Onyx Boox Note Air2 Plus Review | Build, Battery & Templates

Onyx Boox Note Air2 Plus Review: A Balanced Workhorse for Writing and Planning

The onyx boox note air2 plus is a refined 10.3-inch e-ink tablet aimed at people who live in notes, PDFs, and structured planners. It keeps the winning formula of the Air2—thin chassis, great handwriting feel, warm/cool front light—and adds a larger battery, sturdier build, and quality-of-life tweaks. Below you’ll find a practical, real-world review that focuses on design, display, stylus experience, Android app support, and how the device performs with Onyx Boox templates for serious productivity.

Design & Build Quality

Boox’s industrial design is purposefully minimal: a slim metal body, an asymmetric “spine” bezel for a better grip, and clean lines that disappear under your hand while writing. The Air2 Plus feels a touch heavier than the Air2, but the tradeoff is a more planted, premium feel and a larger battery. The Pen Plus snaps magnetically to the side so it’s always within reach, and the overall balance makes long sessions comfortable whether you’re annotating PDFs or journaling.

Display & Reading Experience

The 10.3″ Carta e-ink panel (1872×1404) delivers crisp text and sharp template lines. Front lighting with adjustable warmth is a big advantage over devices without a light—late-night outlining and early-morning planning look consistent edge-to-edge. E-ink’s inherent strengths—low glare and low eye strain—shine here; compared to LCD, it’s gentler during multi-hour reading or review sessions. Ghosting is well controlled with Boox’s refresh modes; a quick manual refresh keeps dense technical PDFs snappy.

Android, Apps & File Flexibility

One of the biggest reasons to choose the Air2 Plus is Android with Google Play support. You can pull documents from Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, read in Kindle or Kobo, and sync with your preferred note and task managers. The built-in NeoReader app remains the best for PDFs and epubs, offering fast rendering, reflow options, dictionaries, and robust annotation. The Notes app is where your handwriting lives: layers, shapes, lasso move/resize, handwriting-to-text, and a deep brush set.

Writing & Stylus Feel

The Wacom-based Pen Plus supports 4096 pressure levels and low latency. The matte glass has just enough tooth to feel “paper-y” without slowing you down. Strokes land predictably, and tilt shading is controllable for sketchers. For planners, the friction balance is excellent: you can make small checkboxes and fine headings without wobble, then speed up for brainstorming or mind-maps. Palm rejection is reliable; accidental touches are rare in practice.

Templates & Planner Workflow

Templates are where the onyx boox note air2 plus really earns its keep. Importing external PDF planners is simple: copy them to the device, open in Notes or NeoReader, and start writing. Because the display contrast is high, thin grid lines and subtle dividers remain legible—even on dense weekly layouts. If you use a linked planner with monthly/weekly/daily jumps, the touch targets feel accurate and quick to activate.

Pair the device with the Boox Templates Bundle for a ready-to-work system that covers daily planning, meeting notes, projects, and journaling. You can keep separate notebooks (e.g., “Work • Weekly,” “Projects,” “Journal”) and jump between them without losing your place. Export completed pages to PDF for sharing or archiving in your cloud drive.

Quick Setup: Add Your Templates

1. Copy PDF templates to your tablet (USB, Boox Drop, or cloud).
2. Open Notes → tap Template → Custom to apply as a page background, or open directly in NeoReader.
3. Create notebooks for major areas (Daily, Meetings, Projects, Journal) and pin them to your recent list.
4. Use bookmarks for monthly/weekly index pages and favorite dashboards.
5. Export finished pages to your Drive/Dropbox folder for backup.

Performance & Battery

Everyday tasks—opening planners, page flipping, handwriting, and switching between notes and a reference PDF—are smooth. Android apps that rely on heavy animations won’t feel great on any e-ink device, but productivity tools, readers, and cloud drives are right at home. The larger battery in the Air2 Plus is the practical win: multiple weeks of typical use (reading + writing with moderate light) and still reserve for a long meeting day.

Specs Snapshot

Category	Onyx Boox Note Air2 Plus (overview)
Display	10.3″ Carta e-ink, 1872×1404; warm/cool front light
Stylus	Wacom Pen Plus, 4096 pressure levels, tilt
OS	Android with Google Play access
Storage/RAM	~64 GB / 4 GB (typical configuration)
Battery	Higher-capacity vs Air2; multi-week typical runtime
Weight	~445 g; slim metal chassis with grip bezel
Apps	NeoReader, Notes, cloud drives, Kindle/Kobo, productivity apps

Air2 vs Air2 Plus: What You Actually Feel

Coming from the standard Air2, the Plus feels familiar but tougher and more enduring. Handwriting latency is comparable; the real-world difference is how carefree longer sessions become when battery anxiety fades. If you rely on planners daily and keep the front light on, the Plus’ endurance alone can justify the upgrade. If you’re a light user who charges infrequently, the base Air2 may still satisfy.

Pros & Cons

• Pros: premium build, excellent writing feel, warm/cool front light, Android flexibility, multi-week battery, outstanding template workflow.
• Cons: grayscale only (no color layer), slightly heavier than Air2, some third-party apps aren’t e-ink friendly.

Verdict

The onyx boox note air2 plus is an easy recommendation for planners, researchers, students, and professionals who live in structured notes. It marries the calm of paper with the power of Android and adds the stamina to make it a dependable all-day device. Add a well-designed planner pack like the Boox Templates Bundle, and you’ve got a distraction-light, high-clarity workspace that scales from quick to-do lists to multi-month projects.Get Onyx Boox Templates

Outbound resources: Onyx Boox official site • Boox Help Center (Templates in Notes/NeoReader). Internal link connects to Templacity’s Boox Templates product page.