Verdict
An E Ink pill that is a more open , and pretty compelling , alternative to the Kindle Scribe and ReMarkable tablets . That openness comes with compromise in barrage fire life and repose of use , though , and it ’s important not to expect too much from the colour screen .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
It ’s much more too . Behind a unsubdivided reader interface the Onyx Boox Air 3 C runs Android , and has the Google Play app store establish - in .
you could pullulate television or work games on the Onyx Boox Air 3 C. You probably should n’t , but app access open up up ways to do thing the tablet will , or at least could , be dependable at .
monetary value is the main vault here . At £ 499 , the Air 3 is more expensive than theKindle ScribeorRemarkable 2 . But at least it costs less than theBoox Tab Ultra C.
You necessitate to come with the ripe display expectations too . The color deepness of colour E - Ink sieve like this one is pitiful , and thanks to its more complex computer architecture , contrast is lower than that of the competition .
If you hope for this to be the ultimate graphic novel proofreader , you may be let down . barrage aliveness is also quite poor in plenty of situations . Complaints , I have a few , but the Boox Air 3 C is the sort of gimmick we should be happy exists .
Design
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C looks and feels peachy , especially give Onyx may well be a brand of which you have never get wind . It ’s a slender 5.3mm - thick slab of aluminium .
Its size means this feels more like the scale of a mid - size tablet than atraditional e - reader . While I have used the Onyx Boox Air 3 C to record in layer a bit , my trustyKindle Voyagefeels made for the job more than this Boox .
That said , there is a big blank spot on one side to pull up stakes plenty of grip outer space for a pollex .
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C weighs 430 g. It ’s a fleck heavy to hold for hours one - handed , but is no heavier than a lozenge of this scale . I was instantly worried I would scratch the Air 3 , in part because has such an expensive - feel last . That counts for the blind too , which has a pliant culture , not glass like theKindle Oasis(and ancient Kindle Voyage ) .
A event is recommend . Boox makes one . I have it . It hooks onto the metal back using magnets , and look to be include when you buy unmediated from Boox .
A lot of the other outside features are typical of anAndroid lozenge . The power push double as a fingermark reviewer , a pretty handy feature given a Boox might be loaded with document you do n’t desire anyone and everyone to be able to see .
On one side sits a microSD slot for expansible memory , although the 64 GB store goes a farseeing way of life when storing banknote and ebooks . The king button also double as a fingermark reader , for good unlocking .
It also has two-channel speakers . These are quite weak - sounding by the standard of innovative pad of paper and , funnily enough , there are no loudness restraint on the Air 3 itself . You have to alter the level through the software program port . However , it ’s light that audio is a periphery feature here at best .
Screen
The 10.3 - inch screen of the Onyx Boox Air 3 C is its killer whale characteristic and a origin of dashing hopes if you do n’t get with sensitive expectations . This is a Kaleido 3 Carta 1200 display , a colour E Ink screen .
I was dead keen on these things becoming commonplace more than a decade ago , and retrieve seeing image of such tech many old age ago . That never chance . Kindles are still black and white .
That the Onyx Boox Air 3 C exists is simultaneously awesome and proof of why these thing are quite rarified . For entrant , it actually has different colour and B&W resolutions . It ’s 2480 x 1860 pixels for black and white , 1240 x 930 for color — half the resolution .
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C still uses a passably conventional Carta 1200 E Ink panel at its substance , but there ’s a coloring material filter raiment ( CFA ) on top of that . It ’s capable of relay 4096 colours , compared to the 16.7 million of the average phone .
This think you see readable word picture between tones in gradients at times . But it ’s the limited saturation and colour profoundness you ’ll notice most . Do not grease one’s palms an Air 3 expect ample or bluff colouring material . It ’s extremely sallow .
And using a colour filter reduces reflected light , get the showing look less vital than a apparent black and white e - reader . line is low , whites look greyer . This reasonably much mandates the function of the display light in most term , which in turn reduces the already circumscribe black depth . And the backlight on my previous Kindle Voyage is importantly brighter than this one .
Colour E - ink is an omnipotent technical school headache , clearly . However , among east - readers , the Onyx Boox Air 3 degree Celsius looks expectant . It ’s very sharp . And if you conform your expectation to the proper level , the people of colour can be useful . Despite all the complaints , I enjoy reading graphic novels on this thing , and you finger like you ’re miss out much less when reading comic strip in colour — compared to doing so on a Kindle .
If better colour is a must , look for a Gallery 3 e - lector like the Bigme Galy . But it ’s not wide available , costs even more and has its own exercise set of problems .
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C also supports a style , and it ’s not just a childlike pen . It supports 4,096 - level insistence sensitivity , just like the Samsung S - Pen or Apple Pencil . This is arguably where the tablet ’s support for divers Android apps is most welcome — you could habituate enthusiast nontextual matter apps like Sketchbook with the Onyx Boox Air 3 C. The style is not just for preeminence - pickings and annotating PDFs . But , of course , you may do that too .
The screen open is made for more satisfying stylus use , with a rough-textured surface that palpate closer to report than smooth glossy crank .
Boox also bid a great level of control over the refresh behavior of the E - Ink screen . These display apply tiny white and black abridgment that are brought to the surface to create an image , and it run to a sort of ghosting of previous cover content until the display is full freshen , resetting it to an “ all - white ” screen door
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C has five mode that alter how regularly this refresh happens , and even more control underneath those . More even refreshes reduce the ghosting effect , but reduce the smoothness of on - screen movement .
It will likely take you a while to get your head around all the screen refresh controls , but this depth of control is important in a pill with a more divers readiness of ability than a Kindle . The Boox also stores your prefer mode and countersink for each specific app , which is fab .
There are a couple of extra issues to conduct in nous . I find the Onyx Boox Air 3 C suffers from ghosting more than other eastward Ink gadget I ’ve used lately . Even after a full - screen refresh , you’re able to often see little aftersensation — I ’ve comment this more in novels than strip / graphic novel .
This e - reader ’s front sparkle also has color temperature control . you could make it appear more blueish , or trim the blue luminosity message and make it an orange shade . There ’s a free - motion slider that lets you reach the timbre you want .
Software
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C software is one of its greatest strength , and also the radical of some of its fundamental problems . This is an Android machine with a custom computer software bed on top .
That software veneer offers the magnetic core feature a twist like this needs . There ’s a simple Reader app , which can handle all kind of documents include CBR / CBZ comic book file , EPUBs and PDFs .
There ’s a “ depot ” incision , where you may download public domain sour like HG Wells ’s The War of the Worlds .
The Notes app is great , and comprehensive . There are all sorts of templates , grids and lined guide you may practice for your notes , and it supports layers for non - destructive redaction . guide go beyond the basics , including material like a monthly plan , flow chart and musical marking .
Nowhere does the stylus feel more reactive than in the Notes app too . There ’s no literal gumption of the pen billet lag significantly behind the beak , which is decidedly a factor when using a third - political party Android graphics app like Sketchbook . While you may mean of these E Ink screens as slow , according to a spec scraper app , the Onyx Boox Air 3 C has a 38Hz maximum refresh rate — low by the standards of phones , but high enough for lifelike - appear motion .
The app can use OCR ( optical character realisation ) to action your scrawls , but quit short of being capable to work musical notation into a digital MIDI data file , which is a disgrace .
You need an Onyx write up if you want to cloud - storage your line , but a free sign - up nets you 10 GB of storage . Unlike a Remarkable 2 , a paid ongoing sub is n’t a thing here .
What ’s overlook ? A good book storage . However , that ’s not a stack - breaking problem when Google Play is onboard . you could install Kindle , Kobo , Borrowbox or Overdrive .
I initially found the animated page turns of the made - for - mobile Kindle app distracting , and a attraction for ghosty smears in the E - Ink board . However , a quick permutation to the Regal screen refresh mode effectively fixed that , disguise the spiritedness .
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C has a Snapdragon 680 under the hood , construct it dramatically more powerful than a Kindle Scribe or Remarkable 2 . But it necessitate that power because of its more demanding operating system .
Here , you may play games like Asphalt 9 or Fortnite if you really want . I tried both . They work but do n’t look or feel smashing , thanks to the low filmdom refresh and less - than - idealistic framing charge per unit . Fortnite be given terribly . I can opine more visually simple puzzle game being a blast on the Onyx Boox Air 3 C , though .
If you ’re sharp on getting more power , perhaps to expend this as an vitamin E Ink microcomputer , you should also regard the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro . It cost more and has a Snapdragon 855 CPU — an oldie , but it ’s a caboodle more powerful than the Air 3 C ’s Snapdragon 680 .
Battery life
Long bombardment life is one of the cardinal merchandising point of a rival Amazon Kindle e - referee . It ’s measure in weeks rather than hour . The more open software of the Onyx Boox Air 3 C lets us judge barrage fire life in multiple fashion , but in no situation does it get close to that benchmark .
It has a 4300mAh cell , which is diminished for a sound , permit alone a pill . When playing video from YouTube , the Air 3 C lose 40 % charge in 130 minutes , suggesting full playback time of around five hours 20 bit .
On interchange to the “ HD ” screen modal value , which pull a screen refresh every prison term there ’s significant variety in the range , it lost 13 % in 32 minutes . This propose the more even screen refresh can lend bombardment life down to around four hr .
Pretty bad right ? When read , the situation improve because of how the screen tech works , consuming little barrage fire when on - projection screen subject does not change .
Without using any strategy to hear to compact the most out of the battery , the Onyx Boox Air 3 ampere-second lasts around six hours 40 moment when reading . I then tested again , after turning off Wi - Fi and the display light , and realize the tablet can last around 11 hours .
turn off Wi - Fi is advisable , then , but I do think you ’ll want to keep the display visible radiation on as it improves legibility significantly when in less bright surroundings . But , yep , it ’s pretty poor stamina compare with a Kindle Scribe .
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Should you buy it?
A colouration screen and Google Play app living allow the Boox handle Job and content the Remarkable 2 and Kindle Scribe are n’t that well suitable to .
The experience is less placid here than the key rivals , the display has significantly less contrasty pop music and if the price seems too high-pitched for you then then , hey , possibly it is .
Final Thoughts
The Onyx Boox Air 3 C is a amazingly various and undefendable - feeling referee and note - hold tablet . It feel more open and tinkerer - favorable than a Kindle Scribe or ReMarkable 2 tablet .
And add a color screen pick here ? That ’s ambitious hooey , and a dreaming for some long - terminal figure referee fans .
However , it is also less approachable than a Remarkable or Kindle Scribe , and hard to recommend to many as a consequence . The battery life story is relatively poor , and some of you will need to line up your expectations of what a color e - reader can , or should , look like .
While colour is first-class for read comic strip or illustrated book , chroma is poor and the general display punch and dividing line is low than that of a standard e - lecturer . Still , it ’s a tinkerer ’s delectation , and one I ’m happy exists .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every e - reader we critique thoroughly . We use the gadget over the review point . We ’ll always distinguish you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to brush up a product .
FAQs
This tablet has no state water immunity , so use it carefully when near liquids .
This is the colour variation of the Es - lecturer , while the B&W version is called the Boox Air 3 .
There ’s no earpiece jackfruit , but there are internal speakers and you could tie in wireless headphones .
