So I like the iPad Air 2020, which I believe the best tablet of Apple’s entire range. But it mostly works out of a repetitive remix of iPad Pro features with a smaller price. However, my favorite tablet of the year comes from a company you’ve probably never heard of, and does not manage any of your favorite apps.
Despite the peculiarities, the noticeable 2 is my choice for the best tablet of 2020. Do not worry that this is the first you have heard of the reMarkable brand; the reMarkable 1 was a neat device, but for some reason not as cool or successful, which I will come to below. The reMarkable 2 deserves its name and has been an important part of my life during this year of custom workflows.
The reMarkable 2’s completely unique look is part of its appeal, and it starts with its shockingly thin 0.2 inch thick frame. It’s 50% less thick than the 0.3-inch reMarkable 1, and many of the changes are found in how it has a whole new body. The blocky and thick white plastic frame and edges have disappeared, replaced by a smooth fabricated aluminum strip with a 10.3-inch digital paper screen, which feels like a miracle of engineering.
By comparison, the new iPad Air is actually just the iPad Pro, but with new color options. They are neat, but not exactly a revelation.
The reMarkable 2 goes the Apple way when it comes to buttons, the physical back, home and forward buttons have been removed, all replaced by taps on the screen. And that makes the reMarkable 2 so much cooler – it’s basically a giant Kindle, but thinner.
The author’s tablet
But the reason the reMarkable 2 still feels – wait for it – more noticeable than the iPad, is that it feels natural to write on. Sure, I would not resent the iPad’s cool new Scribble tool, which allows you to convert handwriting to text, but it still does not bird right.
And this is where the reMarkable wins. Writing with his own Marker style feels like pushing a pen or pencil against paper, not like dragging plastic against glass. And this natural feeling makes the biggest difference in the world as you write. Writing with the reMarkable 2 is so effortless that I just used it constantly.
From distant presentations of upcoming embargo products to Dungeons and Dragons night, I note that I always take out the reMarkable 2 when I need to take notes. This unlimited page notebook is my new favorite device.
Paper but smarter
I can only use a pen and pillow – I have a lot of both – but the reMarkable 2 offers two things my notebooks do not. First, cloud synchronization means I can always pick up my virtual notebooks on my laptop or phone, because reMarkable has apps for Mac, PC, iPhones and Androids. That means I have no trouble figuring out which of my very small Field Notes notebooks I used.
Second, and even cooler, ReMarkable recently added a conversion to the text tool so that my scribbled notes on the product information sessions could be translated into text shared with my colleagues who could not attend. Its accuracy is similar to that of the above iPadOS Scribble feature.
The reusable tablets also have a large number of built-in templates so you can choose the type of paper you want. They even have templates for storyboard and music composition.
One-time goals can win
Finally, I like the reMarkable 2 for many reasons why people prefer the Kindle Paperwhite about, say, the iPad. Of course, it does not do that much, but the Kindle’s e-ink screen with a background is better suited for reading than the LCD screen of the iPad: it is simply easier for the eyes.
So, if you want to write, but you feel completely bored by the world of tablets – Apple’s are the best overall, I would not argue that – you should check out the reMarkable 2.. It’s made for what you love, not 100,000 things you might like.