Surprised novel reading on the NA4C (1.7%) is close to the Go 10.3 (1.5%) battery drain. Thought BSR would make it horrible as everyone was complaining. Go 10.3 didn't have a front light so I've been waiting. Might get a NA4C now.
@@TheLoonieOnes I think it depends on how fast you turn the page. Chalid Raqami NA3C tests did page turns every 15s which drained the battery faster at 7% an hour with zero front light or 13% full front light power. I am not sure how fast Jeffrey turns his pages in each test but have a feeling it is a lot slower than 15s. To compare the Go10.3 with 15s page turns consumes 1% an hour. Another note Chadlid mentioned was NA3C screen is very dim. Unless you're outside in direct sunlight it is not practical to have front light off. Real world usage reading books will probably eat around 7% an hour which is about 14hrs.
@Battlem0nk even if you turn the frontlight on, you only need about 30% or so to compensate for the darkness of the Kaleido screen. So that's much less battery drain then full frontlight
@@AHBdV You're right. There is no need to do 100% front light and 30% is less but still draining. Esp compared to Go10.3 or non color Note Air. Jeff's NA4C measured 3% @ 50FL and 7.1% @ 100FL with screen on but doing nothing. Extrapolating from that it would be 2% @ 30FL. Reading with no front light consumes 1.5% add 30FL and it consumes 3.5%. This equates to ~28.5hrs runtime. However, I think Jeff's turns pages very slowly in his tests. Each page turn eats power from BSR technology so faster pages turns will eat more battery. ua-cam.com/video/3oLoKFsW1jQ/v-deo.html Chadlid's test I presume he turns pages faster, every 15s. It was 7% @ 0FL and 13% @100FL. Extrapolation gives 10% drain 30FL. This equates to 10hrs runtime. Zero front light reading, 1.5% (Jeff) vs 7% (Chadlid), is a huge difference. ua-cam.com/video/3tsDWEmgIKI/v-deo.html Contrast to a Go10.3 it had 1% drain reading which is 100hrs runtime. In summary, if you do reading at 30FL on a NA4C expect between 10-28hrs battery life depending on how fast pages are turned.
Unfortunately, I'm not an Obsidian user. I tried to get into it, but it wasn't for me. I'd recommend going to the Onyx_Boox subreddit and asking about that there. I know there are a lot of Obsidian users in that forum.
Thank you for these elaborate series! I was wondering how a pen with an eraser interacts in the note taking app. Like for example the Staedtler Noris. Thank you so much for your insightfull videos.
I have the Noris Jumbo so I tested it out. Not surprisingly, the writing has a soft sound, so you do lose a bit there, but it writes just fine. The eraser worked well too.
It's hard to say, but if wifi were off, and no front lighting was being used, you might be able to get over 50 hours of reading in. If you'd use half front lighting, then it might be a bit over 20 hours. But if you are annotating as well, that will add to the drain.
So the writing experience is far better on the 10.3? Id like to have a back light on the upcoming Note 4 but not sure the writing experience will be near as good as the 10.3?
awesome, ty! I somehow misplaced / lost my Note Air 2 so i'm looking to get a new Boox tablet. I feel like this is a bad time to upgrade though. :') The color screens seem like they're not at a good point yet, and I worry a lot about battery life. But the B&W notes don't have frontlights which really bugs me. All that to say, I really appreciate your videos and in-depth testing!!
Unfortunately, I never reviewed the Eo, so I won't be able to comment on that. But both are made by Bigme due to their partnership, so I wouldn't expect major differences between the two.
I haven't seen battery life improve much with software updates in the past, but it is possible. My advice would be to purchase a device with the expectations of the battery life at time of purchase as opposed to hoping things will get better.
Hi Jeffrey. I’m not sure if you covered this before, but the Boox marketing materials said something about the NA4C being a brighter screen than the NA3C. Is this something you noticed, or did you cover this in an earlier video? Thanks 🙏
I haven't noticed that at all. In fact I think the NA4C is slightly darker. The front lighting on the NA4C is certainly brighter, and that might be the biggest change between the devices I have noticed.
It's strange to see such similarity between battery drain on the Note Air Cs (both 3C and 4C) and Go 10.3 and others. I've heard BSR consumes battery like crazy.
@@jeffreymoss have you considered to review the new huawei matepad 11.5s papermatte? I'm curious, is it really better for the eye fatigue? Or e-ink is absolutely better?
@@laca_p I actually haven't heard about that particular device. I will say, however, that I like eink because I'm drawn to that particular technology, and less due to eyestrain. In fact, I work on a computer all day long and often times go home and look at a computer at home.
Well the main reason this was on my radar was for a battery improvement over the 3C, so I guess this is a truly pointless upgrade unless the slightly brighter frontlight is a must. Question: are the frontlight levels still as top-heavy as on the 3C? The first half of the bar barely changes the frontlight and then the second half whacks it right up.
Unfortunately, I'm not an Obsidian user. I tried to get into it, but it wasn't for me. I'd recommend going to the Onyx_Boox subreddit and asking about that there. I know there are a lot of Obsidian users in that forum.
So the Air 4 C primarily has a much brighter frontlight than the 3 C. Which gives more pop, but also drains more power. I wonder... if you reduce the front light of the 4C to the same level of the 3C, do you then also get the same battery draw? I would expect so... With the bright frontlight, the colors do clearly pop more. But I can imagine that your eyes/brain will adapt to the frontlight, and it might not make much of a difference when not comparing the two. Could you show the colors image with the same frontlight intensity? So the same brightness, not the same slider setting. Probably 80% on the 4C and 100% on the 3C? Would be interesting if that gives a difference in colors or not. It looks like the gamma curve on the 4C is different from the 3C. Overlaying screenshots, I compared the lines around the edges. The darker colors on the right seem exactly the same in intensity and saturation, but the lighter colors on the left are lighter on the 3C, and somewhat darker on the 4C. I don't know what is correct, and what would be preferable. Maybe you could show an actual photograph? How problematic is the darkness of the Kaleido3 screen in actual usage? Would you use it without frontlight? Or would you always put it on? How much frontlight would you need to get the same brightness as the Go 10.3? Thanks for all the hard work testing! It's very much appreciated! Especially since no physical shop has these things available to look at it yourself. (At least not here in Belgium that I know off...)
I'll work on comparisons of the two screens in terms of battery life and color display in a future video. In terms of using the device, I could use it without front lighting as I often did with the NA3C, but I actually like the full cold front lighting a lot on this device (albeit it does make ghosting more apparent). It just depends on your lighting situation. I once took the NA3C to work for notetaking for a week (I usually use a Supernote) and I never had to use front lighting with just the light from my window to go by. Contrast is better on a B&W screen, but the darker K3 screen is still legible without front lighting.
@jeffreymoss this is very useful to know. I keep hearing two completely different opinions about how much you need the frontlight. Some say you need it constantly, other that you do can also do without in good lighting conditions. Nice to hear you can do without very often.
The hallmark of this tablet seems to be its incessant ghost images. It is better to be aware of this before buying. For my part, I returned it after only 30 minutes of use.
Surprised novel reading on the NA4C (1.7%) is close to the Go 10.3 (1.5%) battery drain. Thought BSR would make it horrible as everyone was complaining. Go 10.3 didn't have a front light so I've been waiting. Might get a NA4C now.
I was quite surprised my self. What I really wanted was a Go 10.3 with a frontlight, but I think Im gonna buy the 4C.
@@TheLoonieOnes I think it depends on how fast you turn the page. Chalid Raqami NA3C tests did page turns every 15s which drained the battery faster at 7% an hour with zero front light or 13% full front light power. I am not sure how fast Jeffrey turns his pages in each test but have a feeling it is a lot slower than 15s. To compare the Go10.3 with 15s page turns consumes 1% an hour.
Another note Chadlid mentioned was NA3C screen is very dim. Unless you're outside in direct sunlight it is not practical to have front light off. Real world usage reading books will probably eat around 7% an hour which is about 14hrs.
@Battlem0nk even if you turn the frontlight on, you only need about 30% or so to compensate for the darkness of the Kaleido screen. So that's much less battery drain then full frontlight
@@AHBdV You're right. There is no need to do 100% front light and 30% is less but still draining. Esp compared to Go10.3 or non color Note Air.
Jeff's NA4C measured 3% @ 50FL and 7.1% @ 100FL with screen on but doing nothing. Extrapolating from that it would be 2% @ 30FL. Reading with no front light consumes 1.5% add 30FL and it consumes 3.5%. This equates to ~28.5hrs runtime. However, I think Jeff's turns pages very slowly in his tests. Each page turn eats power from BSR technology so faster pages turns will eat more battery.
ua-cam.com/video/3oLoKFsW1jQ/v-deo.html
Chadlid's test I presume he turns pages faster, every 15s. It was 7% @ 0FL and 13% @100FL. Extrapolation gives 10% drain 30FL. This equates to 10hrs runtime. Zero front light reading, 1.5% (Jeff) vs 7% (Chadlid), is a huge difference.
ua-cam.com/video/3tsDWEmgIKI/v-deo.html
Contrast to a Go10.3 it had 1% drain reading which is 100hrs runtime.
In summary, if you do reading at 30FL on a NA4C expect between 10-28hrs battery life depending on how fast pages are turned.
In the performance test I would like to see the behaviour when using external app. Particularly drawing on Excalidraw in Obsidian.
+1
Unfortunately, I'm not an Obsidian user. I tried to get into it, but it wasn't for me. I'd recommend going to the Onyx_Boox subreddit and asking about that there. I know there are a lot of Obsidian users in that forum.
Great review! Esp with the battery test. Exactly what I needed.
Thank you for these elaborate series! I was wondering how a pen with an eraser interacts in the note taking app. Like for example the Staedtler Noris. Thank you so much for your insightfull videos.
I have the Noris Jumbo so I tested it out. Not surprisingly, the writing has a soft sound, so you do lose a bit there, but it writes just fine. The eraser worked well too.
Thank you for the videos. They are much appreciated
I think the colour callibration is different, that can be tweaked. I dont see major difference between the two with 4C having a better front light.
Very good video. One question: If you starts with 100% battery, how long Note Air4 C works reading pdf file before recharge battery? Thanks
It's hard to say, but if wifi were off, and no front lighting was being used, you might be able to get over 50 hours of reading in. If you'd use half front lighting, then it might be a bit over 20 hours. But if you are annotating as well, that will add to the drain.
@jeffreymoss thanks
So the writing experience is far better on the 10.3? Id like to have a back light on the upcoming Note 4 but not sure the writing experience will be near as good as the 10.3?
I'd say they are very similar in sound and feel.
awesome, ty!
I somehow misplaced / lost my Note Air 2 so i'm looking to get a new Boox tablet.
I feel like this is a bad time to upgrade though. :') The color screens seem like they're not at a good point yet, and I worry a lot about battery life. But the B&W notes don't have frontlights which really bugs me.
All that to say, I really appreciate your videos and in-depth testing!!
So detail. Thank you so much ❤
You are doing a great job. Thank you.
Would also like to see this thing compared to Pocketbook Inkpad Eo. Especially colour accuracy and contrast + pen input.
Unfortunately, I never reviewed the Eo, so I won't be able to comment on that. But both are made by Bigme due to their partnership, so I wouldn't expect major differences between the two.
@@jeffreymoss thanks for the insight. I think that's more or less enough for me :)
I the battery drain something that get lets by better software sometime ? (Locking for my first e-ink)
I haven't seen battery life improve much with software updates in the past, but it is possible. My advice would be to purchase a device with the expectations of the battery life at time of purchase as opposed to hoping things will get better.
What are the full dimensions of the screen size?
It's a bit over 6" wide and a bit over 8" tall. The viewing diagonal is 10.3".
What about the battery performance on the Note Air 3?
Unfortunately, I never reviewed that device, so I don't have battery results for that.
The same 3700 battery
We can connect both mouse and keyboard?
Yes
Hi Jeffrey. I’m not sure if you covered this before, but the Boox marketing materials said something about the NA4C being a brighter screen than the NA3C. Is this something you noticed, or did you cover this in an earlier video? Thanks 🙏
I haven't noticed that at all. In fact I think the NA4C is slightly darker. The front lighting on the NA4C is certainly brighter, and that might be the biggest change between the devices I have noticed.
@@jeffreymoss Ok. Thank you!
It's strange to see such similarity between battery drain on the Note Air Cs (both 3C and 4C) and Go 10.3 and others. I've heard BSR consumes battery like crazy.
It might come down to the types of tests I'm doing, but you'd think the BSR impact would be seen in the reading and writing tests.
Which one is better, note air 4c vs bigme b1051c or inknote x color?
Note Air 4C.
@@jeffreymoss have you considered to review the new huawei matepad 11.5s papermatte? I'm curious, is it really better for the eye fatigue? Or e-ink is absolutely better?
@@laca_p I actually haven't heard about that particular device. I will say, however, that I like eink because I'm drawn to that particular technology, and less due to eyestrain. In fact, I work on a computer all day long and often times go home and look at a computer at home.
Well the main reason this was on my radar was for a battery improvement over the 3C, so I guess this is a truly pointless upgrade unless the slightly brighter frontlight is a must. Question: are the frontlight levels still as top-heavy as on the 3C? The first half of the bar barely changes the frontlight and then the second half whacks it right up.
Yeah, I'd say that's the same. The first half of the slider is pretty subtle with front lighting, and then in the second half it gets bright fast.
Can you make video use obsidian in Note Air 4 C? Pls pls pls
Unfortunately, I'm not an Obsidian user. I tried to get into it, but it wasn't for me. I'd recommend going to the Onyx_Boox subreddit and asking about that there. I know there are a lot of Obsidian users in that forum.
So the Air 4 C primarily has a much brighter frontlight than the 3 C. Which gives more pop, but also drains more power. I wonder... if you reduce the front light of the 4C to the same level of the 3C, do you then also get the same battery draw? I would expect so...
With the bright frontlight, the colors do clearly pop more. But I can imagine that your eyes/brain will adapt to the frontlight, and it might not make much of a difference when not comparing the two. Could you show the colors image with the same frontlight intensity? So the same brightness, not the same slider setting. Probably 80% on the 4C and 100% on the 3C? Would be interesting if that gives a difference in colors or not.
It looks like the gamma curve on the 4C is different from the 3C. Overlaying screenshots, I compared the lines around the edges. The darker colors on the right seem exactly the same in intensity and saturation, but the lighter colors on the left are lighter on the 3C, and somewhat darker on the 4C. I don't know what is correct, and what would be preferable. Maybe you could show an actual photograph?
How problematic is the darkness of the Kaleido3 screen in actual usage? Would you use it without frontlight? Or would you always put it on? How much frontlight would you need to get the same brightness as the Go 10.3?
Thanks for all the hard work testing! It's very much appreciated! Especially since no physical shop has these things available to look at it yourself. (At least not here in Belgium that I know off...)
I'll work on comparisons of the two screens in terms of battery life and color display in a future video. In terms of using the device, I could use it without front lighting as I often did with the NA3C, but I actually like the full cold front lighting a lot on this device (albeit it does make ghosting more apparent). It just depends on your lighting situation. I once took the NA3C to work for notetaking for a week (I usually use a Supernote) and I never had to use front lighting with just the light from my window to go by. Contrast is better on a B&W screen, but the darker K3 screen is still legible without front lighting.
@jeffreymoss this is very useful to know. I keep hearing two completely different opinions about how much you need the frontlight. Some say you need it constantly, other that you do can also do without in good lighting conditions.
Nice to hear you can do without very often.
The hallmark of this tablet seems to be its incessant ghost images.
It is better to be aware of this before buying. For my part, I returned it after only 30 minutes of use.
Yeah, the ghosting can be managed, but I can see how some people would fine it fine while others would consider it unacceptable.
I understand that many people are concerned about battery life. No one is thinking of buying a 15-30 euro power bank? Sry for my english.
That's a possibility, but I think for a lot of people that's just another thing to carry around.