The ReMarkable writing slate is a tablet with a 10.3 inch E Ink display that comes with a digital pen that supports 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity and which has a “high-friction pen tip,” so that the tablet doesn’t just look like paper when you’re viewing it, it feels like paper when you’re writing or drawing on it.

At least that’s the idea, and when the company showed off prototypes to journalists earlier this year, they seemed reasonably impressed.

Now the makers of the ReMarkable tablet say they’re getting ready to ship the first batch of devices, with 11,000 units set to go out to customers who have placed pre-orders starting August 29th.

The current version of the slate went up for pre-order over 9 months ago for $379. The pre-order price is now up to $479, but that money buys you the slate, the “Marker” digital pen, and a folio case. Once the pre-order special is over, the full price for the tablet alone is expected to go up to $529 (or $716 for the bundle… plus another $29 for shipping).

The tablet features an 1872 x 1404 pixel E Ink Carta display with 226 pixels per inch. It supports multi-point capacitive touch input (meaning you can use multiple fingers at once), as well as the digital pen. And since the screen is plastic, there’s no breakable glass.

ReMarkable says the pen supports tilt detection and low latency (the goal, as of a few months ago, was to get the latency down to 55 ms). Ad the pen does not require any batteries.

The tablet has 8GB of built-in storage, 512MB of RAM, a 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, and a Linux-based oeprating system called Codex. There’s a 3,000 mAH battery and a micro USB port for charging.

At launch, the tablet supports PDF and ePUB files, but additional formats could be supported in the future.

If you just need a device for reading eBooks, this tablet is clearly overkill. It’s really the pen input that makes it special, by letting you jot notes, draw pictures, highlight or annotate books, or do whatever else it is people with decent handwriting or artistic ability do with pens (I’m not really one of those people, so I have a limited idea of how useful this feature is).

But that does make me wonder why ReMarkable would even bother listing the price of a tablet without a pen. I can’t imagine anyone who’d be interested in one without the other.

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8 replies on “ReMarkable writing tablet starts shipping August 29th”

  1. ReMarkable looks like such a smooth device and exactly what the team wants it to be. As a polished, large-screen e-ink device with a pen, I wanted to support this, but it’s missing some crucial features for me. I need the ability to hook up a keyboard of some sort, and I have to have access to my Kindle library. I’m glad that it seems to be selling well though.

    Instead, I’ve got my eye on one of those Carta Boox tablets. Frontlight, bluetooth, pen, and a nice 9.7″ screen. I’ll be all over that.

  2. I wish these types of tablets would hit around the $200 mark .. it has been out for so long I don’t get why e-ink is still so expensive..

  3. 10″ is too small, and e-Ink still doesn’t work properly (at any price).

    This would be great if the size and technology (and price) were fixed.

  4. Every tech product gets complaints that it’s too pricey, but no one use similar devices on the market for reference. People want to pay half of that they are offering retail. $300 is the price of the Kindle voyage which has incomparably lower specs and functionality.

  5. I signed up for this tablet and looking forward to it. If you are looking for a laugh, go to the indiegogo page for the 13.3 inch android book reader. I am so glad I got a refund. There are people still waiting for devices. They tend not to answer emails until you post many times, then they complain you are spamming the indiegogo group. I feel very sorry for anyone that tried to get a reader from them, as now they are refusing refunds. They claim to have spent all money on getting the next batch of readers.

  6. Close but this product – or similar – still needs to increase the screen size to about a typical sheet of paper and then cut the price in half or better. Then it would be a hit. At least if it isn’t made less useful by the availability of other tech first.
    That doesn’t seem likely but given how long these larger e-ink display products have taken to get into the market and then move down the price ladder anything is possible.
    As it is now you’d be much better off paying the extra for an Ipad Pro at these prices.

    1. Reading a complex textbook PDF (like an Anatomy and Physiology textbook) without having to glitchy freeze zoom all over the place is the unicorn for an e-ink device. It’s why I’m not buying one, other than price.

    2. I don’t think you can drop the price that drastically with an e-ink screen, alas. I don’t know if it’s the manufacturing process or that it’s a niche market, but e-ink seems to be pretty resistant to price cuts.

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