Review of the reMarkable 2
The e-ink tablet to replace your notebook
I finally received the new reMarkable 2 a week ago and I have been using it ever since. I was in the October production batch and received it on October 24, a week after it was supposed to be delivered. DHL couldn’t find my house for some reason and delayed delivery a week.
I replaced my old notebooks over a year ago now with the reMarkable 1 e-ink tablet. As a creative and someone who has used a notebook for a long time, it was a big leap. There are a few drawbacks — like no pocket to store mementos and no way to paste anything to the pages — but the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks. In particular, I have all of my notes and writing in folders that I can access at any time. This has been useful with client work (web, app design and development). In the past, the 200 pages of my Moleskine would fill up quickly and there was no way to access old notes or drawings without sifting through a couple old notebooks. Now, everything is in one place and always available.
Unboxing and Set Up
There are several notable differences between the first and second generations of the tablet. I’ll get to them shortly. But first, I want to go over the out of the box experience and set up. In general, just as you would hope, they met expectations. The packaging was nice and what you would expect for a $400 tablet, though it was disappointing they couldn’t integrate the marker into the main box. It was packaged in a separate box.
Set up was simple. First, I made certain my reMarkable 1 was completely backed up to the app on my Mac and the reMarkable cloud. Then I factory reset the reMarkable 1. reMarkable only allows one tablet per account. Getting the reMarkable 2 connected and up-to-date was quick and fairly simple. I run several custom templates for my business through the einkpads app. einkapps is a third party builder that allows you to upload custom templates and screens for your reMarkable. The only issue I’ve ever had is that with each new software update the templates have to be reloaded. It was still a seamless process to port the custom templates to the new tablet. The whole process took me less than fifteen minutes.
reMarkable 2: Build Quality
My chief complaint of the first generation reMarkable was the construction. It didn’t fall apart or breakdown in any way, but for the money paid it felt like something a lot cheaper than it was. Its performance was excellent, but the experience was mediocre. I’m not a fan of plastic, especially when lighter colors change due to sunlight. And that was my chief complaint with the reMarkable 1.
All that changed with the reMarkable 2. It is way beyond the first generation for quality and feel. The new tablet is thin, stiff and looks sleek. It has a wonderful weight to it. You know you are holding something valuable when it is in your hands. I imagine the extra weight is due to the battery (which I will get to in a bit). Everything visual about the tablet oozes quality and it looks and feels like it belongs at its price point.
Stylus
I admit, I am used to the basic stylus and find it perfectly acceptable to use. However, a couple days ago I grabbed a sticky note and my old mechanical pencil (a Pentel 5mm) and immediately sighed. That’s the size and type of stylus I want, something smaller, thinner and better weighted. Someday I’d like that option for the stylus of my e-ink tablet. All of the pens I’ve used (reMarkable, Apple, Sony) feel bulky and designed as an afterthought.
I had two complaints about the old stylus. First, it bothered me that the front third of it — the rubberized nib end — turned yellow almost immediately. It looked horrible. Second, the nibs seemed too soft. The new stylus won’t change colors and the nibs feel more firm. Both of those updates are a win-win for me. I can’t verify those things empirically — only been a week — but by comparison they both have improved.
The basic stylus doesn’t have a built-in eraser but I’m OK with that. There are several quick and easy ways to correct work and make changes. And as I said earlier, I’m used to this. But that may not be the case for others. You can purchase an upgrade stylus that has a built-in eraser.
Folio
I received the polymer weave folio with my order. It’s thinner and nicer than my old folio. There is one drawback in my experience: no stylus holder. reMarkable touts the stylus snapping magnetically to the tablet as feature. I wouldn’t rely on it. Several times I’ve easily dislodged it. It works, but not well enough. If you can afford it, order a folio with a stylus holder.
Battery
Yeah, the battery. Man, this one is nice and probably the second biggest improvement for the second generation tablet (look and feel being the first). I’ve been using the new tablet for a week and I have more than 50% battery remaining. The first generation battery lasted 3–4 days for me depending on usage. I’ve used the new tablet a lot. The monster battery is one of the upgrades I was hoping to see and reMarkable delivered.
Performance
Latency is claimed to be lower in the second generation tablet. That hasn’t been my experience. Admittedly, I am being subjective here. That isn’t to say the experience is worse. It isn’t. The reMarkable 1 was very responsive and didn’t suffer from any latency issues in my experience. The reMarkable 2 is at least that good, but I don’t notice any differences, nor did I expect to.
System functions are another area of improvement. Using the menus, scrolling and navigation are superior to the first generation tablet. Menus and navigation are noticeably smoother and faster, making the entire experience feel upgraded.
One major performance improvement is the ability to write to the edges of the screen. On the old tablet writing was distorted at the extremes of the screen. That has improved a lot with generation 2.
It’s About Intent
I’ve seen some reviews comparing the reMarkable 2 to the Onyx Boox and other e-ink tablets. A lot of the reviews focus on the connectivity of the tablets and the Android OS. All of which is great if you want another connected device and to use apps other than what come with the device. The reMarkable is a different approach and one that means a great deal to me. I use it as a replacement for my notebooks. It is purposely designed to be disconnected, a place to think and create without distraction. As I wrote before, I have kept a notebook for decades. It helps me think and explore ideas. The reMarkable is a new-age version of the old notebook.
I don’t want to be connected through my notebook. I don’t want email pings or social media updates while I’m working in it. I’ve written multiple short stories, articles and essays on my reMarkable and I have planned two novels on it. All of my client work begins on the reMarkable. I enjoy the experience and I’m certain a lot of that comes from being disconnected, no notifications or intrusions: just me and my thoughts. So, for me, the comparisons to other e-ink tablets that are connected is moot. Again, your experience and goals will determine if this is important for you, or not. The question we all need to answer is: On how many devices do you need to have that are connected to the digital life you’ve carved out?
Conclusion
Aside from the form factor, most of the changes between the first and second generation reMarkable tablets are subtle. The biggest change, other than look and feel, would be battery life, followed by the ability to navigate quicker within my files. That said, those differences are important, especially the battery upgrade. And I do love how the new version feels and looks. It takes the tablet to a whole new level. It may not have been a wise fiscal purchase for me given the differences between the two generations, but not all purchases are, nor should they be. I’m really happy with this tablet and I can see using it for a long time.
