BOOX BOOX Tablet Tab XC 13.3 Color ePaper 6G 128G Review

The BOOX Tab XC is a 13.3-inch color e-ink Android tablet priced like an iPad Pro. It's fantastic for reading technical PDFs without eye strain, but its low color resolution and high cost make it a niche pick. Only consider it if you absolutely need a large color e-paper screen for work.

Looking for a big-screen color e-ink tablet? The BOOX Tab XC is a 13.3-inch Android slate with a Kaleido 3 color e-paper display, and it's priced around $820. That puts it in iPad Pro territory, but with a very different purpose. This isn't your typical tablet. It runs Android 13 on a 2.8GHz octa-core chip with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which means you can install apps from the Play Store. But the real story is that screen: it's designed for reading, note-taking, and staring at for long periods without eye strain, not for watching movies or gaming.

Our performance scores tell a clear story. The Tab XC lands in the 77th percentile for both CPU and GPU among tablets we track, which is solid for an e-ink device. That means it feels responsive for an e-paper tablet, and the BSR (Boox Super Refresh) tech helps reduce ghosting. But remember, 'fast for e-ink' is still slower than any LCD or OLED screen. The 6GB of RAM is in the 34th percentile, which can show if you try to juggle too many apps at once. For its core tasks—rendering PDFs, running note apps, browsing the web—it's plenty capable. Just don't expect iPad-level multitasking smoothness.

At $820, the Tab XC asks a lot. You could buy a base iPad Pro or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ for that money and get a far more capable all-around tablet. The value here is entirely in the 13.3-inch color e-paper screen. If you need a large, eye-friendly digital notebook or a reader for technical PDFs and you're allergic to backlights, this has a niche. For everyone else, it's a tough sell.

The most direct competitor is other large-format e-ink tablets, but few offer color at this size. Compared to an iPad Pro, you're trading vibrant media performance and app fluidity for e-ink comfort. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ offers a stunning OLED screen, better speakers, and a more polished experience for the same cash, but it's not e-ink. Even Boox's own Note series offers better stylus support. If your main goal is reading black-and-white text, a Kindle Scribe or a Remarkable 2 is hundreds of dollars cheaper. The Tab XC sits in a weird, expensive middle ground.

Skip the Tab XC if you're a casual reader, a student on a budget, or someone who watches a lot of video. Its high price and mediocre battery life don't justify the cost for general use. Also, artists or serious note-takers should look elsewhere because the stylus lacks an eraser and doesn't support premium EMR pens. If you want a tablet for media, get an iPad or Android tablet. If you want an e-reader, get a Kindle. This is only for the small group who needs a giant color e-ink screen for work.

Should you buy the BOOX Tab XC? Only if you know exactly why you need it. This is a specialist tool for a specific user: someone who spends hours each day reading or annotating color documents on a screen and must have e-ink to avoid eye strain. Think academics, lawyers, or writers who draft on e-ink. If that's you, it's a capable, if overpriced, solution. For anyone else—students, casual readers, media consumers—it's a hard pass. Spend less on a dedicated e-reader and a regular tablet, or spend the same on a premium LCD tablet that does everything else better.