Taking Notes- a Comparison of Digital Platforms Post 3 of 3 – reMarkable

by Miriam | Mar 28, 2020 | Technology

reMarkable Tablet started off leaning more toward artists and creative designers, but they quickly upgraded the system, and are marketing their new reMarkable 2 product toward business.

[Please take a moment to visit the link and watch the video for an overview of the technology]

This is truly a paperless note-taking device.  It is a combination of a specifically designed writing surface with a tablet format.

This is my primary note-taking device, particularly out of the office.  I take this to meetings where I need to take notes, but a laptop computer would be a distraction.  I use it for client meetings, phone calls, and just about any time when I need to be able to take quick or detailed notes.

This is – by far – the best notetaking experience of any digital platform.  The pen is extremely easy to use and the interface with the tablet “feels” like writing on paper – no slipping, streaking, skipping, or dragging.

It uses its own pen with tiny replaceable nibs (and I go through about a nib per month).  The pen does not use a battery – only the actual device needs charging.  The pen has storage for a replacement nib for remote replacement (which I’ve needed occasionally)

There is good handwriting recognition, but it doesn’t work well with a lot of diagrams on the page, and you can only “convert and send” – you can’t keep the converted text locally on the device for reference.

You can upload PDF documents to the tablet and write directly on the text – this started out very clunky, but they have upgraded the software and the interface is fairly smooth.

PROS –

• Truly paperless.  No reusable paper to clean, no traditional paper to store.
• True “paper” feel when writing
• Very paper-like feel.  No stray marks, no smearing.  Infinite number of pages (I typically get about 50 pages per notebook before I upload and process the notes to various files)
• Wirelessly transfers to your computer
• Seems to have unlimited storage (I just haven’t reached the limit)
• Very portable – I take this everywhere
• Firm tablet format – I can take notes on any surface (including balance on my knees in meetings)

CONS –

• Monochrome (no color)
• File size tends to be large (but they are continuously improving this)
• Requires charging – but has two-week battery life (I get about a week on my reMarkable 1 device)
• Smaller than standard page-size (which means less text per page, unless you write small – which I’m learning)
• Costly – Of the three platforms reviewed, this is the most expensive “out of the box” at $399 for the “launch-offer” of the reMarkable 2 device (going on now).
• Clunky typewriting text interface.  You can create Notebook or file names on the tablet, but the keyboard is slow to touch-response.  Fortunately, I create a few notebooks based on topic (meeting notes, client notes, etc.) and run a lot of pages before I sync to the computer and dispurse to various files.

Rating:  9 out of 10 – This is my current “go-to” device, and I’m willing to live with the limitations since 99% of my use is not affected by the limitations.

Overall rating of the three devices reviewed (please go back to read the other posts, if you have not seen them):

I suspect that I will eventually discard the LiveScribe Aegir.  Compared to the other two platforms, it is more difficult to use, requires actual paper, and has a much lower confidence rating.  It was the first on the market, and has improved on its own design, but falls short overall and does not meet my needs like the other two platforms.

My primary device is the reMarkable 1 – I’m tempted to get the reMarkable 2 to take advantage of the improvements.  I like the Rocketbook for a number of more creative applications, but it doesn’t go to meetings as well and requires a bit more work to keep up.  I look forward to using the Orbit for my day-to-day lists and quick notes, but I won’t know until my order ships in August.

Taking Notes- a Comparison of Digital Platforms Post 2 of 3 – Rocketbook

by Miriam | Mar 28, 2020 | Technology

Rocketbook has a high degree of fun associated with the product – that, alone, merits mention, but it’s also a genuinely great product.

Rocketbook – Started as a KickStarter, and just wrapped up another KickStarter Campaign for their new Orbit product (and yes, I jumped on that one, too).   This platform has several physical options (including single-use paper, decals, and whiteboard configurations), but I’m going to focus on the Core (known as Everlast when I purchased the system), which is a reusable notebook.

Rocketbook uses digital technology via an app on your smart device.  When you take a picture, the software transcribes (certain features) and sends the image to a designation of your choice (including Google Drive, Evernote, and other popular platforms). Because the “important part” is the app, not necessarily what you write on, the developers have used their extensive imagination to create a huge variety of uses that directly relate to the business (and student) world.

The notebook interface I use (Core) is an erasable platform and can be used over and over (I still have and use the original notebooks I purchased, and I also use a decal affixed to a clipboard for specific projects that need to be portable or “notes on the go” or notes posted for general view).

The pen is any Pilot Frixion writing instrument (widely available at any office supply store)

PROS –

• The notebook is easy to write on
• Minimal smearing (dries very quickly)
• Can use colored pens for emphasis
• Almost paperless – reusable paper-like interface, but nearly endless reuse
• Can specify file names on page (uploads to the specified filename)
• Secure physical device – once you erase the pages, the information is gone
• Does not require a battery or separate equipment to capture and transfer the data
• Cost – Fairly inexpensive.  Letter-sized notebook bundles start at around $32.00, plus the cost of the Frixion pen system of your choice.  Products go on sale from time to time, and I have taken advantage of sales to purchase the decal system.

CONS –

• Minimal handwriting-to-text conversion
• Pages must be erased to reuse (requires some time – and sometimes I forget to erase the pages before I’m out of room in a notebook)
• Pages uploaded as individual files – it would be nice to be able to specify collections of pages in one file
• Pages can be damaged (creased) – need to take a little care when cleaning
• Sometimes the ink does not lay well on the paper (a little like writing on plastic – sometimes requires a little patience), especially for notebooks pages that have been used many times

Rating:  9 out of 10.  Overall, this is a great system.  There are a LOT of uses of the software beyond just the notebook, and the team is continuously developing new uses of the software. My expectation is that the team will eventually develop more robust handwriting recognition and improve file management and handling.

If you are interested in this technology, you should check out the website for great videos and suggestions for using the product.