Boox is betting big on portable e-paper with the Note X5 Mini, a 7.8-inch E Ink tablet designed for readers, students, and professionals who crave pen-capable note-taking without lugging around a full-size slate. It combines a high-res Carta 1300 display with stylus support, boots open Android to run apps, and introduces the integrated DeepSeek AI assistant for summaries and translation. The device will be available first in China; a wider release has not been announced.
Portable design with less compromise for daily use
7.8 inches is the sweet spot for a lot of E Ink users: big enough to be comfortable to read and write on, small enough that you can slip it into a small bag or even a jacket pocket. Further, by selecting E Ink’s more recent Carta 1300 panel, the Note X5 Mini also boasts sharper text and faster page refreshes than previous generations, which will be particularly helpful when you’re flipping through full PDFs or leaping between notebook pages.
This form factor makes the device similar to new offerings such as the Kobo Sage and PocketBook InkPad line, but the Note X5 Mini trends more toward productivity. That means where bigger E Ink slates such as the Remarkable 2 and Kindle Scribe prioritize screen real estate, the Mini emphasizes portability while preserving a booklike feel for scribbling in margins, sketching diagrams, or annotating on the go.
Specs Geared for Reading and Handwriting
Under the hood, you have an eight-core Qualcomm processor coupled with 4GB of RAM (enough muscle for multi-document workflows, weighty PDFs, and a healthy library) and 64GB of internal storage. Connectivity options include Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB‑C (for charging and transferring files). It comes with support for stylus input, providing accurate writing and drawing as well as PDF annotation with pressure control.
Because it runs open Android, the Note X5 Mini can install third-party reading and productivity apps, such as Kindle, Kobo, Evernote, OneNote, and other academic PDF managers. That flexibility is a touchstone for Boox versus closed ecosystems. It also makes the Mini more flexible for niche use cases like language study, research management, or scriptwriting—tasks that stand to gain from distraction-free reading and quick note capture.
DeepSeek onboard to do summaries and translations
Boox is also integrating DeepSeek, an AI-based assistant that can provide summaries of long sections, translate excerpts, and create outlines or rough drafts for quick note snippets. In practice, this means you can open a paper or web article and highlight it to ask for a quick summary without ever leaving the document. For power readers, that may be a time saver—particularly when triaging research or drafting meeting notes.
Especially when you consider how DeepSeek AI is getting some buzz from the AI community for its efficient and ideal-based reasoning models; its addition indicates a shift in direction for e-paper devices beyond being merely readers.
Whether it can match the kind of precision and nuance you find in much larger-brand AIs at scale and with accuracy remains to be seen, depending on use-case prompts and domains, but the utility is apparent: on a monochrome canvas from which distractions seem almost eternally turned away, AI that distills text into other languages feels like exactly the chapter we were waiting for. Like any cloud-connected assistant, buyers will want to keep an eye out for disclosures about how it handles data and any opt-in settings.
Price, availability, and market context for Note X5 Mini
The Note X5 Mini is currently on sale in China at ¥2,399 (about $299 USD). That’s also competitive for a stylus-capable E Ink device with a 300 PPI panel. For perspective, the Kobo Sage (which is in roughly the same screen quality class) prioritizes reading first; larger pen-centric slates like the Kindle Scribe and Remarkable 2 get you over 600 bucks once you factor in all of your accessories. Boox has a history of offering China-first models for the international market after initial launches, but no worldwide release has been promised.
Industry analysts have said they’ve seen continued interest in e-paper tablets as a low-distraction option to LCD and OLED screens, especially in education and hybrid work. E Ink Holdings has also been iterating on display speed and contrast, which has made tablets like this feel far more responsive for annotating documents or scrolling through technical diagrams—tasks that could be frustrating in the past due to lag or ghosting with older panels.
Who the Note X5 Mini is designed and best suited for
If you value portability and battery runtime, the Note X5 Mini’s 7.8-inch size strikes a good compromise. It’s an ideal device for students who want to annotate their lecture PDFs, researchers hopping between papers and notes, or professionals looking for a dedicated reading-and-quick-sketching device. An open Android foundation and a supportive DeepSeek assistant add options without moving the goalposts too much: a sharp, paper-like screen with dependable pen input.
Sure, assuming Boox does what it normally does and opens widespread retail availability, the Note X5 Mini might become the compact e-paper tablet to beat—especially for those looking for freedom of choice with Android apps on a modern E Ink screen and AI-powered features actually designed to support note-taking and reading.
