Good luck ever getting a warranty or return done on these. Look around at their support. It’s awful. I had to file a dispute after they wouldn’t provide a refund for my return after nearly 30 days of non-movement of the return (their label, their shipping carrier).
I would strongly caution you run away. Worst customer support I’ve ever experienced.
Edit: I will never understand people that downvote a warning like this. But HN, you do you, I have karma to burn and if this warning helps one other person I’ll consider it worth it.
I bought one, then returned it. For the price they're selling it at, the following points were a deal breaker for me:
1. Custom file system: this means I can ssh into it, but I can't rsync my bibliography into it, since it won't display regular pdf files whose name is not hashed and registered in some sort of index. Moreover, the lack of a Linux client meant it was very hard to put my pdfs on it, or extract my notes from it.
2. Left hand support is ridiculous. They just flip the screen left-to-right; which means you lose the nice bevel and it becomes very uncomfortable to use in "handheld" mode. Finally, the "close" button gets placed on the top-left corner of the screen, which is the first place a left-handed writer touches.
3. The lack of some sort of backlight and slightly gray background means I can't read under suboptimal light. Sure, I get it, its e-ink; but for the price they charge, it would be a very nice-to-have feature.
I ended up returning mine and went for the Samsung Galaxy Tab s7 and that thing is amazing! Plus, I get to follow through bibliography immediately without needing to go back to my computer and get another article then do the whole sync'ing dance again.
The reMarkable dilemma is that they got the hardware right --modulo backlighting, but that will come--. It's the services around such a powerful device that people will find lacking. Open source enthusiasts will state that they want freedom, while people who care less about that freedom will get suspicious as to what happens if the company ceases to exist. The latter will probably consider an iPad a better value proposition, but then the reMarkable offers a less distractive environment.
I find the reMarkable a truly interesting device but I feel that I do not have time to tinker with it as it currently is, so for the moment I am on an iPad (use it for sheet music and PDF annotation)
I have one, and I find the writing part nearly perfect. But there are a couple of downsides mentioned in the article that mean I barely use it:
- Searching and organisation is really difficult. I wish everything would be OCRed transparently and you could instantly search for it (while keeping the original graphics)
- It's unfortunate that the OCR runs on their cloud. It would be really perfect if it was a web app that you could install on your own servers, if you have hightened security requirements for example
- In the UI, there is an on screen keyboard and you have to press keys. Why can't you just write in the text fields?
I think most of these problems come down to the fact that the OCR is some "secret sauce" provided by a third party. I wonder if there is any viable free handwriting OCR one could use instead to build a better experience (open source, source available, or even just some research papers)?
Having tried a number of notebook type devices I'll just add that the Remarkable (v2) is excellent. It is not a computer, not an iPad, just an excellent digital notepad and eReader. Price, yeah its high but you get what you pay for and this is something I do find genuinely useful for reading and taking notes.
Is it perfect? Far from it. There are lots of silly UI decisions that make no sense (e.g. limited pen size) and clunky modal menu system. So there is room for improvement. Why they don't incorporate the ddvk remarkable hacks into an update in one quick update I do not know - the ddvk hacks change the remarkable from a good device to a great one. See here:
https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-hacks
But otherwise, I would recommend strongly for these specific use-cases. I still have to have a laptop with me occasionally, and sometimes an iPad. But if I am reading a PDF it is always with the Remarkable.
The battery life is pretty amazing, the lack of eye-strain fantastic, carrying a ton of books that I can catch up with wonderful. Digital note taking is the best in class due to the screen and pen/nib combination. (Yes lack of search and OCR is a bit annoying but I don't really use it, even on the iPad in Notability).
Anyway, I wanted to offer these thoughts from someone who reads a lot on the remarkable and takes notes daily.
Wish it had: More pen sizes, different highlight shades, easier syncing, iCloud support, better tools for cropping pdfs before sending them, etc.
Would I buy again: Yes.
If you are not sure which gadget could be the one for you, take also a look at the Supernote[0]. I have been using one (A5X) for the past month with a Lamy EMR and I really really enjoy it. It improves my note taking.
I still have 7 Moleskins on my desk right now, but I haven't written in them for the past two weeks.
The philosophy of the Supernote is not to replace the notebook, but more to improve it. You can create titles which automatically go to a table of content, you have tags, all packaged in a very nice hardware.
The other very nice thing for me, it works totally "offline" if you want. No need to sync with a cloud or whatever. Connect it with USB to your computer, sync your folders like normal folders, done.
I bought the first generation and returned it sometime 2.5 years ago.
My takeaways:
- my colleagues who loved it back then still love it and have been joined by a few more
- personally I'm still happy that I returned mine and got an iPad instead although ideally I had gotten the iPad in addition instead of as a replacement.
- the writing experience was fantastic! It feels like writing on paper and the results are of similar quality. When someone I know who can draw she made a beautiful drawing quickly and was impressed.
- the return process (at that time) was a case study in bad ux. Not dark patterns as far as I could see (once I contacted them they were very helpful and did not try to upsell me or anything, but I actually gave up trying to register the return myself)
- what turned me away in the end was that 1.) I didn't have budget for both the Remarkable and and iPad and 2.) the Remarkable was then too limited on its own (I use my iPad for notetaking, udemy, virtual meetings over Zoom and what not that I don't want to install on my work machine and probably a few more things) 3. at the time there was no Linux sync and it was bot clear for me how good ssh support was going to be (I still don't know but hear good things). 4. Locking was limited to 4 digit pin.
- an unintended benefit of going for the iPad was that I realized iOS was sufficiently different from Mac that I could actually like it, so I now have a cheap iPhone as well.
I have a feeling that reMarkable hired some remarkable hardware wizards with GPL in their blood and then let some beancounters ruin the frontend.
reMarkable is great looking hardware with subpar software.
I should not need to SSH into a device to install Koreader to get an acceptable ereading esperience.
I rarely use my reMarkable 2 much preferring an old Kobo HD for bedtime reading and the original 13 inch Sony dpt-rp1 for larger A4 texts.
As the article says: "If you are familiar with dedicated ebook readers, you will miss a dictionary, bookmarks and annotations. You can highlight parts of the text, but there is no index of annotations anywhere. This makes it unsuitable for some types of editing and annotated reading."
Surely those are not remarkable features to ask for?
I'm looking forward to the https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ .
I was not able to use this thing comfortably. I think my handwriting style might not be optimal for it, as too small details and tight loops seemed to disappear on me. My handwriting is pretty small to begin with, and only gets tinier with subscripts and tiny details in mathematical writing.
There was also a slight input delay that I found annoying. I love writing on paper, and so if the experience is significantly inferior I won't be sold. I totally disagree with the author's claim that this thing provides a superior writing experience, unless they've improved on their designs and it now actually does feel like paper.
I would instead highly recommend a much cheaper, though dumber, yet far superior LCD-slate (like one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-howshow-lcd-writing-t...). The writing is instant, and even the tightest loops and smallest details will show up as if on paper (though green-on-black). When I was in university, I would use this for sketches in discussions, rough calculations and drafts, and saved a ton of paper that I would otherwise just have thrown away.
The fact that it wouldn't let me save stuff or share my drawings didn't bother me at all. Worst case scenario, I'd just take a picture of it.
The reMarkable is one of those devices for which I consistently feel like "I'll wait for the next one".
Few reasons why:
- backlight
- ocr
- better pen and eraser
In my mind I'd like to make it a "programming sketchbook", where every time I save, text get OCRd, compiled and I get some compile information out of it.
Obviously I would be just sending the buffer to an external computer and get the output, or something like that.
But the current reMarkable and its ecosystem made me think what I was looking for was way too experimental.
I bought a physical notebook recently and oh man it's so much better than an iPad. Especially when I'm trying to sketch out architecture or play around with ideas, a pen and paper is unbeatable. Maybe it's all the years of school making me hand write code, but I've started to like hand writing an algorithm or hand writing potential syntax for a language.
I've been quite happy with my Remarkable.
The only thing that annoys me is not having buttons to turn pages. Swiping over a touchscreen is counterproductive and Remarkable sometimes fails to recognize the gesture.
I have one but it's been sitting in a drawer for a long time now. I went back to iPad Pro with Apple Pen as it's much easier to navigate around and I enjoy the color screen much more. It also allows me to use Miro or similar whiteboard tool. I personally regret buying it. The lag is more noticeable on an iPad, but that doesn't bother me.
I have the recent version but I have to say I'm not happy with it. While the writing / drawing itself is great, the responsiveness of the UI and some actions (like erasing content) makes the whole experience super frustrating for someone with ADD. It also lacks some features that would make it a worthy Kindle alternative, like structured text higlighting. You can highlight fragments using Highlighter, but it's not smart about indexing and browsing those higlights afterwards, it's just a dumb overlay over the document.
Seems like mostly people that are not satisfied with their remarkable are trying to do the extra features (ssh, book reading, etc.). for me i 99% use it to keep notes, sketching, read articles and its perfect. for the first time in my life i do actually read my notes
I have an rM2, and I loved it at first. But honestly, I've just gone back to carrying a notepad and a pen. One of the biggest issues I have is that for /most/ things when I want to take notes, it's because I've found myself in a spur of the moment situation and I need something that will fit in my pocket. For planned note-taking, I'd rather type than write. I write because I can fit a pen in my pocket. I guess it's somewhat of a tautology, but in the end my rM2 has sat very prettily on my desk, completely unused, for months.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the device itself, I think it just didn't fit the way that I take notes. The only thing I found as an actual annoyance was that they forced you into using their cloud services which I didn't think were very good. I would have much rather had it OCR my notes into Standard Notes or figured out a way to sync. Syncing to Standard Notes never happened, so I just type long-form notes directly into Standard Notes and keep a Rite in the Rain pad in my pocket and a pen for spur of the moment stuff.
I bought a remarkable because I was thinking of buying a whiteboard. I hoped that the remarkable could be a replacement for that, but I was very wrong.
On the surface, remarkable seems pretty great and even feels pretty great. But for all it could be doing, it's almost not doing anything. The note-taking and drawing tools are extremely barebones. There are no line or shape drawing tools of any kind. There's no real way of using it as an infinite canvas kind of thing, because the canvas isn't infinite, and you can't scroll like that. You have to zoom in and out or resize your drawings and move them around.
The hardware is extremely hackable, which is the coolest part, but also makes it even more weird that the remarkable's software is so lackluster, because there are actually tools out there already you can use to make up for some of these.
I ended up not using mine very much because it's just not a very good experience for anything past simple note-taking, and then eventually sold it and bought a whiteboard instead. No regrets.
I would really like a color e-ink device though - like https://www.theverge.com/21507390/pocketbook-color-review-e-... but bigger.
I am a Remarkable user for almost a year and I have to say there is no way back for me. The user interface navigation is built in a way that allowed me to build a workflow around it that just works.
Is an excellent device and I am super happy with it.
My experience with reMarkable was extremely disappointing. If the device works for you, it’s amazing. And if it doesn’t, you’re basically out of luck.
That is how I would summarize reMarkable from talking to friends and my own personal experience.
The reMarkable 2 comes close but is disappointedly limited and expensive for the features it provides and some of the basic features now are under a subscription, when I compared it [0] with the recently introduced PineBook.
Thus, the reMarkable 2 as it stands makes it a no deal due to all of this: [1]
I’ve been using a Sony Epaper notebook for almost 2 years now and considering buying a Boox Note 5 or Air 2 (the remarkable didn’t make my short list) They are running almost stock android and the quality seems better than remarkable. I’ve watched My Deep Guide (https://youtube.com/c/MyDeepGuide) where they test every single feature of all note taking devices.
This article says that you have root access on the remarkable, but doing so will void the warranty.
Slightly off topic, but what happened to "smart pens"? 15ish years ago,I had a pen that could draw on special paper, and do interesting things. I really thought that paradigm would have progressed by now. Sort of like the original optical mice needed a special pad but now can work on any surface. I like drawing on a paper notebook (I use one with a grid of dots). I'd be fine with all of the "intelligence" coming from my smartphone. Is there any progress/products on this paradigm?
I wish the author wouldn't call it a "notebook", because that term already means "laptop". It should probably be called an "e-ink tablet".
What is wrong with using a paper notebook?
> The option to connect an external keyboard would be killer. Of course, the main use case is to write with a pen. However, given that this is a distraction-free device, the option to behave essentially like the screen of a typewriter would be much appreciated by writers and minimalists.
I've been banging this drum for a while. Yes, please.
I really enjoy my RM2 despite this, though.
It depends on the mindset I guess. I’ve bought myself a reMarkable 2 with the approach that „I’m just getting an expensive toy” (ie not an everyday work tool, just a nice gizmo). And it’s been great, if a bit pricey.
Some things I’ve used it for, so far:
- As a notebook. Nothing much to mention here. Being able to pick a page template (plain/dotted/lined/squared) is nice.
- Reading PDFs. Kindle won’t quite cut it, even with k2pdfopt – the screen size makes a difference. Plus, you can annotate them!
- Reading code. `npx repo-to-pdf some-repo` and then proceed as above. Great for getting oneself into a full-focus mode.
- Live-sketching at conference calls. I just share the reMarkable screen to my Mac and then share the companion app’s window on Zoom. Tried it out twice during internal brown-bags, worked very nice.
- As an actual toy. Getting grandma’s picture onto an e-ink screen and being able to draw a moustache lights up a big smile on my 8yo niece’s face.
I bought one and returned it. It did what it said, it’s not a bad product. However after spending just shy of the cost of a new iPad I couldn’t justify not having just buying an iPad and having 100x the functionality.
The remarkable also has very mediocre note management software, on the device, online, and on the desktop.
I use a similar technology. It works by depositing pigments via capillary effect from a reservoir conveniently held in the body of the input device.
The pigments remain on an indexable surface, which is collected together with many other such surfaces. Searches, if the correct keyword is known, can take a couple of seconds.
The time between recharges is amazing, and to make a write requires a recharge every month or so. To actually retrieve information, it requires no charge at all!
Unfortunately, once the memory is full, you need to replace the storage device at a cost of about $10. I have to do this once every three months, but you can afford several and keep them aside. It's also really easy to tell when you're approaching your memory limit.
I'd say another drawback is a lack of backlight, but the ReMarkable doesn't have one either.
It's a shame they've moved to a subscription model - I'm personally angling to get a development PineNote and invest time into developing for that. It's priced about the same as a reMarkable, but does include a stylus and case, so that's nice.
My biggest want is an open device - I was originally drawn to the reMarkable _because_ it seemed quite open, but this subscription model really makes me rethink things (with what I would consider "core" functionality, e.g syncing, locked behind a paywall).
I have a reMarkable 2 and I really enjoy it. Before the weekend, I can load it up with pdfs of all the articles and books I hope to catch up on. Then I can spend all weekend reading them with natural light, marking them up, drawing notes, etc. Productivity with battery life measured in days, without any eye strain, and no internet distractions.
But it's not an IPad! It's always funny to hear it compared to tablets since the main value proposition (to me) is the e-ink and the distinct lack of tablet-like features. It's a replacement for physical bound books and paper notebooks. That's it. Do your paperbacks and composition notebooks have good OCR, search indexing and a mountable file system? Nope, and neither does the remarkable :-)
I would love it if it seamlessly integrated with OneNote.
It's really the "pen computing" from the early 90s in some round 2. There were some pretty amazing things that the hardware wasn't ready for the first time (I'm thinking GO corp stuff) but when I asked the guys at CES 2020 if they had ever heard of it, it was a no. (For instance, if I worked there I'd get my hands on one of Jeff Hawkins GRiDpads (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRiDPad) here's a nice overview
History of tech needs to be more widely studied. I think we'd get really great products if people knew their history better.
I was seriously considering one but ended up buying the latest iPad Mini. It was the right decision. It was the Moleskine replacement I was looking for. The software is simply excellent. I use Notability and Procreate. The software on the remarkable doesn't compare.
There are a few features that I didn't know I needed: using a photo as a reference, using the camera to pick colors, browsing notes like they're pages in a notebook, annotating websites, sending drawings with telegram, etc.
I never leave the house without my iPad. I never use it for browsing or watching videos. It doesn't show any notifications. It's strictly a notebook replacement, and It's brilliant.
I really wanted one ever since they announced the first model, but something has been stopping me. Now that I'm a little older and mature I realize that my instincts not to buy this thing were completely right.
How can a device like this not have an ability to make annotations?... What's worse, the highlights you make on the book are not indexed. To me, it's insane.
I think one can hack this together with Kobo, I believe. But should you really buy a device for $500+ to hack it together?
Once this device supports proper E-Reader features, it will be a great iPad alternative, IMHO. And I'll be a big purchase candidate.
I have the Onyx Boox Max 3, it is great. Just a normal android device with an e-reader screen. You can install apps, listen to audio (it has a speaker). I'm wondering why there are not more like those devices..
I strongly suspect I'll want like, the 3 or 5th iteration of this device
My reMarkable 2 is sitting in a drawer waiting for me to get motivated to sell it. It completely lived up to all the promises, but in the end I couldn’t make the migration from a notebook, partly because I have terrible handwriting and finding things I’ve written down requires me to use the physical cues of paper to go back later. The only other knock was that I couldn’t seem to get it to import my bullet journal format in PDF in a way that made it easy to use as a daily note template.
> Not having searchable notes was almost a deal-breaker for me, and I still have hope that this behavior will be implemented in the future as an update.
The handwriting equivalent of Notepad that came with Windows Tablet edition (2002?), A software called Journal, allowed searching in handwritten notes. It worked pretty well, since searching does not require an exact OCR (it sometimes has some false positives, but it's actually better at finding then the most recent typed version of OneNote).
That you can’t see the price of the subscription up front is damning. I can’t stand that about enterprise software, but that being opaque in b2c pricing is unforgivable.
I want a device of this type.
It may be a silly reason to deduct points, but the fact that this company are name parasitizing on a real word, and especially one in widespread and important use, is already putting them behind for me.
Having said that Supernote's ambitions for more ruggedness/robustness and Pinenote's openness and overall stronger specs would probably have made them higher priority anyway once I get around to ordering.
It's not for everyone, but you get full root + ssh access to the device. I'm wondering if there's any good apps to fill in the gaps.
I always find remarkable interesting and want to try. However, it is expensive, costs about as much other tablets with full features
Archived version from yesterday: https://web.archive.org/web/20211121224157/https://cfenollos...
The hardware itself is really nice but the company is awful. God help you if you need any support from them at all.
I really really wanted one of these for note taking. I settled on an iPad Pro + Apple pen + Notes App which have been remarkably (no pun intended) good. The fact that I can then consume the notes I wrote on my computer or phone and use search as well with no extra effort required has been invaluable.
I've had one for about a year now and co-sign the author's review. Especially the "broken" OCR that doesn't allow search. Nor is there any way to create links to hyperlink between notebooks. Doing so would be a total game-changer.
Can anyone recommend for or against buying a used reMarkable2 on ebay? I'm interested in this for daily work, happy to spend some time in SSH, and have a reasonably high risk tolerance for no-warranty. But I don't want to throw my money away.
> Furthernore, the eraser size is too big.
Like pen size, you can also adjust the eraser size!
I'm very content with my reMarkable 1, and while I absolutely love it, I'm not sure if I would put down €480 for it (I got it from my old boss as he wasn't using it).
> find myself needing to do the gesture up to four or five times until it works
This drives me nuts.
I have one. Paired with their more advanced stylus (with the eraser) and with the new integration with Dropbox and GDrive it replaces my paper notebooks and most of my physical books. I quite enjoy using it.
(ignoring the recent move to a subscription service) The problem is you cannot tag pages for easy/effective search.
If they would add meta tags and make pages searchable by that, it would be 100% perfect.
I've seen adds for this thing, and it reminds me of nothing so much as the old Will Ferrell skit on SNL about "virtual reality reading."
I mean, why not just use paper?
Bought one a month ago, I'm very happy with it. I wish they would include more features, but apparently they want to keep it simple.
What I love about these things, is that you can SSH into it. There are various mods for it. And you can run your own software on it.
Meh. A (pricey) solution in search of a problem.
often people want more feature, thinking more is better. iPad has color it is better right?
Personally I would pay more to have e-ink. Looking at it is like looking at paper! It is easier on the eyes, less drain on the battery. And most stuff software development wise, b&w is good enough.
Way to expensive for what it is. 600$ plus with the pen and accessories … nope
reMarkable is dead. See all the other posts describing their new subscription model.
MyDeepGuide on YouTube has a lot of good reviews on reMarkable and other e-ink devices
Note that the author receives $40 when you buy a reMarkable using the provided link.
I've been using a reMarkable for some weeks on the job, and I'm generally satisfied. However, the reMarkable is not a proud linux computer. When changing to the subscription model, they introduced new Terms of Services. Among others, these prohibit reverse engineering the cloud API. Upon request, a customer service employee who had clearly never heard of the GPL clarified that as a customer I would certainly not be allowed to modify the operating system. Their legal team stepped in later to clarify that they accept the GPL, but still I should not dare to touch their API.
reMarkable gave every customer from before the 12th of October a lifetime subscription that is not transferable, should I eventually sell the tablet. So, I paid a ton of money for a tablet that says "OCR your writing" and "Sync all your documents" on the box, but I can not sell it without losing functionality that is advertised with on the box. The pricing for the subscription is way above reasonable.
As a note to the author, since you mentioned you recommended it to a psychologist: Please don't, or at least strongly suggest to keep away from connecting it to the internet. A random startup's cloud storage is not a place for sensitive medical and personal data. There is no option to sync the reMarkable with a self-operated WebDAV share or similar.
Having used this, it's fine, but not that great compared to similar products. I understand some people do like it.
That said, has anyone else noticed the quantity of reMarkable posts here (about once per quarter) with hundreds of votes that are essentially ads for the product? reMarkable clearly has a large advertising budget given the amount of ads I/others see from them on social media. Is it possible that they're purchasing HN votes?
Thanks for the information, I will try to figure it out for more. Keep sharing such informative post keep suggesting such post.
> They are moving towards a subscription model.
This is the biggest minus point for me. I want devices that I own, that I can use like I want to. I don't want to be caught in another cloud and pay monthly for something I don't want to use.
Currently I'm looking into getting a device from Onyx, because those support the Android App Stores, so I could set it up with Notion or my Nextcloud probably.
Remarkable seems to have better hardware (as in screen and writing), though.
edit: lots of people mentioning that you have SSH on the Remarkable. Good thing, but fiddling with shell scripts (yeah, no big deal for others, new for me) to sync with a cloud service of your choice... not sure I want that.