I’ve been on a quest to search out the right E Ink gadget that mixes all the most effective options and purposes of digital ink whereas nonetheless being sufficiently small that I’ll really wish to carry it round all day. For my wants, that gadget is the brand new Onyx Boox Nova Air, which packs sufficient flexibility to make it extra than simply a wonderful e book reader and stable digital notepad.

Let me begin off by saying that in the case of digital note-taking—or e-note units—I completely adore the reMarkable tablets. No different E Ink gadget maker has put as a lot effort into enhancing and sharpening the digital paper writing expertise because the reMarkable crew has, and utilizing their tablets for note-taking is a near-perfect expertise. However, that laser concentrate on making a incredible e-note gadget additionally implies that the reMarkable tablets aren’t so nice for studying ebooks. Even the reMarkable 2 doesn’t include an illuminated display as a result of the reMarkable’s creators consider it will be a detriment to its writing expertise. Bummer.

I’m additionally a giant fan of the Kobo Libra, which I exploit for studying ebooks, however that’s simply in regards to the extent of its usefulness to me. As a end result, it spends most of its life on my bedside desk. I’ve lengthy wished the most effective of each worlds, a hybrid of the reMarkable and the Libra, however with out resorting to an iPad, which I discover are too heavy, too fragile, and too costly for what I would like from a pill. What I would like is sort of precisely what Onyx has delivered with the Boox Nova Air, which ticks all of my want checklist objects, even when its consumer interface is usually a little tough across the edges.

The Perfect Size

The finest characteristic of the Nova Air is the gadget’s dimension. As a lot as I like the reMarkable, and suppose it’s the right dimension for note-taking, it additionally feels too massive for comfortably studying books. And whereas the Kobo Libra is the right dimension for studying, the e-reader’s compact footprint makes its display too small for efficient note-taking. The Nova Air’s 7.8-inch E Ink Carta HD display falls someplace in between the 2. It makes the Nova Air roughly the identical dimension because the earlier generations of the iPad Mini, however with an 1872 x 1404, 300 ppi E Ink display that gives wonderful readability and even higher battery life than Apple’s smallest pill. With a 2,000 mAh battery inside that’s charged by way of a USB-C port on the underside, you may simply eke out a number of weeks of use between costs.

Dedicated web page flip buttons are a slowly disappearing characteristic I nonetheless love in e-readers. I’m not the most important fan of swiping or tapping the sides of a display for web page turns, which is how the Nova Air works out of the field, although I don’t suppose it’s a dealbreaker. Onyx presents an optionally available $60 folio case that the Nova Air magnetically attaches to, much like the instances accessible for the reMarkable 2. However, the Nova Air’s case presents extra than simply safety, it additionally provides a pair of bodily web page flip buttons to sweeten the deal.

The draw back is that the $60 Magnetic Case includes a shiny and easy outer end making it very tough to carry the Nova Air with one hand whereas the duvet is folded round to the again. The again of the case and the duvet simply slip and slide in opposition to one another so it’s robust to get a stable grip on the entire thing. It made it tough to adapt my studying type with the Kobo Libra to the Nova Air, however in case you’re used to utilizing two palms to learn a ebook, it’s not a difficulty.

Alternately, if you wish to use the Nova Air bare however nonetheless wish to defend it whereas it’s bouncing round inside a bag, Onyx additionally sells a fundamental $40 sleeve that accommodates the pill and its stylus with a magnetic flap to maintain it closed. It’s fundamental, however it’s additionally my most popular approach of holding the pill protected whereas out and about.

An Upgraded Stylus You Can Also Swap Out

The Nova Air is much from being the primary E Ink Boox gadget to incorporate e-note performance, however it does include a redesigned stylus with a extra textured end and a tip that stands proud fairly a bit further, making it a lot simpler to write down and draw with. One aspect is barely flattened in order that the stylus will be magnetically connected to the proper aspect of the Nova Air, however whereas it’s a handy place to stash it, the magnetic maintain isn’t anythe place close to as robust as it’s with the second-gen Pencil on Apple’s tablets. It doesn’t take a lot of a bump to knock the stylus off.

When I first tried the Boox e-note units with the Nova 3 Color earlier this 12 months, I wasn’t anticipating a nasty writing expertise, however I wasn’t anticipating something nice both. Thankfully, I used to be fully improper, and the Nova Air e-note writing expertise is incredible, and practically nearly as good because the reMarkable 2, which I nonetheless take into account the benchmark for note-taking on an E Ink gadget. It’s uncertain any consumer will ever actually discover the 4,096 ranges of strain sensitivity the stylus presents, however due to a pre-applied display protector that provides a extra paper-life texture to the floor of the Nova Air, the writing expertise feels nice, and is attentive to even my crude all-caps hen scratch-like printing.

It’s additionally good having the ability to take notes on the Nova Air in the dead of night due to its inclusion of entrance LED lighting that additionally presents full coloration temperature changes to be used at night time earlier than mattress. The characteristic does introduce a slight hole between the E Ink display itself and the writing floor of the pill (which is why the reMarkable tablets don’t embrace LED lights) however it’s a negligible hole, and I’d reasonably have a display I can see in the dead of night, even when there’s no ambient gentle sensor to make brightness changes on my behalf—it’s all finished manually with a pair of sliders.

As incredible as the newest iPad Mini appears, one more reason I choose the Nova Air is that it really makes use of Wacom’s know-how for the display and stylus. So not solely do you by no means should cost the Nova Air’s stylus, it should really work with any Wacom-compatible stylus, together with those accessible for reMarkable tablets in case you occur to choose these and don’t thoughts that your substitute presumably received’t magnetically connect to the aspect of the Nova Air.

Android 10 Makes This More Than Just an E-Reader

The cause that Amazon and Kobo’s e-readers are two of the most well-liked choices all over the world is that each supply entry to 2 of the most important e book shops on the market. The Nova Air does include entry to a retailer out of the field, however the ebook choice seems restricted to titles within the public area, and is disappointing at finest. However, the Nova Air can also be certainly one of just a few E Ink units that runs Android 10, permitting you to put in the Google Play Store. From there, you may obtain each the Amazon Kindle app and the Kobo Books app, offering entry to each e book shops on the identical gadget, in addition to e book lending providers like Libby.

Running Android 10 additionally means you may set up your favourite studying app on the Nova Air in case you don’t just like the default e book reader, or need one thing higher suited to studying comedian books or different recordsdata. You may even set up video games and YouTube if you need, though you’ll rapidly run into the restrictions of E Ink, which merely can’t refresh as quick as LCD or OLED shows are in a position to. The Nova Air does enable for a stunning quantity of customizability on how the E Ink display performs on a per app foundation (like growing the refresh fee) and taking part in less complicated video games like Solitaire works simply positive. But attempt to play video, or video games with extra motion, and your eyes will hate you.

The Nova Air isn’t flawless, nonetheless. It isn’t working inventory Android 10, and as an alternative includes a customized front-end that simply doesn’t really feel anyplace as polished as what you’ll discover on the reMarkables, Kindles, or Kobos. It works, and it doesn’t take lengthy to search out your approach round, however it’s not fairly, and might be the one huge trade-off of the Nova Air. To make navigating an Android gadget with an E Ink display barely simpler, the pill options an omnipresent on-screen button that may be positioned anyplace, offering fast entry to a bunch of generally used options via a radial menu like dwelling, undo, forcing a display refresh, accessing settings, energy, and many others., and it’s extremely customizable. It even seems on display when studying a ebook, and whereas initially I discovered it to be distracting and turned it off, the characteristic has grown on me now that I’ve it personalized for my very own wants. I might nonetheless choose bodily buttons throughout the underside of the Nova Air, however the shortcut button is a satisfactory comfort prize.

Perfect Enough

Is the Nova Air completely good? No. Is it good for my wants? Yes. For an e-note I wouldn’t go any smaller, and whereas I nonetheless love the Kobo Libra, I’ve to confess that my eyes aren’t what they was once and the bigger display of the Nova Air higher accommodates the rising font sizes I would like. The total expertise isn’t as fluid and polished as it’s with units just like the reMarkable 2, however the inclusion of display lighting is a large plus right here, as is having many alternative methods to sync notes and buy ebooks, together with content material acquired via different units.

But the most effective characteristic, certainly, is accessing Android 10 and the Google Play Store. It makes the Boox Nova Air really feel like extra than simply an e-note/e-reader, which additionally helps justify its $350 price ticket. That’s not low-cost, however when you think about the premium Amazon Kindle Oasis will nonetheless set you again $270, the Nova Air simply presents a lot extra performance for an additional $80.