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Bookeen Notea Review
In this comprehensive review, we will explore the design, build quality, specifications, and screen features of the Bookeen Notea 10.3-inch e-note taking device. The Notea, manufactured by French company Bookeen, Bookeen has a storied history in the e-reader world and has been making devices for over a decade. Their primary focus has been consumer devices, basic e-book readers that give users the ability to buy and read books. It offers a monochromatic e-ink experience that is both visually appealing and functional and is aimed at the professional segment.
But can it compete with big names in the E Ink Tablet Market like reMarkable, Supernote, Kindle Scribe Or Onyx Boox? Lets Find Out
Bookeen Notea Overview
Before diving into the details lets discuss a few basic Pros and Cons of the device.
Pros of the Notea Bookeen
Design and Ergonomics: The Notea Bookeen features an excellent design, with a comfortable and ergonomic backside. The gyroscope allows for easy rotation, providing an enjoyable experience for extended periods of use.
Writing Experience: The Notea Bookeen offers an excellent writing experience, with precise writing latency and a comfortable feel. The default pen and nib provide exceptional precision, making writing a pleasure.
Pen Quality and Multi-functionality: Despite its thickness, the pen offers exceptional quality, multi-functionality, and precision. It can also function as a remote control for the device, adding convenience.
EMR Compatibility: The screen is both active and passive, allowing compatibility with various pens, such as Staedtler. Users can enjoy a personalized writing experience.
Cons of the Notea Bookeen
Heavier Device: The Notea Bookeen weighs 460 grams, placing it in a heavier device category compared to its competitors. This may be a concern for users accustomed to thinner and lighter pencils.
Top-Heavy Design: While the device boasts excellent build quality and a beautiful design, it is top-heavy and thick, making it uncomfortable to use for extended periods, especially for those accustomed to lighter pencils.
Slippery Material: The device is made of a slippery material, further adding to the discomfort and making it prone to slipping out of the hand.
Lack of System-Wide Screen Refresh Option: Notea Booken lacks a system-wide screen refresh option, which is a missed opportunity, especially for an e-ink or e-paper device. This limitation affects the browsing experience and the use of Google Play.
Limited Capabilities of the Default Note-Taking App: The default note-taking app has limited capabilities, including restricted brush options, no color choices, and no layer functionality. While the experience is pleasant, the app’s capabilities are significantly limited.
PDF and ePub Reader: The PDF and ePub readers on the Notea Booken lack essential features. Annotation is not possible on ePubs, and while writing is allowed on PDFs, text marking is not supported.
Outdated Android Version: The device runs on Android 8.1, which is considered an older system in 2021. This may result in slower system-wide performance when compared to devices with newer operating systems.
Google Play Registration Limitations: The initial Google Play activation requires a non-two-step verified account, which may inconvenience users who prefer higher security standards.
Performance: The Notea Bookens performance is hindered by its limited 2 gigabytes of RAM, an older Android system, and slower app loading times, affecting overall system performance.
Ratta Supernote A5x Specifications
| FEATURES | BOOKEEN NOTÉA |
| Release year | 2021 |
| Display | |
| Screen type | Carta HD |
| Screen size | 10.3" |
| Screen resolution | 1404x1872 |
| Screen density | 227dpi |
| Hardware | |
| CPU | 1.8GHz quad-core |
| RAM | 1Gb |
| Storage | 32Gb |
| Battery | 4000mAh |
| Width | 191.1mm |
| Height | 232.5mm |
| Thickness | 8mm |
| Weight | 450g |
| Connectivity | Wifi+BT |
| Other Features | |
| OS | Android 8.1 |
| Backlit Screen | ✓ |
| Google Play Store | ✓ |
| Handwriting recognition | ✓ |
| Speakers | ✓ |
| Microphone | ✓ |
| G-Sensor | ✓ |
| USB-C | ✓ |
| SD card slot | ⨯ |
| Waterproof | ⨯ |
| Kindle support | ✓ |
Aspect of Consideration
The Features of the device are more or less the same and we will be discussing all the features common in both the devices:
- Design
- Display
- Hardware
- Software
- Stylus
- Notetaking Experience
- Reading Experience
- Verdict
Design
The Notea’s design resembles that of the Remarkable 2, featuring a dark frame on the sides and a gray frame around the screen, resulting in a visually pleasing experience and enhanced comfort during extended use. Its plastic construction provides a durable and flexible device that can withstand accidental drops or impacts.
The symmetrical frame width on both vertical and horizontal orientations, along with the gyro for auto-rotation, ensures a comfortable and balanced user experience. The device’s back is elegantly designed with a dark gray color, rounded edges, and a slanted surface that improves grip and stability, although it could benefit from small rubber feet to prevent sliding.
Display
The Notea’s 10.3-inch e-ink Carta HD screen delivers impressive image quality, featuring crisp and sharp text that remains easily readable even in demanding conditions. The screen’s calibration offers strong contrast, however, color handling is not as refined, leading to noticeable color banding, especially when viewing content with images.
Despite this limitation, the overall screen quality is commendable, and the structured sheet covering the screen reduces reflections and provides a paper-like texture like the reMarkable.
Key Takeaways
- The resolution is 1404 x 1872 pixels with 227 dpi
- Capacitive multi-touch function supported screen
- Lighting system with brightness adjustment, anti-glare treatment and blue light filter
Hardware
The Hardware is up to date when compared to other E ink devices. The best feature that we like is the Onboard accelerometer, which is absent in a lot of the top tier devices.
The Bluetooth functionality of the device is a bit sketchy. It may take multiple attempts to connect a Bluetooth device, and sometimes the device doesn’t find the keyboard immediately. However, once paired, the connection is stable, and the keyboard works without any issues. Users may experience difficulty initially, but once connected, it functions well.
Key Takeaways
- On-board accelerometer for auto rotate
- Quad-Core 1.8 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB storage
- Built-in speakers, microphone and USB-C port
- 4000 mAh battery: lasts almost 1 week
- A bit heavy when compared to other devices 460 grams
Software & UI
Booken Notéa runs on Android 8.1 and, aided by the Google Play Store, you can install your favorite applications to suit your needs. But it may not support the latest version of the applications.
Key Takeaways
- Can install your own applications from Play Store
- Miracast function lets you display the content of your notebook on a monito
- Installation of PlayStore may be tricky, its manual and requires verification from Google.
Stylus
The stylus is highly responsive (15ms latency) and accurate, thanks to WACOM’s EMR technology. It can be connected via Bluetooth with Notéa and has 3 control buttons which can be used to carry out multiple tasks but it has to be charged, which can be an issue for a lot of people.
The pen’s balance is a primary concern, as the placement of the battery at the top end creates an imbalance, making it feel unwieldy and prone to slipping for users who prefer holding the pen closer to the writing end. The slightly slippery material exacerbates this issue, making it challenging to maintain a secure grip during extended writing sessions.
the NuTea Pen offers a well-calibrated nib, excellent pressure sensitivity, and precise tracking, particularly with thinner pen settings. This makes it suitable for capturing fine nuances in handwriting.
It may not provide the best sketching or drawing experience but note taking is satisfactory.
Key Takeaways
- Electro-magnetic resonance pen detection (Wacom EMR) with 4096 pressure levels and 3 buttons
- It supports touch and EMR pens, with the included pen featuring both active and passive modes.
Note Taking Experience
The Note Taking experience is quite refined and better then what we expected. Numerous templates, pen sizes and the refined writing experience makes it a great contender of other great E Ink Tablets.
When it comes to exporting written content, the Notea device faces some notable issues. Exporting as a PNG file results in relatively low resolution without anti-aliasing, leading to subpar quality. Similarly, exporting as a PDF reveals problems such as the absence of templates and a significant drop in overall quality compared to the device’s display.
Compatibility with note-taking apps is crucial for any e-note-taking device, and the Notea Pen introduces global handwriting as a solution. This feature significantly improves responsiveness and performance in third-party note-taking apps, making it a game-changer for those reliant on such apps.
If you don’t like the in build note taking app you can use a third party app as well. You can also use Office in it. The device has WPS Office Lite app, which is pre-installed. It would be more useful to have direct access to create new documents instead of relying on local imports.
Few Drawbacks In Note Taking:
- Impossible to draw lines and geometrical shapes
- No color shade of gray
- No possibility to copy/paste or move a piece of note
Reading Experience
The reading experience is great and I would rank it near to Onyx devices in this category as it can be enhanced with 3rd Party Apps. Apart from the pre installed reading app readers can also install Kindle App which provides all the features which you get inside a kindle
Switching the document to landscape mode greatly improves readability and navigation, making it easier to go through the document and handle its content.
Furthermore, manual crop option during reading provides the flexibility to define a custom area for cropping, allowing users to freely choose the desired portion of the document. However, it lacks an aspect ratio preservation feature, which can result in distorted or stretched content.
Web browsing experience : The web browsing experience on the device is slow and not optimized. The performance is affected by the absence of speed of the device and lower refresh rates. The device runs on Android 8.1, which is not well optimized and has limited resources. While it is usable, it takes time to load content, and users need to allocate extra time for browsing.
Finally Is Notea worth it?
In conclusion, the Bukin Notea 10.3-inch e-note taking device offers a well-designed and sturdily built e-ink device for note-taking and reading. Its plastic construction provides durability and flexibility, while the symmetrical design and ergonomic back enhance user comfort. With satisfactory specifications, including a quad-core CPU, 2 GB RAM, and 32 GB storage, the Notea delivers a reliable performance. The Carta HD screen produces sharp and crisp text, although the color handling exhibits some banding. Despite its minor drawbacks, the Notea is a capable device for those seeking a reliable e-note taking experience.
Where to buy Booken Notea?
You can buy it from their official store at https://bookeen.com/
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