The Boox Word Air 3 C is the perfect colour e-ink pill we have tried. Simply do not anticipate to get an iPad, regardless that you are paying iPad costs.
The $499 Boox Word Air 3 C is, broadly talking, a cross between an e-book reader and a pill. It is billed as having some performance much like a pill however with an ePaper display screen.
The primary distinction is the ten.3-inch Kaleido 3 Carta 1200 glass ePaper display screen, which is designed to supply a paper-like look. It is much like the earlier Word Air 3, however the C stands for its 4,096 hues of colour, as an alternative of a greyscale model.
In the case of decision, it may well handle a formidable 2,480 by 1,860 pixels, equalling 300ppi. Nevertheless, that is for black and white content material, because it drops right down to 1,240 by 930 and 150ppi when utilized in colour.
It is noticeable when it occurs, particularly if you’re used to an iPad with a Retina display screen. It is not a show-stopper for the product’s supposed use case, although.
The display screen can also be touch-sensitive to fingers and may use the Boox Stylus Contact. Stylus enter gives 4,096 ranges of strain sensitivity.
The pen does not require charging, which is a pleasant contact. It is similar to the Kindle Scribe stylus in use and within the hand, so in the event you’re coming from a type of, it really works fairly properly.
Handwriting is nice and clean. There may be the briefest of lags between the transfer of the stylus and the looks on the display screen, much like the unique Apple Pencil.
Driving the pill is a 2.4 GHz Octa-core and BSR CPU, accompanied by 4GB of reminiscence and 64GB of flash storage.
That 64GB is a combined bag. It is tremendous to hold round a whole bunch of text-only books, however if you begin including graphical-heavy ones, it will get full shortly.
Thankfully, there is a microSD card slot. We used a 512GB card to check it out, and it mounted and saved tremendous.
Unlocking the Boox Word Air 3 C is dealt with through the facility button, which has built-in fingerprint recognition.
The fingerprint recognition was a bit fussy to arrange. As soon as I bought it configured correctly, although, it was tremendous via the testing interval.
Connectivity choices lengthen to dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. There’s additionally a USB-C port that can be utilized for audio, a microSD card slot, a pair of audio system, and a microphone.
The primary promoting level for e-ink shows is that they sip energy, and the Boox Word Air 3 C isn’t any exception. The unit has a 3700 mAh battery.
In our months-long testing interval with every day utilization, we needed to cost the pill up about as soon as per week, and even then, it solely bought right down to about 50% that week. Spectacular, and anticipated for an e-ink gadget.
It is not all unbelievable, although. I am not that excited concerning the customized Android 12 on the pill. It’s an working system that’s 4 years previous at this level, and safety will in the end develop into a difficulty if the pill is uncovered to the Web.
This all mentioned Boox guarantees three years of assist for the pill, in order that’s a plus. One other plus to Boox’s implementation of it’s media is entrance and middle, and simple to search out.
Count on to have to make use of headphones or earbuds if you wish to play audio. The microphone and audio system are, merely, horrible.
You probably have a Boox account, you need to use free cloud storage to maneuver your information round for later entry, or you need to use it 100% offline with information saved regionally. That microSD card slot could be very helpful for mass import.
Supported media codecs on the Boox Word Air 3 C
- DJVU
- CBR
- CBZ
- EPUB
- AZW3
- MOBI
- TXT
- DOC
- DOCX
- FB2
- CHM
- RTF
- HTML
- ZIP
- PRC
- PPT
- PPTX
Boox has the superb NeoReader app, which we have mentioned at some size earlier than. It is fairly good however is proscribed to non-DRM-restricted media, and Boox’s personal media retailer is weak.
So, anticipate to have apps to assist different providers. Quite a lot of them.
That is the place the Google Play retailer kicks in, with all that entails for the person expertise.
Not an iPad killer, nevertheless it was by no means supposed to be
There’s been numerous chatter about Boox on social media and in different opinions. The oldsters that just like the gadget name it some form of iPad killer, when it’s clearly not. Others level out the shortcomings of the gadget and say that it should not exist.
I disagree with each of the arguments. Should you purchase an e-ink show, you realize that you simply’re in for an excellent studying expertise, and a poor video one. Should you purchase an iPad, you realize you are getting LCD with all that entails.
The Boox Word Air 3 C is not an iPad, and even Apple’s entry-level iPad is way extra highly effective than it. However, it does not attempt to be something greater than what it’s.
Boox is aware of what they’ve on this gadget. It is extra highly effective than Amazon’s choices, and the months-long battery life is unbelievable.
The price of the colour e-ink is a bit robust to swallow. Arguably, although, it is the perfect e-ink reader we have used but, it simply comes at a price.
A tip although, in the event you’re taking a look at something from Boox to complement your Apple gadgets get Calibre to handle your non-DRM media throughout all the things you personal. You will not be sorry.
Boox Word Air 3 C assessment – Professionals
- Excellent battery life
- Numerous customization for display screen lighting
- Nice for bigger format studying
Boox Word Air 3 C assessment – Cons
- Excessive worth level
- Android 12 is getting creakier by the day
- Poor speaker and microphone high quality
Boox Word Air 3 C assessment score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The place to purchase the Boox Word Air 3 C
The Boox Word Air 3 C is accessible instantly from Boox for $499.