Onyx BOOX V4.3 Firmware Is Rolling Out: Dual Notes and a Real Meeting Transcriber

The Onyx BOOX V4.3 firmware update is rolling out in batches this October, and it is a meatier upgrade than the incremental V4.2 builds that preceded it. The headline features are Dual Notes, which lets you edit two handwritten notebooks side by side, and an expanded Talk Insights that records meetings, transcribes speech in 14 languages, and generates meeting minutes. If you own a BOOX device from 2024 onward, the update should be landing under Settings, then System Update.

What Onyx BOOX V4.3 adds, at a glance

• Dual Notes: open and edit two notebooks simultaneously in horizontal or vertical view, with a Lasso tool to drag content between them.
• Quick Access panel: view, organize, and link different notes without leaving your current notebook.
• Talk Insights: record audio, transcribe live, translate, and generate meeting minutes, now reaching the US, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.
• New undo and redo gestures: two-finger tap to undo, three-finger tap to redo.
• Stylus button customization on devices with a side-button pen.
• Calendar Memo upgrades: seven brushes, a Lasso tool, links, and handwriting that converts to calendar events and reminders.
• Custom screensavers: display your current book cover or use transparent stickers.

Support terms are decent by industry standards. Onyx confirmed to Good e-Reader that devices up to three years old will keep receiving updates, with support ending only once a device hits end of life. The rollout covers models released from 2024 to 2026.

Dual Notes is the feature students asked for

Dual Notes lives inside the BOOX Notes app and is exactly what it sounds like: two notebooks on one screen. You can arrange them side by side or stacked, and both are fully editable. The trick that makes it useful is the Lasso tool, which now drags and copies handwriting, shapes, text boxes, and links from one notebook to the other. Keep lecture notes open on one half and work the problem set on the other; a researcher can keep a source summary visible while drafting analysis.

There are limits. Dual Notes only works on devices that support split-screen, and only in Handwritten Notes and Infinite Notes notebooks. Text-only notebooks are excluded. BOOX names the Note Air6 C as a supported device. Note that BOOX devices could already run two separate apps in split-screen; Dual Notes brings that convenience inside the Notes app itself, which matters because jumping between notebooks was the friction point, not jumping between apps.

A new Quick Access panel sits alongside it, letting you find, organize, and connect notebooks while keeping your current one open. Used together, Dual Notes plus Quick Access turns the Notes app from a stack of notebooks into something closer to a connected workspace. For anyone comparing e-ink ecosystems, this is BOOX's answer to the question of why you would choose its software over a Kindle Scribe or a Remarkable: denser, more customizable tooling.

Talk Insights finally reaches the West

Talk Insights is the feature with the most potential and the most fine print. It records audio and produces live transcription across 14 languages, which you can edit, copy, or translate afterward, and it can generate structured meeting minutes while you annotate by hand alongside. That is a genuinely useful workflow for meeting-heavy professionals, and it lands BOOX in the same territory as tools like Fathom's meeting capture, minus the smartphone.

The fine print: it needs an internet connection, and availability is region-limited. BOOX's examples are the United States, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea; European owners should check the user guide's full region list before counting on it. You also need to sign in to an ONYX Account to unlock the daily quota: five hours of transcription and 500,000 characters of AI Assistant responses per day. That is generous, and it is also one more feature tethered to an account.

Memo gets serious, even on small screens

Calendar Memo, the quick-note pad, picks up a full set of seven brushes with adjustable color and line width, a Lasso tool to move, resize, or delete handwriting, support for links to websites, files, or notes, and the ability to convert handwritten to-dos into calendar events or reminders. New home-screen widgets surface those events and reminders without opening anything.

The quiet story here is the 6.13-inch devices. Memo now runs on the Palma 2 Pro and the upcoming Palma 3, complete with brushes, Lasso, and handwriting capabilities. For a phone-sized device you carry everywhere, a calendar memo pad fits the form factor better than a full notebook ever will. It also confirms, almost in passing, that a Palma 3 is coming.

Screensavers get two new options: Currently Reading, which shows the cover of your current book at its original dimensions, and transparent screensavers that support stickers. Stylus owners get to remap the side button on InkSight, InkSense Plus, and InkSense pens to trigger tools like the Marker, Eraser, or Lasso. And gesture fans get two-finger tap for undo and three-finger tap for redo, a small change that saves constant tool-switching mid-thought.

Which devices get it, and how to install

Onyx BOOX V4.3 is rolling out in batches since October 8, 2026, so your device may not see it yet. Eligible models are those released from 2024 to 2026, with updates promised for three years after release. Check Settings, then System Update, and pull manually if you are impatient.

Verdict: this is the rare point release that changes how you actually use the device. Dual Notes fixes a real workflow pain, Memo on the Palma line makes the small-screen BOOX devices more useful, and Talk Insights, region limits aside, is the kind of feature that makes an e-ink tablet feel like it belongs in a workday. If you have been waiting on productivity software news that does something other than add another AI button, V4.3 earns its bandwidth.