Review: Bigme B1051C e-reader with keyboard case

Review unit provided by Bigme

In 2024, Bigme launched the B1051 series of tablets with 10.3-inch e-ink displays. The various models are

• B1051C Pro (8 + 2565GB) - USD 729
• B1051C (6 + 128GB)- USD 639
• B1051C Lite (4 + 64GB) - USD 539
• B1051 BW (6 + 128GB) 300 PPI - USD 599
• B1051 Lite BW (4 + 64GB) 227 PPi - USD 389

The C models come with coloured e-ink displays and the non-C models are just black and white.

The optional keyboard case is around USD 70 - 80 more.

Shown below are the difference between these models:

The review unit I've received is the Bigme B1051C with MediaTek Dimensity 900 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage priced at USD 639. The keyboard case bundle cost USD 718.

You can think of the B1051C as the larger variant of the 7-inch Bigme B751C that I've also reviewed recently.

• Screen: 10.3-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 Color Display
• Resolution: 1860 x 2480 (Black & White) 300 DPI, 930 x 1240 (Color) 150 DPI
• Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 900, Octa-core
• RAM: 6GB
• Storage: 128GB (Expandable via microSD up to 1TB)
• Battery: 3700mAh
• Operating System: Android 14
• Connectivity: Dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0
• Input: Wacom EMR Pen Support
• Audio: Built-in Speaker and Four Microphones
• Camera: Rear Camera for Document Scanning
• Dimensions: 184.4 x 246.5 x 5.5 mm
• Weight: 435 grams
• Additional Features: Fingerprint Sensor, Front Light with 36 Levels of Color Temperature Adjustment

Things included

• Tablet
• Flip case
• Pen
• 2x replacement pen tips
• SIM ejector tool
• User guide
• Warranty card
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable

Not charger is included but you can use any USB charger that you already have.

A flip case is included while the keyboard case is an optional purchase that cost an extra USD 70 - 80 more.

Both cases are very well made. Exterior is PU leather and interior is smoother.

The included case isn't too thick but the keyboard case is noticeably thicker. Both of course will make the tablet thicker and heavier.

Both cases has this removable magnetic flap that can attach to the case to prevent the pen from dislodging. I find the removable flap to be inconvenient as it's something extra to detach so that it does not fall off, and you have to remember to put it back. It would be better if the flap had been permanently attached to the back cover.

Both support auto wake and sleep.

There's a fold on the back cover but I'm not sure if that's actually supposed to be used to prop up the tablet as that position you see above is actually not very stable.

The keyboard case provides a bit more protection for the tablet as the sides of the tablet are further in.

Having a keyboard is very useful because there's this row of shortcut keys that can be used to adjust lighting and access settings quickly.

Typing experience is good. Keys have good travel and feedback. And it certainly feels better to type on a physical keyboard compared to a virtual keyboard. Each key press is guaranteed to hit the correct key.

The keyboard case sort of turns this e-reader into a workstation. This is a very well made keyboard case and it's not that expensive so it's definitely worth considering.

I'm not sure if this is the intended design of the keyboard case but you can actually elevate the tablet which makes it more comfortable for reading. But this will disconnect the keyboard since the pogo pin connectors are not connected. I find myself elevating the tablet all the time for reading when the tablet is on the table.

Design

Design of the Bigme B1051C looks good. It's a well made tablet with solid build quality. Corners are rounded off and sides are curved.

The black bezels are thin enough, and there's additional grip area in both landscape and portrait orientation.

The power button comes with a fingerprint scanner that works quite effectively. And just beside is a speaker with hollow audio quality. Next, there's a USB-C port with USB 2 transfer speeds.

The tablet is quite thin at just 5.5mm. Weight is 435g. The tablet is WIFI only and there's a SD card slot.

Display is matte textured and has excellent contrast and legibility under direct sunlight.

Pen can be attached magnetically by the side of the tablet. Magnets are strong but not that strong so it's best to have the flap from the case cover the pen to prevent the pen from dislodging.

The Kaleido 3 colour e-ink display has BW resolution of 1860 x 2480 (300 DPI) and colour resolution of 930 x 1240 (150 DPI).

The e-ink canvas is kinda gray so when your room light is dim, it's necessary to use front light. When looking close at the display, there's some sort of grain texture on the canvas which I suppose is just how it is with a Kaleido 3 display.

I did read half a book on this display and don't really have any issues. I do wish the e-ink canvas is lighter and the black text is darker. Unfortunately I do not have the Bigme B1051 BW model to test so I can't say if the text quality and reading experience is better with that model.

Sharpness looks good enough to me. Contrast of the text is alright but black certainly is not as black compared to BW e-ink tablets. If you plan on reading lots of text, colour may not be necessary. If you read comics, having colour is a nice bonus.

Eink Center has several display modes that affect visual quality of the colour and refresh time. I did not test all the settings as I just switch between the preprogrammed modes, namely Default, Magazine, Comic and Video. You can create a custom setting too.

Default mode has reasonable refresh.

Colours with the default setting actually look good. If look at the solid colours, they can appear grainy. Note the highlighted area on the red cloak.

Magazine mode has noticeable page redraw.

Magazine mode has richer colours and fuller text. Solid colours no longer have the grain. Note the highlighted area is almost not noticeable anymore.

Comic mode has noticeable page redraw.

Comic mode also has richer colours and almost kinda looks like Magazine mode. However, there's more detail with Comic mode, which is kinda like the saturated version of Default mode. Note the highlighted area is almost not noticeable anymore.

Video mode has the fastest refresh rate.

Video mode colours are quite grainy.

Another difference between these display modes is the amount of ghosting or image retention. There is more ghosting and image retention with Default and Video mode but it's not excessive. Overall, I would say ghosting is handled quite well.

So which refresh mode to use is just personal preference. Default mode works well and is a compromise of visual quality and refresh speed.

This is how the tablet looks in a room with curtains half drawn. There isn't much lighting so the darker e-ink canvas can make it more difficult to read due to the lack of contrast between black text vs the gray e-ink canvas.

This is with maximum cool front light enabled. Contrast is now much better.

This is with both cool and warm light at maximum brightness.

This is with only the warm light at maximum brightness.

OS and software

This tablet runs on Bigme's UI on top of Android 14.

Default home screen style is the Office style that has tabs by the side:

• Meeting records - For taking notes during meetings, with transcribe feature
• Notes - Note taking with handwriting-to-text conversion
• Library - Shows your ebooks of various file formats
• Storage - File manager
• App Center - App library
• Scan document - Use the camera to scan documents
• Office - Reads doc, xls and ppt files
• Voice translation
• Cloud - Connect to Bigme Cloud
• Task list - Creating checklists

I definitely prefer the tablet view with all the apps shown on the home screen.

Performance

This tablet has the MediaTek Dimensity 900 chip and 6GB of RAM. Overall performance is quite smooth, limited only by the responsiveness of e-ink display.

Multi-tasking works fine but do expect some app reloads with just 6GB RAM.

Pen

The included pen is well made and build quality is solid. Body is almost cylindrical except for the flat side that attaches to the side of the tablet. Surface is matte textured and grip is good.

The included pen uses Wacom EMR technology and support pressure, tilt and palm rejection. There's no battery so no charging is required.

There's one eraser at the back but no side button.

The display may look laminated but there's actually a tiny gap between the surface and e-ink canvas. If you look close at the left, you may see cast shadow from the edge. Anyway, when writing, the gap is not noticeable.

Pen tip is firm and has no movement when in contact with the surface. The pen tip is actually textured and hence provide a wonderful tactile writing experience. Palm rejection works well.

The default Bigme Notes app provides the best writing experience compared to third party note taking apps. There's slight latency but does not affect my handwriting. The tablet and pen are able to capture my handwriting style quite accurately.

This tablet can also be used with other Wacom EMR pens.

Third party note taking apps have to rely on a feature called Global Handwriting. This feature lets you create strokes fast, and the strokes would be applied with the style that was selected.

The advantage is you can see your strokes as you write, but the downside if you can't see the actual style, colour, thickness of the stroke you write.

By the way, switching between tools and settings with Microsoft OneNote feels sluggish.

I've also tested with Nebo and the app performance is more responsive, but the writing has more latency.

For note-taking, it's best to use the default Bigme Notes app. If you have intention to use your favourite note taking app, chances are you may be disappointed with the sluggish app performance.

I do not recommend drawing on this tablet due to latency issues.

Battery life

Battery capacity is 3,700 mAh.

Even though this is an e-ink tablet, you should not expect the battery life to last as long as an e-reader because you may not be using it only as an e-reader.

While reading with front light, I find the battery to drain around 3-4% per hour. If you're just using the tablet solely for reading, then battery life can last several days. Otherwise with reading and non-reading usage (eg web browsing), the battery life should last 2 days.

Conclusion

The Bigme B1051C is a well made 10.3-inch colour e-ink tablet. Dimensity 900 processor provides a rather smooth user experience. 6GB RAM seems adequate although more RAM would obviously be better.

The flipcase and keyboard case are both well made. The included pen uses Wacom EMR tech and the writing experience is good with the Bigme Notes app.

Since this tablet uses a colour e-ink display, the text quality isn't as good compared to a BW e-ink reader which usually has lighter e-ink canvas and darker text.

Last thing I want to talk about is pricing. The price of the Bigme B1051C is USD 639 and it's pricy. I can't just review this product in isolation since there are so many tablets out there to compare with.

• 11.8-inch Remarkable Paper Pro - USD 579
• 11-inch iPad 2025 with 256GB storage - USD 449
• Boox Note Air4C C (review) - USD 499
• Huawei MatePad tablets with PaperMatte displays

Each product would have its own pros and cons. So do compare the features with other products because I can't do the comparison in this review which will make it way too long (and also too tedious for me to write).

The Bigme B1051C is a pretty cool product. It's worth considering if you're looking an e-ink display. What I like about the tablet is actually the included accessories such as the pen and keyboard case are pretty good. The display is good for reading, but I guess personally I may go with a BW e-ink tablet if I do read a lot. Having colour is a bonus to me, not a must have as I consider the current colour e-ink technology to still be quite limited.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Beautiful design
+ Solid build quality
+ Big 10.3-inch display good for reading comics, magazine, PDFs
+ Colours look good with minimal ghosting, page refresh lag
+ Comes with pen and case
+ Well made accessories: flip case, keyboard case, pen
+ Keyboard case is very convenient and useful
+ Overall performance quite responsive
+ Good note taking performance with Bigme Notes app
+ Has fingerprint unlock
+ Has Google Play Store
+ Brightness sliders are easy to use
- Speakers sound hollow
- Third party note taking performance is not ideal
- Colour e-ink canvas is darker than BW e-ink canvas
- Text is not as black on a colour e-ink display

Availability

The Bigme B1051C is available from Bigme online store.

You can find this on Amazon as well, with the keyboard case and without the keyboard case. Amazon UK, DE, FR | IT | ES