Thanks to the Perk 10% discount today, you can grab the newly released Remarkable Paper Pro (just launched at JB on 10/12) for $899.10 (+$4.99 shipping, as Click & Collect isn’t available at the moment). A solid deal for this brand-new model!
Not to mention Lenovo tablets and pens for 1/3 of this price.
Fair point! It really comes down to personal preference and specific use cases, I’ve seen a lot of mixed and controversial reviews on it. For me, the E-ink display is much easier on the eyes for long writing or reading sessions compared to the iPad, so that's worth the trade-off to give it a try.
This is a great price and the first real discount for the Remarkable Pro. I would love to buy one of these (again) but they currently have a myriad of QA issues with the e-ink panel - dead/stuck pixels, different colour tones in the e-ink, backlight 'bleed', etc. I returned mine to Remarkable using their 100-day return policy, and that took over a month to get a refund. Buying in store is probably safer, because you can simply return to JB straight away.
With regards to functionality - to each their own and ultimately who cares what people spend their money on anyway. I've used and loved a Remarkable 2 for about a year and would never trade it for an iPad despite the clear different in capability. I would also not change to another brand of cheaper e-ink device, because I tried that and the Remarkable clearly has a better ecosystem, etc.
What issues did you encounter that made you stick with Remarkable 2 instead of this one
I had a few issues - the backlight was uneven (green at the bottom and yellow at the top), it had backlight 'bleed', and the yellow colour ghosted too much causing weird yellow artefacts. It was also notably heavier than the RM2, and I wasn't as impressed with e-ink colour as I thought I would be. So I just stuck with the RM2 and haven't really been tempted to buy the Pro again.
Thanks. Wonder about buying from JBHiFi they say they only accept returns for unopened items
You can also write for free on your existing device (sunk cost). But there's a reason we don't eat the cheapest plain rice or mi Goreng 3x a day, every day.
An E-Ink tablet is not the same as an OLED tablet. You can't watch movies on it etc.
But you can read it in full sunlight as it's not a projected image on a screen, it's basically a canvas that can be repainted 20 times a second with physical ink. That means that there is no projected light hitting your eyes and the eye strain etc is the same as when reading a book rather than when staring at a screen.
If you read manga this is the best thing out there, and worth it for that.
I've got the lenovo smart paper (I got it for about $200 or $250) for Manga and it's great but colour would be a very nice enhancement. It's also good for reading pdf files for work - or html documents like accounting standards that are pretty static and black and white. The screen on a kindle makes it hard to get through a pdf and an a4ish size paper makes a big difference.
Accounting standards - now there's a memory I didn't want to revisit!
For all those comparing Remarkable to iPad, you don't know what you are talking about. I bought the Remarkable in 2017 to write notes. The fact that it doesn't have the things that an iPad has is precisely the point as you don't get distracted with stupid things. This is a device for productivity, to be used specifically for writing/drawing/reading, not a browser or a device to watch videos or scroll Instagram.
The paper writing feeling is completely different from writing on an iPad or MS Surface (glass).
After using my Remarkable (first generation) for 7 years, and writing on this device on a daily basis, the battery was only lasting two days, the reason why I decided to buy a new one. After doing my research, I bought a Supernote instead, which is also fantastic. Although I haven't tried the Remarkable Paper Pro, it looks like a great upgrade from the previous version. I would definitely consider that if I was in the market for a new eink device.
These e-ink devices are quite amazing. I write about 10 pages daily, so if you want to do the stupid math (which doesn't make any sense as we are not comparing the same things), that's 10 pages x 300 days (let's assume I'm not using it on the weekends) x 7 years = 21000 pages roughly. Those pages can be synced to the clouds, can be transcribed into editable text and/or files, and they occupy virtually no volume on my desk.
I use the Staedtler Noris Jumbo Digital Stylus which I find much better. I have not replaced the nib in more than 12 months.
Moreover, you can open and read PDF and epub files, edit layers and save (my Supernote doesn't have backlight, which some people might like).
Many and many people around me have purchased either Remarkable or Supernote or other variants after watching me using the device daily, and they have easily replaced paper notebooks without regrets. For me, it was a life changer.
Thanks for sharing your real world experience using one.
Just curious on a couple of things
1. how do you process, file, reuse that large number of hand written notes? I imagine they are scans image format and get OCR’d? I am struggling with typed notes which is searchable and easier to manage.
2. is there security built in? ie can you pin-lock it?
3. how easy it is to export to PC/phone to use when you don’t have the device?
I used to use the transcription more often years ago. It's not perfect and depends on good handwriting and text to be organised. It was pretty bad with anything different from text and bullet points. You can potentially use an external OCR after you sync to your preferred cloud.
I store the notes as PDF, automatically shared to my cloud service.
Currently, I rarely use transcription. Check https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Convert-handwritten…
I will watch a lecture and write notes today, will do some tests with my Supernote and get back to you with a more updated experience.
Yes, you have a pin and auto-lock after "n" minutes.
If it's connected to wi-fi, it syncs to your cloud service (Remarkable own cloud provided by Google, but you can choose from Dropbox, Google, or Onedrive if I'm not wrong). Always consider privacy and confidentiality when uploading anything to the clouds. Many companies have banned devices that sync with clouds not approved by the company. Refer to https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Integrations
Update: played a bit with the OCR. It's improved a lot in the last ~12 months. For continuous text it's pretty good, with very few misspellings transcribing from my handwriting to text (file can be exported as text to DOC or TXT). Structure of the text has to be simple. Bullet points are ok, but columns or anything different will create a mess when transcribed.
You can also add a Bluetooth keyboard and type a DOC document directly, something that I've never used. I just paired my Logi keyboard with the Supernote, easy to type whatever although that's not the reason why you by an e-ink device.
What I usually do… I write my notes (handwritten) in the "real-time recognition" mode. When I finish, I export to DOC (transcribed, editable text). The DOC file is synced to my cloud drive. You can select specific folders to be synced to the clouds, and others to remain only on the device. If you don't need DOC files, the fastest way is to leave as .NOTE file and sync. AFAIK you can't open/read those .note files on your computer so it's pretty much a backup that can be opened on your Supernote.
*This is my current experience with Supernote, not the Remarkable, but I find both grerat devices. The writing feeling in the Remarkable is a bit crispier (more paper-like), which I think is slightly better than the Supernote, but they are both pretty good. My stylus (Noris Jumbo) makes the writing softer, but I prefer not having to replace the nib as often as I used to when I was using the Remarkable with the original pen (best writing experience, but had to replace nib often).
What do you think is the most bang for buck e-ink offering at this point in time for someone who is just starting and wants minimal fuss features?
I've only used Remarkable (first version) and Supernote. Both have a very strong community with lots of discussions and ways to improve. I recomend you watch reviews and focus on what's more important for you. Honestly, I'm not sure I would look elsewhere as Remarkable and Supernote provide regular updates and improvements, which doesn't seem to be the case for most alternatives (not sure if that's still the case).
As someone who was in a similar boat (wanted an e-ink, and bang for buck) I went with a first-gen Kindle Scribe with basic pen. They go on sale pretty regularly - I got mine for $347 during the Black Friday deals, and got some cashback through Cashrewards. It's a much easier sell when you're already in the Kindle ecosystem though (been using Kindle and Audible for years).
Personally, I think the Remarkable is a better product; better software, and better writing experience, feels nicer to hold, etc… But it's also well over double the price.
There's also a new supernote device coming out after xmas. BW only, but with the new carta 1300 display, which has excellent contrast.
I found this resource to be really helpful
I understand the appeal of the Remarkable. On the other hand, the iPad is likely far superior for note-taking and general information organization. I know it's not e-ink, but you can get screen-protectors for iPads that feel and sound like paper. See, for example, this video (with sound on).
But then again, I think the whole retro handwritten note-taking trend is a bit childish. It may be fun and creative, and it may be useful for memorizing small amounts of information. But for a long-term goal of learning and remembering large quantities of information (for example learning a language), handwriting notes is just going to hold you back. Just the sheer amount of time required to create them and review them is idiotic from a time-efficiency perspective.
I prefer to use Google Docs in a kind of flash card manner, where I have one document that contains all the information (hundreds of pages), with the key information or key words highlighted in a specific colour, then a duplicate document with the key information or key words missing, forcing me to retrieve this information from my memory. The document with the information missing is the one that you review.
Another method is to have all the information including difficult concepts and words in one document, and all the explanations/definitions of those concepts and words in another document. So you review the original information, and try to recall the explanations.
You can review hundreds of pages of information in this way in an hour or two, and if you do it once or twice a week, it gets stuck in your long-term memory.
You can even reorganize the information randomly or according to some system to perform spaced repetition.
The other useful thing about Google Docs is that you can review your documents anywhere, anytime, on any device.
iPad is likely far superior for note-taking - No, it is not. Writing on a glass is terrible experience. Two of my friends added a kind of layer to make the iPad more writing-friendly, but it's nothing compared to the crispy feeling of an e-ink. They removed the layer, bought a remarkable/supernote, and never looked back. iPad is good for a lot of things, maybe for the organisation, to use your preferred software, etc., but it's terrible for writing. This is not my opinion, but the opinion of many friends and co-workers who have started using e-ink to take notes. For education, meetings, and anything that requires you to focus on the event and just write notes, e-ink devices are amazing.
I see clients and I write my notes in front of them. I separate files in different folders, I use keywords to classify those documents. On Supernote, you can search for notes based on name, extension (DOC, TXT, EPUB, JPG, PDF, NOTE, etc.), by keyword, by star (favourites), or handwriting.
You can also set-up your email to receive emails. I set-up one particular email address so I can easily forward files that I might want to open on my Supernote.
Currently, you can also easily install Kindle app on Supernote to read books if that's your thing. Battery lasts about 2-3 weeks with heavy use (most of the time disconnected from the wifi), which again is completely different from IPad's claimed 10 hours on a single charge.
I agree that the way how you organise notes is different, and that might go to personal preference, but the purpose of e-ink devices is completely different from iPad. Maybe an e-ink device is not for you, or it's too expensive if you want to do what an iPad can do, but they are not interchangeable.
Too pricey for what it is. Would definitely get one if its around 300-400 range.
This or a supernote?
Anyone have recommendations for what would be better for uploading custom templates to fill in?
Boss uses one religiously. Nearly convinced myself to buy one to emulate her game but my handwriting is terrible anyway. Best for me to use pc or phone and chuck stuff directly into planner / docs
Does it still offer most functionality behind a paywall/ subscription?
![[Perks] Remarkable Paper Pro and MarkerPlus $899.10 + Shipping @ JB Hi-Fi](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/16/883716.jpg?h=6d2e4b4b)
What a deal.
1% of the functionality of an iPad Air + Apple Pencil Pro for 75% of the cost (or 140% of the cost of an iPad 10th gen + Apple Pencil USB-C).