Lenovo Smart Paper review – very good E-Ink Android tablet

Writing tablets with E-Ink screens are meant for people who like to read a lot. Today we'll show you a gadget that falls in the mentioned category and at the same time, you can take advantage of things like drawing and handwriting thanks to the included Smart Pen in the box. The device is called Lenovo Smart Paper and for some of you, it may look like a big tablet with a side-flip case. Actually, this Lenovo creation is very close to this definition - it is a tablet with a screen that is optimized for reading and for some creative tasks like sketching with the aid of the Pen (and there is a "magnetic folio / case"). The interesting part is that this tablet is an Android-based device but the OS is heavily customized so you can use it "as is" straight from the box for E-books, documents, and other similar things. In addition, programs like Firefox and WPS Office are preinstalled so you can also browse the Web and open pdf files right from the get-go. Specs-wise, the product seems like a not-so-powerful machine but it's normal considering its main purpose which is displaying books and documents. Speaking of this, the tablet supports handwriting to text function which is a very handy extra for everyone but maybe students, teachers, and writers will value this feature even more. You can check the current price of Lenovo Smart Paper here: Specs Sheet, What's in the box Lenovo Smart Paper Processor Rockchip RK3566 Processor (1.80 GHz ) GPU ARM Mali-G52 GPU Operating System Android 11 Memory 4 GB LPDDR4X (Soldered) Storage 64 GB eMMC 5.1 Display 10.3" (1872 x 1404), E-ink, 227 ppi, 4:3, Anti-glare, Dual color front light, 24 Brightness Levels (automatic screen adjustment), 24 Adjustable Temperature Tones Battery Integrated 3550mAh Dimensions 195mm x 226mm x 5.5mm / 7.7″ x 8.9″ x 0.2″ Weight Starting from 408g Lenovo Smart Paper Pen Electro-magnetic resonance 4096 tilt and pressure sensitivity Magnetic 145mm x 8mm / 5.7″ x 0.3″ 15g Lenovo Smart Paper Folio Case Magnetic folio/case Pen storage holder Ports/Slots USB-C 2.0 (supports data transfer and charging) WiFi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4GHz & 5GHz Bluetooth 5.2 PC & Mobile Data Synchronization via Lenovo Smart Paper App Sensors Accelerometer (G) sensor Ambient L-sensor Hall-Sensor Battery 3500mAh Up to 8,500 pages of reading time Microphone Dual microphone Preloaded Software Calendar Calculator Ebooks.com Email What's in the box? The box is super sturdy so the precious tech inside is well-protected. When you open the package, you'll find the tablet itself, a Lenovo Smart Paper Pen, the Folio Case, a 10W charger alongside a 1.5-meter-long USB-C cable, a metal ring (that can be used to pull out the pen tip), and some manuals. Design and construction The design isn't that different compared to a normal tablet from the same brand. For a device with such a big screen, a weight of 408 grams is definitely on the low side. This is very important when you want to consume content for long hours. The profile thickness is just great - 5.5mm! That's thinner than a modern high-end smartphone. Holding the Lenovo Smart Paper is an easy task because of the abovementioned dimensions. The well-known Lenovo two-shade grey design is here and this also applies to the case. Speaking of which, the magnet is pretty strong and during normal usage, the tablet is literally glued to the case. If you open it and hold it vertically with one hand, the tablet will not fall off even if you do a little "shake". Of course, if you want to drop the device intentionally on the floor or on your desk for the sake of science, you can shake it harder in this orientation (with an opened case in a vertical position). As we said, in the usual day-to-day operation this will not happen at all. The build quality is good and the tablet feels like a quality piece of hardware. The back side is entirely made of metal and there is a little bit of plastic around the display area. The end result is a rigid device and we observed zero bends and flexes during our testing. Because of the nature of the tablet, you'll not find speakers, a camera, and voice call support here and that's normal for such a gadget. The edges aren't sharp, the device is light and thin, and that's why it's surprisingly comfortable and convenient to hold the tablet with one hand. There is no info regarding the display cover material. Still, the manufacturer claims that it supports the Lenovo Smart Paper Pen with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection, and the latency is 25 ms. On the right, you can see a USB Type-C 2.0 port with data transfer and charging capabilities. The Power button is located on the top. Software, usage, performance, comfort during load Software This device uses customized Android 11 out of the box. It's not a surprise that the interface is quite different compared to any other tablet or smartphone with the same OS. Here is one of the main cons of the machine - the main advantage of Android is the high level of customization but on the other hand, the Lenovo Smart Paper falls short here because you can tweak a few options here and there. There is no Google Play Store as well and that's the main source of fun when it comes to downloading different programs. You can sideload applications, ergo, you can download apk files and try to see if they can work on this tablet. Google Chrome and Kindle apps are working which is at least something. By the way, we didn't find a way to take screenshots (which is a real pain) but because the device supports Miracast, we were able to take some screenshots by mirroring the display to a laptop. Usage If we put aside the fact that you can't use Google Play Store and you have to manually download apk files to test if a specific program can work correctly or not, the tablet work as it should while reading and writing. Reading books is such a pleasure, the text looks sharp and crisp, and here is the moment to say some good words regarding the display. The panel has a 4:3 aspect ratio which is great for eBooks and handwriting. After hours of usage, we didn't experience eye strain or any other kind of discomfort. The anti-glare display is doing its job well and you can tweak settings like brightness and color temperature, or you can turn on and off the adaptive brightness option. For even better battery life you can activate the "Fast" option from the drop-down menu which will decrease the screen resolution, while with the "Clear" option (which is branded as HD), you can take advantage of the native resolution or the screen (1872 x 1404). What you see on the screen (exported images with Miracast): Also, handwriting can be converted to digital text which is very useful because you can't write super fast using the on-screen keyboard. The Smart Pen is a joy to use, the whole experience while using it is like we were writing with a pencil on a real paper. There are a lot of different templates for writing and drawing as well as nine pen styles. Because the pen uses electro-magnetic resonance technology you don't have to charge it at all. The device has no problem opening epub, pdf, and docx files - you can use the provided USB cable to load the internal storage with your local backup full of eBooks and pdf files. Lenovo is promoting the Ebooks.com site for accessing more than two million eBooks. If you read a lot maybe this can be a real option for you but keep in mind that a paid subscription is also required to use the website. Still, if you have hundreds of eBooks files you can transfer them to the tablet very easily and fast with the provided cable or maybe with Google Drive (which is also supported). Another handy option is the fact that you can write in books and add comments which is mission impossible for a lot of other devices in the same category. You can find some useful typical Android options like Force Stop and Clear Cache. The battery life can be extended thanks to extras like Auto Sleep, Battery Saver, and Battery Optimizations. Other things that can catch an eye in the interface are Choose Dominant Hand, Font Size, Input options, Factory reset, etc. Performance and battery life Expectedly, there is no way to benchmark this device using 3DMark because the program doesn't want to start (yes, we installed the apk file manually). The same thing applies to battery life testing. We can just say, that after 3 hours of using the device, the battery lost just 2% capacity - wow! Comfort during full load Since it's a tablet and there are no fans inside of the device, there is zero noise while using the gadget. No sign of coil whine as well, which is good. The hardware is not-so-powerful and thermals are always in check. Videos of the interface and some sketching Below you can see two videos. In the first one, we are showing how you can draw a painting and all the tools that you have at your disposal for doing it. The second video is showing the interface of the tablet. Verdict The Lenovo Smart Paper is a very nice E-Ink tablet. It has a big 10.3" screen which is very comfortable for long hours of usage. The resolution of the panel is decent (1872 x 1404), and the anti-glare coating is a life-saver when you're not in a dimmed room. You can also bump the brightness or you can leave the Auto Brightness function to do its job depending on the light conditions. You can use the tablet the old-school way, ergo, to touch the screen with your fingers but we can recommend the Smart Pen for any kind of operation. The pen is such a great feature, it can "rest" on the left bezel of the screen but when you want some "action", it can impress you with smooth gliding and precise handwriting, drawing, sketching, etc. As we said earlier, you can write and add comments in books which is definitely a rare feature. You can also open different eBooks, pdf, and docx files, you can use Google Drive, and other standard things like Email, Calendar, Clock, Calculator, etc. Firefox is preinstalled so you can start to browse the Web immediately, or you can download an apk file of Google Chrome and install it as well. Yes, because the tablet is Android-based, you can manually install apk files to see if your favorite programs can work on this device. Maybe power users will like this feature but the average user will most likely use this gadget as is. We can just moan about the absence of the Google Play Store but since it's an E-Ink tablet, we'll accept that. Luckily, you can install the Kindle application and use it too (if you already have purchased books from there). The hardware from the inside of the device isn't super powerful so the back of the tablet is always pleasantly cool which is good news when you want to read books for long hours during a hot summer. The tablet is also thin and light and it's very easy to use with one hand. You can check the current price of Lenovo Smart Paper here: