Supernote A5 X Review

Design and Build

The first thing I noticed about the Supernote A5 X after taking it out of the box is that it is somewhat thicker than the other tablets I have recently reviewed in the 10.3″ size category. And although the corners are slightly rounded, the edges are at right angles to the faces and there are no smooth aesthetic contours. This does make it look a bit chunkier and blocky in comparison, particularly when lined up with the ultra-thin reMarkable 2.

The casing is wholly plastic, which I prefer over the metal casing of other devices because it isn’t as cold to the touch (however, I have to admit that a metal chassis does look more stylish).

The way that the Supernote attaches to the folio is pretty neat. There is a groove on the back of the unit that slides into a plastic strip on the folio and clips into place. This creates an unexpectedly strong connection that has stood up well to my attempts to make it break!

The screen is also plastic, using E-ink’s Mobius Carta technology, which is lighter and more flexible than glass. In fact, the whole unit is one of the lightest available in this form factor.

On the right bezel is a touch-sensitive side-swipe bar (which I will go into more detail later). On the top edge is the power button (on the right) and on the bottom edge is the USB-C port (centrally-aligned), which is used both to recharge the battery and for data transfer. The power button is almost flush with edge. Two raised dots either side of the power button make it easy to locate with your fingertip.

There’s no audible rattling or creaking from the chassis, which indicates a solid build.

Overall, I think the Supernote A5X has a simple and practical design that imitates a real notebook (as opposed to the ‘rigid hard slate’ design of many of its contemporaries). The lighter and more flexible plastics used in its build means that it is comfortable to hold one-handed for longer periods and has a springiness that feels like leaning on a pad of paper. This slight pliability also provides some reassurance that it is not likely to break easily – and as a regular user of this tablet for several years, I can attest to its durability. I’m so comfortable with it that I just toss it in my bag or on the back seat of my car like a would a real notebook. The other side of the coin is that it is not as thin and stylish as tablets such as the Boox Go 10.3, but it does have its own unique charm.

Hardware Specs

Under the bonnet, the Supernote A5 X runs a 1.3GHz Quad-Core processor, with 2Gb RAM and has 32Gb storage capacity.

Although this is an Android (8.1) tablet, I have not provided CPU benchmarks because this is really only relevant to users that plan on installing and using third-party apps that are resource-hungry. The A5X specifications above are more than sufficient for running the native apps that are preinstalled on the A5X, and there will be very few performance issues when note-taking, reading etc.

Although it is possible to sideload other apps onto a Supernote, this is not what it was designed for (and not recommended because they are tricky, void warranty, and do not perform very well). If third-party apps are a must-have, a Supernote is not for you – perhaps look at Boox instead..

Screen

The Mobius Carta screen is 10.3″ (around A5-sized) and black-and-white/monochrome. It is flush with bezels.

As mentioned previously, Mobius screens use a plastic backplane (rather than glass), which makes them lighter, more flexible, and arguably less fragile.

It has a monochrome resolution of 1404 × 1872 (226PPI).

There are touchscreen capabilities, and a Wacom EMR layer (so any Wacom-compatible stylus will work fine with it).

And there is a screen protector called FeelWrite, which has self-healing properties that prevent the hard ceramic nibs of Supernote styluses from scratching the screen (this is why Supernote styluses are not recommended for use with other brands of e-ink tablet). More recently, Supernote have released a FeelWrite2 screen protector that also has a textured tactile feel when writing to provide a more paper-like experience.

There is no frontlight, which has the advantage of making text and pen strokes feel closer to the surface of the screen. With frontlit screens, there is slight gap between the surface and the eink impressions, as if it is slightly beneath the screen. Of course, the drawback of not having a frontlight is that an external light source is required.

Overall, the screen is good.

Writing feel

One of the things I enjoyed most when using the Supernote was the tactile feel of writing, which was a completely different experience from that of other e-ink tablets and somewhat inexplicable.

Although the Supernote does not provide the tilt sensitivity of the reMarkable 2/Kindle Scribe and the pressure sensitivity is quite limited, the hard ceramic nib of the stylus, combined with the low latency of the screen, friction of the FeelWrite protector, and heaviness of the pen results in a very pleasant experience that is akin to a luxurious ballpoint pen on premium card.

It should be noted that straight out of the box, the writing feel is not quite so pleasant. It takes a good 30 minutes of writing all over the screen to (what I assume is) ‘loosen’ or ‘prime’ the screen protector. After this, the writing experience is really very pleasant – one of the best I have the pleasure to try out.

Another point worth noting is that other styluses with soft plastic nibs felt really nice on the new FeelWrite 2 screen protector. The styluses for the Kindle Scribe, reMarkable 2, and Boox offered a more pencil-on-paper feel than pen-n-paper feel of the Supernote styluses. But, of course, if you use these styluses, they do not have a clip to fit in the pen loop of the folio and you will need to change the nibs from time to time as they wear down.

There is very little perceived lag when writing – as you move the stylus over the screen, the strokes appear almost immediately.

Overall, the tactile feel of writing on a Supernote tablet is one of the best I have experienced. It just feels so natural and pleasant.

Hardware features

As well as the underlying hardware specs, the A5X has some additional hardware features that make the tablet more versatile.

As standard for most e-ink tablets, there’s support for both Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity. As well as connecting headphones, Bluetooth can also be used to connect other peripherals, such as third-party keyboards. However, I find there is a little too much lag between pressing a key and the text appearing on the screen when using a Bluetooth keyboard on Supernote tablets.

For further connectivity, the USB-C port can be used for transferring files between the Supernote and your computer/laptop.

But the most unique hardware feature is the touch-sensitive side-swipe bar (on the right bezel). Because these are hardware-based and off-screen (rather than on-screen software) it can be activated no matter which app you are using at a particular time.

A swipe up refreshes the screen and a swipe down brings up the quick access menu. This customizable menu makes it very easy to flick between notebooks, documents and apps, making Supernote devices very quick and easy to navigate.

Overall, the Supernote A5X does not have as many hardware features as other e-ink tablets (for example, there’s no speakers, microphone, fingerprint scanner, g-sensor etc), but the ones they have chosen to include reinforce their vision of a focused note-taking experience. In addition, the side-swipe bar is extremely useful for navigating between documents and notebooks, and performing other functions quickly and easily.

Battery

The Supernote A5X has a 3800mAh battery.

I can get around a week’s worth of use before it requires a recharge.

Comparatively-speaking, battery life is excellent – it is one of the top performers in this regard.

The table below shows how much battery is depleted by performing certain operations for an hour.

Test (1hr)	A5X (% battery used)
Note-taking	3%
Reading	1%
Wifi On	+0%

So, you could expect to drain about 3% of the battery per hour when note-taking, and 1% per hour when reading. Having Wifi on or off doesn’t make much of a difference (but remember this test was only an hour long, so it may make a difference over longer periods).

I calculate typical battery life from these figures by assuming 3 hours of note-taking and 2 hours of reading each day, with the Wif turned on for 3 hours. For tablets that have a frontlight, I factor in 2 hours on a medium setting and 2 hours on full – however, because the A5X does not have a frontlight, this was not incorporated.

For the A5X, this works out at about 11% of battery use per day, which would give you 9 days of use before it needed to be recharged.

Accessories

The Supernote A5X shipped with the canvas folio, and standard pen.

Stylus

The A5X ships with the Supernote’s own Standard Pen.

The Standard Pen is made from hard, durable plastic and has a lid with a clip. It uses Supernote’s NeverReplace ceramic nib, which is very rigid compared to the softer plastic tips of other e-ink tablets, and does not wear down over time.

The ceramic nib combined with Ratta’s screen technology gives Supernote devices a uniquely pleasurable tactile feel when writing, which is one of the reasons that I use my A5X so much. It’s difficult to describe – the pen sort of glides across the screen, but there is enough resistance to stop it from feeling slippery. And because the tip is very fine, mark-making feels very accurate.

The Standard Pen is balanced really nicely (it’s perhaps a bit top-heavy if I was being really picky) and has a weight to it that makes it feel substantial to hold and very durable. The ivory-coloured barrel has an unusual contour to it; the top and the bottom are cylindrical but in the middle, it flattens out slightly, and this flattened face sort of twists around the shaft. The flattened edges are useful for preventing the pen from rolling too far across the desk or other surfaces, but it also contributes to the ergonomic design.

The grip is pretty good on the barrel, however, I tend to hold a pen a little lower down, and this happens to be around the area where the lid clicks into the pen. Although these edges are quite smooth, they sometimes dig into the skin on my fingertips slightly if I am writing a lot.

The Pen connects securely to the lid at the nib end but is looser if connected to the top of the pen (and is likely to fall off with a small knock). The Standard Pen does not have any buttons or an eraser at the top.

So, apart from a couple of small drawbacks, it’s very difficult to find anything negative about the Standard Pen at all.

However, since originally buying my Supernote, I’ve moved onto the Heart of Metal Pen, which in my opinion, is supremely better (it is perhaps my favourite e-ink stylus ever).

The HoM Pen uses the same ceramic tip as the Standard Pen, so the writing experience and the strokes that it makes on the Supernote’s screen are virtually identical.

The differences are primarily with the HoM’s aesthetic design and the comfort of the Pen whilst holding it and writing with it.

The first thing to note is that the HoM is much shorter in length than the Standard Pen. This cannot be appreciated when looking at the specs of the pens because the lengths provided on Supernote’s website include the pen lid, which (for many people) will be hooked over the loop of their folio most of the time.

The same is true of the weight. Although the Standard and HoM Pens have an almost identical listed weight, the HoM has a fair chunk of this heaviness in the lid. So when the lid is in the folio’s pen loop, the HoM Pen is actually around 10g lighter than the Standard Pen (which has a smaller and lighter lid).

The plastic grip at the bottom of the barrel makes it very comfortable to use – for longer periods of writing, it is much more comfortable than the Standard Pen. However, without the lid attached, the cylindrical design of the HoM means that it will roll across any surface that you put it on – any slight gradient will cause the pen to roll away.

The HoM looks stylish and has a premium feel to it – Supernote even offers a free engraving (on the clip) to personalise your pen.

Overall, Supernote styluses are unique and I love using them. They are designed to look more like premium ballpoints than a stylus.

Folio

Sadly, I didn’t get any photos of the canvas folio when I first wrote this review, and it is looking a bit tatty now (several years, and a LOT of use later). But, over this time, it’s done the job of protecting my A5X. Here’s some pics:

It is super thin and super lightweight compared to other e-ink tablet folios and has very little padding. When I originally received it I was dubious about how good a job it would do at protecting my tablets. I can now say that it has served me well over the years. This is perhaps also (in part) due to the plastic chassis and Mobius screen of the A5X itself, which has a certain level of flexibility (in the capacity that it has a bit more ‘give‘ and will bend before it breaks).

There’s an ingenious method for how the tablet connects to the folio. There’s a plastic runner on the interior, and the tablet has a groove on the rear panel, allowing it to slide and lock into place. This provides an exceedingly strong grip, and as such, my A5X has never slipped out of the folio.

On the right-hand side is a pen loop that has been securely stitched to the folio. Personally, I much prefer the pen loop method of stylus storage over magnetically snapping the stylus to the side of the tablet. It is less likely that the stylus will fall out, and (if you use a Supernote stylus with a lid), you can just pull the pen out when you need to use it leaving the lid in the loop. Of course, the downside is that if you use a different stylus, it will not fit in the loop.

The folio also allows auto-sleep and auto-wake when the cover is closed/opened.

It is very difficult for me to find any fault with the folio at all. It is simple and effective.

If I was being pernickety, I might highlight the fact that there is no clasp to prevent the folio from falling open but this is something that I neither want nor need (I’m not a fan of the flap on Boox cases that just feels untidy to me, and I’ve never had an issue with folio opening unintentionally).

Software

My review of this tablet should be read in conjunction with my review of the current firmware (see table below), which includes aspects such as the Operating System, User Interface, and Native Apps.

The hardware and software reviews have been separated because the firmware used at the time that this review was written may not be the same firmware being used currently. This could result in the review quickly becoming outdated. Also, as several tablets may use the same firmware, this would mean going back and updating every single tablet review from a particular manufacturer to account for the new firmware. By splitting them up, if there is a firmware update, I am able to make the updates on a single page.

Current versions of this brand’s firmware are shown in the table below, along with the tablets running them.

My rating	Firmware version	Tablets using this firmware
	3.26 (current version) Dec 2025	Supernote A5 X2 Manta Supernote A6 X2 Nomad Supernote A5 X Supernote A6 X
Older Ratta Supernote firmware versions may be found here

Brand

For some people, it is also worth considering the brand as whole, including aspects like customer service, ecosystem, values, and criticisms.

My full overview of the Ratta Supernote brand can be found here, but I have provided a summary below.

Final Verdict

To me, the Supernote A5 X is a bit of an enigma.

It does not have all the bells and whistles of many of its competitors, both in terms of hardware and software versatility. There’s no frontlight, and third-party apps cannot be installed (well, they can but it is a bit hacky and they don’t perform very well, anyway).

Out of the box, the Supernote does not look as sleek or glamorous as other e-ink tablets on the market. And, when considering the price, it is rather expensive for something that (on paper) does not appear to be as full-featured as other e-ink tablets.

But, as a note-taking tablet, it just works so easily and so intuitively that there is nothing else like it on the market. A lot of thought and effort has been spent making the whole experience as natural and authentic as possible, even if this meant ommiting useful features that have inherent drawbacks (such as a frontlight).

The result is that the Supernote A5X really does have the feeling of an A5 paper journal or notebook. It is light, it bends slightly (it is not rigid), and has a springy screen reminiscent of a stack of paper.

What Supernote have done is brought to life a device that is about the closest thing you can get to having a paper-based notebook. To achieve this, they’ve had to make several compromises (such as the aforementioned frontlight ommission, and a more expensive plastic screen) but they’ve stayed 100% true to their vision.

As their slogan says, Supernote is “for those that write“, and this is exactly the profile of the people that this device has been developed for. As primarily a note-taking tablet, it is excellent, and I don’t hesitate to recommend it – I fall into Supernote’s customer profile and I couldn’t be more happier with it.

But it’s not for everyone. If you’re looking to install third-party apps, or wander away from the core functions provided by default then there are more versatile options available.

Tablet Overview