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I’ve been on a playwriting kick lately. Three plays in three years, and I love the process of writing drafts. But when it comes to looking at it afterwards, I have a hard time finding a comfortable system.
Chunky laptops. iPads are good. I don’t print things out as much anymore. But I’ve been watching drafts of my play on the new Remarkable Paper Pure in the morning, typing out this review introduction in longhand on my tablet’s crisp white screen. It looks like a real notebook.
I remember being dazzled by the magic of Remarkable’s ultra-fast e-ink pen Nearly a decade agoSince then, pen-friendly e-ink tablets have become an industry of their own. Amazon Kindle Writer and Box’s many discs It competes with Remarkable, which now has its own line of black-and-white and color tablets.
Remarkable Paper Pure is an upgrade and replacement To the wonderful 2a black-and-white/grayscale tablet released in 2000. The $399 Pure, available for pre-order now and shipping in early June, is the same price as the Remarkable 2. But it’s noticeably and subtly better.
I’d love to look at drafts of my play on this topic.
The Canvas grayscale display is twice as fast to refresh (now 21ms refresh), and most page turns and other interactions feel relatively fast now. I like that, but I also like the screen to be whiter. The tablet’s footprint is also smaller and it weighs less (12.6 ounces versus 14.2 ounces for the Remarkable 2, despite having the same grayscale 10.3-inch, 1,872 x 1,404-pixel display. It feels more welcoming, although the tablet is a little thicker now (0.2 inches).
There’s no back (or front) light, though, something colorful Pepper Pro And Paper Move both have them. The lights on E Ink tablets don’t always look great, but they are useful. The Pure is designed to act like a regular laptop, with ambient room lighting.
But what really surprises me about the new Pure Tablet isn’t how much I like it. That’s how much my 17 year old does. He started drawing on it right away. Now he wants one. Although he’s not excited about the cost of it, he’s very interested in the whole proposal.
The padded case and mounting pen cost an extra $50, but it’s worth it if you’re considering the Pure.
Back to (improved) basics.
Remarkable, based in Norway, has taken a surprisingly backwards approach with the new Pure model this time around compared to the Remarkable 2. There’s no case accessory this time around, or keyboard holster. Alternatively, the Pure sells alone for $399, or comes with a padded case and follow-up pen for $449.
I miss the folio case, but the new padded sleeve is reinforced on the inside and automatically puts the tablet to sleep when you slide it into it. I appreciated his relaxed atmosphere, and he came with me on the train and to a group of local cafes. I recommend the $449 package for the case (you’ll need one) and the better pen that has the eraser mode on the back.
Unlike the Pro line introduced two years ago, which had a front-lit color E Ink display, the Pure feels pared down. And it is, but in a good way. The Pure feels more focused on feeling like paper, and that surprised me. And my wife. And my children. They were impressed by it, as they have rarely been impressed by any technology I’ve tested recently.
The big differences are the faster refresh, whiter screen, and battery life that should last longer (three weeks versus two weeks with the Remarkable 2). Using it frequently for five days or so, the battery life did drop by a fair amount, but Remarkable does battery estimates based on an hour of daily use.
The plastic case doesn’t initially look quite as elegant as the one on the Remarkable 2, but it’s attractive to hold and light. The internal magnesium casing of the device also makes it durable, not floppy or squeaky. The entire product looks very well designed and simple. Leaning over a tablet to write is like working on a paper notebook.
I tried writing this review on Remarkable Paper Pure, in long handwriting, which is rough because my handwriting is terrible. But the Pure feels great for handwriting and drawing, so it’s not really the tablet’s fault. However, the working methods on the Remarkable Tablet are limited as always. It does not run on Android or any other app store, and is entirely based on its own operating system and tools. It’s a brief focus experience, where writing and commenting are the main event.
E-books and documents can be uploaded on and off, and you can link a cloud drive, but it’s still not as seamless as I’d like.
I like the simple interfaces, touch gestures, and intuitive menus. Transferring documents to and from your tablet is easier than ever, thanks to a web app that can convert documents or add PDFs, Word documents, and ePubs. It’s a bit strange because the actual iPhone app doesn’t allow adding documents, but the web app can. However, sharing documents from a tablet is also a lot easier because links to files in the web app can be sent to people without needing a Remarkable account.
However, while many Remarkable features can work for free with an account set up through Remarkable, a subset of the features Subscription based. A free account can connect Remarkable to your Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox accounts for file sharing, and can convert handwriting, but a $40/year subscription is required for unlimited cloud file storage in Remarkable, more apps and services, access to a collection of Remarkable’s smart and helpful art notes and templates, or searching for handwriting in notebooks.
After about a year of spending time with one of the Remarkable tablets, I’ve found some of the new features to be quite compelling. I enjoyed the demo of the viewing tool that is now part of the tablet, where a web app can be used to broadcast what’s on the tablet while the pen selects and points to parts of the screen, even as you hover over them. There’s an AI tool that summarizes notes into text that can be shared with colleagues, breaking the pieces down into bullet points.
I was also impressed with the tablet’s handwriting-to-text conversions, which weren’t instantaneous but realized my terrible plan much better than I could have imagined.
Although I feel inspired by a lot of the basic ideas for Remarkable Paper Pure, it also feels like the equivalent of a very specialized kitchen tool. I bought a coffee grinder over a year ago, and ended up never using it…until a few weeks ago. Now I use it non-stop. I can see the same thing happening with how someone would use a tablet like this. It may never help you improve your life, or you may rely on it as your new favorite drawing board.
My art is terrible, but my child can do better (even though he prefers not to display his work).
Fun gift for sketch artists?
My older son saw me test the Remarkable Paper Pure and fell in love with it too, but as a drawing tool. He had been considering drawing apps and tablets, and found drawing on Pure really satisfying. We’ve also delved into adding layers, or separate editable overlays in a single art file, which is an easy process on Pure.
He was the most excited about the tool I’ve tested in years, but sad about the price. $400 isn’t expensive, but it’s not cheap either, considering that iPads start at $349. The Remarkable Tablet won’t double as a regular work device for other applications, but again, the price of the Pen-plus-Tablet is lower than the cheapest iPad-plus-Pencil. As my son immediately appreciated, Remarkable’s easy and innovative interface firstly looks very inviting for spontaneous drawing or drawing.
Yes, the price is high. However, most equivalent E Ink note-taking tablets aren’t cheap either. I still love how great design doesn’t tolerate unwanted additions, and it makes me feel—when I’m leafing through drafts of my play to read and highlight, or a 120-page report on the immersive entertainment industry that I’m adding notes to in the margins—that I have a handy pad for notes and long review marks. iPads serve this purpose too, and do so much more. However, I never find myself having to use the Apple Pencil much with the iPad: I use the keyboard first. With Remarkable tablets, I always have a pen in my hand.