reMarkable Paper Pro Review

When I first saw the Remarkable Paper Pro online in early September 2024, I dismissed this because of how expensive it was. It’s about $600, and part of that price includes the required pen. Plus, I was massively disappointed in Boox Note Air 3 C due to the poor color representation of Kaleido 3.

After watching some comic book pages on the RPP, I was definitely interested buying this as my digital comic book reader! Unfortunately, as an e-reader, it absolutely sucks. The Remarkable only supports PDF and ePub, with no support for Kindle Books or CBR (the popular comic book archive format).

There are some workarounds to removing the DRM and converting CBR to PDF using Calibre (which I laid out the details here).

After using the RPP for about a month, I have come to the conclusion that it is not (and never) an iPad replacement. Instead, what the RPP really is: a paper replacement. The hardware and software are really about note taking and handwriting. As a side bonus, the RPP can read PDF and ePub books. You just need to understand its limitations.

Pros and Cons

Of the note-taking devices I own, I think the RPP is the best. Compare the notes writing on the RPP to the Kindle Scribe, it’s night and day. For example, with the Scribe, you can’t just write anywhere. You have to write on a post-it. That’s because I’m assuming you are not allowed to write and modify your purchased digital books. On the RPP, since it’s just open PDF or ePub, you can just start writing anywhere on the screen. It’s intuitive and it is a million times better than the Scribe.

Also, compared to the Scribe, the RPP can also write in color with different multiple pen options… giving the RPP a leg up over the Scribe.

You can also use the RPP to draw, but due to the limited brushes and pens and the nine colors in their app, I wouldn’t recommend using it to produce artwork. I would rather draw on the iPad, using the ProCreate software.

I can go on about all the negative aspect of the Remarkable, for example, it’s just a very expensive device, no matter how you look at it. For that amount, you just expect more, but, in fact, you get less. Instead of the negative, I want to talk about the positives:

1. This is the first mainstream device to use Gallery 3, the superior color e-ink technology capable of producing 50,000 colors. Bigme tried to release a Gallery 3 device that failed, and other makers (PocketBook, Readmoo, or iReader) have not gotten the technology to a usable state. Using software and programming, Remarkable is the only company to make use of the Gallery 3 technology.

2. The Remarkable Paper Pro’s very large 11.8 size color e-ink is amazing for reading full page comic book and magazines. Previous color e-ink (using the inferior Kaleido 3 technology) can only produce a 10-inch display. As you can see from the comparison photo, the nearly 12” inch device definitely looks much, much bigger than 10-inch display of the Kindle Scribe and Boox Note.

3. The Gallery 3 display can be used without the front light. To be honest, the Remarkable’s light is very poor, even at the maximum level. I prefer to read without the front light, so I don’t mind the poor lights of the Remarkable. The other two devices, particularly the Boox Note, needs to have the frontlight on at all times (it’s not possible to read the screen without lights).

4. The RPP is a very beautiful device. It looks so good. It feels good. It has a great symmetrical design. The magnets work great with the pen. You can just tell that this is a high-quality device. You can just tell it’s an expensive device (and it is!) just by looking at it.

5. The Remarkable App and software are very easy to use. Everything syncs and will work across all your Remarkable devices.

Again, if you have about $600 to spend on a tablet for reading comics, I’m going to recommend buying the iPad all day. The Remarkable is just very limited in what it can do. The Remarkable people will try to spin the limitations of their tablet by saying that it’s “distraction free”. In other words, you cannot use it for web browsing, read or write emails, watch YouTube, or do anything with it, other than reading PDF/ePub or taking notes. That’s it.

Yours,

Read more Weekend Gamer.

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