Tablet-sized e-notes are a great shout for times when you feel the need to jot or doodle but don't want to waste paper. Tech multinational Fujitsu has been in the E Ink slate game since 2019, but its Quaderno models have so far been monochrome only. That's changed with the A4 3rd Gen.
Fujitsu's journey into the E Ink note-taking space began with the A4 model, a Carta-packing device with a screen size of 13.3-inches, a resolution of 2,200 x 1,650 pixels at 207 ppi, quad-core processing supported by a GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, plus Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC. In a 2020 review, Good e-Reader reported that the Quadermo A4 was one of only three 13.3-inch e-notes available back then.
The device evolved into its second generation in 2021, getting a display upgrade to freshly minted Carta 1250 ePaper. The screen size and resolution remained unchanged, but the new E Ink technology improved scribble speeds using the pen stylus – with latency reported to be under 30 milliseconds. Processor support was boosted to 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, and up to four weeks of battery life could be had.
Fujitsu has reportedly been promising a color E Ink version of the A4 since 2022, and now the third generation makes good on that promise. The latest Quaderno A4 features a 13.3-inch Kaleido 3 ePaper display with 16 levels of grayscale at 207 ppi and 4,096 colors at 103 ppi.
The included Wacom digitizer stylus is pressure sensitive for lines that get thicker as you press harder, and eight colors are available for doodling or highlighting. The storage locker remains unchanged at 32 GB, though only around 22 GB is available at startup. Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi is cooked in and Bluetooth gets a slight bump to 5.1. The internal Li-ion battery is good for up to five days of using with the Wi-Fi enabled, but that extends to as much as two weeks when it's off.
The e-note weighs in at around 13 oz (368 g) and will ship from next month for US$719.99, which makes it a good deal pricier than PocketBook's excellent Eo model and the reMarkable Paper Pro – though they're both smaller devices (the Eo has a 10-inch screen and the Paper Pro is 12 inches).
Product page: Fujitsu Quaderno A4 13.3
