On a whim I decided to purchase a pre-owned Remarkable 2 for £200 and an 3rd party Staedtler pencil for £22. This to me represented a decent price for a product that could help me in so many ways and one which may reduce the strain just a little.

This followed a purchase of a new Boox Palm 2 which was retuned within a day. It, to me, is a dreadful product and one which in some scenarios is unusable. For example, dark mode renders the ability to read as close to impossible- dark text on a grainy black background is headache inducing and defeats the object of me trying to reduce sensations when using digital products.

The Remarkable will be for creativity when I have the energy and it has been a very surprising journey. There was a blip initially when the battery died overnight, but a quick check using an app called RCU showed that the battery is in very good health. As usual Reddit stepped up and I found out that leaving the stylus on top of the screen will drain the battery very quickly. The next 24 hours it was fine and it has been fine ever since.

What has surprised me most about the Remarkable is the amazing feel of writing and drawing which is as analogue as I have experienced in any device. It never strains my eyes, it does not feel like I am working and it has proved extremely useful so far.

I am working through my finances, symptoms, work options and a lot more currently, and the Remarkable has a form factor and ease of use which lends itself perfectly to these tasks. It genuinely is like a very thin paper notebook, but one in which you can search what you have written and even the multi-day battery adds to the sense of analogue. A keyboard, you can only use a Remarkable one, could be the next addition to give me more peace when writing.

It is early days with this device, but to say I have been impressed would be a big understatement. I think this one is going to stick and all I need now is an e-ink monitor for work and a decent e-ink phone to complete the set.

Note- all of the above is true, but I don’t believe that Remarkable products are normally value for money. At £200 I can live with it, but +£400 for the others in the range doesn’t feel right. Being constricted to only Remarkable styluses on the new devices is not good and there are many restrictions you need to be aware of before you buy. The cost of some of the accessories is very high as well. And I don’t believe their customer service is as good as it should be with numerous accounts of poor service on Reddit. A Quick Look at the Remarkable community will show this alongside some moderating which is suspicious to the point of wondering how close the mods are to the company.

Categories: Articles, Books, Product Reviews