reMarkable announces a new writing tablet
Is it overkill or the ultimate paper replacement?
A few years ago I became the proud owner of a Rembarkable 2 tablet. For those who aren't familiar with the brand, they've been making e-ink monochromatic writing tablets for years. Basically, they try to replicate the ease and simplicity of writing in a paper notebook but with some of the smart benefits of a digital system.
While I really enjoy my Remarkable tablet, it has been far from perfect. Most notably, I've gone through a replacement writing pen/stylus and recently had my replacement also crack around the base of the writing point. It was fairly easy to get the first one replaced via warranty, but now I have exited my warranty period and may be out of luck. The pen still works but the control isn't as precise as it should be with a crack at the bottom.
Also, while the writing experience actually feels wonderful, I've been less impressed with the layout and interface of the device. Maybe it's just because I haven't given it enough practice, but I often find myself tapping in the wrong places or saving documents to the wrong folders. It's just never felt as intuitive as I wanted it to. Maybe that's partly because I've stopped paying for the premium membership to seamlessly sync all of the Remarkable files to the cloud. The tablet works without the subscription but it's a slightly more clunky workflow.
Lastly, I know it's meant to be like a simple notebook but I've always wished it was backlit. I know, I know, you'd have to provide your own light for paper and this is meant to be like paper. But I often like jotting down some notes in bed before going to sleep, and I hate that I need to have a light on to see it.
I don't mean to sound like I'm down on the product. I still think it's probably the best version of a simple writing tablet that's out there today. Maybe the use cases for something like this are pretty small. Perhaps people are just better off getting a proper tablet like an iPad and just disabling some of the bells and whistles to make it feel more simple. But I still feel the need for something like this in my life. Ever since the first ipads and digital tablets were released back in the day, I've wanted a seamless writing experience. And Remarkable is the closest thing I've found.
So I was very excited to see the recent announcement of the reMarkable Paper Pro. It bothers me a little bit that they followed the trend of adding "pro" to the name rather than just calling it the reMarkable 3, but oh well. This new model is meant to bring the brand into the next generation of writing tech and it seems to solve a lot of the issues I had with my tablet.
First, it has a bigger screen that has a light! You'll now be able to take notes or read in the dark without providing an additional light source. That alone may be worth the upgrade for me. In addition to that, the new screen will be able to display colors as well.
No, it's a not a full color screen like your computer. It will just have the ability to write in different color "inks" or allow you to highlight things with various colors. And to write with these colors there is also a new Marker available that seems to have changed the construction that caused two of my previous Markers to break. The tip looks fatter and more connected with the rest of the tool. I think the weak point of the previous marker was that it would eventually crack right at the tip if you consistently applied too much pressure when writing. I don't necessarily think that I write with more pressure than the average person, but if the break happened in the same spot on two different markers, it's clearly an issue.
The software does seem to be the same as the previous model at least at the time being. It could easily get updated in the future and maybe that would make things a little bit easier for me to navigate.
But the big story here is the price. All of these upgrades will come at a cost. The new reMarkable Paper Pro will start at $579 and include the basic Marker. If you want to upgrade to the Marker Plus with easy erasing capabilities, the price jumps to $629. And if you want to throw in a case with a keyboard so you can occasionally type instead of write, that will get your price up to $829. That price also includes a bundle discount to bring it down from the regular price of $858. Wow. That is not inexpensive for a device that can't run apps and can be fairly limited as a media consumption device. While you can use it as an e-reader, I've found it to be not nearly as good as my Kindle which would be more than a quarter of the price.
So this product certainly won't be for everyone. I think the high price point puts it out of consideration for a lot of folks. It could find a home in office environments when bought for a full workforce or on the corporate dime. But even then, I don't think it offers all of the security and software infrastructure to be used by larger corporations.
The product feels like it might be more for the freelancer, solopreneur crowd but that price point is hard to swallow. If they could have kept it in the $300-$500 range with the keyboard case included, they may have been onto something. But I can't see this selling very well this holiday season at the current price. Hell, even as a loyal customer of the previous product, I see no discount or trade-in offer. If I could trade in my current tablet to cut off $200 from the price, I might consider it. Without that, I don't see a reMarkable Paper Pro in my future.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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