If you’re in the market for a larger-screened iPad, you’re no longer locked to spending the extra cash and going Pro. Apple’s iPad Air 6 now comes in two sizes — 11-inch or 13-inch, both with punchy Liquid Retina displays and a speedy Apple M2 chip under the hood.
I had the chance to spend a bit of time with the smaller 11-inch iPad Air and more time with the larger 13-inch iPad Air, and while these tablets are not ultra-thin like the iPad Pro (2024) — and they got less screen time in the keynote — the new iPad Air ushers in a bevy of new features for everyone to get excited about.
Apple iPad Air (2024): Pricing and availability
Apple’s 11-inch iPad Air and 13-inch iPad Air are up for order now starting at $599 / £599 / AUS$999 and $799 / £799 / AUS$1,299 starting, respectively. Both iPad Air options start with 128GB of storage but can be configured up to 1TB with 256GB and 512GB options.
The iPad Air (2024) is available in Blue, Purple, Starlight, or Space Gray, and can be configured with just Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi and Cellular.
Apple iPad Air (2024): Design
(Image credit: Apple)
For starters, the cost of opting for a larger screen is drastically reduced. The 13-inch iPad Air is $500 cheaper than the same-sized iPad Pro, with a starting price of $799. That’s more room for myriad tasks, but it’s all housed in an iPad that has some heft but is easily maneuvered.
The new iPad Air 13 (2024) is actually pretty similar in size to the previous-generation iPad Pro 12.9, minus a Face ID sensor. It weighs in at 1.36-pounds and is 6.1-millimeters thick, with a USB-C port for charging and data transfers as well as Touch ID baked into the power button.
For colors, Apple is expanding beyond starlight and space gray this year with blue and purple. Storage now starts at 128GB for the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air, up from 64GB in the past, but you can expand it to 1TB with 256GB and 512GB options in between.
Apple iPad Air (2024): Display
(Image credit: Jake Krol / Future)
Apple is calling this the 13-inch iPad Air, but it’s actually a 12.9-inch Liquid Retina display, so for consumers’ sake they’re rounding up. The screen performed well in a brightly lit hands-on space, with vibrant colors and the ability to craft immersive visuals, especially when viewing photos in the app Photomator. In outdoor usage conditions it can hit a peak brightness of 600-nits as well — though brightness is slightly lower at 500-nits peak for the 11-inch Air.
Where the larger iPad Air shines is with the sheer expansiveness of that 13-inch display. Using GoodNotes 6 or Freeform, you have a lot more room to write and create. Similarly, apps like iMovie, Adobe Fresco, or even Mail can let you access a bit more and go deeper. That’s the real benefit here — more room to blaze through various tasks, and now it’s considerably cheaper.
The 11-inch iPad Air, on the other hand, feels very familiar — it’s basically the same as the previous-generation with a faster processor under the hood and support for the new Apple Pencil Pro. The teams designing these iPads actually re-engineered how the Apple Pencil Pro wirelessly charges, so that’s why it only works on the new iPad Air or iPad Pro models.
Apple iPad Air (2024): Performance
(Image credit: Apple)
During my brief hands-on time, I drew in Freeform, moved blocks of handwritten material in GoodNotes 6, painted in Adobe Fresco, and even made some edits to a photo in Photomator — all of these pretty much flew on the iPad Air without hesitation.
That’s thanks to the Apple M2 chip inside; it has a very large runway for performance and will likely be harder to slow down. As we noted in our 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022) review (also powered by the Apple M2), the chip provides a ridiculous amount of power. That’s likely still the case here and it’s a level playing field for either the 11-inch or 13-inch iPad Air.
The Apple M2 processor also supports more advanced iPadOS features like Stage Manager, and it will take full advantage of the new suite of features coming with Logic Pro 2 and Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad. Regardless of whether you work or play on the 11-inch and 13-inch, I wouldn’t be worried about performance here.
Apple iPad Air (2024): Selfie camera
(Image credit: Jake Krol / Future)
Tucked into the bezels around the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air is a front-facing camera, but like the 10th Gen iPad, it’s oriented in a landscape fashion. For video calls on FaceTime, Zoom, or Google Meet, you won’t be sitting off to the side, and will appear more natural.
I didn’t formally test a call, but the relocation makes a ton of sense and will make it much more usable when the iPad is docked into a Magic Keyboard, a Smart Folio, or sitting in landscape mode.
This is also an “about time” update, as the 10th Gen had it and countless other tablets from Amazon, Samsung, and even Google have offered layout for quite some time.
Apple iPad Air (2024): Accessories
The other big appeal is support for the Apple Pencil Pro. The flagship Apple Pencil Pro with the iPad Air supports hover — a feature previously exclusive to the iPad Pro — to let you see a stroke or an effect without laying the stylus to the screen. Plus, it will give haptic feedback for alerts or to confirm you triggered an action. It even supports barrel role functionality, and will evolve
Similarly, you can squeeze the Apple Pencil Pro to unlock a palette of tools to easily change the thickness of a pen, the color, or even scrub to undo. This is a standout feature, and while there isn’t a physical eraser, it comes close.
Of course, the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air also support the Magic Keyboard, which lets you effectively use the iPad as a laptop, complete with a keyboard and responsive trackpad. It’s the original Magic Keyboard with a single USB-C port for charging and data, backlight keys, but no function keys.
While Apple didn’t usher in a complete redesign or a crazy new feature set, the iPad Air still feels like the Pro model for the masses. It gets a whole new size that finally brings the cost of the largest size iPad to well under $1,000, offers plenty of power for a bevy of tasks — even future AI ones — from the M2 chip, and mixes things up with a new spot for the front camera.
That’s all out of the box at $599 or $799 starting, and it’s easier to sell if you want a larger screen iPad Air. The smaller 11-inch model is pretty similar to the previous M1-powered generation, and likely won’t be an immediate upgrade.
However, if you have an older iPad and like the 11-inch size, or want a larger 13-inch iPad for less, there is a clear case to be made for the iPad Air. It will perform faster than the 10th Gen iPad or iPad Mini, and supports the Apple Pencil Pro.
Imagine a 13-inch iPad Pro that's a quarter pound lighter than the last model, thinner than any gadget Apple's made before, and packing a completely new display technology, with Apple Silicon that is newer than brand new. Now open your eyes: That's the Apple iPad Pro 13-inch (2024).
Apple took a huge swing with the latest Apple iPad Pro, bringing the most significant update in 7 years to both the 13-inch and 11-inch models. Much of what I'll say about the stunning iPad Pro 13-inch applies to its smaller, 11-inch sibling, though there is one significant difference: the larger iPad Pro is even thinner than the smaller one: 5.1mm versus 5.3mm.
I didn't get to spend much time using both iPad Pro tablets, though the iPad Pro 13-inch got the lion's share, perhaps because I couldn't stop marveling at its thinness and lightness.
More than just looks
(Image credit: Future)
I don't think you can overstate the leap Apple took here with the iPad Pro line. Sure, it still has that signature recycled aluminum enclosure, but along with squeezing every last bit of air and space out of the tablet, Apple stuffed in a never-before-seen bit of Apple Silicon: M4.
To hear Apple tell it, this 9-core CPU (10 cores if you buy the 1TB or 2TB model), 10-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Processor SoC was necessary to support something I know I've never seen before: a Tandem OLED display. As the name implies, this is two complete OLED panels sandwiched together to make one whole. It would've been impossible to power that display with any other piece of Apple Silicon: Not even the relatively new M3 could do it.
(Image credit: Future)
Why two OLED displays? For the light. OLEDs are incredibly thin and efficient, but not bright enough. Two panels sandwiched together change that equation. It also means that Apple's achieved some impressive contrast and brightness numbers. The iPad Pro boasts a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 1,000 nits brightness for SDR content, and 1,600 nits for HDR.
Those thin OLED panels (the previous display was mini-LED) are also how Apple was able to achieve the remarkable 5.1mm thickness on the iPad Pro 13-inch. It's unclear if the new M4 SoC played any part in the tablet's slim profile.
Apple is somewhat unique in the tech world in its ability to shepherd every stage of development and integration when building a new product. When the design team shows the chip team the wildly thin enclosure it has in mind, instead of heads exploding, Apple knows it has enough full-stack control to make it happen.
Pricing and availability
Apple announced its new iPad Pro 13-inch (2024) alongside an 11-inch model and two new iPad Air tablets (13-inch and 11-inch) on May 7, 2024. The iPad Pro 13-inch starts at $1,299 / £1,299 / $2,199 (the 11-inch starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699). It's available in Silver and Black. Storage levels range from 256GB up to 2TB. You can order with WiFi-only or buy a more expensive Wi-Fi plus Cellular model. Preorders started on May 7. Shipping starts May 15.
Design and Display
As far as I'm concerned, it's no longer possible to talk about the iPad Pro design without addressing what is now, in my early opinion, one of the most beautiful tablet displays on the market.
At a glance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the new iPad Pro 13-inch (2024) for the 2022 model. It has those same flat planes, recycled aluminum body, and Apple logo on the back; but as I drew closer to the new slab, I did a double-take. This is one impossibly thin device.
At 5.1mm it looks thin enough to ... er ... bend. But when I picked up the 11.09in. x 8.48in. device, it felt rigid – sturdy even. And, oh my God, how is this thing so light?
I've held more than a few iPad Pro 12.9-inch tablets (and dropped and broke one in my time) and the 1.5 lbs always felt hefty. Not this iPad Pro, though. It's somehow just 1.28 pounds – almost a quarter pound lighter than the last model (despite, screenwise, being slightly larger).
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At this thickness and weight, the iPad is flirting with e ink tablet territory. It's not much thicker and heavier than a Remarkable 2 (and obviously far more powerful).
On one short edge are a pair of speaker grills and the USB-C (Thunderbolt) port. There's also a microphone along the same long edge as the volume up and down buttons. The top edge has the power/sleep button, a mic port, and the other two speakers, for four-speaker stereo output that I did not get to try out.
There are other smaller but important design changes like one less camera in the array on the back, as well as the welcome addition of a so-called Truetone flash. As I predicted (or at least hoped), the FaceTime camera shifted from the short portrait side to the landscape position – a change that necessitated reengineering the Apple Pencil magnetic charging system. Sadly, Apple did not add wireless charging to any of its new iPads.
(Image credit: Future)
The other thing that struck me as I approached the new iPad Pro was the screen. Apple told us all about the Ultra Retina XDR display (no more adjectives, Apple, please) and its innovative Tandem OLED technology. I can't recall any other device delivering not one but two sandwiched OLED panels. Apple lines them up so that one pixel is behind the other, essentially doubling the illumination power. Still, seeing it in person I was struck by the sharpness (264ppi) and vibrancy. The colors in a field of flowers were astonishing, likely due to the Wide Color (P3) gamut, but it felt like more than that.
At one point I saw an anemone on a sea of black and noticed how there was almost zero bloom between the sea creature and the background, which made it look as if the sea creature was floating in space. I wanted to reach out and touch it. I have not seen such inky blacks since the heyday of classic plasma TVs.
(Image credit: Future)
Specular highlights, where tiny bits of light peak through the darkness, are shockingly bright. Apple claims a 1,000 nits brightest on SDR and 1,600 nits brightness on the Ultra Retina XDR display, and I have no reason yet to dispute it.
This is also the first iPad where you can specify a Nano-texture display glass option (1TB and 2TB storage options, only). For an extra $100, it adds a subtle texture that effectively beats back strong reflections. It's a useful feature for pros working in harsh light, but I would not recommend it for someone who wants to watch movies in all their glory on the iPad Pro.
I mention the Tandem OLED display in context of the design, by the way, because Apple could not have produced such a thin tablet without it. That display is also responsible, in part, for the introduction of the new piece of Apple Silicon: the M4.
Performance: M4 inside
(Image credit: Future)
Built on the 3-nanometer architecture of the still-fresh M3, Apple's new M4 pumps up the CPU cores to 9 cores (you can get 10 cores with the 1TB and 2TB models) and matches the 10-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. Even so, this is not the same silicon.
Inside are processes built specifically to handle the grunt work of managing two OLED panels and making them look like one whole. It's just another instance of Apple building its silicon to support its hardware products, and not the other way around.
Apple didn't show us any new on-board generative AI tricks or a new LLM-powered Siri, but it is touting the M4's 38 trillion operations per second.
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What I saw through a series of demos and playing around a bit with the iPad Pro 13-inch is a powerful system that can handle everything. It can edit four 4K Pro-Res video streams at once in the new Final Cut Pro 2. It can re-render 3D objects on the fly without a pause for regeneration. It managed four video feeds at once, with real-time reflections in an action game, without breaking a sweat.
In the animation app, Procreate Dreams, we edited a 140-scene, 200-layer animation in seconds. My favorite part was using the Apple Pencil Pro to drag objects across a playing animation to create an animation for that object. This is typically difficult animation work that the iPad Pro and its M4 chip have turned into child's play.
The M4 looks every bit as powerful, if not more so, than the M3-class chip on a MacBook Air, and it might approach the power of an M3 Max on a MacBook Pro.
Based on what I saw, the iPad Pro 13-inch running an M4 chip looks ready to rumble at work, for content consumption, for creators, and for gaming. I'm not surprised, since I've yet to come across a disappointing piece of Apple Silicon.
The M4 is supposedly as efficient a chip as its predecessors but Apple did do some work to manage heat dissipation, including somehow squeezing graphite sheets into the iPad and, in what might be a first, using the Apple logo as a heatsink: it now has some heat-managing copper in it.
Accessories
iPad Pro 13-inch with the new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard (Image credit: Future)
It's hard to talk about the new iPad Pro 13-inch (or really any of the new iPads, for that matter) without mentioning the new Apple Pencil Pro. The $129 implement looks familiar but has a host of new features, including barrel roll, squeeze-ability, and haptics. The new pencil works on all the new iPads launched today, and I did get a chance to try it on the iPad Pro.
If you've never drawn on an iPad of any size, I can tell you it's a pleasure. I've been using various iPads and Apple Pencils with Procreate for years. It's a tremendous drawing tool. The iPad offers palm rejection and the Pencil has long had tilt and pressure sensitivity. New features and an expansive and lightweight tablet create an even better experience.
(Image credit: Future)
First, there's barrel roll, which essentially adds a gyroscopic sensor so that the Apple Pencil Pro can recognize when you roll it this way or that. On the new iPad Pro, I could see the virtual nub of the pencil change from a vertical to wide orientation. Imagine using a draftsman's pencil and rolling the tip from horizontal to flat.
Second, the Pencil also added a squeeze function, which let me squeeze the pencil to access a variety of drawing features (app developers can easily customize the actions enabled through a squeeze) in apps like FreeForm. The Apple's Pencil Pro's new features and the M4 chip appear to make a formidable combination.
I watched a demo where the Pencil Pro was used to deform Procreate images with liquify, showing how it could be used to quickly create artistic effects that would normally take hours to accomplish.
In my own drawing attempts, I found the pen and tablet a fluid combo.
Cameras
(Image credit: Future)
Thickness and weight aren't the only things Apple subtracted here. The iPad Pro 13-inch no longer has an ultra-wide camera. Instead, there's now just a 12MP wide-angle camera that supports up to 4K, 60fps video (also 4K 40fps Pro-Res). The LIDAR camera is still there to assist in focusing and also helps capture 3D scans (I saw the results of one and began to realize how this iPad Pro might change the home design industry).
There's also now a True Tone flash, a nice addition for the surprising number of people who like to use a large iPad Pro for photography.
I did not get to try this camera, so I can't yet offer an assessment of its capabilities.
Perhaps the most significant imaging change, though is in the TrueDepth Camera module, which has shifted from the portrait edge to the wider landscape one. This is a very welcome design update since most people are conducting their iPad Pro video and FaceTime calls in landscape mode. I tried this camera out and it appeared to work fine; the 1080p video was as sharp and clear as I remember. You can also use that TrueDepth module for FaceID, but I did not have time to register my face and test that.
Connectivity and Battery
The iPad Pro 13-inch supports 5G wireless and eSim. It also supports Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 6e, but notably not WiFi 7, a weird omission for such a forward-leaning product.
Inside is a 38.99-watt-hour battery, which Apple claims will last 10 hours on a charge. Obviously, I could not test these claims in my limited hands on.
Early verdict
It's been a long time since Apple delivered true iPad excitment. Even as a fan of the tablet and its Pencil accessory, I saw mostly utility and little romance in the iPad. Today, though, something shifted.
It's not just the M4 chip, though putting Apple's latest silicon in an iPad remained a surprising choice. It's the combination of that chip, the incredible Tandem OLED display, and a design that is just a few millimeters away from paper thinness.
This is the kind of design, display, and performance that can, when put together, quite easily pry $1,299 from your hands.
I have yet to test the product but my early assessment is that the iPad Pro (2024) is a contender for the top of our list of best tablets.
Samsung’s tablet lineup can be a bit confusing, so let me help. The Galaxy Tab S9 is a fancy, expensive tablet that’s meant to compete with the Apple iPad Pro. If you want a tablet that’s priced to compete with the base-model Apple iPad, or even the iPad Air, you need to look at the Galaxy Tab S9 FE, and this tablet, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus. No, really, you do need to look at these tablets, because they’re quite remarkable, and give us some features we’ve never seen on a tablet at this price.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is aimed squarely at the Apple iPad Air (2022), and the two tablets couldn’t be more different. While the iPad Air is svelte and powerful, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is bigger, heavier, and packed with more features than you’d expect on a tablet at this price point.
The most important feature, to me, is IP68 water and dust resistance. While Samsung phones have been IP68 rated since the Galaxy S5, only the business-focused Galaxy Tab Active tablets have been this durable. That changed with the Tab S9 family.
The Tab S9 (Ultra shown) was Samsung's first water resistant Tab S (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The Galaxy Tab S9, launched in August 2023, was water resistant, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this feature carried over to the Galaxy Tab S9 FE family, which launched later that year. This tablet is so durable that you can watch Netflix in the bathtub, or browse the web (and even get work done?) by the pool, weather permitting.
Even better, you won’t have to worry about spills or dirt – you can rinse the Tab S9 FE Plus in the sink if you must.
In addition to water resistance, which I hope becomes standard on all tablets thanks to Samsung, the Tab S9 FE includes support for Samsung’s Wacom-powered S Pen. The S Pen is much better than Apple’s Pencil, no matter which generation you use, because it doesn’t have a battery so there are no awkward charging considerations. Samsung even includes an S Pen, where Apple forces you to buy its Pencil with your iPad, whichever model you choose.
The Galaxy Tab S9 FE arrived with the Galaxy S23 FE (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Don’t let the weird ‘FE’ badge fool you. Samsung says FE no longer stands for ‘Fan Edition’ (it doesn’t stand for anything at all), but the ‘S’ in S9 stands for Samsung’s premium Galaxy lineup, and Samsung doesn’t mess around with S branding. That means you get One UI made for easy multitasking; real DeX desktop environment support when you plug a mouse and keyboard into your Tab; and many more Pro-level features that you wouldn’t expect on a base-model tablet.
The biggest negative is performance. Where Apple endows the iPad Air with a desktop-class Apple M1 processor, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus uses a Samsung Exynos 1380 chipset, the same processor as found in the Galaxy A54 bargain phone. It isn’t bad – it can even handle multitasking well. You just won’t be editing professional video on this tablet.
In classic Samsung fashion, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus looks at the competition and says “more, more, more!” You get a bigger display, more storage (including microSD!), more features, and more of almost everything. It comes in a bigger package, but it’s worth the extra heft for so much more.
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: price and availability
5G available in some areas, not in US (get the Tab S9 FE instead)
Samsung’s tablets seem expensive because the base-model tablet, the Galaxy Tab S9, competes with the Apple iPad Pro, and not the base-model iPad. If you’re looking for a better deal, without sacrificing what makes a Samsung special, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus hits a sweet spot. It’s priced to match the Apple iPad Air, or a basic iPad 10.9 loaded with 5G and more storage.
While Apple gives you a powerful chipset, but relatively few features, Samsung takes the opposite approach. For the price, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is loaded with features. Compared to the comparable iPad Air, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus gives you a water-resistant frame, an S Pen in the box, a microSD card slot, twice the storage, plus a larger display and a bigger battery.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
That said, the iPad Air's advantage is its performance, which is closer to that of a desktop computer, so it can run professional-grade video editing software, for instance. Because it’s so powerful, it will also last longer, and Apple is renowned for supporting its devices with iPadOS updates for five years. I’d expect three years of security patches for the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, but probably not three major Android OS updates.
Oddly enough, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is not available with 5G networking in the US, although you can buy a 5G-connected Tab S9 FE, the smaller version of this tablet, from a US mobile carrier. In the UK and Australia, Samsung will sell you a 5G Tab S9 FE Plus directly.
Samsung also unfortunately skimps on RAM for the 128GB model. You can bump the RAM from 8GB to 12GB if you buy the 256GB Tab S9 FE Plus – my review unit doesn’t have the extra RAM, and it performed just fine, although it could have run a little smoother when I had a lot of windows open at once.
If you’re using this tablet as a professional device, with multi-window tasks and maybe even a DeX connection, it’s worth paying more for more memory. If those things are meaningless to you, don’t worry about it – the 8GB model will handle all of your browsing, streaming, and basic chores with ease.
Value score: 3 / 5
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: specs
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
To understand why the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus exists, just look at the Apple iPad Air, and then turn everything up a notch. The iPad Air has a 10.9-inch display? Then the FE Plus gets a 12.4-inch screen, with a 90Hz refresh rate. The Air gives you 64GB of storage to start? Double that for the Tab S9 FE Plus. One camera on the iPad Air? Then the Tab S9 FE Plus will have two, of course.
Aside from the processor, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is simply a step up from the iPad Air in every way, at least on the spec sheet. Of course, the processor is as important to a tablet as the engine is to your car, so this is like comparing a fast, bare-bones roadster to a fully equipped station wagon. The iPad roadster looks more fun, but most people would do better with the station-wagon Galaxy Tab FE Plus.
The most groundbreaking spec on the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is its IP68 water- and dust-resistance rating. No iPad has ever earned a worthwhile IP-rating, but Samsung made its Galaxy Tab S9 family water resistant, and I was delighted to see that trend continue with the Tab S9 FE Plus.
Are you likely to drop the Tab S9 FE Plus in a toilet? No, but having that water and dust seal makes the tablet more durable all around, which should hopefully improve longevity. I personally can’t wait to read books and newsletters in the shallow end of the pool while on vacation with the Tab S9 FE – and being able to wash this tablet in the sink is a nice bonus that makes it more kid-friendly.
The tablet also has respectable speakers, with tuning from Samsung-owned audio house AKG. The two side-firing speakers are up high, so you won’t block them with your hands when you hold the tablet in landscape orientation. I’m also happy to see the selfie camera on the landscape edge, so I can have video calls in widescreen mode instead of the awkward portrait format.
Overall, I think Samsung made all the right calls with the specs on this tablet. It is the anti-iPad Air, and that’s a good thing, because the iPad Air might be overpowered and under-featured for its price range. I’d rather have water resistance, faster charging, a pen in the box, and everything else that the Tab S9 FE Plus gives you, if I’m not using my tablet as a pro laptop replacement.
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: display
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Big display, larger than all but the biggest iPad Pro
Not OLED, but still bright with good contrast
The iPad Air is sharper but not as bright
If you like a brighter tablet display, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus gets brighter than the competition; it’s much brighter than the iPad Air (2022). The screen runs at 90Hz, and it looked nice and smooth when I was navigating the home screens and scrolling through web pages.
You also get a lot more space on the Tab S9 FE Plus compared to the iPad Air. Even though it’s only 1.5 inches larger, that equates to 13 square inches of screen real estate. If you don’t need a display that big, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE is the same 10.9-inch size as the iPad Air, and it costs the same as Apple’s base model iPad 10.9.
Like the iPad Air, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is an LCD display, not OLED, so it won’t be quite as bright and colorful as the best phone screen you’ll see, but it still looks great for a tablet, especially in this price range. In our Future Labs tests, we found the Tab S9 FE was brighter than the iPad Air, producing up to 760 nits of brightness versus 485 nits on the iPad.
If you want a fancy OLED screen, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 is only $100 / £100 more expensive than this tablet. With the Tab S9 family, you get an OLED display plus a much faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor.
Display score: 4 / 5
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: design
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Nice colors with natural pastel tones
Designed for use in landscape orientation – a wise choice
S Pen attaches magnetically, making it easier to lose
I really like the understated design of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, which actually has a design language, and isn’t just a black slab on the front and a metal slab on the back. The front is dominated by the display, but there’s enough bezel to allow you to hold the tablet without accidentally tapping anything. The back has some futuristic antenna lines and a bit of branding in a mirrored finish, and it all comes together nicely.
The Tab S9 FE Plus is designed to be held in landscape orientation, which puts the selfie camera in the middle of the top bezel, and I prefer this to portrait. Held in landscape, the USB charging port is on the side, and the stereo speakers from AKG face right and left, sitting above where you’ll grip the Tab.
This tablet is admittedly chunky. It’s not much thicker than the iPad Air, but it is much heavier. The Tab S9 FE Plus weighs 166g more than the iPad Air – that’s almost six ounces heavier. You can really feel that weight, especially when you add the official Samsung Book Cover, which I recommend.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, like all of the Galaxy Tab S-family tablets, comes with an S Pen. However, unlike the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which has a built-in silo for the pen, the larger Tab S Pen sits on the back of the tablet, held in place by magnets, and this is my least favorite way to attach a stylus, even though it’s the most common. It looks fancy, but it’s terribly impractical – the first time you slip the Tab S9 FE Plus into a bag with the stylus attached, it will fall off.
Samsung sent me the Book Cover accessory as well, which is a two-piece cover and stand. The front cover attaches at the bottom of the tablet, but I hardly used it. The back cover slaps onto the back of the Tab, and it includes a nice S Pen garage to keep your pen in place. It also has a fancy origami-style stand that folds down.
I kept the back cover attached all the time, mostly to make sure I didn’t lose the pen. Sadly, that meant I rarely saw the gorgeous mint finish, and it also added extra weight.
Design score: 5/5
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: software
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
OneUI is better on a tablet than on a phone
Powerful pro-tablet tools for multitasking
Still bogged down with too many options
Samsung makes the best tablet software for Android. While iPadOS is basically a scaled-up version of the iPhone’s iOS software, Samsung’s OneUI has always been designed for larger screens, so it works naturally on a tablet. In fact, I think OneUI 6 works much better as a tablet OS than it does on a phone like the Galaxy S24.
I usually complain about Samsung software because it’s so heavily laden with features, floating tabs, extra windows, and pop-ups, but on the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, with its huge, 12.4-inch display, Samsung’s OneUI almost seems organized, without the clutter issues that arise on a smaller phone screen.
Managing multiple windows on the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus is easier than on any other device short of a Windows laptop. I can snap apps to the sides, pop-up multiple apps in frames, or reduce apps to buttons that I can recall later. Everything works intuitively with simple finger gestures, with no need to learn anything fancy.
If you want to get serious with your Tab S9 FE computing, you can connect a keyboard and mouse and enter Samsung’s DeX environment. This makes the interface look more like a Chromebook’s, with a traditional toolbar and floating windows that you can easily manipulate. You don’t even need to connect the Tab to an external monitor, as you do with a Galaxy S phone – you can use DeX with just the keyboard and mouse.
Software score: 5 / 5
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: performance
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Sluggish performance on intense games
No problems with multiple windows and multitasking
If you need a race car get the Tab S9 (or an iPad)
I won’t hammer Samsung too hard on its performance disadvantage versus the iPad Air, because Samsung gives you plenty to do with the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus that doesn’t rely on having the fastest chip around. Even without the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as found on the original Galaxy Tab S9, the S9 FE can handle browsing, running multiple apps at once, and most games, with no trouble. It looks great in DeX mode for real desktop work, too.
I had to push to find the hiccups, but I found them. Editing photos in Adobe Lightroom is great on the large screen, but performance can lag a bit, and my edits stuttered as I dragged the sliders with the included S Pen. I didn’t have these problems on the Tab S9 Ultra, of course.
Playing games with detailed graphics, like Marvel Snap, worked just fine, even in the top performance modes. When I added multiplayer or huge environments, when playing Call of Duty or Genshin Impact, I saw more of a slowdown, and the games ran better when I turned the graphics settings to a medium level.
If you aren’t a hardcore gamer or a multimedia editor, you won’t hit any performance bumps on the road to enjoying the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus. For drawing and artwork, the tablet is perfectly responsive, with Wacom’s EMR pen technology backing up Samsung’s longtime stylus chops.
Performance score: 3 / 5
Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus review: battery
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Great battery life, beats the iPad by a work day
Faster charging than the iPad Air
With a larger display than the Apple iPad Air, you’d expect the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus would have a larger battery, and hence more battery life, but the Tab S9 FE Plus actually scored much higher in our Future Labs battery rundown tests. While the Air lasted for 10 hours while working through our intensive suite of chores, the Tab FE Plus lasted an impressive 18 hours before it died.
It then also charged up faster than the iPad Air, although only by a few minutes. In any case, using that mid-range processor certainly has benefits for the Galaxy Tab S9 FE family, and longer battery life may be the biggest of those. In my casual usage tests, the Tab S9 FE Plus lasted days when I used it to watch shows occasionally on my commute, check my email, and browse the web from my couch. It lasted longer than my iPad even in casual use, aside from our formal battery testing.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 FE Plus?
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider
Not convinced by the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus? Here are a few other options to consider:
How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus
I used the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra as my primary tablet for a review period of more than a week. I used it as my primary productivity tool for work as much as possible, including photo editing, writing in Google Docs, and communicating via Slack and Airtable. I also paired the Tab S9 Ultra with both USB and Bluetooth keyboards and mice, as well as with external monitors via HDMI.
I used the Tab S9 Ultra with a variety of streaming services, using both download and streaming features. I also used the tablet extensively for photo editing, viewing, and organizing, primarily with Google Photos but also with Adobe Lightroom. I played games with the tablet, including Call of Duty Mobile, with an Xbox wireless controller connected via Bluetooth.
I used the Tab S9 Ultra while traveling, taking it on a family trip and using the tablet as my main screen for entertainment while I was away. I checked email, used it for web browsing and communication, and also checked my Nest Indoor Camera from afar.
For battery testing, I spent time using the tablet nonstop until it died, then charged it again to check the long charging times. I downloaded movies to Amazon Prime and let them play nonstop until the tablet died, timing the total playback. I took the tablet to work and used it successfully for full work days without connecting it to a charger.
I tested the tablet with benchmarking software that TechRadar's mobile team relies on for internal note keeping and reference, but I typically prefer to report performance only in terms of real-world use cases and responsiveness.
Kobo might play second fiddle to the popularity of Amazon’s Kindles, but the Japanese-Canadian brand has beaten the tech giant in being the first to deliver mainstream color ereaders that are also relatively affordable. Two were announced side by side, with the Kobo Clara Colour being the cheaper option.
It’s an entry-level model compared to its bigger 7-inch Libra Colour sibling but, despite its 6-inch display size and lack of stylus support, the Clara Colour is a great option for anyone looking for a dedicated reading device. With no other functionality on board, it’s distraction-free reading at its best and in color too.
In fact, Kobo makes full use of the E Ink Kaleido 3 display technology that’s adopted for the Clara Colour. Not only are the book covers displayed in color, but the selected tab on the bottom of the home screen changes to a reddish-brown when selected. Even the download status bar is that color.
There’s even a dark mode available here and, if you happen to have highlighted words and passages in an ebook, they will still be displayed in color – only the text and background colors get inverted.
Page turns are fast, the on-screen keyboard is responsive and the battery life is good too. It’s waterproof, lightweight and portable as well. It looks like the Amazon Kindle (2022) but its biggest selling point is that color screen, for which you will be paying a little more. All in all, Kobo has done really well with the Clara Colour.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Clara Colour review: price and availability
Announced April 2024
Launch price of $149.99 / £139.99 / AU$259.95
Available in one colorway with optional slipcovers
There aren’t many mainstream 6-inch ereaders with a color display, so it’s hard to compare the Kobo Clara Colour with others. Still, at $149.99 / £139.99 / AU$259.95, it’s arguably the cheapest big-brand color ereader on the market. If you don’t need the color display, then opting for the 2022 edition of the Amazon Kindle or even the 2024 Kobo Clara BW will save you some cash, with the former costing only $119.99 / £94.99 / AU$179 without ads and the latter setting you back $129.99 / £119.99 / AU$239.95.
If the color display is important to you, then you’re looking at going up one size at the very least, with the Kobo Libra Colour being one of the cheapest in the 7-inch size class at $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95. All other color ereaders worth their salt are more expensive.
Value score: 4.5 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Clara Colour review: Specs
Kobo Clara Colour review: Design and display
Body built with up to 85% recycled plastic
Sharp, responsive 6-inch display
Sunken screen, which reduces glare
Kobo has stuck with the same design formula it used for the Clara 2E, bringing an identical black plastic body and raised bezels over to the Clara Colour – while its monochrome sibling, the Clara BW, gets a two-tone chassis to shake things up a little. Available in just a black colorway, the rear panel is textured to provide a little grip, while the side bezels on the front are just broad enough to offer your thumbs a place to rest.
While the raised bezel design might look a little dated now, it’s better at preventing glare from overhead lighting (indoor or sunshine). Less glare also means you won’t be spotting smudged fingerprints as much either.
That’s not to say the screen is reflective – far from it. The 6-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display is, like all other e-ink displays, glare-free but its smooth surface can have bright spots from overhead lights. That said, the built-in frontlight on the display can help reduce those bright spots.
The ComfortLight Pro on the Clara Colour is the same frontlight Kobo has been using on all its ereaders for a long while now. It lights up the screen evenly – I didn’t notice any areas of shadows or excessive lighting – which makes the reading experience a good one. Moreover, there are amber LEDs on the device, so you can adjust the light temperature to warmer tones for evening or nighttime reading to reduce eye fatigue.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
As the name of the device suggests, the display can now handle some color – 4,096 hues to be precise. As I’ve mentioned in all my other reviews of color ereaders: don’t expect the colors to pop with saturation as they do on an LCD screen. They will appear a little muted in comparison and that’s a limitation of the e-ink screen technology, not an issue with Kobo’s implementation.
Anything displayed in black and white on this screen will have a resolution of 300ppi, while anything shown in color will be at 150ppi resolution. The lower resolution might sound like color images (like comics and book covers) won’t look good, but far from it. In fact, the higher pixel density actually renders colors well, making them appear a little more saturated than they would on a larger E Ink Kaleido 3 display as used in the 7-inch Kobo Libra Colour or the 7.8-inch Onyx Boox Tab Mini C.
Despite tipping the scales at 174g – just 4g more than the Clara 2E – the Clara Colour is light and compact, being the perfect size for traveling with. It’s also waterproof, with an IPX8 rating that will keep the device in working condition if immersed in 2 meters of water for up to an hour.
The navy blue rear panel of the Kobo Clara BW (left) and the black of the Kobo Clara Colour (right) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Like its predecessor, over 85% of the body is recycled plastic, which includes waste that would have ended up in our oceans (like plastic bottles and CDs). The packaging it comes in is made from 100% recycled materials and is recyclable in turn, and the ink used to print the text and images on the box is soy, so biodegradable.
Rounding out the design elements is a concave power button on the rear of the device, a USB-C port placed off-center of the bottom edge, and the Kobo branding on the lower bezel. It’s a simple design that reflects the device’s single-minded purpose of digital reading.
It’s also possibly one of the most repairable ereaders on the market, along with its 2024 siblings. Kobo has partnered with iFixit to provide spare parts and instructions on how to perform some repairs, although, at the time of writing, neither of these are available on the iFixit website. I'll update this review when there's more information from either Kobo or iFixit.
Design & display score:4 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Clara Colour review: User interface
Streamlined, easy-to-use UX
Good font and file support
Cloud transfer files not available
I have always been a fan of Kobo’s easy-to-use interface on its devices, with everything neatly laid out on the home screen. Up to four of your current reads are listed right up top of the home screen, followed by a My Books section and another that cycles through either new recommendations, access to Kobo Plus or one of your Collections within your library.
Above the book tiles is the quick menu for screen brightness, Wi-Fi, battery, cloud sync (for firmware updates) and search, while at the bottom of the home screen are the four tabs to navigate around the device and the Kobo Store.
It’s nice to see Kobo has taken full advantage of the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen by displaying the selected navigation tab in color. The same red-brown hue is also used for the download status of a title you’re either purchasing or accessing via Kobo Plus.
The More pane on the Kobo Clara Colour (right) misses out on the Google Drive and Dropbox support seen on the Kobo Libra Colour (left) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
OverDrive support to borrow from partnered public libraries is still a stalwart presence on Kobo ereaders, as is Pocket. The latter, which is essentially a browser plugin that allows you to save web articles for reading later, gives you access to those articles on the Clara Colour if you already have a Pocket account.
Unlike the more expensive Kobo ereaders, there’s no Google Drive or Dropbox support on the Clara Colour. The only way to sideload titles is by plugging the device into your laptop and PC via the USB-C port and dragging files over.
File support is good, although not as extensive as what you’ll get on an Onyx ereader. Despite that, all the essential file formats are supported, including EPUBs, the most common ebook file format. Two comic files are also supported, plus 4 image formats. The only audio format supported is Kobo Audiobooks, so you can’t sideload audiobooks you might have sourced from a third party – you have to either purchase it from the Kobo Store or listen via Kobo Plus.
Audiobooks, however, take up storage space on a device and the Clara Colour only has 16GB to offer, with no microSD slot to increase it. So you may need to keep an eye on the storage if you're more into audiobooks than ebooks.
The Kobo Libra Colour (left) and the Clara Colour (right) have dark mode, with color content displayed as is. Only text is inverted. (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
A new addition to the Clara Colour’s settings is the option to “reduce rainbow effect” when viewing in color. I’ve never come across this option in color ereaders from other brands, and I haven’t been able to figure out what exactly a rainbow effect is, so I haven’t a clue how the setting works. I suppose, if color content starts to look a little strange, selecting this setting might help.
Dark Mode is available here and that only inverts text color while you’re reading an ebook. If your book has color images, you will see them displayed in color on a black background, which I think can make some pictures pop a little more.
One change I’ve been waiting for Kobo to make to its interface is the ability to create subfolders within the library. You can create what Kobo calls Collections, but you can’t set up nested sub collections within your main ones. Kindle allows for it, so I think it’s time Kobo adopted a similar option.
User interface score: 4.5 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Clara Colour review: Performance
Responsive touchscreen
Good battery life
Less contrast in black-and-white compared to some other ereaders
It’s been hard for me to fault Kobo’s ereaders when it comes to performance and it’s the same with the Clara Colour too, especially with a 2GHz processor keeping things ticking along nicely. Reading on it is a pleasure, although I personally find a 6-inch screen too small due to needing to turn a page a touch too often for my liking – that can eat into the battery life of the device. The small size might also make reading comics and graphic novels less enjoyable as, depending on how the title has been formatted, some frames could get cut off.
Both black-and-white books and color content look good on the Clara Colour, but I found the former lacked little contrast in comparison to some other monochrome ereaders I’ve previously tested. That said, you'll only notice the difference if you compare two different models side by side and it doesn't affect the reading experience at all. If it does, though, Kobo allows you to make the text on the screen ‘heavier’ by making the font a little thicker. Colors, on the other hand, appear comparatively more saturated on the 6-inch screen when compared to larger color ereaders and that’s down to the pixel density.
Opening an ebook on the Libra Colour during testing had a significant lag, but that’s not the case with the Clara Colour. It’s faster in that respect and, just like its bigger sibling, has a peppy screen performance. Page turns are quick and the on-screen keyboard has no major lag either, whether that’s to make annotations or type in your Wi-Fi password.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
I had no issues pairing the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones to the Clara Colour to listen to audiobooks, although the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II took a few tries before they paired. I’m putting that down to the slightly temperamental nature of the earbuds as I’ve had this issue with the same set and other ereaders before.
As with other ereaders, the Clara Colour will give you weeks of reading pleasure on a single charge. It has a 1,500mAh battery pack – the same as the Kobo Clara 2E but smaller than the 2,050mAh in the Libra Colour – and you can easily eke out up to 5 weeks of use, depending on how you use it. In my case, a screen brightness of 15%, the refresh rate set to every chapter and the Wi-Fi always on, gave me 34 days of reading about an hour each day before the battery dropped to 21% from full. So you can definitely get more. In fact, the Clara Colour has better battery life than the Libra Colour despite a smaller capacity, but then it doesn’t need to handle as many tasks as its bigger sibling needs to.
A recharge can take up to two hours, but that’s only because trickle charging kicks in at about the 95% mark – as happens with other Kobo ereaders. While it might seem frustrating to have to wait for an hour to see just a 5% top up, trickle charging preserves the battery for longer, thus ensuring a longer lifespan for your device.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Marginally bigger and heavier than the Amazon Kindle (2022), the Kobo Clara Colour is still light and portable. (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Should I buy the Kobo Clara Colour?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
How I tested the Kobo Clara Colour
Used for three weeks alongside the Kobo Libra Colour and the Onyx Boox Palma
Used it for both reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks
Compared it with other 6-inch and 7-inch ereaders
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
I was lucky to have been sent the Kobo Clara Colour ahead of the official announcement, so I'd been using it for a few weeks before publishing this review. I used it alongside the Kobo Libra Colour as well as the rather different-looking Onyx Boox Palma. I also had the brief pleasure of comparing it to the Kobo Clara BW as well.
I used to the Clara Colour to both read and listen – I have a Kobo account, so signing into it via the device gave me access to my existing library. It also gave me access to my Kobo Plus subscription, which is where I found some audiobooks to listen to.
While using the Clara Colour, I had the opportunity to compare it to other ereaders, both black and white as well as color. These include the Libra Colour, the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, the Onyx Boox Poke 5 and the PocketBook InkPad 4.
There are plenty of 6-inch ereaders, but there’s nothing quite like the Onyx Boox Palma. It mimics a smartphone’s design, right down to a rear camera, side buttons and a speaker on the top bezel.
With an aspect ratio of 2:1 on its 6.3-inch display as opposed to the roughly 4:3 (technically 8.9:6.7) of other 6-inch ereaders like the Amazon Kindle (2022) or the Kobo Clara 2E, the Palma doesn’t offer as much width while reading. It will, however, allow you to read in both landscape and portrait orientation, a feature that no other 6-inch ereader that I’ve tested offers.
If you’re someone who regularly reads on your phone only to suffer from eye fatigue, then the Palma is an easy switch to make. For others, the screen might feel too small and narrow. Still, its size is perfectly suited for reading on the go, and it’s remarkably lightweight too. To give it a little more grip, Onyx also has cases that resemble the ones you’d buy for your own phone.
Compared to a smartphone, the one thing the Palma really can’t do is make calls.
What it can do is get you access to the Google Play Store thanks to running on a lean version of Android 11. So you can download apps, including mobile games, news aggregators for RSS feeds, social media and even messaging apps. It’s got a speedy enough processor and a good amount of memory that allows those apps to run smoothly – although seeing them all displayed like black-and-white print takes a little getting used to.
There really is a case to be made for a device like this, but I think it’s a missed opportunity to not have added stylus support. That truly would have made the Palma unbeatable as a portable note-taking and digital reading device. I think there’s enough room for a stylus like Samsung’s S Pen to be added to the Palma; it would also make its price tag a little more palatable.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Palma review: Price and availability
Released August 2023; available to buy now
List price of $279.99 / AU$499 (around £259)
Cases available as part of bundles
At $279.99 / AU$499 (around £259) with a case in the box, the Onyx Boox Palma is an expensive device compared to other 6-inch ereaders, but to be fair, there really is nothing on the market quite like the Palma to compare. Its novelty alone might be justification enough for some users to splurge, but it would have been easier to recommend if it came with stylus support.
Even though access to the Play Store makes this a more versatile ereader than 6-inch alternatives from Amazon and Kobo, and it comes with more storage and a bigger battery than what the aforementioned brands offer, it’s still hard to justify the price.
To compare, you can pick up the 2022 Kindle with 16GB of storage for $119.99 / £94.99 / AU$179 without ads at full price and the Kobo Clara BW for $129.99 / £119.99 / AU$239.95, with the latter getting you superior screen tech.
• Value score: 3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Palma review: Specs
Onyx Boox Palma review: Design and display
Smartphone-like looks with built-in speaker and flash
Very lightweight and comfortable to use
Rear 16MP camera not best for scanning
Available in both black and white colorways, the Onyx Boox Palma instantly gives up its ereader status thanks to its black-and-white screen. Out of the box you can tell it’s an e-paper display and it feels lighter than an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy handset of similar size.
The 6.13-inch E Ink Carta 1200 display is encased within a plastic body that features two buttons on the right edge (one for power and another for volume/page turns) as well as a customizable function button on the left. Above the function button is a microSD card tray that can add more storage to the 128GB already available on board, although Onyx doesn’t specify how much additional storage is supported. Considering the 6-inch Onyx Boox Poke 5 can support an additional 1TB microSD, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Palma can too.
The buttons and the card tray are silver on the white Palma colorway, adding a touch of color, but no such embellishments are on the black device. For this review, I was sent the white option.
The bottom edge has a USB-C port with OTG support, so you can plug a USB-C storage device directly into the Palma to access files. On either side of the charging port are what appear to be speaker grilles, although only one of them is for audio output, while the other is a mic. The latter might be handy for voice notes, but this device isn't really intended for more common mic needs, like video or audio calls.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Another speaker is on the top bezel, just where you’d expect to see one on a smartphone, alongside a light sensor. The latter, however, doesn’t seem to be associated with the screen’s auto-brightness, but to enable the LED flash located on the rear. The flash can also act as a torch, which can be switched on via the Onyx Control Center accessible by swiping down from the top right corner of the screen.
Above the flash is a 16MP rear camera that can be used to scan documents and, unlike most phones, isn’t housed in a bump. So the device can lie flat on a table, which is nice. The rear plastic panel is also textured to add some grip, but Onyx has cases (the devices ships with one in the box as a bundle) that add to the heft if you’re after a little more security.
If you’ve been using a grayscale ereader already, you’re probably familiar with ones like the E Ink Carta 1200 used here, which is both responsive and sharp. What's novel here is the screen's 2:1 aspect ratio – there's nothing like it among ereaders, and it'll likely best suit those who like reading on their phone, but it will help reduce the eye fatigue that can occur when staring at an LCD or OLED display for long. I personally find my phone’s screen too small for reading, and I largely felt the same with the Palma, but I have to admit that this little tablet (can you really call it that?) is pocketable and perfect for reading on the go.
It’s also really light, tipping the scales at 170g without a microSD card, and comfortable to hold. That makes it the perfect travel companion, especially since its 128GB storage can store hundreds of books and audio files. Thanks to its all-plastic build, it might survive an accidental drop better than your phone, but there’s no waterproofing here, much like most other Onyx devices, which is another factor that makes the price point hard to justify.
• Design & display score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Palma review: User experience
Simpler interface than other Onyx devices but still complicated
Runs Android 11 with access to the Google Play Store
Built-in browser and music player
As with other Onyx Boox devices that were released in 2023, the Palma runs a very slimmed-down version of Android 11. Yes, that version’s a little outdated, but Onyx only moved up to Android 12 with the 2024 release of the Onyx Boox Note Air 3 and, in any case, you won’t be using an ereader for anything too financially or personally sensitive – well, I wouldn’t – so there’s probably no need to worry about security issues.
The operating system gives you access to the Google Play Store, available directly on the home screen via its icon. You can download almost any Android app, including the Kobo and Kindle apps so you can log into an existing account and purchase ebooks and other content. There’s also a native browser that will allow you to do the same via other stores.
You can even download a music streaming service like Spotify and listen without headphones – the Palma can get quite loud! Heck, you could even use a message app that works over Wi-Fi, but note that the device disconnects the moment it’s in Sleep mode, so it may not be the most ideal way to stay in touch with people.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
You can set the volume button to turn pages back and forth, and the function button on the other side can fulfil three different actions from a list of 15 via either a short press, double click or a long press.
The floating toolbar in the native library app on other Onyx devices isn’t offered here, but that’s arguably a good call, as it takes up precious screen space that the Palma can’t spare. A lot of the other customizations I’ve found to be overkill on the other Onyx ereaders have also been trimmed down, and yet there’s still quite a lot going on here. You can customize the home screen widgets, just like on a phone, add a wallpaper, change the power-off image and add a screensaver. I would recommend not bothering with the wallpaper however, as it can affect the way the home screen widgets appear.
The display renders text well and reading on the Palma is a pleasure… provided you like reading on a small screen. Pinch-to-zoom is available, which means you can change font size in the native library app easily.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
You can watch videos on this screen too and also adjust the refresh rate to be faster for specific apps, but don’t expect the refresh rate to match what you’d get from your phone. YouTube videos are, for the most part, fine to watch on the Palma, but it’s all obviously in black and white. It's a similar situation with playing mobile games on the Palma – while it's quite responsive and its processor handles graphics remarkably well, something that really impressed me, we can't imagine wanting to use this for anything other than simple games (like puzzle, word or card games) without much animation.
What didn’t impress, however, was the uneven screen lighting. There are random bits throughout the screen that aren't as bright as rest, which largely isn't an issue while reading, but can make a difference if you're, say, playing a game on the Palma. The Palma has the same Moon Light 2 tech used in other Onyx ereaders, and I’ve not had an issue with the smaller devices like the 6-inch Poke 5 and the Onyx Boox Page, so it’s a little surprising that the LEDs on the Palma aren’t as effective.
I would have also really liked to see stylus support here for writing and note-taking.
• User interface score: 4 / 5
Onyx Boox Palma review: Performance
Fast and responsive
Good refresh rates for most tasks
Handles graphics well
The Palma has a decent processor in the form of a 2GHz 8-core Qualcomm CPU with integrated graphics. That’s a phone-grade chip that's plenty for most ereaders and, paired with 6GB of RAM, is enough to handle mobile games with some heavy graphics requirements. For example, I downloaded Sky: Children of the Light, which is a resonably graphics-intensive game and, despite the lack of colors, it was easy to play on the Palma. The device did get a little warm, but no more than what my iPhone 13 Max gets when playing the same game.
On-screen controls while playing were smooth, which is the same case when doing anything else that needs fast response times. Whether typing via the on-screen keyboard or navigating using gestures and taps, the display is responsive and peppy. I experienced no lag at any time during my weeks-long testing.
The Kobo Clara Colour alongside the Onyx Boox Palma (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx has an array of refresh rates it offers on most of its devices, which I’ve previously said don’t do much to reduce ghosting. That thankfully wasn't an issue on the Palma, as I experienced no ghosting while reading or when navigating between apps and screens.
As I’ve already mentioned, the speaker can get loud and doesn’t sound too bad – the sound quality and volume are similar to a lot of budget phones out there. I’d still pair a set of Bluetooth headphones with it though, as I personally like bass, which the Palma doesn’t offer much of. For listening to audiobooks and podcasts, however, that speaker is great.
Overall, the performance here is better than the brand’s own 6-inch Onyx Boox Poke 5 ereader, and a touch better than the 2022 Kindle or the Kobo Clara 2E. I’ve been testing the new Kobo Clara Colour alongside the Palma and, while I can’t compare the two devices as the screens are different, both devices are on par in speed and responsiveness.
The rear camera is intended to be used to scan documents; it isn't meant for taking actual photos like a phone can, and there's no native camera app. Unfortunately, it isn't great at scanning. The included DocScan app lets you take photos, which you can edit and export as PDFs. There is also OCR (optical character recognition) available within DocScan to convert words within the image into text, but the final results were quite garbled and nonsensical in my testing. I think I'd stick with my iPhone for quick document scans instead.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Battery life is where most Onyx Boox tablets shine, and that’s the case here as well. If you’re just reading on the Palma for say, 30 minutes a day, you can easily eke out two months of reading, if not more, on a single charge – even with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on all the time. In my case, I used it to read, listen to music, play mobile games and browse the web, and I still got about 6 weeks of use, with the battery dropping to 20% from full – so I still had a ways to go before it ran dry.
Topping it up can take a while, depending on how low you let the battery level drop. It took over two hours to go from 30% to full when plugged into a 65W wall adapter and using a good quality USB cable, but then it is a larger battery than most such devices typically use. A progress notification is visible on the display when in Sleep mode as soon as you plug the Palma in for a charge.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Should I buy the Onyx Boox Palma?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
It’s a little hard to compare the Onyx Boox Palma to other devices because it has no real counterparts. However, because it’s an ereader at heart, I’ve listed a few alternatives to consider if you’re not sold on the Palma.
How I tested the Onyx Boox Palma
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Used every day for three weeks, intermittently for a more extended period
Used it to read, listen to music and play mobile games
Downloaded other apps from the Play Store to use
I’ve had the Onyx Boox Palma for a couple of months now and have used it on and off since it arrived. However, for the purposes of this review, I used it every single day for about three weeks to read, listen to music and audiobooks, and download apps from the Play Store.
These included the Kindle and Kobo apps so I could access my existing libraries on both platforms, but I also sideloaded some ebook titles to read via the native library application. The other apps I used were Dropbox and a notes application.
To test the device’s performance, I also downloaded a graphics-intensive mobile game and played it for about 20 minutes. The other content I had on the Palma included music files so I could test the native player, as well as the speaker performance.
To test the rear camera’s performance, I used it to scan a printout and a page from an appliance manual. I also tried the OCR feature on both and tested how easy it is to export or share these documents.
In April 2023, I wrote an article about how I wanted a small-screen ereader with a color display and writing features. It seems like Japanese-Canadian ereader maker Kobo heard me, releasing what I wanted – well, almost – in the Kobo Libra Colour. I would have loved an 8-inch device, but then I’ve been a fan of Kobo’s Libra line of 7-inch ereaders since the first one was launched in 2019. They’ve been TechRadar’s pick of the best ereaders since then, including the Kobo Libra 2 from 2021.
The trend continues with the Kobo Libra Colour, which is a double-whammy upgrade over its predecessor.
The Libra Colour looks identical to the Libra 2, which I think is great – why fix something that isn’t broken? The page-turn buttons and the slightly curved thicker bezel make the ereader really comfortable to hold and use in one hand. What’s new, though, is its display.
As the name indicates, the Kobo Libra Colour gets the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen that supports 4,096 hues, and is currently the best color e-paper display being used on consumer devices.
I compared the Libra Colour with what I would consider its biggest rival, the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, and thanks to the smaller size of the screen (7 inches vs 7.8 inches), text and images on the Libra Colour are sharper and the colors slightly more saturated even though they both use the same screen technology. While I admit I prefer the slightly larger screen for note-taking, the 7-inch Libra Colour is the sweet spot when it comes to portability. It's also a lot lighter than its competition.
While the color display alone would make it a worthy update, Kobo didn’t seem to be satisfied with just one new feature – the company also gave the Libra Colour writing capabilities. It inherits all the notebook features from the Kobo Sage and Kobo Elipsa 2E, but now lets you add some color to your notes. You can choose the ink and highlight colors, plus the type of pen, the thickness of the nib and more. And the handwriting recognition is something I’ve not been able to fault for a long time, but that, of course, depends on how badly you tend to scribble.
Writing on the Libra Colour is different to how it feels like on the Kobo Sage or the Elipsa 2E – it’s a lot smoother, not at all like writing on actual paper. It’s not quite as good as writing on the Amazon Kindle Scribe either – it feels like you're gliding over excessively smooth plastic and is my only complaint with this device.
Reading and writing in color takes a little extra power, so Kobo has updated the processor too, now using a 2GHz CPU compared to the 1GHz we saw in the Libra 2. And, of course, the same features can drain the battery, so the capacity here is larger as well, going from a 1,500mAh pack to 2,050mAh.
You still get 32GB of (non-expandable) storage, Bluetooth support so you can listen to audiobooks, and USB-C charging that debuted with the Libra 2 in 2021.
And you get all this for not a lot more than what the Libra 2 retails for at the time of writing, which is something I have to give Kobo credit for. This is arguably one of the more affordable color note-taking tablets on the market now and offers excellent value, just like its predecessor.
While not as saturated as you'd see on an LCD screen, the Kobo Libra Colour displays colors well on its e-paper screen (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Libra Colour review: Price and availability
Launch price of $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95
Available to purchase off shelves from April 30, 2024
Kobo Stylus 2 and sleepcover sold separately
Available in two colors – black and white – the Kobo Libra Colour is quite competitively priced at $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95. That, as I’ve just mentioned, makes it a lot more affordable than some of its competition. However, it doesn’t ship with a stylus, so if you want to take full advantage of the Libra Colour’s new features, you’ll need to invest an additional $69.99 / £69.95 / AU$119.95 for the Kobo Stylus 2. The good thing about this pen is that it charges via USB-C, so there’s no ongoing battery costs to worry about.
Even with the price of the stylus piled on, it’s still cheaper than the likes of the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, which is currently my pick for the best color ereader and retails for $450 / £450 / AU$765. That said, it’s hard comparing the two as the Onyx ships with a capacitive stylus, has a bigger 7.8-inch screen, has 64GB of storage (compared to 32GB in the Libra Colour) and a 5,000mAh battery that’s double of what Kobo offers in its biggest ereader.
Another point of comparison would be the 7.8-inch PocketBook InkPad Color 3 that will set you back $329 / £345 / AU$595 and not offer you any writing features.
Long story short, the Kobo Libra Colour, just like its predecessor, is pretty good value. To add a little more comparison, the Kobo Libra 2 currently retails for $189.99 / £169.99 / AU$319.95 at full price, so it really isn't a huge leap in price.
You can choose to view your library as a list or as a gallery in the My Books tab (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Libra Colour review: Specs
Kobo Libra Colour review: Design and display
Identical body to the Kobo Libra 2
7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 touchscreen
Magnetic edge to hold the (optional) stylus
For someone who’s used the previous two Kobo Libra ereaders, I will admit to initially being a little disappointed that the design hasn’t changed over the Libra 2. That’s only because I’ve been seeing it since 2019, but I’ll also be the first to admit that it’s one of the most ergonomic designs I've used in an ereader.
Built for single-hand use, the edge of the thicker bezel is still slightly curved upward, with the two page-turn buttons perfectly placed to provide a comfortable grip. The back panel is textured, which adds to the secure grip, and the power switch on the rear is still the same round, concave. Also inherited from the Libra 2 is the round, white indicator light that glows when you pop a USB-C cable into the charging port. The entire thing is still encased in plastic, which is made from 80% recycled materials, including ocean-bound plastics.
It’s quite impressive that Kobo has managed to keep the weight of the device down despite using a larger capacity battery in the Libra Colour. It weighs just 199.5g without a case, which is lighter than the Libra 2 that tips the scales at 215g.
Subtle design elements make the Kobo Libra Colour quite ergonomic (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
For anyone who’s planning on using the new Libra Colour for note-taking and scribbling, Kobo has ensured the stylus stays magnetically secure on the edge of the slim bezel. I’ve complained previously that this magnetic edge on some ereaders isn’t always very secure, but it seems quite strong here.
Speaking of the pen: it’s recommended that you use the Kobo Stylus 2 with the Libra Colour, which is the only one of Kobo’s pens that will stick to the side of the device. That said, the older Kobo Stylus will also work on the Libra Colour, but can’t be secured magnetically and requires a single AAAA battery. The Stylus 2, on the other hand, charges via USB-C and is, thus, lighter.
What stands out from a design perspective is the screen – it can display colors! It still retains the 7-inch screen size of the other Libra devices, but utilizes the E Ink Kaleido 3 display that I’ve seen in other color ereaders like the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C and the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C. While this screen tech can display 4,096 colors, they don’t appear as saturated as they look on a phone, laptop or tablet – they’re a little muted in comparison, but that’s the limitation of the e-paper screen technology.
The 7-inch screen on the Libra Colour, however, makes the colors look a touch truer as compared to what you’d see on a 7.8-inch or larger e-apaper screen, even when the bigger devices share the same screen tech and resolution. This is because on the smaller screen the pixels are packed more tightly together, providing more contrast. You get 150ppi resolution when reading in color (as with all other color ereaders using this screen), but it’s 300ppi when you’re viewing something in black and white, which is standard for monochrome ebook readers.
A textured rear panel adds to the Kobo Libra Colour's grip (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
While Onyx uses a glass sheet as the top layer of its display, Kobo seems to have adopted plastic – one way to keep costs low. This top layer is very smooth, which you can feel when writing on the device and the experience of scribbling on the Libra Colour is likely going to take some getting used to. It feels like you’re writing over a sheet of very smooth plastic, with no friction at all and I can't say I'm a fan.
As with all the more premium Kobo ereaders, the Libra Colour screen is also lit up with ComfortLight Pro which, when set to, automatically changes the light hue from cool to warmer tones as the day progresses. This reduces the amount of blue light hitting your eye closer to bedtime.
One issue I’ve had previously with some ereaders, particularly with a black chassis, are oily fingerprint smudges. I was sent the white colorway of the Libra Colour for this review which, like the Libra 2, shows no such thing. I haven’t seen the black version of this device so can’t tell for sure whether this will be an issue or not, but I didn’t have this problem with the Libra H2O, so I’m going to hope not.
The USB-C port can be used to charge the device or transfer files (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Libra Colour review: User interface
Easy-to-use, streamlined interface
Full suite of Kobo’s writing features
Notes easily exported to Google Drive and Dropbox
I’ve always been a fan of Kobo’s user interface – it’s streamlined, very easy to navigate and wrap your head around. It only takes minutes to figure your way around if you’ve never used a Kobo device before. That hasn’t changed but, for the Libra line, there is one major difference to the interface.
There is now the My Notebooks tab smack bang in the center of the bottom navigation bar. This gives you the full suite of Kobo’s writing features, including the Advanced Notebooks that I said made the Kobo Elipsa 2E a better note-taker than the Amazon Kindle Scribe. I will admit that writing on a 7-inch screen, particularly if there’s a lot to jot down, can feel a little constricted, but then I have been using the 10-inch Kobo Elipsa 2E as my everyday ereader and note-taker for the last few months, so dropping down to a smaller notebook size is my bias and may not bother other users.
The other change to the interface is the addition of color… and I don’t mean the book covers displayed on the home screen. Every time you select a tab from the bottom navigation bar, it changes color from black to brown. In fact, if you’re downloading books – whether from Dropbox, Google Drive or the Kobo Store – the status bar is also the same color. That’s a nice touch that I haven’t seen in other color ereaders I’ve tested.
Everything else about the Libra Colour is quintessential Kobo – good file format support, including EPUBs that Amazon requires you to jump through hoops to read on a Kindle. There are a total of 10 document file types that Kobo supports by default, and this includes text and comic formats. There are also four image files supported. The only audio file support, though, is for Kobo’s own audiobooks that you can download from the Kobo Store or via a subscription to Kobo Plus. Note that Kobo Plus isn’t available in all markets that Kobo operates in, but it is in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and select European countries.
Kobo's user interface is very easy to wrap your head around (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
As I’ve mentioned earlier in this review, you can sign into either Dropbox or Google Drive to help transfer books. The partnership with Google is relatively new, so Kobo has a single-page instruction sheet (in PDF) already in the device’s library. It’s very seamless to use either cloud service, and that also holds true for transferring any notes or notebooks. The latter can also be accessed via the Kobo app on your phone if you need any of them in a pinch.
Unlike the newer monochrome Kobo devices like the Sage and Elipsa 2E, there is no dark mode on the Libra Colour because the E Ink screen used doesn’t support it and, if you want to see colors, you aren’t going to need it. However, there are amber LEDs that allow you to change the white light hue to warmer tones if you want to cut down on blue light. And you can easily adjust this by tapping on top of the screen to bring up the quick controls. Like the previous Libra 2 and the newer models, you can set the light temperature to change automatically at a specific time in the evening or night. You can also slide up and down the left edge of the screen to change brightness.
OverDrive, as with all Kobo ereaders, is still baked in and despite it being replaced by Libby on mobile, it is still supported on the e-ink tablets. This means, if your local public library also has OverDrive support, you can borrow digital books and magazines directly from your device without having to leave home – you just need a library card.
Writing and drawing on the Kobo Libra Colour feels like the stylus is gliding (or slipping) over very smooth plastic (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Pocket support is also integrated into the Libra Colour. This is a browser plugin that allows you to save online articles to read later – you just sign into your Pocket account on the Kobo and you’ll have access to anything you’ve previously saved.
Auto-rotation is also available, so you can read in either portrait or landscape mode. This can get a little annoying, though, as a small change in angle when holding the device can change the orientation of the page you’re on. So you can lock the orientation to one or the other to prevent this from happening.
Admittedly Onyx Boox devices give you plenty more options when it comes to customization and functionality within the user interface, but I think they’re overkill and it takes a steep learning curve to get the hang of it all.
You can highlight passages in color and add handwritten annotations to books on the Kobo Libra Colour (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Kobo Libra Colour review: Performance
Sharp display, with good colors due to screen size
Excellent handwriting recognition
Very responsive, but a couple of functions have a significant lag
Adding features to a tech product means it’s going to need some extra power to make sure things run smoothly and Kobo has done that by upgrading the processor for the Libra Colour. Instead of the previous 1GHz CPU, it’s now 2GHz and that seems to do the trick. After two weeks with the Libra Colour, I’ve had nothing to complain about, although there are two very specific functions that suffer from a significant lag.
Opening an ebook from either the home screen or the My Books page keeps you waiting about 7-10 seconds before something happens. Similarly, the Back To Home button on the top left corner of a page also takes a few seconds to initiate. I’m putting this down to teething problems for now and it’s a software issue, so I think it’s likely fixable via a firmware update.
Everything else, though, runs smoothly. There’s no lag when writing and drawing, neither are there any when triggering a page turn either via the buttons or tapping on the screen. Using the onscreen keyboard is also quite good.
The Kobo Libra Colour's smaller size makes colors appear a touch more saturated than on a larger screen like the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
I’ve tested color ereaders before in the 7.8-inch size category as well as 10-inch, and I’ve come to expect a lack of saturation when viewing in color. The Libra Colour exceeded my expectations, not because Kobo is doing anything differently, but because the smaller screen packs the pixels more tightly, adding more contrast which, in turn, gives some images depth and better saturation. 7 inches isn’t ideal for reading comics and graphic novels, but just to see better color saturation I would recommend it. Even highlight colors available when reading a title – which are the same across all color-screen ereaders – look a touch more saturated in comparison to larger-screen devices.
One thing that Kobo has always done well is handwriting recognition and that’s been brought over to the Libra Colour. This feature only works in the Advanced Notebooks when you want to digitize your scribbles, but it can even recognize sub- and superscripts. I had two other colleagues try this feature and Kobo almost aced it each time – it misspelt only one word that no human was able to decipher anyway.
Handwriting recognition on the Kobo Libra Colour is spot on most of the time (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
During my limited time with the Libra Colour, I experienced no ghosting – something that bothers me no end with Onyx ereaders. Two weeks with the device, however, may not be enough to say for sure that ghosting won’t be a problem, and I would expect some along the way. Still, I am impressed.
Additional functionality with a better CPU needs to be matched with enough battery life to keep an ereader going for weeks as opposed to days. So Kobo has upped the battery capacity in the Libra Colour to 2,050mAh compared to 1,500mAh in the Libra 2. This got me about 14 hours of use in total.
My testing was a little sporadic, averaging about 45 minutes of use over each day over two weeks (sometimes a little more, sometimes less). I started using the device straight out of the box at 82% battery life and didn’t top up till it hit 19% after two weeks. I’d say that’s pretty good, considering I was writing, reading and listening to audiobooks via Bluetooth. I had Wi-Fi on all the time, the screen was set at 20% brightness, and a refresh set to every 5 pages. It’s also important to note that a page refresh occurs more frequently when writing, and every erase triggers another refresh too. So the bigger battery capacity is definitely working in Kobo’s favor here.
Topping up via the USB-C port is quick, but like the previous Kobos, trickle charging kicks in at about 96%. It took the Libra Colour about 55 minutes to go from 19% to 96%, then another 45 minutes to top up completely. While it might seem annoying to have to wait that long for just a tiny bit more charge, trickle charging can preserve the battery, adding to its overall lifespan.
Should I buy the Kobo Libra Colour?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
I think the Kobo Libra Colour is the Japanese-Canadian brand’s best device yet, but if you’re not convinced and need alternatives, take a look at the two options below, including a specs comparison with this ereader.
How I tested the Kobo Libra Colour
The Kobo Stylus 2 can stay magnetically secure to the slim edge of the Kobo Libra Colour (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Used as main reading and writing device for two weeks
Listened to audiobooks via a Kobo Plus subscription
Used Google Drive to transfer files, including notes written on the device
My regular e-ink device is the Kobo Elipsa 2E, but switching to the Libra Colour was just a matter of signing into my Kobo account to sync all my ebooks, notes and also access my Kobo Plus subscription.
I also have an existing library of ebooks in the EPUB format saved in Google Drive, so signing into that via the Libra Colour’s More tab gave me instant access to those, from where I saved a handful of titles to read on the device.
While I can’t draw to save my life, I did some random scribbling on the device – both while reading a book as well as in notebooks. I even got some colleagues to try the handwriting recognition feature.
I have an existing Kobo Plus subscription which gave me access to audiobooks on the Libra Colour, and I spent about 20 minutes listening to one title during my testing of the device.
All new notes and annotations that I made on the Libra Colour automatically updated to my Kobo Elipsa 2E as soon as it connected to Wi-Fi, giving me access across multiple devices.
The budget tablet world that the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) enters is a much different one than its predecessor, the Fire HD 10 (2021) did. Not only has every tech company and its mother began pumping out low-cost Android tablets, but even Amazon has created its own bigger-body rival in the form of the Amazon Fire Max 11.
The Amazon Fire HD 10 is the newest entry in Amazon’s line of low-cost entertainment slates, each of which gets refreshed biannually. The Fire 7 is the budget option, the Fire HD 8 is the Goldilocks model and the Fire HD 10 was the big-screen behemoth – but the Max 11 steals its thunder now.
This is still a tablet you may well consider. It has a large display, perfect for watching movies on journeys, and it’s inextricably linked to Amazon’s ecosystem: you can read Kindle books, stream from Amazon Music, watch movies and shows from Prime Video, review novels on Goodreads, stream from FreeVee and more. Rival apps are available too, including Spotify and Netflix, making this an all-around entertainment beast.
Amazon’s tablets remain some of the most popular non-iPad slates on the market, and it’s because they’re cheap and cheery. That doesn’t mean they’re not full of little annoyances, though.
By being tied to Amazon’s ecosystem, it means this slate is hard to properly use if you don’t have a Prime account. Plus, unless you pay more, the user interface will be chock-full of adverts, which can be incredibly annoying.
(Image credit: Future)
While Amazon has long sold accessories for its Fire tablets, it’s making more of a push for them with the Fire HD 10, offering various bundles with its new stylus, keyboard case or kid-friendly cases. We didn’t test the slate alongside any of these accessories, but they’re options that make it a better rival for all the new Android tablets cluttering up the market now.
So what place is there for the new Fire HD 10? Uh – not much, but that’s its own fault.
When designing its new tablet, Amazon must have heard the term ‘iterative update’ and confused this derogatory dismissal with a goal. The 2023 model is basically the same as its predecessor; while its front camera is higher-res, it’s slightly faster and slightly lighter, that’s not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things.
While the Fire HD 10’s lower price than its Max 11 counterpart ensures that it still has a price in Amazon’s line-up, we can’t help but advise cost-savvy buyers to try and find the 2021 model of Fire HD 10 and save a penny or two. And if price isn’t an issue, just go to the Max 11.
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
Went on sale October 2023 in US and UK
Base price is $139.99 / £149.99 (roughly AU$220)
For more storage and ad-free navigation, costs $194.99 / £189.99 (around AU$280)
The newest Amazon Fire HD 10 went on sale in October 2023, and unlike its predecessor, it wasn’t accompanied by a Plus sibling. The Fire Max 11, released in May 2023, was just the same.
The Fire HD 10 (2023) costs $139.99 / £149.99 (roughly AU$220, though we couldn’t see the slate on sale in Australia yet). That’s for the most affordable configuration, with 32GB storage and ads on the lock screen.
If you pay $40 / £30 (around AU$60), you can bump the storage up to 64GB, and $15 / £10 (around AU$20) will remove the ads from the lock screen. For both, you’re paying a grand total of $194.99 / £189.99 (around AU$280).
Once you’ve bought the tablet, you better keep your credit card handy, because there are plenty of extras that you may need to shell out for. Not only is an Amazon Prime subscription handy ($14.99 / £8.99 per month, $139 / £95 per year) but there’s the Stylus Pen ($34.99 / £34.99), Bluetooth Keyboard Case ($49.99 / £52.99) and standing protective cover ($39.99 / £42.99) that you can splash out on should you wish. None are strictly necessary, but will just help you protect your tablet more or use it to its fullest extent.
Amazon isn’t alone in charging you an arm and a leg for tablet accessories, with Apple’s versions costing much more, but many of the Fire’s rival tablets do come with extras included. Samsung tablets have an S Pen in the box, for example.
Value score: 3.5/5
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: specs
The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) specs list will be familiar to anyone who's glanced at the facts and figures on a previous Fire slate. Here's how it's looking:
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: design
(Image credit: Future)
Big protected plastic hunk
Lighter and slightly smaller than previous model
Comes in black, blue or lilac
The Amazon Fire HD 10 follows all previous Amazon tablets in being a large plastic box – and that’s not an insult. This is a utilitarian design made from a durable material, and more so than many other slates it’s ready to survive being dropped, being sat on and being left in the bottom of very-full bags.
Weighing in at 433.6g, the tablet is 30g lighter than its predecessor, though you’d need scales to notice such a difference. There’s no such dramatic size shift in the dimensions either, as at 246 x 164.8 x 8.6mm, it’s only 1 x 1.2 x 0.6 mm smaller than the 2021 model.
The front of the tablet boasts a front-facing camera along one of the longer bezels, like many modern-day tablets (slates of yore often put them 90-degrees around, resembling smartphones so the camera would be at the top when held portrait, but this is awkward for video calls).
Around one edge of the slate you’ve got a USB-C port for charging, a 3.5mm audio jack so you can plug in headphones instead of relying on wireless, and the power button to wake the device or send it back into its slumber. All the important buttons and holes are on the same edge, leaving the rest clear.
Amazon is offering the tablet in three color options: black (as our test unit is), lilac or blue. The accessories you can buy generally match these colors, though Amazon sometimes sells themed accessories too.
If you’re considering buying the Amazon Fire HD 10, bear in mind that it’s a fairly big tablet, and the Fire HD 8 and Fire 7 are smaller. They’ll fit in bags easier, and the latter can even slip into pockets – though the FIre HD 10 is far from the giant slates that Apple and Samsung make.
Design score: 3.5/5
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: display
(Image credit: Future)
10.1-inch 16:10 1920 x 1200 display
Fine for its apps but nothing stellar
Third-biggest of four tabs in Amazon range
There’s an easy way to remember the screen sizes for Amazon tablets: the company literally puts it in the name (basically, at least). The tablet’s display is 10 inches (well, 10.1 inches) across diagonally, which is 2 inches bigger than the HD 8, 3 inches bigger than the Fire 7 and 1 inch smaller than the Max 11.
The pixel count is 1920 x 1200, or FHD. That’s the same resolution as the vast majority of videos you’ll get from streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video – totally fit for purpose.
Don’t expect stellar viewing experiences: it’s a little dim, only has a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks vibrancy in the colors. But if you just want an affordable screen to entertain kids, or for you to read Kindle books on, it’ll do just fine.
Display score: 2.5/5
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: software
(Image credit: Future)
Fire OS 8 is based on Android 11
Software is full of Amazon apps and features
Some uninstallable apps
Like all Amazon tablets, the Fire HD 10 comes on Amazon’s home-brewed software, called Fire OS 8, which is a distant cousin of Android 11 (that is to say, it’s based on it). Fire OS definitely doesn’t feel like Android, though.
The entire user interface of Fire tablets revolves around entertainment. The home screen has widgets for discovering new movies and TV shows on Prime Video or Freevee, books to read on the Kindle store, extra streaming services and games you might want to download. By default, you’ll have most of Amazon’s subscription service apps installed like Amazon Music, Audible and Goodreads. From the home screen, swiping right takes you to a list of recommended games, books and film/TV, while swiping left takes you to your entire library of things installed or available to you based on your subscriptions.
That is to say, this isn’t a tablet designed for people who need a creative or business tool. It’s for entertainment, specifically of the moving picture or word variety (though there are several audio apps too).
It’s also a tablet designed for people with active Amazon Prime subscriptions. Prime Video, Amazon Music and Amazon Shopping are three of its most prominent apps, while Kindle, Freevee, Audible and more all require Amazon accounts (but not Prime). If you’re not on Prime, you’re going to find that a limiting factor in enjoying the slate.
(Image credit: Future)
Credit where credit’s due, Amazon does allow its competition onto the slate. Netflix, Disney Plus and a few free streaming services are there if Prime Video and Freevee aren’t cutting it, and Spotify is there for everyone who can’t be bothered to try out Amazon Music.
If you are in the Amazon ecosystem, the Fire tablet has a few extras that will help you. Not only is Alexa the only smart assistant, with the Google Assistant having been dumped on Android’s journey to Fire OS, but there’s a handy button always on-screen (on the navigation bar), that brings up your Device Dashboard.
The Device Dashboard basically lists all your Alexa-enabled gadgets, so you can control them from one place. Smart bulbs, appliances, plugs, blink cameras and so on – all can be at your whim from this one place.
Compared to most other Android forks, Fire OS offers little in the way of customization options, with a few alternative wallpapers but none of the style perks that newer builds of Android offer. You also can’t remove most of Amazon’s apps, even the likes of ‘Amazon Kids’, which there’s not much need for if you’re not a child.
It’s hard to avoid accusing Amazon of adding its own bloatware to the Fire HD 10 when you’re not given a choice of whether you keep it or not; instead, it’ll stay blocking up your home screen.
It's here that we've got to mention that, if you don't add on ad removal when you buy the tablet, you'll be shown annoying ads every time you open up the slate's lock screen. These can be very bright and distracting, especially the ones that include videos that can play when you try to unlock the device.
Software score: 2/5
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: performance
Low-end Mediatek MT8186A with 3GB RAM
A 5MP front-facing camera and another 5MP snapper on the back
Offers 32/64GB storage, expandable up to 1TB with microSD
(Image credit: Future)
While you can get a few ‘high-end’ mobile games on the Amazon Fire HD 10, it’s not exactly a gaming powerhouse, and you shouldn’t buy it if you’re looking for such a device.
Amazon has put the Mediatek MT8186A chipset in the slate, a low-end system-on-a-chip that it’s been using versions of in tablets for years now (I tested the Fire HD 8 (2020) years ago and it had basically the same chip). It’s paired with 3GB RAM.
The slate doesn’t feel particularly fast, either to navigate or when booting up or using apps. It doesn’t necessarily feel as sluggish as some of Amazon’s older slates, but the tablet works best for tasks that don’t need much processor power like reading books on the Kindle app or watching TV shows.
At least you can load up lots of data onto the tablet. While its basic configuration comes with either 32GB or 64GB memory, depending on what you pay for, you can use a microSD card to expand the storage up to 1TB. Just as a word of money-saving advice: 1TB microSD cards generally cost three-figure prices, and 500GB ones aren’t much cheaper, so if you only think you’ll need 64GB space it’s a lot cheaper to just buy the tablet with more storage rather than rely on microSD cards.
One of the headline upgrades the Fire HD 10 (2023) over its chip is an upgraded front camera resolution, from 2MP to 5MP on the new slate. That means that selfies you take will be a little higher-quality, and depending on your network connection, you might appear a little higher-res on video calls too.
On the back, the same 5MP camera remains. For both of these snappers, they’re fine for basic like scanning documents, taking picture of notes to remember them and so on, but you’re not exactly getting DSLR-rivalling photography chops.
In terms of audio, you’ve got a few options. The slate supports Bluetooth 5.3 LE, the low-energy equivalent of the current top standard of Bluetooth connection, and so it’ll work well with wireless headphones and speakers. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can stick to wired audio if you prefer.
Performance score: 2.5/5
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: battery life
(Image credit: Future)
13-hour battery life
Lasting power varies by task
USB-C charging takes four hours
The estimate Amazon gives for the Fire HD 10 is “up to 13 hours”, and in our testing we’d say that this rough guess is okay, but there’s a lot of nuance. That’s because the battery life varies a lot by what you’re doing.
If you’re playing a video game or streaming lots of TV, you won’t hit that 13 hour mark – I’d guess you’d probably get at least 10 hours, and maybe more, but those processes are more intensive than some others. However, if you’re just browsing your emails or reading a Kindle book, I’d say that you could possibly exceed that 13-hour mark.
In our Future Labs rundown test, the Fire HD 10 managed 12 hours and 39 minutes before giving up the ghost, which generally tracks with my real-world use of the tablets.
Either way, that’s a pretty decent battery life that squeaks past the average staying power of an entry-level iPad.
Charging is done using a USB-C cable (the industry standard that you likely use for your smartphone, headphones, laptop etc.). It takes up to 4 hours to power the device fully.
Battery score: 3.5/5
Should you buy the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023)?
Buy it if...
You need something portable
The Amazon Fire HD 10 is lightweight and slender, making it great for on-the-go entertainment, with its battery life and software focus only helping.
You're buying for a child
There's lots of entertainment for a kid to like on the Fire HD 10, with special kids apps and services plus a suitably kid-proof design. While Amazon does sell tabs designed for youngsters, they cost more and are actually just its regular slates with protective cases.
You're already an Amazon user
Whether you're a Prime customer who makes the most of Prime Video, Amazon Music, Kindle Reads and more, or someone with an Alexa-enabled home set-up, the Fire HD 10 will let you make the most of these.
Don't buy it if...
You're looking for a business or creative device
Many people buy tablets for work, or for creative endeavors like sketching or editing. Amazon's tablets are best for entertainment fans, though, and you'd best be looking elsewhere if you want more than that.
You don't need a big display
The main difference between Amazon's tablets is the screen size. If you don't think you need a full 10.1 inches (say, if you can just hold the device a little closer to your eyes so it looks bigger), you can save a fair bit of cash by buying the Fire 7 or Fire HD 8.
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review: Also consider
If you just need a new tablet and aren't selective about which, here are some rivals you might want to consider:
How I tested the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023)
Review test period = 2 week
Testing included = streaming movies and TV, checking emails, listening to music, reading Kindle books, playing games
Amazon's limited ecosystem means that not many benchmarking or testing apps can be installed onto the tablet, but I've used many devices from the company before so know what to look for in them.
The review period for this tablet was two weeks, though I continued to use the device as I wrote the review itself. While I like to try writing tablet reviews on the tablet itself, that can be more hassle than it's worth on Fire slates.
Instead I used the device as you're supposed to: I watched movies and TV shows on Prime Video, Freevee, Disney Plus and Plex, I made further attempts to whittle down my Kindle library, I played some of the games that the device suggests, and I streamed music using wired and wireless options.
I've been testing tech for TechRadar for just about five years now, so I've got a lot of experience reviewing things like slates, smartphones and ereaders to work out whether they're worth buying. As mentioned I've used lots of Amazon's tablets as well as competing devices, so know the market well.
The Huion Kamvas Studio 16 is what the company calls a drawing computer – not just a display that links up with a separate laptop or PC, but a fully-fledged Windows 11 device that acts as its own digital sketchpad, monitor, and processing powerhouse.
The beauty of this is its self-sufficiency; there’s no need to grapple with trailing cables between devices when one covers all of these purposes, and the built-in kickstand means you don’t even need to use the accessory stand that comes in the box. But options are good, we guess?
The 15.75-inch drawing area is expansive, with a capacitive touch display that feels like a natural companion for the PenTech 3.0+ stylus, which offers smooth, accurate lines and minimal parallax alongside 8,192 pressure levels – currently the market standard for premium drawing displays.
Windows 11 isn’t exactly a natural fit for a drawing tablet, but it offers a medley of app and browser functionality, 512GB of onboard storage, a powerful Intel Core i7 processor, and 16GB of RAM for “reliable running speed” when you’re multitasking between software. The inclusion of a front-facing camera, microphone array, and stereo speakers, means this device can also cater to work calls and video meetings too.
The price tag may make some balk, but the Kamvas Studio 16 justifies it with an excellent drawing display and well-specified Windows tablet all-in-one versatile design.
(Image credit: Future)
Huion Kamvas Studio 16 review: Price and availability
List price: $1,699 / £1,879
The Huion Kamvas Studio 16 retails for $1,699 / £1,879, with no model currently available on its online Australia store. That’s noticeably cheaper than the larger Studio 24 model, which comes in at $2,399 / £2,399, albeit with a roughly 24-inch screen, double the onboard storage (1TB), and a hefty 32GB of RAM.
However, for those who don’t need a full Windows PC baked inside their drawing tablet, you can also get a 4K drawing display for just $999 / £999 with the Huion Kamvas Pro 24, and plenty of even cheaper iterations of displays and display-free tablets alongside.
Huion Kamvas Studio 16 review: Specs
(Image credit: Future)
Huion Kamvas Studio 16 review: design
Solid build and expansive
3.9kg makes it a little heavy to lug around
Minimal ports and no shortcut buttons
The Huion Kamvas Studio 16 is a premium drawing computer, and very much looks like it, with a metal casing, an 11.9mm depth, and an expansive 349.6 x 196.7 mm drawing area within its 384 x 234 mm screen.
On the left side, you’ll find two USB-C ports, for charging or connecting other devices – not that you’ll need to do much of the latter, with the full Windows 11 OS baked right into the device. The right side features volume controls and a 3.5mm audio jack, for connecting headphones, though the pair of 2W speakers allow you to play sound out loud too at a decent quality.
Oddly, there are no shortcut buttons, either on the device itself or through an included accessory, so those of you who like a few physical shortcut keys to hand during the drawing process may be left disappointed. However, the Windows OS here means it should be easy to connect any external accessories, even if they require a separate purchase. (Huion has a number of Mini Keydials in its store, too.)
At 3.9kg, this is very heavy for a drawing tablet, so it’s worth noting this will be a little harder to slip into a rucksack than some other models. An adjustable stand is included, mind, which makes that weight easier to navigate and place in an optimum position. The stand itself is a little thin but is sturdier than it looks, and allows for a good amount of angle adjustment to suit your preferred position. Still, the built-in kickstand at the back of the tablet is perfectly sufficient for propping up the display, and we found it a more stable choice most of the time.
(Image credit: Future)
Huion Kamvas Studio 16 review: performance
2.5K resolution and 400 nit brightness
100% Adobe RGB color gamut
Full Windows PC is great for multi-purpose use
The Kamvas Studio 16 looks and feels great as a drawing tablet. Its anti-glare screen, premium design, and bright, color-rich screen. At this size, it’s a slight shame not to get closer to 4K resolution, but this 2.5K display is still a notable step above Full HD tablets on the market, and that pixel density will still look better here than in the larger Studio 24 model.
The real charm of the Kamvas Studio 16 is how self-sufficient you’ll find it. As a full Windows 11 PC, there’s no need to connect it to another laptop or desktop computer, and you shouldn’t need a single wire during drawing sessions – unless you’re charging it, that is.
That does make this device slightly more complicated than other Huion drawing tablets, mind. Setup is extensive and requires a series of approvals and logins before you can get started with the important work of illustration. The Kamvas Studio 16 also carries the Windows desktop experience, rather than a dedicated tablet operating system, which means it isn’t quite as slick to navigate as we’d like – certainly compared to an equivalent iPad Pro.
You can summon an onscreen keyboard, though a connected Bluetooth keyboard would likely serve you better for most non-illustrative functions, given the OS here isn’t designed for touch navigation, and the on-screen keyboard can feel a little in the way for general desktop use.
(Image credit: Future)
However, the built-in camera, microphones, and stereo speakers make the Kamvas Studio 16 fully capable for work calls – it’s a great choice for a creative professional who needs their drawing tablet to double as a work computer, with all the admin and meetings that entails. The front-facing camera’s 5MP isn’t quite as impressive as some of the device’s other specs, mind, and it’s hard to imagine many uses for the 8MP camera on the rear – the device is a little too heavy to hold up as you would a normal smartphone or tablet! The Windows 11 OS obviously allows for browsers and any host of desktop apps too.
The 100% Adobe RGB gamut is a boon for the main purpose of the Kamvas Studio 16 – drawing and illustrating, particularly using Adobe creative software like Photoshop and Illustrator. Colors are rich and vivid, with broad coverage of the color spectrum, while the 400 nits brightness can illuminate hues to a decent standard, even if it falls well behind the 1,000 nits of an iPad Pro.
It’s worth noting that the Adobe RGB gamut includes more green and yellow tones compared to sRGB, and you may notice a slight color difference, particularly with skin tones on TV streaming services, or neon tones that stand out more than usual. We noticed some banding in dark patches of TV shows, too – but this isn’t a TV device, primarily, and the quality is good enough for this as a secondary purpose.
Still, as an all-in-one device that encompasses a desktop OS, an expansive touchscreen, and a brilliant stylus (more on this below), the Kamvas Studio 16 delivers on its premium promise.
Huion Kamvas Studio 16 review: Stylus
(Image credit: Future)
Premium stylus and case
8,192 pressure levels
Two customisable buttons
As expected from such a high-spec drawing computer, the companion stylus is also a high-class affair – a slick, black implement shaped like a fountain pen, with two customizable buttons, indented on the side, where your finger would rest. The buttons can pan/scroll, act as shortcuts to run a specific program, or a ‘precision mode’ for temporarily fine lines.
It comes in a hefty case, with rubber cushioning on the inside and a small clip with which to remove the pen’s nib. There are three standard nibs and three felt nibs included in the box, for when one starts to blunt over time, though the latter is generally advisable for a smooth, skimming-over-the-surface feeling.
It’s a pleasure to use, with a market-standard 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity that make it easy to vary the thickness and strength of the line. It helps that the expansive screen allows for large, confident movements as well as small, precise markings, and overall it’s a drawing experience where you feel fully in control.
The first word that struck me as soon as I powered on the Onyx Boox Poke 5 after receiving it for this review was “cute”. While its little plastic body isn’t anything to write home about, the device's wallpaper and the boot-up screen's animations always make me smile.
Throw in the 6-inch screen size and the Onyx Boox Poke 5 is quite an adorable entry-level ereader that’s competing against the current Amazon Kindle (2022), as well as the Kobo Nia and Kobo Clara 2E. What sets it apart from the other 6-inch ereaders is its 32GB of onboard storage, the expandable microSD storage of up to 1TB, and access to the Google Play Store thanks to its Android 11-based user interface.
So, while Onyx doesn’t have a good bookstore to purchase content from, you can download the Kindle and Kobo apps to source your next read or audiobook. There's also a native web browser from where you can make purchases too. And with apps like Libby, you can borrow ebooks from a public library that supports this platform.
However, this headline feature – i.e. getting access to the Play Store – isn’t enabled by default as it is on other Onyx Boox models I’ve tested. You’ll see the app on the Poke 5 but users are required to register the device for access first and these steps are hidden away. In my opinion, an entry-level ereader that promises access to the Play Store should have it enabled by default.
If you don’t want to bother with the Play Store, then the best use case for the Onyx Poke 5 would be if you already have an existing library you can sideload onto the device. This is easy enough via either signing into Dropbox or Google Drive on the Poke 5, or you can use Onyx’s own BooxDrop application.
As with all Onyx ereaders, the user interface isn’t very intuitive and, again, as an entry-level model, this makes it a little harder to recommend compared to its competition from Amazon and Kobo.
(Image credit: Future)
Onyx Boox Poke 5 review: price and availability
Retail price of $169.99 / £169.99 / AU$289
Available to buy now in most markets
Onyx ereaders don't come cheap and the same is the case with the Poke 5 as well. At $169.99 / £169.99 / AU$289 apiece, it’s a high price to pay for a 6-inch entry-level ereader without any waterproofing, although you get a lot of storage here.
In comparison, the 2022 edition of the Amazon Kindle with 16GB of storage and no waterproofing will set you back $119.99 / £94.99 / AU$179 at full price for the no-ads version, but it’s often available at a discounted price that makes it remarkable value. The 6-inch Kobo Nia, which is also a no-frills ereader is cheaper than the Poke 5 at $109.99 / £94.99 / AU$179.95, and that’s after the Japanese-Canadian company upped the Aussie RRP a couple times since it launched in 2020.
Even the Kobo Clara 2E, with a retail price of $139.99 / £129.99 / AU$249.95 is better value with a 6-inch E Ink Carta 1200 screen, waterproofing and the ability to borrow books via OverDrive, although it comes with just 16GB of internal storage.
• Value score: 2.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
Onyx Boox Poke 5 specifications
Onyx Boox Poke 5 review: design and display
6-inch E Ink Carta Plus screen is good, but lacks the Kindle’s contrast
Brightness and light hue can be controlled independently
Microphone and microSD expansion of up to 1TB
When it comes to entry-level ereaders, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for design innovation, as the Onyx Boox Poke 5 is very similar to the base Kindle or the Kobo Nia and Clara 2E, with minor differences here and there.
Where the rear panels of the Kindle and Kobo alternatives are textured that offer some grip, the Poke 5 has a smooth plastic rear that’s a magnet for fingerprints. The front has a Boox branding on the lower bezel for embellishment, but the top edge houses the power button that’s easy to find and press, while the lower edge is home to the USB-C port, a mic and a microSD tray.
Tipping the scales at just 160g without a case, the Poke 5 is one of the lightest ereaders I’ve tested. To put that number into perspective, it’s just 2g more than the 2022 Amazon Kindle (which weighs 158g), while the two 6-inch Kobos weigh in at 172g for the Nia and 171g for the Clara 2E.
(Image credit: Future)
The compact and lightweight body encapsulates a 6-inch E Ink Carta Plus screen, which is an older technology then the current Carta 1200 displays that the Kindle and Kobo Clara 2E use, and that means the contrast here isn’t as good as what I saw on the 2022 Kindle. In fact, a side-by-side comparison between the Onyx and the Kindle makes the latter more appealing.
However, the Poke 5 allows you to not only change the frontlight’s brightness, but also its light temperature, giving you the flexibility between cool and warm hues, the latter being better for evening and night reading. This is something you’ll get with the Kobo Clara 2E as well, where you can automatically have the light hue change at a set time, but the Kindle and the Nia miss out on this feature.
Another thing the Poke 5 misses out on is waterproofing, which isn’t available on the Kobo Nia either, but considering the price you’re paying for the Onyx, I think it’s a major omission.
• Design and display score: 3.5 / 5
Onyx Boox Poke 5 review: User experience
6-inch screen could be small for some users
Complicated UI
Google Play Store access not available by default
I love how portable a 6-inch ereader can be – without a case, they can easily slip into a jacket pocket if you’re going for a stroll and decide to sit down for a read somewhere nice. The small size of the screen, however, isn’t for me as the amount of text displayed is less and, although page turns are mostly responsive, 6 inches of screen real estate feels too cramped. My colleague and I had a similar experience when we tested the 2022 Kindle, and I suspect this might be the case for other users too, so make sure you’ll be comfortable with a small screen before you drop money on an entry-level ereader.
As with other Onyx ereaders, the Poke 5’s user interface isn’t as simple as it is on a Kindle or a Kobo. Despite being a basic model, there’s actually quite a lot of menu options to go through here so it’s set up just right for you, including a floating toolbar in the native library application, different refresh rates that can be set for each application, and further enhancements for text of a book within the library.
(Image credit: Future)
This is where all your sideloaded books go and adding to the library is easy – you can use cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, plus you can use BooxDrop, which is accessible without an Onyx account if you don’t want to create one.
My biggest issue with the Poke 5’s user experience was needing to go through hoops to activate Google Play Store access on the ereader. While this is available by default on other Onyx that I’ve tested, it’s strange that an entry-level model requires a user to go through some steps that are buried in the settings. Onyx provides online tutorials on how to go about doing this, and it’s easy enough once you wrap your head around it, but I think it’s far from ideal on a device like this.
Once you’ve managed to activate Play Store access, though, you’ve got a plethora of Android apps at your disposal that you can use. For me, it was downloading the Kindle and Kobo apps so I could access my existing library on both platforms, but note that when using the apps, you don’t have access to the font and page customizations available in the native library app. If that doesn’t bother you, the Poke 5 could be worth it just by giving you access to a multitude of bookstores to purchase content from, even online via the native web browser.
Don’t want to purchase books? You can also download the Libby app that helps you borrow ebooks from a public library, but you will need to check with your local one if this option is supported.
• User experience score: 3 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
Onyx Boox Poke 5 review: Performance
Good processor but sluggish performance
Decent battery life
Responsive page turns in native library application, but not on downloaded reading apps
I’m not sure why Onyx chose to use an E Ink Carta Plus screen for the Poke 5 when the Carta 1200 is a better option in terms of both responsiveness and contrast, but the display here isn’t bad at all. Text is still sharp and clear, and given you can adjust both brightness and light temperature, it’s readable in any kind of ambient light. The only way you can tell there’s something better out there is if you do a side-by-side comparison with the 2022 Kindle... or if you take my word for it.
However, the Poke 5’s overall performance is a little sluggish compared to the Kindle and the Kobo Clara 2E, but on par with the Kobo Nia, which is a much older model. That’s despite the Poke 5 having a better processor and more RAM – it comes with a 2GHz quad-core Qualcomm CPU and 2GB of RAM compared to the Kindle and Clara 2E’s 1GHz CPU and 512GB of system memory.
This is reflected in the occasional sluggishness of the onscreen keyboard – I found that I sometimes had to select a letter twice or three times for it to register when typing. While tapping to turn a page when using the native library app is mostly fine, I found that to be a bit hit and miss on the Kindle app where I sometimes needed to tap twice for the function to take place and, when it did, it was a little delayed.
(Image credit: Future)
Ghosting, however, was quite rare when I was testing the Poke 5. This was something I was expecting to happen a lot given my previous experience with other Onyx e-ink tablets, so it was a pleasant reading experience to not have to deal with overlays of a previous application or page.
As expected from an Onyx ereader, battery life is quite good. There’s a 1,500mAh battery that lasted a little over four weeks for me (about 34 days), dropping to 12% before I plugged in for a charge. This is with brightness set to mid level and light temperature at warmer hues, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth always on, and refresh rate set to every 1 tap.
Topping up the battery didn’t take long for me either – about 55 minutes from 12% to full – as I had it plugged into a 65W GAN wall charger via a good quality USB-C to C cable. If you use a laptop or one of the best power banks to charge the Poke 5, note that it will take longer than plugging it directly into a wall adaptor.
• Performance score: 3.5 / 5
Should I buy the Onyx Boox Poke 5?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
If you’re looking for other options to the Onyx Boox Poke 5, your best bets are the Amazon Kindle (2022 release) and the Kobo Clara 2E. You can take a look at some direct specs comparisons below.
How I tested the Onyx Boox Poke 5
Used every day for about 5 weeks but intermittently for longer
Sideloaded some of my own previously purchased content, plus used the Kindle and Kobo apps
Browsed the web via the native web browser
(Image credit: Future)
I’ve had the Onyx Boox Poke 5 for a while now, but while I was working on the Onyx Boox Page review, I used it only intermittently. However, once that was complete, the Poke 5 became my everyday ereader.
When it became my main reading device, I used the Poke 5 for about 2-3 hours a day (I am a voracious reader) and tried some different apps and played around with the custom settings too.
While I used Google Drive and BooxDrop to add some content to the device, I also downloaded the Kindle and Kobo apps to access my existing libraries on those platforms as well and read on those apps. This, however, required me to first enable Google Play Store access on the device, which took some doing. I was expecting to be able to sign in on setup, but after some research realized that it needed me to dig into some hidden menus to enable.
I like the idea of having a web browser on an entry-level ereader as it allows me to immediately do any research while reading a particular title.
The Onyx Boox Page is very much like the Kindle Oasis, especially since its plastic body looks far more premium than the Kobo Libra 2. Sharing the same 7-inch screen size as both the older models from Amazon and Kobo, the Onyx Page is just a touch faster thanks to a better processor.
Like the other two, there are physical page-turn buttons here that also double up as the volume controls. Yes, there’s a speaker built-in, but don’t expect the sound quality to wow you. It sounds a little tinny but it suffices if you’re only using it for audiobooks. However, a better listening experience would be via Bluetooth-connected headphones or speaker of your choice.
There’s a very generous 32GB of storage here, just like the Kobo Libra 2, but the Page also features a microSD slot in case you want to expand storage – after all, audiobooks take up more space than ebooks. Moreover, the battery life here is excellent, thanks to a 2,300mAh pack under the hood.
My main complaint is the afterimage issue caused by bringing up the E Ink Center to access shortcuts or control sliders. I’ve seen this before on other Onyx ereaders, but where that’s usually been a ghosting issue, here it’s a dark overlay of the control panel remaining on the page. This doesn’t happen every time, but often enough that it gets annoying.
Another complaint I have is the lack of waterproofing for the Page, so avoid the bath, the pool and the kitchen sink when using this ereader.
Access to content on an Onyx Boox ereader is also still disappointing. While there are two bookstores on the Page, one is Chinese, the other only has ebooks that are already in the public domain.
That said, the Page runs on a simplified version of Android 11 and gives you access to the Google Play Store. From here, you can download the Kindle or the Kobo app (or both) and find your next read there. The flip side to this is your purchased content from the apps won’t get added to the Page’s default library, taking away the plethora of customizations you can apply to ebooks within that default folder.
So if you don’t mind being restricted within the Android apps for Kindle or Kobo, the Onyx Boox Page can be considered to be two ereaders in one. And it's certainly priced competitively in some markets, costing as much as the Kobo Libra 2 in the US, which is still our #1 pick of the best ereader overall.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Page review: price and availability
Retails for $249 / €279 / AU$419
Available now directly from Onyx or select retailers
Announced in the first half of 2023, the Onyx Boox Page is available to purchase directly from the manufacturer or from selected retailers like B&H in the US. Onyx has an European warehouse from where UK customers can order the Page, and potential Aussie customers can grab one from third-party retailers like Big W.
It will set you back $249 / €279 / AU$419 at full price (around £240 in the UK), matching the Kindle Oasis in the US and UK, but costing more in Australia where the Amazon alternative is AU$399. It’s more expensive than the Kobo Libra 2 in all markets, however, which now retails for $189.99 / £169 / AU$319.95.
While it might cost more in some regions, it's worth considering if you want one ereader to access both the Kindle and Kobo Stores, although it’s important to keep in mind that you will be restricted to reading on those apps if you purchase content from there.
• Value score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Page specifications
Onyx Boox Page review: Design and display
7-inch E Ink Carta 1200 screen with glass anti-glare layer
Premium looks despite plastic body
No water resistance
When it comes to ereaders with physical page-turn buttons on a side bezel, the popular models like the Kindle Oasis and the Kobo Libra 2 are slightly thicker on that side to allow for a comfortable grip. The Onyx Page, on the other hand, has uniform thickness throughout, which gives it a sleek aesthetic. The page-turn buttons are comfortably located, although I think a little bit of space between them would make switching between the two a bit more ergonomic (but that’s me just nitpicking, really).
The 7-inch E Ink screen – which has a glass anti-glare layer on top and sits flush with the bezels – is encased within a plastic body that looks much better than what we saw on the Kobo Libra 2. At first glance, I thought the Page had a metal chassis like the Kindle Oasis. There’s a strip of subtle artwork on the rear panel where you would expect a grip and it seems to be silk-screened on. However, there really is no grip here and I think the magnetic case that Onyx has made for the Page might be a good (additional) investment in case of butter fingers.
Another reason I think the sleepcover would come in handy is to avoid smudges on the device. As nice as the chassis looks, it’s a magnet for fingerprints – both front and rear.
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(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
On one corner of the device’s edge is a power button, so subtle that it’s easy to miss. Another long edge has the rest of the physical goodies, including a USB-C port for charging and data transfer, dual speaker grilles and a microSD card tray. In the box, Onyx has thoughtfully included a pin so you can open the card slot in case you want to expand the 32GB built-in storage.
The screen itself is lovely and very responsive. Most ereaders I’ve tested that use the E Ink Carta 1200 screen tech offer good contrast, so text stands out nice and sharp on the display, and that’s the case here. It’s a capacitive multitouch screen with no writing capabilities.
You can adjust the screen’s frontlight to either cold or warm hues but there’s no way to set automatic light temperature changes from cold to warm as the day progresses – both the Kindle Oasis and the Kobo Libra 2, however, do offer this feature. That said, none of the Onyx Boox tablets I’ve tested allow you to set automatic light hue changes for reading in the evenings and nights, so I’ve always just set it to a slightly warmer setting that I find comfortable at any time.
• Design & display score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Page review: User experience
Overwhelming device settings options
Auto-rotates orientations, which can be locked if needed
Onyx’s Control Center is handy but often leaves overlay
As with most Onyx ereaders, the user interface takes a little getting used to – it’s not as intuitive as, say, Kindle or Kobo, but you do get a lot of control on how you want your e-paper tablet set up.
For example, you can set the page-turn buttons to scroll instead of turn a page, and they also double up as the volume controls when you’re listening to an audiobook or music (which you can sideload, and there’s a dedicated player too).
By default, the screen is set to refresh after every five taps, but this can also be changed as you see fit. I had mine set to refreshing after every tap, however, as I found ghosting can be an issue, and it also meant any overlay from the Control Center dropdown would disappear immediately too. This, though, can affect battery life and, if you don’t need the Control Center too often, leaving screen refresh rate at five or 10 taps will help push the charge for longer.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
You can choose what you see as soon as you wake or power on the Onyx Page (default library, the apps page, store, etc) and set up on-screen gesture controls as well. I personally think that Onyx’s customization options are overkill for basic ereaders like the Page, but it’s also nice to know they’re there.
Speaking of the Control Center: this is where you get shortcut access to a lot of controls, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, plus volume and frontlight adjustments. To access the Control Center you just swipe down from the top right corner of the screen. This is also where you get other options, like setting the device to airplane mode, auto-rotation controls and a screen recorder. There’s also a Kids’ Mode option that allows you to set a screen password, but keep in mind that you cannot reset this password once set.
Within the default library application – where all ebooks are automatically stored when you sideload – is a floating toolbar that gives you easy access to font and page controls. This, too, can be customized to include the shortcuts you will actually use within this application. The floating toolbar isn’t available outside of the default library application however.
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
As I’ve already mentioned, this Android tablet gives you access to the Google Play Store, from where you can download handy apps. In my case, it was the Kobo and Kindle apps so I could access not only the respective bookstores but also my existing library on each, as well as the ebook subscription services I pay for (Prime Reading and Kobo Plus in my case). While you can’t move your purchased content to the default library application, you can read within the app, but without the advantages of the floating toolbar.
The Onyx Boox Page allows you to sign into select cloud services, which is handy if you have an existing library you want to sideload onto the device. This includes Dropbox and Google Drive, but if your files aren’t on any cloud storage service, I found using BooxDrop was the best option to transfer content. You don’t need to create an Onyx account – you can use your mobile number to receive a verification code, then drag and drop what you want transferred onto the web version of the application.
Like I said, there’s a lot here to wrap your head around and it takes some experimentation, but once you’ve found the best setup for you, the Page can be quite enjoyable to use.
• User experience score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Onyx Boox Page review: Performance
Remarkable battery life
Quick page turns and responsive screen
Ghosting occurs intermittently; occasionally significant when using the Control Center
When it comes to overall performance, it’s hard to fault the Onyx Boox Page. Reading is a good experience, with page turns working well via both screen taps and the buttons. Text appears nice and sharp, although if what you’re reading has low-resolution images, they can appear a little fuzzy.
I found sideloading files (ebooks and music) via Google Drive and BooxDrop was very easy; while I didn’t try signing into my Dropbox account, I reckon it’s just as simple and quick.
The speakers, though, aren’t anything to write home about. They’re fine for listening to audiobooks, although they don’t get too loud, but music doesn’t sound great. Pairing a set of Bluetooth headphones with the Page was easy when I tried it and I found that using headphones or a paired speaker to be the better listening experience for both audiobooks and music.
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(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Ghosting can occur occasionally if the ebook you're reading has images in it, but the most significant problem is the dark overlay of the Onyx Control Center as I've mentioned before. While it doesn't occur all the time, it happened often enough that I changed the refresh rate to be after every 1 tap from the default 5 taps. This is my only complaint when it comes to performance and it's not isolated – a lot of the Onyx ereaders I've tested do have issues with ghosting.
Where the Page really excels is battery life. It houses a 2,300mAh pack and that can last you about six weeks with an hour of reading each day. I had my review sample of the Page set to 40% brightness and approximately 25% yellow light, refresh rate set at 1 tap and Wi-Fi always on to access my Kindle and Kobo accounts. I also used the device for an average of two hours and got about 4.5 weeks of reading till it dropped to 10% battery. My battery life test also included a few minutes of web browsing using the built-in browser app, as well as listening to audiobooks on the Kobo app.
Topping up for me was just as good – I had it plugged into a 65W GAN wall charger via good quality USB-C to C cable and it took about an hour and 20 minutes to go from 9% to full.
Performance score: 4.5 / 5
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Should I buy the Onyx Boox Page?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
The closest competitors to the Onyx Book Page are the Kindle Oasis and the Kobo Libra. While both these options are now aging, they're still excellent alternatives and we've listed direct specs comparisons below.
How I tested the Onyx Boox Page
Used as main ereader for about eight weeks
Read for about two hours a day, with some ad hoc listening sessions
Use the device to browse the web and download Android apps
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
I am a voracious reader, so reading every single day for at least an hour or two is normal for me. So I just switched out my usual ereader for the Onyx Boox Page for a period of about eight weeks.
During this time, I averaged about two hours of reading each day, although every once in a while I listened to an audiobook for about 20-30 minutes on the Kobo app, which I downloaded via the Google Play Store that is already available on the Page.
I also downloaded the Kindle app to access my purchased content there.
I signed into Google Drive to sync some ebooks I already own, plus used BooxDrop to sideload other content, including music files, which I also listened to intermittently without headphones. Most of my listening sessions, however, were via a set of paired Bluetooth true wireless earbuds.
I used the default browser occasionally as well and kept tabs on battery drain as I performed different tasks on the Onyx Boox Page.
