Although devices with a color screen and more powerful processors have been on the market for a long time, users of ereaders do not seem to stop choosing it and the manufacturers of these are opting for more conservative alternatives.
While not long ago Kobo presented its new device called Kobo Ellipsa, the Geniatech company has presented a similar model but with some extra functions and features that seem interesting.
Geniatech is a company of Chinese origin that was founded in Beijing 24 years ago and is currently located in the technological Shenzhen area. In these years it has been concerned with launching various technological products for the end consumer and accompanying them with stable and personalized software. In the last few months, Geniatech has also focused on the ereader market in relation to its facet as a tool in the business world, a market that seems to be attracting the attention of the eastern market lately.
Geniatech has officially presented its KloudNote device that can be bought and stored in our home in the coming days. The Kloudnote is an ereader in the shape of a digital notebook, that is, an A4-size screen and accompanied by a stylus to help us use the device as a digital notebook.
The screen of this device has a size of 10,3 " or what is the same for the Spanish market, a folio size (in other countries the folio size is different and does not correspond to the 10,3 inches of the screen), it uses a capacitive screen technology and an E- screen. Ink Carta HD with a resolution of 1872 x 1404 pixels with 216 ppi. We miss a backlit screen, but it is also true that if we use it to write, the light does not have to be a problem in these scenarios.
Kloudnote does not have a capped or embedded operating system but uses Android 8.1, a fairly recent version that will allow us to have extra functions that other devices do not have.
The KloudNote processor is a 1.2 GHz quadcore arm processor accompanied by 2 Gb of ram of type LPDDR4 which will make page turning and other functions more fluid. The Kloudnote storage is 16 GB which is not expandable, at least in the specifications of the device it does not indicate it.
KloudNote measurements are 250 x 175 x 7.6mm with a weight of 385 gr., quite reasonable for those who want to use it as an ebook reader and quite light for those who want to use it as a work tool.
So far, the characteristics of the KloudNote are quite normal and even inferior to other devices on the market. But this is not the only thing that KloudNote has, there is more.
KloudNote uses Android 8.1 as the eReader operating system
Kloudnote has a 4.000 mAh battery that gives a very wide autonomy. This battery can be charged through the usb-c port that it has which allows for faster charging and data transfer. The autonomy of the Kloudnote is officially one week with a use of 2 hours per day. However, this will depend on the use we give it, on whether we use bluetooth, wifi or 4G connection, the autonomy will increase or decrease, being more than a week or even less than a week.
This port is accompanied by a wifi-bluetooth module that allows us to connect to the internet and be able to listen to audio books through wireless headphones. At the bottom of the device we will find a 3.5mm minijack port that will also allow us to connect headphones by wire and to these two ways of listening to audio formats we have to add the classic speaker option that Kloudnote also has. That is, the KloudNote in addition to bluetooth has a sound card and it also supports sound formats.
The device also comes with a slot for 4G connectivity, that is, if we insert a sim card we can use the internet anywhere.
Having Android 8.1, the range of formats that the device supports is very wide and although in the specifications, Geniatech talks about the basics, we can think that all the ebook formats compatible with Android and even the most famous library apps for Android can be used on this device even though do not talk at all about the Play Store.
Regarding programs, we know that in addition to an ebook reader, KloudNote has incorporated a note program and an app to upload everything to your own cloud service which is compatible with other devices and even an app to have the device as a second monitor of our pc.
On the latter we do not know more than the official information and we do not know if it will be compatible with all computers or we will need a USB-C type cable for its connection but it sounds interesting. Nor do we know anything about the type of cloud that we will use, what limitations it has (such as the price for the use of this service) or if it is compatible with other more popular cloud services that allows us to have everything in an orderly and concentrated way.
Finally I will talk about the Stylus. The stylus that comes with the device is a basic stylus compatible with the KloudNote and that will allow us to write, underline and take notes on the device screen without any problem. But also, Geniatech tells us about cWacom device compatibility. Although we do not know precisely, it may well be that both the KloudNote and the stylus have Wacom components and this adds value as a very interesting professional tool to the device. WACOM is a very good and famous brand of graphics tablets and design and digitizing tools. This would make KloudNote hardware and texts compatible with other WACOM programs adding one more value to the device.
The price of the Kloudnote will be $ 449 and can be reserved through its Official Site. However, we still do not know when the final launch and sale date of this device will be, as well as in the countries where it can be sold.
Personal valuation
The manufacturers of Kloudnote have managed to touch on interesting aspects such as sound, compatibility with WACOM, Android 8.1 as an operating system or 4G connectivity and why not, also the price. Interesting elements that make the device is a good option for those looking for a digital notebook more than an ereader. But we do not know the launch date or in which markets it will be available, so I still consider that this device may not reach Europe or that when it arrives it will do so in an obsolete way. If you are really looking for a similar device and you have time, I would wait for the launch of this KloudNote, but if you really have some time, I would opt for the Kobo Ellipsa o Remarkable 2. And if price is a problem, we can always use the traditional digital paper notebooks that are scanned with the mobile.