Boox might not be as big of a name in the e-reader game as Kindle or Kobo, but it’s quickly catching up. Thanks to its swift development of competitive e-reading hardware, Boox has positioned itself as one of the top e-reader manufacturers in the market, with devices that range across a plethora of use cases, whether you’re looking for a pocketable color e-reader for your favorite magazines, or need something with a large paper-like screen to annotate PDFs.

But it can be challenging to know which one of Boox’s many Android e-readers will fit you best, which is what this guide is all about. These are the very best e-readers Boox has to offer in 2023.

Our favorite Boox e-readers in 2023

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra

Best overall

$500 $600 Save
$100

The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra offers an excellent middle ground if you’re looking for something a little bigger and better than a Kindle. You get a 10.3-inch screen powered by a Snapdragon 662, which means you’ll have plenty of room for text on the screen, from novels to magazines, and performance stays snappy thanks to a performant chip.

Pros

• Perfect middle ground for screen size and weight
• Plenty of battery life
• Excelent for larger files like comics and magazines

Cons

• More expensive than smaller e-readers
• Many Android apps don’t display well
• Not as portable as smaller e-readers

E-readers come in many shapes and sizes these days, especially within Boox’s lineup. So, it can be challenging to choose which screen size will suit you best. This is why we recommend the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra as our best overall choice in 2023. The Boox Tab Ultra clocks in with a 10.3″ screen size, which may sound large at first, but there are certainly bigger screens out there. The benefit of using a screen this size is that you won’t have to zoom into text in comic books, manga, or magazines; you’ll be able to read these documents fullscreen as they were designed to be read. Of course, regular novels are plenty legible, too, and while you’ll give up some portability going with a screen of this size, you gain support for a range of content sizes.

In addition to all the Tab Ultra offers as an e-reader, it also comes with a slew of other features to help you be productive. Do you need to stay focused on your reading without distractions? Use the built-in speakers to listen to music or your favorite pair of wireless earbuds. Do you have to jump into a meeting? The Tab Ultra’s microphone will help keep you connected with your peers, even if only via audio. And after you’ve burned through your charge, the Tab Ultra will get you back to 100% in just two hours, meaning you can dive back into your favorite novel with minimal interruption.

Onyx Boox Tab X

Premium pick

The Tab X is the biggest e-reader in Boox’s Tab lineup with a massive 13.3-inch E Ink screen perfect for working with full-size documents without zooming.

Pros

• A huge screen for getting work done
• Tons of battery life

Cons

• Large to cary around
• Can’t store stylus

If you absolutely require a screen as close to the size of a sheet of paper as possible, then the Onyx Boox Tab X is the device for you. It’s designed and priced to be a workhorse for office workers, a place where you’ll read PDFs and even annotate. And since the device is so large, making it fairly unique in the market, it has a price to match at $880. This is pretty high for something so niche, but at the same time, the price is worth it if you’re willing to spend it. While this isn’t a device you’ll pull out for a quick read before bed, it is one you can use throughout your day in replacement of pushing tons of paper. For some, it’s a sweet trade, especially if your company is willing to drop the cash.

The price does put this out of reach of typical e-reader enthusiasts, but it’s not really competing in the same space as a Kindle; it just happens to offer some similar tech under the hood. What’s especially great is that, unlike a Kindle, this device (along with all Boox devices) runs Android, which means you’ll have access to all of your favorite apps. While there’s no guarantee all apps will look and run great, they are, at minimum, available and functional, which means you can easily stream some tunes through Spotify while reading despite the fact the app doesn’t look great on an e-ink screen. It still plays music all the same, which is certainly a boon when the Boox Tab X also offers built-in stereo speakers. Great for audiobooks and music alike, perfect for a lengthy annotation session.

Source: Boox

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C

Best for students or professionals

The 10.3-inch screen on the Boox Tab Ultra C is the perfect device for both students who don’t want to lug around a heavy backpack and professionals who need to work with a lot of documents.

Pros

• 128GB of storage, expandable to 2TB
• Included magnetic stylus including eraser
• Cutting-edge Kaleido 3 E Ink screen

Cons

• Keyboard is too small
• Good stylus support limited to first-party apps

What sets the Tab Ultra C apart from its little brother, the Tab Ultra, is the vibrant color display. What sets it apart from other color e-readers is the advanced Kaleido 3 E Ink display, delivering 1240 × 920 resolution. Kaleido 3 is a big step up from the older generation of color E Ink displays found in e-readers, so if you’ve previously found the technology lacking, it’s probably worth giving it another look. This is especially true if you like to read digital comics (it supports CBR files) or magazines.

The Tab Ultra C has a respectable Snapdragon 662 processor inside as well as 4GB of RAM. It’s not the strongest tablet on the market, but it’s more than enough to listen to YouTube Music while you’re taking notes in a text e-book. And this isn’t just a casual e-reader; if you buy it directly from Boox, it comes bundled with a keyboard/cover combo that turns your high-end comic book reader into a device on which you can actually get some work done. If you want a more general-purpose device in the same form factor, it makes more sense to buy a traditional tablet, but if you’re looking for something with a longer battery life that won’t get washed out in the sun, the Tab Ultra C might be what you’re looking for.

Onyx Boox Tab Mini C

Best for people on the go

The Boox Tab Mini C is an incredibly versatile device capable of being a casual e-reading device or helping you stay on top of your work, whether at school or in the office. Its color E Ink display and 5,000mAh battery also means you can enjoy more content for longer.

Pros

• Custom settings for each app
• Included stylus with precise input

Cons

• No expandable storage
• Poor refresh rate limits app choices

Not everyone needs an e-reader big enough to edit full-size documents on; sometimes, a small screen is sufficient. The Tab Mini C is not only the smallest of Boox’s Tab series, it’s also got the lowest price tag as well. Despite its lower price, it still comes with all the functionality of Boox’s other Tab offerings. It’s got enough power to keep you multitasking on the web and listening to music while you reading a new novel with its 4GB of RAM and 8-core Qualcomm processor, and its 5,000mAh battery will reliably get you through the week without a charge.

Like its bigger brother, the Tab Ultra C, the Mini C has the latest Kaleido 3 color E Ink screen, just in a smaller form factor. That means you won’t find more vibrant colors when you’re reading your favorite comics or magazines. Of course, the Tab Mini C isn’t just for reading books and goofing around on the web; its included stylus (no eraser, sorry) and precise Wacom layer means you can use it for making notes in your textbooks, marking up PDFs for work, or just for jotting down personal notes. The Tab Mini C is kind of a jack-of-all-trades, and it does a decent job at it.

Onyx Boox Page

Best for reading books

The Onyx Boox Page is a sleek e-reader that packs 300ppi into its 7-inch E Ink display. If its internal storage of 32GB isn’t enough for you, you can expand it with a MicroSD card or use the USB-C port’s on-the-go capabilities.

Pros

• Expandable MicroSD storage
• Customizable settings for individual apps

Cons

• No store to buy books
• Spotty third-party app support

Not all e-readers are purpose-built for editing documents and taking notes. The Boox Page keeps it simple and elegant with a 7-inch display, and a slim profile. Inside its sleek form is a 300ppi E Ink display with a multitouch interface that will help you navigate its Android 11 operating system. The Boox Page isn’t a multitasking powerhouse, but its Qualcomm Octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM ensure that you’ll at least be able to listen to music with your Bluetooth headphones or through its speakers while you read.

The Boox Page is kind of the spiritual successor to the Leaf2 in that it has nearly all the same specs, with just a little bit more power in its 2,300mAh battery and an extra gigabyte of storage in its RAM. Like the Leaf2, the Page has a set of page-turn buttons so you can get lost in your manga without swiping a new page every few seconds. If you’re looking for a simple e-reader and not color screens and processing power, the Page is the device for you.

Onyx Boox Palma

Best to go anywhere

The Boox Palma is more of an e-reader than a smartphone, but you’d be forgiven for being confused at first glance. It runs on Android 11, so you can load it up with your favorite e-book stores and e-reading software. It even has speakers, so you can listen to your audiobooks without headphones.

Pros

• Expandable MicroSD storage
• Ultra-small form factor

Cons

• No store to buy books
• Spotty third-party app support

Boox isn’t breaking new ground with its new palm-sized e-reader, the Palma, but it is setting the standard for what devices in this size category should be capable of going forward. The Boox Palma is the size of a modern smartphone, so it fits comfortably in your pants pocket or purse, making it more portable than any other product Boox has made to date. Price-wise, the Palma is on par with the Boox Page ($280 vs. $250), making it a decent budget choice compared to some of the other products in Boox’s lineup.

Even though it looks like a phone, the Palma doesn’t have any cellular connectivity, but it does have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so this could end up being your preferred device to carry around the house, especially considering it’s got the same custom Android inside that the other Boox e-readers have. Just because the Palma is small doesn’t mean it’s a slouch under the hood. It has a Snapdragon 662 processor, 6GB of RAM (double the memory of the Boox Page), and a 3,950mAh battery that should get you weeks of use.

Choose the best Onyx Boox e-reader for your needs

When it comes to high-end e-readers, Boox is one of the best in the game, but if you had to settle for just one, our pick is the Boox Tab Ultra. It doesn’t cost as much as the larger Tab X, but it’s still big enough to do some work on it, especially with the included stylus and optional keyboard/dust cover. Despite its ample 10.3-inch HD E Ink display, it only weighs 480 grams (about the same as a soccer ball), so holding it one-handed is no problem. It even has a 16MP camera optimized for document scanning, so you can use it to mark up virtually any document.

If cost is your primary concern (and let’s be honest, Boox readers tend to be more expensive than their Amazon and Kobo counterparts), the Page is the obvious choice. It has all the flexibility that comes with the Android OS on all of Boox’s devices, a hefty battery life, and a state-of-the-art E Ink screen. Likewise, the Palma is just $30 more and comes in a phone-sized form factor that can fit in your pocket, making it easy to take it with you anywhere.

Color screens are important to some people, and if you’re one of them, the Tab Mini C is an easy choice to make, given that it’s one of the lowest-cost e-readers in Boox’s Tab lineup at just $450. Despite its lower price point, it doesn’t want for features like a vibrant Kaleido 3 E Ink display or included stylus. Of course, if you want that high-end color screen on a larger device, splurge for the Tab Ultra C.

Don’t forget about the Tab X, though; if you’ve got the money and the need, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything better than its combination of size, long battery life, and slim form factor. All of these e-readers are great devices, but one may be a better fit for you than another.

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra

Best overall

The Boox Tab Ultra attempts to be as close to a tablet in use as possible, and it leans more toward productivity than content consumption. It is powered by Android 11 and offers a highly visible display that is ideal for reading in all lighting conditions. The bundled stylus is also accurate for sketching and taking notes, and the keyboard case keeps the device out of harm’s way. It’s ideal if you’re in the market for a capable e-reader that can also play media and browse the web.