Review: Remarkable Paper Pro

The Remarkable Paper Pro is defined by the Kindle; not because it’s competing with Kindle, the world’s most popular e-reader, but because it absolutely cannot, and isn’t trying to.This isn’t because the Kindle is some exceptionally good product, but rather, that the Kindle isn’t really a “product” in the full sense of the word. If it were, Amazon would have to charge more for them, and make a profit on every unit, but because it’s not a product — it’s an onboarding device for their Kindle store — they can lose money on every one they sell. And they do. A Kindle costs more to make than its sticker price.In other words, you cannot compete with that. And so, Remarkable doesn’t even try. Their trick is to take the compromises of the Kindle, and flip them; to make the anti-Kindle.For example, because Amazon loses money on every unit, there cannot be a single great Kindle model. As I wrote recently in these pages, each Kindle model is built around a single feature — note-taking, a color-screen, and so forth — but can never do them as best as possible, nor combine them into a single device, because there’s a limit to how much these can cost to make. Amazon also has to lock down the devices, forcing you to buy items from the Kindle store and nowhere else, because that’s the only way these make money. But, because Remarkable charges you for hardware, they don’t have to do any of that.Remarkable Paper Pro. Courtesy of RemarkableRemarkable has been around since 2013, making small e-ink tablets that brought a more premium touch to the e-reader market. They let you load your own PDFs and e-books from wherever you wanted; had beautiful leather cases, and more importantly, had the best handwriting experience available on a screen. The combination of a lovely tactile feel, thin hardware, and smooth, easy-to-use software meant nothing could really compete and their previous gen, the Remarkable 2, was an incredible little device. That will still remain on sale, as an entry Remarkable — and my review of it will be out shortly — but those 11 years of software and hardware work have fully paid off in their new, flagship tablet, the Paper Pro. And it’s a truly incredible little device.Remarkable Paper Pro. Courtesy of RemarkableIt has beautiful machined metal edges, an excellent pen, beautiful thin design, and the best software you can use on an e-reader, only refreshing the screen when needed, in parts, and doing so quickly. Add in the keyboard cover — which is the best tablet keyboard on the market — and you have a well-rounded capable device which is always just a delight to use. It’s great for reading — whether that’s e-books from your Google Drive or OneDrive, or articles sent instantly to the Remarkable from your browser — or writing notes, hand-written, or with the Type Folio, which I mix between. And you can just as easily then export that writing into e-mails or a document.The heart of it though is the new screen. It feels more like paper to write on; has a beautiful adjustable backlight; is bigger, at 11.8 inches across, and has color, letting you highlight and write notes in a range of colors. And — with the possible exception of the Daylight Computer, which I haven’t tried — it’s the best on the market. It uses the Gallery display tech, which means colors are more vivid than the Kaleido displays on other color e-ink units. The disadvantage of Gallery is that it’s usually frustratingly slow to refresh; but not here. It’s snappy, clear, and quick, and you can write just as quickly and fluidly as when using a black-and-white version.The only downside of the backlight is that the battery life goes way down — from weeks on a charge to but a few days — but that’s also because I’m using the Paper Pro constantly, and plugging it in once in a while is hardly a problem. It would also have been cool to include a Qi2 wireless charging coil, like the new Kindle Paperwhite, for convenience.Remarkable Paper Pro. Courtesy of RemarkableThe Paper Pro is not cheap. For the tablet alone, with the basic Marker, it’s $579; but it would be a shame to use this without the better pen, and if you don’t buy the Type Folio, you are missing out on the greatest writing device on the market. Trust me, once you’ve written something important using it, and found how great it is to do so, you’ll be glad you bought it. But those bring the total to $829, plus $3 a month for the optional Remarkable Connect subscription, which gives you unlimited cloud storage, better warranty support, and access to edit and adjust documents in their applications. You should pay for it if you get a Remarkable.If you view it as a Kindle competitor, that’s a lot of money. But it’s not a Kindle competitor.Remarkable Paper Pro. Courtesy of RemarkableThe cheap build quality, ugly ad-filled software, and constant focus on selling meant I’ve never liked Kindles. I didn’t really want to read on them, and that was what they were best for. By contrast, I cannot get enough of the Remarkable. I track my workouts on it; I write notes on it; I send articles to read in bed on it; I annotate documents and PowerPoints; and I wrote the first draft of this article, and many that you’ve read, on it. It’s light, elegant, easy to use, and is the rare piece of tech that never feeds you distractions. You can’t browse the web on it, or read e-mails, and so you don’t, and it’s wonderful.Yes, it’s expensive. But it’s worth every penny. Along with the Oura Ring 3 and transparent Meta Ray Bans, it’s my favorite new product I’ve used this year.

Review: Remarkable Paper Pro

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