Was I writing with pen and paper, or with a stylus on a tablet? It’s harder than ever to tell.
Remarkable Paper Pure follows up on 2020’s Remarkable 2 and a few premium color E Ink tablets. Like Remarkable’s first digital notepads, the Paper Pure has a black and white E Ink screen that sacrifices light for writing. The finish of the screen design feels more like writing on real paper than a tablet with a smooth glass screen. Without lighting, you cannot use it everywhere. But that trade-off is important. Every stroke appears to be connected directly to the Marker’s tip as a result, making it feel like you’re using a real pen on paper rather than writing a note on screen. It’s better than anything I’ve tested so far.
So how is that pen? The Pure comes with a basic battery-powered stylus called the Marker, but I tested the more expensive Marker Plus which adds a dedicated eraser button and is available as part of a more expensive $449 bundle that includes a new Sleeve Folio case. Its latency is similar to the Remarkable 2’s stylus and it’s not as responsive as the Apple Pencil Pro, but I think the Remarkable’s tablet writing experience remains unmatched. It’s great that the stylus can charge wirelessly when attached to the side of a tablet, like the iPad Pro and Air. It’s thicker than the Remarkable 2’s stylus and sticks more securely than before.
There are other improvements. The Paper Pure has a faster dual-core processor, a bump from 1GB of RAM to 2GB, and an increase in storage from 8GB to 32GB. Comparing the two tablets side by side, the Paper Pure is faster when it comes to navigating the UI and opening documents, but not by much. While large ebooks and PDFs opened about half a second faster on Paper Pure, the speed improvement was less than that for other documents, including its notebooks.
It is worth noting that the new third-generation Paper Pure Canvas screen – a customized 10.3-inch version of E Ink’s Carta 1300 panel already used in many e-learning courses – offers a 20 percent contrast and a brighter appearance than the Remarkable 2’s second-gen display. There is a subtle difference between the two, but it’s really only noticeable with both tablets sitting next to each other.
The upgraded screen contributes to the Paper Pure’s slightly slower UI performance, but it pushes the Remarkable 2’s 1,872 x 1,404 resolution and 226PPI, which is less than what you’ll find on most other modern tablets this size, including the Remarkable’s color screen devices. Small text still looks crisp and readable, just not as glossy as you would on the latest Kobo and Kindle 300PPI e-readers.
What I love most about the Paper Pure is the new design that feels even stronger. I carried the original Remarkable as a paper notebook that I could toss and put in my purse, and it survived years of abuse. The Remarkable 2 was durable with a sturdy design, but the Paper Pure now has a back panel made entirely of plastic that I’m even more confident will easily survive regular use and abuse. It’s slightly thicker than the Remarkable 2 as a result, but at 44 grams it’s light and easy to carry.
The only disappointing design change is that the Paper Pure doesn’t carry forward the Remarkable 2’s edge-to-edge contact pads that it uses to connect to the company’s excellent Folio-style keyboard case. The change does not completely remove the same service of Paper Pure, but it will have to be connected in a different way.
The software experience of the Paper Pure is similar to the Remarkable 2’s regularly updated last years, but the company is introducing new features to be found with its older tablets. Web pages saved through Remarkable’s Chrome extension or mobile apps and other imported documents can be converted into editable notebooks, allowing their content to be rearranged or reformatted before sharing with others.
Tablets also get Google calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook for a new meeting notes feature that automatically populates a detailed notebook about the agenda extracted from the invitation. Additional notes taken during the meeting can be summarized using AI to highlight important details or action items before sharing.
And while Paper Pure can be used to read ebooks and PDFs with a decent number of formatting options, it still lacks the extended functionality of other E Ink devices. Amazon’s $429.99 Kindle Scribe (if Amazon ever releases a version without a screen light) doubles as an e-reader with better access to a major bookstore, while Boox offers several E Ink tablets under $500 that run Android with access to the Google Play Store, further expanding the way you can use them.
If your priority is to find a digital space instead of stacks of books, sticky notes, or anywhere to jot down your thoughts, Remarkable Paper Pure is as close as you’ll get to the pen-to-paper experience minus the thick stacks of paper. Paper Pro and Paper Pro Move may tempt you with their excellent color screens, but Paper Pure is the best option. However, if you’re already a happy Remarkable 2 user, aside from the bigger battery there are few compelling reasons to upgrade given the company’s strong commitment to making new features available to its existing devices.
Photo by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge