Boox [Onyx](Brand Overview)

This page discusses the Onyx Boox (pronounced ‘Books’) brand of E-Ink tablets (e-readers that provide note-taking functionality by writing on the screen with a stylus).

Overview

The Boox* brand is owned by Onyx International Inc., is based in China, and they have been manufacturing and selling e-ink devices for over a decade.

So, they have been around a while and have a lot of experience in both hardware and software, as it relates to e-ink devices.

Boox e-ink tablets have some of the best hardware specs on the market which includes comparatively fast processors, and plenty of RAM and storage. They also have several additional hardware features that are not present on some of their competitor’s tablets, such as a frontlight (excluding the Go 10.3), speakers, and microphone. And they are also innovative, being one of the first brands to bring Kaleido 3 colour screens to market and developing proprietary refresh technology (Boox Super Refresh or BSR) which overcame some of the historical limitations of e-ink screens.

Their tablets run Android, which means third-party apps from the Google Play Store can be installed on them.

Open Source Criticism

In 2018, a Boox user raised the issue that Boox tablets use a modified version of the Linux Kernel (because they run Android) and under the terms of the GPL licence, all modifications must be made publicly available as open source. Boox’s response was that they would pass this to their R&D team and have not responded to this thread since (the thread has since disappeared). This may be a concern to anyone that feels strongly about open-source software.

Privacy Issues

Mozilla Foundation’s ‘Privacy not included‘ website raised concerns about Boox’s privacy policy. Whilst I can’t 100% guarantee that Boox does not collect personal data nefariously, I can say that I’ve used their products without any issue for several years. The Mozilla article is outdated (written in 2021) and it doesn’t appear that the author actually had a Boox tablet for testing purposes, and instead drew their conclusions on second-hand information that they found online. Boox themselves address privacy here, and state in their user agreement (when you first boot up a Boox tablet) that ‘Protecting users’ personal information is a fundamental principle of Onyx‘. The full section of the user agreement is screenshotted below:

In essence, you would have to make your own choice about whether these alleged privacy concerns are an issue for you. My own personal opinion is that Boox’s policies are no different to several other manufacturers, particularly those based in China – it just seems that Onyx Boox has been scrutinized in more detail in this regard (perhaps because they are one of the bigger manufacturers). I’m happy to use Boox products, and I don’t feel that they are more risky than any other Chinese product, but I’d perhaps feel differently if I was storing a lot of sensitive information.

Product Quality

Across the e-ink community, there have been reports of Boox e-ink tablets having issues with quality control, including dead pixels and batteries which swell and crack the screen.

I, personally, have never experienced any hardware defects in any of the Boox products I have owned (and the number of Boox tablets I’ve used runs well into double figures). Update (Jan 25): I did experience a superficial imperfection with my Boox Note Max straight out-of-the-box, but this did not affect functionality.

I felt it important to mention this because I often read in community forums that potential buyers are steered away from Boox products by the perceived lack of quality.

Furthermore, whilst E-Ink screens are, in general, more fragile than screens on other devices (and extra care must be taken when handling them), I have not found Boox screens to be any more fragile than other e-ink brands. In fact, I have only ever experienced screen damage with one e-ink tablet (and that was a Kobo).

So, whilst I cannot completely rule out quality control issues with Boox products (maybe I just got lucky), this has not been evident with my own personal experience.

Although I’ve not experienced any hardware defects with Boox products, I do find that there are often some questionable design decisions, which I feel is related to the speed at which they launch new products.

For example, the Note Air3/3C has the USB port on the left edge, which means that you cannot put it on charge when the folio is closed. And the Tab Ultra series have an ugly camera bump on the rear panel (the camera juts out a few millimetres so that the tablets does not lay flat when outside the folio). And on the Go 10.3, the stylus does not securely attach to the side via the magnets. These are all small but slightly frustrating inconveniences that perhaps could have been avoided if a little more thought had gone into the design, rather than trying to rush the next product to market.

Ecosystem

Boox tablets have a lot of flexibility and you are not tied into one particular ecosystem. They do offer 10Gb of free storage for every user (which also allows you to sync your notebooks and reading data between different Boox devices), however you do not have to use this service. There are options to sync with a myriad of other clouds instead (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive etc.) and it is also possible to install third-party syncing software from the Google Play Store.

All Boox tablets are pre-installed with a very comprehensive e-book/document reading app (NeoReader) which opens a wide variety of file formats and has lots of viewing options. DRM-protected ebooks are not supported natively but it is possible to install third-party reading apps. So, for example, you can buy a DRM-Protected ebook from the Kobo Store and read it using the Kobo app on your Boox tablet.

Boox releases several new products each and every year, which means that fairly new products very quickly get superseded by even newer versions. Perhaps the most extreme version of this was when the Boox Tab Ultra C was launched in April 2023 and then swiftly replaced by the Boox Tab Ultra C Pro just six months later. When a new version of a product is released, it is usually difficult to get hold of older models because manufacturing of the older generation ceases. Whilst this may mean that you won’t get to say that you own the latest product for very long, Boox continues to provide firmware updates for their older devices for at least three years. So if your tablet does what you need it to do, it will continue to do so – all you lose is the bragging rights that you have the latest device.

Customer Service

Boox’s customer support is okay.

My experience is that they genuinely do try to help if you have an issue or send them feedback, however because their customer support representatives are based in China and are not native English speakers, there can sometimes be misunderstandings due to the language barrier.

Boox does have an online knowledge base which can help to resolve a lot of technical issues.

The return and refund policy when buying direct from the Boox Store is not as favourable as buying from Amazon (see below).

Tablets

Boox has one of the largest product ranges in the e-ink market, offering several different options for screen size, as well as both colour and monochrome devices. Their latest product range is provided below:

My rating	Item	Description
	Boox Go 10.3*	10.3" monochrome
	Boox Note Air5 C*	10.3" color
	Boox Palma 2 Pro*	6.13" color
	Boox Note Max*	13.3" monochrome
	Boox Tab X C*	13.3" color
	Boox Tab Ultra C Pro*	10.3" color
	Boox Go 7*	7" monochrome
	Boox Go Color 7*	7" color
Older Boox tablets may be found here

Firmware

All Boox tablets use pretty much the same software and have the same capabilities, however, there are a few slight variations.

Newer, high-end tablets that have an onboard graphics processor also have Boox Super Refresh (BSR) capabilities. This means that they have faster screen refresh rates (and more related options in this regard). Newer tablets also run more recent versions of Android (but this won’t usually make much of a difference in terms of functionality). Finally, the Tab Ultra range has a different app launcher but this really only affects the user interface and not the functionality.

Boox usually releases a big update to their software in fiscal quarter 4 (around October-time), with smaller updates and bugfixes throughout the year.

Older generation tablets will continue to receive software updates for at least 3 years – my 2021 Max Lumi2 was still receiving updates in 2024 and another user also reported that their 2019 Boox tablet continued to receive updates as well.

My rating	Firmware version	Tablets using this firmware
	4.1 (current version) Aug 2025	Boox Go 10.3 Boox Note Air5 C Boox Palma 2 Pro Boox Note Air3 Boox Note Air4 C Boox Note Air3 C Boox Go 7 Boox Go Color 7
	4.0 (current version) Oct 2024	Boox Note Max Boox Tab Ultra C Pro Boox Tab X Boox Tab X C Boox Tab Mini C Boox Tab Ultra Boox Max Lumi 2 Boox Tab Ultra C Boox Note Air2 Plus Boox Note 5
Older Boox firmware versions may be found here

Buying options

Boox tablets can be purchased direct from the Boox Global Store* or the Boox Euro Store*.

Alternatively, Boox also runs stores on Amazon*. Tablets are a little more expensive on Amazon but you get 30-day no-fuss free returns. Delivery is also usually much faster because the products will ship from your own country. If you are not sure if an e-ink tablet is right for you (or if you feel that there is a fair chance you will return it), I highly recommend paying a little more and buying from Amazon for peace of mind. However, if you think you will be unlikely to return it and price is your main concern, you can often get a better deal by buying direct. However, if you need to return it, you will be responsible for fees which may include return shipping, currency exchange fluctuations, import taxes, restocking fee, and packaging fee (full details here*).

There are also several independent distributors that sell Boox products.

There are a couple of distributors that I would advise avoiding. These include onyxboox dot com, which appears to sell only Russian imports, and GoodEReader, which appears to just act as a middleman and orders products direct from the manufacturer on your behalf whilst charging you additional high shipping fees.

Pre-used units may be available from eBay* or other second-hand marketplaces.