Reading your favorite book on an E Ink tablet is much easier on your eyes than a traditional tablet thanks to paper-like E Ink displays. The best E Ink tablets offer a mix of useful features beyond the purpose of just reading. You can use them for all sorts of things such as drawing, writing, and reading your favorite comic books. If you're interested in this curious blend of traditional and modern mediums, we've rounded off the best options available to you right now.
The best E Ink tablet that offers all these features in one unified body is the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro, the successor to the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C. It has a large and beautiful screen that can display color and has writing functionality that delivers a satisfying pen-and-paper feel. If you love the look and feel of traditional reading and writing mediums, this tablet will surely capture your heart. There are plenty more e-paper tabs out there, but the Tab Ultra C Pro gives you the most value for money and performs consistently well.
Namerah enjoys geeking out over accessories, gadgets, and all sorts of smart tech. She spends her time guzzling coffee, writing, casual gaming, and cuddling with her furry best friends.
At a glance
Best overall
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro undercuts Amazon's pricing while offering a lot more than its most powerful e-reader. It has a color e-ink display, the Google Play Store, stylus compatibility, and USB-C charging, and it has weeks of battery life. This sleek and lightweight tab is easily the best overall choice.
Best for reading
The 11th-generation Amazon Kindle Paperwhite goes on and on for weeks, has brilliant contrast, can withstand a dunk in the pool, and it costs less than $150. If reading's the only thing on your mind, pick the Kindle Paperwhite.
Best premium writing tablet
A niche tablet with limited functionality may seem rich for your blood, but wait until you write on the ReMarkable 2. This is the best premium tablet built for writing, setting the industry standard for stylus sensitivity and feel.
Best for writing overall
Onyx Boox offers a wide assortment of mid-range and high-end e-ink tablets. The Note Air 3 is one of the brand's more affordable options. It offers the features of a typical Android tablet in a B&W e-ink format. Note-taking and scribbling are good fun on this, especially as you can use any app of your choice.
Best Amazon flagship
Amazon specializes in the budget segment of Android tablets, so the upper-tier Kindle Scribe is a surprise. Despite the lack of the Play Store, the Kindle Scribe is a fantastic e-reader and note-taking E Ink tablet. The price isn't the best, but the battery life and build quality are excellent.
Best entry-level
No matter your budget, the entry-level Amazon Kindle will fit it easily. This is the only e-ink tablet that you can purchase for just over $100. The resolution is crisp, the battery is insane, and you get USB-C charging.
Best overall
While most E Ink displays tend to focus on doing one thing, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro does it all. Successor to the Tab Ultra C, the Tab Ultra C Pro displays 4,096 colors on its 10.3-inch Kaleido 3 display, which is unusual for most E Ink tablets. Thanks to the accompanying stylus, you can view in full color and even draw, highlight, or jot down notes in different shades. The Tab Ultra C Pro's touch function for the stylus is powered by Wacom, the company that makes the best drawing tablets. It imitates the traditional blue feel of writing on paper with a pen.
Onyx Boox really took things to the next level by adding more gear under the Tab Ultra C Pro's hood. This stunningly slim tablet runs Android 12 out of the box so that you can install and use apps from the Google Play Store. It has 6GB of RAM, 128GB of onboard storage, a microSD slot, a 16MP camera, stereo speakers, a mic, a USB Type-C port that supports fast charging, and a set of speakers. Amazingly, the 4,600mAh battery can last for a week or two with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in full use. The Boox Tab Ultra C Pro is the complete package; it is almost a full-blown Android tablet.
Unfortunately, if you want the complete package, you'll have to pay for it since this tablet isn't exactly cheap in comparison to "normal" tablets. It also lacks water and dust resistance, which is a bummer, and E Ink displays are famously dim in the sun. We believe you can live with these shortcomings as the combination of features in the Tab Ultra C Pro is just too good. Unlike the Kindle Scribe, it provides more value and has so much more to offer.
Best for reading
For many years, Amazon has dominated the e-reader market with its Kindle line of reading tablets, and for a good reason: Kindle e-readers are excellent devices, and their displays have LED backlighting. The Kindle Paperwhite is the absolute best Amazon Kindle e-reader, which makes it the best E Ink tablet for reading.
The 2021 iteration of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has IPX8 waterproof certification, so you don't have to worry about getting it wet. It also has five adjustable LED backlights, so it's fairly bright in sunlight. Its 6-inch 300ppi E Ink screen is a delight to look at and replicates paper very nicely. Audible integration makes it the perfect companion for lazy beach days when you want to sunbathe with your eyes closed. You can connect a pair of Bluetooth wireless earbuds and listen to audiobooks in peace.
Amazon introduced many different colors for the Kindle Paperwhite, so you have a lot of variety. There's 8GB or 16GB of internal storage, which is enough to store thousands of e-books. The battery life is excellent, and you get a USB-C charging port. Amazon sweetened the deal by setting a low price, but you'll need to spend a little extra cash for the ad-free version. If you're an avid reader, you won't be disappointed by the Kindle Paperwhite. Some file formats aren't supported, though Amazon did introduce EPUB compatibility to compensate.
Best premium writing tablet
If you're searching for a more writing-focused E Ink tablet, the ReMarkable 2 is your best bet. Built from the ground up for this purpose, the ReMarkable 2 offers a premium writing experience. It has a 10.3-inch e-paper display that cannot display colors beyond black and white. It has Wi-Fi, USB Type-C charging, 8GB storage, a 3,000 mAh battery, and a nifty magnetic accessory dock to store your stylus. Notes and other documents can be saved over the cloud, although the companion apps are buggy.
The software caters to handwritten notes and processing them for multiple purposes. You can take notes directly on PDF files or use OCR to scan your notes taken by hand. To jot down digital notes, you need to use a compatible stylus. It comes with the Marker Plus that has an eraser on the opposite end, so it functions just like a standard pencil. It's extremely fun to use.
The downside of getting the E Ink digital notebook from ReMarkable is that you'll have to break the bank to get one with all its accessories. Mercifully, the price of the ReMarkable 2 writing tablet has decreased quite a lot since its launch, but there's still the matter of finding one. And there's another hard pill to swallow as well. Because you can't access the Play Store on the ReMarkable 2, it's no good for any other task beyond jotting down notes.
If you're looking for the ultimate handwriting experience on an e-ink tablet, these pains are worth undertaking.
Best for writing overall
The ReMarkable 2 tablet is great for writing but also ridiculously expensive. On top of that, the stylus isn't even included in its base price. If you want better value, the Onyx Boox Note Air 3 is a better buy overall. Onyx Boox tablets beat Amazon, Kobo, and every competitor easily because they all have the Google Play Store and run Android 12.
The Onyx Boox Note Air 3 has a 10.3-inch black and white E Ink HD Carta 1200 display that has excellent contrast and a lovely crispness to it. It comes with a battery-free stylus that registers 4,096 degrees of pressure, and you get native optical character recognition (OCR). This is such a vital feature for any tablet, whether it's an e-ink device or a full-blown traditional Android or iOS tablet. Unbelievably, the Kindle Scribe doesn't come with OCR, which makes the Onyx Boox Note Air 3 the obvious answer when comparing the two devices.
Apart from the stylus and excellent e-paper screen, the Note Air 3 has all the advantages of e-ink tablets and e-readers, as well as a few extras. Its 3,700mAh cell provides weeks of battery life, and it has a USB-C port with OTG support, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, support for tons of file formats, speakers, and even a microphone!
When looking for a writing tablet with an e-paper display, the Onyx Boox Note Air 3 is easily the winning contender. This is saying something, considering the Note Air 3's foes include the Amazon Kindle Scribe and the ReMarkable 2. If you don't mind the price tag and lack of water resistance, this is the e-ink tablet to get for writing.
Best Amazon flagship
The Amazon Kindle Scribe isn't the best value tablet on this list, nor does it offer the most amazing features and specs. However, it does have that legendary Kindle build and insane battery life backing it. This thing lasts for several weeks on a single charge, which is precisely what you'd expect from any decent Kindle.
For Kindle users, the Amazon Kindle Scribe is the perfect e-paper tablet. It doesn't have the Google Play Store and doesn't support many e-book formats, but the Kindle Store has an excellent collection of e-books, and Audible offers audiobooks in a portable form factor.
Now that Amazon has brought EPUB compatibility to Kindle devices, the Kindle Scribe is much more likable. You can easily send files to the e-reader slash tablet using the Send to Kindle feature, and there's Bluetooth pairing for audiobooks.
The compatible Kindle Pen works well; there are no lags, and it feels really good to use. You can get a lot better e-paper tablets for the same price, but those who prefer Amazon's Kindle ecosystem will be very happy.
Best entry-level
E Ink tablet lovers out there on a budget can still get one for a nifty price. The entry-level Amazon Kindle (2022) is a budget e-reader sporting a 6-inch 300ppi e-paper display. It doesn't have many fancy features like a waterproof rating or Sudoku, but it can support a healthy number of file formats and looks brilliant.
It isn't that bright in sunlight, but the adjustable front light is handy for reading at night. The basic Amazon Kindle has some more no-nonsense specs like 16GB of storage, fantastic battery life, Wi-Fi, and audiobook support. If you don't want to use the Kindle app, you can transfer files to the Amazon Kindle (2022) e-reader from your PC.
In comparison to almost every other e-paper device out there, the Amazon Kindle is the winner, hands down, when it comes to price. The base model Kindle performs a tad bit slower, and it doesn't have waterproofing, but it is still the best E Ink tablet for reading on a tight budget.
How to choose
The best all-around E Ink tablet is multifunctional
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After staring at bright screens day in and day out, your eyes really need a break. The best E Ink tablet not only provides relief but also allows you to carry out various tasks. Pick one based on your specific needs. If you intend to read basic ebooks, an entry-level e-reader should be fine. But, if you intend to do more like drawing and taking notes, take your use cases into consideration before making a final choice.
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro is the best E Ink tablet owing to its fabulous soft colors, extremely sleek and lightweight build, and multitasking capabilities. It isn't limited to just being an e-reader, but if you want, you can use it for that purpose. But if need be, you can also use it to take down notes, sketch some lovely drawings, or underline passages of text.
Let's also not forget that you get native optical character recognition with the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro, enabling you to convert your handwriting into digital text in real-time, whether it's to use the search bar in the Google Play Store or to use the search function in your handwritten notes. This alone is a remarkable feat for any decent tablet with a stylus.
The Tab Ultra C Pro accommodates office use as well as home use. You don't have to sacrifice battery life or connectivity. It even has stereo speakers and a mic, which no other electronic ink tablet on this list offers. What's even more brilliant is its ability to run almost any Android app. You can actually use it as a full-fledged tablet for most tasks related to reading and writing. The Tab Ultra C Pro pushes the boundaries of an E Ink tablet in the best sense, which is why it is the best one you can buy.
