I don’t remember how it showed up on my radar, but I was definitely going to go with Remarkable until I heard about the Supernote and learned more about it. (And somewhere in between I was also absolutely convinced I’d get a Boox Note Air…)
I highly recommend doing a deep dive into the reviews that Voja does at My Deep Guide. That’s where I had my mind changed (twice) about which one to buy.
He’s doing a live stream on Thursday with two other guys who do a lot of pretty thorough YouTube reviews of e-ink devices, during which they’re going to do some kind of debate. Might be worth watching to get a range of perspectives. (Ignore the weird thumbnail they’re using to promote it. I think it’s supposed to be ironic.)
The one thing you just can’t get when you’re shopping for these things is the chance to write on all of them for comparison. My wife has a Remarkable, and I do somewhat prefer the writing feel of that over the Supernote, but I prefer them both over writing on the iPad, and the organization and linking on the Supernote (and Remarkable’s penchant for subscriptions) adds up to me preferring the Supernote.
This guy’s modest Supernote videos are also worth watching to get a feel for what it’s like to use one.
Quick impressions: it’s basically an Android tablet with e-ink display. Could install GMail, Evernote, and several music apps from the Google Play Store.
Pros: display is crisp and easily read.
Cons: it’s not an iPad.
Pencil: Writing feel is better than on an iPad with the provided pencil, but not exactly like paper. there’s not much delay, but I’d say it’s comparable with an 2017 iPad Pro with first Apple Pencil. The tip of the pencil is great and it seems to me that it is pressure-sensitive. The pencil has an eraser but it’s a hard plastic button that you press while moving the pencil on the screen, seems like you could scratch or break the e-ink surface with it!
Reading: I installed the Kindle app and forgot about the rest.
UI: The UI is kind of strange coming from Apple to an Android device, but has some niceties like a “floating magic ball” (like the accessibility shortcut) that you can configure to some actions, it is helpful.
Display: Saying that it has some “special modes optimized for watching videos” is basically a joke.
Syncing: There is a Boox Sync utility but frankly could not really understand how it works. I will probably be using Evernote to transfer stuff.
My intended use case is to read and annotate sheet music, for that purpose the huge 13’’ display is great, but would not recommend it to anyone as the pricing is well settled in iPad Pro territory.
Oh, forgot to add I was waiting for something new in the 13’’ space because my eyesight is terrible these days and will not be getting any better. 13 inches is a little bit too bulky to comfortably hold or move around, in that sense the reMarkable looks perfect. But in my use case I can comfortably read sheet music putting it on top of my digital keyboard.
The feature I pine for most on the Supernote is light. I’ll be eager to hear how it works out for you. It has to be better than writing on an iPad, in any case.
I believe it is fine, at least I don’t have the feeling of writing on glass as with an iPad. Responsiveness is so and so, not better than my 2017 iPad Pro --haven’t tried newer iPad models–. This is with the stock Boox apps but I’ve found that the Evernote app has much higher lag when editing notes. Also, Mobile Sheets work fine --that’s my main use case-- but suffers when anotating sheets with higher zoom levels (I have bad eyesight and cannot sightread sheet so I need to annotate digitation and even note names on the staff so I need to work with pretty big zoom). Kind of surprising given that these things have dedicated GPUs, it must be some kind of screen refresh limit, perhaps it is better on a 10’’ model.
I sincerely had expected a better experience but perhaps I have failed in the “this should be like an iPad” trap.
Perhaps the saddest thing is that being fully invested in the Apple walled garden everything seems like I am missing one or two hands: I have no password manager, no iCloud, no Apollo, no NewsExplorer (try adding RSS feeds in the stock reader app by typing RSS feeds by URL)… I am currently considering returning it for an 13’’ iPad Pro, considering my 2017 iPad Pro is already asking for a replacement, I cannot easily justify the cost for just an e-ink screen --which is admittedly glorious.
I haven’t seen any of that yet, but I’ve only had the Supernote for about six months and didn’t really put it to work until December. That’s when I began using it as my daily practice planner/log while learning piano. So it’s still a relatively pampered device that mostly sits on a music stand.
I saw one reviewer who said the build (it’s basically a thin plastic box) made it good for throwing into a backpack without any worry that you might break it, as I guess sometimes happens with Remarkable and others with glass screens. That made sense, in a way, but still it seemed sort of like damning it with faint praise…
Well give it a try. One can get used to writing and drawing with the stock app, and it has decent AI for written text recognition. It’s just not “Marie Kondo enjoyable”.
For the planner, I’m just using a plain old note file on the Supernote, taking notes on what I learn, writing daily practice plans and long-term goals, etc., just as I would with a paper notebook or journal. I haven’t (yet) had the need to manage any sheet music. I’m a rank beginner. Just tried for the first time last night to play a C major scale with both hands and laughed out loud at how miserably I failed on the first few attempts.
For instruction, I signed up for a year of Pianote, and that has been extremely helpful.
It is, and, at least for me, the more time I spend using it, instead of just thinking about it as a thing, the better. (Until it starts cracking, anyway.)
I am still on that side of the fence. Android means a different ecosystem, that’s ok, but Android on an eInk device is even harder (oh the joys of typing again my wifi password on a e-ink screen keyboard…) The manual is lacking, too.
Yes, the screen is glorious for direct sunlight reading but for the price I will be returning my Tab X and be getting an 13’’ iPad.
Yes, the Tab X has the same “cold” and “warm” settings. The screen, for an e-ink device, is awesome. Some people need to read for prolonged periods of time on an e-ink device, but for me I only need a big screen because I need to use big fonts, brightness and reflections be damned.
Oh and for the use case of reading under direct sunlight. Of course the iPad does not even qualify for that scenario, but the Tab X may have issues there. I tried reading directly under the forgiving winter Madrid sun (12º C) and the device got really warm to the touch after 15 minutes, the screen and the back of the device. Obvious because under direct sunlight you now have those glorious 13 inches capturing an energy that does not have an easy way out, but it raises the concern about longevity of the device if one uses it for prolonged periods of time under the summer sun.
I’ve landed in pretty much the same place but with different devices (Kobo Sage, Supernote). And, similarly, what I’d really prefer is an iPad and Pencil combo that could magically make the other two unnecessary.
I finally bit the bullet and bought a Remarkable 2, which arrived yesterday. They now sell refurbished models for $280, which I purchased. I bypassed the case and pen and instead bought much cheaper versions on Amazon. The price is still inflated for what it is, but significantly less than the original $400-$500 price tag as it was before.
Overall, my first impressions is that I love this thing and can immediately tell a difference in my ability to absorb complex information found in PDFs, such as academic papers. I resisted for a long time to instead try to use the iPad, but I could never get myself to get into that deep reading state. My eyes become fatigued, and my brain starts spinning to a point to where I just need to turn it off and lie down. I work in an office with two large monitors, so by the end of the day my eyes and brain are just fatigued. But away from the screens I need to read PDFs, and printing them out is just not manageable. I say all that to give an overview of why I wanted to choose an e-ink device. It’s not for everyone, and many people will not get its usefulness. And that’s fine. If you can focus and do everything you need to do on an iPad, don’t waste your money on this, because an iPad has a lot more functionality. But for me personally, I can absolutely tell that this is a useful purchase for me.
I also received a free year of the Connect subscription, and so far it has worked flawlessly. I’ve really enjoyed being able to use the Chrome extension to send online articles to the device. After the free year I’ll have to pay $2.99 a month, which is much easier to stomach than the original $8.99 price.
I’ll see how much I like it after the honeymoon phase, but I think it’ll be a positive addition to my workflow. I hope prices of these will come down in the future so more people can try it out. One thing I wish they had was the ability to split screen like the iPad, to where I could have PowerPoint slides on one side and a notebook page on another side.
I literally have two tabs open on the checkout pages of ReMarkable and SuperNote. My SIL, and now a new work colleague, cannot say enough good things about their ReMarkables. I’m considering the SuperNote simply because it will allow me to add my Kindle library to it and it is about AUD150 cheaper with folio and pen.
Keen to hear more of your ReMarkable experience too.
Can I ask what you purchased here? Might take the edge off the price.
I decided on the reMarkable in the end with their pen and folio. First dive into this realm so wanted to get “designed for” accessories though I did look at the Staedtlers and probably should have got one of them instead
I have 100 days from arrival to like this thing!
UPDATE: A fool and his money are soon parted. I’ve just ordered the Supernote as well. My credit card is in tatters. I’ll use both and keep one.
I sent my Kindle Scribe back and purchased myself a second hand Remarkable as well - I ordered myself the same small style (Norris Digital) but I got a bonus at work, so also ordered the Lamy and the Remarkable nibs. Good job I did, as the nibs are better than the Lamy default one and the Norris default (both of which were to “floppy”).
I’m finding it much better than the Kindle Scribe. The ability to finish a meeting and then straight away email myself the notes (just that specific page) to place in to Obsidian is excellent (I just send the PDF, not the converted text - however, I like the option that I can if I needed to).
Overall, I’m quite happy at the minute as a straight paper notebook replacement, which is what I purchased it for. It’s replaced the iPad, which I used to use for a period before Notability went subscription.
