The monthly fee is a deal breaker for me, as is the ridiculous fact that they charge extra for the pen. This is a device segment that could be great, but this company seems to have been too focused on profits.
@@patfisher22 I find it stupid that Dropbox only 2gb free storage at least Google Drive has more but storing books with some pics and comics are going to be hasty, I'd rather that they make the free storage at least 10
@@Jinkypigs yeah subscription paywall is the worst thing about it. It's as outdated as sending your notes to yourself via email. The reMarkable would have been remarkable in like 2001, tho
I've had my Remarkable now for around 15 months. I absolutely love it. I am a private health professional and keep all my handwritten session notes on it. I also have my forms in PDF and hand it straight to my clients to complete them. It has saved me so much time compared to my old paper, photograph, folderize, shred system. And the other psychologists I know who also have one absolutely love it too. I guess it's all about the use case.
100% agree, remarkable2 meets my needs perfectly (e-ink writing pad distraction free) have never lost any of my meeting notes or project notes. A great business partner.
REMARKABLE video on the product. I was considering this as a note taking replacement to my Surface device. Your in depth review has changed my mind and you answered literally every question I had about the product. Well done.
Thank you , this could not come for better time for me . It's really an eye opener . Skipping it for now , maybe a new version of it would be better at integrating with modern day services.
Not so Much the device itself, rather the set-up of How the software works and How it syncs with Google Drive and Dropbox. Its creates pdf-files when you transfer docs to storage which cant be recovered as reMarkable files to be worked on again. And to acces either drive or dropbox costs you the subfee
I appreciate a video that evaluates the product after a fair trial period. Given that you have used this item for 1 year adds complete credibility and that is obvious from your remarks. I've been going back and forth about the Onyx Boox for a couple months now. This video came at a great time for me. So, thank you. And I have to agree with T HOFF on your Dutch accent, it reminded me so strongly of my Dad who came to Canada from Enschede when he was 17 years old. My Mom always said, "Wooden Shoes, Wooden Head, Wooden Listen" Ah...but he was a good man.☺
This saved me a purchase. These issues would seriously annoy me. Thank you! If reMarkable 3 won't come with Kindle support and better export of notes, it won't ever be used by me other than as a brief novelty.
*Longer written review* Is that all you can say about the device? No, an in-depth review can be found here: EN: www.voys.co/blog/long-term-review-remarkable-2-buy-or-pass/ NL: www.voys.nl/weblog/long-term-review-remarkable-2-kopen-of-niet/ *The alternative* I got some questions via Twitter and in the reactions about the alternative I was mentioning. It's the Onyx Boox Note Air 2, which is based on Android. That means it does have an app store and a bookstore and does work with your favorite sync service like Pocket. The Supernote A5x is also advised in the comments by Don who added some nice thoughts. *Chapters* 00:00 reMarkable2 intro 00:23 The true price of the reMarkable 00:43 Which pen/stylus to choose 01:10 Getting stuff on your reMarkable 02:04 Reading, annotation and highlights 02:44 Taking notes 03:17 Drawing 03:35 Does the reMarkable 2 suck? 04:23 The competition
Good day Mark, I was going to get a Remarkable 2 for my wife who has to go through a huge amount documents daily, comment and interact with several colleagues on various issues. It would be easier to have access to her emails on the same device and be able move all annoted documents across her notebook and smartphone. All her systems are Apple. Which of the options mentioned in your review video is most suitable? I am open to other options
I think the Kobo Elipsa is a much better deal: has the pen included, far better handwriting recognition, no subscription fees and built-in Dropbox integration. Granted, it doesn't look as sleek and the cover (which is included) is not nearly as nice. But if you want something that actually works...
Thanks for the honest review - not often you see people take the long-term perspective when creating these reviews for us looking for real information on the product
Excellent all around review, short and precise, the way all reviews should be, thank you, I was very close to buying one but the issues that you highlighted would make it a poor purchase for me.
I've been using the Remarkable for 1 year and I love it. My needs are very basic - I use it as a note book instead of individual pieces of paper which used to end up all over my desk. The writing experience is great, as is hand sketching mind maps etc... This single use is a major benefit. I hate devices capable of ruling the universe, which make me feel like an idiot because I'm only taking notes. By the way, I'm not sure if the review mentions this but it's important - the device isn't back lit so you can't use it in low light conditions.
I've owned my Remarkable 2 since they were on pre-order. I absolutely LOVE this device. I never leave home without it. I purchased a custom leather cover from a gal in the Netherlands.
Love the idea of the reMarkable2. My challenge is that I move between paper note-taking and typing on my computer, and I'm interested in being able to move more fluidly between these note-taking styles - plus have less paper floating around generally. But I think I will wait til 1) integration with other office tools improves, 2) price comes down. Agree that it's a bit bogus to sell the marker separately. Thanks for the review!
I got my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 for exactly that purpose. Granted, it's not e-ink, and you write on glass surface, but it's been a godsend. Still running great almost six years later.
I might be the only one who's decided to buy this based on your video. I want it simply take notes in university. Nothing else. I just want to replace paper without needing to type on my laptop. I don't need them to be moved to the cloud or anything, just a simple device to write on and store my notes.
I enjoyed your review for the fact that you managed to accentuate several good points about the devices in a concise way through fair and straight comments on its pros and cons, all within 5 minutes.
Might be a good idea to have the actual the product that competes with the remarkable 2’s name on your screen as it’s kind of difficult to understand your English(onxbook?) or have it in the description
Very helpful and honest review. Thank you. I'm looking at the Remarkable, but some of the downsides were not so apparent until I saw this review. I'll take a look at the ONYX book as well.
I have been using it for about 14 months now. I still use it. I would say the biggest problem is price. If price is not an issue, it is a great note taker. I still use the reMarkabl 2 and with 2.12 update, it became a lot more useful. But again, the price is high. I also have Boox Onyx Lumi Max, which is bigger and not a great direct comparison. However, it still give me a good software feel of Boox Onyx devices are like. Note taking is ok, but Onyx devices is a Android skin. It is good in some ways, including allows loading Android apps. But note taking on such an complex device feels a little too much. But if I only have the same amount of money, Onyx devices is still a very good option.
Does it still cost 8/month in subfees to access dropbox and Google Drive? And How does it work with the pdf-format that it used to create when you transfer files? Can you interact with notes that have been uploaded and then loaded back to the device?(hope my question makes sense
Thank you for the honest review. You have truly broken down the pros and cons of this device and made it very easy for me to decide if I should buy one or not.
Also worth a mention is Samsung Tab S tablets are excellent for drawing. Actually more responsive (lower latency) than ipads. With better OLED screens, too. 3:34
Hi Mark, The content of your review is great, especially the parts about: -how much do the different types of pens cost -how to send articles using the Google Chrome extension But, if I would be able to suggest a possible missing on your vid is the following: When you talk about the layer on top of the document, it will help you see your screen on the 'remarkable' to understand what you refer to. Apart from that, your review is really helpful. Congrats!
A fair review which i would agree with. Unfortunately our IT Dept said I couldn't use it and provided an iPad pro instead. So now my granddaughter is loving the experience of using it.
Thanks for the review. I was considering getting this for my wife for Christmas because she takes tonnes of notes in notebooks and is always losing information, but not being able to get those notes off the device easily is a deal-breaker for me.
Great honest review. Love that dutch accent btw - reminds me of my days in Europe. I want to get an e-Ink device, but can't see it replacing my OneNote / Suface and iPad workflow. Pens with colors, highlighter and the incredible search and synch capabilities of OneNote make it impossible for me to take this big step back.
What is the name of the "competition" you say is better? I can't guess the spelling from your pronunciation. Thanks. What about the ReMarkable 2? Thanks again.
A question for you or anyone who uses and likes their remarkable2: Im not all that interested in using cloud storage and wondering with only 8gb how big the notebook files are? Will it fill up very fast?
Thanks for the review! I've been checking out people's responses and uses over the past few weeks and I decided that this is still the gadget I should try right now. My office space is chock full of sticky notes that, in the past (hopefully??), I would transcribe to an actual notebook. While the process of transcribing notes helps me learn/remember what I've noted, these days I just don't have time to constantly collect and rewrite my notes just to clear off my desk. So I'm really interested in the reMarkable as a never-ending notebook. I bought it a few days ago and I'm actually opting out of the whole cloud/syncing function for now because I really just need to write somewhere that doesn't make a mess. I'll likely have to set up the user account, though, because at this point, the writing-to-text function won't work and eventually I'd like to be able to search all these sticky-note-like notes on the device (especially for things like folder pathways and filenames that I seem to write down a lot). So I can relate to the downside of the whole subscription/paywall thing but maybe I didn't need those functions so badly anyway?
As a software engineer - you can also communicate with the device via ssh, which means it's easy to sync documents without any application or extension - it's trivial to strip DRM from e-books, so this absolutely isn't a limitation
Excellent review. I'm so sceptical of glowing tech reviews these days. I get a lot of ads for Remarkable and it looked interesting but it seems like a gadget that I'd buy and then force myself to find a use for it. Besides the high cost of the pen and case, I'm not going to pay further for an app that should be free.
I'm almost sold in the RM2, but they would do a great favor if they can introduce normal "Adobe PDF reader" features. Is it that hard to have highlights that can be later on read by another pdf reader? Is it that hard to introduce steaky notes (maybe mixed with OCR or just typing?). I don't know. It seems to me that those things are simple, but not necessarily will come up with software updates.
Thank you truly !! I have ADHD and single-purpose devices really help!!! so even though I have a tablet, I got a kindle for reading. And I have a watchminder just for reminders instead of a smartwatch. Off I go to review the Onix, thank you again. I am currently drowning in paper notebooks, they are so pretty, but what a mess!
Brilliant! Just had an ad for the Remarkable on my IG account so googled it to check it out - and then came here. Excellent summary of good and bad in 5 minutes. If only ALL reviewers could do that. Thank you. I'll check out the competition next.
So, it's an eReader, but it doesn't let you read your books, has a monthly fee if you want to synch your files, and costs the same as a decent tablet and a lot more than an eReader... (Check's date to see if it's April 1st)
You know there's pc and mac software to get everything on and off the remarkable, right? The real downer to the machine is how they introduced/'upgraded' to subscription service after many of us bought the device and are now basically waiting for the sunset provision to come into effect where the machine we bought is no longer the one we own without paying ransom subscription. That said, your artist friends maybe weren't looking at the remarkable as what it is for an artist: an infinite sketchbook. It's not designed for finalized drawing, just like it's not designed to be a typewriter or desktop publishing, it's for notes and notes for a writer is the same thing as sketching for an artist.
So I can put ebooks on it if I wanted to? Sorry if it's obvious from what you said I just want to be sure. That's the what will help make my decision of buying it.
Question- I am a tax accountant. I want to move a scanned PDF from my desktop computer to the Remarkable, mark it up, then send it back to my computer with my checkmarks/notes. Can I do that with the Remarkable? Thanks!
I have a computer, a phone, the remarkable was a gift. I love, love, love it. It has taken the place of all the spiral notebooks I only stopped using once I got it. It does what I need it to without interjecting it’s own thoughts as does my computer at times. When I finish something I want to them send to my computer I can do so, or mail it. I can’t draw with my computer as if it were paper. It’s just more personal.
The onyx boox is great; I have one. Having a backlight was the big difference for me. However, I still feel I need a larger tablet for the purposes I would use it for. In the future, the perfect tablet will come by.
Was looking for a comment that was able to translate what the hell the other thing he was saying. Sounded like he kept saying ongshbook and judging by that segment being the most replayed, I think other people might have also been trying to figure that out
Seems like it would suit my usecase. I get easily distracted, thus I don't want any apps. I prefer downloading books on my computer and then putting them on the device, rather than having a store directly on the device. It seems like it's good enough for sketches and note-taking, the UI and UX looks great. I hate the subscribtion model, but I wouldn't need any features that the subscribtion provides. And it's beautifully designed, although a bit expensive.
@Marius As a perfectionist, there are some small issues (mostly related to some design decisions), but it is the second best option if I decided to skip the Remarkable.
By the sounds of it I could buy a tablet for the same price and do more with it. I was super excited for this, but the pen being extra, the monthly fee to connect to Google drive, not being able to synch books. Feels like saving for a tablet is gonna be more worth it.
Recently I've experienced a real showstopper of a problem with my reMarkable 2. When taking notes my hand has brushed over the surface and before I've had a chance to do anything, part of my notes have vanished - not just those that I'm writing but a slew of earlier notes further up the page too. As I have sync enabled with my desktop app, they immediately vanished there too. I contacted customer support but they said there was nothing that could be done to recover the content. As a business user, no back-up is a real problem and I'm forced to find an alternative. Other than this I have enjoyed the experience.
Good review. I’m a writer-artist and I’ve been looking for a tablet/enotebook that does exactly what this tablet does. I don’t want any other features, I just want a notebook that is digital so I don’t have to go through so many chunky notebooks for different purposes. My workstyle is to sketch and make quick drawing drafts alongside my writing, so the built in drawing software actually looks perfect to me. It replicates the experience of sketching with nothing but a black ink pen, and that’s what I need on a notebook. But the price doesn’t include a pen or cloud integration which makes it seem overpriced for what it does. In fairness, I know the original model used to be $600-700 so $400 for the 2 is a respectable cut. I think I’ll still hold off on buying given the information you shared, and wait for a new model. Or possibly a new brand that does what reMarkable does, but I doubt it, it’s too niche haha None of the competitors interest me since I am not looking for an ereader.
1:46 All eBooks on Kobo are DRM-free. I buy from Kobo because of that. I stress that because the offline file sharing mechanism is still said to be experimental (Browser over USB instead of OTG).
I just need a notebook that doesn't take up my entire bookcase. I love writing and world building and I love physical hardback notebooks but they take up a lot of space, it's also pretty annoying to have to refill whatever I'm writing with. That's a minor issue but still annoying. I can use whatever bc I am sensitive to some inks so it makes my throat itch and makes me cough and the ones I don't react to are a bit expensive.
It costs so much! I think it be a good idea for them to make a Lite version where is only a notebook. No e-read, no pdfs, no cloud support etc. I kinda wanted it just for taking notes and that's it. If they made that at a quarter of the price then it be perfect.
I seen a kick starter for something similar to this. It had a folders menu, and you created text / image files. No internet or anything, everything was handled through the SD card. Which personally, I love because I use a lot of devices for work (windows, ios, Chromebook, android, linux). So I thought this was going to be an awesome solution. However, they didn't get enough funding so it was dropped. I'm still looking for something similar.
Well this review doesn't explain much of the capability at all. I'm not saying this device is for you. But if you say the ONYX device is a much better, without any proper arguments, why it is really better, is not good at all. You find much better detailed UA-cam reviews that explain both devices.
Does anyone know of any alternatives to the remarkable that you can type on? I’m looking for a sort of digital typewriter that I can write with without any distractions, and I really loved the look of the screen on this one but I’m having second thoughts.
I realize I am a year late, but a 2024 goal I have was to obtain a tool for journaling/note taking/organization/planning in my personal life. Cannot thank you enough for the in-depth review and comparison to the Onyx Boox, a product I had never heard of prior to today. Now, if you will please excuse me, I'm going to go search your channel for an Onyx Boox Review! PS: love your accent.
I literally was about to purchase this to replace my daily / weekly planner. I'm very much connected outside of this device and may want to bring my data from inside to outside. I'm looking at The Onyx Book. Sounds like the functionality is more modern.
I was super ready to get one but glad that i came across you video, i did not know that it comes with no Pen, and cover, also the monthly fee !!! No thank you I will keep stacking my notes :) perhaps in the future, they will change or a better device will be released with more affordable budget and better options.
Hi Mark, Thx 4 your honest review. Did you try the rm3 update version? Rm says now, the work flow with documents and their integration would be super convenient. Is this true? Could you please do an update video if so?
As a hobbyist artist I would say that even though this is nowhere near as robust as obviously a dedicated drawing tablet experience could offer and definitely will never hold a candle to the star that is an iPad, that is not at all it's function or intention. I find the Remarkable 2 to be an excellent sketching companion as if I was carrying around a sketch pad and using pen or pencil to practice perspective and other random doodles. The Remarkable 2 did wonders for me because I would carry several notebooks with me in a messenger bag for fiction work, mental health, practical notes, journaling, and a sketch book. All of these were completely consolidated into a single, sleek, lightweight and very cozy tablet that has been worth every penny.
Note that remarkable no longer syncs your notes if you haven't made the terrible choice of "upgrading" to the continuous page nightmare (3.0 and after)
The monthly fee is a deal breaker for me, as is the ridiculous fact that they charge extra for the pen. This is a device segment that could be great, but this company seems to have been too focused on profits.
Yea, I've been on the bubble about buying one and this really influenced me away from it. Maybe the next generation?
Typical Apple approach
It appears the company in Sweden contracted with a China business to take care of all of its issues.
@@patfisher22 I find it stupid that Dropbox only 2gb free storage at least Google Drive has more but storing books with some pics and comics are going to be hasty, I'd rather that they make the free storage at least 10
@@studiosinger but the Sweden company makes the business decision, and probably didn't pay much for whoever it outsources.
The fact the pen doesn't come with the remarkable 2 itself is a huge L 🤦♂
100% agreed.
That and the subscription paywall....
Maybe they have a combo pack, there are reasons why manufacturers selling them separately.
@@Jinkypigs yeah subscription paywall is the worst thing about it. It's as outdated as sending your notes to yourself via email. The reMarkable would have been remarkable in like 2001, tho
@@kuhaniresti what are those reasons?
An e-notebook that doesn't come with a pen is like buying a car that doesn't come with tires. And a monthly fee for basic syncing? What an insult.
Two and a half minutes in and you have saved me a bunch of money. Thank you for your honest review. Much appreciated!
I've had my Remarkable now for around 15 months. I absolutely love it. I am a private health professional and keep all my handwritten session notes on it. I also have my forms in PDF and hand it straight to my clients to complete them. It has saved me so much time compared to my old paper, photograph, folderize, shred system. And the other psychologists I know who also have one absolutely love it too. I guess it's all about the use case.
Can you write in other colors besides black?
100% agree, remarkable2 meets my needs perfectly (e-ink writing pad distraction free) have never lost any of my meeting notes or project notes. A great business partner.
I'm a psych student and was looking at reviews for this exact reason! Thanks for your comment, very helpful :)
I'm a hospice RN and I use it daily for taking notes. I absolutely love it!
How do you find reading academic papers on the rM2?
This is one of the best, honest and most balanced reviews I have come across. Well done!
REMARKABLE video on the product. I was considering this as a note taking replacement to my Surface device. Your in depth review has changed my mind and you answered literally every question I had about the product. Well done.
What alternative did you find to the surface? Finding it too big to take university notes. A samsung tab?
Thank you , this could not come for better time for me . It's really an eye opener . Skipping it for now , maybe a new version of it would be better at integrating with modern day services.
Not so Much the device itself, rather the set-up of How the software works and How it syncs with Google Drive and Dropbox. Its creates pdf-files when you transfer docs to storage which cant be recovered as reMarkable files to be worked on again. And to acces either drive or dropbox costs you the subfee
My thoughts exactly. For that amount of money, i would at least want different highlighter colours 😅
Yeah same. I was super stoked to buy this and this was really the only more negative/critical review. I’ll keep digging.
I appreciate a video that evaluates the product after a fair trial period. Given that you have used this item for 1 year adds complete credibility and that is obvious from your remarks. I've been going back and forth about the Onyx Boox for a couple months now. This video came at a great time for me. So, thank you. And I have to agree with T HOFF on your Dutch accent, it reminded me so strongly of my Dad who came to Canada from Enschede when he was 17 years old. My Mom always said, "Wooden Shoes, Wooden Head, Wooden Listen" Ah...but he was a good man.☺
This saved me a purchase. These issues would seriously annoy me. Thank you! If reMarkable 3 won't come with Kindle support and better export of notes, it won't ever be used by me other than as a brief novelty.
*Longer written review*
Is that all you can say about the device? No, an in-depth review can be found here:
EN: www.voys.co/blog/long-term-review-remarkable-2-buy-or-pass/
NL: www.voys.nl/weblog/long-term-review-remarkable-2-kopen-of-niet/
*The alternative*
I got some questions via Twitter and in the reactions about the alternative I was mentioning. It's the Onyx Boox Note Air 2, which is based on Android. That means it does have an app store and a bookstore and does work with your favorite sync service like Pocket. The Supernote A5x is also advised in the comments by Don who added some nice thoughts.
*Chapters*
00:00 reMarkable2 intro
00:23 The true price of the reMarkable
00:43 Which pen/stylus to choose
01:10 Getting stuff on your reMarkable
02:04 Reading, annotation and highlights
02:44 Taking notes
03:17 Drawing
03:35 Does the reMarkable 2 suck?
04:23 The competition
Good day Mark, I was going to get a Remarkable 2 for my wife who has to go through a huge amount documents daily, comment and interact with several colleagues on various issues. It would be easier to have access to her emails on the same device and be able move all annoted documents across her notebook and smartphone. All her systems are Apple. Which of the options mentioned in your review video is most suitable? I am open to other options
@@viifedi An iPad is clearly what is needed for this use case. An eink device will drive you up the wall in this scenario.
Problem with Supernote, they've been unable to ship all year, with no end in sight.
Can you us remarkable for drawing and art or just writing
Onyx book reviews
FINALLY AN HONEST REVIEW! NOBODY DISCUSSES THE SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR MOST NECESSARY FEATURES! AND ABOUT UNABLE TO USE EBOOKS ! SUBSCRIBED!
I think the Kobo Elipsa is a much better deal: has the pen included, far better handwriting recognition, no subscription fees and built-in Dropbox integration. Granted, it doesn't look as sleek and the cover (which is included) is not nearly as nice. But if you want something that actually works...
Thanks for the suggestion, for sure a better option than RM2, I'll save about 300€
@@bruno.calicoyou pay for what you get 😂 I bet the writing quality isn’t nearly as good as the RM2
Great review, thanks for the honesty and getting to the point without talking unnecessarily long just to break the 10 minutes barrier
Thanks for the honest review - not often you see people take the long-term perspective when creating these reviews for us looking for real information on the product
you really skipped passed the fact that they are charging you 8euros a month to access free services. what exactly are you paying for?
Excellent all around review, short and precise, the way all reviews should be, thank you, I was very close to buying one but the issues that you highlighted would make it a poor purchase for me.
I've been using the Remarkable for 1 year and I love it. My needs are very basic - I use it as a note book instead of individual pieces of paper which used to end up all over my desk. The writing experience is great, as is hand sketching mind maps etc... This single use is a major benefit. I hate devices capable of ruling the universe, which make me feel like an idiot because I'm only taking notes. By the way, I'm not sure if the review mentions this but it's important - the device isn't back lit so you can't use it in low light conditions.
I've owned my Remarkable 2 since they were on pre-order. I absolutely LOVE this device. I never leave home without it. I purchased a custom leather cover from a gal in the Netherlands.
Do you need it to be interoperable and easily hare notes and pdfs with notes on them?
Love the idea of the reMarkable2. My challenge is that I move between paper note-taking and typing on my computer, and I'm interested in being able to move more fluidly between these note-taking styles - plus have less paper floating around generally. But I think I will wait til 1) integration with other office tools improves, 2) price comes down. Agree that it's a bit bogus to sell the marker separately. Thanks for the review!
I got my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 for exactly that purpose. Granted, it's not e-ink, and you write on glass surface, but it's been a godsend. Still running great almost six years later.
They have a keyboard folio you can type on
Me too
I might be the only one who's decided to buy this based on your video. I want it simply take notes in university. Nothing else. I just want to replace paper without needing to type on my laptop. I don't need them to be moved to the cloud or anything, just a simple device to write on and store my notes.
Even then there are better alternatives that are cheaper.
I can’t understand what he says at the end about a better device. The “OongBook”? The “UnBook”?
ONYX book
I enjoyed your review for the fact that you managed to accentuate several good points about the devices in a concise way through fair and straight comments on its pros and cons, all within 5 minutes.
Great review. I would have tried it already if there wasn’t a monthly fee for syncing. I find that fee insulting.
Wow! You killed it (the remarkable that is) Dutch directness is so honestly refreshing! Thanks!
This review is the first honest review I’ve found. Thank you.
I love how clear and opinionated you are. I am glad your verdict wasn’t one of those “it depends” kind of verdicts. Thank you.
After dozens of reviews over the years yours was easily the most helpful and insightful. Thx.
Might be a good idea to have the actual the product that competes with the remarkable 2’s name on your screen as it’s kind of difficult to understand your English(onxbook?) or have it in the description
Very helpful and honest review. Thank you. I'm looking at the Remarkable, but some of the downsides were not so apparent until I saw this review. I'll take a look at the ONYX book as well.
Cant really tell what the name of the 'competition' is from the video. Would have been helpful to include link(s)
I have been using it for about 14 months now. I still use it. I would say the biggest problem is price. If price is not an issue, it is a great note taker. I still use the reMarkabl 2 and with 2.12 update, it became a lot more useful. But again, the price is high.
I also have Boox Onyx Lumi Max, which is bigger and not a great direct comparison. However, it still give me a good software feel of Boox Onyx devices are like. Note taking is ok, but Onyx devices is a Android skin. It is good in some ways, including allows loading Android apps. But note taking on such an complex device feels a little too much. But if I only have the same amount of money, Onyx devices is still a very good option.
They dropped price to $300 and the pen is $129
Does it still cost 8/month in subfees to access dropbox and Google Drive? And How does it work with the pdf-format that it used to create when you transfer files? Can you interact with notes that have been uploaded and then loaded back to the device?(hope my question makes sense
Thank you very much for the honest, eye opening (to me) and short review, much appreciated! a review on rM Pro please!
Thank you for the honest review. You have truly broken down the pros and cons of this device and made it very easy for me to decide if I should buy one or not.
Also worth a mention is Samsung Tab S tablets are excellent for drawing. Actually more responsive (lower latency) than ipads. With better OLED screens, too. 3:34
What was the tablet you recommended at the end? It's not listed in the description.
Hi Mark,
The content of your review is great, especially the parts about:
-how much do the different types of pens cost
-how to send articles using the Google Chrome extension
But, if I would be able to suggest a possible missing on your vid is the following:
When you talk about the layer on top of the document, it will help you see your screen on the 'remarkable' to understand what you refer to.
Apart from that, your review is really helpful. Congrats!
What is the name of the alternative product? The ouchn book? I'd like to check it out, if anybody knows, please help.
ONYX book
@@Platineitor Thank you
thank you for point out the ebooks arent supported!
A fair review which i would agree with. Unfortunately our IT Dept said I couldn't use it and provided an iPad pro instead. So now my granddaughter is loving the experience of using it.
Glad I watched this review. I wasn't planning on buying this but this video saves me the trouble if I had planned to buy it. Thank You.
Very helpful review as I consider buying this for my husband after seeing constant ads on Tiktok for this.
Can you download templates from word or PDF on to this, for example customer questionnaires or application forms)
Thanks for the review. I was considering getting this for my wife for Christmas because she takes tonnes of notes in notebooks and is always losing information, but not being able to get those notes off the device easily is a deal-breaker for me.
Same! I ended up getting my wife a Samsung S Tablet, which has worked very well for her (Samsung Notes app is excellent). And stylus is included!
Honest review, not like the others who felt more like paid ads. Keep it up.
Hi, am I able to send a PDF file downloaded from interneet from mac to remarkable 2?
i still find it hard to understand why can't I use 'flight mode'/'focus mode' on my iPad if I want 0 distraction tho.
Thank you for the great review. Short, but answered every question that I had.
Great honest review. Love that dutch accent btw - reminds me of my days in Europe. I want to get an e-Ink device, but can't see it replacing my OneNote / Suface and iPad workflow. Pens with colors, highlighter and the incredible search and synch capabilities of OneNote make it impossible for me to take this big step back.
What is the name of the "competition" you say is better? I can't guess the spelling from your pronunciation. Thanks.
What about the ReMarkable 2? Thanks again.
Check the pinned comment 😊
@@MarkVletter
What is the name of the competition with better features? I don't see it anywhere in the pinned comments.
Thanks
Thanks for the honest review! I’ll be reconsidering getting this and will look into other competitive products.
A question for you or anyone who uses and likes their remarkable2: Im not all that interested in using cloud storage and wondering with only 8gb how big the notebook files are? Will it fill up very fast?
Thanks for the review! I've been checking out people's responses and uses over the past few weeks and I decided that this is still the gadget I should try right now. My office space is chock full of sticky notes that, in the past (hopefully??), I would transcribe to an actual notebook. While the process of transcribing notes helps me learn/remember what I've noted, these days I just don't have time to constantly collect and rewrite my notes just to clear off my desk. So I'm really interested in the reMarkable as a never-ending notebook. I bought it a few days ago and I'm actually opting out of the whole cloud/syncing function for now because I really just need to write somewhere that doesn't make a mess. I'll likely have to set up the user account, though, because at this point, the writing-to-text function won't work and eventually I'd like to be able to search all these sticky-note-like notes on the device (especially for things like folder pathways and filenames that I seem to write down a lot). So I can relate to the downside of the whole subscription/paywall thing but maybe I didn't need those functions so badly anyway?
As a software engineer
- you can also communicate with the device via ssh, which means it's easy to sync documents without any application or extension
- it's trivial to strip DRM from e-books, so this absolutely isn't a limitation
i need to get my annotations off the device, as a graduate student i read mostly pdfs and e-books I need to upload them to the PC at some point
Excellent review. I'm so sceptical of glowing tech reviews these days. I get a lot of ads for Remarkable and it looked interesting but it seems like a gadget that I'd buy and then force myself to find a use for it. Besides the high cost of the pen and case, I'm not going to pay further for an app that should be free.
What was that device you recommended at the end? I can’t understand. 4:24?
I'm almost sold in the RM2, but they would do a great favor if they can introduce normal "Adobe PDF reader" features. Is it that hard to have highlights that can be later on read by another pdf reader? Is it that hard to introduce steaky notes (maybe mixed with OCR or just typing?). I don't know. It seems to me that those things are simple, but not necessarily will come up with software updates.
What was the alternative you recommended instead of the reMarkable? Min 4:27
The ULK Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite Pen is reMarkable compatible and is only $20 on Amazon
Thank you truly !! I have ADHD and single-purpose devices really help!!! so even though I have a tablet, I got a kindle for reading. And I have a watchminder just for reminders instead of a smartwatch. Off I go to review the Onix, thank you again. I am currently drowning in paper notebooks, they are so pretty, but what a mess!
Brilliant! Just had an ad for the Remarkable on my IG account so googled it to check it out - and then came here. Excellent summary of good and bad in 5 minutes. If only ALL reviewers could do that. Thank you. I'll check out the competition next.
THANK YOU for actually getting to the point and not everything else! Great review.
Can you spell out the alternative mentioned at 4:25, is it onch book?
Subs, video description and pinned comment will help you out 😊
So, it's an eReader, but it doesn't let you read your books, has a monthly fee if you want to synch your files, and costs the same as a decent tablet and a lot more than an eReader... (Check's date to see if it's April 1st)
@MarkVletter We’re a year on now - do you feel the 3.0 software update made enough of an improvement to change your initial recommendation?
How does an iPad Pro with paper-like screen protector compare for drawing?
You know there's pc and mac software to get everything on and off the remarkable, right? The real downer to the machine is how they introduced/'upgraded' to subscription service after many of us bought the device and are now basically waiting for the sunset provision to come into effect where the machine we bought is no longer the one we own without paying ransom subscription.
That said, your artist friends maybe weren't looking at the remarkable as what it is for an artist: an infinite sketchbook. It's not designed for finalized drawing, just like it's not designed to be a typewriter or desktop publishing, it's for notes and notes for a writer is the same thing as sketching for an artist.
So I can put ebooks on it if I wanted to? Sorry if it's obvious from what you said I just want to be sure. That's the what will help make my decision of buying it.
@@JfDamiano It accepts epub and pdf but not kindle stuff.
Question- I am a tax accountant. I want to move a scanned PDF from my desktop computer to the Remarkable, mark it up, then send it back to my computer with my checkmarks/notes. Can I do that with the Remarkable? Thanks!
@danaroberts4382 yes. That's one of its main features.
@@heavysystemsinc. Thank you! I have now received the Remarkable and really like it. I can do exactly what I asked about.
I have a computer, a phone, the remarkable was a gift. I love, love, love it. It has taken the place of all the spiral notebooks I only stopped using once I got it. It does what I need it to without interjecting it’s own thoughts as does my computer at times. When I finish something I want to them send to my computer I can do so, or mail it. I can’t draw with my computer as if it were paper. It’s just more personal.
I don’t understand, if you can’t use the tablet for e books, what books can you use it for?
Thank you for the short yet in-depth review of this device. I truly appreciate it!
The onyx boox is great; I have one. Having a backlight was the big difference for me. However, I still feel I need a larger tablet for the purposes I would use it for. In the future, the perfect tablet will come by.
Was looking for a comment that was able to translate what the hell the other thing he was saying. Sounded like he kept saying ongshbook and judging by that segment being the most replayed, I think other people might have also been trying to figure that out
Seems like it would suit my usecase. I get easily distracted, thus I don't want any apps. I prefer downloading books on my computer and then putting them on the device, rather than having a store directly on the device. It seems like it's good enough for sketches and note-taking, the UI and UX looks great. I hate the subscribtion model, but I wouldn't need any features that the subscribtion provides. And it's beautifully designed, although a bit expensive.
@Marius As a perfectionist, there are some small issues (mostly related to some design decisions), but it is the second best option if I decided to skip the Remarkable.
By the sounds of it I could buy a tablet for the same price and do more with it.
I was super excited for this, but the pen being extra, the monthly fee to connect to Google drive, not being able to synch books. Feels like saving for a tablet is gonna be more worth it.
"You can't send ANY ebook to the reMarkable". Surely you mean "any drm-enabled ebook"? You can send non-drm epubs and PDFs, yes?
Recently I've experienced a real showstopper of a problem with my reMarkable 2. When taking notes my hand has brushed over the surface and before I've had a chance to do anything, part of my notes have vanished - not just those that I'm writing but a slew of earlier notes further up the page too. As I have sync enabled with my desktop app, they immediately vanished there too. I contacted customer support but they said there was nothing that could be done to recover the content. As a business user, no back-up is a real problem and I'm forced to find an alternative. Other than this I have enjoyed the experience.
Good review. I’m a writer-artist and I’ve been looking for a tablet/enotebook that does exactly what this tablet does. I don’t want any other features, I just want a notebook that is digital so I don’t have to go through so many chunky notebooks for different purposes. My workstyle is to sketch and make quick drawing drafts alongside my writing, so the built in drawing software actually looks perfect to me. It replicates the experience of sketching with nothing but a black ink pen, and that’s what I need on a notebook.
But the price doesn’t include a pen or cloud integration which makes it seem overpriced for what it does. In fairness, I know the original model used to be $600-700 so $400 for the 2 is a respectable cut. I think I’ll still hold off on buying given the information you shared, and wait for a new model. Or possibly a new brand that does what reMarkable does, but I doubt it, it’s too niche haha
None of the competitors interest me since I am not looking for an ereader.
Hi. Can anybody tell me the alternative to Remarkable 2 that he mentioned? I can't get the name/understand what he was saying.
Pinned comment 😊
I just want it for writing using the keyboard attachment. The USP for me is the distraction free environment.
1:46 All eBooks on Kobo are DRM-free. I buy from Kobo because of that. I stress that because the offline file sharing mechanism is still said to be experimental (Browser over USB instead of OTG).
What is the name of the competitor that you mentioned that’s a better value for the price?
I just need a notebook that doesn't take up my entire bookcase. I love writing and world building and I love physical hardback notebooks but they take up a lot of space, it's also pretty annoying to have to refill whatever I'm writing with. That's a minor issue but still annoying. I can use whatever bc I am sensitive to some inks so it makes my throat itch and makes me cough and the ones I don't react to are a bit expensive.
What is he recommending i did not understood him?
Without Connect subscription how do I export my notes ?
What was the thing mentioned at the end? Ongs-book? A card/link to that Good e Reader buffet would be good
It costs so much! I think it be a good idea for them to make a Lite version where is only a notebook. No e-read, no pdfs, no cloud support etc.
I kinda wanted it just for taking notes and that's it. If they made that at a quarter of the price then it be perfect.
I seen a kick starter for something similar to this.
It had a folders menu, and you created text / image files.
No internet or anything, everything was handled through the SD card.
Which personally, I love because I use a lot of devices for work (windows, ios, Chromebook, android, linux). So I thought this was going to be an awesome solution.
However, they didn't get enough funding so it was dropped.
I'm still looking for something similar.
This was super helpful. This was exactly the information I was looking for. Having it all in a nice Dutch accent was just the cherry on top.
Well this review doesn't explain much of the capability at all. I'm not saying this device is for you. But if you say the ONYX device is a much better, without any proper arguments, why it is really better, is not good at all. You find much better detailed UA-cam reviews that explain both devices.
Is this a good notebook to have while in nursing school to take notes in multiple classes
4:44 what is he saying here? I tried reading the transcript, but it too doesn’t understand him. Orange book? Onix book? Wtf?!
It's in the transcript, the description and the pinned comment. Good luck. 😊
Great review. Thank you. Very helpful. The monthly subscription fee was a dealbreaker.
Does anyone know of any alternatives to the remarkable that you can type on? I’m looking for a sort of digital typewriter that I can write with without any distractions, and I really loved the look of the screen on this one but I’m having second thoughts.
If you really want a type writer only use a Freewrite.
Freewrite. I have the Freewrite Traveler and it's fantastic. My output soars when I use it, at least 50%-100% more output.
Great review! Love the honesty.
Could you pls tell us the name of the competitor you mentioned in the video?
I realize I am a year late, but a 2024 goal I have was to obtain a tool for journaling/note taking/organization/planning in my personal life. Cannot thank you enough for the in-depth review and comparison to the Onyx Boox, a product I had never heard of prior to today. Now, if you will please excuse me, I'm going to go search your channel for an Onyx Boox Review! PS: love your accent.
I literally was about to purchase this to replace my daily / weekly planner. I'm very much connected outside of this device and may want to bring my data from inside to outside. I'm looking at The Onyx Book. Sounds like the functionality is more modern.
I was super ready to get one but glad that i came across you video, i did not know that it comes with no Pen, and cover, also the monthly fee !!! No thank you I will keep stacking my notes :) perhaps in the future, they will change or a better device will be released with more affordable budget and better options.
Very informative review. I’m glad I watched this before investing in one. I think I’ll stick with my iPad for now
Hi Mark, Thx 4 your honest review.
Did you try the rm3 update version?
Rm says now, the work flow with documents and their integration would be super convenient.
Is this true?
Could you please do an update video if so?
Have they done any software upgrades since you've had it to help with the problems you were facing?
As a hobbyist artist I would say that even though this is nowhere near as robust as obviously a dedicated drawing tablet experience could offer and definitely will never hold a candle to the star that is an iPad, that is not at all it's function or intention. I find the Remarkable 2 to be an excellent sketching companion as if I was carrying around a sketch pad and using pen or pencil to practice perspective and other random doodles. The Remarkable 2 did wonders for me because I would carry several notebooks with me in a messenger bag for fiction work, mental health, practical notes, journaling, and a sketch book. All of these were completely consolidated into a single, sleek, lightweight and very cozy tablet that has been worth every penny.
Note that remarkable no longer syncs your notes if you haven't made the terrible choice of "upgrading" to the continuous page nightmare (3.0 and after)