So I did my research. And some more research. I balked at the price for a long while, and then - when reMarkable recently changed the way it offers its services (it now uses a subscription method) - I balked again. But in the end I decided to take the plunge and order.
So, what do I think? Having only had my reMarkable tablet for just over a week, I probably don't know everything about it yet. I'm still learning. But... I'm loving it so far!
It feels great to write with. (Like, really great.) It has a legit paper-like experience: no glow, soft on the eyes, smooth writing experience etc. The ability to load PDFs from my computer/phone and then write all over them has been incredibly helpful as I plan for and attend meetings. I've also enjoyed it as a great journaling space and it's been excellent for keeping track of thoughts, my ever growing rewrite/edit task-lists and then free-writing when attempting to focus on a manuscript. I'm experimenting with the variety of templates and 'pens' and getting more familiar with what I like to use. There's even a few storyboard templates that will be great for picture book drafting.
Sure, it may not have all the whizz-bang features of a new ipad or something similar, but for me and what I was looking for, I'm really happy.
Some of the movements between PDFs and pages feel a little clunky and there is a lag as you 'turn the page', but if you are using the tablet to slow down - which I am as that's a critical part of my creative practice - it's not a problem.
So far, the handwriting conversion isn't brilliant. I haven't played around this with aspect too much yet, but it does require my neater handwriting or quite a bit of manual editing (which I can do either on the tablet or on the computer once the content is there). I will have to wait and see whether this feature will be something I rely on heavily or not.
In summary, after one week, I'm really glad to took the plunge. In it's simplest form, the reMarkable tablet is a just fancy notebook. It allows me the creative and organisational space to collate my ideas, create new ones, brew, develop, send, read, edit, review, draft, muse, doodle and dream. Time will tell how integral it becomes to my process, but so far, I LOVE it! NOTE: If you are thinking about getting a reMarkable and would like a small discount, you can use this referral code. Apparently they will pay me a little if you use it, but I don't mind either way. |