough for you when you need it, you can count on slightly higher indicators. And if we talk about working in the absence of the ability to charge the battery for a long time, then by turning off unnecessary consumers and reducing the applications used, the number of pages can be at least doubled.

As mentioned above, the kit includes a cable, but no charger. The inscription on the body of the reader informs that it is charged with a current of 3 amperes at a voltage of 5 volts. For charging, I used a regular charger from Huawei P30 (capable of delivering a current of 5 V at 2 A, or 4.5 V at 5 A, or 5 V at 4.5 A). It took about 100 hours to fully charge the e-book reader (from zero to 2.5%).

As for the common myth that Android e-book readers tend to drain the battery for no reason, in the case of the Note Air, I can neither confirm nor deny it. During the time that I had it on the test, once I had to face almost 30% of the charge “missing” during the night. True, the searches carried out found that at night, not turned off, but only asleep, the e-reader found a software update, which, using the unplugged Wi-Fi, immediately installed it. Why it took so much battery is an interesting question, especially since the second update he caught did not cause such a fierce battery life. As a result, we must admit that the Android OS still needs to be handled more carefully. If you want maximum autonomy, then you will have to carefully monitor which wireless interfaces you have enabled, which applications are installed. Everything is like on a smartphone.

Impressions, competitors

As a result of a rather long test, Onyx Boox Note Air left an ambivalent impression on me. On the one hand, this is certainly a very good example of a book reader in general and a premium book reader in particular. On the other hand, I didn’t have a case for it, so I couldn’t really position the stylus. He constantly strove to move somewhere, then completely fall. In addition, on a daily basis, I simply do not have problems that he would solve. Accordingly, for me personally, this is just a reader with a 10-inch screen on Android OS. Yes, very fast and responsive. Yes, with a great screen. Yes, with excellent build quality and ergonomics. But 48 thousand rubles is an overpricing. A completely different reaction from people who need a stylus. For them, such a proposal has a wow effect, since, as it turned out, e-books with a stylus are not the most famous product. There were no complaints about the implementation of the work of the notes, so we can say that the solution was successful. Even if not without reservations about the fact that this is not a tablet.

Comparison with competitors is impossible to carry out in full due to their absence. There are no 10-inch e-books with stylus on the Russian market. Basically, there are two options – E-Pad (aka EeWrite E-Pad) and Xiaomi Ink Case Smart Electronic Paper. The first one is a crowdfunding project a year ago, which is currently not on sale. The second is also the Xiaomi model presented last year. It was not officially delivered to Russia. Both models had a screen with the same specs as the Note Air. For the E-Pad, the manufacturer of the touchpad was not specified, and Xiaomi also used a solution from Wacom with absolutely identical characteristics. The platform was similar. The E-Pad was based on the Helio X20 with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of ROM, while Xiaomi did not specify the processor model, but also installed 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory. In both cases, Android 8.1 was on board. A significant difference between the E-Pad is the presence of an LTE modem. Both options were related by the location of the holding space under the screen, and not to the left of it. That is, the ergonomics were somewhat worse. All accessories, including the stylus, were sold separately. The price of the E-Pad for the first customers was $ 400 (+ $ 29 for the stylus and + $ 15 for the case), later sales were for 720 dollars. The price of the model from Xiaomi is 2 yuan ($ 500) for the PRC market.

It turns out that the Onyx Boox Note Air only competes with other Onyx Boox models. The stylus is available on the Gulliver, Note 3 and MAX series. However, only the first is more affordable than the Note Air. The recommended price of Gulliver is 38.5 thousand rubles, but it was obtained due to much less interesting characteristics. Here and a simpler processor, and only 2 GB of RAM, and a plastic backing of the screen, and most importantly, the Wacom touch panel has half the sensitivity for recognizing the degree of pressure. In addition, it is a model that is leaving the market and has only residual sales. Note 3 costs 55 thousand rubles and has, accordingly, more capabilities than Note Air – 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of ROM, a fingerprint scanner and less weight. Considering that the performance of the Note Air platform is quite sufficient for all modes of operation, I would call the Note 3 interesting only for those who care about security or need more internal memory. Book readers of the MAX series have 13.3-inch screens and a price of 85 thousand rubles, so they can hardly be considered as competitors for the Note Air.

So it turns out that Onyx Boox Note Air is practically a unique solution for the Russian market. One can debate how overpriced its price is, but in practice it is the most affordable solution for the world of e-book readers, if we talk about the need for a 10-inch screen and a stylus for taking notes.

Back to content >>>

Share: 

we are in social networks:

Anything to add ?! Write … eldar@mobile-review.com