I usually discover it very arduous to put in writing on my pc. As quickly as I settle in and let these artistic juices move … ding! In comes a Slack notification. OK, it will take two seconds to handle this primary. Minutes later, I am going to really feel the urge to test my inbox. Oh wow, six pressing emails. Two hours later, I might need typed a single phrase on my web page. That normally results in a late night time of writing. Rinse and repeat.
The ReMarkable 2 has been a salve on this course of. This e-paper pill with a snug stylus is a wonderful digital notepad—it mimics paper and pen much better than many different units—and the keyboard attachment has turn into a good way for me to sort up tales distraction-free. You possibly can write notes, draw sketches, mark up PDFs, and manage all of those paperwork into folders. 5 years after the discharge of that pill, the corporate is unveiling a brand new product referred to as the ReMarkable Paper Professional. It elevates the notepad expertise whereas nonetheless prioritizing that distraction-free ethos.
“We invented the category,” says Mats Herding Solberg, the pinnacle of product administration on the Norwegian firm. “We are focused literally on focus and making a single product that’s really good on the verticals that we believe are important. We don’t want to be the company that goes super broad and tries to add too many bells and whistles.”
Paper Path
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
ReMarkable’s Paper Professional is not strictly a successor to the ReMarkable 2. Consider it like how the “Pro” model of the iPhone aligns to the usual mannequin. It has some good upgrades at the next worth beginning at $579, however you may keep on with the $399 older mannequin for those who do not want the brand new options; it isn’t going away anytime quickly.
So what’s new? The spotlight is colour. At CES 2024, E Ink—the corporate that produces lots of the digital paper shows present in Kindles and the like—confirmed off extra units than ever utilizing colour E Ink expertise. This record now consists of the brand new ReMarkable Paper Professional, although Solberg says ReMarkable has completed a whole lot of work on prime of E Ink’s expertise to good the colour expertise. The customized “Canvas Color” show stack is comprised of bodily colour particles that transfer across the display to point out particular colours, somewhat than a separate filter on prime of the black and white show. Solberg says this could higher replicate the precise feeling of “color on paper.”
Do not count on vivid, shiny colours such as you see in your smartphone’s display. These hues are nonetheless muted, and you’ll solely select from 9 colours (from magenta to cyan), however you may mix and layer them collectively, which might then create much more colour choices.
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Additionally new is a entrance gentle system. It is totally different than the backlight typical of telephone screens. As a substitute, a entrance gentle angles the sunshine supply down onto the pill’s display so it is mirrored up at your eyes. This can be a design that is turn into fairly customary over time on the earth of e-paper units. The ReMarkable 2 solely displays ambient gentle, which makes it troublesome to see the display in a darkish room. This is not an issue with the Paper Professional. You possibly can alter the brightness of the sunshine, although it is nonetheless not going to get eye-searingly shiny. Simply sufficient that you should utilize it in dim circumstances.
The Paper Professional has a bigger 11.8-inch show, which implies not one of the outdated equipment for the ReMarkable 2 will work on this unit. That is why there are an array of folio covers ($89 and up) at launch to assist the brand new machine, together with a Kind Folio cowl ($229) that provides a keyboard. Even the stylus has been rebuilt. The Marker/Marker Plus are energetic styli, in order that they must be charged—simply pop ’em on the sting of the Paper Professional, the place they are going to magnetically connect and begin wirelessly charging.
