Looks like yet another company took advice from the tech industry instead of focusing on their product and the needs of their customers.
If you start a new job at a company, you’ll likely get some new company swag. A reusable water bottle, stickers, a pen, I’ve even gotten a blanket! Twice! But nearly every company I’ve ever worked at has also given me one thing: a roughly A5-sized notebook. This size is slightly larger than the popular Moleskine notebook, and the same size as my favorite notebook, the Leuchtturm1917 in the A5 size. I like these notebooks so much I have backups for when I fill them up! Go to an office and you’ll see notebooks like these getting use, as people jot down notes about projects or quickly do sketches. These are the most popular notebooks for professionals for a variety of reasons.
First, they’re small. You can easily put them in a bag, carry them with your laptop, or use them on an increasingly cramped desk space in an “open” office. They’re the perfect old-fashioned tool for the modern office. Despite this, it can be hard to find digital replacements for them, but one product still shines: the iPad mini. Despite other competitors trying to make truly paper-like digital notebooks, only the iPad mini shines as the true successor to the A5 notebook.
But the iPad mini is far from perfect. In fact, other companies have come so close to making the best notebook replacement, only to forget why they’re making their devices and what will be in them.
Here’s why I still recommend the iPad mini for taking notes, but also what’s wrong with the industry, and what has to change.
In This Article:
The Good Stuff
I meant it when I said the iPad mini is the best device for writing and note taking. I don’t think it’s the best “laptop replacement” iPad, that likely goes to the smaller iPad Pro. However, for portability, note taking, sketching and quick graphics, the iPad mini can’t be beat. Here are some of its best benefits over other tablets.
Size
This is an easy one. The iPad mini is about the size of a Moleskine notebook, one of the most popular notebooks on sale today. Plus, it’s thinner than those notebooks. Whereas in school I might have a notebook for each subject, or a notebook for each project, now I have all those notebooks in one place. The iPad mini manages to beat the notebooks in every way that matters when it comes to portability. Slim, lightweight, and can fit in even a medium-sized purse. Limited desk space at the office and especially at home means you just can’t have a laptop-sized tablet somewhere on your desk. Some of these tablets, like the aforementioned reMarkable, wouldn’t even fit on my desk where I use my iPad mini, let alone everywhere else I can take it. When you’re already lugging around large books, a tablet the size of those large books is fine. But after school, your note taking needs change, and suddenly, bigger isn’t better.
I use my iPad mini on the subway, to read and take notes, on my couch, and, of course, on my desk, next to my computer, as I work on various programming, writing, and other tasks. Even weekend to-do lists! The iPad mini is perfect because its size allows it to be your constant writing companion. Few other tablets and even paper notebooks can make that claim.
Security and Privacy
In middle school, I created a simple replacement cypher using symbols to write notes to my friends. We were teenagers, we had secrets to keep. I actually still write my journal in that made-up language. The code wouldn’t stop anyone from reading it if they really wanted to, I don’t do as much to make decoding the cypher hard anymore. But it would be enough to slow anyone down so they can’t read my most private thoughts.
Unless you write in a code, if someone had access to your notebooks, they could read them. Why should electronic devices care more about security than that? Because they’re not just storing your data on-device, they have access to the internet. Even if they don’t, they contain searchable data, reducing the time someone needs with your device to uncover critical data. Devices, unlike notebooks, are frequent targets for theft. An unencrypted notebook is far more safe than an unencrypted tablet. An unencrypted tablet is not something anyone should be using.
These tablets often store your notes on their servers unencrypted, and even use them to train AI models. Gross. That’s not quite “in the public,” but it’s close. Considering how easy it is to get the verbatim text out of some of these models, nothing ingested for AI is safe.
Some companies won’t even tell you the privacy policies for their devices until after you buy them. Some won’t even let you encrypt notes on your device. Others, like the reMarkable, can provide access to encrypted content to law enforcement, which means they store your keys or simply give you access to keys they own. If a company can unlock your notes, they’re never really your notes. You lease access to them, likely through a subscription. You don’t own that data, and could lose access to it as well. On others, you’ll find they’ll have their own cloud options, or you can trust Microsoft, Google, Amazon, or Dropbox with your notes, all of which have made investments in AI. Some, like Google and Amazon, make data collection for advertising a core part of their business. I don’t trust them with the most public information about myself, let alone my notes.
The iPad Bucks the Trend
However, the iPad is different. You can use iCloud encryption to preserve anything you use in any app that uses iCloud storage. The standard version still uses your keys to encrypt your data, but stores them on Apple’s servers so they can unlock it too. However, unlike most other companies, Apple actually gives users the choice to use their “Advanced Data Protection.” This stores no keys, and makes your data completely locked down to your account password and the keys you create. The drawback is that if you lose your keys which consist of your password or a chain of characters used to unlock your data if you forget your password, that data is gone. It will never be decrypted again. Still, if you want the highest level of security, Apple will give you that option. This isn’t something I can say of any of the other competitors I looked at, and the main reason I wouldn’t use any other device for notes. Think about it. If you work in healthcare, your notes could include patient personally identifiable information (PII). Your work notes could contain company secrets. You could be violating the law or breaking your contract, and liable for a breach of that information if you’re the source of a leak. The only tool you can use is one with complete encryption where only you have the keys to decrypt it. Fortunately, that can be as easy as setting a password and toggling a single switch on the iPad, because Apple makes security simple.
On top of that, with the iPad, you can choose apps that don’t train on your notes. Notability even recently added the ability to import and export notes from external storage devices and your iPad’s own storage, so you could potentially encrypt and backup everything yourself, either on your iPad or on an encrypted external drive. You never need to use iCloud or any other cloud services. You could make your own cloud. Or you can use Apple’s and encrypt everything in your iCloud account to the point that no one, not Apple or law enforcement, can access it. That’s real security. I haven’t yet found a solution from another party that offers this, and that’s why Notability on the iPad is my top suggestion for note taking.
Versatility
I keep my notes on various projects on my iPad. My work notes, personal projects, todo lists for the weekend, and more, all live in the same place. Someone recently recommended some Procreate brushes for a project I was working on, and they worked perfectly. I also have been drawing all the robot art for my articles about AI to kind of do a “fuck you” to the people who steal art instead of doing what I do: making the effort to make crappy art.
AirDrop makes it easy to even transfer single layers between my iPad mini and my MacBook, so I’ll often start projects on one and complete them on the other. The iPad offers that versatility where I can do so much with not only this one device, but an entire network of connected devices.
Multimedia Notes
Sometimes I put images in my notes. Screenshots that I’ve circled elements to change on, graphs, screenshots of code, anything that could be relevant to my notes later. Sometimes it’s just easier to have that. On top of it, the app I use on my iPad, Notability, also has an audio recorder. I haven’t really had to use this before, but it could be helpful when taking notes, conducting an interview, or even just as a personal log during a project for when you want to make a note but don’t have a hand free. Not many devices can do all of that. They especially can’t all sync up what you wrote to the recording, so you can see relevant notes alongside a part of the audio recording. Replacing paper notes with e-paper is great, but with technology, we can take it a few steps further, beyond what we thought possible with traditional note taking.
Third Party Support
There is the most obvious aspect to third party support, the apps. I like using Notability for my notes, because they seem to have a greater focus on keeping your notes private than Goodnotes or others. But there are plenty of options here. You could even use Apple Notes.
But then there’s the less obvious benefit to third party support: hardware. You can find cases, covers, folios, bags, all designed around the iPad. There are artist boards, stands, and more tools to make using your iPad easier. But there are even a variety of pens as well. Screen protectors to add a paper feel, different pens from Apple, Logitech, even Lamy, maker of the infamous Safari fountain pen. Some other manufacturers have this. The Ratta Supernote Nomad, for example, has a variety of pens available, including one based on the Lamy Safari. But none will ever have the wealth of support from a large community of developers and manufacturers like Apple.
The Bad Stuff
Battery Life
The number of times I go to use my iPad and see a low battery warning after I haven’t used it for a few hours is infuriating. I wish Apple devices could say, “Hey, you haven’t used me in 30 minutes, I’ll enable low power mode!” Instead, it stays fetching data, doing updates, and draining my battery.
My work day lasts a little over 8 hours. Then my second work day begins, where I work on personal projects, my own apps, games, my blog, etc. I’m an American, we can’t just have one job! If you’re not working, what are you supposed to do? Discover the real meaning of life? Create? Try to enjoy a moment of existence instead of creating value? Ridiculous!
Anyway, the point is, my average work day is longer than the battery life of my tablet, and that’s incredibly frustrating, even if I shouldn’t be working so much anyway.
No Texture
I, like many, hate writing or drawing on my iPad with the Apple Pencil. It’s hard plastic on glass. Not quite nails on chalkboard, but annoying none the less. There’s no friction and it feels like trying to sign your name properly on a checkout kiosk. It looks terrible and feels terrible.
Most e-paper displays have a textured coating that makes them feel like paper, both for your fingers and for a stylus. These have higher contrast than the iPad, as they’re usually black and white, and therefore require less light to look clear. Still, Apple could add a small amount of texture to these displays. The latest iPad Pro models can come with a micro dot texture. Though this may not be perfect for pencil feel, as it apparently doesn’t change the texture enough for writing. The best option is still a Paperlike screen protector, and that degrades the screen quality more than built-in matte texture would.
Writing on the iPad doesn’t feel great, but the Paperlike makes it… not bad? Still, it’s never as good as competitors.
Eye Strain and Bright Light
If you work on computing devices, you have to get used to taking a step away from your computer. Every few minutes, at least a few times an hour, make sure you look away long enough to let your eyes relax. Squeezing your focusing muscles for so long causes strain. There are some theories that claim bright LED-lit backlight devices, as well as blue light, can also cause strain. Some say that blue light may disrupt sleep. The studies aren’t perfect on it. You can use filters, software, or computer blue light filtering glasses, but nothing beats just using a device that causes less eye strain, such as e-readers.
Keep your vision healthy by giving your eyes a break on occasion. Use a pomodoro timer if you get too distracted with work and find yourself getting “sucked in” for hours. This is a minor drawback. Any device held closely will cause eye strain if focused on for extended periods of time. Just remember to take breaks. Look out a window, go for a walk, close your eyes a bit when typing a long sentence , give extra examples so you can close your eyes for longer, whatever it takes to give your eyes a break. That’s likely better than using an e-paper display anyway.
Distractions a Tap Away
Many iPad competitors use an e-paper display, which aren’t great for video, games, or even just scrolling through content endlessly. Basically? They’re more simple, and that’s a huge benefit. It keeps you from getting too distracted. When your favorite apps are just a swipe away, it’s easy to get off track and forget what you were doing. The iPad is powerful, and has many features, but those features can get in the way of your work.
You can turn on a focus mode, but are you going to do that every time you go to take a note? Maybe you pull out your iPad in a park to take a note quick. You get a notification for one thing, you read your Instagram on your phone, and soon your train of thought is gone and your iPad is back in your bag. It happened to me while I was writing this section, actually! I got a message from a friend, went to that, started testing a new stylus for my iPad, remembered this thought, and went back to complete it. That doesn’t happen with a paper notebook, and for many of these e-paper notebooks, it won’t happen with them either.
Alternative Issues
I haven’t actually tested any of these. I’d love to, but as readers here know, I buy things with my own money, I haven’t been sent any products for review, so I can’t say much here. However, these are the reasons I haven’t bought them, and why I decided to get an iPad mini instead of one of these devices or a similar model.
Ratta Supernote Nomad
Of all of these alternatives, the Ratta Supernote Nomad is probably the best looking one. That clear variation just makes me want to nab it up! Plus it works with the Lamy Safari Twin EMR pen, which can accept different nibs, including a ballpoint pen nib. All while having a shape inspired by the wonderful Lamy Safari pen, the pen that made me like fountain pens. However, it has one huge drawback: no real security.
Despite years of users asking for it on Reddit and presumably other support channels, there’s no encryption on device. No storage options require or enforce encryption. Your data could be free for all, depending on where you keep it. There’s no excuse to not have encryption. Android, which this tablet is built on, makes hardware-based encryption simple for developers. Instead, nothing. This feels deliberate, and was certainly a choice they made. Why, we can only guess.
reMarkable Pro
As I noted above (see what I did there?) the reMarkable Pro is huge. It wouldn’t completely fit on my desk where I use my iPad currently. I might have to move my lamp, or otherwise mix up my desktop. Do people really want a notebook this big? I would have struggled to fit this on most of my school desks in my life.
Some reviews have called out its price. With all accessories you’d likely need for usage, it’s as much, if not more than, some iPads. However, I think this is reasonable. It’s a smaller company, making a tablet that’s pushing the boundaries for this technology, it’s slim and light, and seems to be worth the money.
But, as you might have guessed, there are potential issues on the security side. Google manages the cloud keys. Are these safe? Perhaps. But having no option to keep the keys yourself and only store your encrypted contents in the cloud means that someone else could, under specific circumstances, unlock your notes and access your data. Law enforcement could access it and the only thing keeping it safe from employees accessing it is a policy, and policies aren’t security.
Kindle Scribe
I don’t even know what to say here. Amazon is, on top of being a retailer, a data collection company. They do not mention encryption on their devices and have not had anything close to a good history with security or privacy. I wouldn’t even consider it.
Boox Tab Mini C
This has a convenient size, but no encryption, no information on how you control your data, and security experts aren’t fans. Users report sketchy behavior, they won’t share their Linux source code despite it being a requirement of using the Linux Kernel as defined by the GPL, and, while they don’t seen to have overtly sketchy connections, they do send some data encrypted, which could contain more information than you mean to share. Once more, the option to just encrypt everything you do with your own keys seems to be absent.
Unless a company can guarantee your privacy and security and writing and give you end to end encryption without storing your keys, they’re making sure they or someone else can access your data, and that should be avoided.
The Perfect Writing Companion…
Everyone is making concessions, but some just aren’t the right choice. For example, if you’re making an e-paper display, don’t make the device too big to take anywhere! No one needs a notebook that big and it’s not as though anyone’s using it for anything but light sketching. If you’re making a do-everything tablet, don’t give it weak specs just because it’s smaller! And don’t sacrifice battery life! We’ve been over this Apple, devices need to last all day, how thin they are means jack shit on a desk. Just make the damn thing work for what we need it for!
And e-paper tablet makers? How about you give privacy back to your users? Why do all of these have their users uploading text to unencrypted servers or exposing user data in another way? Just let people lock down their notes! The iPad lets you do that, and it works great! Why on earth do you have to snoop or make it possible for others to snoop? They’re notes, for crying out loud, let them be private.
If you’re looking to buy a tablet for note taking, the iPad mini is still your best bet, even if it’s a flawed one. You may want to wait though, Apple may release a new iPad mini 7 before the end of the year. It won’t be anything close to what the iPad mini needs to be, but it’ll at least be a little better than the current model.