Pros
- Colour screen
- Small
- Lightweight
- Inexpensive
- Waterproof (IPX7)
- Frontlight
- Speakers
- Decent native note-taking app
- Handwriting search
- Handwriting-to-text conversion
Cons
- Small canvas size
- Sunken screen
- Stylus (see below)
- Screen size limits reading capabilities
- Not as 'snappy' as more premium tablets
The Mobiscribe Wave is compact, lightweight, portable and inexpensive, and has a colour screen. In addition, it is one of the few E-ink writing tablets that is waterproof.
We have not reviewed the Mobiscribe Wave Color first-hand, however, we have reviewed its monochrome sibling here.
The review of the black-and-white version will help you to understand what mobiscribe has to offer because the devices are virtually identical.
The main difference is that the Mobiscribe Wave Color uses a Kaleido Plus colour screen. Whilst a colour screen may seem like a distinct improvement, it is important to understand the current limitations of colour on e-ink screens:
- Colours look washed-out
- Colours are far less vibrant than they are on LCD/OLED screens
- The screen is darker overall
- You make out a faint ‘honeycomb’ pattern across the screen
In addition Kaleido Plus (as used on the Wave) is an older technology compared to other color e-ink tablets which use Kaleido 3, such as the Boox Tab Mini C and Bigme S6 Color+.
I discuss the differences between Kaleido Plus and Kaleido 3 in slightly more detail in my Boox Nova Air C article (which also uses Kaleido Plus)
The differences between the two versions of the Mobiscribe Wave can be seen in the table below:
| PRODUCT | MOBISCRIBE WAVE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE COLOR |
|---|---|---|
| Specs & ratings info |  Okay |  Okay |
| My Rating | ||
| Price (approx) | $285 | $350 |
| Manufacturer | Mobiscribe | Mobiscribe |
| Release year | 2023 | 2023 |
| SCREEN | MOBISCRIBE WAVE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE COLOR |
| Screen type | Carta | Kaleido Plus |
| Screen size | 7.8" | 7.8" |
| Screen resolution (B/W) | 1404 x 1872 | 1404 x 1872 |
| Screen density (B/W) | 300dpi | 300dpi |
| Colour | ⨯ | ✓ (Kaleido Plus) |
| Screen resolution (Colour) | n/a | 468 x 604 |
| Screen density (Colour) | n/a | 100dpi |
| Frontlight | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wacom compatible | ✓ | ✓ |
| Buy | ||
| HARDWARE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE COLOR |
| CPU | 1.5 Ghz Quad-core | 1.5 Ghz Quad-core |
| RAM | 4Gb | 4Gb |
| Storage | 64Gb | 64Gb |
| Battery | 2500mAh | 2500mAh |
| Super Refresh | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Keyboard folio | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Speakers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microphone | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| G-Sensor | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Ceramic Tip | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Bluetooth | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fingerprint scanner | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| SD card slot | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Rear camera | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Front camera | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Waterproof | ✓ | ✓ |
| USB-C | ✓ | ✓ |
| Width | 148.3mm | 148.3mm |
| Height | 193mm | 193mm |
| Thickness | 8.1mm | 8.1mm |
| Weight | 0g | g |
| Buy | ||
| SOFTWARE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE COLOR |
| Operating system | Android 12 | Android 12 |
| Google Play Store | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kindle support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Handwriting search | ✓ | ✓ |
| Handwriting conversion | ✓ | ✓ |
| Insert shapes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Insert images | ✓ | ✓ |
| Split screen | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Custom templates | ✓ | ✓ |
| No. templates | 50+ | 50+ |
| Brush types | Pencil, Fountain Pen, Paintbrush | Pencil, Fountain Pen, Paintbrush |
| Screen share | ✓ | ✓ |
| ADE support | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| File formats | PDF, EPUB, TXT, FB2, AZW3, MOBI, PRC | PDF, EPUB, TXT, FB2, AZW3, MOBI, PRC |
| File formats (image) | PNG, JPG | PNG, JPG |
| File formats (Audio) | - | - |
| Buy | ||
| PRODUCT | MOBISCRIBE WAVE | MOBISCRIBE WAVE COLOR |
About the author
Dan Dutton is passionate about E-ink writing tablets, which bring together the pleasure of writing on paper with the power of digital technology. When he bought his first tablet, he realised that there wasn't a lot of unbiased information available for people that were considering buying an E-ink tablet, and so he built eWritable.