Simply reMarkable

If your desk is anything like many of the team at Metropol, there are bits of paper and sticky notes everywhere. Tech guru Ian Knott discovers that the reMarkable 2 paper tablet lives up to its name.

Nothing is quite like the tactile feel of pen and paper when it comes to taking notes, whether in a board meeting, doodling while on the phone, or making a shopping list. But paper gets lost, messy, torn and dog-eared, and not to mention the possible environmental repercussions.

Then there’s tablets, some of which come with styluses and can also be used to take notes. But then you have to compete with screen glare, lack of sensitivity, and added distractions.

Enter reMarkable, and more to the point, reMarkable 2 – the paper tablet incorporating the best of both worlds.

The wafer-thin, 4.7mm thick reMarkable 2 looks and feels like actual paper, and writing on it has a textural feel that accurately mimics writing on paper with a pen. Think Kindle Paperwhite, but bigger (10.3” non-colour screen) and far more versatile.

Take handwritten notes, and convert them into text if you want, review and mark-up documents including PDFs and save them to Google Drive or Dropbox. There’s no backlight, so a full charge (USB-C) lasts two weeks, but you can’t read anything in the dark. Two types of pen (stylus) are bought separately. One has an eraser on the end, and the other requires selecting the eraser tool on screen. The only other must-have is a cover, and there are several stylish options available.

It is important to note what reMarkable can’t do, and that’s surf the web, watch Netflix or any video whatsoever, or play any games (apart from noughts and crosses of course). It’s purely a digital replacement for your paper notepad, and will demand attention wherever you go.

Granted, it’s a pricey notepad at just over $700, an extra $90-$180 for a pen, plus a protective cover on top of that, but once you start using the reMarkable 2, you’ll genuinely wonder how you ever survived without it. Clean up your desk, and save a tree or three.

reMarkable 2

PROS

• Looks and feels just like paper.
• Replaces the scraps and notes all over your desk.
• Demands attention from others.

CONS

• Essential items are “add ons”, which really boosts the initial outlay.