I recently bought the ReMarkable 1 (wasn't willing to wait for preorder on the 2, and the differences don't look that significant). I kinda love it: I'm a professor, and 99% of my use is in reading article PDFs---it's a vastly better experience than reading on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens or printing off.
One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there.
But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.
For a better PDF experience, you might want to try 'koreader'. The native PDF support on my Kobo Forma was so bad I was ready to return it, before finding this. It's an open source PDF/epub reader that you can install on Remarkable and other eInk readers. It's just an app - it doesn't replace or degrade any existing functionality.
The Onyx Boox 3 max is great for that. the main function I use (articles and books) is the split screen with notes in one side and book/article in the other. The main downside is the price (~$800). It is also bulkier than other options.
This is a relief to hear! The only downside with the RM1/2 for me is the lackluster epub/PDF functionality, but if it is possible to put koreader on it without interference with existing functionality, I might just sell my Kobo e-reader and use the RM2 for all my reading and writing needs!
I pre-ordered the RM2 a couple a months ago and just got an email notifying me about a slight COVID-related delay. I don't really mind, I am confident that the company can deliver without to much fuzz.
I've always partially wanted something like this, but can't get away from paper. I recently completed a PhD and tried an iPad and my computer, but ended up always printing off articles. It's annoying having a lot of physical paper around, but I'm constantly flipping back and forth in papers and it's so inconvenient to do that digitally. I also find it's so much easier for me to recall information based on where it was, and I completely lose that in a digital device.
Curious if those have been issues for you or not. I wonder if it's just how my mind works, or if I'm not "doing it right"?
I'm in the middle of my PhD and switched from printing papers to reading them on my iPad roughly two years ago.
There are some things I miss from paper but overall I found the pros to overweight the cons.
I haven't found that flipping back and forth on iPad is that horrible, to be honest.
Not sure how helpful this will be but I'll share what I've been doing for now.
I use the following apps:
* Mendeley (to organize papers)
* PDF Expert (to annotate PDFs)
* GoodNotes (mostly when working out the maths)
My usual workflow is:
* Read through the paper
* Annotate in the paper using Apple pencil as I read through
* Figure out the maths on the iPad when needed
* When I get back to a computer, upload the annotated file to Mendeley and type summary notes in Mendeley
A few things that I like/dislike about iPad when compared to paper.
+ Search for information on the web while reading paper more easily
+ Check notes/annotations quickly from my computer
+ Share notes easily
+ Search notes easily
+ Clean desk =D
- More context switching needed when I need to scramble something
- Mendeley misses some basic features on iOS (e.g. attach PDF to existing paper) so need to context switch with computer at some point after reading the paper
I would say that for 90% of the papers I go through, where I don't dive that deep in the paper, the experience is just as good on iPad. For the 10% of the papers I read where I go in-depth, redo proofs, etc, it's a little more tedious.
While it's for sure not perfect, given the above pros, I can live with the cons.
I would avoid Mendeley. Firstly, they are trying to create a researchgate-style social media spam network layer. Secondly they are owned by the maximally vile Elsevier. Thirdly, their software quality is poor eg. they couldn’t get sync working properly for maybe 5 years (until I gave up).
It would be nice if you did not initiate a download on my behalf when I merely visit the "download" page via the main navigation. I would expect at least prompt for confirmation before you push a 180 MB binary to me.
I'm a huge Polar fan! I'm considering buying an iPad just for using Polar, but I was wondering about the ReMarkable as well, since I like e-ink better for reading.
Do you have any recommendations for a tablet to use with Polar?
What app do you use for Polar? I used Polar for a bit on my Mac but gave up because I do most of my reading on an iPad. Would give it another shot if I could get Polar running on iPad.
I just use it on my laptop and desktop (Mac/Linux). I think I'd prefer to use a tablet though as I'm not a huge fan of reading on computers. Currently looking around and I've seen your sentiment about Polar and iPads before. Hopefully better support is coming in the 2.0 release though.
I have the same problem with e-readers and books, I miss the ease of moving backward and forward in a paper book.
Also, I have observed that I remember better what I read in physical books. Maybe it's because the content is associated to something real out there in the world with a cover, a weight, and a position of the content in the book and a position of the book in my bookshelves.
It's kind of weird because the first intuition is that the support where you read something shouldn't matter.
i have the same experience. there is less retention when the object isn't permanent. that's another reason why i think it's important to keep notes as handwritten visually and not convert/OCR into typed text.
Not just you. I tried hard to adapt to ebooks; spent the better part of a year trying to find an arrangement for reading on the train that worked as well as a paperback, and failed.
If I'm reading more than maybe 10 pages, or if it is material that I'm flipping back and forth in a lot, I print.
Is note taking good? How good is OCR? Do you know if it works with other languages/alphabets (cyrillics)? Can it handle usual stuff used in formulas, subscripts/superscripts, fractions, integrals, f : S³ → G, H⊲G ≡ ∀g∈G gHg⁻¹ = H and other weird symbols we use? How about stuff that comes with several columns/rows, like matrices? How about tables?
That's the deal-breaker for me as well. I'm always resizing PDF's so that the text is a legible size (neither too small or big), and therefore scrolling across larger pages, and the smoothness of a tablet is necessary.
I've tried reading PDF's on my Kindle, but it's just so frustrating to navigate around the page. But the iPad is perfect.
There are apps for windows that allow cropping pdfs and/or reflowing. I generally avoid the latter and have found that cropping pdf's almost always works well enough.
Most documents have more than enough margin that the final cropped document is then readable on the RM1. (Eventhough I wear readers I don't like to see microtype). Those same programs can also be used to split two column papers.
RM1 has a built in crop tool but I find it slows things down a bit and it won't work to split a two column layout.
It must be heaven for Math teachers and professors. No more mounds of discarded paper. I'm sure they use tablets already, but the look and feel of writing figures on an iPad isn't as nice as epaper.
This is true, but the paper-like screen protector market is a mess. I spent $40 on the official Paperlike 2, waited a month (preordered), applied it, and it was pretty bad. Not really like paper at all. Then I bought the knockoff-sounding "XIRON Paperfeel" for $15 and it was a vast improvement. Unfortunately they don't make one for the 12.9" iPad Pros with home button.
+1. Plus an open access to the web with a choice of browsers is super important too! You can't do all of that with proprietary trash from e-ink––there's nothing good about physical paper (dead-trees) anyway to be promoting your product with.
One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there.
But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.