reMarkable 2 or Onyx Note Air? Which one to buy?
If you are still taking notes, writing or journaling on paper and notebooks, you are probably not aware of the small revolution that is happening in this area.
Note: Updated as of May 2023.
https://medium.com/@paulocr2/remarkable-2-or-onyx-note-air-which-one-to-buy-update-may-2023-dfb75f3f77cd
While the iPad is still the only device that many think when considering digital note taking and the Kindle is the one that often comes to mind for ebook reading, a new generation of e-ink-based, high-end devices for digital note taking and ebook reading has shown that the technology has finally become mature.
Many of these devices also allow the conversion of handwritten notes to text, automating the writing process and making it possible to write short and long documents with a simple digital pen and with a paper feel.
In this post I explain the advantages of e-ink over LED/OLED displays. I also show what the two best devices of the current generation, reMarkable 2 and Onyx Note Air, can do. I then find a clear winner.
The superiority of E-ink
E-ink screens have a great advantage over the common LED/OLED displays: they are easy on your eyes and can be read under sunlight. E-ink feels like paper.
Eye fatigue is common when reading on LED displays. It’s also hard to see any image on a LED display under sunlight.
It has also been said that the “blue light” in LED lighting can damage the eye’s retina and disturb natural sleep rhythms. Recent research has shown that any kind of light coming from LED, not only if in majority blue, have this effect.
Why not the iPad for writing notes and reading books?
To start with, the iPad has a LED display and it suffers from the issues outlined above. If this were not enough, to write on the glass that covers the iPad display is not such a good idea. Unless you like to write on the glass of your windows, for example.
Some people use specific plastic display covers to avoid the glass. But then they make the watching of videos and images on the iPad, where it excels, miserable. And, as if this were not enough, the problems with LED displays are still there.
Then the reMarkable was launched
The reMarkable device, made by a Norwegian startup, was launched a few years ago and brought with it a writing experience on E-ink that is proprietary and fantastic. For the first time, E-ink was used not only to read e-books (in the familiar formats, ePub and PDF), but also as a writing surface. And not only so, but very well. To write on the reMarkable is like writing on paper. An electronic device had achieved that for the very first time!
We live in an age of enormous distractions that move us away from deep and meaningful work (if you are not convinced of that, then don’t miss the excellent book “Deep Work” by Cal Newport). The reMarkable praises itself as the paper tablet with no distractions (it was, in fact, the original goal of the Kindle for reading and still is). This deserves admiration.
The release of reMarkable 2 and the competition
The success of the reMarkable was followed by the release of competing devices, mainly from Onyx, which seems to release a new e-ink device every 3 months.
In the beginning these devices could not even be compared to the reMarkable. They had a very poor writing experience. They felt like writing on plastic and with a major lag, at the best.
This year new e-ink devices have been launched that try to come close to the reMarkable. But the reMarkable 2 has also seen the light of day in the second semester of this year. The Onyx Note Air, the device that comes the closest to the experience on the reMarkable, is currently its major competitor. But how does it actually stand against the reMarkable?
What the new reMarkable 2 brings
The reMarkable 2 brings a fantastic new feature: a beautiful new hardware design that is a feast to the eyes. It has that magical beauty, outstanding design and engineering quality that Apple products are famous for.
The writing experience has been improved, with even less lag and an improved paper feel. Many even thought that this couldn’t be possible, as it was already stellar. But now with less lag, better screen and the gorgeous new hardware design and build quality, the writing experience has reached a new, higher level.
The reMarkable 2 is also a pleasure to hold and see. Its new magnetic cover is very practical and functional. Its new pen (so-called marker) can now also erase. They are top-notch.
The reMarkable 2 is now called the world’s thinnest paper tablet, as its outstanding marketing describes it. Rightly so.
The Onyx Note Air
The Note Air has a similar hardware design. It also has front light, which the reMarkable 2 still lacks. Its hardware comes close to the quality of the reMarkable 2. The Note Air also comes with a plastic screen protector that is a pain to install (when you apply it to the screen, it’s very hard to avoid remaining bubbles), but you don’t need to use it.
The writing experience was the reMarkable’s major feature, the one thing that set it apart from the others. But the competition has been catching up. The Note Air has a very good writing experience. The reMarkable’s writing experience is only slightly superior.
Can the Note Air beat the reMarkable 2?
The Note Air runs Android 10, which makes it possible to read Kindle ebooks on the Kindle app that can be dowloaded from the Android App Store. It is also possible to type long and short texts using a wireless keyboard, which is fantastic.
In contrast, the reMarkable is basically restricted to note taking and ebook reading. This is not bad. It helps you keep focused. But whereas the writing experience is still stellar on the reMarkable, the same can not be said for its ebook (PDF/ePub) reader. While the Note Air’s reader shines with front light, lots of functionality and speed, the reMarkable’s reader is far behind.
The reMarkable 2’s Achilles heel
Despite its outstanding hardware design and build quality, its fantastic writing experience, its useful new magnetic cover and its improved pen/marker, the reMarkable 2 has a serious weakness that it brings from its first model and that needs to be addressed: Its ePub/PDF reader is subpar with nearly any other in the market. A paper tablet is meant both for reading and writing. This is what we do on paper. It is, in fact, a major oversight. Note Air’s ePub/PDF reader is vastly superior.
The striking difference in contrast between the readers of my reMarkable and of my Onyx Note 2, former models, both without front light. This difference persists.
Is this a major issue? If you focus only on writing, on digital notes, you may not care much about it. But, why not use this same device for reading, something that everybody in a way or other, using articles or books, does? It’s a shame. True shame.
However, I think that the software developers at reMarkable need to add just a few features to make the reMarkable reader competitive with any other. These are:
1- Higher contrast (you can hardly read some texts with the current reader, it is often a pain for the eyes, especially for PDF’s, some of my technical books in PDF are simply unreadable). The contrast doesn’t even need to be adjustable, if it is good enough like the contrast in the reMarkable’s handwriting notes.
2- Improved speed with ePubs documents/books. When reader settings (font face, font size or margin size) are changed, it can take forever. After one of my technical books, with 800-pages, took so many minutes to have its font changed that I gave up. Meanwhile, the Note Air does it quickly. What a difference!
3- Bookmarks (this is basic). Really? No bookmarks yet?
4- Improved table of contents with hierarchical indenting and clickable links.
4- Better rendering of fonts in ePubs documents/books
5- Possibility to rotate the device vertically and horizontally with a corresponding text change (similar to what happens on the Kindle devices and on the Note Air)
if the above list is still a lot, I would say that at least items #1, #2 and #3 should be done to start with.
So what now?
The arrival of an eInk-based version of the iPad would change the landscape dramatically. But what we have currently is the reMarkable 2 and the Onyx Note Air as the two main contenders.
The reMarkable software has been updated over the years. The note taking with the outstanding writing experience has now very good features. We hope that the same happens with the reader. It is much easier to update the software than to make a new device. But the slow progression of the software updates for the reMarkable has been very disappointing. There is a bag with lines be drawn jagged when you writing on it. This bug hasn’t been fixed yet. Like several others.
Granted, Onyx is releasing new devices at a fast pace and they even have different screen sizes. One clear disadvantage is that your new Onyx device will quickly lose value and see its newer siblings with great envy. But you still have a great device in your hands and it shows that Onyx is moving ahead. Onyx’s Poke 2 is, for example, one of the first color e-ink devices.
The reMarkable 2 has a great build quality, a beautiful design, a very good battery life and a fantastic writing experience. But it has two major issues. First, the poor software with its disappointing reader and slow pace of updates and bug fixing (for one, the company has so far refused to fix the jagged lines showing up in its writing application on reMarkable 2). Secondly, its poor customer service. These are mainly management issues. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. Rather sooner than too late.
Meanwhile, the Note Air doesn’t suffer from the issues above. It is not as beautiful as the reMarkable 2. Its writing experience is not equal, but close enough. And, for the rest, it is vastly superior. Some fans will stick to the reMarkable 2. But, as of now, there is no doubt a very good argument for the Note Air.
Conclusion
We recommend that you buy the Note Air from Amazon (see links below), as other sellers have the Russian version that doesn’t include the software updates. Amazon also offers a great customer service and easy returns, what can’t be said if you buy it from the Onyx online store in China or other US resellers.
Another option is to go for the Note Air’s big brother, the Onyx Boox Max Lumi, which is a unique device without competition in its class. Its screen size is 13.3″ (A4 size), with front light and the same functionality that the Note Air has. It offers a great reading experience, especially of technical and academic PDFs. It also offers a great place to try out your ideas by writing and drawing on its large screen.
Note: Updated as of May 2023.
https://medium.com/@paulocr2/remarkable-2-or-onyx-note-air-which-one-to-buy-update-may-2023-dfb75f3f77cd
Originally published in my blog Cyzne.com under the title "reMarkable 2 vs. Note Air", where you have the links to purchase these devices
