Supernote A5 X2 Manta review: A premium e-ink tablet that's still somewhat Spartan

E-ink tablets offer the best of both worlds when it comes to taking notes or brainstorming: the look and feel of a normal journal, with a whole library's worth of notes stored on one device.

Enter the Supernote A5 X2 Manta. This is a device intended to help leaders focus, and write their notes without the distraction of notifications, other apps, or even a web browser to speak of.

For a basic price point of $459 (£374), plus a minimum $59 (£48) for the cheapest pen, the Supernote competes with the likes of the ReMarkable Paper Pro, as a premium e-ink offering that claims to be the silver bullet for productivity.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Display and stylus

The LAMY safari vista EMR Pen included with our device is a real joy to use. It sits in the hand just like a real pen and glides across the screen with just enough friction to feel reasonably like using a rollerball pen on a crisp sheet of paper.

A major downside of the Supernote A5 X2 Manta is that it lacks a backlight. While this lends to the realistic paper look and feel of the display, it does mean that in darker environments – the cabin of a plane or the back seat of a taxi, for example – you find yourself with all the disadvantages of a normal journal.

Supernote is resolute in its decision to omit a light layer from the displays of all its devices. The company explains that it allows for thinner devices, longer battery life, and for less space between the nib on the page and the ink that appears on the screen. There's no doubt that the experience of using the pen on the Supernote feels very close to using a real pen, but users will have to decide whether this is worth the eye strain at night.

At the price point (buying this pen direct from Supernote will set you back $89), it would have been nice to see a function button linked to different tools on the pen, similar to the Kindle Scribe Premium Pen or previous LAMY x Supernote collaborations.

It's worth noting that Supernote's ceramic pens never wear out, unlike the nibs of those used for the ReMarkable Paper Pro and Kindle Scribe. If you're a power-user, who makes notes throughout each day, this might make the price of the pens more attractive over time as there's no refill cost and no waste produced.

On a similar note, the Supetnote A5 X2 Manta can be fully upgraded and repaired by users, with a backplate that can lift off to allow for its battery and motherboard to be switched out. The motherboard also contains a slot for expandable Micro SD storage, a rare but welcome sight these days.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Specs and performance

The Supernote's RK3566 Quad-Core 1.8 GHz notebook processor and custom version of Android OS work very well together to eliminate any lag while writing, and even chug away to keep intensive tools such as the lasso (which allows users to move drawn elements around on the page) feeling fluid.

It's here that the company's steadfast 'no backlights' rule comes in handy, as the device delivers one of the most seamless e-ink experiences on the market. This is both in terms of realistic pen-feel and the rendering of the ink on the page.

Throughout our time using the Supernote A5 X2 Manta, its battery drained at an impressively slow rate. It took hours of concerted note-taking, daily, to run the charge down to even 30%. To test it from 0-100% we had to actively try to drain it as much as possible, but even from 0% the device can fully charge in around 90 minutes.

The Supernote's web browser, which is only accessible via hyperlinks within PDFs and other documents, performs admirably. Bearing in mind that this is a device supposed to cut back on the distractions of laptops, phones, and tablets – and as such doesn't have a dedicated shortcut for searching the web – its relatively quick page refresh rate and low latency for scrolling and clicking on links is all you need.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Features

The Supernote A5 2X Manta can be linked to Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive accounts to easily sync documents between devices. The official Supernote app also allows users to sync files between their phone and their device.

The device comes with a dizzying array of gestures, which a user can enter using the touch-sensitive strips to either side of the display. These control everything from undoing mistakes, page scrolling, quickly enabling tools like the eraser, and opening up side-panels and menus. In our testing, we found the quick undo and redo, as well as the quick eraser gestures the most useful.

As the Supernote A5 2X is intended for work, it comes with some complex features for seriously detailed note-taking. Users can link handwritten text to other pages within a note, other files on the device, or even webpages. This allows for ideas to be brought together relatively seamlessly and could be ideal for users seeking an all-in-one organizational tool.

Another handy feature of the A5 X2 is its built-in handwriting recognition, which translates handwritten notes in more than 60 languages into text. This feature has to be manually enabled when a note is first created and uses battery quicker, though not noticeably so over the course of a week's use.

Given that this is the newest iteration of Supernote, it would have been nice to see the company deck the A5 X2 Manta with color e-ink, like some of its competitors. Those who find color-coding their highlights will walk away disappointed, though this is far from a deal breaker.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Is it worth it?

For power users already thinking of making the switch to e-ink, there's no doubt that the Supernote A5 X2 Manta would be a welcome device. With its variety of note-taking and organizational features, along with its premium look and feel, this is a device that really is noteworthy.

That look and feel doesn't come cheap, of course. Our model, with LAMY Safari Vista EMR pen and half folio cover, will set you back $607 (£495), making it a hard sell for companies looking to equip many of their employees with e-ink devices. This is perhaps better suited for executives and enthusiasts, those willing to fork out their own cash to get one of the best note-taking experiences possible.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta specifications