Firstly, you’ll note the sub-heading is not Super Note versus the reMarkable!
Both tablets do what they do well, and it comes down to personal choice.
I have had both for around three weeks now and using them on alternate days which, at the moment, isn’t a great productivity hack! (i.e. Do not try this at home! 😉)
Caveat: I’ve been working with the devices for the past three weeks. The information is accurate insofar as I have proven it for my own purposes. If there are errors or omissions, please forgive me and let me know. Any errors will be corrected. These are great devices. And I encourage you to do your own research. Thank you.
About this “initial impression”
It’s not a typical review, there are no specs and stats to pore over. I want this device to use, not analyse.
The questions I’m asking myself:
will improve my workflow?
will it be a comfortable, easy experience?
will I reach for it as second nature?
will it end up collecting dust?
The Initial Workflow
In answer to the first question, I have found a flow that is working well. It’s very simple, though I expect it to change and improve over time.
With either tablet, I open to a new page each day.
I write out my daily agenda — even though this is in my electronic calendar, it helps ground me as the day starts.
On the same page (see image below) are my 3–7 major tasks for the day. I like five tasks ideally, but work is a bit hectic and so I’m allowing the extra two. If it gets beyond that, it indicates that burn out may be on the horizon.
I have meetings booked, so each meeting has its own page with the time of the meeting, the attendees and the agenda. If there are more than a page of notes, I simply add a page, just like a notebook.
I complete a review at the end of the day, noting action items, communications required, and summarise the day with a 😳 😐 😀 or 😎 and a comment!
Will it be a comfortable, easy experience?
I had my birthday recently and my wife noticed I was looking at e-ink devices. She asked if I wanted one for my birthday. “Definitely not”, I said. Not that I was against them, but I didn’t want to feel obligated to keep a device given to me at my birthday if it didn’t work out.
With my son-in-law and a new colleague at work both having reMarkables, and evangelising their benefits, it seemed reasonable they were worth trying, especially with reMarkable’s 100-day, no questions asked, return policy.
I decided to purchase both the Super Note and reMarkable to compare them and to see if either of them would fit my lifestyle.
And it seems they do. They are very easy to use and very easy to pick up and start writing to the point that there is no barrier to using these devices. And a good workflow makes it even easier to get the benefits from them.
Yes, it is a very comfortable and easy experience and not like when I got my first iPad at its first edition, with few apps and when people look upon iPads back then as a bit of a geek’s tool. Whereas today, iPads, and tablets in general, are ubiquitous.
One plus I didn’t expect
I suffer from buyer’s remorse.
You know the drill, research the hell out of something, make the purchase and then wonder if I should return it.
I have not had any buyer’s remorse with either of these tablets. Both work well, take minimal time to get up to speed for efficient note taking, though there is still more to learn. (YouTube is your friend!) And they are very comfortable parts of my workflow, discounting the current daily swapping.
The Writing Experience
If you’ve looked into these devices, you know the Super Note is described as “pen on paper”, while the reMarkable is “pencil on paper”. Both are apt descriptions.
More importantly, both are pleasant writing experiences.
The reMarkable has more pen types (Ballpoint pen, Fineliner, Marker, Pencil, Mechanical pencil, Paintbrush, Highlighter and Calligraphy pen), so you are well covered. The difference between the pencil and mechanical pencil is small but with the pencil you can slant the styles/pen sideways to get a different shading effect. (there may be more differences, anyone is free to chime in).
The highlighter comes in different “colours”, or shades of grey on the tablet, but do convert to standard highlighter colours when transferred to something like Word or as a PDF (see image below from reMarkable).
The Super Note has three basic types: Pencil, Pen and Marker. All with different thicknesses — thin, medium, heavy. It doesn’t have a highlighter function like the reMarkable. Not a game changer (for me), but hopefully it is on the radar.
Correcting Errors — Erasing
In terms of making corrections, the Super Note has an eraser icon you can use to wipe out unwanted writing but you also have the “gesture erase” which is super handy for removing large (or small) blocks of writing. You hold down two fingers on the screen and “lasso” the area you want to get rid of. Easily done! (Make sure you have “gesture erase” turned on. The number of times I drew circles around my text was, well, interesting! 😉)
The reMarkable, with the premium pen, which I have, has an eraser on the non-writing end. So just flip the pen and erase as you might have in grade school.
Do you need the premium pen? It is a little more expensive. My thought would be to buy what you can afford but get the most you can afford. Not having the premium pen isn’t the end of the world.
If you choose the standard pen, you will have an eraser set on the screen that includes a basic eraser (rub the pen nib over the area you want to erase, like a traditional eraser on a pencil).
Both methods are fine and work well.
The Pens
On the pens’ structure, the Super Note pens have ceramic nibs and never need changing. This is a win for me. Just less friction.
The reMarkable use changeable nibs. They supply extras in your pack. They work well, I just prefer not to have to do that.
Syncing
While I would not normally buy an item on the promise of a coming feature (syncing to OneDrive with Super Note, in this case), I am happy with the syncing function for now. I can easily get documents on and off the devices.
I have found Super Note’s connect to Google Drive to be problematic, so I have switched to Super Note’s cloud service, and it works well. That said, I will try again with Google Drive and see if I can get it to work. I am sure the error is mine. It also connect to Dropbox.
The reMarkable also has Google Drive and can send informtation to OneDrive by using the mobile app on your iPhone. Documents will come across as a choice between PDF, PNG, SVG and text in email.
In Summary
Both are great devices. One has to go back, though, I’m not made of money and these aren’t cheap! But I’m undecided.
Here are my initial conclusions
The Pens: I like the ceramic nib on the Super Note pen. Not having to change the nib is a bonus. I wanted to replace my Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks with this device. Pen on paper is my jam.
The Features: I write, I don’t draw. Therefore the extra features of the reMarkable (pen types, etc), while I acknowledge are very nice and not unpleasant, aren’t of use to me. That said, writing with the variation of pen types is a great way to capture ideas and highlight things in an engaging way.
“Ah, but you may want to draw one day.”
“No, I won’t!” 😉
The Desire: Currently, I want to pick up the Super Note more than the reMarkable. It’s just the way it is. I’ve now been using the Super Note a little longer. This is 100% a subjective opinion. Your mileage may vary!
Also …
reMarkable’s very generous 100 days allows me to discover more about the device without having to rush (thanks guys! ❤️).
I’ll have two tablets for while yet.
Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. This is an overview and there is a lot more to learn about these devices.
I’d love to hear your experiences.
Do you have either, of both, of these devices?
If you are interested in an e-ink device, let me know what your goals are for such a device.
How do you hope it will improve your life and workflow?
Or are you just a bit of a gadget junkie? 😎