This page discusses the Penstar brand of E-Ink tablets (e-readers that provide note-taking functionality by writing on the screen with a stylus).
Overview
+ Customer support appears to be good
+ Some unique design features
- Relatively new brand (unknown quantity)
Penstar are a relatively new brand based in the US that have close ties with Chinese technology company Hanvon.
Their product range is small, but offers some unique features including proprietary EMR pen input, a focus on screen sharpness, and banks of physical buttons.
Customer service appears to be good.
The Penstar* brand is very closely associated with Hanvon, a large Chinese technology company. I first became aware of this having unboxed the Penstar eNote 2 and seeing that the model name was the ‘N10 Pro’ (which I recalled as being a Hanvon model number).
I queried my contact at Penstar about this, and the following was their response:
Penstar is an independent international brand based in the U.S., focused on bringing advanced e-ink technologies to users in North America and other global markets. Hanvon is one of our key technology partners and long-term suppliers in China. They have over 30 years of experience in handwriting recognition and pen-input hardware, and our product line builds on that proven hardware foundation.
That said, all Penstar devices are designed, localized, and marketed specifically for international users — with our own firmware roadmap, UI optimization, and customer support channels that are separate from Hanvon’s domestic product lines.
In short, Hanvon provides part of the hardware manufacturing and engineering backbone, while Penstar develops, localizes, and operates the global brand experience.
Penstar contact
So, Penstar is a US brand, with Hanvon being a supplier and technology partner (on a slightly different note, the em dash — in Penstar’s reply is highly indicative of an AI-generated response).
Because Penstar are a fairly new brand to the e-ink tablet market, there are several ‘unknowns‘ as they build their brand reputation and recognition. This is something that will perhaps become clearer as time goes on.
Ecosystem
Penstar provide proprietary cloud services for their e-ink tablets, which syncs your notebook and the calendar, and there is a companion app for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android from which you can access notes/calendar on other devices.
It also supports cloud integrations with Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.
I only tried out the Android app and had difficulty getting it work on my Samsung smartphone (an issue with permissions). It is not certified with the Google Play Store, so has to be sideloaded as an APK. I wasn’t able to get it to work with my Samsung smartphone, but I did get it running on my Android Boox Palma 2 Pro. Whilst I was able to read my notebooks and calendar entries, the system felt a bit unpolished (e.g. the calendar has a button for ‘Toady’ rather than ‘Today’ and the buttons to download a notebook either as a single-page JPG or all pages as a PDF were reversed).
Similarly, I was unable to connect my Google Drive because Google blocked access with the message ‘Penstar’s request does not comply with Google’s policies‘.
Customer service
Penstar support appears to be good. I used the feedback form on the tablet to ask an easy question and they responded with the correct answer within 24hours, which is a good sign, but I haven’t yet tested them with something more complex.
Tablets
PenStar have the following e-ink tablets in their current range:
| My rating | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Penstar eNote 2* | 10.3" monochrome | |
| Penstar eNote* | 10.3" monochrome | |
| Older Penstar tablets may be found here | ||
Firmware
PenStar tablets run the following firmware versions:
| My rating | Firmware version | Tablets using this firmware |
|---|---|---|
| 2.0 (current version) Aug 2025 | Penstar eNote 2 | |
| 1.0 (current version) Aug 2024 | Penstar eNote | |
| Older Penstar firmware versions may be found here | ||
Buying options
Penstar devices can be purchased from:
