by Josh Teder
If there’s one piece of tech you probably don’t own but have seen an ad for in the last five years and really wanted to buy, it’s the Remarkable 2. I wanted to take you through what using one has been like over the long term in 2025, six months after I purchased one, and why you would get something like this instead of just using traditional pen and paper or an iPad, and how it compares to Remarkable’s latest tablet, the Paper Pro, which Remarkable sent me and I’ve also been reviewing.
The Writing Experience
The biggest highlight with this tablet is the writing experience, which is not always the case for tablets. They often feel like writing on glass because, well, that’s exactly what you’re doing. With the Remarkable tablet, however, this is not the case. The writing experience is just sublime compared to every other tablet I’ve tried—iPads, the Kindle Scribe, even those screen protectors you can put on your tablets. There’s something about what Remarkable has done here that really feels close to what writing with an actual pen feels like, thanks to the felt tip on the marker and the glass which has these tiny etches in it that create friction resistance and this beautiful sound.
Additionally, this display features E-Ink technology, which is easy on the eyes, flicker-free, and resembles actual black text on white paper. It’s the same technology used in e-readers such as the Kindle Paperwhite, which I recently reviewed. Another thing that Remarkable did that helps sell this experience is they really shrank the gap between the display and the actual surface that you’re writing on. It’s definitely smaller than on other writing tablets I’ve used, like the Kindle Scribe, and helps give the writing experience an even more natural feel.
The Marker Plus is another standout part. It comes in black and has an eraser on it, and it has this really nice grippy texture to it. It’s not too heavy, but it doesn’t feel like a lot of those cheaper plastic styluses that you see with some other tablets.
Why Choose This Over iPad or Paper?
So it’s great to write on, but a lot of people write notes on an iPad or with a physical pen and paper. Why would you get this? Like, why would this be better than those two options? Two reasons: One, it has a distraction-free interface, which for me, at least, I prefer using over an iPad, Surface Pro, or Android tablet for the things I use this device for—like doing to-do lists, sketching out ideas, and outlines. I just want the interface and software to get out of the way and let me write. This allows you to do that—no notifications, no distractions, and the software itself is very simple and easy to use. It’s easy to go in and out of documents as well as hide the toolbars. You can choose from a variety of markers and highlighters, all in grayscale, unlike with the Paper Pro, which does have a color display. And make sure you subscribe to the channel if you want to see my long-term review of that product.
Another thing that’s great is the addition of layers—something the Kindle Scribe software is lacking. This makes it easy to fine-tune drawings, highlights, etc., without accidentally destroying other things you’ve written. This software has also received consistent updates with new features and tweaks to the overall software that improve functionality over the past six months.
Another thing Remarkable has done that’s intuitive and something I wish more devices and notes apps did is have a scrolling canvas. You can also use two fingers to slide over and reveal more margin to write in, which is a great feature that I use all the time. I like this approach better because you can keep all of your thoughts and ideas on a particular topic all on the same page versus having to create multiple pages like you do with the Kindle Scribe software. You can also pinch and zoom on your writing canvas, which is great for drawing and another thing you can’t do on the Kindle Scribe.
Additionally, the OS features several other useful gestures that I utilize frequently, including two-finger panning, a two-finger tap to undo, a three-finger tap to redo, and a two-finger swipe down to access recent documents and my favorites.
Organization and Storage
So how do you organize things on the tablet? Pages are typically organized into digital notebooks, which themselves can be placed into folders on the tablet, though there is a Quick Sheet feature in case you need to jot something down quickly. The tablet itself only has about six gigs of storage, but so far I’ve only found that with my notebooks and a few PDFs, I’ve used about 0.5 gigs or so.
That’s another use case I’ve used this tablet for a lot, actually. Remarkable makes it really easy to add and upload documents to your tablet via their mobile and desktop apps, as well as just straight from the web. That experience has been pretty flawless, and the syncing has not only been excellent but fast—it works in about three seconds typically.
Part of the reason all of this works flawlessly is the Remarkable Connect subscription, which costs about $30 a year here in the US, but it might vary in other countries. I know—another subscription you have to think about—but it is optional, though I did end up purchasing it during my review period.
The Remarkable Connect Subscription
What is the Connect subscription, you may ask? Well, with it you get unlimited storage and syncing of your documents between your tablet, Remarkable’s cloud, and then the Remarkable apps. A three-year extended warranty, though that does not cover accidental damage, but anything outside of accidental damage will be covered and they’ll replace your tablet within that three-year period. You also gain access to Remarkable Methods templates—a new library of templates that can be downloaded and used on the Remarkable 2. However, for my workflow, I haven’t yet found the need for additional templates.
The biggest downside to not having the Connect subscription, in my opinion, is that without it, only files used and synced in the last 50 days will continue to be synced to Remarkable Cloud. So if you make a change to your notebook or start writing in it again after that 50-day period, any changes you make are only going to be made on your tablet locally, but those changes won’t be synced to the cloud, and you’ll notice this with a little icon that’ll be placed on your notebook. One way to overcome this is to try to duplicate the stale notebook and then start editing the newer one. You also won’t have access to note-taking in the Remarkable mobile and desktop apps, which can be somewhat annoying depending on how you plan to use Remarkable software.
Now, wait a minute—why can’t you just use a cloud storage option that you already pay for to sync your documents to? Well, Remarkable does integrate with Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, but it’s not exactly what you may be hoping for. You can browse stored files, copy them to your Remarkable, and upload notes and documents directly to your drives, but it’s not the same as what Remarkable does with Connect. With Google Drive, for example, when importing a Google Doc, I can’t actually edit the text via the Remarkable tablet or the app. What it does is convert that Google Doc into a PDF, which I can then mark up and export back into Google Drive.
Now, what happens when you export one of your Remarkable notebooks to an external drive? It’ll export your notebook as a PDF, and if you import it back into your Remarkable notebook, it’ll import back as a PDF. So you can’t just upload the proprietary RM file type that Remarkable uses for its notebooks and sync those to an external cloud storage provider, which, yes, is a bit of a bummer. But the way Remarkable has structured their setup for the end user is pretty easy to use and it doesn’t require constant manual syncing.
Now, another question you may have is: what file types does Remarkable support? Those would be their own proprietary notebook format, as well as PDFs, non-DRM EPUB files, as well as Microsoft Word docs and PowerPoint files, though those files will just get converted to a PDF.
How My Usage Changed Over Six Months
So how has my use with the Remarkable 2 changed over the past six months? I started using Remarkable software during my review period for all of my note-taking, script writing, script editing, and more. As time has gone on, I found I use the device and the Remarkable apps less than I did at the start, mainly because of speed. Drafting outlines by hand took too long, and the typing experience on the tablet itself with the Type Folio case is fine, but I found I prefer typing on my computer for a variety of reasons. The keyboard feels a tad small, the key travel is decent, though I don’t think the feeling is as good as my MacBook keyboard, and there’s no great area to rest your palms, so the ergonomics are a bit meh. Fine for on-the-go, but it’s not something I’d want to use all the time.
Though if you’re the type who likes handwriting out your writing, Remarkable does have an AI handwriting feature to convert multiple pages of your handwriting at once. But importantly, it won’t overwrite your handwritten notes, which I really like. It, like a lot of these conversion tools, is generally accurate, but there will be mistakes.
Also, I found the Remarkable desktop app to be a bit too simplistic for my ideation needs when typing up a script. This may also be the case for writers or those who rely a lot on Microsoft Word. For my script drafts and editing in my workflow, I ultimately reverted back to my previous workflow, which was a combination of Notion and Google Docs. Notion allows me to drag parts and selections of my outlines around much faster, and you can make more than one indentation with bullet points, plus I can run Grammarly in the browser to check the grammar of the scripts before recording, which is very important to me.
So given my current workflow now, would I still even use the Connect subscription? Yes, but mainly just for the document syncing. I really do appreciate having all of my documents backed up, being able to access them from all of the mobile apps, and not have to worry about opening and editing all the ones I want to keep every 50 days.
Now, another thing that’s actually pretty great with the Remarkable tablet is reading articles and PDFs, which you can send to your tablet via a browser extension like the one they made for Chrome, which is perfect for sending articles, though it doesn’t always pull images through, and you can’t send articles via their mobile app at the time of recording.
The Downsides
Now let’s talk about the downsides I’ve encountered while using the Remarkable 2. First, there’s no backlight, unlike the Kindle Scribe and Paper Pro. The refresh rate is another downside—newer E-Ink devices of this size have faster processors and better refresh rates, like the Paper Pro. Battery life is rated for only two weeks and definitely lasts about that long, and it’s not as long as my Kindle Scribe, which lasts for months at a time, so that’s another downside. Display resolution is another one—you can see the jagged parts of your handwriting, something the Paper Pro fixes and other devices like the Kindle Scribe don’t have with its 300 PPI display.
Authentication is also a bit tedious—the four-digit passcode is kind of annoying to have to put in constantly. I wish they added a fingerprint sensor in the power button for quicker authentication. There’s no auto-on when you open the case—you have to hit the power button, though that has been fixed on the Paper Pro. Responsiveness is another downside—sometimes it just doesn’t respond to your hand gestures, especially when you try to pinch and zoom. There’s also no button on the marker for quick highlights like you have with other styluses, which is a feature I actually think is quite useful. And lastly, the case materials could just be better for the Remarkable 2—they feel a bit cheap and not as premium to match the brand. The Remarkable Paper Pro’s cases, on the other hand, do feel much better and more premium.
My Recommendation
So do I recommend the Remarkable 2 tablet? Overall, if so, who do I recommend it for? And is this ultimately better than writing on paper? Let me answer that last part first. Yes, for a few reasons. One, all of your notes are backed up to the cloud, so if you lose your tablet, it falls into the ocean, whatever—your notes stay intact. For me, that’s really important because I do a lot of ideation on this device. Another reason it’s better than those paper pads is you can fit all of your notes, PDFs, and other documents into a single device, which is pretty thin. Additionally, you have access to your work files via Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. The only real advantage paper has over this device is it’s completely analog and it doesn’t run out of battery. But I personally think the features here, plus not needing to worry about sharpening a pencil, running out of ink, or bringing a highlighter along—all of that, plus what I talked about earlier, makes this better than those paper pads I used to take notes on.
So do I recommend the Remarkable 2? Yes. Who should get one? Anyone who wants a distraction-free device to ideate on, write notes, mark up PDFs, review contracts, sign documents, or wants a distraction-free typewriter experience. If that’s you, I think you should seriously look at getting a Remarkable 2. While it’s not an iPad or tablet, which are great at doing a lot of different things, I think for some tasks like ideation, writing, and marking up documents, there is a benefit to doing those tasks with a device like this that will not distract you with notifications and emails and just allows you to focus on the task at hand better.
Remarkable 2 vs Paper Pro
Now, the last question you may have, if you’re sold on getting one of these devices, is: should you go with the Remarkable 2 versus something like the Remarkable Paper Pro, which just came out in 2024? The Remarkable 2 was announced and released in 2020, so this device, in terms of tech products, is getting a bit old, and its missing features are starting to stand out more compared to the competition from others like Kindle, Supernote, and Onyx. In terms of hardware, the software experience on it still works fine. However, the Paper Pro that I’ve been using, which Remarkable sent me, is better than my Remarkable 2 in almost every way. It’s got a larger display with a higher PPI and backlight, and the refresh rate is faster too. The Type Folio is a full keyboard size and feels a lot better to type on. You get a color E-Ink display, which I’ve actually liked having more than I thought I would. Color-coding my shot list by shot type is actually very useful, and seeing color images in PDFs is great. Plus, all of the accessories, which feel better and are made from nicer materials, and they all feature a magnetic clasp to hold the marker in place—that’s a better experience as well.
The writing experience on it is a bit different, though—it’s more akin to using a pencil with the marker’s harder plastic tip. It is easier to glide the marker against the display, but I still prefer the writing feel of the Remarkable 2 personally, although not by enough to make me stick with the Remarkable 2 over the Paper Pro.
Now, the price difference between these two tablets is pretty substantial, though that will vary depending on your country. And here, that’s just for the tablet itself—a Marker Plus and a Folio Book or Type Folio will run right around $800 before tax versus $600 for a Marker Plus and Type Folio or Folio Book for the Remarkable 2 bundle. And to see current pricing, you can check out the purchase links for this video, which I’ve left in the description as well as in the pinned comment.
So is that price difference worth it? If you think you’ll use this device every day for an hour or so, then yes. So far, I do think the Paper Pro’s improvements are enough to justify purchasing it over the Remarkable 2. However, if you’re just dipping your toes into the writing tablet space and you’re not sure how you’re going to use it yet, even though, yes, it is a bit dated now, I’d still go for the Remarkable 2, or at least wait until the second half of 2025 to see if Remarkable releases an updated version. We seem to be overdue for an update to the Remarkable 2, which should include some of the improvements that the Remarkable Paper Pro has, but it probably will not feature a color E-Ink display, though I couldn’t find any rumors at the time of recording that indicated a launch of the Remarkable 3 was imminent.
All right, so those are my thoughts, but now it’s your turn to tell me what you think. Do you have a Remarkable tablet or other writing tablet, and what do you think of them? Do they seem worth it? Let me know in the comments, and you can click here, by the way, to see more of my videos on E-Ink devices, and then you can click here to see more six months later reviews, like my review of the Meta Ray-Ban or the iPad Pro. And to view all of the products I recommend at any time, you can visit 6MonthsLater.net/shop.
For 6 Months Later, I’m Josh Teder. Thanks for watching!
