BOOX Tab Ultra C ePaper Tablet PC 10.3 E Ink Tablet Digital
BOOX Tab Ultra C ePaper Tablet PC 10.3 E Ink Tablet Digital Paper 4G 128G with Rear Camera TF Card Slo
Screen: 10.3″ Kaleido 3 (4,096 colors) Carta 1200 glass screen with flat cover-lens
Resolution: B/W: 2480 x 1860 (300 ppi) Color: 1240 x 930 (150 ppi)
Touch: BOOX stylus touch (4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity) + capacitive touch
CPU: Qualcomm Advanced Octa-core+ RAM: 4GB (LPDDR4X)+ ROM: 128GB (UFS2.1)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (2.4GHz + 5GHz) + BT 5.0
Front Light with CTM (Warm and Cold)
G-sensor for Auto Rotation + 16MP Rear Camera
OS: Android 11
Document Formats: PDF, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX
Image Formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF
Audio Formats: WAV, MP3 + Supports 3rd-party apps
Button: Power Button with Fingerprint Recognition
USB-C Port (Supports OTG or use as an audio jack) + microSD Card Slot + Built-in Dual Speakers + Built-in Dual Microphones
Battery: 6,300mAh Li-ion Polymer
Dimensions: 225 x 184.5 x 6.7 mm (8.9″ x 7.3″ x 0.26″) + Weight: Approx. 480g (16.9oz)
| Weight: | 4 g |
| Dimensions: | 21 x 18 x 0.5 cm; 4 Grams |
| Brand: | BOOX |
| Model: | Tab Ultra C |
| Batteries Included: | Yes |
| Manufacture: | BOOX |
| Dimensions: | 21 x 18 x 0.5 cm; 4 Grams |
On YouTube you’ll see lots of peopleving about how an eink tablet has transformed their day and working life, it is not an understatement. I cannot recommend this product highly enough.
I am a consultant and I recently started with a new client. Firstly, the device makes people go “wow”, which as a consultant is a good thing. But, more importantly, I have turned around the first 5 days work quicker than ever before, this is critical for the work I do.
Within a week, the Boox device has become a critical part of my new workflows, I could not be without it!
In contrast, the pen is disappointing. It’s plasticky and lightweight and not particularly pleasant to write with – it feels like Boox should up their game with that. The built in eraser is handy, though.
The screen itself feels like a massive step-up from Kindle and a step down from an iPad. Colours are much nearer to comic book style print than to glossy magazine quality and, if you’re considering this as a tablet replacement, you should be aware that the resolution and clarity is much lower than you’ll be used to.
The operating system is nearly stock Android, so setup is easy if you’re already an Android user. There are few preloaded apps, so you’ll need to get to the Play Store first up. Apps install as quickly as you’d expect given the processor and memory supplied and everything works crisply and quickly though there is noticeable screen lag when loading apps and ghosting is an issue, especially for magazines and comics. It’s possible to set the screen display mode on a per-app basis and you can mitigate, but not resolve, display issues by doing so. Out of the box, the display is set to a really bright backlight which eats battery, I’ve changed that and the colour temperature, and battery now lasts for at least a week with several hours note-taking and reading each day. It’s possible that the ghosting I see might be lessoned with a brighter backlight setting.
The pre installed notes app is really great and I can’t think of anything that it doesn’t do. There are a wide range of customisable pens and pencils and a choice of delete modes. You can add multiple layers so that, for example, you can colour a ‘pencil’ drawing on a separate layer and view them both with and without the colour. Importing pdfs of specific paper types, e.g. custom grids or form templates, is easy and effective. There’s a whole bunch of other functionality that I haven’t yet explored. Synching to Google Drive is easy and really effective, once it’s set up the notes appear as PDFs in the drive automatically and can be conveniently reviewed on another device.
I bought this to replace my Kindle, iPad and paper notebook with a single device that would cover all the functionality I used of each. So, mainly, reading books using the Kindle app; reading magazines using Readly; making a lot of handwritten notes, lists etc and some drawings and diagrams; limited productivity apps such as Google Sheets and Docs; and some web browsing and shopping.
The Kindle reading experience is superb, far better than an actual Kindle for me as I can have a reasonable number of words to a page without reaching for my glasses. Tiny type in Readly is clearly and neatly rendered but the image quality leaves much to be desired even in HD mode, so if you’re in it for the pictures you’ll be better sticking to iPad. As a notepad it’s great, I love that I can separate out the various different categories of notes that I make, that the different types of writing implement in the notes app actually have a different feel whilst writing, that I can switch pens without actually having to carry a pencil case around with me and that there are various different paper types to write or draw on. Sheets and Docs are really easy to work on with an external keyboard. Web browsing and shopping is fine within the limitations of the display technology.
Overall, I’m really pleased that I bought this. My reservations are around ghosting in the display which is hopeless for reading comics and irritating for magazines. On balance, the premium for the colour display is probably worth it for the functionality it adds, though black and white might be adequate and is better value but far. It’s a shame about the pen, and I would say that a folding case is essential due to the camera housing but other than that you’re good to go out of the box.
Coming from the previous Tab Ultra B/W device (which I had for 6 months) this upgrade is a worthwhile addition which makes the device even more useful and versatile
My use case
– Primarily for taking/organizing meeting notes
– Reading and responding to (short) emails.
– Responding to teams messages
– Reading books (kindle)
– Signing PDF’s
Key differences between B/W & colour
– Colour of course – As mentioned by others do not expect a full spectrum or vivid reproduction of colours. It’s more like a printed newspaper but the addition makes a huge difference when reading magazines, comics , browsing the web etc making all of the above more enjoyable and easier as images are separated better
– Bump to 300PPI – text really is noticeably clearer / crispier but keep in mind that due to the new Kaleido 3 screen, backgrounds are not as white or bright as with the B/W version. Therefore, to achieve a similar level of white/brightness you will need to turn the front light on to at least 40/50% – not so in the sun but indoors yes.
– Battery life – Feels like the battery life will be shorter due to the need to use the front light – for reference lost about 20% last night after about 1hr of tinkering / 90mins of emails (with keyboard attached) /20mins of reading. Based on that probably will need to charge every 3-4 days. I normally charged my B/W tab about once every 7-10days based on 5 days’ worth of meeting (9am-5pm) and only a light amount of reading
– Note taking – the use of subtle colours is useful for creating differences in your notes and will help organisation.
Boox vs 3rd Apps
– Boox in built apps are very good and really the way to go for things like note taking and reading PDFs
– Tried One note which is usable but the printing of text only when you refresh is a little annoying, but it works if you really need it. I’m sure the addition of colour will be a benefit here.
– Gmail works fine
– MS office apps – Outlook , Teams , Todo , Excel , Word , Powerpoint and ond drive all work pretty well. However mainly use the apps that are for fast, short work so therefore Outlook, Team and really love MS Todo app
Kindle vs Neo-reader – Neo reader is great for PDF’s but I prefer Kindle for reading books
– Docu sign works well.
Corporate environment
– Connects to office guest wifi but not staff one (i work for a big corporate)
– All apps connect to my work MS apps , you may need to download the intunes app that many business IT teams use to secure devices.
Screen feel / responsiveness
– Better than an ipad and i personally like the feel on of the screen when writing using the style. I will not buy a screen protector
– Stylus is very responsive, does not need charging and sticks really well magnetically to the side of the device
Keyboard
– Nice build quality – a little small for long writing sessions but for pumping out emails pretty good.
– Can disconnect from the pogo pins with a little bump that is annoying as you have to wait a second for it to reconnect again.
– A bit heavy but to me makes it all feel more secure.
Should you upgrade ?
– If you like having the latest things and only stand too loose a little when you sell you B/W tab then i think the color screen is worth the upgrade.
– If your main use case is taking notes and reading B/W books then it’s probably not worth the cost to upgrade.
Should you buy at all?
– If you are looking for a powerful does everything tablet just like an iPad or Samsung device but just with an e-paper screen then NO. You will be disappointed by the speed of the device and lack of good video , OLED screen colours etc.
– If on the other hand its mostly for note taking (That’s my primary use), emailing, and reading coloured things like magazines, comics etc then YES
– Also, if eye strain is a thing for you then it’s probably also a good device although I don’t know if the need to use the front light now makes it any better than a back lit device – so far, it’s been comfortable for me.
– It is also very expensive so in reality its a luxurious treat as for the money you could buy an iPad that does everything very well.
Overall, I really like the device and use it everyday so for me it’s worth the cost.