Onyx BOOX Note Air5 C is a 10.3 inch color E Ink tablet with pen and keyboard support

The Onyx BOOX Note Air5 C is a new E Ink tablet that’s almost identical to the BOOX Note Air4 C that launched a year ago. But while the upgrades are small enough that nobody should consider trading in the old model for a new one, they could make the 2025 model a little more attractive to new buyers.

Available now from Amazon or the BOOX Shop for $530, like last year’s model, the Note Air5 C features a 10.3 inch E Ink Kaleido 3 color display, an octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (plus a microSD card reader), and a 3700 mAh battery. The two biggest changes for this year’s model are that it has pogo pins for connecting an optional keyboard and it ships with Android 15 (rather than Android 13).

If those upgrades don’t matter to you, then you could save a $30 by picking up a Note AIR 4C, which currently sells for $500. It’s also a tiny bit lighter weight, at 420 grams (14.8 ounces) compared with 440 grams (15.5 ounces) for the newer model.

Both tablets have the same 10.3 inch, 2480 x 1860 pixel E Ink Kaleido 3 display featuring a Carta 1200 screen with a color filter overlay that supports up to 4096 colors, and a flat glass cover.

The screen can display 300 pixels per inch of black and white content or 150 ppi for color, which brings the effective resolution down to 1240 x 930 pixels when viewing color materials.

There’s a front light with support for brightness and color temperature adjustments, a G-sensor for automatic screen rotation, and a wireless radio with support for WiFi and Bluetooth. The tablet also has a built-in mic and stereo speakers, a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button, and a USB-C port for power, data, or audio.

While the Onyx BOOX Note Air5 C comes with a customized version of Android that’s been optimized for E Ink tablets with low screen refresh rates, it does have the Google Play Store pre-installed, making it easy to load third-party apps.

Onyx ships the tablet with a BOOX Stylus Touch that supports 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, but the optional keyboard cover is sold separately for $110 (or as part of a $607 keyboard & tablet bundle). That keyboard case has a magnetic cover, a QWERTY keyboard, and a USB-C port for passthrough charging. It weighs 475 grams (16.7 ounces), making the keyboard heavier than the tablet itself. But combined, they’re still just about 2 pounds, making the bundle lighter to carry than most laptops.