Three years ago, I welcomed the iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) into my life, expecting it to be my primary creative tool. It’s served me well, accompanying me on trains, planes, and even to my favorite coffee shop. But recently, I’ve found myself in a creative conundrum: I’ve been cheating on my iPad with another device, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C.
Two years back, I reviewed this lesser-known ereader for TopTenReviews. It gathered dust for a year and a half after the review, but recently, I’ve found myself reaching for it more often than my iPad. Here’s why.
Meet the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C is an ereader that’s more than meets the eye. It’s akin to the Kindle Scribe, but with features turned up to 11. It’s expensive, at $600 / £600 / AU$980, and that’s without the keyboard folio. It boasts a 10.3-inch color display and offers the Google Play Store, making it a tablet as well.
As an old-school book and pen-and-paper enthusiast, I was skeptical. But the Onyx won me over with its unique features and user experience.
The iPad’s Shortcomings
My iPad is a jack of all trades, but it’s not the best at any one thing. It’s powerful for video editing, but not as powerful as my edit rig. Its keyboard is useful, but not as natural as my laptop or PC. And while it’s portable, it’s not as portable as my phone. But its biggest flaw? It doesn’t replicate the feeling of writing with a pen on paper.
Using an Apple Pencil or a knock-off, the iPad’s stylus just doesn’t provide the same tactile experience as pen and paper. It lacks the pressure, the squeeze of your fingertips, the firm lunge of the pen, and the solid barrier of your arm. It’s a significant difference that’s hard to quantify until you’ve experienced it.
A New Writing Experience
Frustrated with the iPad’s handwriting shortcomings, I resorted to pen and paper. But that led to another set of problems: lost papers, coffee-stained notes, and a desk full of illegible scribbles. Then I moved house and asked myself: ‘Am I going to use this?’ I hesitated. Maybe this device could fix my writing problem.
I charged it up, opened a blank page, and started to scrawl. The Onyx offered a natural-feeling handwriting experience that the iPad didn’t. A few neat touches made the Boox’s stylus feel more like a pen. The haptic feedback, the ‘give’ when pushing down, and the pen nib that can be attached when not in use all contributed to this comfortable writing experience. The E-Ink screen, which looks more like paper than a tablet screen, also helped convince my brain that I was writing on paper, not a smart device.
The Ultra Ereader’s Useful Features
I was won over by the handwriting experience, but what kept me using the Onyx was its useful features. Like Kindles, you can import documents onto the device, which I found handy for annotating scripts and filling in shot lists on film shoots. The Boox’s long battery life was another advantage over the iPad.
The Onyx also offers note-taking documents, which aren’t just clean pages but documents with various style designs. I could create pages for ideas and add separate sub-pages for different facets or angles. The Smart Selection feature, which lets you draw a lasso around notes for auto-selection, became a vital part of my workflow.
I never used the device’s Play Store access or read books with it, but I recall from my review testing time that you can mark up e-books as well. The Onyx’s features kept me focused and undistracted, unlike the iPad, which has too many temptations like social media, games, and downloaded TV shows.
Keeping the iPad Around?
Since discovering the Onyx, it’s become a stalwart part of my creative life. It’s my go-to device for jotting down ideas or structuring plans and lists during the genesis stage of a new project. It hasn’t replaced my iPad or PC, but it’s a faff-free interface with the digital realm, letting me ignore the annoyances of artifice and spew my thoughts and ideas straight onto the (digital) page.
In conclusion, my iPad is still a valuable tool, but the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C has become an unexpected yet welcome addition to my creative workflow. It’s not about replacing one device with another, but finding the right tool for the right job. And sometimes, that means having an affair with an ereader.
