Review: The Supernote Manta is the pinnacle of writing pleasure

Few E Ink fandoms are as faithful as Supernote users. Ever since the Nomad (also known as the A6 X2) was released earlier in the year, fans of the privately-owned E Ink device maker have been clamoring for the latest incarnation of its A5-sized tablet. It didn’t help that Supernote had been touting its imminent release for most of 2024, only to push back the date until mere weeks before the holidays. But despite the shaken faith of many adherents, Supernote has delivered on its promise and released the Manta (A5 X2) into the wild.

Price, availability, and specs

Definitely not a budget e-reader

If you want a Manta, it will cost you $460, and it’s only available to purchase directly from Supernote through its website. If you want to get some protection for your purchase, Supernote sells a half-folio cover that will run you $60, and the cheapest first-party stylus will cost you another $60, pushing the total cost up to $580. If you’re feeling flush, Supernote sells 12 different high-end styluses for $90 a pop.

Inside the shell, with its quad-core processor and 4GB of memory, the Manta is more powerful than most competitors. It's also one of the first 10-inch e-readers to ship with E Ink's Carta 1300 screens, so that means faster refresh rates and sharper contrast. However, remember that this is a specialized device, hyper-focused on writing, so you won’t find any speakers, microphones, or frontlights, just a USB-C port, a power button, and two touch-sensitive strips along the left and right bezels.

Specifications

What’s good about the Supernote Manta?

It feels good to write

The first thing you notice about the Manta is how nice it feels to write on it. Most writing-first E Ink devices feel like writing on frosted glass or a chalkboard. It’s not an unpleasant experience, but it lacks some of the analog charm of writing on paper. Supernote uses a special proprietary film on top of its display called FeelWrite 2. Although it’s not a drop-in replacement for paper, it comes much closer than most of its competitors.

The first thing you’ll notice is the subtle elasticity of the surface, which can deform and recover under the pressure of your writing. It feels like writing in a notebook, with dozens of layers of paper beneath your pen. In addition to this elasticity, the surface is also visibly textured. This combination of features gives the Manta a unique writing tactility unmatched by just about any other tablet.

The soft display also allows Supernote to pull off another trick that most other writing tablets can’t. Because most writing tablets have a hard surface covering their displays, the nibs on their styluses have to be soft to avoid scratching them. That means that, over time, those nibs wear down and need to be replaced. Thanks to Supernote’s soft display, it can make its nibs much harder, giving them a much longer shelf life.

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