eWritable > Blog > What is the difference between the Boox Nova Air and the Boox Nova Air 2?

What is the difference between the Boox Nova Air and the Boox Nova Air 2?

In October 2022, Onyx Boox announced the launch of the Nova Air2, presumably the successor to the Nova Air. But just how different are these two devices? Let’s take a look…

Both the Nova Air and the Nova Air2 are 7.8″ devices with a screen resolution of 1404 x 1872 and 300dpi. They both use octa-core processors and have 3Gb of RAM and 32Gb of storage space. They have the same physical dimensions, weight and battery. They also both have a frontlight, speakers, microphone, USB-C port and Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity.

So, what exactly is different about them?

Well, in all honesty, not much at all!

Perhaps the biggest difference is that the Nova Air runs Android 10, whilst the Nova Air2 runs Android 11 (all newer Boox devices have Android 11.0 as their operating system). However, this does not make much difference because they have pretty much the same applications.

The screen used on the Nova Air2 displays sharper and clearer text images due to higher light transmittance. It also has an improved CPU (despite having the same 8 cores and clock speed as the Nova Air) which should result in faster processing speeds.

Pricewise, the Nova Air currently sells for $319.99, with the Nova Air2 selling for $339.99.

Summary

I’ve summarised the differences in the table below:

SpecNova AirNova Air2
CPUQualcomm octa-coreUpgraded Qualcomm octa-core
Screen7.8″, 300dpi7.8″, 300dpi (displays sharper text and images)
Android10.011.0
Price$319.99$339.99

Overall, the Nova Air2 offers some slight hardware improvements and runs a newer version of Android, but it’s not a massive improvement on the original Nova Air.

It feels to me that there is not enough of a difference for the Nova Air 2 to be launched as a whole new product, but Boox does tend to do this a lot. It seems that their strategy is to release new products every year, even if they are really just older products with a few minor tweaks. For example, the Note Air 2, Note Air 2 Plus and Note 5 are all 10.3″ tablets with an almost identical feature set.

So, which Nova Air would I recommend? Well, the original Note Air is a pretty decent 7.8″ tablet, but the Nova Air 2 is newer, has slightly better hardware specs and runs Android 11.0, which means it probably has a bit more inherent future-proofing.

So, if there’s not a lot of price difference, you might as well go with the Nova Air 2, but if you are working within a tight budget or you can get the original Nova Air at a heavily discounted rate, it wouldn’t be a bad purchase.

Boox Nova Air vs Nova Air2

PRODUCTBOOX NOVA AIR 2BOOX NOVA AIR
Specs & ratings infoONYX BOOX NOVA AIR 2
Okay
ONYX BOOX NOVA AIR
Okay
My Rating
Price (approx)£350
Limited availability
£300
Limited availability
ManufacturerOnyx BooxOnyx Boox
Release year20222021
SCREENBOOX NOVA AIR 2BOOX NOVA AIR
Screen typeCarta HDCarta 1000
Screen size7.8"7.8"
Screen resolution (B/W)1404 x 18721404 x 1872
Screen density (B/W)300dpi300dpi
Colour
Screen resolution (Colour)n/an/a
Screen density (Colour)n/an/a
Frontlight
Wacom compatible
Buy
HARDWAREBOOX NOVA AIR 2BOOX NOVA AIR
CPU1.8 GHz octa-core1.8 GHz octa-core
RAM3Gb3Gb
Storage32Gb32Gb
Battery2000mAh2000mAh
Super Refresh
Keyboard folio
Speakers
Microphone
G-Sensor
Ceramic Tip
Bluetooth
Fingerprint scanner
SD card slot
Rear camera
Front camera
Waterproof
USB-C
Width136.5mm136mm
Height194mm194mm
Thickness6.3mm6.3mm
Weight235g235g
Buy
SOFTWAREBOOX NOVA AIR 2BOOX NOVA AIR
Operating systemAndroid 11Android 10.0
Google Play Store
Kindle support
Handwriting search
Handwriting conversion
Insert shapes
Insert images
Split screen
Custom templates
No. templates45+45+
Brush typesFountain Pen, Paintbrush, Ballpoint Pen, Pencil, MarkerFountain Pen, Paintbrush, Ballpoint Pen, Pencil, Marker
Screen share
ADE support
File formatsPDF, EPUB, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, CBZ, CBR, AZW3, MOBI, PRC, DJVU, CHM, ZIPPDF, EPUB, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, TXT, HTML, RTF, FB2, CBZ, CBR, AZW3, MOBI, PRC, DJVU, CHM, ZIP
File formats (image)PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMPPNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP
File formats (Audio)WAV, MP3WAV, MP3
Buy
Where to buyBoox Shop
Amazon IT
eBay AU
eBay CA
eBay DE
eBay ES
eBay FR
eBay IE
eBay IT
eBay UK
eBay US
eBay AU
eBay CA
eBay DE
eBay ES
eBay FR
eBay IE
eBay IT
eBay UK
eBay US
PRODUCTBOOX NOVA AIR 2BOOX NOVA AIR

About the author

Me and my e-ink tablets
Website |  + posts

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.

2 thoughts on “What is the difference between the Boox Nova Air and the Boox Nova Air 2?”

  1. A little confusing: in the table header and also in the Summary, you mention ‘Note Air’ and ‘Note Air2’ where on should read ‘Nova Air’ and ‘Nova Air2’.

    Thanks for the article.

    F.

    Reply

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