On August 28, the ePIC 2024, the second ePaper Innovation Conference, will be held in Shenzhen. To complement the annual highlight of the ePIC, the ePaper Industry Alliance (EPIA) and Quadrant Lab will launch a series of innovative product stories in both Chinese and English version, as a review of last year's ePaper innovations. This initiative is expected to further promote the development of ePaper technology application, injecting sustained momentum into the emerging display and IoT innovation fields.
As an enterprise well-known in the ePaper industry for more than 16 years, BOOX operates in over 60 countries around the world. BOOX product line mainly includes smart eReaders such as BOOX Poke and Leaf, which are designed for daily reading, and eyestrain-free ePaper tablets such as Nova, Note, and Lumi series that meet the demands of daily work and study. Both types have gained wide market recognition and unanimous user acclaim.
With the rapid development of the technology industry and the increasing prevalence of digital products, user expectations for electronic devices are on the rise. ePaper technology requires further enhancements in refresh rates, color reproduction, ghosting, and system efficiency. The market is now in urgent need of a product that is multifunctional and transcends the form of conventional eReaders and ePaper tablets.
In the quest for innovative solutions to enhance eye-friendly productivity, the team at Boox believed that the industry was missing a truly meaningful tablet — an Android tablet with an ePaper display. This product should embody the energy-saving and eye-protective features of ePaper technology while also aligning with the common habits of the general public. To develop such product, Boox began to explore breakthroughs in both hardware and software technology.
In August 2022, Boox launched the world's first high-refresh ePaper tablet, the Tab8, featuring a core technology: the BSR (BOOX Super Refresh) high-frame rate refresh technology. This technology, which had been in research and development for quite some time, overcame the first major challenge in the ePaper industry: achieving both display quality and refresh speed. Unlike previous ePaper products that improved display speed at the expense of quality, Boox adopted a dual-core hardware design solution: Combining the Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core processor with a self-developed BSR refresh display chip. The BSR-Motion+ refresh technology significantly reduced the loss of detail in ultra-fast mode, largely increased display quality, and ensured a superior reading and user experience.
Within half a year, in order to meet the needs of more scenarios, Boox expanded its model range twice. In October 2022, BOOX introduced the Tab10 (10.3 inches), which comes with an exclusive magnetic keyboard case. In January 2023, it launched the Tab13 (13.3 inches), targeting light office work. Both products come with larger screens, a new efficiency system, and dual-core refresh technology, aiming to significantly increase office efficiency.
The Tab series' first debut was popularly praised and unveiled more user demands. In May 2023, Boox introduced the Tab10C, a color ePaper tablet featuring a Kaleido3 color screen. Based on the solid hardware, the team conducted multiple rounds of color calibration and optimization. The remarkable BSR-Color+ technology enhances color contrast by 15%, brightness by 20%, text darkness by 35% and color saturation by 30%. The color display ppi was also increased to 150, with fewer underlying textures and better color details. Compared to other color screens in the industry, the Boox color screen offers brighter colors and darker text.
Another tricky problem with ePaper display is the serious ghosting under fast refresh modes. To address this, the Boox R&D team developed the BSR-Clear+ ghosting removal technology. Under fast mode, the residual images can be automatically removed from the previous page while swiping, reducing half of the ghosting. Without the need to perform any additional operations, users can experience reduced reading interference.
With proprietary hardware and software technologies, Boox achieved its industry goals within a year, making the ePaper experience closer to the tablet experience. An increasing number of users expect to use the Tab series to write in Word, and read news, and parents buy Tab for their children to read picture books. The Tab10C was a great success, comprehensively addressing issues such as slow refresh rates, poor color performance, heavy ghosting, and low system efficiency. However, BOOX does not stop here; it aims to be an industry benchmark and create a true flagship ePaper tablet.
In October 2023, Boox launched the Tab10C Pro, a high-refresh color ePaper tablet. The team has redesigned the entire device: the body is made of high-end aluminum alloy with an anodized finish. It has a more refined detail and richer texture based on CNC machining. It is equipped with a 16 million pixels rear camera, a fingerprint button, and multifunctional volume keys, all in a sophisticated deep space gray color. Besides, Tab 10C Pro is lighter, about 440g, making it more portable and comfortable to handle.
Building on Tab10C, BOOX adds a touchpad supporting various gesture operations on its new product, providing a more laptop-like user experience. This enhancement caters to the needs of users who are accustomed to using touchpads for navigation and control, offering a seamless transition for users from traditional laptops to the ePaper tablet experience.
In terms of performance, the Tab series has cultivated users' habits of utilizing various software services, which demand superior performance. The Tab10C Pro is equipped with a brand-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-series octa-core processor, featuring a 7nm manufacturing process and a tri-cluster architecture design. It consists of 1 super core, 3 large cores, and 4 small cores, with a CPU clock speed that can reach up to 2.8GHz. The comprehensive performance score is 580,000 points, the top level in the industry. The memory combination uses a high-end configuration of 6GB LPDDR4X + 128GB UFS 3.1. The new system is customized and optimized based on Android 12. The powerful proprietary BSR technology, flagship-level hardware performance configuration, and high-end industrial design make the Tab10C Pro a true flagship ePaper tablet product in the industry.
Outstanding products will always be appreciated with positive feedback. After the Tab10C Pro was launched, users have raved about this impressive technology. Boox has therefore become the global sales champion for color screen products in 2023. In the future, Boox will continue to leverage its strengths to provide global users with a holistic solution for eye-friendly productivity by applying more new technologies, software developments, product iterations, and ecosystem collaborations, offering more "technological," "fashionable," and "tasteful" eye-friendly products.
