Onyx Boox Tab Ultra two-minute review

Some day, E Ink technology may reach the level that the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is trying to achieve, with screens that can redraw fast enough to run Android and all the apps you desire. Sadly, today is not that day; the current technology just can’t keep up. Even when things ran smoothly, they just weren’t better on this screen. 

The E Ink market is getting hot, especially with the new writable E Ink tablets. Reviewing the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, I felt like Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park. In trying to stand out from the Kindle Scribe and Kobo Elipsa pack, Onyx was so preoccupied with whether or not it could make an E Ink tablet with iPad features it didn't stop to think if it should. 

The Tab Ultra can run not only the simple note-taking apps included but also Microsoft Word and Google Docs. It can scroll your Twitter feed and browse the web. It shouldn’t bother, though, because E Ink is a distracting technology for these apps, and the Tab Ultra lacks the power to keep up with the basics. 

There's a camera around the back, but it doesn’t work very well, so why bother? There's a keyboard you can attach, but the tablet can’t keep up with the typing, so why bother? The question kept coming up, why did they bother to make this tablet? I don’t think E Ink is ready for the power that Onyx tried to pack inside. 

If you must have the high-contrast readability of E Ink along with apps that only a full Android build can offer, this is one of the few options available. If you’re just looking for a great note-taking tablet or gigantic ereader, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is beyond overkill. Instead, it has tripped over itself trying to impress. 

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra price and availability

• $599.99 / £619.99 including a magnetic case and pen with tips
• Keyboard cover is around $/£110+ more, but not worth it 

The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is an expensive E Ink tablet, but it’s not too expensive when compared to the Apple iPad 10.9, and that’s probably the point. The Tab Ultra comes with a pen and a magnetic cover. It’s more expensive than the reMarkable 2, with all accessories included, and much more than a comparable Kindle Scribe. 

On the other hand, an iPad 10.9 with an Apple Pencil is around $30/£60 more expensive, but you get an iPad and an Apple Pencil. That means you get a bright, colorful display, a powerful A14 Bionic chipset, and the incredibly robust Apple ecosystem. 

With the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, you get an E Ink display that isn’t as sharp as an iPad and a processor that can’t perform well enough to handle basic tasks. It’s even heavier than an iPad, which is a sad feat among E Ink tablets. 

If the Boox Tab Ultra were half the price, I might recommend it to enthusiasts looking to see how far E Ink technology has come. The answer is not far enough to justify iPad-level pricing because it doesn’t offer iPad-level performance. 

Onyx sells the Boox Tab Ultra through online retailers like Amazon, or you can buy from its own cryptic website, which, for some reason, asks you to choose the location of the shipping warehouse, presumably for tax or import purposes.

• Value score: 3/5

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra specs

• A Qualcomm octa-core chipset running Android 11
• Similar 10.3” E Ink carta display found on competing tablets

We usually don’t get a Qualcomm octa-core chipset on an ereader but the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra tries to be a much more capable machine than its simple competitors. It runs Android 11, packs more memory and storage inside, and is a bigger machine all around as a result.

Most writable E Ink tablets use a similar 10.3-inch E Ink Carta display. The Kindle Scribe display is a bit sharper than the rest at 300 ppi, but the Tab Ultra screen is similar to the reMarkable 2 at 227 ppi. The similarities between the Tab Ultra and the competition end there. 

While other E Ink tablets get away with packing generic, dual-core processors inside, Onyx springs for a full (unnamed) Qualcomm octa-core chipset. An eight-core platform should give the tablet a mix of high performance and long-lasting efficiency. Sadly, the performance never showed up. 

The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra packs 4GB of RAM, which is the same as a base model iPad 10.9, but apps and transitions don’t run as smoothly as they do on Apple’s tablet. Even forgiving the refresh rate of the E Ink display and the processing required to manage it, it’s clear that the Tab Ultra has trouble keeping up.  

This is also one of the heavier tablets I’ve used at this display size. This E Ink tablet is one of the few I’ve seen that manages to be heavier than an iPad. To compare, a Kindle Scribe is more than 40g lighter than the Tab Ultra, and the reMarkable 2, which lacks lighting capabilities, is more than 70g lighter and 2mm thinner. 

• Specs score: 2.5/5

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra design

• Thicker and heavier than most competitors, even iPad
• Magnetic pen and magnetic carrying case are included

If you like a black slab, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra doesn’t veer much from this aesthetic. There's a nice strip of iconography on the back that vaguely resembles a computer geek’s interpretation of Louis Vuitton’s signature pattern but otherwise, the Tab Ultra is very sleek and clean, with a business-friendly look. 

Because E Ink displays don’t allow true backlighting, there's usually a big side-light bezel on these ereader tablets, but Onyx has done a fine job keeping the Tab Ultra looking more normal than bookish. It has a wider edge than an iPad, but that’s convenient for reading, so I’m not complaining. I wish it were much lighter, though. 

The Tab Ultra uses USB-C for its charging port, thankfully. For some reason, the cover doesn’t fit the tablet in the way I’d expect. The keyboard cover I got from Onyx has a large overhang. The tablet rests deep inside. I worry that, over time, the cover will bend, but frankly, I had trouble using the keyboard, so I’d probably skip that big case entirely. 

Around the back, you’ll find the enigmatic camera, a novelty among black-and-white E Ink tablets. It’s meant for document scanning – more on that later – and placed up in the corner, where you’d expect. There's no selfie camera. 

The Tab Ultra pen sticks onto the side magnetically. I hate this arrangement, even though it’s the most common way writable tablet makers attach a pen. It’s stupid. When sliding this tablet into the magazine pocket in my backpack, the pen falls off every time. With the thick, magnetic cover in place the pen is held securely, but I shouldn’t need a cover to avoid losing my pen. 

The pen itself is one of the nicer styli I’ve used with a writable E Ink tablet. It uses Wacom-like electromagnetic resonance (EMR) technology, the same as the Kindle Scribe and reMarkable 2. I like that Onyx provides a pen with a built-in eraser feature, which costs extra from some competitors. It even has a little tactile bounce to the eraser when you touch it to the screen.

• Design score: 2.5/5

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra Performance and battery

• Tablet chipset cannot keep up with basic typing
• Battery life was fine but not exemplary for E Ink

We usually don’t even think of E Ink or ereader tablets in terms of performance because these devices don’t try to do too much, and that’s part of their charm. With the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, the sky's the limit for what you can attempt, but your wings are made of wax. 

For simple browsing, reading, and drawing tasks the tablet kept up within reason. The E Ink screen redraws itself quite frequently, no matter how you set it, so it was hard to tell if the stuttering display was a performance lag or just the E Ink beautifying. 

When I tried to type into a Google Docs document – a simple task – the Tab Ultra failed miserably. Onyx sent me the keyboard attachment, which I used, but the tablet couldn't keep up with the input. It lost letters and whole words, and I had to go back frequently to correct errors. 

I tried writing this review on the Tab Ultra to see if it could perform as a basic productivity tool. I usually write on a Chromebook, so simple Android is all I need. I gave up within a few paragraphs and returned to my normal workflow.

There’s something of an anomaly here because the tablet can certainly run apps and services. I browsed the web, checked my Twitter feed, and even played a few rounds of Marvel Snap. The Tab Ultra handled each of these tasks better than I expected. Subtle touches like hourglass animations still came through smoothly.

It’s one thing to impress me with an animated graphic, but it’s another to impress me with consistent performance. If the Tab Ultra can’t handle a simple Google Doc, I’m not sure of the point of such an advanced Android system on an E Ink tablet. If the tablet can’t perform well enough to gather input from its own pogo-pin keyboard, then I have to declare this a swing and a miss.

In terms of battery life, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra was somewhere between an iPad and a Kindle Scribe, but that’s a vast margin. A Kindle or reMarkable tablet, which have minimal processing power and redraw the display infrequently, can last weeks. The Onyx Tab Ultra could last a few days, for sure. I charged it regularly, just in case.

It’s hard to compare battery life between this tablet and an iPad. I might spend 2 hours watching a movie on my iPad, but I would never spend 2 hours in front of the Tab Ultra unless I’m reading a book, which draws very little power.

• Performance score: 2/5

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra software

• Runs Android 11 with a basic interface on top
• Supports Google Play and Google services 

The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra runs Android 11, and it's clear just how much work Onyx has put into fitting its big foot into this glass slipper. There are settings and adjustments galore to make the E Ink work for you as best it can. You can adapt the refresh rates, the brightness and warmth of the lighting, and even the way E Ink translates dark and light colors to black and white. 

It’s a bit much. These are the kind of settings you never look for on a normal tablet, but Onyx finds them important enough that you can access them quickly through gestures. To me, a product that insists upon my tweaking the settings is not one I use for everyday tasks. I want my $600 tablet to make more decisions for me than I make for it. 

The software is also poorly translated. I found grammatical and usage errors throughout the system, making it less intuitive and more of a chore to use. It’s just another way the Tab Ultra feels like it’s doing a poor job of fitting in. At the very least, I expect my ereader system to be pleasant to read.

Onyx doesn’t weigh the Tab Ultra down with unnecessary bloatware, which is nice since the Google Play Store is ready for your perusal. There's a good, but not great, note-taking app with support for a variety of pen features. I couldn’t find ways to change the background of my notebooks, but there were plenty of options for layering and drawing.

If you want to venture into the Android world, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is surprisingly capable, even if the experience is unusual. I played a few rounds of Marvel Snap on the tablet, and it drew just enough of the foreground graphics to make the game playable. The ghosting effect grew quickly as I played, but I could refresh when I felt overwhelmed.

In other words, the Tab Ultra is capable of pulling off astonishing feats for an ereader tablet. However, these feel like stunts, not the performance I demand from a tablet I’ll live with every day and rely on for web browsing, social networking, and, heaven forbid, gaming.

• Software score: 3/5

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra camera

• 16MP camera for document scanning
• Limited capabilities and questionably effective 

The standout feature on the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra is the 16MP camera, for the simple fact that no other E Ink tablet bothers to slap a camera on the back. An E Ink display is not a natural fit for viewfinder duty, but the Tab Ultra does manage to take photos, even using the display to focus and frame documents. 

It works most of the time, but not consistently enough that it's worth the premium. I expected this camera to be much better at scanning documents than my smartphone camera. With a black-and-white display, I would have expected a high-contrast, black-and-white sensor to optimize the optical character recognition (OCR) function. 

Nope, the Tab Ultra shoots in color?! When you share a photo with another device, it's clearly a color picture. Yet, there's no Camera app preloaded on the Tab Ultra, only the Scan Documents tool. I think Onyx would have found a more effective sensor in monochrome.

In practice, the document scanner worked fine, but documents didn't look great after being scanned. I had good, even lighting, but my documents still came through looking dark and shadowy.

The text was properly encoded when the document was clean and clear. For alternate layouts or mixed text format, like recipe books, things were more of a mess. Overall, I'd rather use my phone and its scanning tools because the Tab Ultra isn’t anything special when it comes to document scanning.

• Camera score: 2/5

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra score card

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

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First reviewed: February 2023

This is a hands-on review to give you the chance to see what the TCL Book X12 Go is all about as soon as possible. Stay tuned as we'll be expanding and upgrading this hands-on review very shortly with more info.

TCL isn’t a brand I would typically associate with laptops and tablets, but at the MWC 2023 event in Barcelona, I had my mind changed. Perhaps best known for making some of the best TVs, the Guangdong-based manufacturer also produces a wide variety of phone brands including BlackBerry and Alcatel.

Maybe a shift into the tablet space was inevitable, then, since almost every big phone manufacturer has taken a stab at designing a tablet at some point. TCL actually had two different tablets available to see at MWC, but I was most interested in the Book X12 Go: a model with a kickstand and detachable keyboard that runs Windows 11.

Since most of the tablets we review run on Android or iPadOS, this intrigued us. The comparison I immediately made was to Microsoft’s Surface line, the most recent of which was last year’s Surface Pro 9 5G. The TCL Book X12 Go is a fair bit smaller, though, and in terms of physical hardware, it feels more similar to the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook, which shares the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c processor but employs Chrome OS instead.

Windows tablets aren’t the most common type of device; Microsoft’s flagship OS is more often found on the best laptops, with detachables of this nature generally opting for Chrome OS or an Android-based operating system. Could the TCL Book X12 Go prove to be the new best option for Windows users looking for a super-compact device? Let’s break down the details.

TCL Book X12 Go review: Price and availability

TCL's team was fairly evasive when it came to discussing the global release plan for the Book X12 Go, and understandably so; it’s a new step forward for the company, and a step being taken with a healthy degree of caution.

What I did learn was that it will cost €499 and will be initially launched in ‘select European territories’ in May. That’s about $530 (£443 / AU$788), making it almost half the price of the entry-level Surface Pro 9, which starts at $999.99 and can cost more than $2,500 for the high-end configurations.

American, British, and Australian release dates are not yet confirmed, and while TCL is relatively confident this product will make it across the pond to the US market, there’s always the chance that the company will decide to kill it off if sales in Europe are lackluster. So watch this space - I’ll be keeping a close eye on the Book X12 Go once it launches in Europe.

TCL Book X12 Go review: Design

The TCL Book X12 Go uses a relatively straightforward detachable design without any bells and whistles. The display bezels are a tad chunkier than the ones you’d find on a more premium tablet, but the screen itself is good: this is TCL’s NXTPaper panel, which has a pleasingly paper-like matte finish reminiscent of Lenovo’s new ‘Smart Paper’ that lends itself well to stylus use.

The display is 12.2 inches diagonally, making it bigger than the majority of tablets but smaller than the Surface Pro 9. In fact, it sits directly between the two currently-available models of the Apple iPad Pro when it comes to size. The screen uses a standard 1080p resolution and offers a decent level of maximum brightness and color contrast despite the low entry price; perhaps a sign of TCL’s experience in the display industry.

Still looking at the tablet itself, the casing is robust while remaining lightweight, weighing in at 599g. The leatherette-finish rear panel included an integrated kickstand, which is fluted on the sides to allow for the Book X12 Go to be easily placed upright should you prefer a vertical orientation. A 720p webcam sits above the screen, with a more powerful 8MP ‘AI camera’ on the rear - in other words, I wouldn’t expect high-end photography here. There’s also only a single USB-C port for physical connectivity and charging - not a headphone jack or USB-A in sight.

The wireless capabilities are similarly mediocre, with last-gen Wi-Fi 5 rather than 6 or 6E and standard Bluetooth 5.1. Again, I would imagine these can be chalked down to the target price TCL was working with, and many users likely won’t notice the difference. More interesting is the apparent support for SIM cards; the spec sheet references this (though TCL didn’t mention it at the event), so some models may come with LTE capabilities.

The keyboard cover, which connects via a simple magnetic strip along the tablet’s bottom edge, is the main area where the TCL Book X12 Go falls down. Sure, you get what you pay for - Microsoft’s Surface Pro Type Cover costs an extra $129.99, while this one is bundled with the device - but it still felt disappointingly flimsy. Firm keypresses anywhere near the center of the keyboard caused a lot of flex in the thin plastic frame, while the touchpad has a weak, wobbly click to it.

It’s not an instant dealbreaker for me personally and ultimately a much cheaper device will feel cheaper to use, but I do wish TCL had spent a bit more time on the type cover. The connection between the magnetic clasp and the keyboard itself is a just thin slip of fabric and the keyboard doesn’t magnetize to the tablet itself when you ‘close’ it, meaning that it doesn’t sit flush and can look a bit wonky - see the picture below.

TCL Book X12 Go review: Performance

I naturally couldn’t do any proper testing with the TCL Book X12 Go on the busy stand at MWC, but I am conscious that the Snapdragon 7c isn’t exactly famed for its incredible performance. That’s not to say it’s terrible; Windows 11 and the Chrome browser felt smooth and responsive, but you won’t be doing any super-demanding tasks on this hardware.

Since Qualcomm’s chip is ARM-based, the Book X12 Go is running a limited version of Windows 11 in order to run on ARM hardware (as opposed to the x86 and x64 formats used by other laptop processor manufacturers). I’ve seen this before in devices like the ill-fated Surface Pro X, and it does lead to some frustrating compatibility issues with downloading certain software. If you want to use specific programs designed for Windows, bear in mind that they may not work unless you can download them from the Microsoft Store.

The Snapdragon 7c is supported by ‘up to’ 8GB of RAM, indicating that we’ll likely see the entry-level model use 4GB, which I would argue isn’t enough for a full Windows OS - the version shown at the event was an 8GB model. I would be willing to bet the 4GB version will feel a bit less snappy to use.

Although it was loud at the expo, I circled back to the TCL stage on MWC’s final afternoon when it was a bit less crowded to test out the speakers. The dual stereo speakers housed within the tablet’s frame are actually alright, if not spectacular. Don’t expect booming bass, but they’ll be fine for video calls or streaming your favorite shows.

It’s similarly difficult to comment on battery life here, but the TCL Book X12 Go only has a 30Whr battery inside it - that’s a lot smaller than the 42Whr battery found in the IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook, a device that had excellent battery life. Still, the lower maximum brightness of the display and generally solid power efficiency of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips should mean that you should at least be able to go a while between charges. There’s no fast charging to be found here though, sadly. 

TCL Book X12 Go review: Early verdict

The TCL Book X12 Go probably isn’t going to set the tech world on fire, but it’s an impressive first showing from a company only just entering the Windows detachable space. 

There’s precious little competition here - after all, just a quick glance at TechRadar’s own list of the best Windows tablets shows that three of the five entries are Surface models made by Microsoft itself, and the other two (both from Lenovo) are far more expensive than the Book X12 Go’s €499 starting price.

If you’re a tablet fan but don’t want to sacrifice the power and flexibility offered by Windows for an Android- or Chrome OS-powered device, this could be one to keep an eye on. I’m excited to actually test the Book X12 Go once it launches later this year, and I suspect I’ll be even more pleased to see it make its way across the pond to the American market. Keep up the good work, TCL.

First reviewed March 2023

How we test

While this is a review, it's important to bear in mind that it's only a hands-on account based on my limited time with the device at MWC 2023. As such, there aren't any concrete performance figures to speak of, and there's the possibility that there may be specific flaws (or benefits!) that I may have missed. It's also possible that the product may be changed in some way before release, which may render parts of this hands-on review incorrect.

When reviewing laptops and tablets, I spend as much time as possible using the device as if it were my own: I'll browse the web, watch videos, and create content. Ideally, we also run a variety of benchmarking software to stress-test the hardware and keep track of component temperatures and battery life while doing so. I also pay close attention to the weight, profile, and build quality of the device itself, as well as rigorously testing any moving parts such as keys, buttons, and touchpads.

Read more about how we test