They are the heroes of the summer, readers for electronic books with e-ink displays and the first tablets that also use this particular display technology.

E-ink or "electronic paper" has the advantage of high contrast and long battery life.

In addition, writing with the pen should feel like writing on real paper.

However, the technique also has disadvantages.

The display is sluggish, the refresh rate is around 15 Hertz, a smartphone has at least 60 Hertz. Watching videos is therefore no fun, especially since most devices only show black and white or grayscale.

Michael Spehr

Editor in the "Technology and Engine" department.

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Colored e-ink displays are a rare exception, recently we presented the Nova Air C from Boox here.

Now we have received an e-ink tablet from Huawei, the Matepad Paper with a monochrome display that stretches over 10.3 inches.

Pen and case are included, the package costs 500 euros.

The hardware looks high quality, and the Chinese manufacturer has built in some refinements that you won't find anywhere else.

For example, two speakers and four microphones for internet telephony and audio applications, a biometric fingerprint scanner in the power button on the top, WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as 64 gigabytes of memory for user data plus four gigabytes of RAM.

The battery of the Matepad Paper is charged via USB C and offers a runtime of more than 25 hours when reading and around nine hours when playing audio books according to the manufacturer.

The display has a resolution of 1872x1404 pixels and only differentiates between black and white.

The additional lighting can be adjusted in 32 levels, and of course the display is touch-sensitive, otherwise the pen would not work.

This docks magnetically on the right side and is charged inductively.

Area for handwritten notes

Since Huawei has not been allowed to use Google services in its devices since Trump's ban, the in-house operating system Harmony OS is used.

It is operated using the usual Android swipe gestures on the display.

The start menu shows an area for handwritten notes, Huawei's book shop and apps that have already been installed, including a browser, e-mail software, calendar, calculator and audio recorder.

First we read books.

The display is good, but does not come close to that of a Kindle Oasis from Amazon.

As with any e-ink tablet, you have to get used to the slow response speed.

When writing handwritten notes, the typing experience is good, but the Remarkable 2 is better in this respect.

Font recognition and conversion to text is also implemented.

Since the back of the tablet is smooth, it might slide over the table.

The heel of the hand resting on the display is not a problem.

Well made and fast enough

Thanks to W-Lan and the pre-installed browser, you can access the Internet quickly.

However, if you are looking for an ad-free or low-advertising reading experience on the Internet, you will have to install a different browser, such as Firefox.

A lot of patience is called for when installing Android apps without Google's Play Store, and this "sideload" is also dangerous.

You have to trust the relevant provider side.

The included apps include the Kindle app from Amazon and Tolino for reading e-books from other ecosystems, as well as WPS Office with word processing, presentation software and spreadsheets.

However, to use the Matepad as a work device, you need a Bluetooth keyboard.

The virtual on-screen keyboard comes with an extremely embarrassing error: the semicolon is missing.

Overall, the Matepad Paper is a well-made and sufficiently fast tablet that unfortunately lacks the Google Play Store.

The speakers and microphone deliver amazingly well.

Here you can see Huawei's experience in building tablets.

As with all e-ink devices, one should know where the limits of use lie.