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My First 3 Years With the Supernote A5X: Part Three - New Features & Enhancements

Welcome to our final installment on three years with the Supernote A5X. This particular post will look at some of the most important enhancements that have happened since I purchased the device. Hopefully, the other two posts have given you an idea of why I chose Supernote as my platform, how I use it, and a glimpse of why I continue to do so. As a long-term owner of this piece of technology, hopefully this is a perspective you have found useful

The image above is not an over exaggeration as to the the updates, new features, improvements, and functions that have happened in that span of time. However, we will only be looking at new features here, and why I believe they represent something important. While I understand that this is a long post, I promise that you will find the information useful if you stick with me until the end. If you want the TLDR, you can skip to the comments sections, but you may regret missing something important. 

2021 Additions

April 26

  • Added date format options under "English" language.
  • Added AWS (UK) and AWS (US) servers for Supernote Cloud.
  • Template (Background layer) can be hidden.
  • Added "Floating Smart Toolbar" feature in Mailbox.
  • Support to add attachments into "Feedback".
  • Added vector handwriting options when exporting documents and notes as PDF files.

July 17

  • Handwriting anti-aliasing feature (Activate via "Settings -> Display & input -> Preferred setting -> Handwriting antialiasing").
  • Star recognition switch (Adjust via "Settings -> Display & input -> Preferred setting -> Star mark recognition").

August 17

  • Calendar application.
  • Added "Back to the last viewed page" feature in document (available for internal links, contents, keywords, bookmarks, annotations, page numbers, and search jumps).
  • Support Comic book archive (.cbz), FictionBook2 (.fb2) and OpenXPS (.xps) file formats document.

December 19

  • Eraser gesture for Note/Document/Digest.
  • Quick jump to the first/last page or any assigned page.
  • Password for files and folders.
  • Support Wi-Fi with login page access for verification.
  • "Last opened file" icon on folders view.
  • "Folders" icon in note and document.
  • Two-finger page turning feature for Note/Document.
  • Note cover customization.
  • Note layer rename.
  • "Favorites" feature for note templates.
  • Access to the web links in Document files.

Comments (2021)

This year saw 22 added features, only starting after I purchased the device in April. Most of these were user requested like a calendar, a U.S. and UK AWS sever, and being able to authenticate to Wi-Fi through the online browser. There are too many things here for me to recount why I find them useful. The most important takeaway here was Ratta's ability to listen to their community and make substantial changes to the platform. 

2022 Additions

February 24

  • [Document] Support PDF landscape.
  • [Document] Support PDF half page view.
  • [Note] Add format template (5mm Engineering Grid).
  • [Calendar] Support gesture eraser.
  • [Files] Support list mode.

July 26

  • [Note] Added 3 new features to move individual pages within the same notebook or between notebooks: Copy Current Page, Cut Current Page and Paste Page. [F6.3.3]
  • Auto Power Off mode; set Auto Power Off in Settings>Battery => Auto Power Off.

October 28

  • [Note] Added the feature of creating links [F5.3.9] [F5.3.10].
  • Support linking to Another page in Current File, Recent Files, Existing Files and Web Page.
  • Links in PDF converted from a note file on the cloud services still work (only the links that point to the other pages or web pages in the PDF are valid).
  • [Settings] Added more handwriting recognition languages [F2.2.2] (Download new languages by going to Settings>Display & Input>Language>Handwriting Recognition Language).

December 22

  • [Note] Added a new type of notes: real-time recognition notes
    • Supports real-time recognition in the backend
    • Supports searching handwriting
    • Supports exporting to Word (.docx) and Text (.txt) document
    • Doesn't support layers and the region eraser
    • Changed the regular eraser to the stroke eraser.
  • [Note] Supports exporting handwriting in standard notes to Word (.docx) and Text (.txt) document.
  • [Mail] Changed the Mail app home page from account login to account selection. Added Authorize Microsoft Exchange, Outlook/Hotmail pages.
  • [Settings] Added a preference setting option for the LAMY side button. You can now choose to use it to activate the eraser or lasso in Note and Document (by going to Settings>Display & Input>Stylus Settings>LAMY Side Button). This setting option only applies to the LAMY Al-star EMR pens.
  • [Files] Supports editing text (.txt) documents. (Using small files that contain no more than 100,000 words is recommended.)

Comments (2022)

There were 16 major additions this year and a myriad of improvements and enhancements. Some of the major improvements here were allowing PDFs in landscape, real-time handwriting recognition, and being able to search notes using handwriting recognition globally. There are so many other features, but the ability to search your handwritten text as if it was types was amazing. I was able to find notes and files without having to navigate the entire file system of the device. The other game changer was the ability to link to other pages and files. Again, this was my use case, but the fact that they kept adding features based on community feedback is amazing. It is also when they started tagging specific roadmap items to improvements and additions. 

2023 Additions

February 10

  • [Settings] Supports Google Drive.
  • Added the screen mirroring function (can be turned on/off in the top menu bar).

June 2

  • Added the Browse & Access feature, which allows you to transfer files via browser. (It can be turned on/off from the original position of the Direct Transfer feature in the top menu bar.  The Direct Transfer feature has now been moved to Settings > My Device.)
  • [Note] Supports using PDF as a template. (You need to put PDF in the MyStyle folder. The original links in the PDF are valid when the corresponding linked-to pages are applied as template pages.)
  • [Keyboard] Added virtual German keyboards (including Germany, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland), and virtual French keyboards (including France and Canada).
  • [Mail] Added Gmail authorized login and entry point for Outlook/Hotmail login.
  • [Files] Supports adding folders to Quick Access. 
  • [Screen Mirroring] Added a laser pointer for when pen is hovering over the screen. (Hold the pen up to about 5mm above the Supernote screen and a circle will appear.)

September 1

  • [Note] Supports editing headings (originally named titles) and links one at a time.
    • You can copy, move, cut, cancel, zoom in and out of headings and titles;
    • You can change the heading style;
    • You can change the link title, style and target;
    • You can have headings and links recognized as keywords or calendar event titles. 
  • [Note] Supports moving/copying single or multiple pages across notebooks via Pages (originally named Overview).
  • [Note] When inserting or editing a link, you can create a new note through the "Other Files" entry point. 
  • [Note] Added the region eraser to real-time recognition notes. (The eraser gesture now activates the region eraser in real-time recognition notes as well, instead of the stroke eraser.)
  • [Document] Added the ability to highlight text in PDFs. 
  • [Document] When reading PDF, EPUB, CBZ and XPS documents, you can turn pages using Bluetooth. 
  • [Global Search] Supports searching for real-time recognition notes; and supports switching between File, Keyword, Star and Handwriting for more precise results based on categorization. 
  •  [System] Supports WEBP image format. (WEBP images can now be used as screensavers, note covers/templates, email/feedback attachments, and linked-to files.)
  • [Settings & Keyboard] Added the virtual Hebrew keyboard and virtual Arabic keyboards (including Saudi Arabia and Egypt).

Comments (2023)

This year saw 17 additions that improved everything from global search, editing headings, and moving or copying multiple pages across notebooks. They also added different keyboard languages and screen mirroring, which is one of my favorite features. They also worked to add features to better integrate regular and real-time recognition notes. Additionally, the ability to add highlights and comments directly into PDFs was tremendously beneficial for grading in my case. For many, being able to turn PDFs into hyperlinked templates opened up tremendous opportunities to integrate the best features of the notes apps with the PDF hyperlink functionality (specifically for large planners). 

2024 Additions (To Date)

January 20

  • Added the drawing app called Atelier (that can be downloaded from the Supernote App Store).
  • [Sync] Supports OneDrive.
  • [Sync] Supports auto sync with Supernote Cloud.
  • [System] Supports landscape mode (currently only applies to Notes and Documents); replaced the Half Page View button on the toolbar in PDFs with the Rotate button in the top menu bar for enabling half page view.
  • [Note & Document] Supports opening, viewing, and editing note files and document annotations from A5 & A6 devices. (Note: Templates used in note files from A5 & A6 devices will not be displayed on this device, and there is a mismatch between landscape document orientation and annotation orientation on this device.)

Comments (2024...So Far)

There have been five main additions and there is a current beta that will introduce even more cool features. However, OneDrive syncing, Supernote Cloud auto sync, and the work done to make the A5X mirror almost all of the functions of the new A6X2 (including the Atelier drawing app and manual rotation modes) shows a serious commitment to ending "planned obsolescence."  

Final Comments

Ok, so if you hung in with me this long, you know that there have been a lot of changes, but remember these are just the additions. There are far more improvements, enhancements, and bug fixes (click here to see the entire change log). If you have paid close attention, there are only 12 updates listed, instead of the 15 in the graphic. The reason is very simple. While 12/15 contained significant additions, three others contained UI improvements, tweaks to existing features, or bug fixes (sometimes only weeks apart) based on community feedback. 

The final verdict is that while I can get frustrated with a devices functionality or UI like anyone else, this device has consistently improved and become even more valuable now than it was three years ago. Thank you for joining me on this journey, check out my videos here on the Blog or my YouTube channel, and hopefully you will be armed with plenty of questions for my upcoming livestream May 19 at 3:00pm (U.S. Central Time). Until next time, remember, all it takes to be an agent of change is to bring your point of view to the table. 


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