Any experience with the reMarkable tablet?

[GoStanford]

One of my students showed me a reMarkable tablet she had received as a present. It's a beautiful and sleek electronic tablet that functions as a notepad and allows handwritten notes to be uploaded to the device and to a computer. I don't think it is designed to function as an eReader though it has some capabilities for that as well. I've been watching the explanatory videos on the reMarkable website.

Please share your experience if you have used this device, would appreciate your sense of the pros and cons.

[Awesomepants]

Hi GoStanford !

I have quite a bit of experience with e-readers. If you could share a little more about what you're looking for I could give you better help.

I love my Kindle Paperwhite but sometimes I want larger text (to annotate PDFs and read comics full-sized) and more functionality from the software. I use a 10" e-reader by a company called Onyx Boox that runs full Android. This is my favorite e-reader as it can do anything an Android tablet can do and you can take notes and markup documents. This device has more features than the reMarkable but the writing experience isn't as good.

If your primary focus is note-taking I would look into a 2018+ iPad Pro 11 or 12.9 as it has the best writing experience. If you need the best e-ink (black and white / easy on the eyes) note-taking device, then you can't beat the ReMarkable 2.

These are my favorite devices for each purpose:
Portability: Kindle
Best reading experience / software features: Onyx Boox (comes in many sizes, 6-13").
Best e-ink note-taking: ReMarkable 2
Best note-taking and possibly a laptop replacement: iPad Pro 2018+

If you really want to dive into a particular e-ink device, I recommend checking out a YouTube channel called My Deep Guide.

[caitirilt]

Awesomepants Apologies for jumping on the thread, but I've been eyeing the ReMarkable tablet as well. I particularly want it for reading academic article PDFs, but I've hesitated because I wonder if they'll be too small to read on its screen. I would prefer to be able to read the articles at a scale where the width of the original page matches the screen width (so as not to have to scroll sideways). I've also looked at the Boox line but admit to being seduced by the sleekness of the ReMarkable!

[Selcouth]

I do not have any experience with the reMarkable tablet but I did just see Kobo announced a competing version, the Kobo Elipsa. They have pretty similar stats, but the Elipsa is almost twice as thick! The reMarkable 2 is 4.7 mm thick and the Kobo Elipsa is 7.6 mm. I agree with reMarkable's marketing that the thinner the device is, the more paper-like it will feel. You can probably do more with the Elipsa, but I think one of the goals of a device like this is to actually do less.

[Awesomepants]

Awesomepants Apologies for jumping on the thread, but I've been eyeing the ReMarkable tablet as well. I particularly want it for reading academic article PDFs, but I've hesitated because I wonder if they'll be too small to read on its screen. I would prefer to be able to read the articles at a scale where the width of the original page matches the screen width (so as not to have to scroll sideways). I've also looked at the Boox line but admit to being seduced by the sleekness of the ReMarkable!

Do you plan on making a lot of annotations in the PDFs? If not, the Boox devices are much better suited to reading PDFs. Their reader app is very very customizable (font size, page flow, margins, etc.) plus you can install anything on the Google Play store in case you want a different reader app, to install Dropbox for file transfer etc. They also come in different sizes. I have the 10" one which I like reading PDF's on but they also have a 13" version.

The reMarkable is pretty limited in its software but if taking notes is your primary focus, this device does it best, assuming you need e-ink.

[Cooner]

SPOILER: I don't have any experience with this device.

But I did see a recommendation from another artist recently who was using it for sketching, and was kind of intrigued by it … I thought it might make for a sort of lighter companion to complement my iPad Pro. Unfortunately they're a little too pricey for me to consider purchasing as a frivolous add-on like that (especially with all the money I'm spending at Tom Bihn right now, *cough cough*) ^.^

But it does look like a nifty device! I'm curious to hear if anyone else has anything to say about it, or, maybe, if I receive a windfall payment from somewhere, might look into getting one to tinker with …

[caitirilt]

Do you plan on making a lot of annotations in the PDFs? If not, the Boox devices are much better suited to reading PDFs. Their reader app is very very customizable (font size, page flow, margins, etc.) plus you can install anything on the Google Play store in case you want a different reader app, to install Dropbox for file transfer etc. They also come in different sizes. I have the 10" one which I like reading PDF's on but they also have a 13" version.

The reMarkable is pretty limited in its software but if taking notes is your primary focus, this device does it best, assuming you need e-ink.

This is really helpful, thank you!

[GoStanford]

Thank you all for your input. I decided to hold off on this and recommit to my paper notebook, but I will take another look at the specs of the reMarkable keeping all this advice in mind.

[setrombley]

I know of at least one MacArthur grant scholar who swears by it. Just FYI.

[GoStanford]

I know of at least one MacArthur grant scholar who swears by it. Just FYI.

Intriguing. I still haven't gotten one, but one of my colleagues is now touting its benefits for digitizing all his notes going forward.