---
source_url: "https://markdkelly.substack.com/p/if-your-e-ink-tablet-can-do-everything"
title: "If Your E Ink Tablet Can Do Everything, Why Not Just Use an iPad?"
mirrored_at: 2026-08-19T01:00:59.293Z
host: markdkelly.substack.com
cited_in_42a: true
mirror_canonical: "https://index.42a.ai/markdkelly.substack.com/p/if-your-e-ink-tablet-can-do-everything"
---

> **Original source:** https://markdkelly.substack.com/p/if-your-e-ink-tablet-can-do-everything

Usually, in an episode of The Weekly Spark I’d round up what’s been happening in the worlds of Kindle, E Ink, iPad, and related tech. But this week I want to park the usual news format and focus on something that’s been rattling around in my head for a while now.

It came back to me after my last episode, but truth be told, it’s something I’ve felt before whenever unboxing and reviewing a certain kind of E Ink tablet.

Some E Ink tablets are starting to feel more like iPads, and I’m not entirely convinced that’s a good thing.

Take Onyx BOOX devices, for example. They do a lot. And to be fair, for some people that’s exactly the appeal. Total freedom. Every setting. Every option. But for me, it can all feel like a bit too much. Menus within menus, settings for everything, endless ways to tweak the experience.

I found myself thinking about this again while looking into the BOOX Go 10.3 Gen II. The more I read, the more it felt like the industry — or at least Onyx — isn’t slowing down with this approach any time soon. More apps, more flexibility, more control. That seems to be the direction of travel.

And that raised a question.

During the same bit of research, I also came across Dasung, who are pushing E Ink refresh rates much further than before. To the point where you can now watch video on some of these devices reasonably comfortably, and it’s no longer the eye-squinting, ghosting mess it used to be.

And that brings me to the title question: if your E Ink tablet can do everything, why not just use an iPad?

And maybe the bigger question is this: have we started to lose the point of E Ink altogether?

To be fair to BOOX, this isn’t some sudden change in direction. They’ve been doing this for years. Android on E Ink tablets, access to the Google Play Store, and the freedom to install pretty much whatever you like: Kindle, Google Docs, email, note-taking apps, browsers, messaging apps, the lot.

Their devices aren’t just built for reading or writing. They’re built around flexibility — the idea that you should be able to shape the experience however you like.

Compare that with something like the Kindle Scribe or the reMarkable range and you’re looking at a completely different philosophy. The limits feel deliberate. No app store. No loading it up with extra tools. No attempt to turn it into a mini everything-device. You’re in their ecosystem and, for the most part, you read, write, annotate, and that’s your lot.

Depending on what you want, that either sounds frustratingly restricted or refreshingly focused.

And that’s why, if you only look at the spec sheet, BOOX often looks like the obvious winner. It does more. More control and many more options. That part isn’t really up for debate.

But I think that’s usually where the conversation stops, and I think that misses something important.

More features do not automatically mean a better experience. In fact, it’s often the opposite.

On paper, having Android on an E Ink tablet sounds brilliant. All your apps, all your tools, everything in one place. But in reality, E Ink still has limits. Refresh rates are slower than an iPad, ghosting is still there, and there’s usually a bit of lag in the mix. Even with the improvements we’re seeing, this is still a screen technology that was never really designed for fast, app-heavy use.

So yes, you can jump into email, open Google Docs, flick over to a browser, and maybe even watch a bit of video if you really want to.

But the real question is whether you should.

Because what starts to creep in is friction. You’re moving between apps, tweaking settings here, there and everywhere, and instead of fading into the background, the device keeps reminding you it’s there.

And if you’re the kind of person who likes tinkering with tech, that tinkering rarely stops. You can end up spending more time trying to make the tablet behave exactly how you want than actually using it to get proper work done. I remember wasting many hours in my younger days as a Windows user, endlessly tweaking my PC to make it do exactly what I wanted, never quite reaching tech nirvana, and therefore carrying on with the cycle.

There’s also the issue of distraction. If your device can do everything, there’s always that pull to check something else. Open another app. Just quickly look at one more thing. Before you know it, the simple act of sitting down to read or write has turned into something far more fragmented.

And this is possibly where the whole thing comes unstuck: just because a device can do more doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy using it more.

E Ink was never really about doing everything. It was about reading without distraction, writing without notifications, and slowing things down. Maybe that began as a technological limitation, but I think it has gone on to shape how many of us see E Ink in the first place.

That’s why devices like the Kindle Scribe or reMarkable feel the way they do. They’re limited, yes, but that limitation is the point. You open the device and do the thing you picked it up for, without all the surrounding noise.

Now compare that with something like a BOOX tablet. Yes, you get flexibility and control, but you also open the door to everything that comes with that. And this is where the iPad enters the conversation. If what you actually want is a smorgasbord of apps, speed and flexibility, that device already exists. The iPad — and others like it — do all of that, and they do it properly. They’re faster, smoother, and everything behaves the way you expect it to.

So when I look at something like a BOOX device, it feels as though it sits in an awkward middle ground. It’s not as focused as a Kindle or a reMarkable, but it’s not as capable or polished as an iPad either.

Now, for some people, that middle ground is exactly what they want. Fair enough. But I believe that’s where the tension is.

If I want focus, I’ll reach for a Kindle.

If I want flexibility, I’ll reach for an iPad.

So what problem is this middle ground actually solving?

I think the honest answer is that it does solve a problem, just not for everybody.

For a certain kind of user, these devices make complete sense. If you like flexibility, if you enjoy the tweaking I’ve talked about, and if you want to build a setup that fits your workflow just so, then something like a BOOX tablet will probably feel ideal.

And that’s fine. It’s probably why all these different kinds of E Ink devices exist in the first place. Not everyone wants the same thing. Some people want simplicity, some want flexibility, and some want something in between. It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong. Different strokes for different folks.

This isn’t me saying open E Ink tablets are wrong or that nobody should like them. Not at all. I can absolutely appreciate what these more powerful devices are trying to do. They’re pushing the limits of what E Ink can do, and that matters.

But I still find myself drawn to devices that know exactly what they are and don’t try to be everything.

So yes, this middle ground solves a problem. It just solves it for a particular kind of person.

And I don’t think that person is me.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you want from the device in your hand. Do you want something that gives you options and flexibility, or something that gets out of your way and lets you focus on one thing at a time?

That’s where I’ve landed on it, anyway.

I’d be curious to know where you land. Do you want your E Ink tablet to do even more, or do you actually prefer it doing less?

If you’ve spotted any other E-ink, Kindle or iPad stories I’ve missed, drop them in the comments or email me at markfromthespark@gmail.com.

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