Supernote A5 X2 Manta Review

SIDENOTE: Click here to learn how I use the Supernote Manta every day to manage my work and life

The Ratta Supernote A5 X2 Manta is (for me) the most anticipated tablet of 2024. As a long-term Supernote user, I’ve been really excited for this release for over a year. Well it’s finally here, and I’m very pleased to be able to bring you my full review.

Design & Build

In this section, I discuss the overall design and build of the A5X2 Manta.

Lightness

One of the things I really love about my previous generation Supernote tablet (the A5X) is how light and durable it is.

Supernote have maintained this light and flexible design with its successor (the A5X2 Manta). The lightness is achieved through using a plastic chassis, along with a plastic (Mobius Carta) e-ink screen. Many other brands use a metal chassis and glass screen, which is heavier and a bit more fragile (plastic Mobius screens tend to have a bit more bend in them before they break!) The extra durability and lightness of Mobius e-ink screens does make them more expensive, which I think is reflected in the price of the Manta.

Another way that Ratta have reduced the overall weight of the device is by limiting some of the additional hardware features that are present on some other brands of e-ink tablet, such as speakers, microphone, fingerprint scanner, and camera. Only hardware that is relevant to the note-taking process has been included.

The weight of the whole package is reduced further by the introduction of what Ratta call the ‘half-folio’. I will go into more detail about the half-folio later, but essentially, this folio has a single panel, which protects the screen but leaves the rear and three of the four edges exposed. It attaches to the left edge of the tablet using four hooks/catches. Whereas there are a few other tablets that are objectively lighter than the A5X2, the overall weight usually takes a significant increase when you add the folio. This is not the case with the Manta, and I expect it to be one of the lightest tablet+folio combinations on the market (although I haven’t yet taken the measurements to back this up, so I’ve just added this task to my TODO list!)

Durability

Time will be the real test of whether this will be enough protection to prevent the A5X2 from getting damaged with everyday use, but (as mentioned previously) the Mobius screen is less fragile than its glass counterparts, and the plastic shell has some flexibility to it, so the tablet itself gives an impression of durability. Although I’m certainly not condoning that you follow my example, I’ve always felt comfortable throwing a Supernote tablet on the back seat of my car without worrying it will be damaged – I have not felt the same level of confidence with the majority of other tablets I’ve used.

Chassis

The front panel is sunk slightly below the plastic edges of the chassis, so there is a slight lip around the sides (note that I am referring to the whole front panel, which includes the screen and the bezel/border – the screen and bezel are flush with one another).

On the left and right bezels are two vertical touch-sensitive side-swipe bars, which can be used for navigation and certain functions – I’ll go into more detail about this later, but I find them to be particularly useful (and something unique to Supernote).

As already mentioned, the left edge has four holes for connecting up the half folio. I also want to point out that there are three pins on the left edge (in between the two middle hook holes). I’m not sure exactly what they’re for but a possibility could be that Supernote intend to develop a keyboard folio in the future, and these pins will be used to connect the keyboard to the tablet. The Supernote Nomad also has them (on the rear), and the latest firmware release had some software improvements for third-party keyboard usage, which could be indications of this being a little more than speculative insight.

On the right edge is the detachable/swappable pen loop. On the top edge (on the left) is the USB port (for charging and data transfer) and on the right is the power button.

Although the power button is flush with the edge, there are two raised dots either side of, which makes it easy to locate with touch alone.

An improvement that the A5X2 Manta has over it’s predecessor (and, to be fair, most other e-ink tablets) is the location of the USB port on the top edge. I find this so much tidier because my charging cable stretches away from me towards the back of my desk, so I can plug it in without having to loop it around. It might seem like a small thing, but it makes a big difference to me!

In my unboxing, I tried to describe the contours of the rear side of the Manta (and didn’t do a particularly good job of it!) I’m going to try again now that I’ve had a bit more time with the tablet (and used my spirit level on it!)

The left edge (which is where the folio attaches) is a little thicker than the other three edges. Almost the whole of the rear side is the same thickness as the left edge (including the removable panel). However, at around a centimeter from the top, bottom and right edges, there is a small taper as the edges thin out. The exceptions to this rule are around the USB port and power button on the top edge (the “cephalic horns”), and around the pen loop on the right edge. In these small edge areas, the thickness is the same as the majority of the tablet.

So, in effect, the tablet has a fairly level rear surface, except around three of the edges, which are slightly thinner. This is actually very useful for picking the tablet up off a table or suchlike – you can get your fingertips underneath it a little to get a grip to lift it. It also looks pretty darn sleek!

Also, on the rear are four rubber feet at each corner, which give the tablet a little extra lift, and stop it from sliding around (all the more important to have these on a tablet where the folio does not cover the backside.

On the left are two silver screws for detaching the pen loop, and on the right is a little silver switch for releasing the half-folio.

Rear panel

Located centrally on the rear is a rectangular panel, which can be removed to access the internal components. The process for removing the panel is a little fiddly but relatively easy. You prise up the bottom edge with your fingernails (or in my case, the small screwdriver provided by Supernote) and then slide the panel downwards before lifting it off.

Inside, there are two silver rectangular blocks. The larger block is the battery, and the smaller block is the motherboard/SOC. There is also a slot for a MicroSD card to increase the storage capacity of the tablet.

This modular design is a first for an e-ink tablet (well, except for the Manta’s smaller sibling, the Nomad) and opens up several possibilities for the upgradability and longevity of Supernote products. For example, if the battery dies, users could just buy a replacement battery and fit it themselves. With every other e-ink tablet, this would mean a costly return-to -base repair or disposing of the entire tablet and getting a new one. The same is true in the unlikely event of the motherboard frying – but it also means that if Supernote develop a faster motherboard/processor, users could upgrade without buying a whole new tablet. Similarly, if Supernote ever develop a color screen or a larger 13.3″ tablet, existing users could potentially just buy the screen/chassis and swap in the motherboard and battery from their existing device.

These sort of possibilities really excite me because it could (in theory) mean lower lifetime costs for users, increased longevity of Supernote tablets, and less landfill waste.

However, this is dependent on Ratta making spare parts available to buy on their website – the Nomad has had this modular design for over a year but you still cannot buy a spare battery on the Supernote website. Part of the reason for this is legislation around the shipment of components with stored energy (e.g. batteries) and I’m sure the Ratta team have had their hands full with the A5X2 development during this time – so, hopefully they’ll be able to crack on with making spare parts available now. Another possibility is that Ratta could open up the specs of their components so that third-party manufacturers can develop their own Supernote-compatible products. However, I don’t think this is likely.

Pen loop

The pen loop attaches to the right edge of the tablet using two screws on the rear panel. The screws do not have a regular head, but Supernote provide a screwdriver. Supernote also provide two extra pen loops (of different sizes) as well as a ‘cuttable’ pen loop, which can be used for those that need a more customized size. The cuttable pen loop is made from a non-stretchy black polymer, whilst the other pen loops (one already attached to the tablet and two spares) are grey elastic. Supernote also provide a couple of spare screws.

Whilst I love the fundamental idea of the pen loop, it has also been one of my biggest frustrations. The default stylus that comes with the A5X2 Manta (well, the one that is pre-selected when buying it on the website) is called the LAMY Safari Vista EMR Pen – yes, it’s a bit of a mouthful, but on the box it just says “Supernote Pen“, so that is how I will refer to it going forward. The Supernote Pen has a particularly chunky barrel, which is made even chunkier by the lid, which is made even chunkier by the clip. This means that you have a stylus with a very wide diameter slotted into a pen loop on the side of a relatively thin tablet. The upshot is that the Supernote Pen pushes the tablet up off the surface of your desk by a few millimetres making it uneven and slightly unstable.

One could argue that this shouldn’t be an issue because you take the pen out of the loop when writing, making it stable again. My retort would be that many long-term Supernote users have become accustomed to keeping the lid in the pen loop when writing (simply pulling the pen out of the lid when needed). This is no longer possible (for me, anyway) because the slight movement of the screen when I rest my palm on it (and I acknowledge that it is very slight) irritates me.

Another issue I have with the pen loop is that it is made of elastic, and again, this is only going to be an issue for users that want keep the lid in the pen loop and just pull out the pen. The stretchiness of the material means that more force is needed to pull out the pen. Previous supernote pen loops were made from less malleable materials, such as canvas or vegan leather, and they would stay firm whilst you pulled on the pen until it popped out. With the elastic pen loop, the loop itself has to stretch to almost full capacity before it has enough potential energy to allow the pen to be released from the lid. Not only is this quite fiddly, I also feel like I might damage the pen loop.

I’ve tried various configurations of pens and pen loops and none of them were satisfactory to me. The Supernote Pen that shipped with the tablet is a a flat “No”. It is far too bulky to go in the pen loop with the lid attached. Without the lid, it is somewhat better but there is still a slight movement when I lean on the screen. The Heart of Metal pen (with the lid) has minimal screen movement but is not easy to pull out of the elastic (for the reason explained above). The ‘lidless’ Supernote Push-Up Pen has the best fit and it does not feel like a Tug O’ War to remove it (because you take the whole pen out rather than trying to yank it out of a lid). But I don’t like writing with this pen because it rattles. There’s still some hope – I do have the standard Supernote Pen and Heart of Metal 2 Pen somewhere (but I can’t remember where), and haven’t sliced up the cuttable pen loop yet to see if that works better. But the pen loop has been a constant irritation to me that has sullied an otherwise excellent review of the design and build of the A5X2 Manta.

And I should stress that it is not the tablet that is flawed here. Neither is it the stylus, or even the pen loop itself. It is the combination of the thinness of the tablet and the thickness of the default pen that just don’t work well together.

Overall, I am really very impressed with the design and build of the Supernote A5X2 Manta. It is very light, and its unique design looks very elegant and sleek. It also feels durable and robust because of the plastic chassis and screen, which allow some flexibility. The innovative modular design is something I’ve been particularly fond of since the launch of the Nomad, and I really admire the unique approach Ratta have decided to take with the half-folio.

I even love the concept of the adjustable pen loop that attaches to the side of the tablet. Unfortunately, the default stylus is just too thick for it to work in this manner, and the elasticity of the pen loop makes pulling the pen out of the lid an unpleasant task.

Hardware specs

The Supernote A5X2 Manta has an ARM-Cortex 1.80GHz quad-core processor and 4Gb of RAM, which should be more than enough to run the native apps on the device.

However, it may struggle to run more resource-hungry third-party apps – and, to be honest, if you’re buying an e-ink tablet to run third-party apps, the Supernote is really not the right device for you. Not only is the installation of third-party apps more complex than Android tablets that have native access to the Google Play Store, the underlying firmware has not been optimized to run them particularly well.

Despite this warning, and for the sake of completeness, I have still gone ahead and installed GeekBench6 on my Manta, just to give you an idea of where the A5X2’s CPU performance sits compared to other e-ink tablets on the market.

I ran the benchmark test 3 times and took the mean average of the results. For single core processes, the Manta scored 200 and for multi-core processes, it scored 489. This is in line with the Supernote Nomad (which uses the same processor/motherboard) and one of the lowest scores out of all the tablets I’ve tested.

Please bear in mind that this has absolutely no relation to the performance of the core system and native apps, which I’ve found to be very quick and snappy – the only time I feel that there was some unresponsiveness was when I was typing quickly on the on-screen keyboard. All the other tablets that scored higher in the benchmark have higher processor specs because they are designed to support third-party apps to some extent – Supernote processors are designed to support only the native system, and it does this perfectly adequately.

Finally, there is also 32Gb of storage capacity (which can be increased using the aforementioned MicroSD card slot).

Screen

As mentioned previously, the Supernote A5X Manta has a plastic Mobius screen, which is light and durable. It also gives the surface of the screen a subtle “springiness” – the screen flexes ever-so-slightly when you apply pressure to it, rather than feeling like a hard slate.

It is monochrome (black-and-white), which means it does not show color (but neither does it have any of the drawbacks of color e-ink).

It has a screen density of 300PPI, and a resolution of 1920×2560. This makes text, images, and handwriting look very crisp and sharp. The absence of a frontlight also enhances clarity because the “ink” is closer to the surface of the screen (but of course has the downside of being uncomfortable or impossible to use in dim or dark environments).

At 10.7″ (measured diagonally) it has a slightly larger screen area than more conventional 10.3″ e-ink tablets. The only other tablet I know of with a 10.7″ screen is the Viwoods AI Paper.

The surface of the screen has a matte-like texture due to the preinstalled non-removable FeelWrite2 screen protector (which I’ll go into more detail about below). It has a Wacom layer, so any Wacom-compatible stylus will work with it. However, one of the great things about Supernote tablets is the ceramic nibs on their own line of stylii that never wear down, so it would be a shame not to take advantage of this feature.

Overall, the screen is really very good. It is sharp and crisp, light and flexible, and has very little reflective glare. The lack of color and frontlight will make it unfeasible for some use cases, but personally I prefer to have the benefits that come with the omission of these features.

Writing feel

The writing feel of the Supernote A5X2 Manta (and all Supernote tablets, for that matter) is completely unique and therefore incomparable to any other e-ink tablet.

It does not really have a pencil-on-paper tactile feel. Neither does it have a pen-on-paper feel. Or even a marker-on-whiteboard feel. The best way I can describe it is as an expensive ballpoint pen (or even gel pen) on a stack of premium thin card.

The card-like surface is imitated in part due to the flexibility of the Mobius screen, and in part due to the FeelWrite2 screen protector. Feelwrite is like a thin transparent layer over the surface screen that indents slightly as the hard ceramic nib of the Supernote pen moves over it. These indentations are very small and not visible to the naked eye but you can feel the friction it creates as you’re writing. FeelWrite is very strong and elastic, so you’re unlikely to tear it even if you apply a lot of pressure. It is also “self-healing”, which means the indentations you make pop back into shape on their own.

This creates a tactile feel that, for me, has just the right balance between friction and movement. It is not too slippy, but it is also not too rough.

In addition, the ceramic nibs of Supernote stylii are very fine (in comparison to other stylii on the market), which makes your marks feel more exact and precise.

There is little-to-no latency when writing, with your marks appearing almost immediately when the nib touches the screen. The native writing app offers some pressure sensitivity with certain brush tools, but no tilt sensitivity.

Overall, the Supernote writing experience is excellent, and for me personally, it has the most satisfying writing feel of any e-ink tablet I’ve used.

Hardware features

As mentioned earlier, the Supernote A5X2 Manta does not have as many hardware features as some of its contemporaries. As well as having no frontlight, there are no speakers, no microphone, no fingerprint scanner, no camera etc.

However, these omissions are by design to keep the Supernote light and firmly focused on its core functionality of note-taking.

There is a g-sensor, which is used to auto-orientate the screen between portrait and landscape when you physically rotate it.

And I’ve already spoken in depth about the modularity of the internal components and the MicroSD card slot.

The only other hardware features are the touch-sensitive side-swipe bars on the left and right bezels. Although a seemingly simple addition, they are extremely useful during day-to-day use.

As with all e-ink tablets, there is occasional ghosting, which are essentially faint imprints of previous screens that have not been fully cleared during the screen refresh. A swipe up on the right bar performs a manual screen refresh to clear any ghosting.

A swipe down on the right bar brings up the quick navigation menu, which is immensely useful for navigating your way around your various notebooks, documents, and apps.

Overall, the A5X2 Manta does not have as many hardware features as other e-ink tablets, but the ones it does have are implemented well and are designed to enhance rather than detract from the note-taking experience.

Battery

The Supernote A5X2 Manta has a 3600mAh battery.

The table below shows the percentage of battery used per hour for note-taking and reading. And also the difference in battery usage when Wifi is turned on.

Test (1hr)	Manta (% battery used)
Note-taking	5%
Reading	1%
Wifi On	+1%

I calculate the typical battery life of an e-ink tablet by assuming 5 hours of use per day (3 hours note-taking, and 2 hours reading). I also assume that wifi is turned on for 3 of those hours. For those tablets with a frontlight, I also add in 2 hours with the frontlight on full and 2 hours with it on a medium setting. However, because the Manta does not have a frontlight, this does not apply.

So, for the Supernote A5X Manta, you could expect to drain about 19% of the battery per day, giving you 5.3 days of use before the battery needs a recharge. This means that the Manta has a very good battery life, but there are other e-ink tablets that last longer.

Note: My note-taking battery test was carried out using a Real-time Recognition notebook. Power consumption is likely to be improved if a Standard notebook is used instead (you choose the notebook type in the app when you create a new notebook).

Accessories

In addition to the Supernote tablet itself, I also received the half-folio and a stylus.

Stylus

I already wrote a fair amount about the LAMY Safari Vista EMR Pen (AKA the Supernote Pen) when I was bitching about the pen loop, so here I’m going to try and review the stylus itself on its own merits, rather than it’s lack of synergy with tablet.

Like many LAMY stylii, the Supernote Pen is thick and chunky and has a giant metallic clip on the lid. This is a design that I know many people are fond of. Personally, I prefer a stylus with a narrower shaft.

It is kinda cylindrical but has two flattened sides to prevent rolling. On one of the sides, the LAMY logo is printed in silver lettering.

It is made from hard transparent plastic, so the innards can be viewed clearly, and removed by unscrewing the two sections of the pen. Essentially, the LAMY part is just a housing for the Supernote ceramic pen in the middle. Transparent outer casing is another thing that appears to be very popular in the Supernote community, but I, myself, am not too keen on. There was a ‘Crystal Edition’ of the Nomad that had a transparent rear plate so that you could see the battery etc. Not only do I find this a little ugly-looking, it was less practical than the standard white edition which had a white rear panel that could be slid off without using tools (with the crystal edition, you had to remove several screws first). Despite the rear panel being more difficult to remove, the Crystal Edition appeared to be the more popular choice. Anyhow, I’m going off on a tangent here and need to get back on track…

So personally, I’m not too keen on the transparent outer shell and it is a bit on the chubby side. And the lid is too big. And the clip on the lid is too big. But these are mostly subjective things. Objectively, it writes really nicely and is very light (when the lid isn’t attached). The grip is also comfortable, although after about an hour of writing I found that the hard plastic was hurting my fingers a little.

This is a Supernote Pen, so I need to mention that it has ceramic nibs that don’t wear down. Not only does this reduce the TCO (you never need to buy replacement nibs). It also means that the tip does not become mis-shaped through use, and you do not get tiny bits of ‘nib debris‘ (for want of a better term) scattered over the screen. Ceramic nibs also have a thinner point, which makes writing feel more precise.

You’ve probably guessed that overall, this is not my favourite pen to use. And this is mainly down to the outer casing. The Supernote Ceramic module on the inside is fantastic, but the external LAMY shaft is too thick, too hard, and too transparent for my liking. If you do buy a Supernote Manta, I’d recommend going with Supernote’s Heart of Metal 2 Pen instead, because it is a bit thinner and (to me) is much more visually appealing. It also doesn’t cause the tablet to raise as much when it is in the pen loop (although there is still a subtle rise, it is still usable in my opinion).

Half-folio

When Ratta first announced the half-folio, I felt rather dubious about whether it would provide sufficient protection for the tablet.

Having now seen it first-hand, I am fairly confident that it will be adequate. And this is primarily because of the flexibility and apparent robustness of the Manta itself (as discussed earlier). Of course, this is just a best guess – no reviewer will really know for sure how durable the Manta is until they have used it over a longer period of time. However, there was a video not too long ago of the Supernote team throwing a Manta like a frisby and it sustaining no damage.

The most fragile part of the Manta is the screen, and this is the area that the half-folio protects. In my opinion, it is an ingenious way to keep the tablet light, so kudos to the Ratta team for thinking outside the box.

Both the interior and exterior of the half-folio is gray in color and has a sort of faux-leather texture.

One side of the half folio has a fold in it (for opening and closing) and four metal hooks/catches that slide into holes on the left edge of the tablet and click into place. There is a release switch on the rear of the tablet for detaching the half-folio. This mechanical bond between tablet and folio is very secure and will not disconnect very easily – it is much, much stronger than the magnetic bond used folios from other brands.

The half-folio fits over the screen perfectly, and I must say I really like it a lot.

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
	3.24 (current version) Sep 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.

Overall verdict

On the whole, the Supernote A5X2 Manta has been an absolute joy to unbox and use. The biggest testament to this is that I’ve hardly booted up my Boox Go 10.3 (my previous daily driver) since the day that the Manta landed on my doorstep. And the only time I have used it was when I needed to copy over some files and templates to use on the Manta. The Manta has quickly become my first-choice writing tablet.

However, if you’ve read the rest of this review, you’ll know that the Manta is not completely without flaws (at least in my eyes). The main one is that the default stylus is too big to fit in the pen loop without raising the tablet a couple of millimetres upwards. And the elastic used for the pen loop is too stretchy making it clumsy trying to pull out the pen (for those of us that like to keep the pen lid in situ). Fortunately, the pen loop is swappable, which means that Ratta may provide a better option in the future.

Notwithstanding the fact that the default pen can’t be used in the pen loop without creating a problem, I just don’t like the overall design of the stylus itself. It’s too fat, and it hurts my fingers after using it for a long period.

And, as much as I love the idea behind the modular design, it really counts for little until Ratta makes it possible to actually obtain spare parts for their tablets.

But, other than these gripes, there is much more to love about the Supernote Manta.

I absolutely love the design, particularly the lightweight feel, durable build, half folio, and modular design (providing Ratta start making spare parts available!)

The unique and innovative design features that I’ve seen with the Manta has been a breath of fresh air in an e-ink tablet market that often sees brands simply and blindly copying everything their competitors do without stopping to ask why. The Viwoods reading app is virtually identical to reMarkable’s. When Boox release a new feature, Bigme often follow suit. And even Boox (who have made some cool innovations themselves) recently tried to copy Supernote’s headings feature (but it was a fairly poor attempt).

As I say in my review of the Bigme firmware, I often wonder if some of these brands actually use the tablets they design and build, or if they are just dispassionately selling something to a market they see as lucrative.

This criticism certainly cannot be laid at the feet of the Ratta team. They are obviously very passionate about the work they do and the devices they design and build. What they have more then any other e-ink tablet manufacturer is a vision. And they follow their vision of creating the perfect note-taking device based on their own specifications regardless of what their competitors are doing. This is what allows them to come up with unparalleled ideas such as the half folio, modular design, and Manta-Ray-Shaped chassis. They create what they themselves want to (and will) use rather than what they think the market wants.

It just so happens that what Ratta wants seems to be pretty-much aligned with what I want, which (I guess) is why I really like their products. However, we all have different needs and preferences and the Supernote Manta is not going to be for everybody.

If you want an e-ink tablet to use as a multi-purpose device or substitute for your laptop/computer, the Supernote is not for you. It’s not all that easy to install third-party apps and even when they are installed, many will not run particularly well. However, if you are looking for a digital replacement for your paper journals, the Supernote Manta is, in my opinion, the absolute best option on the market.

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