ReMarkable Paper Tablet
If you’ve always thought digital doodling never quite felt like the real thing, that the Apple Pencil, Microsoft Surface Pen and Samsung's S Pen couldn’t quite hold up to a humble piece of HB graphite, then this might be the tablet you’ve been waiting for.
The ReMarkable tablet ditches the common-or-garden LCD for a digital paper screen, which has a coarse texture that gets much closer to the feel of writing on an actual piece of paper. That means no more tapping away on glass, and (hopefully) no obvious delay between each scribble of your pen tip, too. Oh, and it pulls double duty as an eBook reader too.
It's a unique idea, and after numerous prototypes has finally made it to retail, but is it different enough to replace your old fashioned sketch book - or too niche to take on the more modern iPad Pro?
The ReMarkable is a solid product that doesn’t look exceptional at first glance. It’s made of thick white plastic with a healthy bezel that makes it easy to grip without covering the 10.3-inch screen. The three buttons on the front flick pages forward and back, while the centre button takes you to the home screen.
It’s not all plastic. There’s an aluminium plate on the back that offers a cooler feel and rigidity. Above and below this are two long rubber feet. These are great for keeping the ReMarkable in place on a desk, lap or coffee table. At 350g it is light enough to hold with one hand, but you won’t want to read like that for too long.
There’s one other button along the top ridge that puts the ReMarkable to sleep with a short press, or turns it off with a longer one. A single microUSB port sits at the bottom which is used for both charging and data transfer. A cable is included in the box, but a plug isn’t.
It might not be the prettiest device to look at, but the ReMarkable team have made all the right choices when it comes to usability. It’s hardy and easy to use.
The reMarkable's major weapon is its 10.3-inch Canvas display, a monochromatic digital-paper surface that incorporates the E Ink Carta technology. The first thing you'll notice about the display is its slightly granular texture, which makes it feel like cold paper. Don't expect to view photos clearly on this display, as they look like you used a carbon-copy sheet (ask your elders).
The Remarkable tablet makes use of a 1GHz ARM A9 CPU, backed up by 512MB of RAM. That’s fine for what you'll be doing on the device, although the relatively slow speed of page refreshes can frustrate.
E-ink displays only perform a full refresh when prompted, which is why they’re perfect for e-readers – as they don’t draw power often, the battery lasts much longer. They optionally don’t have to perform a full refresh either, which speeds up page turns significantly, although this can leave behind artefacts from the previous screen.
The Remarkable performs partial refreshes regularly, meaning it will easily see out a week before needing a recharge. However, for precision sketching, this can leave lots of ghost-like lines on a fresh blank page, with no option to force through a full refresh – particularly annoying when you're erasing elements. And then, when a full refresh does occur, it takes a distracting second to go through.
What can’t be knocked, though, is the feel of the pen on the screen itself. Combined with the multiple pen styles on offer, you have a full range of writing and drawing options at your disposal. Basil, TechRadar's resident artist, felt instantly at home with the Remarkable, declaring it the best non-paper device he’d scribbled on, at least in terms of the pen-to-page feel.
You may miss full color control if you want to create more vibrant artworks, but if it's line work you’re interested in, it ticks the boxes.
Rather than running a variant of another operating system, the reMarkable uses Codex, its own OS. This is a custom version of Linux that's optimized for low-latency e-paper. This means you get a brand-new user interface to learn, one that mostly revolves around unfamiliar icons.
Writing on the ReMarkable tablet is a revelation. Not only does the pen on the textured display feel like paper, it even simulates the same scratching sound you get when writing the good, old-fashioned, way.
It really feels like writing in a notebook, and the lack of lag helps keep the illusion up. Touch the pen to the screen and letters spring up almost instantly. There’s just the merest hint of delay, but it isn’t enough to bother me at all. One thing that does is that the tablet forgets my favourite settings for pen thickness sometimes.
As a drawing tool, the ReMarkable is a mixed bag. The texture of the screen and low-latency mean simple sketching is a joy, especially when you minimise the toolbox to go full-screen.
However, your choice of pencils is limited to three sizes, whether pressure-sensitivity is activated or not. More serious pencil artists would probably rather have the familiar ratings for hardness and darkness – 2H, HB, 4B, etc. You can zoom quickly into a sketch by up to 500%, but zooming back out seems to take an age. Adding layers isn’t fast either.
All this adds up to mean, as a basic sketching tool to jot down ideas it’s spot on, but you shouldn’t expect to create finished masterpieces.
The pen itself is light and robust. It doesn’t have a battery or need charging but the nibs are replaceable. That’s because the friction of writing on the screen wears them down. I found that I have to replace nibs after two weeks of solid use. It’s not that the pen becomes unusable, more that the writing experience isn’t as smooth as I’d like. 10 nibs, and an extractor, come with the ReMarkable tablet with additional packs of eight available to buy for £12 each.
I did find that it sometimes dropped significantly when I wasn’t using it, overnight for example. Manually putting it to sleep by pressing the button seems to fix that, but there are clearly still some optimisations that need to be made to the ReMarkable to keep it lasting longer.
Charging via USB cable is reasonably speedy. The ReMarkable charges up to 88% in an hour and 100% in an hour and a half.
The reMarkable costs $599 and includes the marker, extra tips and a wool-felt folio case that has a pocket for the Marker. An extra set of eight Marker tips costs $12. reMarkable says each tip should last at least three weeks, and that less pressure and usage could extend their life to six weeks.
We should note that buying a reMarkable, a brand-new product from a startup, is a placing bet that the company will be around for the long term. Without third-party sync or USB transfer, consumers are reliant on the company maintaining its cloud servers and producing Marker tips.
The reMarkable comes with a limited, one-year warranty in the U.S., but this period may be longer in other countries.
At £529 just for the tablet, with the pen sold separately, this is a seriously expensive device. It’s fantastic at what it does, and the crowdfunding campaign that got it off the ground has been a resounding success, but prioritising the writing experience above all else has forced some compromises.
With no backlight or frontlight, a Kindle is still probably your best bet if you're mainly after an eBook reader. Digital artists that aren’t interested in working purely in greyscale will be better served by an iPad Pro or Microsoft Surface, even if their respective styli can’t match ReMarkable for convincing feel.
Stuff’s resident artist Ross Presly liked it for quick freehand doodles, even if there were times where the way the stylus emulates a real pen left unfinished or messy lines.
For people that just can’t say no to a notepad, though, there’s an awful lot to like. I'm no artist, and I had a blast just doodling, drawing and sketching nonsense during my time with the tab.
Just keep in mind you’d have to be filling Moleskine notebooks up at a mighty rate before you’d spend the same amount as one of these.
ReMarkable isn’t a Traditional Tablet.
If you’ve always thought digital doodling never quite felt like the real thing, that the Apple Pencil, Microsoft Surface Pen and Samsung's S Pen couldn’t quite hold up to a humble piece of HB graphite, then this might be the tablet you’ve been waiting for.The ReMarkable tablet ditches the common-or-garden LCD for a digital paper screen, which has a coarse texture that gets much closer to the feel of writing on an actual piece of paper. That means no more tapping away on glass, and (hopefully) no obvious delay between each scribble of your pen tip, too. Oh, and it pulls double duty as an eBook reader too.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet Design
It’s not all plastic. There’s an aluminium plate on the back that offers a cooler feel and rigidity. Above and below this are two long rubber feet. These are great for keeping the ReMarkable in place on a desk, lap or coffee table. At 350g it is light enough to hold with one hand, but you won’t want to read like that for too long.
It might not be the prettiest device to look at, but the ReMarkable team have made all the right choices when it comes to usability. It’s hardy and easy to use.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet Dispaly
The reMarkable's major weapon is its 10.3-inch Canvas display, a monochromatic digital-paper surface that incorporates the E Ink Carta technology. The first thing you'll notice about the display is its slightly granular texture, which makes it feel like cold paper. Don't expect to view photos clearly on this display, as they look like you used a carbon-copy sheet (ask your elders).
While this panel's on-screen buttons are touch-sensitive, you'll need to use the slate's Marker stylus to do everything else.
Just like with actual paper, the reMarkable's viewing angles are nearly perfect, as I could see text clearly no matter how I looked at it, even when I placed the tablet at nearly 90-degree angles.
Just like with actual paper, the reMarkable's viewing angles are nearly perfect, as I could see text clearly no matter how I looked at it, even when I placed the tablet at nearly 90-degree angles.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet Performance
E-ink displays only perform a full refresh when prompted, which is why they’re perfect for e-readers – as they don’t draw power often, the battery lasts much longer. They optionally don’t have to perform a full refresh either, which speeds up page turns significantly, although this can leave behind artefacts from the previous screen.
The Remarkable performs partial refreshes regularly, meaning it will easily see out a week before needing a recharge. However, for precision sketching, this can leave lots of ghost-like lines on a fresh blank page, with no option to force through a full refresh – particularly annoying when you're erasing elements. And then, when a full refresh does occur, it takes a distracting second to go through.
What can’t be knocked, though, is the feel of the pen on the screen itself. Combined with the multiple pen styles on offer, you have a full range of writing and drawing options at your disposal. Basil, TechRadar's resident artist, felt instantly at home with the Remarkable, declaring it the best non-paper device he’d scribbled on, at least in terms of the pen-to-page feel.
You may miss full color control if you want to create more vibrant artworks, but if it's line work you’re interested in, it ticks the boxes.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet OS
Before you get down to business, you should familiarize yourself with the icon indexes for navigation and for writing and drawing tools. While I love the select, move and copy options, the interface could give better visual cues of its progress. Instead of seeing a completion icon, you have to presume things are working as you move along.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet Stylus
Writing on the ReMarkable tablet is a revelation. Not only does the pen on the textured display feel like paper, it even simulates the same scratching sound you get when writing the good, old-fashioned, way.
As a drawing tool, the ReMarkable is a mixed bag. The texture of the screen and low-latency mean simple sketching is a joy, especially when you minimise the toolbox to go full-screen.
However, your choice of pencils is limited to three sizes, whether pressure-sensitivity is activated or not. More serious pencil artists would probably rather have the familiar ratings for hardness and darkness – 2H, HB, 4B, etc. You can zoom quickly into a sketch by up to 500%, but zooming back out seems to take an age. Adding layers isn’t fast either.
All this adds up to mean, as a basic sketching tool to jot down ideas it’s spot on, but you shouldn’t expect to create finished masterpieces.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet Battery
One of the boons of an e-ink display is that it doesn’t use much power. A Kindle ebook reader can last for weeks on a single charge. The ReMarkable tablet can’t quite manage that, but its 3000mAh battery can last for several days of regular use – turn Wi-Fi off and you can squeeze even more. I found that I need to recharge it every two to three days when used for 4-5 hours a day.I did find that it sometimes dropped significantly when I wasn’t using it, overnight for example. Manually putting it to sleep by pressing the button seems to fix that, but there are clearly still some optimisations that need to be made to the ReMarkable to keep it lasting longer.
Charging via USB cable is reasonably speedy. The ReMarkable charges up to 88% in an hour and 100% in an hour and a half.
ReMarkable Paper Tablet Price, Accessories and Warranty
The reMarkable costs $599 and includes the marker, extra tips and a wool-felt folio case that has a pocket for the Marker. An extra set of eight Marker tips costs $12. reMarkable says each tip should last at least three weeks, and that less pressure and usage could extend their life to six weeks.
We should note that buying a reMarkable, a brand-new product from a startup, is a placing bet that the company will be around for the long term. Without third-party sync or USB transfer, consumers are reliant on the company maintaining its cloud servers and producing Marker tips.
The reMarkable comes with a limited, one-year warranty in the U.S., but this period may be longer in other countries.
Verdict
At £529 just for the tablet, with the pen sold separately, this is a seriously expensive device. It’s fantastic at what it does, and the crowdfunding campaign that got it off the ground has been a resounding success, but prioritising the writing experience above all else has forced some compromises.
With no backlight or frontlight, a Kindle is still probably your best bet if you're mainly after an eBook reader. Digital artists that aren’t interested in working purely in greyscale will be better served by an iPad Pro or Microsoft Surface, even if their respective styli can’t match ReMarkable for convincing feel.
Stuff’s resident artist Ross Presly liked it for quick freehand doodles, even if there were times where the way the stylus emulates a real pen left unfinished or messy lines.
Just keep in mind you’d have to be filling Moleskine notebooks up at a mighty rate before you’d spend the same amount as one of these.
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