Boox took the wraps off its latest E Ink devices today, the Note Air3 C E-Ink and Tab Ultra C Pro E-Ink, and both feature improved hardware and a new SmartScribe feature.
The Note Air3 is available now for $499.99; the Tab Ultra C Pro launches on Oct. 27 for $649.99.
The Note Air3 C is the more affordable and less powerful of the two devices. If you're looking for something that primarily serves as an eReader, it's probably the one you'd favor. We liked the Note Air2's excellent build quality and long battery life, but dinged it for poor app compatibility.
Note Air3 C (Credit: Boox)That latter part may be addressed, at least partially. That's because the Note Air3 runs Android 12, and this time around, it has the Google Play Store built right into the device. You'd had to add the Play Store to the Note Air2 yourself in the past, so this is a step up. However, Android 12 is two versions behind the latest release, and some apps may not play well with an E Ink Screen. Boox is promising three years of firmware updates, but that doesn't guarantee major version upgrades, so starting two versions behind isn't ideal.
Other improvements include a fingerprint reader, a new "handwriting film" to make the device feel more like paper when taking notes with the included Pen stylus, and upgraded displays. The Note Air3 features a 150ppi color E Ink display, a step up from the black-and-white Air2, and can display black and white at 300ppi.
Tab Ultra C Pro (Credit: Boox)The Tab Ultra C Pro also sees several upgrades, including the same new color E Ink display. We'll have to go hands on to determine if this updated display can produce better colors than its predecessor, the Tab Ultra C tablet we reviewed earlier this year. The tablet has additional hardware, like a more powerful processor, a 16MP camera with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) functionality, and an optional keyboard. With the camera, you can use OCR to recognize and scan text around you.
Like the Air3, the Tab Ultra C Pro runs on Android 12, has access to the Google Play Store, and works with a stylus.
Both the Air3 and the Tab Ultra C Pro work with Boox's new Smartscribe feature, which allows users to annotate books and will convert those notes into underlines, highlights, and more. That's similar to Amazon's $339.99 Kindle Scribe; Boox says its devices' color screens differentiate them from the Scribe.
