BOOX Tablet Go 10.3 ePaper E Ink Tablet No Front Light 4G 64G 300 PPI B/W

The media could not be loaded. I'm not a new to digitizer tablets, but this is my first E-Ink notepad (I've used multiple Samsung Galaxy tablets, the Surface Pro 2 back in the day, even the Palm C waaay back). I went down a deep rabbit hole before I finally decided on the Boox Go.My criteria were (1) really good writing experience, (2) Microsoft productivity apps OneNote, OneDrive, and Loop (don't judge, they're what we have at work), and (3) a lightweight e-reader with crisp text for my aging eyes. I went back and forth about the absence of lighting, but it was finally the writing experience that sold me. That's the killer feature...the notes app. It is really low latency, and the E-ink Carta is so close to the nib that it really does get closer to a pen and paper feel than anything else I've seen.I have been using it as a work tablet for 3 weeks now as a primary note taker, and it has been a very good experience. Previously, on LED screen devices, I found that my handwriting (not good to begin with) degraded to the point of useless illegibility... Not so here. This thing actually improves my note taking. It's almost as good as carrying a large hardcover journal., but without the bulk of a...large hardcover journal.It's amazingly thin and light, while remaining very stiff (I, as some other users I saw online, could not bend it).I also just finished a two day seminar wherein I used the native Neo Reader to view and annotate PDFs. The same accuracy and responsiveness as the Notes app is found here, though I found the toggle between full screen and pinch to zoom a bit clunky. Like a lot of other functions, the BOOX design goes more 'power user' by favoring a lot of low level functionality tweaks over a short learning curve. I mention that because it does get a little hard on my older eyes to read letter sized PDFs full page format.I have also used OneNote and OneDrive's built in PDF annotator. There is a significant tradeoff here, in that pen responsiveness is much poorer, though functionality is all there. As this wasn't the greatest writing experience, I ended up using the native Notes app and enabling a clever feature which automatically saves a PDF version of the entire notebook to a location of your choice. Good enough for my needs.Another nice feature of the app manager is that you can easily set up work and personal configurations of most apps. This enables a separate app icon for, say, two OneDrive accounts. It makes for a basic but usable work profile.Libby (download from Play Store) works just fine. Text is very clear, though I couldn't disable the swipe animations (which trigger a full screen refresh every time). There is a simple workaround, though, and that's navigating by tapping the left or right margin, just like the old Barnes and Noble Nook.I don't use the Onyx account at all. This is a hybrid work device, and I'm as careful as I can be as to where my work data is stored. I would rather lose my notes than have them fall into the wrong hands, and frankly, I wasn't able to get the level of trust I needed to store anything in the Onyx cloud.One last thing, and this isn't really the Go's issue, but some of the third party cases have magnets in them which tended to distort the digitizer response, especially in the corners. It looks like a defect in the screen, with the pen line not tracking the nib location, but it disappears when you remove the cover. Just something to be aware of.All in all, I am very happy with this device!

I was looking at the Remarkable 2 but the Go 10.3 is cheaper and has a faster processor. So I got the Boox device.This is a wonderful device for note taking! I really enjoy the built-in note taking app. It has a bunch of features. It's easy to keep notes organized. And I like the writing feel. You can sync/back up the notes with Google Drive or Dropbox. You can export notes as PDFs and then manually move the files over to a computer to back up your notes as well.I really like that you can make things simple (just taking notes) or more complicated (access to the Play Store).I initially used it for taking notes, reading books with the built in reading app, NeoReader, as well as logging into the Play Store to get Libby and Pocket.After reading about some potential privacy issues (older version of Android and a Chinese company designs and makes these) I ended up removing Libby, Pocket and removing my Play Store account info.I am now treating this device like a Remarkable 2. I am just taking notes and reading epub files on NeoReader. I rarely connect the Go 10.3 to the internet and I save my notes to my MacBook using a USB cable.So you have the option to make this a "dumb"/"simple" device.Here is my short list of pros and cons:PROS:- You can keep it simple with the device and just take notes and read epub books.- This has Android 12 so you have access to the Play Store- Access to the Play Store means you can download any app (like Kindle, Pocket, Libby, etc).- This can sync up with Google Drive or Dropbox to back up notes or add epub books.- Built-in note taking and reader apps are fantastic.- The writing experience is great.CONS:- Magnet on the side of the device is not very strong. So the stylus doesn't stay on very well. I ended up getting a sleeve case so the device is really protected and I keep the stylus in the front pocket of the sleeve case.- Speaking of the stylus, it is just ok. My biggest issue is that it doesn't have an eraser function. I ended up getting the Noris Jumbo stylus. It looks like a pencil and has an eraser function on the bottom of it that works very well.- Privacy Issues: This uses Android 12, so it isn't the current version of Android. Also, Boox doesn't usually update the Android software. So it will probably always have 12 on it. And again, Boox is a Chinese company. So there can be some privacy issues when it comes to your personal information.Overall I am giving the Go 10.3 five stars because you have the option to do whatever you want with it. Whereas the Remarkable 2 is just a note taking device with no other options. And the main pro for me is that the writing experience is fantastic on this. It's been wonderful using it for work and as a journal!-