I absolutely love using my monochrome e-ink tablet to take notes. In fact, I think that serious note-takers should use a device like the reMarkable 2, as they allow you to work in a distraction-free environment (thanks to the slow-refreshing monochrome e-ink display) where you can be alone with your thoughts and just put digital pen to digital paper. And for those that use an iPad or Android tablet for taking notes, they should stop, because doing so defeats the purpose of these devices.
But what about color e-ink? With the promise of extremely long battery life like other e-ink devices but with the added benefit of being able to display in color, color e-ink has a lot of promise. But as I found out by using a Boox Note Air 4C for a while, which is a full-color e-ink Android tablet, color e-ink has a ton of compromises and is just not worth your time and money right now.
Tablets are fine, but serious notetakers use this instead
The reMarkable 2 paper tablet is the ultimate writing device for avid notetakers.
Color e-ink carries a premium price
For dull colors that refresh slowly
Color e-ink displays cannot display a full range of colors. Instead, they can display only 4,096 colors (versus 16.7 million or more colors on most standard displays) and are limited to 1240×930 resolution, which is only around 150ppi — similar to a newsprint magazine, and far below what you’d get with a monochrome e-ink screen like you’d find on a Kindle, which has over 300ppi. The Boox Note Air 4C refreshes slowly in color e-ink mode, making websites appear jittery and everything feel laggy: refresh rates are around 15–30Hz at best, compared to a baseline of 60–120Hz on most regular tablets.
Versus monochrome e-ink devices, you’re paying a significant premium to get a color e-ink tablet. For example, the device I’m using, the Boox Note Air 4C, is currently priced at $469. To get a similar device with monochrome e-ink, like the reMarkable 2, you’re going to pay $399.
- Brand
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reMarkable
- Screen
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10.3 inch CANVAS display
The reMarkable 2 is made for the avid notetaker in mind. The screen feels just like writing on paper, something that a tablet like the iPad can’t replicate.
8/10
- Brand
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Onyx
- Screen
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E Ink Kaleido 3, 4096 colors, touch (inductive + capacitive)
The Onyx Boox Note Air4 C is a colored eInk tablet great for reading and drawing. It’s wireless features also make it an excellent device for basic productivity.
A lower refresh rate on a reading device like a Kindle is fine because you don’t change the screen unless you’re turning the page in a book or adjusting a setting. But on a full-color e-ink tablet like the Boox, which invites you to run native Android apps, using anything besides reading apps is a choppy nightmare with ultra-slow screen refresh rates and very weak colors.
Color e-ink defeats the purpose of going e-ink
It adds distraction and noise
The best thing about owning an e-ink tablet is that it lets you focus on your ideas: it’s boring on purpose, without the distraction of social media apps and a billion colors, to let you focus on singular tasks and ideas. When you introduce color, plus the ability to poorly run almost any Android app, you’re back to an environment of distraction.
When you introduce color, you’re back to an environment of distraction.
Color e-ink technology is new and will become obsolete
You’re buying into an early version of a rapidly-changing technology
While monochrome e-ink tablets are mature technology in 2026 (the first Kindle came out in 2007), you can be confident that almost any monochrome e-ink device you buy today will have amazing display clarity, outstanding battery life, and will look good in five years from now. But color e-ink technology is new and is rapidly changing, with faster refresh rates and more punchy colors on the horizon. If you buy a color e-ink tablet today, you’re buying the worst version of a quickly evolving technology.
Buying a color e-ink device today means that in five years that same device will look archaic, dull, and slow, compared to color e-ink that will be coming out in coming years. It’s only really been about six years since the first mainstream color e-ink tablets came out, and the technology has evolved slowly.
The one upside to color e-ink tablets is the ability to write and highlight text in (muted) color. This might be a nice feature for anyone that likes to mark up text or documents with a different color of highlighting, but for less money and for a less compromised experience via a monochrome e-ink device like the reMarkable 2, you can also highlight, albeit not in color.
Color e-ink is a solution in search of a problem
For now, stay away
On one hand, you have Android tablets and iPads that do everything in brilliant full color. They’re close to being full computers, and they are very versatile. On the other hand, you have monochrome e-ink devices that are built to be spectacular readers or focused note-takers, or perhaps both. The world doesn’t need this third category of device, the color e-ink tablet, which carries a price premium and a flawed display that offers muted colors and slow refresh rates, while being able to (poorly) run any Android app. It’s unfocused, it’s not particularly good at anything, and you should absolutely not buy a color e-ink tablet right now.
