Long term review reMarkable 2
10 May 2025 · Distraction free digital notepad
One of my colleagues introduced me to the reMarkable when he first joined our team. I bought one for Nicky for her birthday. I wanted one, but it was coming up to her birthday, she makes a lot of notes and I needed a nice gift for her (there was no way I was buying 2!). She loved it and knew I wanted one, so a couple of months later, she bought me one for my birthday!
The device is an e-ink note taking pad. No browser, no email, no games, nothing other than note taking. The surface has a slight texture and is very responsive, it feels and responds like normal paper.
The case is a grey, the front cover folds back when it's in use. It attaches firmly with magnets and nipples on the bottom of the tablet keep it aligned and in the right place. The reMarkable pen magnet clicks to the side of the tablet.
The reMarkable pen is a bit heavier than a normal pencil and the tips wear down at some pace. It's fine, but the tablet is so good I looked for an alternative. I settled on a Staedtler digital pencil and it's spot on. Weighs about the same as a normal pencil, has that familiar yellow & black colour scheme and the tips last much longer. The only downside is that is doesn't magnet attach to the side, so you need to keep it in your bag. This means I have to keep the reMarkable one stuck to the tablet in case I forget to pick up the Staedtler.
The interface is easy to navigate and is clearly laid out. Burger menu pops out the device control & settings, the main interface is a very basic file explorer. I've got 4 main folders, Home, Radio, Sketches & Work. The quick sheets file is ever present and is home to quick sheets you don't put in a folder. It's fairly obvious what goes in each one!
The battery lasts for days and days. It charges quickly with a USB C cable. If you subscribe to the reMarkable subscription then your notes are synched to the cloud and you can view/edit them on your mobile device. I'm tight so after the free trial, I didn't subscribe.
The device has 8GB of internal storage, the OS takes up about 1.5GB so you've got about 6.5GB for your scribbles. A full page of normal size writing takes up about 1MB of space. So there's plenty of space.
I know I said nothing else, but it does read .pdf files, so you can upload things to it via the web interface my.remarkable.com or desktop app and use it as a very basic e-reader. The interface for this isn't great so you'd be best to use your phone instead.
If you write lots of notes, and find yourself with an ever growing pile of notepads that are impossible to manage then this might be the device for you. There's a new one out now with a colour screen. From my perspective this isn't something I think the device is missing so I'll be sticking with this one. I've had it for fast approaching three years now and I still use it daily, that's testament to the functionality of the device and a 5* recommendation for me.
Great writing experience · Distraction free
Not cheap · reMarkable pencil could be better