Unleashing Luxury: The Outrageous Paper Pro Revolution

You probably don’t need the Remarkable Paper Pro. It’s the kind of luxury that’s more about making a statement than actually being useful. Like those sports cars that look like they belong in a sci-fi movie but can’t even drive themselves out of a parking lot without crashing. This is the hypercar of E Ink note-taking devices – the kind of device that’s more about flexing its muscles than actually getting the job done.

But, oh boy, it’s got some tricks up its sleeve. It’s got a front light, for crying out loud! It’s got color! It’s got an 11.8-inch display! And it’s got the best keyboard case available today! And, let’s be real, it’s got a display that’s unlike anything else out there. It’s not a device for reading books or comics (although you can load them up if you want), but for marking up documents and taking notes really, really well. (The operating system is identical to the one on the Remarkable 2.) Starting at $579 (available directly from Remarkable and Best Buy), this thing is not for the faint of heart.

I’m going to geek out for a minute about the display. Remarkable didn’t go with the usual faded colors of the Kaleido display found in devices from Kobo and Boox. No, they decided to use the way less popular Gallery display technology and then put their own spin on it (they call it the Canvas Color display). Gallery is lauded because the color is richer and clearer than Kaleido. Where Kaleido achieves color by applying black and white pigments to a filter, Gallery skips the filter and moves actual color pigment. But moving all that color comes at a cost: Gallery displays have a much, much, much slower refresh rate.

And, let me tell you, it’s slow. Like, really slow. The kind of slow that will drive you crazy writing anything. Except on the Remarkable Paper Pro. Writing on this thing is smooth as butter. The experience is just as pleasant as writing on the Remarkable 2. It’s just a hair better than the experience found on the Kindle Scribe or any number of Kobo and Boox devices I’ve tried over the years.

But, when you switch to writing in color, it’s a whole different story. There are six colors to choose from: blue, red, green, yellow, cyan, and magenta. Choose any of them and get to doodling. Writing in color is as smooth as writing in black. Pen strokes begin rendering in black, with the chosen color chasing the black away over the course of the stroke. Then, when you stop writing, there’s a pause, and the entire screen refreshes, the new colors now in place. It’s one way Remarkable is getting around Gallery’s atrocious refresh rate.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – is it obnoxious in practice? And, honestly, it kind of is. Especially at first. But, you pick up the rhythm quickly, and the annoyance fades away. And, let’s be real, you’re using these colors for something other than just for show. You’re using them to highlight important information, to add pizzazz to a header, or to render a book’s art. In those cases, a little flash is annoying but not the end of the world.

And, for me, the knowledge of how faithful this whole thing is at rendering color has me forgiving the flash – because, hot damn, they put Gallery in a Remarkable and pushed it to the limits! That’s some concept car wildness from a note-taking device company.

But, I am surprised that the boldness that inspired the display choice didn’t carry over to the front light. It’s… fine. It’s dimmer than what others offer, and you can’t control the color temperature of the light, which is annoying in 2024. Remarkable ostensibly went with a less powerful and flexible front light because of the demands of the Paper Pro’s design. The front light has to be extraordinarily thin so there’s no distracting gap between the glass you’re writing on and the E Ink display beneath. And, there isn’t! But, I also haven’t found that gap as distracting as one would expect in a Boox or the Kindle Scribe. So, while I respect Remarkable’s commitment to minding the gap, I would prefer a better front light.

Thankfully, Remarkable’s panache for design reveals one other winner: this company now makes the absolute best keyboard case you can get. The $229 Type Folio puts every other keyboard case I’ve ever used, for tablets and computers alike, to shame. It’s so thin and light, I keep finding myself surprised at the exceptional keyboard packed inside. It’s also got great stability when open on your knees and a clever way of keeping the pen out of your way. More than even the bold colors of the Remarkable Paper Pro, it’s the keyboard case that grabs people’s eyes. This is what every keyboard case should be like. It’s really that good.

And, like the rest of the Remarkable Paper Pro, the Type Folio feels like the company showing off at the expense of price. Like a hypercar, it doesn’t feel necessary for most people to own, and it’s probably too expensive, but it’s showing off the future, and that future is a lot faster and more colorful than you’d think.