Onyx Boox Note Air3 C Test - Tablet with E Ink color display and pen input

At the end of last year, Chinese manufacturer Onyx presented two new tablets with an E Ink display and Android operating system: the Boox Note Air3 and the Note Air3 C. Both models in the Note series have a 10.30″ display housed in a 5.8 mm thick casing. The Note Air 3 is equipped with a monochrome display and the Note Air3 C with a color display that can show 4,096 colors and 16 shades of gray. Beyond that, the two models do not differ. You can find out how the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C performs in our test.

Technical data of the Boox Note Air3 C

Display	10.30″ Kaleido 3 (4,096 colors, 16 shades of grey, backlit)
Resolution	2480 x 1860 pixels, 300 ppi (color display: 1240 x 930 pixels, 150 ppi)
Touch	4.096 pressure sensitivity levels, capacitive touch
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G (8C/8T, max. 2.40 GHz)
Working memory	4 GB LPDDR4X
Mass storage	64 GB (UFS 2.2), expandable with a microSD card
Connectivity	Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 5.0
Ports	USB-C (supports USB audio and USB OTG)
Special features	Fingerprint scanner in the power button
Battery capacity	3.700 mAh (Li-ion polymer)
Operating system	Android 12
supported text formats	PDF, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX, EPUB3
supported audio formats	WAV, MP3
supported image formats	PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF
Dimensions	226 x 193 x 5.8 mm
Weight	430 g
Scope of delivery	Boox Note Air3 C, Boox Pen Plus, USB-C cable, card tray tool, quick start guide
Warranty	2 years
Price	€ 549.99 *

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Scope of delivery

includes the tablet, a stylus and a USB-C cable
a magnetic cover is also included in the official Boox store

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 C comes in a black box with orange accents. This matches the color of the tablet itself, which is also black with orange accents. There is no photo of the tablet on the box, only the technical specifications are listed on the back.

After opening the box, you look directly at the Note Air3 C. The color screen saver shows that the model is equipped with a color display even when it is switched off. Underneath the tablet are two smaller boxes containing a Boox Pen Plus, a USB-C cable, a tool for opening the microSD slot and a quick start guide. In the official Boox store, the tablet is only available in a bundle with the magnetic case or with the magnetic case and the Pen2 Pro (link to store).

Design and workmanship

the case is made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy
the casing is predominantly black with orange accents
the material and workmanship quality are impressive

The casing of the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C has a footprint of 226 x 193 mm and is only 5.8 mm thick. The weight is 430 g. The tablet’s casing is made of a very sturdy magnesium-aluminum alloy, only the front is made of glass. The color of the casing is predominantly black, only the stripe on the left side of the display is slightly lighter. Orange accents stand out from this.

The front of the Note Air3 C consists mainly of the 10.30″ color display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The strip on the left-hand side allows the tablet to be held comfortably without covering the display. There are two speakers, a microphone and a microSD slot on the left-hand side, as well as a USB-C port with an orange border in the middle. There is a power button on the top left, but no other controls. The back has an orange stripe running down the right-hand side from top to bottom and also features information on the model name, voltage and amperage.

The quality of materials and workmanship of the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C was impressive in the test. The tablet’s casing feels very high-quality thanks to the magnesium-aluminum alloy. The transition between the casing and glass is very clean.

The magnetic case (link to store) is available in black. It is magnetically attached to the tablet and then closed with a flap that provides space for the stylus. When open, however, the flap comes loose quickly and can sometimes get in the way. The case is also foldable, allowing the tablet to be set up.

Hardware

the hardware is not up to date…
… but sufficiently fast in practice
very good color display with the typical limitations of E Ink displays

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 C is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G with 8 cores from 2020, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory. The internal memory can be expanded with a microSD card. The tablet supports wireless connections with WiFi at 2.4 and 5 Ghz and Bluetooth 5.0.

To compare the performance of the Note Air3 C with other devices, we use the 3DMark, Geekbench 6 and PCMark benchmarks. The results of the benchmarks are consistently low and are significantly lower than those of cheaper mid-range tablets, such as the AGM Pad P2 (test). The result of the PCMark battery benchmark is 5 hours and 46 minutes; in practice, the battery life was more than twice as long.

Benchmark	The result
3DMark Wild Life	429 pts.
Geekbench 6 Single Core	315 pts.
Geekbench 6 Multi Core	1.124 pts.
Geekbench 6 GPU	290 pts.
PCMark	5.578 pts.

Even though the Note Air3 C’s hardware is not up to date and the benchmark results are low, it is sufficiently fast in practice. This is also due to the fact that use is mostly limited to reading documents, writing notes or drawing, and demanding applications such as games are hardly possible due to the E Ink display.

We also like the color display of the Note Air3 C very much. The display offers a high level of detail and sufficient brightness, the texts are very sharp and pleasant to read both indoors and outdoors. Interested parties should note, however, that the color display offers advantages when reading and taking notes, but with its 4,096 colors it cannot come close to the color reproduction of typical tablet displays and the colors appear rather pale.

Software

Android 12 with Google Play Store
customized user interface for use as an e-book reader…
… with weaknesses in the German language

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 C is equipped with Android 12 with the September 2023 security update as the operating system. The user interface is strongly adapted for use as an e-book reader and is hardly comparable with that of other tablets. Depending on the setting, there is a function bar with six icons for the home screens on the left or right-hand side

Library (saved documents and e-books),
Store (free, but mostly older and English-language e-books),
Annotations (notes),
Storage (file manager),
Apps (app drawer) and
Settings

Apps such as BOOXDrop for data transfer, the NeoBrowser, the NeoReader, a gallery, a calendar, an app for notes, a music player and a calculator are pre-installed. The Google Play Store is also pre-installed and enables the installation of a large number of apps. The settings are familiar from other devices. Gesture control and the navigation bar can also be customized. In addition, the screen refresh mode, colors, brightness and other settings can be adjusted individually for each app. You can choose between HD, Balanced, Fast and Ultra Fast modes for the screen refresh. While HD mode offers a high level of detail with strong ghosting and is therefore particularly suitable for text, Ultra Fast mode offers a low level of detail with less ghosting and is therefore suitable for playing videos.

The language of the software can be customized. However, the German translation looks like an automatic translation, has weaknesses and is sometimes incomplete. Sometimes there are unsightly breaks, such as in the function bar on the side, or you can find English words despite the German language selection. This problem is known from many inexpensive devices, but should not occur in the Note Air3 C’s price range.

Practical test of the Boox Note Air3 C

very suitable as an e-book reader and notebook
Boox apps with many different and extensive functions as well as AI functions
Boox apps with convincing pen input, but some delays with third-party apps

In practice, the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C impresses with its pleasant dimensions and very good material and manufacturing quality. The tablet feels good in the hand and the casing does not get warm even under load.

The software of the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C was particularly pleasing in the test when reading documents and writing notes. The NeoReader offers many options, such as adjusting the font, underlining and color highlighting, as well as additions and translations. In split-screen mode, you can make notes directly under the text or display a translation. The app for notes offers many different templates, from blank sheets to lines and grids to daily plans. The notes can be made using the keyboard or by hand and then copied, enlarged and moved using the lasso, for example.

The pen input was convincing in the pre-installed apps and came very close to writing on paper. The handwritten input was recognized well and the subsequent text recognition by AI also worked well with reasonably legible handwriting. While the pen input was also convincing in Microsoft OneNote, we noticed a significant delay in other third-party apps, such as Sketchbook, regardless of the settings. In our opinion, the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C offers many different and extensive options and leaves nothing to be desired as an e-book reader and notebook in the test. Thanks to the E-Ink display, even several hours of use is not very strenuous, and the battery lasted a week without any problems in the test with daily use.

Even if you can install a large number of apps via the Google Play Store, use is severely limited by the E Ink display. The color display offers too few colors for multimedia content and games and can hardly display the content smoothly. The speakers on the left-hand side are also inconveniently positioned, as the lower one is usually covered when holding the tablet.

Boox Note Air3 C test: Conclusion

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 C proves to be a good tablet with an e-ink display in the test, but also with minor weaknesses. The tablet impresses with its design, material and build quality. The color display is pleasing and enables sharp texts that are pleasant to read both indoors and outdoors. The color display offers advantages when reading, but especially when editing documents or writing notes.

The Note Air3 C’s software has both strengths and weaknesses. The strengths of the Note Air3 C include, for example, the good pre-installed apps and the Google Play Store, through which many more apps are available. Its weaknesses, on the other hand, include the German translation of the software and the partial delay in third-party apps.

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 C is currently available for €549 (as of 06.07.2024) and is overall a good and recommendable tablet with an E Ink display. The Note Air3 with a monochrome display is already available for €429.