Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is an E Ink tablet that tries to be an iPad competitor and, of course, fails in all the ways you’d expect
Onyx Boox Tab Ultra two-minute review
Some day, E Ink technology may reach the level that the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is trying to achieve, with screens that can redraw fast enough to run Android and all the apps you desire. Sadly, today is not that day; the current technology just can’t keep up. Even when things ran smoothly, they just weren’t better on this screen.
The E Ink market is getting hot, especially with the new writable E Ink tablets. Reviewing the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, I felt like Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park. In trying to stand out from the Kindle Scribe and Kobo Elipsa pack, Onyx was so preoccupied with whether or not it could make an E Ink tablet with iPad features it didn’t stop to think if it should.
The Tab Ultra can run not only the simple note-taking apps included but also Microsoft Word and Google Docs. It can scroll your Twitter feed and browse the web. It shouldn’t bother, though, because E Ink is a distracting technology for these apps, and the Tab Ultra lacks the power to keep up with the basics.
There’s a camera around the back, but it doesn’t work very well, so why bother? There’s a keyboard you can attach, but the tablet can’t keep up with the typing, so why bother? The question kept coming up, why did they bother to make this tablet? I don’t think E Ink is ready for the power that Onyx tried to pack inside.
If you must have the high-contrast readability of E Ink along with apps that only a full Android build can offer, this is one of the few options available. If you’re just looking for a great note-taking tablet or gigantic ereader, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is beyond overkill. Instead, it has tripped over itself trying to impress. Onyx Boox Tab Ultra price and availability
$599.99 / £619.99 including a magnetic case and pen with tips
Keyboard cover is around $/£110+ more, but not worth it
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is an expensive E Ink tablet, but it’s not too expensive when compared to the Apple iPad 10.9, and that’s probably the point. The Tab Ultra comes with a pen and a magnetic cover. It’s more expensive than the reMarkable 2, with all accessories included, and much more than a comparable Kindle Scribe.
On the other hand, an iPad 10.9 with an Apple Pencil is around $30/£60 more expensive, but you get an iPad and an Apple Pencil. That means you get a bright, colorful display, a powerful A14 Bionic chipset, and the incredibly robust Apple ecosystem.
With the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, you get an E Ink display that isn’t as sharp as an iPad and a processor that can’t perform well enough to handle basic tasks. It’s even heavier than an iPad, which is a sad feat among E Ink tablets.
If the Boox Tab Ultra were half the price, I might recommend it to enthusiasts looking to see how far E Ink technology has come. The answer is not far enough to justify iPad-level pricing because it doesn’t offer iPad-level performance.
Onyx sells the Boox Tab Ultra through online retailers like Amazon, or you can buy from its own cryptic website, which, for some reason, asks you to choose the location of the shipping warehouse, presumably for tax or import purposes.
Value score: 3/5Onyx Boox Tab Ultra specs
A Qualcomm octa-core chipset running Android 11
Similar 10.3” E Ink carta display found on competing tablets
We usually don’t get a Qualcomm octa-core chipset on an ereader but the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra tries to be a much more capable machine than its simple competitors. It runs Android 11, packs more memory and storage inside, and is a bigger machine all around as a result.
Most writable E Ink tablets use a similar 10.3-inch E Ink Carta display. The Kindle Scribe display is a bit sharper than the rest at 300 ppi, but the Tab Ultra screen is similar to the reMarkable 2 at 227 ppi. The similarities between the Tab Ultra and the competition end there.
While other E Ink tablets get away with packing generic, dual-core processors inside, Onyx springs for a full (unnamed) Qualcomm octa-core chipset. An eight-core platform should give the tablet a mix of high performance and long-lasting efficiency. Sadly, the performance never showed up.
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra packs 4GB of RAM, which is the same as a base model iPad 10.9, but apps and transitions don’t run as smoothly as they do on Apple’s tablet. Even forgiving the refresh rate of the E Ink display and the processing required to manage it, it’s clear that the Tab Ultra has trouble keeping up.
This is also one of the heavier tablets I’ve used at this display size. This E Ink tablet is one of the few I’ve seen that manages to be heavier than an iPad. To compare, a Kindle Scribe is more than 40g lighter than the Tab Ultra, and the reMarkable 2, which lacks lighting capabilities, is more than 70g lighter and 2mm thinner.
Specs score: 2.5/5Onyx Boox Tab Ultra design
Thicker and heavier than most competitors, even iPad
Magnetic pen and magnetic carrying case are included
If you like a black slab, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra doesn’t veer much from this aesthetic. There’s a nice strip of iconography on the back that vaguely resembles a computer geek’s interpretation of Louis Vuitton’s signature pattern but otherwise, the Tab Ultra is very sleek and clean, with a business-friendly look.
Because E Ink displays don’t allow true backlighting, there’s usually a big side-light bezel on these ereader tablets, but Onyx has done a fine job keeping the Tab Ultra looking more normal than bookish.
