Choosing Your Boox Tab Ultra Set-Up
When first considering the Boox Tab Ultra, it’s worth thinking about the optional extras you might need. The default package comes with Boox Tab Ultra and Boox Pen2 Pro; that’s it. For those looking to protect their display more, the standard magnetic case, tote bag, or stylus case provide cost-effective protection, especially when purchased as a bundle. Among these, much of the focus has been placed on the separate magnetic case with a built-in keyboard.
Rather than requiring Bluetooth pairing, the magnetic case’s pogo pins allow for easy attachment and immediate typing. With its tailored design, the keyboard provides shortcuts to navigate between apps and the home screen quickly. Additionally, these shortcuts allow for easy lighting and volume control alongside a quick-access screen refresh.
Depending on your use case, you can tailor the Tab Ultra for you. But with the unique GPU for faster refreshes and the Qualcomm octa-core CPU for multitasking, it’s worth weighing your desire to replicate a more laptop-like experience with the keyboard attachment.
Tab Ultra Notetaking and Drawing Experience
While reading may be the first and main use of the Tab Ultra, the inclusion of the Boox Pen2 Pro allows for easy exploration of its paper-like quality.
Latency with the stylus is minimal, so you can focus on getting the ideal drawing, sketch, or note jotted. Overall, the base thin 6.7 mm body keeps the process quite light in hand; the heavier-handed may prefer to use one of the magnetic protective covers if pressing down harder on the screen. Regardless of your choice, the quick drop-in nature of Tab Ultra’s note-taking makes it easy to jump between tasks.
For those sensitive about the legibility of their handwriting, the Tab Ultra’s AI option allows for easy recognition of your writing and the ability to change it into an insertable text. Furthermore, the option to insert a recorder, pictures, attachments, or create links allows for easy custom notes. Then it’s a simple matter of exporting or sharing to a preferred file format for later use.
By default, the included note app also allows for the quick creation of multiple notes and different folders for organization. Additionally, the option to sync all of your notes to your Onyx account or alternative other accounts (such as Dropbox) keeps them easily accessible across different devices.
BOOX Tab Ultra for E Ink Reading
As an incredibly responsive e-reader, there are quite a few features meant to further the paper-like quality while still allowing for a customizable read. It’s a fully laminated display with improvements to light transmittance and reducing the touch layer to help bring the content closer to the screen itself. By using the Tab Ultra’s pull-down control center menu, you can adjust the lighting in any app, tweaking both the warm and cold light values of the 36 LEDs that make up the front lighting.
On top of this, the Tab Ultra’s E Ink center allows you to customize further. Besides the option to change the dark color enhancement and light color filter, you can also tweak the DPI display setting of an individual app and set the Tab Ultra to automatically full refresh when turning pages. So whether your concern is the fluidity of reading or the appearance of your icons, book covers, or font, it’s all quite customizable.
If you use popular reading apps such as Kindle, Moon+ Reader, Crunchyroll Manga, and other content utilizing grayscale, there’s a higher readability. Content that’s colored in its original form may still have troublesome readability or appear muddied; it’ll vary by piece. However, the overall turning of the page and ability to quickly screen refresh if needed allows for a smoother reading experience.
Document Scanning with Tab Ultra
The Boox Tab Ultra is equipped with a 16MP rear camera, for which a few different uses come to mind.
For the purposes of productivity, the Tab Ultra excels in its use of optical character recognition (OCR) for a quick conversion of an image into text. To this end, you’ll still want decent lighting when taking the shot for clearest readability. But even a simple LED desk lamp is sufficient when working with documents, books, or small signs.
OCR does require a network connection to work, however. After transcribing the text via OCR, you’ll also be told there’s a daily limit of 50 uses. Despite this limit, the OCR feature doesn’t seemingly count down on each subsequent (even if different) photo made into text.
Unlike with OCR, you’re free to export any previously taken photos as a PDF or insert them into a current note file without a network connection.
Monochromatic Gaming and Entertainment With the Tab Ultra
With the increased battery life, octa-core CPU, and a dedicated GPU, you can certainly explore different uses of the Tab Ultra beyond reading and notetaking. But there are still some limitations to keep in mind. When testing different games on the Tab Ultra, I found readability can quickly become a concern from lack of contrast. Similarly, there were occasional bugs where game apps that would previously run would suddenly break, with glitches of just freezing. While it’s interesting to see what you can run on the Tab Ultra, you may experience some frustration when exploring and shouldn’t expect every Android app to work as expected. There’s a reason Google doesn’t officially support E Ink screens.
When using it in a streaming capacity, certain videos work better than others. Still, when paired with the magnetic keyboard’s shortcut or with a custom touch gesture for a quick screen refresh to remove ghosting, it can provide a welcome second screen for casual watching or listening.
More intensive gaming or video streaming can quickly deplete the battery life of the Tab Ultra, though. Charging time typically falls beneath the two-hour mark, so it isn’t a huge downside when it does occur. When returning to lighter duty, it’s also quite easy to extend any remaining small amount of battery life.
As an alternative to gaming and streaming, the Tab Ultra works quite well with Audible or Spotify for more casual listening. While the Tab Ultra doesn’t feature a microphone jack, the USB-C port or Bluetooth 5.0 can be used as alternative connectivity options.
Utilizing the Boox Refresh Modes
To help streamline your user settings, the Tab Ultra focuses on four modes: HD, balanced, fast, and ultrafast refresh.
As such, Onyx has provided some quick example uses for each category. The HD preset works fine for casual reading, whereas the balanced mode works better when thumbing through documents or typing. Meanwhile, the fast mode is suggested for general website browsing, and ultrafast is more useful for video playback.
They’re not entirely optimal on their own, so you’ll still want to tweak the front light temperatures and overall values of the screen. However, they do provide a good way to tweak for your eye or reduce any ghosting that you might otherwise experience.
Can the Boox Tab Ultra Improve Your Productivity?
With the reduction in eye-strain thanks to the E Ink screen, and its long-lasting battery, the Boox Tab Ultra seems well positioned as a great home office device or productivity tablet. For those looking to narrow down their uses to specific tasks, the natural readability and paper-like make for a great focus device. In addition to the default benefits of an E Ink display, Onyx has made it easy to exchange files between your computer or smartphone and the Tab Ultra via its BooxDrop connection.
Note, the screen above shows icons in color, but the device itself is grayscale. Only the latest version of Android actually has a grayscale mode.
Furthermore, when utilizing the magnetic keyboard accessory, the quick-access shortcuts can further replicate the feel of a compact laptop. If you’re looking to quickly write notes without the use of a stylus or otherwise expedite your workflow with keyboard shortcuts, there’s plenty of benefit to be found there. However, for those looking to mostly utilize the Onyx Tab Ultra as an extremely fast and responsive e-reader, you may find less use for the magnetic keyboard.
Should You Buy the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra?
When considering the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, the question boils down to a performance question. If you’re looking for very snappish responsiveness and want a versatile E Ink device, it’s a great option. If you’re after a smaller device or something more affordable, you also may wish to look across Boox’s other e-reader device.
Tthe Tab Ultra functions well as a productivity device with its impressive refresh technology and usability features, as well as long battery life. It won’t be the ideal price point for all, but it’s a great way to improve your workflow easily.
