Remarkable 2 Review— How does it feel?
But first, a bit of context.
As a child who grew up with computers, I always thought they are the path forward in our evolution. This is why I started to digitise everything from pictures to notes and thoughts. I was convinced that writing on a piece of paper is something we do because we have no other choice.
This changed when I met my wife Andreea who is a big fan of paper and pen, well, mechanical pencil. After quite a few nudges from her, I decided to give the old tools of thought another chance.
I started reading books and extracting the knowledge in the form of notes on paper. It felt just like when I had discovered the internet for the first time: an immense source of information was at my fingertips.
After reading books on various topics, my old source of information: blog posts and articles felt like second hand knowledge. Long story short, I started believing in the power of paper and books again.
I started taking lots of notes on paper and favoured this medium for any king of brainstorming and ideation. Screens just kill creativity like nothing else. Fast forward one year and I had several large notebooks filled with valuable information, the only problem was I couldn’t get to my notes anymore. I was so bad at organising them that I sometimes turned the page expecting a blank one, but found old notes written upside down… You know, when you start using the notebook from the other end.
Even though I was aware of the power of paper, I started using it less and less and only for my short term notes that I deemed disposable.
Remarkable 2 — paper tablet
If you are still with me, you must really want to know my thoughts on it. I’ll get right to it.
This thing has rekindled my love for knowledge because it has truly lived up to it’ s promise of making paper better. And as you can tell by now, I think paper is a good vessel for thinking.
I pick it up sometimes and I loose track of time by just doodling meaningless shapes and when I do get back to reality I feel refreshed in a way that doesn’t make sense to me.
The Design
The industrial design of this thing is so good that I sometimes have to stop and appreciate it. A bit distracting in the good sense.
The weight might be on the heavy side if you compare it to a kindle, but I only notice it when I’m reading. That’s when I just prop it on my knees or pillow or whatever, so it’s not a major issue for me.
The Marker
I have the regular marker without the eraser and I quite like it, even though at first I kind of regretted not buying the marker plus. After a while though, it didn’t bothered me anymore because I just scribble over my mistakes, instead of erasing them. You know, just like you do with regular pen and paper.
The Book Folio
You can tell the device was designed from the start to be paired with the book folio. From the moment you snap them together, you never have to take it out. Apart from the moments when just want to marvel at it’s thinness.
The Book Folio is so well made that this is the first device I use with a cover.
There’s a curious thing that happens when you have what feels like unlimited pages. With paper you always ask yourself the question:
Is this thing I’m about to create worth a piece of paper?
With the Remarkable I never ask myself that question, I just start and see where that takes me. This encourages experimentation which I think is essential for creativity. It also lowers the barrier for getting started which can feel like the hardest thing to do sometimes.
I also love that the Remarkable team is so hellbent on creating the best possible writing experience. That is where the magic happens. Sometimes, you forget you are holding a device powered by electricity. It’s so close to paper that when you do something the paper can’t do, like copy / paste, the brain says Naaaaah! That’s not possible!.
For quite some time I struggled to understand why I like it so much and what sets it apart from other devices and I would say this:
It creates an addiction towards content creation instead of an addiction towards content consumption.
This whole review was written and drawn on the Remarkable 2 tablet and I’m fairly sure it would have never happened if I was sitting in front of a computer. Think about that for a second.
Update: I have received a referral code from reMarkable that will get you a $40 discount. Buy it here
