iFLYTEK AINOTE Air 2 Review: The AI-Powered E-Ink Tablet

Artificial intelligence (AI) in e-ink devices often promises groundbreaking productivity but doesn’t always deliver. For instance, the Kindle Scribe’s AI features are limited and restricted to the U.S., while Boox devices focus primarily on handwriting recognition. The reMarkable tablet? It lacks AI entirely. But there’s one e-ink tablet that might just redefine the game with its seamless AI integration: the iFLYTEK AINOTE Air 2.

iFLYTEK AINOTE Air 2

In this iFLYTEK AINOTE Air 2 review, we’ll explore the tech specs, build quality, stylus, performance, battery life, and its standout AI features. We’ll also dive into the reading and writing experience, display quality, and more. By the end, you’ll know exactly who this device is for and whether it’s worth adding to your toolkit.

🔧 Tech Specs

Before diving into its standout AI features, here’s a quick rundown of the AINOTE Air 2’s hardware:

• Processor: Quad-core 1.8GHz
• RAM: 4GB
• Storage: 32GB (~21GB usable)
• Battery: 2600mAh
• Connectivity: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 (supports wireless keyboards)
• Security: Fingerprint reader (fast unlock)
• Audio: 4 noise-canceling mics + single speaker
• Camera: 5MP rear (for document scanning, not photos)
• OS: Custom Android 11 (optimized for e-ink & AI)

Tech Specs of the device

Key Hardware Highlights

🔹 Fingerprint reader – No more passcode hassles; just tap to unlock.
🔹 WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.0 – Faster connectivity and peripheral support.
🔹 Four microphones with noise reduction – Enables real-time voice transcription in 14 languages.

Voice-to-Text Transcription is supported in 14 Languages

4 microphone array allows for a clear voice capture

🛠 Build Quality & Design

The Air 2 is super slim and light, measuring just 5mm thick. It weighs 236 grams on its own, 246 grams with the pen, and around 347 grams with the case-so even fully geared up, it’s easy to carry around all day.

Visually, it’s got a clean, minimalist design with narrow bezels and smooth lines. Honestly, it looks modern and elegant. There’s a small camera bump on the back, but it’s subtle and doesn’t cause any wobble when the device is laid flat.

The included PU leather case feels durable and has a nice texture, but here’s my nitpick: it uses little plastic hooks to hold the tablet in place. Personally, I prefer magnetic attachments like on the reMarkable or Kindle Scribe-they just feel smoother and more premium. The case also has a built-in pen loop, which is fine, but again-I’d love a magnetic pen solution on the side instead.

Navy blue protective case

In terms of durability, the build is solid. It uses a magnesium-aluminum alloy back, and the front panel is well-seated. There’s no flex, no creaking, and it holds up even if you apply pressure on opposite corners.

One thing that really stood out to me is the compact size. It’s a bit larger than a Kindle Paperwhite but noticeably smaller than a reMarkable Paper Pro. Personally, I love the portability, especially if you’re on the move a lot. That said, if you like more screen real estate for heavy-duty note-taking, the smaller size might feel a bit limiting.

Size comparison between reMarkable and Kindle

✍️ Stylus

The Air 2 uses a Wacom passive electromagnetic (EMR) stylus, meaning no charging is needed. It also features a customizable side button, which is a nice little bonus for extra control.

Stylus has a customizable button

Now, while the device itself feels premium, the stylus doesn’t quite match that standard. Compared to something like the reMarkable stylus, this one feels a bit more basic-not terrible, but certainly a step down. I’ve had similar impressions with Boox styluses too, which tend to feel a bit light and hollow. It’s an area I think both brands could improve on.

But the real question is: how does it feel to write with? Honestly, it’s pretty close to traditional pen and paper. The experience is very similar, almost identical to Boox devices, so if you’ve used one of those before, you’ll feel right at home.

📺 Display

The Air 2 features an 8.2-inch Carta 1000 display, also known as a Carta HD E-Ink screen, with a resolution of 1440×1920 at 293 PPI. While this screen technology dates back to 2014, it still holds up really well in 2025. The text looks crisp, clarity is solid, and there’s no visible pixelation during reading or writing. It’s not quite as sharp or deep-black as newer Carta 1300 screens, and if you’ve used one before, you might notice that difference. But for most users, the visual quality is more than adequate for comfortable use.

Carta 1300 vs Carta 1000 (HD)

One standout here is the frontlight and warm light integration. The device includes a dual-tone reading light with cool and warm settings and a total of 24 brightness levels, making it a breeze to use in bed or in darker rooms.

Warm light adds comfort when reading in dark environment

Whether you’re reading late at night or jotting down thoughts early in the morning, you’ll find it easy on the eyes. Plus, the glare-free surface ensures the screen remains readable even under bright lights or direct sunlight.

Screen is sharp for Carta HD e-ink display

That said, the 8-inch size might feel a bit small if you’re someone who regularly annotates PDFs or does a lot of long-form writing. It’s the classic trade-off between portability and screen real estate. Some users will appreciate the compact size and ease of transport, while others might wish for a bit more space when multitasking or working with larger documents. I’ll share more thoughts about use cases for this device later in the article, but keep this balance in mind when considering the Air 2.

🤖 AI & Transcription Capabilities

From everything I’ve tested and experienced with e-ink devices over the years, I can confidently say that iFLYTEK’s AI integration in the Air 2 is one of the best I’ve seen so far. A lot of tablets promise AI features, but this is one of the few where the execution actually lives up to the hype-and feels genuinely useful.

For starters, there’s a quick access shortcut right in the bottom toolbar for ChatAI, which runs on ChatGPT-4o. The best part? It’s completely free-no subscriptions, no hidden limitations. The chat window opens as an overlay on top of your current activity, which means you can interact with it without leaving your notes or documents. When you’re done, just close it and you’re back where you left off. It’s smooth and thoughtfully implemented.

ChatGPT-4o deployed via quick access shortcut

Now, the real centerpiece here is the voice transcription feature. And let me tell you-it works shockingly well. I tested it in different scenarios, including environments with background noise and while writing simultaneously, and it kept up without missing a beat. The transcriptions were fast, accurate, and impressively reliable even during more chaotic conditions. If you’re someone who takes a lot of voice notes or records meetings, this feature alone might sell you on the Air 2.

AI Voice-to-text transcription

Beyond just transcribing, the AI takes things a step further by offering summaries of conversations in bullet point form. You can copy these notes, or email them directly from the device. But here’s one of my favorite details: if you select a specific part of the transcribed text, the device will play back the exact section of the recording. It’s an amazing time-saver when you want to quickly reference a key moment in a longer conversation or lecture.

iFLYTEK AINOTE Air 2 can summarize transcribed conversation using AI

When reading documents or books, you can also highlight text and tap into AI search to get more detailed insights about the selected sentences or paragraphs. It honestly feels like having a personal research assistant with you while reading. The AI doesn’t feel gimmicky here-it actually helps you dig deeper into the content you’re working with.

⚡ Performance

Overall, the Air 2 offers a smooth and reliable experience for the core tasks it was designed for-note-taking, reading, and AI-powered transcription. I didn’t run into any major sluggishness or system glitches while using the device in my day-to-day testing. For typical e-ink tasks, it performs well.

That said, if you’ve used something like the Note Max, you might notice that this device feels a bit slower in comparison. But to be fair, the Note Max allows you to manually switch refresh modes, which can improve speed at the cost of visual quality. The Air 2 doesn’t offer that flexibility-there are no adjustable refresh modes-so any small delays you experience feel more like a limitation of the e-ink technology itself rather than a hardware flaw.

When it comes to reading, touch responsiveness is great. Page turns, scrolling, zooming-it all feels comfortable and natural. Navigation within the system is also fairly intuitive, and I didn’t feel like I was waiting around for things to load.

However, things change a bit once you start dealing with third-party apps. Opening apps outside the native ecosystem can be noticeably slower, with delays in both loading and interaction. In fairness, the device itself warns you about the limited support and performance for third-party software, so it’s not pretending to be a full Android tablet. But if you’re someone who’s planning to install a bunch of extra tools, it’s something to be aware of. Stick to the built-in apps for the best experience.

Third-party apps work a bit sluggish

🔋 Battery

Battery life is another strong point for the Air 2, thanks in large part to the energy efficiency of its e-ink display. With a 2600mAh battery, I’ve been able to get multiple days of active use on a single charge, and in standby mode, the device can last for weeks. Of course, the actual battery life depends heavily on how you use it-especially when it comes to the frontlight and AI features.

To really understand how the battery performs, I ran two different tests: one for typical daily usage (Wi-Fi on, frontlight off), and one for a maximum drain scenario (frontlight on max brightness).

For reading, with a page turn every 20 seconds:

• In typical usage, battery drain was about 1% per hour, which is honestly excellent.

• In max brightness mode, it jumped to 11% per hour, showing just how much energy the frontlight consumes. That’s nearly a 90% difference between the two setups.

For writing, the numbers followed a similar pattern:

• In typical use, I saw around 2% battery drain every 12 minutes, or about 10% per hour.

• With max brightness, it was 2% every 6 minutes, which means 20% per hour.

Battery Usage – Writing

Battery Usage – Reading

These results clearly show that the frontlight is the biggest battery drainer. So if you want to stretch your battery life, keeping the light at a lower level-something you can easily control from the Quick Menu-is the way to go.

And just as a final note, there’s also a smart sleep/wake feature built into the case, which automatically powers the device on or off when you open or close the cover. It’s a small touch, but one that helps preserve battery life over time without any extra effort on your part.

✍️ Writing Experience

The AINote Air 2 offers a genuinely enjoyable writing experience, very similar to what you’d get on a Boox device. The stylus is accurate and responsive, and the screen texture provides just the right amount of resistance to mimic the feeling of real paper. It strikes a great balance-not too slippery, not too rough. Writing on it feels natural and comfortable, with no noticeable lag or misalignment.

One feature I absolutely love is the handwritten title detection. When you create a new note, you can simply write the title by hand, and it’s instantly converted into text. I haven’t seen this on any other e-ink tablet, and the conversion is surprisingly accurate. It’s a small touch, but it makes organizing notes feel seamless.

Another great feature is Smart Gestures. You can draw a circle around text to automatically add it to your TO-DO list, or add a star next to text to mark it as a priority item, which then gets saved under the FOCUS STAR section in your Schedule. These gestures work across notebooks and help you stay organized without jumping through menus. There is a small learning curve at first, but once you get the hang of it, it feels very intuitive and efficient.

Draw a circle to add handwritten text to TO DO list

As for handwriting-to-text conversion, this device really stands out. It supports a whopping 83 languages, and what’s even better-it uses offline OCR, so you don’t need an internet connection to convert handwriting into text.

I tested the conversion in English, Polish, and Farsi:

• In English, the results were excellent-fast and highly accurate.

Handwriting-to-text Conversion – English

• In Polish, the performance was more mixed. While individual words were recognized correctly, full sentence conversions had a lot more errors and needed manual corrections.

Handwriting-to-text Conversion – Polish

• In Farsi, it did a decent job with basic words but again wasn’t perfect, especially with longer phrases or more complex handwriting.

Handwriting-to-text Conversion – Farsi

My guess is that some languages have much better-trained databases than others, so your mileage may vary depending on the language. Still, for English users, it’s already a very strong feature, and the fact that it works offline is a big plus.

📖 Reading Experience

The reading experience on the Air 2 is surprisingly solid for an 8-inch device. The lightweight design, combined with the Carta HD screen and dual-tone lighting, makes it easy to read for long stretches of time-whether you’re curled up in bed or reading on the go.

One of the highlights is how distraction-free the experience is. Even though it’s an Android-based device, it’s heavily customized to keep out notifications, pop-ups, or background distractions. Once you open a book or document, it really feels like a dedicated e-reader.

Text looks crisp and clear, and while formatting options aren’t as extensive as on Boox devices, that’s actually a good thing for most people. You still get enough control to personalize your reading-font size, spacing, margins-without feeling overwhelmed by too many settings.

In terms of file support, the device is quite flexible. It supports a wide range of formats like:

• EPUB, PDF, TXT, MOBI, AZW3, and DOCX

• Plus, it comes with WPS Office Suite pre-installed, so you can even open and edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files.

Page refresh times are decent, not lightning-fast, but good enough for a smooth experience. Importing content is also really easy, and you’ve got multiple ways to do it:

• Sideload via USB-C

• Cloud sync via OneDrive

• Or the super handy WiFi Import option-just type a web address into your laptop and wirelessly transfer files

Mac users should be aware that you’ll need the Android File Transfer app to access the device as a drive.

Now, one limitation worth noting: if you’re planning to read or annotate PDFs with heavy graphics or dense text, the 8-inch screen can feel cramped. You can zoom and scroll, but it’s not the most convenient. For heavy-duty PDF work, a larger e-note might be the better choice.

🛠️ Features

Now, as you’ve probably noticed by now, the AINote Air 2 is absolutely packed with features. There’s honestly so much going on here, I could spend an entire day just going through every setting and hidden option-but instead, let me highlight a few standout features that I really enjoyed.

First up, the swipe gestures make a huge difference in everyday use:

• Swipe three fingers left to undo.

• Swipe three fingers right to redo.

• Swipe three fingers down to take a screenshot.

• And swipe one finger up from the bottom to access background apps.

Swipe left/right to undo/redo the writing action

They’re simple, fast, and really handy-especially when you’re in the middle of writing or organizing notes.

Another one I didn’t expect to like so much is the email access. You can connect accounts like Gmail, Outlook, or your company email and open them directly from the sidebar menu. I tested it out and it works smoothly. One catch though: while you’ll see the paperclip icon for attachments, you can’t download them-they simply don’t show up when you open the email [UPDATE: This was fixed with the latest update).

Since this runs on Android, I installed Gboard, which gave me glide typing and voice input-a massive time-saver when I’m using Chat AI or jotting things down quickly. That’s one of the benefits of Android: you’re not locked into just one input method.

Using Gboard keyboard for glide typing

The 5MP rear camera is another feature that’s easy to overlook, but super useful. It’s not meant for photography-it’s clearly optimized for scanning documents, and it does a great job with receipts, paperwork, or even handwritten pages you want to digitize.

Scanning documents using 5MP camera

For syncing and backup, there’s an AINOTE account system that stores your notes and voice recordings in the cloud. Plus, there’s an AINOTE mobile app that lets you access everything on your phone, including playing back voice memos. Just a heads-up: since this cloud service is hosted on iFLYTEK’s servers, you may want to double-check with your IT department before using it for work purposes, especially if your company has strict data policies.

Another hidden gem is handwriting search. Thanks to built-in OCR, you can search for keywords-even inside handwritten notes. This makes it super easy to find something weeks later without flipping through pages.

Search tool allows to find even handwriting notes. This is not available on many e-ink devices.

A small but clever feature: In the Schedule tab, you can tap on a calendar day and see which notes you created on that day. It’s a great way to track your productivity or revisit older ideas.

If you’re dealing with sensitive info, you can also password-protect individual notes or recordings. Even if someone unlocks your device, those specific files stay encrypted and require a separate passcode. It’s a nice extra layer of security.

Lastly, when it comes to cloud storage, the Air 2 currently supports OneDrive only. I reached out to iFLYTEK and they mentioned that Google Drive, Dropbox, and Evernote support is in the works. Fingers crossed, because once those are added, this thing will be even more powerful.

Currently (April 2025) the device allows for OneDrive integration only.

🎯 Who Is This Device For?

In my view, the AINote Air 2 is really built for students, professionals, and frequent travelers-anyone who needs a lightweight, AI-powered note-taking companion.

For students and educators, this is a powerful study tool. You can record audio while taking notes, and those recordings sync with your handwriting. Tap on a note later, and it jumps to that exact part of the lecture.

Real-time Voice-to-text Transcription can be great for meetings, university classes and conversations

The device also supports handwriting-to-text conversion in a massive 83 languages, lets you annotate textbooks in EPUB or PDF formats, and includes templates like Cornell Notes and SWOT analysis, which are great for structured learning.

And as a research assistant, it can summarize long documents into bullet points using built-in AI, plus it syncs everything to the cloud, so your notes are always backed up.

For professionals and business users, the Air 2 really shines in meetings. Real-time voice-to-text transcription and AI-powered summaries can save you hours. It supports transcription in 14 languages, including English, Arabic, and Japanese-great for international teams.

Meeting notes can sync automatically to OneDrive or your iFLYTEK account, and there’s a 5MP camera for scanning contracts, receipts, or documents on the go. You can annotate PDFs, PowerPoints, and Excel files, which makes it super useful for people in finance, legal, or government roles.

And then there are the frequent travelers and digital nomads. Weighing just 230 grams, this thing is lighter than most tablets, fits in any bag, and works offline for writing, reading, and annotating. Voice features like transcription and translation need an internet connection, but handwriting conversion works offline and syncs automatically once you reconnect.

The 2600mAh battery holds up well-weeks on standby and days with regular use. Just keep the frontlight low if you’re trying to stretch battery life on long trips.

Now, who shouldn’t get this?

If you’re into multimedia, this isn’t the right device. No video playback, no color screen-it’s grayscale and strictly focused on reading and writing. Also, power users who want to run heavy-duty apps might get frustrated. Even though it runs Android 11 and supports the Play Store, the quad-core CPU isn’t made for demanding software. There’s some lag with third-party apps, and it’s not meant to be a full tablet replacement.

Device doesn’t work great with video due to refresh mode being too slow to accommodate it.

And finally, if you’re on a tight budget, this might be a stretch. It comes in at $459 or €529, which is more than basic e-readers like the Kindle-but still cheaper than premium tablets like the iPad Pro.

✅ Final Thoughts

After spending time with the Air 2, I have to say-this is a seriously solid device for note-taking and productivity.

The writing experience is smooth and satisfying. The AI features, like handwriting recognition and voice transcription, are genuinely impressive. And those smart gestures for organizing notes? Super handy once you get the hang of them.

It’s lightweight, distraction-free, and the battery life is excellent-long enough that you can take it on trips or go days without worrying about charging.

Of course, it’s not perfect. Handwriting conversion can be hit-or-miss with some languages, and third-party apps can feel a bit sluggish at times. Also, if you’re working with dense or complex PDFs, the screen size might feel a little cramped.

But honestly? For students, professionals, and anyone who wants a digital notebook that actually helps you stay organized, take smarter notes, and work more efficiently-it does a fantastic job.

If you’re looking for an e-ink device that goes beyond reading, and actually boosts your productivity-the Air 2 is definitely worth considering.

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