Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C review: a solid color epaper tablet that, sadly, doesn't feel 'new' | Tech Radar

Overview

I've been using the Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C for a few weeks and it's an excellent color epaper tablet — it just doesn't feel 'new'

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Details

The Boox Note Air 5 C might look like its predecessors, but its updated Android 15-based software and better CPU make it an excellent upgrade. Needless to say, it’s a fantastic epaper tablet in its own right with a newly designed stylus that makes the writing experience one of the best I’ve had. However, it has some design quirks that are annoying and it’s a heavy tablet. It also doesn't feel 'new' compared to other Boox options still available. If a color epaper display isn't important, I'd pick the lighter Boox Go series over this one any day.

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I’ve been a fan of the Boox Note Air series of epaper tablets since I first tried the Note Air 2, and the Note Air 5 C — announced in October 2025 — continues the tradition of solidly built devices that work well.

The headline act here is an updated operating system. It’s the first epaper tablet to run an Android 15-based software and Boox has promised that the device will receive three years of support, much more than previous iterations.

The second thing that’s new here is the pen. It ships with the Boox Pen 3, which is unlike anything I’ve seen from the Chinese ereader maker. It continues to have the felt tip-like writing experience, but unique is the storage space for three replacement nibs on the top, covered by its own cap. Sadly this top cover is loose and pops off easily.

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Lastly, the Note Air 5 C features a set of pogo pins on its rear that allows it to attach seamlessly to the optional keyboard folio from Boox, and there’s a pair of buttons on the magnetic side for page turns or volume adjustment.

That’s all that’s new here — nothing really groundbreaking except the software upgrade. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the Note Air 5 C, like its predecessors, is solidly built and performs well. It just doesn't feel very different from other Boox devices and, if I was asked to recommend a 10-inch e-notebook, I'd probably pick the lighter (albeit grayscale) Boox Go 10.3 or the re Markable Paper Pro for its color display (although you won't get Android's versatility).

There are a few other small issues that I think is important to note: while the screen light is great at its brightest, it's comparatively darker at low and mid levels. The magnet to secure the pen to the side of the tablet is also not very strong — the only position where it secures well covers the bottom page-turn button, but even that isn’t great.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 CPU used here helps the device perform well, but I found some lag when using the on-screen keyboard. There's a much more significant lag when using the optional keyboard folio, which makes touch typing annoying. You might also experience some ghosting, particularly if the document you're perusing is image-heavy.

While my complaints aren't serious, I think they diminish the Note Air 5 C’s overall value and make it harder to recommend over its own Go 10.3 sibling, or the re Markable Paper Pro if color is important.

Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C (OLED) at Amazon for $529.99

Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C review: Price & availability

US and European price includes folio and box of 5 replacement nibs; Australian price is for device and stylus only

If you’re in the US or in the UK, (or anywhere in Europe for that matter), the Boox Note Air 5 C is well priced, especially when purchasing directly from the Boox Store where it’s bundled with a folio case and a box of five replacement pen tips. And given there are three spare nibs on the top of the new stylus itself, that’s a lot of spare tips for the price.

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In Australia, however, it’s a very expensive prospect as you only get the tablet and the Boox Pen 3 — no extras are included.

In contrast, the re Markable Paper Pro, which is also a 10-inch color e-notebook, starts at

Then again, if you can forgo the color display, a monochrome epaper tablet would be a lot cheaper. For example, you can get the Boox Go 10.3 for around

300ppi (2560 x 1920 pixels) in b/w; 150pp (1240 x 930) in color

300ppi (2560 x 1920 pixels) in b/w; 150pp (1240 x 930) in color

Excellent 10.3 E Ink Kaleido 3 display, but colors can appear muted

Physically, the Note Air 5 C is identical to the previous two generations, with a couple of minor differences. As I’ve already said, that’s not a bad thing, as the overall design is still nice and the device is solidly built. So solid, in fact, that the Note Air series is on the heavier side when it comes to 10-inch epaper tablets.

For context, the Boox Go 10.3 weighs 375g and the Vi Woods Ai Paper tips the scales at 370, but neither of them have frontlights. In contrast, the Note Air 4C weighs 420g and the 5C comes in at 440g. It’s not the heaviest e-notebook — the re Markable Paper Pro is 525g — but it’s not the most comfortable to use in one hand for long periods of time.

Despite being on the heavier side, I like the Note Air series’ metallic chassis and glass screen. While that makes the tablet cold to the touch (especially in winter months), it also makes it a hardy device. That said, there’s no waterproofing here.

There are only two design differences between the Note Air 5 C and the previous 4C and 3C generations. One is a set of pogo pins on the rear to connect to the optional keyboard folio, and the other is a pair of small buttons on the magnetized edge of the device for page turning or volume adjustments.

I’ve been waiting for a large-screen ereader with page-turn buttons but this placement means the device can’t be used single-handed — you will need one hand to hold the device via the larger bezel and use the other hand to press one of the buttons on the opposite side. In my time with the Note Air 5 C, I never once found the need to use the buttons, but the long-press functionality can be set to various functions that can prove handy for some users.

However, if you have the supplied stylus — called the Boox Pen 3 — secured to the side of the tablet, it covers the lower button. Place the stylus lower and the magnetism just isn’t strong enough for a secure hold.

I have to take some time to describe this new pen too. It has an interesting design where, instead of an eraser on the top, three replacement nibs can be stored vertically. They’re covered by a cap with a side clip — much like an actual pen — but sadly the cap is loose and pops out easily. You also need to replace it carefully, and correctly, to avoid damaging the nibs. As thoughtful as the design is, I think the cap would have benefitted from being clipped into place rather than sliding on and off. Despite the addition of the spare nibs on the top of the stylus, the pen is well balanced, lightweight and lovely to write with on the Note Air 5 C.

I should also mention that the most secure way to stow the stylus is to use a folio cover, but the one I was sent for this review didn’t have a loop. Instead, it had a removable flap that I found very annoying to use. Even the keyboard folio designed for the Note Air 5 C has the same flap and it’s just as annoying there as it comes off easily or shifts position with the merest of touches.

Going back to the tablet itself: there’s a USB-C port, a micro SD card tray and dual speakers on the edge opposite to the page/volume buttons, while the top edge houses a power/sleep button that’s flush with the body. The power button is also a fingerprint scanner and I didn’t find its placement very intuitive — I kept expecting the button to be on the corner, but it’s placed slightly away and I kept having to feel for it.

As expected, one bezel is thicker than the other three, with the top corner of the bigger bezel featuring the Boox branding. Small orange strips on three of the edges add some trim to the device, and the same orange surrounds the USB-C port.

This chassis encloses a 10.3-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 screen with LEDs under the glass panel for a frontlight. The light can be adjusted for both brightness and temperature, although keep in mind that warmer (yellow) light will affect the colors displayed on the screen. While this won’t affect those of us who mostly read and write in black and white, fans of comics, manga and graphic novels — or anyone using the color inks to mark up documents — may find colder light the better option.

At its brightest, the frontlight is excellent, but dip it a little bit and the difference is quite dramatic, with the screen appearing darker than expected, but this is a common feature among Boox's color epaper devices like the Go Color 7 (Gen II).

The display, with a monochrome resolution of 300ppi and color resolution of 150ppi is standard, is good. Text is sharp and clear for reading, while colors are good… in the context of being an E Ink display, not compared to an LCD screen. That said, they are relatively muted compared to the re Markable Paper Pro, which uses the E Ink Gallery 3 screen technology that no other epaper device has yet adopted.

Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C review: Software & user experience

Where the Note Air 4C runs on Android 13, Boox has adopted Android 15 for the 5C. Running a later version of Android means the newer epaper tablet will get better software support — and Boox has promised three years of security updates — and there’s better app compatibility too.

It’s important to note, however, that my review of the 5C’s software is based on the firmware it was running at the time of writing (v 4.1.2) and the experience could change slightly depending on what future firmware versions add. The current software fixed a major issue the tablet suffered from at launch (and one I experienced as soon as I started using it) — being unable to write comfortably along the four sides of the screen in the native Notes app.

The custom version of Android 15 running on the Note 5C doesn’t feel very different from the software on older Boox devices as the company has its own user interface overlaid on the operating system. Boox has done a lot of work over the years to simplify its interface, making it cleaner and easier to use, but there’s still plenty to wrap your head around.

That said, I love the look of the default home screen on Boox’s larger tablets, which has a box for your books, another for notes, below which are the apps — both native and those downloaded from the Google Play Store — and, finally, a few icons to access the native library app, a bookstore (with titles that are available in the public domain), the folders within the device’s storage section, and all settings.

You can install Gmail, for example, to access your emails or install Ko Reader or Moon Reader instead of using the native Neo Reader app. Personally, I use the Kindle and Kobo apps to access my existing purchases and get new content, but I also like Instapaper (for reading web articles offline) and Libby (to borrow library books), but the choice is yours.

However, I’ve found the native apps to be more than enough for most users. Not only will you get a full-featured library and notes applications, but there’s also a browser, music player, calendar and a gallery. There are a couple of applications to help you transfer files — although you can use Google Drive and/or Dropbox for easy cloud transfers. Wired transfers are possible on Windows PCs and, as a Mac user, I stuck with the OTG support on the USB-C port that allowed me to plug in a portable SSD.

Swipe down from the top right of the screen to open the Control Center and you’ll find plenty more options there, including buttons for taking screenshots and splitscreen view. This is also where the volume and light control sliders are, but Boox introduced buttons for some preset light options in 2025 and, honestly, I don’t like either the Bright or the Soft settings. I choose custom and make adjustments as I need them — something I did in my Boox Go 7 review as well.

There’s a long list of settings to get through as well, but what’s irksome about the Boox interface are the smaller hidden menus that you need, especially in the native reading app. Unless you’ve already used a Boox device previously, you’ll likely miss them, or you’ll stumble upon them when you’re looking for something specific to change. Ironically, this is a massive improvement over the previous versions of the UI but, if you’re a first time Boox user, be prepared to be patient while learning your way around.

While I had issues with how text rendered on the 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 screen in my Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II) review, thankfully none of that affects the Note Air 5 C. Reading, whether you’re using the native Neo Reader application or you’ve downloaded a third-party app, is a pleasurable experience. Text is sharp and there’s a wide variety of font sizes to choose from.

What I like about the open Android ecosystem of Boox tablets is the ability to sideload any font I like — I’m partial to Amazon’s Bookerly — and use that in the native library app for any sideloaded DRM-free content.

As an avid reader who has used the Boox Go 10.3 as well, I’m pleased to say that the text contrast on the 5C is better, which adds clarity and makes for a better reading experience over the monochrome sibling. Plus, the frontlight on the 5C makes a difference — if you want more contrast, you have to set it to high brightness with no warmth. Adjusting the light temperature can have an effect on the clarity via the contrast, but at no point did it make the text look fuzzy or unreadable. It’s a marked improvement over the Go 10.3 which uses the E Ink Carta 1200 display technology.

Colors, while not as saturated as on the re Markable Paper Pro due to the difference in screen tech being used, are not bad and I found book covers looking good. However, my favourite graphic novel series, The Sandman, looked washed out compared to when I was reading it on my Kobo Libra Colour or even the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II. I’m not much of a comic or graphic novel reader, so the muted colors didn’t really bother me as I’m very used to looking at the frames in black and white on a monochrome ereader.

If you need to make notes on ebooks in the native reading app, you can either scribble or type, and there are menu options within the app to help you do so. These get saved automatically in the document you’ve annotated and you should see them when you open it again. You can use colored ink to write, but all typed text will be grayscale. Highlights can be in a variety colors too.

Overall, the Note Air 5 C makes for a lovely ereader, but its weight can make it uncomfortable for using beyond, say 30 to 40 minutes, and if you leave the folio on, that’s added bulk to take into consideration. Whether you’re reading in bed or sitting up, this is definitely a two-handed device.

The Note Air 5 C offers one of the best writing experiences I’ve had. The Pen 3 is designed to offer a felt-tip experience, which is smooth, and there’s just enough friction to make it feel like you’re writing on paper. You can even hear an almost-audible scratch on the screen that you’d hear when scribbling with pen and paper.

However, if you’ve used an epaper writing tablet without a frontlight before — like the Boox Go 10.3, Vi Woods Ai Paper or the re Markable 2 — and decide to move to one with a light, you might find the gap between the pen and its stroke a little disconcerting. This gap is due to the LEDs occupying the space between the top glass and the actual E Ink layer below — but you get used to it very quickly, so this isn’t a complaint, merely an observation.

I found no lag between pen movement and the mark appearing on the screen, although there were occasions when the device didn’t register a pen stroke — a page refresh usually fixed this issue, although I did restart the device a couple of times when a simple refresh didn't work.

Despite that, the overall writing experience is excellent. Typing, on the other hand, not so much.

Whether you’re using the on-screen keyboard or you’ve opted to purchase the optional keyboard folio, there is a lag. The former is the faster option with only the slightest lag, but using the physical keyboard is slow and makes touch typing difficult. I tested the Note Air 5 C with a Logitech wireless Bluetooth keyboard and found the lag is slightly less compared to Boox’s own keyboard folio. This allows for a better touch-typing experience in my opinion.

In fact, my experience typing on the 5C was so slow that I stopped using physical keyboards and stuck with the on-screen one when necessary (like inputting a password).

Some ghosting, but mostly when viewing image-heavy documents

Disappointing battery life, but standard for an Android device

Boox doesn’t reveal what specific processor it uses in its devices. To determine that, I downloaded the CPU X app — a free download from the Google Play Store — and this told me there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chip inside doing the heavy lifting.

This chip is also in use in the smaller Boox Go 7 ereader and works well there, and is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 680 in the original Boox Go 10.3. So, does it make the 5C the better device? To answer that, I began by first benchmarking the CPU, something I’ve done for previous Android-based epaper tablets because it’s easy to install the Geekbench 6 app on them.

The single-core score for the Note Air 5 C recorded was 576, while multi-core was 1424. In comparison, the Boox Go 10.3 scored 403 and 1261 respectively, while the Vi Woods Ai Paper produced a result of 299 and 1114 from its Media Tek MT8183 CPU.

To be honest, these numbers don’t really mean much for devices like ereaders and e-notebooks — it’s how well the operating system has been implemented that will make or break the performance. For instance, despite a lower score, I found the Vi Woods Ai Paper to be the better device compared to the Boox Go 10.3 in real-world use because of how well the Android 13-based OS had been implemented.

On the Note Air 5 C, the Snapdragon 690 chip doesn’t really make much of a difference in overall performance when compared to the Go 10.3, although it’s a lot better compared to the Note Air 3, which was the previous device in this series that I have experience with.

Other than the typing lag I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve had no other significant issues with the 5C: apps open quickly and none crashed during my testing, page turns are quick and any adjustments — like brightness or volume — happened instantly. Ghosting can still be a problem for some users though, and I found it to be particularly noticeable when reading image-heavy documents and books.

The only reason I would opt for a non-Android e-notebook like the Kindle Scribe or the Kobo Elipsa 2E would be for the battery life. As I expected, the 3,700m Ah battery doesn’t last very long as Android is a power-hungry OS.

You might find yourself charging the device every 3 to 4 days, depending on how much you use it and what some of your settings are. During my testing, I found that an hour of reading at mid-brightness and some warmth to yellow the screen dropped battery life by 2%. An hour of notetaking will drop it quicker — in my case, about 8% at the same light settings with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off.

Bump the frontlight to full brightness (and no warmth) and those battery drops for the same amount of use increases to a 5% and 10% respectively. If you have Wi-Fi turned on at all times, expect a touch more battery use, but it’s not a significant drop. If you happen to use some apps, like the browser or the music player, the battery will drain faster.

Long story short, prolific use will get you 2-3 days on a single charge, which can be extended to about 5 or 6 days if you use the device for maybe 30 minutes every day.

Topping up the battery is also a bit of a time investment — it took 2 hours and 3 minutes for my review unit to go from 16% to full, and that’s when plugged directly into a GAN wall charger using a high-quality USB-C to C cable. In my experience, this charging rate is slower than the 4,100m Ah capacity battery in the Vi Woods Ai Paper, but about the same rate as the Boox Go 10.3 (which also uses a 3,700m Ah battery).

It’s well priced, but expensive compared to grayscale e-notebooks.

It’s well priced, but expensive compared to grayscale e-notebooks.

Solidly built with a good display, but there’s not a lot that’s actually ‘new’ about it physically.

Solidly built with a good display, but there’s not a lot that’s actually ‘new’ about it physically.

The first Android e-notebook to run on an Android 15-based OS, it will get a few years of updates. The UI, however, still remains relatively complicated.

The first Android e-notebook to run on an Android 15-based OS, it will get a few years of updates. The UI, however, still remains relatively complicated.

Using the new stylus on this device is a wonderful and smooth experience, but there’s a lag when typing, whether via a physical keyboard or the on-screen one.

Using the new stylus on this device is a wonderful and smooth experience, but there’s a lag when typing, whether via a physical keyboard or the on-screen one.

Clear text with very good contrast, but some colors appear muted, especially when compared to the similarly priced re Markable Paper Pro.

Clear text with very good contrast, but some colors appear muted, especially when compared to the similarly priced re Markable Paper Pro.

Good general performance, but nothing that stands out from the competition.

Good general performance, but nothing that stands out from the competition.

You want to upgrade from a much older Boox Note series tablet

If you're using an older Note series tablet, the 5C is a worthy upgrade, with software and performance enhancements that make a huge difference to usability.

You want a color e-notebook that offers an open ecosystem

There still aren't too many 10-inch epaper tablets with a color display — if that's an important consideration, the 5C is cheaper than the re Markable Paper Pro and there are perks to using an Android device.

One of the perks I mentioned above is the ability to download apps from the Google Play Store to make the most of your e-notebook. And that can make such a device very versatile indeed.

You want more saturated colors displayed on the screen

While book covers look fine, I found some others appearing washed out on the 5C. Moreover, the ink and highlight colors are a lot better on the re Markable Paper Pro, if you want more saturation.

Android epaper tablets don't offer good battery life. If that's a major criteria, you should opt for a Kindle or Kobo writing tablet instead.

There's a lot you can do with the Note Air 5C, or other Android e-notebooks, but this could be overkill for many users. If you want a more streamlined UI and don't need third-party apps, you could save money by opting for smaller e-notebooks like the Kobo Libra Colour, or larger grayscale ones like the Kindle Scribe.

If you're unsure whether the Boox Note Air 5 C is right for you, there are other options to consider. However, keep in mind that any such device with a color display will be expensive, while monochrome options can save you some cash.

If it's a color display on a 10-inch e-notebook that's got your attention, then there's none better than the re Markable Paper Pro. It's the only epaper tablet using the E Ink Gallery 3 screen tech and it offers a simple, streamlined interface that has absolutely no distractions. Read our in-depth re Markable Paper Pro review for the full details

Given the Colorsoft version of the Kindle Scribe still isn't widely available, I think the second-gen Scribe is still a worthy option with a grayscale screen. The ambient light sensor makes a huge difference to usability (I love it!) and it's arguably the nicest screen I've written on. Read our full Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review to learn more

It's a frightfully expensive Android e-notebook, but I much prefer its interface to Boox. It's also the thinnest large-screen epaper tablet I've tested. It works wonderfully well and has more native apps than Boox as well. If money's no object, I couldn't recommend this highly enough, albeit no color screen here. Read my in-depth Vi Woods Ai Paper review to find out more

I've been testing and writing about ereaders and epaper tablets for nearly a decade now, and have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to E Ink devices. That puts me in an excellent position to compare and just new devices coming into the market, just like the Boox Note Air 5 C.

As with any new epaper device, I first go through all the settings options to ensure I have the tablet set up the way I like it, as it becomes my person device for a few weeks. Having done that, I connected the 5C to Wi-Fi and logged into the Play Store.

Plugging my 2TB Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD into the USB-C port, I was able to access a bunch of ebooks I keep as test files for my ereader reviews, plus a few PDFs. While this was the primary way of transferring files during my testing, I also signed into Google Drive to download some old notes I had saved from an older Boox device. I also used Boox Drop, which has some EPUBs stored in the cloud, that I could transfer to the 5C. These were the methods I tested for file and font (Bookerly specifically) transfer.

I spent about an hour each day over four weeks reading, but I spent a lot more time taking notes, including for this review — the Note Air 5 C essentially became my e-notebook for work and for personal use. I tried annotating PDFs and some DRM-free ebooks as a test, but I also used the on-screen keyboard, the Boox keyboard folio made specifically for the 5C and a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard as part of my review process.

I kept tabs on battery use in 1-hour blocks, but I also changed settings to see how it affected battery usage. And, finally, I timed how long it took to charge when I allowed it to drop below 20%.

While she's happiest with a camera in her hand, Sharmishta's main priority is being Tech Radar's APAC Managing Editor, looking after the day-to-day functioning of the Australian, New Zealand and Singapore editions of the site, steering everything from news and reviews to ecommerce content like deals and coupon codes. While she loves reviewing cameras and lenses when she can, she's also an avid reader and has become quite the expert on ereaders and E Ink writing tablets, having appeared on Singaporean radio to talk about these underrated devices. Other than her duties at Tech Radar, she's also the Managing Editor of the Australian edition of Digital Camera World, and writes for Tom's Guide and T3.

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Key Takeaways

• I've been using the Onyx Boox Note Air 5 C for a few weeks and it's an excellent color epaper tablet — it just doesn't feel 'new'

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• The Boox Note Air 5 C might look like its predecessors, but its updated Android 15-based software and better CPU make it an excellent upgrade

• We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best

• I’ve been a fan of the Boox Note Air series of epaper tablets since I first tried the Note Air 2, and the Note Air 5 C — announced in October 2025 — continues the tradition of solidly built devices that work well