Its aggressively simple, distraction-free, and frustrating if you were hoping for something more robust.
If you want more, there are other tablets out there.
The reMarkable Paper Pro is about wanting less, and it delivers in a big way.
The reMarkable Paper Pro is the anti-iPad
reMarkable Paper Pro: Two-minute review
You dont own the reMarkable Paper Pro, it owns you.
This is a tablet with a single purpose to capture your ideas.
It does that almost perfectly.
The reMarkable Paper Pro is the anti-iPad
It does this by doing almost nothing else.
The earlier reMarkable earned fans by offering simplicity and a distraction-free environment.
When I have to key in notes on a keyboard, I feel constrained.
I need to sit.
I need to follow the rules of the document app.
I cant easily create and organize notes in the way I want, not without fighting the app.
Thats been a long-requested feature from reMarkables devoted fan base.
Its the best ePaper youve ever used.
There’s no perceptible lag between the pen and the ePaper.
Writing feels like writing, as it should.
This is not a versatile tablet.
To that end, not only can you not browse the web, you cant even check the time.
There’s no visible clock on the Paper Pro.
Why is there no clock?
Because reMarkable knows this wont be your only screen, or even your second screen.
The company is unapologetic about its spartan attitude.
If you want a tablet that does a lot more, get aniPad.
If you want an E Ink tablet that’s good for reading books, buy anAmazon Kindle Scribe.
Macro close-up of the reMarkable Paper Pro’s E Ink display
The reMarkable Paper Pro will have none of that silliness.
The reMarkable Paper Pro, on the other hand, seems positively archaic by comparison.
This is an ultra-premium, luxury rig, even though it lacks features we normally associate with luxury tablets.
The reMarkable Paper Pro isnt a very good reading gear.
Also, unlike the reMarkable 2, the new Paper Pro doesnt use Wacoms EMR technology for its pen.
ASamsungS Pen will not work with the reMarkable Paper Pro, as it will with a reMarkable 2.
The newer Book Folios have a strap to hold the Marker in place.
Just like the tablet itself, the throw in Folio keyboard is incredibly thin.
The reMarkable 2 will still be available, now for even less.
Close-up of the highlighter tool on the color reMarkable Paper Pro
Unfortunately, reMarkable will not be accepting any older tablets as a trade-in for the new reMarkable Paper Pro.
This is a big mistake, but for a company that started on Kickstarter, I get it.
Its not like reMarkable makes a new tablet every year and encourages regular upgrading.
If you have the reMarkable 2, just keep it, its still great.
Unlike an LCD orOLEDcomputer monitor, ePaper is a category of display that is designed to emulate paper.
it’s possible for you to read an ePaper display outdoors in bright sunlight because it reflects light.
An ePaper display also usually looks the same whether it’s powered on or off.
E Ink is an amazing technology.
It makes a picture with tiny, almost microscopic balls.
It sits still while you read, and it doesnt require any juice.
The screen only uses power when you have to turn the page, or scroll down.
E Ink is very bad at displaying video and any task that requires a lot of movement on-screen.
The screen cannot refresh nearly as quickly as a phone screen.
The reMarkable Paper Pro is a brand new E Ink screen, at least for tablets.
reMarkable is calling its brand of Gallery 3 E Ink the Canvas display.
There are other E Ink color tablets, like theOnyx Boox Tab Ultra Cand theKobo Libra Colour.
Those tablets use an E Ink Kaleido screen.
The difference is where the color sits.
On the Kaleido display, you have a black-and-white E Ink layer, just like any e-reader.
Then you have a layer of color that sits just above the black-and-white layer.
The color does not look very saturated.
The colors are still faint, even though reMarkable has added a light to the new Paper Pro tablet.
The light is very dim, just barely bright enough power to let you read in the dark.
That said, if you know where to look for the quality, youll find it.
The reMarkable Paper Pro looks like paper and ink.
The display may seem a bit grey, but it looks bone-white compared to other ePaper tablets.
The ink color is highly visible and looks like real ink, no matter what color you now choose.
The display feels great for writing not so much like paper, but like expensive stationery.
All around, this is a writing tablet for connoisseurs of writing tablets.
The newiPad Prothat Apple brags is its thinnest product ever?
And youre definitely going to want a case for this tablet.
The reMarkable folios are all very high-quality, and I expect third party options will appear before long.
reMarkable Paper Pro review: Software
The reMarkable Paper Pro keeps things very simple.
You have notes (called Notebooks) and folders.
There is no app store.
There is no home screen with widgets and icons.
I love the simplicity.
You will never lose anything, because its simply right in front of you.
When you write a note, you’re free to handwrite or jot down text.
There’s an onscreen keyboard for typography if you dont buy the jot down Folio.
The Paper Pro can convert handwriting to typed text, but the feature is very rudimentary.
Worst of all, the final product is ugly and hard to correct.
Sadly, there are very few helpful drawing tools, either.
There is no help making shapes.
You cant create stickers to add to your documents, which would be a boon for journaling fans.
Dont expect the reMarkable Paper Pro to be your new drawing tablet.
The color options are scant and unalterable.
You cant tap to fill a space with color, for instance.
You cant even pick your own colors.
You get the colors reMarkable has chosen, and thats all.
No color picker, no blending colors.
Colors are for organization and ideas, not, well, coloring.
The problem is that the reMarkable Paper Pro feels very slow.
Not when youre writing.
Writing works at light speed.
Writing feels very fast and fluid, with absolutely no discernible lag.
Navigating the reMarkable Paper Pro, though, feels like a serious drag.
Swiping to the next page often took multiple swipes.
Scrolling could be unresponsive on longer documents, and pinch-zooming might not work on the first attempt.
when you’ve got your document template set up, everything feels snappy.
Writing, drawing, and coloring with the new brushes works with perfect fluidity.
It feels like writing on real paper, not writing on a laggy screen.
The reMarkable is impressive, but it isnt the best ePaper equipment for battery life.
Its still much better than competing devices from Onyx, like the Onyx Boox Air 3.
Pushing E Ink faster drains power very quickly, though.
E Ink is meant to be slow and steady, not fast.
The reMarkable Paper Pro charges via USB-C, and it comes with a charging cord.
Should I buy the reMarkable Paper Pro?
If you embrace that simplicity, youll love it.
Those folks get their wish with the Paper Pro.
Its time to simplify!
If you cant get with that, buy something complicated.
Its very distracting, indeed, and it works with an Apple Pencil.
After two weeks, I tested charging again on my standard USB-C charger.
I used the reMarkable app on my MacBook, Android phone, and iPhone.
I did not tell them what tablet they were using.
I also downloaded a number of third-party PDF files from Etsy to try them with the reMarkable Paper Pro.
Read we test.
