The ReMarkable Paper Pro Move is bending my brain

I’ve been a technology journalist for more years than I care to mention, and over that time a few things have become an indispensable part of my tech arsenal – with the ReMarkable 2 tablet being front and center.

I love the fact that it’s just useless for nearly everything except writing things down. It cost me a fortune. It’s a bit heavy in my bag. But I feel more warmth toward it than most other bits of tech – perhaps beyond my Garmin Watch, but that’s because I worry that it will blackmail me somehow if I ever get rid of it (it knows everything).

So when I heard about the new ReMarkable Paper Pro Move, I instantly was desperate to hear more about it – and I can’t lie, I want one more than is reasonable.

Before we get into why, let’s quickly check out the specs of the Scandinavian brand’s newest device:

That cost is high. Too high, really, when I already have a perfectly serviceable writing tablet in my bag most of the time. A tablet I use all the time, know the ins and outs of it, and don’t have any reason to upgrade.

Even the tablet that I have is hard to justify. I spent around $700 on the full package, including the Marker Plus (with eraser) and the keyboard cover. And all I can do is type and draw on it. It doesn’t make sense, really, when you consider we live in a world of gadget convergence.

GPS heard the death knell when Google Maps was offered for free. The digital camera was toast when Sharp put a sensor on the rear of its phone. The iPod was eaten by the iPhone.

So why spend all that money for a device that an iPad or Galaxy Note (or most tablets, really) can do?

The answer is in the simplicity. I’m sure you’ve thought – fleetingly, or daily – that you’d like to use screens less. You’re always distracted, and you know that has to stop.

That’s why I like my ReMarkable 2. I can only do one thing on it – write stuff down – and I can do it with a pen or keyboard. I can email it to someone after. That’s it. It’s peaceful. And writing on it is the only time I’ve ever felt something akin to writing on paper in a digital experience. That’s a key part too.

But if I don’t need to replace my current writing device, why does the Paper Pro Move keep catching my eye?

Well, when the ReMarkable Paper Pro came out in 2024, it solved one thing for me: a backlight so I could see my pages when the sun went in (because the ReMarkable Tablet 2 can become illegible at the merest shadow). But it was so much money for the base model ($629) that there was no way I could justify it. Even if it did have a color screen and was a bit bigger.

So I sat there with every tech fan’s plight: torn between affection for my current device, knowing it’s perfectly fine for the purpose, but annoyance it’s not the new one.

But the Paper Pro Move? Well, that’s a different story. It’s smaller – it can fit in my pocket. I could write things on the go (which, as a journalist, I can pretend I do a lot more than I actually manage these days). It would be as well as the Tablet 2, not instead of.

I could live my dream of highlighting in color (OK, when I say dream… I mean maybe doing it twice and then never doing it again, because I rarely highlight) and having an option to continue notetaking when the sun heads to sleep.

Far from perfect

There are a few things that grind my gears though: the Marker Plus costs more – $50 more to be exact – and all you get is a little plastic topper that allows you to rub out. That easy erasing feature is essential in my view – I feel that even more acutely current one has broken, thanks to an enthusiastic three-year-old ripping it off.

I had a thought: I could essentially save $100 because I need to buy one anyway. I could have used that to justify the upgrade. I need a new Marker Plus and I could use the stylus on both! That’s just good economic sense.

Except… no. ReMarkable has used a different kind of screen technology with the Paper Pro range, so the Marker Plus won’t work on both. That’s irritating.

I know, deep down, that I don’t need both. That I rarely even carry a small pad around these days, and it doesn’t make much sense. And what happens when you want to read a full-size document on there? You need to turn it sideways and see a small window of text… that seems like it could feel constraining soon.

But I still really, really want to try one. And I know that I’ll love the combination of digital smarts with ‘old time’ writing. Now I just have to make some space in my drawer when I inevitably stop using one…