Just weeks after Ilambasted the PS5 Profor its unnecessary upgrades and eye-watering £700 price tag, Remarkable announced an incremental upgrade to its fantastic Remarkable 2 e-ink tablet, that costs £779. It’s safe to say that my expectations for the Remarkable Paper Pro were high, because the Remarkable 2 is already an expensive piece of kit when you can buy about 250 paper notebooks for the same price and even more for its successor.
Now, I love the Remarkable 2. I went as far as to say itchanged my life in my review, which it did. My life is writing. I write all day every day for work and, in the evenings, I usually settle down for some personal writing. I write on my computer, I write on my phone, I write with a pen and paper. And, for the last year, I’ve written on my Remarkable 2.
The first thing you need to know about the Remarkable Paper Pro is that it’snotthe Remarkable 3. This is aSwitch OLED, a PS5 Pro. It adds some much-needed quality of life features, but changes the feel of the tablet in a few major ways, too.
Is The Remarkable Paper Pro The Best E-Ink Tablet?
Remarkable knows how to make a product feel premium. Every piece of its perforated packaging is recyclable – something I place a lot of importance in – and satisfying to open. First impressions are that this isbig, a lot bigger than the Remarkable 2. And, turning it on, it’s remarkably (haha) similar to the previous iteration.
That all changes when you put pen to proverbial paper. The Remarkable 2 feels like drawing with a pencil on an artist’s sketchbook. It’s immensely satisfying and the reason why I prefer it to writing on an iPad or similar. The Remarkable Paper Pro feels far smoother, like you’re using a ballpoint pen on a shiny sheet of printer paper or, uncharitably, a stylus on a tablet screen.
I found this immediately inferior to the Remarkable 2, but I have to say the sensation grows on you. It’s annoying that you need to buy a new stylus to work with the Paper Pro, as that of the Remarkable 2 won’t work. Some backwards compatibility would have been nice here to help existing Remarkable users better justify the cost of the upgrade, but there are plenty of other iterations that improve the writing experience to make up for the penfeel and price.
The first is the frontlight. It’s the same kind of thing that Kindles have implemented since the Paperwhite, where clever lighting projects down onto the screen rather than out into your eyes. It’s still a bit much at full brightness in a darkened room, but being able to write into the night while my wife is asleep is a game changer for my writing habits. However, this comes with its own problems – most notably the battery life, which is significantly worse than the predecessor. The Remarkable 2 lasted for weeks on a single charge, whereas the Paper Pro needs charging twice a week.
There is one dead pixel on my Paper Pro, which feels like it beams a brighter light directly at my eyeballs.
The Paper Pro also introduces colour to proceedings. This is a big deal for some – there are many cartoonists who work on e-ink tablets who will appreciate it more than me – but when you’re just writing, it makes little difference to my daily routine. If you’re reading comics as PDFs or making art then the Paper Pro is a no-brainer, at least compared to other Remarkable tablets. I appreciate the ability to highlight text in different colours, but I wouldn’t be too bothered if I couldn’t ever do it again. I’ve heard from artists that the colours look different when exported, though, so it may take some practice to get things looking just right.
Highlighting and using coloured pens sometimes takes a couple of seconds to sync, making it a little awkward to use. Writing, however, is instantaneous and perfectly responsive.
The tablet is also bigger, although I’m not sure if this is a positive or negative. I like the fact I have to scroll less often, and there’s more leaning room for your palm. That said, I notice the Paper Pro getting quite warm after lots of use, especially near the bottom where you naturally rest your hand and, presumably, where the battery is.
The best addition to the Remarkable Paper Pro is a little magnetic clip which keeps the cover in place. This also wraps around the stylus, meaning it doesn’t fall off if you pop the device in a bag to take it on the move, which was the most frustrating experience of the Remarkable 2.
Which Is Better, The Remarkable Paper Pro Or The Remarkable 2?
The Remarkable Paper Pro is very similar to the Remarkable 2. The software has most of the same features, pitfalls included. There’s no easy way to import templates to the device, which is a continued annoyance. The transcription is still accurate, despite my handwriting. Exporting files to a PC by email or the app is simple and effective. You can still buy a type folio, which adds a keyboard attachment that I don’t really understand the appeal of – I’m using this to simulate real writing, not typing. None of these seem changed on the Remarkable Paper Pro, but how many of them needed changing?
I find my handwriting improves when writing on an e-ink tablet, especially when using the fountain pen mode. Ben Sledge, calligrapher extraordinaire.
In that case, is the Paper Pro worth the hefty price tag? I think my answer is the same as whether you should buy a PS5 Pro: it depends. I’m not intent on getting splinters in my bum from all this fence sitting, but there are a few factors to take into account. Firstly, do you already have a Remarkable 2? If so, I’d steer well clear of the upgrade, as it simply doesn’t justify its cost.
But if you’re looking for your first e-ink tablet, or if you prioritise colour above all, then this is a no-brainer. It feels much like the Kindle Paperwhite in that it will be the benchmark for all e-ink tablets of any brand going forward, and any Remarkable 3 will iterate on this rather than on the 2. It’s a luxury device, but it’s a device that makes you feel excited to write. As someone who loves putting pen to paper (or pixel) more than anything else, that’s all I can ask for.
