Photo credit: reMarkable
The folks at reMarkable may have finally found a way to tempt me away from my iPad. I’ve wanted one of their paper-feeling writing tablets for some time, as they supposedly feel amazing to write on and have a lot of features that makes taking and organizing notes on them convenient. I take a lot of notes for work, so a digital tablet is a must. The iPad, even with a Paperlike screen protector, just never feels great to write on. This week, I had been thinking about how frustrated I’ve become with Notability, the app I use on my iPad mini to take notes. The app features more AI services, and doesn’t let you turn them off. None of this makes the app secure enough for my liking. I prefer to control all of my data, and forcing me to to use AI features, either by not letting me turn them off or by placing the button in an easily tappable area of every note, then I don’t have that control. However, I couldn’t move to reMarkable! The only tablet they had was huge! I needed something around the size of the iPad mini, or perhaps a pocket notebook. I just didn’t need something the size of my MacBook.
Then they introduced the new reMarkable Paper Pro Move, and now my decision is a bit more complex. Is it time to ditch my iPad mini for note taking? Can I have the right form factor and privacy I require in one place finally?
reMarkable tablets are different. Yes, they have a cloud syncing service that, unfortunately, uses Google. I would never trust Google with any piece of data. They’re too large to face consequences for abuse of their users, and too greedy not to be tempted by that abuse. There’s no way to win against Google, and therefore I don’t use their services when it can be avoided. Fortunately, with reMarkable tablets, it can be avoided. The reMarkable Paper Pro models, including the new reMarkable Paper Pro Move, have 64GB of storage and you can use USB to manage and sync your notes. No need to give anyone your data, you can leave everything on your own encrypted devices. reMarkable tablets can be protected with a pin as well, and the storage is encrypted. They’re checking off nearly all my boxes for the perfect digital tablet.
reMarkable has privacy in mind, but their tablets were always huge, coming in at sizes larger than an iPad. I wanted something I could use on my desk, not something that takes up my entire desk. The new reMarkable Paper Pro Move may be the exact thing I’m looking for. The new tablet is more hand and pocket-friendly, and that means it’s the perfect replacement for my notebooks.
As someone who uses notebooks frequently, using my iPad only for my projects at this point, reMarkable may have found a way to get me to move away from paper entirely. But is it worth roughly $500?
The New reMarkable Paper Pro Move
Photo credit: reMarkable
The reMarkable Paper Pro Move comes in at 195.6 x 107.8 x 6.5mm. My favorite pocket notebooks, the Leuchtturm 1917 in their A5 pocket size, measure in at roughly 150 x 90 x 9mm. That means that the Paper Pro Move is slightly larger than my pocket notebooks in two directions, but only by about 4.5cm in height, 2cm in width. It’s thinner by a few millimeters, but I’m sure adding a folio would make that more equal. Those small differences in size may make the tablet better for more substantial notes, but still small enough to fit in a pocket or a bag, replacing both larger A5-sized tablets like the iPad mini as well as A6-sized notebooks.
The tablet features the same performance as the larger Paper Pro model, with 64GB of storage, a 1.7GHz Dual Core Cortex-A55 processor, a rather small 2GB of RAM, an impressively small 12ms of writing latency, and the same 2 weeks of battery life. reMarkable says their 64GB of storage is comparable to 810 notebooks, although, if you use your own computer or their cloud storage, you can always expand your storage space, keeping only the notes you need frequently in once place.
Some Issues Remain
Photo credit: reMarkable
The biggest reason I haven’t already ordered a reMarkable Paper Pro Move is the price. The new reMarkable starts at $450. But then you have to add in the $50 for a “Marker” that has an eraser. As someone who makes mistakes frequently (ask my parents, friends, and especially former partners), I need an eraser function very nearby when writing. So, $500. But also I’m thinking of tossing this in one of my pockets (thank god they make cargo pants for women finally), or my bag, so it should have something to protect that screen. The cheapest folio is $70, and I don’t like the bland gray looks of it. The most expensive model is $140, but it’s leather and I try to avoid leather when I can. So a nice burgundy “Mosaic Weave” folio it is, coming in at $100. I like to put stickers and decorations on my notebooks, but at $100, I don’t think I’ll be doing that with reMarkable’s folios. Fortunately, they give you a discount of $30 for the folio case if you bundle it with your new tablet, so it’s just $570 instead of $600 for the package I would order. Still, that’s quite expensive. Also about the price of the guitar I just bought, which is also why I don’t have cash on hand for something else.
Photo credit: reMarkable
I do feel like reMarkable may have over-corrected a little with the Move. Yes, their tablets were way too large for me to use on a desk while I was working or on the go, so I never considered replacing my iPad mini or my Leuchtturm A6 notebooks with one. This looks like it could either be too small to use on a desk, or perhaps the perfect size. It’s hard to tell without having it in my hand. I’d have to try it out to be sure. I will say, fortunately thanks to their 100 day satisfaction guaranteed policy, I’d have plenty of time to see if the Move can fit into my life and replace the notebooks and iPad mini I hold near and dear before I have to decide if I want to keep it.
Regardless, the reMarkable Paper Pro Move looks to be the perfect writing tablet for me. The paper feel, fast response, local encrypted storage, ability to quickly back anything up to my own computer, and the portable, hand-friendly size make it look like one of the most exciting pieces of tech I’ve seen in a while. I’m sure you’ll be reading a review from me in a few months about it, just as soon as I can save up for one.