Onyx Boox Note Air 2 Plus Review

In the last few years, a number of e-ink tablets have been introduced and the latest one to join the mix is Onyx’s Boox Note Air 2 Plus. While it is facing some tough competition, the Note Air 2 Plus appears to be smarter, stylish and has a classical design that gives it a nice touch. The box also includes a stylus pen and it boasts a suite of software that can be incredibly helpful.

Design and display

The most striking qualities of this e-ink tablet is that it is sleek and solid. The Note Air 2 Plus comes with a 10.3inch e-ink Carta display on the right, while the left has an area for gripping it. It comes with a moderate bezel and at 5.8mm, it is extremely thin. On the sides and back, the tablet has a unibody metal and it is barely thicker than the USB-C port provided for charging it.

The right, top and bottom of the tablet do not have any buttons or ports. The left has the USB-C port and the power button, along with the loudspeaker. The Note Air 2 Plus feels solid because it weighs 445g. When it comes to the screen, there is a monochrome e-ink 227ppi display that is quite sharp. The matte finish makes it easy to read. In terms of software, the display offers you several refresh styles including A2, Speed, Regal and X. In fact, Note Air 2 Plus also supports app-specific customizations, which is a great way of making up for the lack of color.

Accessories

There is a standard stylus included in the box with the Note Air 2 Plus, but there is no eraser or button on the back. The pen magnet has been improved from last year’s model, so the pen stays secure. You can grip the pen easily, thanks to the striated grooves, but it feels like plastic and is a bit short. But, it gets the job done and gives you the feeling that you are writing on paper.

There is no Magnetic Case available in the box, but the official store does offer the bundle. Another great thing about the Note Air 2 Plus is that it functions quite well with a number of Bluetooth devices, so you can pair it with speakers, headphones and even a keyboard.

Specs and software

The Note Air 2 Plus has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 646, which may not be a powerhouse, but it works well with the e-ink technology. It comes with 64GB of storage, which may not sound like much, but since it is an e-ink tablet, it can suffice.

Even though it has a customized version of Android 11, the user interface looks very different. The notetaking software is quite powerful, as it offers support for text, layers and image attachments. In fact, even optical character recognition (OCR) is supported.

The most notable addition in the Note Air 2 Plus that sets it apart from its competitors is that it gives you access to Google Play Store.