BOOX Note Air 10.3" Note Air5 C 2025, Qualcomm, 6GB, 64GB, Green

The BOOX Note Air 5 C writes like a dream and runs Android apps like a champ, but its battery life is a cruel joke and the color screen is about as vibrant as a damp newspaper. It's the perfect pocket notebook for a very specific kind of writer, and a tough sell for anyone who just wants a tablet that works.

We loaded up a few note-heavy apps and a Kindle book, and the octa-core chip plus 6GB of RAM kept things surprisingly smooth. Scrolling isn't iPad fast, but it's way snappier than we expected from an e-ink slate, and the stylus tracks with zero lag, which is the real star of the show. The surprise, though, is the battery. With a 3700mAh pack that lands in the 4th percentile, this is easily one of the worst battery performers we've seen in an e-ink device. If you're writing for a few hours with Wi-Fi on and the front light cranked, you'll be hunting for a charger by dinner, which feels wrong for a product in this space.

The obvious fight is against the Apple iPad Pro M5 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+. Both of those are color LCD powerhouses with all-day battery life and stunning displays. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro also crowd the top five, and the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus sneaks in as a budget wildcard. What none of them can do is give you a paper-like writing surface that's easy on the eyes in direct sunlight, and that's the only card the BOOX holds. If you want a single device that does entertainment, productivity, and some note-taking, get the iPad, the Samsung, or the Surface and never look back. For the very narrow crowd that needs a distraction-free e-ink notebook that can run Kindle, Word, or a web browser, the Note Air 5 C makes sense, but it's a tough sell next to those polished alternatives.

Pricing is all over the map from $530 to $1,192, and that spread tells you everything: if you can find it for around $530 from Amazon, it's a okay niche buy for the right person, but anywhere near four figures is a hard pass. We don't say this often, but hunt for a deal or just walk away. At full freight, an iPad or a Galaxy Tab gives you a brighter, faster, more versatile tablet that won't leave you scrambling for a battery pack.

The BOOX Note Air 5 C is a razor-thin e-ink notebook that finally nails the feel of pen on paper and tosses in Android 15 so you can run real apps. It's the most versatile digital notepad we've tested, and the writing experience is genuinely top-shelf. But holy moly, the battery life is a gut punch, and the color e-ink screen remains a dim, lo-fi shadow of what you get on an iPad. This thing is for a very specific person: a writer who wants Android flexibility and can charge every other day without getting annoyed. Everyone else should probably keep scrolling.

If you're looking for a do-it-all tablet that replaces your laptop and lets you watch shows all day without squinting, this isn't it. Go get an iPad Pro, a Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+, or a Microsoft Surface Pro 11. If you want a simple, focused e-ink notebook with epic battery life, the reMarkable 2 is a cleaner, longer-lasting choice and you won't miss Android one bit.

Buy the BOOX Note Air 5 C if your entire life revolves around long-form writing or annotating PDFs and you absolutely need Android apps alongside an e-ink screen. The handwriting is sublime, and the thin build is a joy to carry. But for almost everyone else, this thing's terrible battery and dim, low-resolution color display will drive you up the wall. It's a brilliant specialist tool and a terrible general-purpose tablet.