Supernote has become a fan favorite for those who like the idea of digital files and notes for the sake of convenience but still want to be able to write in a way that feels natural and tactile. Now, the company is back with a new iteration of its tablet in the form of the Supernote A5 X2 Manta E Ink tablet.
It’s easy to see the appeal of a device like this. E Ink may not allow images to look quite as impressive as a traditional tablet, but E Ink displays look a whole lot more like real pen and paper, not only helping make things feel a little more natural but also being easier on the eyes.
This particular E Ink tablet has a 10.7-inch display with 300 pixels per inch, which help make images look crisp and detailed. It has 32GB of storage, but there’s a microSD card slot that can add an additional 2TB, which should be more than enough for the vast majority of users.
Of course, so far, all these features are pretty standard for E Ink tablets, including those made by the likes of Remarkable and Amazon. What sets the Supernote A5 X2 Manta apart, however, is its repairability. The device has a panel on its back that can be removed easily, giving you access to internal components like the battery and motherboard. The battery itself can be replaced once it starts losing charge, and access to the other components means that it’s entirely possible you’ll be able to buy upgrades for it that don’t require replacing the entire device.
The overall design of the Supernote A5 X2 Manta is relatively sleek, with an all-white exterior and a leather loop on the side to hold your stylus. There’s a folio cover available for the device at an additional cost. It’s not the most unique-looking tablet out there, but its all-white and minimalistic design might well help make for a more distraction-free writing experience.
The only downside is that you’ll have to pay for the repairability. The device costs $459, which is a little more than some competitors. Not only that, it doesn’t come with a stylus. The idea there is that you’ll supply your own if you already have one, but if you don’t, you’ll have to pay extra to get one. Thankfully, Supernote sells a number of different styluses, so you can buy one at the same time for convenience.
If you don’t mind paying that cash and supplying a stylus, then you’ll likely love what’s on offer from the Supernote A5 X2 Manta. The device is powered by a custom version of Android that supports touch gestures and offline handwriting recognition. This feature allows your notes to be converted into digital text for editing later. It has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi built-in and can sync notes through popular cloud services, including Dropbox and Google Drive. There’s even an accompanying app for smartphones, to which notes can be transferred directly.
The Supernote A5 X2 Manta can be purchased from supernote.com.
