reMarkable Paper Pure: Let’s Test

Social Media: The reMarkable Paper Pure replaces the notebook stack, exports the evidence and never pings. We tested the pen, the OS and the subscription.

For those who don’t know the product: reMarkable paper Pure is a monochrome E Ink writing and annotation tablet for notes, lists, meeting minutes, to-do lists and PDF markup. Its ecosystem covers desktop and mobile apps, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, Slack and Miro.

Why we tested it

At FMX, we were sitting in a panel discussion while the person next to us (Hi Thomas!) was taking notes on a reMarkable – the pocket one. We spent enough time looking sideways at the device to decide that we wanted to try one over a longer period. Also, should the person next to you start playing tic-tac-toe during a panel, it is useful to know what the hardware is before criticising the opening move. So we put the reMarkable Paper Pure into daily use for several weeks.

But first, what is it?

Paper Pure is a tablet specifically for writing and document annotation. It has a 10.3-inch monochrome Canvas display based on E Ink Carta 1300, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, 1872 × 1404 resolution and 226 ppi. The anti-glare surface uses Gorilla Glass 3, with a textured finish and a 0.8 mm distance between the Marker tip and the E Ink layer. There is no reading light. The device measures 228.1 × 187.1 × 6.0 mm and weighs approximately 360 g.

Inside are a 1.7 GHz dual-core Cortex-A55 processor, 2 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. Connectivity consists of dual-band 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi and USB-C. The 3,820 mAh battery is rechargeable and apparently replaceable, and reMarkable claims up to three weeks per charge based on up to one hour of daily use. In our less laboratory-shaped routine, we charged roughly every two to three weeks, which is still long enough to forget where the cable is. But USB-C is everywhere, and that claim is therefore true.

The Marker attaches magnetically and charges wirelessly when attached. Paper Pure supports palm rejection, 4,096 pressure levels and a quoted 21 ms writing latency. The standard Marker comes with the base configuration, while the Paper Pure bundle replaces it with the textured Marker Plus, including the eraser on the back, and adds a Sleeve Folio.

But why?

This was the question we never quite understood before the test. You can write on a phone, tablet, laptop, convertible workstation or one of the thousands of devices already blocking access to a power socket. After a few weeks, the answer was that Paper Pure does less, but that it does it very well.

There are no social apps, no news feed and no stream of notifications waiting to ambush a thought halfway through a sentence. The device runs a custom Linux-based reMarkable OS, but the user-facing environment is restricted to writing, reading, organising and transferring documents. For anyone whose focus occasionally leaves without signing out, that is quite remarkable. Ah, so that is where the name comes from.

Daily use

The writing surface feels much closer to good paper than to a conventional “glass” tablet. Good paper, not the material found in promotional notebooks that appears to have been manufactured from recycled egg boxes and sandpaper. The resistance between Marker and display is excellent, the parallax is low, and the device is light enough to carry between meetings without becoming another mobile workstation.

The operating system is very reduced. It has an on-screen keyboard for typed text, undo and redo, document navigation, search, folders, tags and basic file management. Leaving our daily to-do page open kept it visible. At the same time, the tablet rested, so the list remained on the desk without illuminating the room or asking whether we had considered upgrading our cloud storage.

We still had to wake the device before crossing anything out, which is probably fair. Not that this happens so often – and when you write down your daily plans (which ALWAYS reflect reality and you never have things left on your ToDo list in the evening), that is a very good way to use a lock screen. Some residual E Ink ghosting was visible after larger interface changes, but it did not materially affect normal note-taking. Page refreshes dealt with it, and during writing we generally stopped noticing it.

Writing tools

The interface provides nine writing tools, including pencils, ballpoints, fineliners, fountain pens, markers and highlighters, with adjustable stroke widths. As with a painting package, this sounds like a splendid opportunity to spend an afternoon evaluating brushes. In practice, we found one pen that matched our handwriting, kept a highlighter nearby and ignored the rest. This is not a complaint. A notebook does not need a procedural brush graph. We have Rebelle for that, and it is much better than other options.

Highlighter strokes appear as shades of grey on the monochrome display, but can export in pink, green or yellow, with grey also available. Paper Pure does not become a colour display because the exported annotation is slightly coloured. The colour exists in the document output and Screen Share, not on the E Ink panel.

Moving selected writing was one of the clunkier operations in our test. The interface does not reflow surrounding handwritten content, and an imprecise move can leave several lines sitting on top of each other. That is technically editable, in the same way that a desk covered in tracing paper is technically organised.

The official pen choice is narrow. Paper Pure is designed for its current Marker and Marker Plus, while Marker models made for reMarkable 2 are explicitly incompatible. Compared with the extensive pen choices around Wacom, where different grips and third-party options are part of the furniture, there is not much to configure. At least this saves another afternoon.

Layers, templates and notebooks

Pages support multiple layers, so a template can sit below the writing, followed by comments, corrections and another layer containing corrections to the corrections. Do not hand this to a supervisor unless you are prepared to discover just how many annotation layers a human being can consider necessary.

Pages can work as conventional separate sheets or as continuous pages. Which is better depends on how quickly and how much you write. A fixed sequence is useful for meeting records and document-like notes. Continuous pages are better when the discussion refuses to respect page boundaries, which discussions traditionally do.

Templates cover lined, grid, and dotted paper; planners; to-do layouts; and more specialist structures. A basic selection is available on the device, while the complete template collection is part of the Connect subscription. Folders, tags and search help organise notebooks and individual pages, and the 32 GB internal storage is generous for monochrome notes and annotated documents.

We produced roughly 200 pages during the test. Yes, we take a lot of notes. The useful part was not merely having an apparently inexhaustible notebook, but keeping those pages in one searchable and editable place instead of spreading them across five notebooks, two envelopes, a hand and the back of an invoice.

Sharing and export

Sharing is one of the strongest practical arguments for the device. Paper Pure can send complete documents or individual pages by email as PDF, PNG or SVG. This takes from a few seconds to a few minutes at most – email is apparently quite a mature technology these days. The companion apps can view, organise, import and export files, while Screen Share presents the current page live from the tablet. This is useful for explaining a plan, sketching a layout during a remote meeting or allowing everyone to watch your handwriting deteriorate in real time.

Paper Pure imports PDF and DRM-free EPUB, and exports PDF, PNG and SVG. The Read on reMarkable browser extension can transfer web articles and Word documents, while the documented cloud integrations import files from Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox. Those basic transfer routes should not be confused with Connect’s document conversion, app editing and collaboration features. In daily use, emailing a page or exporting a notebook was straightforward. This sounds mundane, but the time we have collectively spent looking for a particular Post-it would have been sufficient to learn the piano, or at least to become unpopular with the neighbours.

A larger attempt to move and convert our PDF library was less successful and failed fairly quickly. That does not mean every PDF will fail, but it does mean that a folder full of mixed sizes, fonts, page structures and annotation histories is no more than a hopeful drag-and-drop, especially before a Client review.

For sensitive notes, reMarkable lists on-device encryption, encryption at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication, secure boot, an optional access code and automatic locking after 20 minutes. These are useful foundations, but they do not replace a studio’s own approval process for confidential Client material.

Connect subscription

Connect is the optional subscription layer. The current German price is €3.99 per month or €39.90 per year. New users receive a 50-day trial, and the subscription can be cancelled through the reMarkable account portal. Connect adds unlimited cloud storage, automatic synchronisation and note creation or editing in the mobile and desktop apps. It can turn Microsoft Word files and files from Google Drive or OneDrive into editable notebooks, generate pre-filled meeting notes from Outlook and Google Calendar, transfer material to Miro, and convert content with AI before sharing it to Slack. Handwritten and typed notes become “searchable”, while Methods provides more than 100 community tips and templates. “Searchable” is in quotation marks; more on that later.

The handwriting-to-text system and the Connect AI functions are not the same thing as the pen interface. MyScript powers basic handwriting conversion and supports more than 30 languages, supposedly. Connect adds broader search, browser-note conversion, summaries, to-do extraction and service integrations. These are user-facing cloud features, not an API.

Without Connect, the tablet still writes, organises, imports and exports – and it does that rather well. However, reMarkable states that only files used and synchronised online within the previous 50 days remain actively stored in its cloud workflow, and users lose direct note creation and editing in the companion apps as well as the bundled device-protection benefit. Existing files are not deleted when Connect is cancelled, but inactive files stop synchronising after the stated period. We deliberately did not make Connect central to the test because we wanted to evaluate the notebook itself. We did not miss the subscription during normal writing, page organisation or email export.

Second opinion

Notebook use is personal, so I handed the Paper Pure to a second tester who uses paper notebooks extensively and has little interest in software integrations, accounts or cloud choreography. She did not want to give it back.

The combination of a practically endless notebook, simple organisation and immediate email export won her over. Set-up was straightforward, even for a luddite; the tablet and the case felt stable, and day-to-day operation did not require technical supervision. Apparently the colour of a folio also matters. We have recorded this important hardware requirement for future procurement meetings. Eizo, Arri, Blackmagic, Tangent, take note of this.

Neither of us used Paper Pure for drawing or painting. It can sketch, but it is not a pen display for Rebelle, Adobe Photoshop or Krita. That is a limitation, you’d think, for artists, but also evidence that the remarkable has not tried to become six unrelated products before breakfast. It’s better to do one thing really well.

Pros

The strongest feature is focus. Paper Pure starts quickly, feels excellent under the pen and keeps writing separate from the apps that usually interrupt it. Battery life was comfortably measured in weeks, the hardware is thin and light, and 32 GB provides ample room for notes and modest document libraries.

Folders, tags, layers, continuous pages, and templates handle the basic organisational work, while PDF, PNG, and SVG export get the result back into an ordinary workflow. Notes do not vanish into the wrong physical notebook, and a page can still be edited after the meeting rather than being preserved forever beneath three arrows and a coffee stain. The basic notebook experience is the most convincing part of the product. Useful without Connect, with a premium feel and barely any hurdles to cross. And the second tester’s refusal to return it is probably the most practical endorsement available.

Cons

Handwriting recognition was the weakest advertised feature in our test. reMarkable’s MyScript-based conversion supports more than 30 languages, just not ours. My normal joined handwriting produced poor results unless we moved to block lettering. Our sample was readable to humans, although admittedly humans have had more practice dealing with editorial handwriting. Also, when it tries to recognise handwriting, the placement of the text box is a bit erratic.

The operating system also has rough edges. Selection and movement can be imprecise, interface behaviour is not always consistent, and some operations feel like early versions of features with considerable room left on the table. Regular software updates may improve this, but future potential is not a current feature. The organisation is… working, but rudimentary.

Then there is reading. Paper Pure accepts DRM-free EPUB files and PDFs, but Kindle, Libby, Nook and other e-books are unsupported because reMarkable does not support their DRM/system. There is no Kindle application and no general e-reader app ecosystem. For anyone already carrying an e-reader, Paper Pure becomes a second E-Ink device, which is the sort of efficiency that requires a second bag.

Verdict

The reMarkable Paper Pure is an excellent notebook. The hardware is very good, the Marker and display work convincingly together, battery life is long, and the core note-taking experience gave us very little to complain about. It is very suitable for meeting notes, lists, interview preparation, task planning, story and edit discussions, rough diagrams, PDF annotation, and any desk currently being colonised by paper. It is not a colour device, graphics tablet, e-reader replacement, DCC controller or workstation.

The reduced software environment is the reason it works. There is nothing else on it, so writing remains the job in front of you. Connect can add calendars, searchable handwriting, editable notebooks and collaboration services, but it is not required to obtain the basic, excellent experience.

We would not all make the same purchasing decision. Anyone already carrying an E Ink reader may dislike adding another device, while someone who lives in paper notebooks may find Paper Pure replaces most of them immediately. That split appeared clearly in our two-person household: one of us saw an excellent specialist device, while the other apparently saw newly acquired property.

Price

When you think: this sounds like an Apple device, yes, it does. It feels premium and it bears its price tag. The current German reMarkable store lists Paper Pure from €399. The base package includes the tablet, a standard Marker, a one-metre USB-C cable and six replacement Marker tips. The Paper Pure bundle includes the Marker Plus with its rear eraser and a Sleeve Folio in one of three colours. The tablet is a hardware purchase, not a permanent software licence, rental or compulsory subscription; Connect remains a separate monthly or annual service.

It is worth a lot because the basic notebook experience is very good. Whether it is worth that much to you depends on how many notebooks, missing Post-its and distracted meetings it replaces. At least the calculation can be written down somewhere you are likely to find again.

This just happened….

And while we were testing, somebody apparently decided that reMarkable’s rather closed software environment was more of a suggestion than a rule. A developer has demonstrated Android 13 running alongside the stock reMarkable OS on a different reMarkable model, with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, front-light control, deep sleep and even low-latency pen input in Android apps such as OneNote. Switching between Android and the original OS takes roughly half a minute, making this considerably more than a simple booting proof of concept.

There are still caveats: developer mode is required, normal reMarkable updates can overwrite parts of the Android installation, and the port has not yet been released publicly while installation and recovery are being made safer. Still, it is an interesting development. We will be watching to see whether similar ports appear for other reMarkable devices, and perhaps even more interestingly, whether reMarkable itself decides to react to all this newfound Android enthusiasm.

Product	reMarkable Paper Pure
Developer	reMarkable AS
Release status	Current product, available through the German reMarkable store.
Editions	Standard configuration with Marker; Paper Pure Bundle with Marker Plus and Sleeve Folio.
Display	10.3-inch monochrome Canvas display based on E Ink Carta 1300; 1872 × 1404; 226 ppi; 4:3; Gorilla Glass 3; no reading light.
Pen input	Active Marker; 21 ms quoted latency; 4,096 pressure levels; palm rejection; magnetic attachment and wireless charging.
Marker compatibility	Paper Pure Marker and Marker Plus; reMarkable 2 Marker models are incompatible.
Hardware	1.7 GHz dual-core Cortex-A55, 2 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 32 GB internal storage.
Size and weight	228.1 × 187.1 × 6.0 mm; approximately 360 g.
Connectivity	2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi and USB-C.
Battery	Replaceable 3,820 mAh lithium-ion battery; vendor claim of up to three weeks at up to one hour of use per day. We exceeded that EASILY.
Device OS	Custom Linux-based reMarkable OS.
Companion apps	macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, plus Google Chrome and Microsoft Office extensions.
Formats	PDF and DRM-free EPUB import; PDF, PNG and SVG export.
Organisation	Folders, tags, search, templates, multiple layers and continuous or separate pages.
Integrations	Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox import; Connect functions for Word, Outlook, Google Calendar, Miro and Slack.
Security	Encryption on device, at rest and in transit; multi-factor authentication; secure boot; optional access code; 20-minute automatic lock.
Connect licence	Optional recurring subscription, cancellable through the reMarkable account portal.
Trial	50-day Connect trial for new users.
Connect pricing	€3.99 per month or €39.90 per year; German store states 17 per cent annual saving.
Without Connect	Core tablet functions remain; cloud activity is limited to files used and synced within 50 days, and direct app note creation and editing are unavailable.
Return policy	50 days from delivery for official-webshop purchases, with free return and full refund under the satisfaction guarantee.
Documentation	reMarkable support
Pricing	German store from €399; Sleeve Folio €69, replacement tips €19 and USB cable €19. Business orders ship DDP from the Netherlands; a valid VAT number produces an invoice without VAT.