TRANSPARENCY NOTICE:
The iFLYTEK AINote 2 e-ink tablet featured in this article was sent to me free-of-charge by iFLYTEK for review purposes.
Like all brands that send me review units, this was on the understanding that I would maintain full editorial control, and that they would have zero influence over the content I write.
I have not been paid any money to write about this product, however, I may earn a small commission when somebody clicks on a link to the manufacturer and goes on to make a purchase. This does not incur any additional cost the buyer, but goes a long way to helping support this website and my work (for manufacturers that do not agree to my terms of non-interference above, I have to buy their products myself at full cost).
In short, this is my true and h…
TRANSPARENCY NOTICE:
The iFLYTEK AINote 2 e-ink tablet featured in this article was sent to me free-of-charge by iFLYTEK for review purposes.
Like all brands that send me review units, this was on the understanding that I would maintain full editorial control, and that they would have zero influence over the content I write.
I have not been paid any money to write about this product, however, I may earn a small commission when somebody clicks on a link to the manufacturer and goes on to make a purchase. This does not incur any additional cost the buyer, but goes a long way to helping support this website and my work (for manufacturers that do not agree to my terms of non-interference above, I have to buy their products myself at full cost).
In short, this is my true and honest opinion of the tablet. I will objectively highlight both good and bad points, as well as provide my own subjective perspective.
This post describes my unboxing experience and first impressions of the iFLYTEK AINote 2 e-ink tablet (not to be confused with the smaller but similarly-named iFLYTEK AINote Air 2).
This is just a brief look at the device and my initial thoughts – in about a week or so, I will publish my full and detailed review here.
Unboxing
I received 2 boxes; one for the tablet and stylus, and one for the folio.
iFLYTEK AINote 2 tablet and folio boxes (front) iFLYTEK AINote 2 tablet and folio boxes (rear)
The tablet box has an outer sleeve made from thin card and with gold colouring. A nice image of the tablet and stylus is embossed onto it. There was a small dent on the rear edge of the box but this was very minor and superficial. A non-descript black box made from thicker, sturdier cardboard slides out of the sleeve, and, lifting the lid, the tablet is presented.
iFlytek AINote 2 box (closed) iFlytek AINote 2 box (open)
Removal of the tablet reveals indents below containing the stylus and two cardboard boxes. The smaller box contains a USB cable, and the larger box contains a rather thick (many languages) quick-start guide and a small plastic bag containing two spare stylus tips.
iFLYTEK AINote 2 accessories: Quick start guide, 2x spare nibs, USB cable, and Stylus
The folio box is made from thin card and has a circular transparent window in the lower right-hand corner to display the dark blue colouring of the folio. It opens at the bottom and a tray lides out presenting the folio.
iFLYTEK AINote 2 Folio Box
The tablet
The most striking thing about the tablet is that it is extremely thin and extremely light. It uses the same 10.7″ Mobius Carta screen that is used on the Supernote Manta, and Viwoods AI Paper (and regular readers will know that I am very fond I am of this particular e-ink panel). In fact, the overall build/design looks an awful lot like the Viwoods, but there are some notable differences, such as the location of the USB port being central on the bottom edge (on the Viwoods, it is located toward the left-hand side), and the touch-sensitive ‘strip, rather than buttons.
iFLYTEK AINOTE 2 (front) iFLYTEK AINOTE 2 (rear)
On the rear panel, I was surprised to see some POGO pins – does this indicate that iFLYTEK might release a keyboard folio for it at some point?
There’s a sticker in the top-right corner of the screen advising to align the top of the stylus with the top of the screen when snapping it to the edge using the magnets. This is a handy bit of advice because the stylus physically snaps to multiple locations along the right edge of the tablet, but this area provides the strongest connection.
Although I haven’t booted it up yet, that screen looks remarkably white – more so than the Viwoods and Manta, at first glance.
The stylus
The iFLYTEK stylus is not the same as the one shipped with the iFLYTEK AINote Air2. It is cylindrical, with a single flattened edge, and has a side button and an eraser at the top. It does rattle a little.
iFLYTEK Stylus (front) iFLYTEK Stylus (rear)
The folio
The folio is plastic and has a textured navy-blue exterior, with a softer grey interior.
iFLYTEK AINote 2 Folio (exterior) iFLYTEK AINote 2 Folio (interior)
There are indentations for the feet of the tablet, which snaps to the folio using magnets, and an optional pen loop (which can be hidden if you want to just use the magnet to hold the stylus in place).
Initial setup
I then booted the device for the first time and went through the initial configuration process. This involved:
- Setting the language – English (UK) for me
- Setting up wifi
- Setting the timezone – GMT for me
- Agreeing to legal stuff
- Logging into my iFLYTEK account (I already had one from when I reviewed the AINote Air2 – this caused all my notebooks from that device to sync with this one)
- Setting a security PIN code
- Setting up my fingerprint (I skipped this step)
- Adding a signature (this is displayed on the screen when the tablet is in sleep mode)
- Choose navigation (either the navigation bar or gestures) – I like to use gestures
- Enable/disable side gestures – I usually leave these disabled, except the ‘Back‘ gesture (horizontal swipe from the left edge)
- Activating the stylus
Setup: Language & Region Setup: Wifi Setup: Date & Time Setup: Legal Agreements Setup: iFLYTEK Account Setup: PIN code Setup: Fingerprint Setup: Signature Setup complete
After finishing the setup, the homescreen loaded up and, again, I was impressed with how bright and white the screen appears compared to other e-ink tablets I’ve recently looked at.
However, there was a pop-up offering a free trial of cloud services for 90 days, which was a little disconcerting. It is accompanied by the words ‘Please redeem it immediately‘ and had an expiry date, which felt a tad bit pressurising, but I opted to ‘Decide later‘ anyway. I’m not 100% sure exactly what this free trial is selling. Could it mean that you need to pay a subscription to store your notes on the cloud, or is it just offering additional cloud storage space to those that have a lot of files? Or are there certain features that are only accessible via a subscription (much like reMarkable’s business model)? The pop-up doesn’t really tell me a lot, so I’ll query this with my contact at iFLYTEK before publishing my full review later this month.
After this, I upgraded the firmware to the latest version (v.1.6.8).
First impressions
Overall, my first impressions are very good.
I’m a sucker for any tablet that uses the 10.7″ Mobius Carta e-ink panel because it is just so thin and light and comfortable in the hand. I also really like the minimalist design of the tablet and folio, and the contrast of the screen – I’m looking forward to viewing it alongside other tablets to see if it is significantly whiter.
The cloud services trial was surprising and a little puzzling, but I’ll hopefully know more about that when I publish my full review here in 2-3 weeks time.
Buying options
The iFLYTEK AINote 2 is available to buy from:
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