Name: Supernote A5x
Brand: Ratta Supernote
Availability: InStock

Ratta Supernote Review

Ratta was founded 15 years ago as a developer of IC card terminals (POS) and payment systems. They pursued the accuracy and security of handwritten signatures required for financial and payment operations, gained experience in hardware and software development, and established a belief in respecting and strictly protecting customer privacy.

Now, they are creating a new category of product, E Ink Tablets. Rattas E Ink devices stand out not only in terms of design but they also provide a perfect balance when it comes to features and user experience.

The brand has a user focused culture, they provide long-term software updates for the old devices rather than launching new devices frequently to eliminate the old ones, and provide decent customer service.

The company’s commitment to high-quality products and user satisfaction has earned them a loyal following, with many users praising the functionality, portability, and durability of their E Ink tablets.

Ratta Supernote Overview

Unlike other android based E Ink Tablets like Onyx which release multiple models each year. Ratta Supernote have focused on limited products with optimum performance. For now they have only two devices in their product line up. Super Note A5x and Supernote A6x.

As the name depicts the Supernote A5x is an A5 Sized (10.3”) device whereas Supernote A6x is an A6 sized (7.8”) device. The devices are more or less the same apart from the size of the device.

Supernote A5 takes writing digitally to a whole new level. The surface of the Supernote A5 is coated with FeelWrite soft film, inspired by the highly elastic automotive v-belt. It’s like magic, because when you write with the stylus, it actually leaves an impression on the page, just like real paper!

And speaking of the stylus, it’s no ordinary pen. It’s a ceramic nib that never wears out, but here’s the cool part: it mimics the smooth, effortless writing experience of a ballpoint pen. Why? Because let’s face it, most of us use ballpoint pens or fountain pens more often than pencils in our daily lives. The Supernote team knows what’s up!

Key difference from reMarkable 2

The Ratta Supernote A5x shares a lot of similarities with the ReMarkable 2, both using e-ink technology and aiming for an undistracted writing experience. Both chose to disregard illumination.

But where the Supernote A5x truly shines is in its pen. It’s not just a stylus, it’s a stylish pen. With its cap and sleek design, it really feels like a pen. Plus, there’s the Heart of Metal series, which offers beautifully crafted pens resembling fat Pilot Metropolitans in a variety of stunning styles. But my favourite are the Lamy series pen. The feel literally made me forget that I am writing on a E Ink Tablet

Ratta Supernote A5x Specifications

FEATURES	SUPERNOTE A5 X	SUPERNOTE A6 X
Release year	2020	2021
Display
Screen type	Mobius Carta	Mobius Carta
Screen size	10.3"	7.8"
Screen resolution	1404 × 1872	1404 × 1872
Pixel density	226ppi	300ppi
Hardware
CPU	1.3 GHz quad-core	1.3 GHz quad-core
RAM	2Gb	2Gb
Storage	32Gb	32Gb
Battery	3800mAh	2900mAh
Thickness	7.2mm	7.2mm
Weight	375g	255g
Connectivity	Wifi + BT	Wifi + BT
Stylus	Ceramic Tip	Ceramic Tip
Software
Operating system	Android-based	Android-based
Google Play Store	⨯	⨯
Handwriting recognition	✓	✓
Other Features
Wacom compatible	✓	✓
Backlit Screen	⨯	⨯
Speakers	⨯	⨯
Microphone	⨯	⨯
Auto-Rotate	⨯	⨯
Waterproof	⨯	⨯

Pros & Cons

Pros

Minimalistic UI with all essential tools & organizational features
The Ceramic tip doesn’t need replacement
Gel Pen and Paper like great writing feel
The handwriting recognition is quite accurate
Excellent after-sales service
The Screenshare feature is great for designers
In build Kindle app for reading all Amazon Books
The plastic screen is quite durable

Cons

- No Backlit Screen
- Though its run on android but no third party app supported
- A bit bulky and the plastic design doesn’t feels as great as other devices

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
Service
Pricing

Does Supernote A5x suits you?

Before jumping into the features. We need to consider does Supernote A5x Suit you or not:

A5 devices provide a balance between reading and writing. I read and mark a lot of PDFs, If like me you want a good balance between reading/ writing, and your preferred format of reading is PDFs then go for Supernote A5x. Its light weight and comfortable to hold and provides ample space for note-taking.
Supernote A5x is not that great for those looking for device that can replace a pencil and paper for sketching. The feel is more like gel pen and paper so its best for those who do a lot of notetaking or like me require a Journal Tablet.
The UI and OS is balanced. Not as flexible as the Onyx Boox devices and not as restricted as Remarkable.

If you fulfil the following criteria then Supernote A5x is the device for you. We also have a comprehensive guide to help you decide better.

Supernote A5x size comparison

Design

Ratta Supernote A5x is very well-designed and pleasing to the eyes. The feel is minimalistic and premium. The device has a plastic body with edges with right angle design, making it look a bit chunkier (nearly twice as thick) in comparison, particularly with the ultra-thin reMarkable 2.

Key takeaways

The Supernote A5x has a wider bezel at the bottom with a touch slider on the right bezel which can be used for multiple functions
At the back side we have a rove for sliding in the cover

The backside doesn’t have rubber feet, which means the tablet does have a tendency to slip around on the desk when using it without a folio.

It has a plastic casing and screen, which makes it very light in comparison to same sized devices.
The USB-C connector on the Supernote A5x is located centrally on the bottom edge and the power button is on the top right edge

Display

The Supernote A5x features a 10.3-inch monochrome display with 226ppi resolution, The displays has a premium paper-like texture that mimics real paper. The screen is glare-free and has transreflective properties, making it suitable for outdoor reading.

Key Takeaways

Supernote uses a plastic Mobius Carta screen. Its more flexible and lighter. Supernote claims that its screen never breaks making it a better option for careless forks .
The flexible screen helps the ceramic stylus to glide over it and gives a very nice feel while writing over it.
The device has no backlight, which is big problem when using the device in low light.
Personally I feel the screen is a bit dull. I wish it was brighter. The fact that it is missing a backlight is one thing, but combined with a low whitepoint screen makes it feel even darker.

Hardware

Supernote A5x was launched in 2020, so the hardware is a bit outdated when compared to latest E Ink devices but it run perfectly fine for its intended job. Yet when it comes to additional features like backlit screens, light and g sensors than Supernote is lacking behind. I think not adding backlight was aimed at increasing the battery life.

The device isn’t waterproof but almost all E ink tablets aren’t waterproof.

Supernote A5x

Supernote lacks key features like backlit screen and g sensors.
With its plastic body it’s one of the lightest device in A5 category, weighing just 375g.
It runs on Quad-core processor with 2 GB of memory and 32Gb of storage.
Supernote battery life: It has a larger battery (3800mAh). I used it with nominal reading a writing and for me the battery lasted for 2 weeks.

Software & UI

Supernote runs on android based OS but Google play store is not supported. However, Supernote A5x has started adding third-party apps, beginning with Kindle and I have heard that more apps and developer support are in the works.

For now, apart from reading and writing, Supernote has all essential features required from a good Tablet like Email Client, Calendar & Web Browser (For me E Ink Tablets are really bad for web browsing due to slow refresh rate)

Supernote screen mirroring:

A great feature that I think can be excellent for sharing Ideas is its screen mirroring or screen sharing . However both the devices need to be on the same Local Area Network

The Organizational Feature:

Its divided in folders and subfolders which I found really easy to navigate. Split-screen option is not available on the Supernote but the quick-access menu does allow you to switch between documents and notebooks very swiftly.

File Transfer:

The Files can be transferred using the Android/IOS app, web browser app, USB-C cable, Supernote cloud, or LAN sharing facility. I found the file transfer of Supernote far more efficient when compared to reMarkable 2.

Stylus

The Supernote stylus application is highly customizable and give a great writing experience, making it ideal for those who want to personalize their note-taking experience. The supernote a5x latency and pressure sensitivity is great however tilt function is not present as in Kindle Scribe & reMarkable 2. However the ceramic tip and gel pen like pleasant feel makes up for it.

Which is the best pen for Supernote & are there other Supernote compatible pens?

Apart from the standard pen a variety of different pen styles are available are available in the market. If you have the budget, then nothing is better than the Lamy series. Heart of Metal Pen is great as well. Though Supernote is Wacom supported but the soft screen doesn’t isn’t great for other pens, ceramic tips are the best for it.

Key Takeaway

Uses hard ceramic tips that do not wear down and never need to be replaced. The feel is more like a gel pen over a high gloss printed paper. Personally I love this feel (Though its subjective)
Supernote stylus is magnetic, the tablet itself is not. Therefore, a case/folio with a pen loop is needed to keep the tablet and stylus together.
The standard pen comes with a cap so the nip is more secure.
The Stylus lack an eraser but the two finger erase gesture works really well and once I got used to it, it felt easier than using an Eraser.

Note Taking Experience

Ratta Supernote A5x offer all essential features for note-taking, as its primary function is note taking. The device has numerous templates for note taking but the brushes are limited to a ballpoint pen, needlepoint pen, and marker. As tilt function is limited it has no pencil or calligraphy pen.

When it comes to sketching reMarkable 2 is way better followed by Onyx Boox devices. But in Note taking it beats both of them.

Related: Check out these Supernote A5x Templates

Key Takeaways

The note taking UI has multiple shades and templates but limited brushes.
Several Gesture features while note taking make the experience worth while
It has folder/sub-folder hierarchy and files can be sorted by name, modified date and size.
The tagging system is much advanced with keywords set at the notebook page level. You can search by folder/filename, file type and keywords.
The annotations function includes actual text extraction. Also you can read & edit word documents as well. It also has a lasso feature
The text recognition while note taking is in real time
Navigation through notes is made even easier with the side touch slider.
You can view and compose emails (though I won’t recommend that as its too slow) and a calendar app that syncs with Google/Outlook calendars.
The Supernote can export notebooks as PDF, PNG, DOCX or TXT file formats. These are stored in an Export folder, which can then be synced or shared.

Reading Experience

When it comes to reading experience, the device lack behind devices like the Kindle Scribe. But the kindle app comes preinstalled making the reading experience quite decent and it surely beats the reMarkable 2 in this regard.

You can also take notes while reading within a document / book but while doing so I found out that when exporting the marked document only PDFs show the annotations. EPUB doesn’t support export of these annotations.

Related: Check out Reading Experience on the Supernote

Key Takaways

Supernote A5x only supports ePub, PDF, and Word documents, as well as PNG and JPG image formats.
However, you can install the Kindle app on the Supernote to get access to almost all of these reading features.
There is no backlit screen, light and G sensors in the device for landscape view.
You can also scribble notes on documents and annotate them
Another advantage that I found and is often overlooked is that weight of Supernote is lesser when compared to other E Ink Tablets, so its more comfortable for prolonged reading sessions
The Page flips are incredibly fast and make the ReMarkable 2 and Onyx Boox note experience feel slow.

Services

In my experience Supernote’s customer support is great, its small but solid community is always active. They also provide regular updates and are eager for customer feedback. Ratta Supernote has a one-year warranty and a 30-day returns policy.

Pricing

When it comes to price, the prices are somewhat in par when compared to similar sized devices. The standard set (Includes standard pen and Canvas Folio) is quite cheaper whereas the premium set (includes Heart of Metal Gen 2 Pen and cowhide folio). You can also buy the premium Lamy stylus which can further increase the price.

Finally Is Supernote worth it?

By now it can be said easily that Ratta Supernote A5x isn’t the device for everyone. It targets a certain user and for them there is nothing better than a Supernote A5x.

These users like me are more into Taking notes and annotating PDFs then sketching / drawing. Furthermore, they require a distraction free minimalistic UI for their work. If you fall in this category, then Supernote is the device for you.

The reason why I fell in love with Supernote A5x was its premium gel pen writing experience, which you cant find in other devices.

If you are more in to Sketching then checkout this comparison and If you are looking for a more versatile and modifiable device check out these devices.

Where to buy Supernote A5x From?

You can buy it from their official store at supernote.com

Before You Go......

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