Boox Tab Mini C Review

The Boox Tab Mini C Pro was released in early 2023, and is a 7.8″ colour e-ink tablet.

It is the successor to the Nova Air C, which was Boox’s previous 7.8″ colour tablet. It has the next generation of colour e-ink screen (Kaleido 3, compared to Kaleido+ on the Nova Air C), and boasts higher screen resolution and pixel density. It also has more storage capacity, more RAM, a G-Sensor, and an on-board graphics processor, with Boox Super Refresh (which provides better performance for third-party apps that require faster refresh rates).

In this article, I will be reviewing the hardware, which includes the design, screen, stylus, and general performance.

For full information about the software, including the operating system, native reading app, and native note-taking app, please read my review of the Boox firmware.

And for information about the Boox brand, and recommended buying options, check out my manufacturer overview.

NOTE: The reason I have split reviews into hardware, software, and brand is because the hardware for a particular model pretty much stays the same, whilst software and customer service is likely to change over time. In the first version of eWritable, this meant that when new firmware was released, I would have to update my reviews for every single product across a brand, which became very tedious, and I often missed things, rendering my reviews out of date!

Design & Build

The Boox Tab Mini C has a metal chassis, which means that it feels quite strong and robust, but is quite weighty at 310g (with additional weight added for the stylus and folio). The rear panel is smooth but has a tacky texture that prevents it from sliding out of your hand. In addition, the edges and corners have been rounded, so it feels very uncomfortable to hold.

The power button is located on the top-left edge and the USB port is on the bottom edge (central). The dual speakers are also on the bottom edge (to the left and right).

Overall it is solidly built but I would argue that it is a bit too heavy for what is supposed to be a portable tablet.

Screen

The screen is colour (Kaleido 3) and has a screen resolution of 1404 x 1872 (300PPI) for black-and-white, and 702 x 936 (150PPI) for colour.

SIDENOTE: Whilst colour e-ink can be very useful for some tasks (e.g. reading colour books or adding a splash of colour to your notes) the current technology (Kaleido 3) does have some drawbacks. Firstly, there are a limited number of colours (far less than a regular tablet screen). Colours are also displayed at a lower resolution and screen density. This means that colours on an e-ink screen look quite pale and washed-out. In addition, colour screens are several shades darker than monochrome equivalents, which means they can look quite dim and have lower contrast in dimmer environments (however, this can be mitigated by adjusting the intensity of the frontlight).

The screen is 7.8″ (measured along the diagonal), which roughly equates to a sheet of A6 paper.

The left and right bezels are slimmer than the top and bottom bezels and they are flush with the screen. Incidentally, the Tab Mini C has a G-Sensor, which rotates the screen based on its orientation.

I will cover the tactile writing feel below, but I should mention here that there is no textured film on the screen, as there are with other tablets, so it feels quite smooth when the stylus glides over it.

There’s a Wacom EMR layer (the industry standard for digital writing), which means you can use any Wacom-compatible stylus. And it is also capacitive (touchscreen), so you can navigate around the system without the stylus.

Internals

The Tab Min C has a 1.8GHz octa-core CPU with 4Gb of memory and a whopping 64GB of storage space. This should be plenty of space for most users.

In addition, the Tab Mini C has a frontlight with temperature adjustment (to give it a reddish hue which can be more comfortable for night-time reading). There are also dual speakers (they’re not amazing quality but are good enough) and a microphone (for recording voice notes). You can connect your own Bluetooth speakers (similarly, you can connect to other Bluetooth devices, such as headphones, keyboard and mouse). There’s also Wi-fi support (2.4GHz + 5GHz). And, as previously mentioned, there’s a G-Sensor (for auto-orientation).

Despite having a 5000mAh battery, there’s only enough power for one or two days of average use before requiring a recharge.

A big reason for the power consumption is that the Tab Mini C also has an integrated graphics processor and Boox Super Refresh (BSR). Essentially, this provides better refresh rates and means that some third-party apps will perform better than they would on other Boox tablets that do not have a GPU and BSR.

Overall, in the realm of e-ink tablets, the Tab Mini C has decent-spec hardware (CPU, GPU, RAM, Storage) and a set of very useful hardware features (frontlight, speakers, microphone, etc.), however, this power comes at the cost of battery life, and the additional physical weight of the tablet.

Stylus/Pen

The Wacom-compatible stylus that ships with the Tab Mini C is the Boox Pen Plus. This is Boox’s basic Pen and has been shipping with Boox devices for several years without very little change.

It is made of plastic and is almost cylindrical, apart from a single flat edge where it magnetically snaps to the tablet. The magnetic connection holds the stylus fairly well but it will fall off with a shake – the magnetic flap on the cover is designed to keep it in place more securely when transporting.

The shaft has small vertical grooves to provide comfort and grip and the top is rounded. There are no customizable buttons on the shaft and no eraser on the top.

Writing Experience

The Tab Mini C does not have the paper-like screen protector that is fitted to some of Boox’s other products, which means that the writing feel is quite glassy. However, there is some friction when writing, and it is not a terrible writing experience.

I had no issues with lag latency, but there is a tiny gap between where you write on the screen and where the strokes appear, almost as if you are writing a millimetre under the screen rather than on the surface. This will not be an issue for everybody, but it did lessen the pleasure of writing for me because I felt that my writing was not as precise as I wanted it to be.

Overall, I would describe the writing experience as ‘okay’ – there are plenty of tablets that are better in this regard (Supernote, reMarkable, Kindle, and even other Boox’s), but there are also plenty that are worse (Kobo, Meebook etc.).

Software Overview

I cover the Boox software in great detail on a separate page, but in summary:

• It is very versatile because it runs Android and third-party apps can be installed
• Limitations of the e-ink screen means that some third-party apps will have variable performance
• There are lots of methods of transferring files to and from the tablet and integrations with several third-party clouds
• The native note-taking app has a great many features and settings
• The native reading app has a great many features and settings
• There are lots of configuration options
• This complexity leads to a steeper learning curve – you will need to spend time learning how to use the software effectively
• It can be counter-intuitive in places

Company Overview

Similarly, I discuss the Boox brand in detail here, but the main takeaways are that Boox’s customer is okay but not the best and you get a better returns policy if you buy from Amazon (but you can get a discount by buying direct from Boox).

Final Verdict

The Boox Tab Mini C has a plethora of features and lots of potential use vases.

It has powerful hardware, along with Android (and the Google Play Store) and fantastic native reading and note-taking apps. The presence of onboard speakers and Bluetooth means that you can listen to music and audiobooks, and the onboard microphone means that you can record voice notes (or even record meetings). The GPU and BSR allow you to install and use third-party apps, which may not have worked very well with previous generations of e-ink tablet. And it has a colour screen.

The drawbacks are that colours you see on screen are not accurate when exported and viewed on other screens, the colours are quite pale, and the overall screen is darker. For a smaller, portable device, it is quite heavy, and you will be lucky to get just two days of use out of the battery. The Tab Mini C is also quite expensive.

So, if you’re looking for a 7.8″ e-ink tablet, you will need to decide if advantages outweigh the disadvantages for your own particular use case.

My recommendation is that if most of your activities involve reading and note-taking in black-and-white, don’t get a colour tablet. Similarly, if you are unlikely to be using third-party apps very often, then you perhaps don’t need the battery-draining GPU and BSR.

Overall, the Tab Mini C is a very powerful and versatile 7.8″ e-ink tablet and can accomplish a lot – but if you just need your e-ink tablet for reading books and taking notes, it might be overkill.

Boox Tab Mini C Specs