The only update period BOOX puts in writing is three years after launch, and the Note Air3 C reached it on October 16. That was eight days after BOOX began rolling out Firmware V4.3. The update arrives in batches, and BOOX has published no list of the models it covers. If your BOOX hasn’t offered it yet, look in Settings, then System Update.
A tablet past its three years may still get V4.3, because that period is the least BOOX promises.
The promise in BOOX’s words
On its firmware page, BOOX says it is “committed to providing free firmware updates for all models for at least three years after the product’s launch.” That page also gives every BOOX owner 10 GB of free Onyx cloud storage for notes. The promise didn’t arrive with V4.3. The same sentence was on the page in July, when V4.2 was the current release.
BOOX’s blog dates each launch, so the three years are easy to count. These five tablets from 2021 and 2023 are at or close to the line:
- Note Air2, launched October 27, 2021
- Tab Mini C, launched June 24, 2023
- Note Air3 C, launched October 16, 2023
- Tab Ultra C Pro, launched October 26, 2023
- Note Air3, launched December 11, 2023
By those dates, the Note Air2, which shipped with firmware V3.2, left the guaranteed window in October 2024. The Tab Mini C followed in June 2026. The Note Air3 C crossed the line while V4.3 was still reaching devices, and the Tab Ultra C Pro reaches it on October 26.
BOOX announced the monochrome Note Air3 almost two months after the color Note Air3 C, so the plain Air3’s guarantee runs that much longer.
Any BOOX launched in 2024 or later is covered into 2027 at least. The firmware page adds that each feature can look different depending on the model and its firmware package.
What V4.3 changes in the Notes app
Dual Notes opens two notebooks on one screen, stacked or next to each other. The lasso can drag handwriting, shapes, text boxes and links from one to the other. BOOX shows the feature on the Note Air6 C, and the footnotes add two conditions. The tablet has to support split-screen view, and only Handwritten Notes and Infinite Notes can be paired.
A new Quick Access panel in those two note types lets you search and manage every notebook without leaving the one that’s open. Undo and Redo now work as gestures in the Notes app, so you don’t have to reach for the toolbar.
You can now assign a tool such as the marker, the eraser or the lasso to the pen’s side button. It works only with a BOOX pen that has one, and the footnote names three: InkSight, InkSense Plus and InkSense. The Pen Plus that came with the Tab Mini C at launch isn’t one of them.
Memo on the Palma
The Memo section of the Calendar app gets seven brushes, a lasso and links to notes, files or websites. A handwritten to-do can become an event or a reminder, and new home screen widgets show them.
Memo also comes to BOOX’s 6.13-inch models that take a pen. BOOX names the Palma 2 Pro and the coming Palma 3. On a phone-sized reader, that means a quick note on the commute without opening the Notes app.
Where Talk Insights works
Talk Insights records speech, transcribes it as you go and writes meeting minutes afterward. You can edit, copy or translate the transcript later, and jot your own points in a handwriting area beside it.
It handles 13 languages and needs an internet connection. You can use it only in some countries, including the US, Canada and Australia. Signing in to an ONYX account gives you 5 hours of transcription a day. The same sign-in covers 500,000 characters of AI Assistant replies daily.
Recording quality depends on the room, the speaker’s volume and how far away the tablet sits.
One change for readers
The new Currently Reading screensaver shows the cover of the book you’re reading when the screen sleeps, at the cover’s original dimensions. Transparent screensavers can now carry stickers.
For the Note Air3, the three years run out on December 11.
