rM PP: Pros and Cons

I have used my rMPP for three weeks now, and after posting my issue with the screen, I figured I might as well post a pros and cons list, as well as my final verdict.

Pros - Nice writing experience: not sure I’d say it feels exactly like paper and pencil, but it’s definitely a huge difference to writing on an iPad or a similar screen. Loved writing with the rMPP. - Good tools: the eraser selection tool is incredible, and the ability to select text and move it around is very intuitive and quite useful. The different writing tools available are also quite nice and work quite well. - File transfer: transferring files to and from my rMPP was so easy, and I loved the ability to transfer what I had written on one notebook to the other. - Intuitive: a lot of the features on the rMPP are quite intuitive, and are well adapted for the tablet’s use

Cons - Dead pixels: not entirely sure if they’re actually dead pixels, but I have these areas of my screen that appear to bleed extra light, as if there was a damaged layer below the top one allowing more light than it should. I could’ve sworn it went away for a while but it’s back and in the same place. This is my number one complaint for a $700 device. - Noises: the tablet makes noises? Not sure what’s going on inside one of these things, but I had never heard a tablet make noise while adjusting the zoom on whatever I was reading. It’s not bothersome, but I thought I’d mention it. - Response time: the response time while writing is great, but at times, it can be slow to react while trying to wake it from sleep, requiring multiple presses, or simple to switch pages, which can be annoying. I’m not talking about the time it takes for the image to show, I’m talking about the time it takes for the tablet to respond to stimuli. - Write-to-Text: the feature that converts handwriting to text seems to struggle converting equations. It appears it was programmed to recognize what you write using known words as some form of guidance, which is fine I guess, but it should be able to convert simple equations. I don’t see why you would make it so it depends on words it recognizes when you can have it recognize letters independently to prevent these issues. If I was trying to write some complicated equation I’d understand, but a simple equation with basic arithmetic operations isn’t recognized? - Buggy: it appears like this was released without being properly finished, judging by others experiences and my own, both with the device and the software. The bugs are rare, I will admit, and they appear to be different each time, so not even something I can write a formal complaint about, but one time I had to reset my tablet to unlock it and another time I had to do the same to get my pen to write properly. - Customizability: I wish I could customize my sleep screen from my tablet or even the app without having to do all the developer-mode stuff. How could they not foresee that people would want customizability on such an expensive device? - Templates: I wish they had a way to import more templates easily, from some form of community page or something along those lines.

Conclusion I will be returning my rMPP with approximately 70 days left in my 100-trial.

The technology is incredible, and the device was quite useful to me, as someone looking to read eBooks and scientific literature. I had a lot of fun writing on it and found myself reading more because of it. However, the quality control from reMarkable leaves something to be desired. I have seen plenty of others with issues on their device, and I’m quite disappointed to be a part of that group now. A lot of the issues seem to stem from a lack of quality control. I also felt quite dissatisfied by the lack of some simple features, which can be fixed through software updates with time, but for a device that’s been out for nearly a year now, this is less and less of an acceptable excuse.

The messed up areas of my screen aren’t THAT BAD, but for a $700 device I really don’t want any bad. The light appears to bleed a bit from the front panel’s edges, which is another thing I thought was unacceptable for a $700 device. When you’re making a device that is specialized and you’re putting a price tag like that on it, I’m pretty much expecting a seamless experience on that specific area of specialty. Additionally, for that premium, I expect certain additional features, like some customizability (really? no custom wallpaper unless I go on developer mode?).

Overall, I would probably complain a bit but keep it if I had the ability to just dish out another $700 when the new one comes out, the same way I don’t really complain about a slightly deformed pencil or a click pen that gets stuck sometimes when I try to bring out the writing part, but when I’m paying this much for something that is JUST for reading and writing, and it’s not doing that at a $700 level, I’m not going to just sit on a device that appears to have been released a year too early.

What a shame :/