• 2 Posts
  • 15 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: October 25th, 2023

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  • I’ve acquired my rM2 during its preorder campaign and have used it basically daily since, between a couple minutes and altogether an hour or two a day.

    I don’t turn it off. I only really ever use the power button to wake it. On the odd occasion if it hasn’t fallen asleep before I have to bag it when I’m on the move, I’ll tap the power button to make it sleep. That’s really rare though because usually it will have already gone to sleep by itself, or I’ll just close the folio and trust that no touch interactions will occur.

    I also don’t proactively charge it, like I would my phone, my watch or other light-emitting devices. I might turn it on and see on the file screen that it’s somewhere under 40% on a given day, and if I remember, I might leave it on a charger before I go to bed. As a result, I really don’t pay any mind to the amount of time between charging; because it lasts so relatively long, charging it is a genuine afterthought.

    If I really think about it, I can probably go more than a week without charging and even then the tablet would have had a day to three in it still. I’m pretty sure during lower activity periods, I could have gone as long as two weeks without thinking to charge it.


  • That said, the web interface at my.remarkable.com/myfiles may work to allow you to upload documents to the device. But again, I advise caution as different organizations have different levels of activity blocking and tracking online and the file movement could be detected as malicious activity performed by your sign-in ID.

    At the web interface, you can see the listing of your files and folders, but not open any of the documents themselves.


  • If you work for a large multinational and they won’t allow you to install a third party app that they haven’t verified and approved, I’m going to assume they also have restrictions on sharing data outside of their network.

    Do not attempt integration of a personal device with your company resources without running it by - at least - your one-up first. You could be playing with your job if you’re caught breaking privacy and data management policy.

    Use your rM like you would any notebook, for taking notes and possibly sending notes into your office environment, but don’t try to sync or taking anything out of your environment without company approval.



  • You need to know yourself here, and unfortunately “can’t get organized with a paper notebook” is a tell. If you’re not organized generally, you need to figure out and be honest with yourself as to whether having a digital version of paper will help you to be more disciplined.

    There is no assistance or automation on the reMarkable platform. It is the digital equivalent of a filing cabinet in which you store ring binders, books and paper print outs. You have to bring the order to the filing cabinet.

    The Tag system is very rudimentary - essentially you apply a text tag or more than one text tag to a document - and you can go to a screen where you can filter for all documents with a specific tag or group of tags. But again, you need to figure out how to make that work for you.

    The one thing that the device would be guaranteed to solve for is having all your notes in one digital place if you use the reMarkable for all of your note-taking. But without a system that you bring to the table, what you risk ending up with is a digital version of clutter.




  • Consider this.

    The original reMarkable is equipped with the same resolution screen, uses the same pens, and is installed with the same software as on the rM2. The only functionality difference is that the rM1 has buttons on its chin and the rM2 does not.

    Given how dependent the software platform is on 1872 x 1404 resolution, a more pixel dense screen is going to mean a smaller device, or a device with a worse screen to body ratio in order to accommodate reMarkable’s first and only peripheral - the Type Folio.

    If a new rM is going to be produced, given economies of scale, it is more likely to replicate the form factor of the rM2. To be worth the factory retooling effort, that’s going to have to be a way superior greyscale e-ink screen, or colour at the same resolution and size that matches or improves on the current greyscale experience. Neither is in discernable pipeline at present.

    Given that there is nothing on the FCC site and the state of development of components of the device, you should get some years out of a device purchased today.

    If writing were all you wanted to do, you wouldn’t hedge on the reMarkable 2. It does that, it does it extremely well, it’s still better at it than all its competitors, and the company continues to improve that experience exclusively in software, meaning the hardware has legs.

    Don’t be taken in by other hardware manufacturers’ forced refresh induced by marketing.


  • Repeated response to a repeated question.

    The best indication of an rM3 in development is new device filings by the company to the US Federal Communications Commission. Schematics and other documentation for new devices with any wireless radios must be submitted to the FCC for approval before going to market. ReMarkable’s pattern so far has been to lodge documents with the FCC 18 to 24 months before their devices launch. There not being any new filings on their company page at the FCC website, there is nothing in pipeline that we can expect to see in the short to medium term.

    Secondly, considering the screen to be the most critical part of the reMarkable platform, there have been no developments in the e-ink space that has produced a significantly clearer, more responsive or faster refreshing panel in greyscale or colour to trigger the company to want to do a hardware refresh. The company’s current standard would require the panel to be whiter, faster, and fully usable without back or side lighting.

    That said, they may be watching developments in the colour e-ink space around which they might build a device. But, as noted, a colour rM would have to beat the rM2 in all performance areas. Colour e-ink isn’t there yet.



  • reMarkable’s Markers are what are best tuned to their devices. If you’re looking for a best anything for the reMarkable, it could only be something that they themselves produced.

    That said, the pencil’s implementation in software is close to realistic but not perfect. If rM’s Markers don’t give you what you’re looking for, it’s hardly likely any third party hardware, whether stylus or nibs, will be any better.



  • Given the current retail prices of e-ink screens and supporting components, the fact that rM has had to develop custom components for a device for sale in a niche segment, and the retail prices of their competition, the reMarkable was and reMarkable 2 is more than fairly priced.

    The only things I’d want next on the reMarkable, given my appreciation of the device and its limitations, would be a more fulsome PDF format support implementation including the ability to move pages between PDF documents and notebooks. I’d also like to be able to use third party keyboards, but this may not be possible on the current rM2 between the absence of a Bluetooth radio and their implementation of the USB-C port. Everything else I trust to the company and its developers, to continue to build the device’s features in software in keeping with their philosophy.

    On likes and preferences, I especially like how light and effortless the device feels both physically and philosophically. It is literally the easiest thing to grab and go, and it moves with me wherever I do. And it has never lost focus on its core function: replacing a physical notebook. You open it, if necessary find your required page, and just write, or read as the case may be. That is its major differentiator from other allegedly competing devices on the market: it is first, foremost and only a digital book.

    For me, honestly, there is no alternative to the reMarkable. It occupies its niche singularly. Everything else that might pretend to be similar to it is either an Android tablet with an e-ink screen or, pointedly, a Kindle.

    Without saying much more, the subscription model as currently configured is much and unnecessarily maligned. But this is its own topic.