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Title: The best E Ink tablets for 2025

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2025 19:00:37 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/best-...

IΓÇÖm a longtime lover of pen and paper, so E Ink tablets have been
intriguing to me ever since they started becoming more widely available.
After having hundreds of half-filled notebooks over the years, I, at some
point, turned to digital tools instead because it was just easier to store
everything on my phone or laptop so I always had my most important
information at my fingertips.

E-Ink tablets seem to provide the best of both worlds: the tactile
satisfaction of regular notebooks with many of the conveniences found in
digital tools, plus easy-on-the-eyes E-Ink screens. These devices have come a
long way in recent years ΓÇö now you can find them in multiple sizes, some
have color E Ink screens and others double as full-blow ereaders with access
to ebook stores and your local libraryΓÇÖs offerings. IΓÇÖve tested out close
to a dozen E Ink tablets over the past few years to see how well they work,
how convenient they really are and which are the best tablets using E Ink
screens available today.

Table of contents

Best E Ink tablets for 2025

Are E Ink tablets worth it?

What to look for in an E Ink tablet

Other E Ink tablets we've tested

Best E Ink tablets for 2025

Are E Ink tablets worth it?

An E Ink tablet will be a worthwhile purchase to a very select group of
people. If you prefer the look and feel of an e paper display to LCD panels
found on traditional tablets, it makes a lot of sense. TheyΓÇÖre also good
options for those who want a more paper-like writing experience (although you
can get that kind of functionality on a regular tablet with the right screen
protector) or a more distraction-free device overall.

The final note is key here. Many E Ink tablets donΓÇÖt run on the same
operating systems as regular tablets, so youΓÇÖre automatically going to be
limited in what you can do. And even with those that do allow you to download
traditional apps like Chrome, Instagram and Facebook, E Ink tablets are not
designed to give you the best casual-browsing experience. This is mostly due
to the nature of E Ink displays, which have noticeable refreshes, a lack of
vibrant colors and lower picture quality than the panels youΓÇÖll find on
even the cheapest iPad.

Arguably the biggest reason why you wouldnΓÇÖt want to go with an iPad (all
models of which support stylus input, a plethora of reading apps, etc) is
because itΓÇÖs much easier to get distracted by email, social media and other
Internet-related temptations.

What to look for in an E Ink tablet Writing and latency

Arguably the most important thing to consider when looking for an E Ink
tablet is the writing experience. How good it is will depend a lot on the
displayΓÇÖs refresh rate (does it refresh after every time you put pen to
ΓÇ£paper,ΓÇ¥ or at a different regular interval) and the stylusΓÇÖ latency.
Most of the tablets IΓÇÖve tested have little to no latency, but some are
certainly better than others. Finally, you should double check before buying
that your preferred E Ink tablet comes with a stylus, or if you need to
purchase one separately.

Reading

How much will you be reading books, documents and other things on this
tablet? E Ink tablets come in many sizes, but most of them tend to be larger
than your standard e-reader because it makes writing much easier. Having a
larger display isnΓÇÖt a bad thing, but it might make holding it for long
periods slightly more uncomfortable. (Most e-readers are roughly the size of
a paperback book, giving you a similar feeling to analog reading).

The supported file types for e-books can also make a big difference. ItΓÇÖs
hard to make a blanket statement here because this varies so much among E Ink
tablets. The TL;DR is that youΓÇÖll have a much better reading experience if
you go with one made by a company that already has a history in e-book sales
(i.e. Amazon or Kobo). All of the titles you bought via the Kindle or Kobo
store should automatically be available to you on your Kindle or Kobo E Ink
tablet.

Also with Kindle titles, specifically, since they are protected by DRM,
itΓÇÖs not necessarily the best idea to try to bring those titles over to a
third-party device. Unless the tablet runs an operating system like Android
that supports downloads for apps like Kindle and Kobo, youΓÇÖll be limited to
supported file types, like ePUB, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, PNG and others.

Search functionality

Most E Ink tablets have some on-device search features, but they can vary
widely between models. YouΓÇÖll want to consider how important it is to you
to be able to search through all your handwritten notes and markups. I
noticed in my testing that AmazonΓÇÖs and KoboΓÇÖs E Ink tablets made it easy
to refer back to notes made in books and files because they automatically
save to the specific pages on which you took notes, made highlights and more.

Searching is less standardized on E Ink tablets that have different supported
file types, but their features can be quite powerful in their own right. For
example, a few devices I tested supported text search in handwritten notes
along with handwriting recognition, the latter of which allows you to
translate your scribbles into typed text.

Sharing and connectivity

While we established that E Ink tablets can be great distraction-free
devices, most manufacturers understand that your notes and doodles arenΓÇÖt
created in a vacuum. You may want to access them elsewhere, and that requires
some form of connectivity. All of the E Ink tablets I tried have Wi-Fi
support, and some support cloud syncing, companion mobile apps and the
ability to export notes via email so you can access them elsewhere.

None of them, however, integrate directly with a digital note taking system
like Evernote or OneNote, so these devices will always be somewhat
supplementary if you use apps like that, too. IΓÇÖd argue that, if you
already lean heavily on apps like OneNote, a standard tablet with a stylus
and screen protector might be the best way to go. Ultimately, you should
think about what you will want to do with the documents youΓÇÖll interact
with on your E Ink tablet after the tablet portion is done.

Price

E Ink tablets arenΓÇÖt known for being cheap. They generally fall into the
$300-$800 price range, which is what you can expect to pay for a solid
regular tablet, too. A key factor in price is size: cheaper devices with E
Ink displays are likely to have smaller screens, and stylus support isnΓÇÖt
as much of a given. Also, those types of devices are generally considered e-
readers because of their size and may not be the best for note-taking,
doodling and the like.

E Ink tablets have gone up in price recently. Supernote and Onyx Boox
increased prices, as did reMarkable. The former said it was due to "increased
costs,ΓÇ¥ and a reMarkable representative confirmed this to Engadget and
provided the following statement: "We regularly review our pricing based on
market conditions and operational costs. We've communicated an upcoming
adjustment for the US market effective in May to provide transparency to our
customers. Multiple factors influence our pricing decisions, including supply
chain dynamics and overall operational costs in specific markets.ΓÇ¥

As a result, the reMarkable Paper Pro jumped from $579 to $629 (that's for
the bundle with the standard Marker and no Folio). This isn't great,
considering the Paper Pro was already on the expensive side of the spectrum
for E Ink tablets. It's also worth noting that Supernote and Onyx Boox have
raised prices in the past few months as well.

Other E Ink tablets we've tested Onyx Boox Tab X C

The Boox Tab X C is a color-screened version of the Tab X, the companyΓÇÖs
all-purpose e-paper Android tablet. The Tab X C has a lovely 13.3-inch
Kaleido 3 E Ink color display, an octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM and it runs
on Android 13, making it one of the most powerful tablets in BooxΓÇÖs lineup.
IΓÇÖve used the Tab X in the past and this color version runs similarly, if
not better, and at 5.3mm thick, itΓÇÖs impressively svelte even when you pair
it with its folio keyboard case. As someone who loves legal-pad sized things
to write on, I also like how the Tab X C is most akin to A4-size paper. But
at $820 for the bundle with the standard case (or a whopping $970 for the
tablet and its keyboard case), itΓÇÖs really only best for those who are
ready to go all-in on a premium E Ink tablet.

Lenovo Smart Paper

Lenovo made a solid E Ink tablet in the Smart Paper, but it's too pricey and
too married to the company's companion cloud service to warrant a spot on our
top picks list. The hardware is great, but the software isn't as flexible as
those of competitors like the reMarkable 2. It has good Google Drive
integration, but you must pair it with Lenovo's cloud service to really get
the most use out of it — and in the UK, the service costs £9 per month for
three months, which is quite expensive.

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra

The Boox Tab Ultra has a lot of the same features we like in the Note Air 2
Plus, but itΓÇÖs designed to be a true, all-purpose tablet with an E Ink
screen. Running Android 11 and compatible with a magnetic keyboard case, you
can use it like a standard 2-in-1 laptop, albeit a low-powered one. You can
browse the web, check email and even watch YouTube videos on this thing ΓÇö
but that doesnΓÇÖt mean you should. A standard 2-in-1 laptop with a more
responsive screen and better overall performance would be a better fit for
most people who even have the slightest desire to have an all-in-one device.
Like the rest of OnyxΓÇÖs devices, the Tab Ultra is specifically for those
who put reading and eye comfort above all else.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/best-...
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