At a glance
By Adam Turner
Scribbling in a notepad is quick, easy and affordable, especially for people who aren't fast typists. Of course, the downside of handwritten paper notes is they aren't easy to back up, search or share, which creates challenges when it comes to record-keeping and collaboration.
Writing with a stylus on a digital note-taker offers the best of both worlds.
A pressure-sensitive stylus mimics the tactile experience of handwriting and sketching. Pressing harder draws darker and thicker lines, while some styluses can also detect if they are tilted, for shading.
Some styluses feature an eraser on the opposite end, along with a built-in action button that makes it easy to click to change pen tips and colours on the fly.
An E Ink display mimics the texture of paper as the stylus slides across the screen, plus it is easier on the eyes than a tablet-style LCD screen – and offers a significantly longer battery life.
The ability to convert handwriting into text ensures that notes can be easily tagged, categorised and searched for future reference – eliminating the need to sift through stacks of paper.
Digital notes can also be synced to cloud storage, so they are backed-up and accessible across multiple devices.
Here are six popular digital note-takers.
1. reMarkable Paper Pro
Featuring an 11.8-inch colour E Ink screen, the reMarkable Paper Pro weighs approximately 525 grams. It comes with a pressure-sensitive Marker stylus, or the optional Marker Plus, which has a digital eraser on one end, but neither features an action button. Notes can be synced to a range of cloud services, although this requires a reMarkable Connect subscription.
2. Onyx Boox Note Air3 C
Sporting a 10.3-inch E Ink colour screen, the Note Air3 C weighs approximately 430 grams. It includes a pressure-sensitive stylus, with the optional Premium stylus adding an eraser but no action button. The device can sync notes to cloud services and note-taking services like Evernote and OneNote. It runs on Android, with the ability to install third-party ebook apps.
3. Supernote Nomad (A6X2)
With a 7.8-inch monochrome E Ink screen, the Supernote Nomad (A6X2) is lightweight at 266 grams. Unlike most digital note-takers, the screen lacks a built-in light. The price doesn't include a stylus, but Supernote sells standard (plastic) and luxury (metal) options. The device can sync notes to desktop and mobile devices, as well as a range of cloud services.
4. Amazon Kindle Scribe
Featuring a 10.2-inch monochrome E Ink screen, the Kindle Scribe sits at 433 grams. It ships with a Basic stylus, with the optional pressure-sensitive Premium stylus adding an eraser on the other end and an action button that switches between pen and highlighter. The Kindle Scribe initially lacked handwriting recognition and even now still only supports converting handwriting to text when exporting notebooks. As a Kindle, it also supports Amazon ebooks.
5. Kobo Elipsa 2E
With a 10.3-inch monochrome E Ink screen, the Elipsa weighs in at 383 grams. It comes with the Kobo Stylus 2, which features a highlighter action button and an eraser on the other end. Notes are automatically synced to Kobo.com or manually synced to Dropbox. As a Kobo, it is also a very flexible ebook reader.
6. Rocketbook fusion
Rather than relying on a screen, the Rocketbook Fusion is a physical A4 or A5 notebook with 42 reusable pages. They can be written on with a Pilot FriXion pen, and then wiped clean with a damp cloth to use again. The Rocketbook app lets you take photos of written pages with your smartphone and upload them to the cloud, while transcribing handwritten notes into text.
