I used this £560 digital notebook for a month but I’ll be switching back to paper

The Amazon Kindle popularised the ereader more than a decade ago, but it has taken a lot longer for E Ink technology to embrace digital writing. One of the most celebrated writing tablets is the Remarkable 2 from Norwegian company Remarkable, released in 2020. It’s a thin tablet with a monochrome E Ink screen designed to be used as a notebook and nothing much more – it doesn’t have an eBook store, for example.

Now Remarkable is back with the Remarkable Paper Pro, a pricier digital notebook with a more premium design and a frontlit touchscreen that importantly can display colour. This means you can take elaborate notes and sketch to your heart’s content in various hues, not just black.

I’ve been using the Paper Pro for a few weeks and have found it difficult to assess for this review. On one hand, I love it. It’s a well-made device that’s fun and rewarding to use. I enjoy the feel of the pen on the screen, which is close to the feeling of writing on paper, and my notes are all backed up to my Remarkable account so if I lose the slab I’ve not lost my scribblings.

But on the other hand, the tablet costs £559. That’s a steep price for a device that only, really, does one thing. You can’t watch videos, you can’t take pictures or make calls, and you can’t easily read eBooks (even though it’s possible). The Remarkable Paper Pro offers the same – you have to accept you’re paying for a device that’s only meant to do one thing, rather than the ubiquitous smartphone, whose purpose is to try and do everything.

When you set up the Paper Pro you need to make a Remarkable account. This is free, but Remarkable offers a Connect subscription for £2.99 per month that unlocks all features, such as unlimited cloud storage, automatic syncing, editing in Remarkable apps, the firm’s warranty plan, and exclusive offers. On the face of it, you don’t necessarily need this, but to fully enjoy your pricey purchase you will likely need to commit.

You need Connect to link up to the desktop and mobile Remarkable apps, where you can view and edit your notes with typed text, or simply refer to them when your tablet isn’t to hand – or if you’ve lost it.

All that aside, as an E Ink notebook, the Paper Pro is the best around. I’ve used the Remarkable 2 as well as the rival , and Boox Tab X, and the Paper Pro beats them all for sheer enjoyment. The included Marker stylus scratches satisfyingly on the matt display and is as close to the feel of paper I’ve tested on any E Ink device and there’s barely any lag. The audible scratching sound helps, as the plastic nib scuffs away – though you’ll need to replace the tips from time to time as they naturally erode like a pencil, except slower. Remarkable supplies a few in the box.

If you want the fancy Marker Plus pen that has a clever eraser on the other end, you need to pay £599 when you get the tablet, or it costs £119 separately. The basic Marker is £79 or comes with the tablet for £559. You can still erase, you just need to tap an icon to select the eraser on the screen rather than just flip the pen around. Both charge magnetically on the edge of the tablet.

It’s worth noting (ha) the Pro uses different Markers with different tips compared to the Remarkable 2, so even owners of the older product will need to pony up for a new stylus.

The 11.8-inch display uses Remarkable’s new ‘Canvas Color’ tech (built on E Ink’s Gallery 3 technology) to display nine different colours. You can select nine different writing implements too, from pen to pencil to calligraphy pen. The idea is you can make your notes vibrant and eye-catching.

Turns out I’m a simple man. I just created a notebook with lines to shift my daily work notes from paper to tablet and wrote in black pen, but you can select from all manner of templates for notebooks, from dotted to square all the way up to a daily planner, piano sheet staves or storyboards.

The colour display is put to better use for downloading and reading colour PDFs, or reading comic books, though as with eBooks you’ll need to get the files onto your PC and then drag and drop them to the Remarkable, or upload them using the Remarkable app. It’s a faff, but you have almost 50GB of storage if you need it.

A big improvement over the Remarkable 2 is the frontlight that means you can easier write and draw in dim or no light. You can control the level but there’s no ambient sensor for auto-brightness. The battery will run down quicker if you have it on full blast, but turn it down and set the auto-sleep function and the Paper Pro lasts at least a working week on a charge. That said, if and when it runs out away from a USB-C charger, you have an expensive notebook you can’t write on.

Performance is zippy, and I didn’t get frustrated with the inherent sluggishness of E Ink, which must refresh the display often. The software is well thought out and easy to get around with the touchscreen, though you have to learn a few swipe gestures to skip pages, or little hacks such as tapping with two fingers to undo the last pen stroke. Little tutorial windows pop up to tell you about these features.

I’ve written a lot of notes on the Paper Pro and had a lot of fun in the process. It scratches a certain tech itch, and certainly succeeds in its mission to be a device that has none of the distractions of the smartphone. I’ve been engrossed in writing notes when using it without WhatsApp pinging away at me.

I also tested the £219 Type Folio cover that has a full size keyboard. In landscape, the Paper Pro becomes a mini dumb laptop, and could be a good way for you to type notes or write that novel you have in you without the temptation to open YouTube or Reddit. You can intersperse pen work with typed text, and the keyboard feels great with backlit keys and is powered by the tablet so you don’t need to charge it. All in with the tablet and Marker Plus, this setup will cost you £779.

The Remarkable Paper Pro markets itself as being a haven from the distraction of your smartphone or tablet, a digital place you can go to take notes or, heaven forbid, ‘ideate’. That much is accurate. This is a digital notebook with no way to scroll social media or load up web pages. But for £559, surely the pitch falls over when you could be equally creative with paper and pen for a fraction of the price?

Of course, Remarkable argues that the Paper Pro makes you more creative. But its allure is in the fact it is a shiny gadget that keeps you tuned in to your thoughts because it’s really nice to use, and your notes won’t be lost. It’s a very expensive gadget designed to keep you away from your other very expensive gadgets. If you can afford the luxury that could be a good thing, but it’s hard to justify the cost when it’s a notebook that can run out of battery.

Then again, if you can afford it and you want a digital E Ink notebook, this is the best one you can buy right now. if you want to spend less and get many of the features of the Paper Pro.