A long time ago, in a land far away, people wrote notes with pens and pencils on paper. Today, given the evolution of the computer, pencils or pens and real paper have fallen so far out of style that many schools have stopped teaching students to use cursive writing. Many of us who still survive from those older times have drunk the keyboard Kool-Aid and use our electronic devices to take and store our notes digitally. For many years, I have taken most of my notes on my laptop computer or iPad. Quick, short notes go into my iPhone. Back in the day, I always had a couple of pens in my pocket or briefcase. These days, I don’t even carry a pen most of the time. In law school, every note I took was written with one of two fountain pens. I had a definite preference for fountain pens over ballpoints, but that was the iconoclast in me coming out as ballpoints represented a technological advancement over fountain pens. I just did not like the way they felt as they moved across the paper. For me, nothing compares to the feel of writing with a good fountain pen nib on high-quality paper.
While I had an excellent memory, I always felt that writing a note manually made me remember it better. I had nothing to back that up except my own personal perception, so I considered that observation anecdotal. More recently, numerous studies have shown that taking notes manually can significantly enhance memory retention and comprehension. Science finally caught up to me!
One such study conducted by researchers from Princeton University and UCLA found that students who took notes by hand performed better on conceptual questions than those who typed their notes. The act of writing by hand requires cognitive processing, which helps to solidify information in the memory.
The study, titled “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking,” demonstrated that manual note-takers usually process and reframe information in their own words, leading to deeper understanding and better recall. This contrasts with laptop note-takers, who often transcribe lectures verbatim without engaging in the same level of cognitive processing. The findings underscore the value of traditional note-taking methods in educational settings and beyond.
So, now we face an interesting conundrum: Do we use the more modern keyboard and create an electronic file of our notes and accept the lower comprehension that likely entails, or do we eschew the keyboard and return to some pen or pencil (I still prefer the fountain pen, but I would accept a roller ball) to maximize retention and comprehension?
Before you do anything precipitous, let me share with you that I have an alternative for you.
The world of digital note-taking devices has seen significant advancements, and the reMarkable Paper Pro stands as an example of this evolution. This device bridges the gap between the ease of digital note-taking and the tactile satisfaction of using traditional paper. The hybrid system lets you take notes using longhand and still have them in an electronic file for your computer, either as a PDF image of your handwriting or transcribed into printable and editable text almost instantly. Honestly, I don’t like writing with it as much as with a fountain pen, but a fountain pen cannot do what this device can.
Features of the reMarkable Paper Pro
The reMarkable Paper Pro boasts several impressive features designed to enhance the user experience:
- Display. The device features an 11.8-inch Canvas Color display with a high resolution of 229 pixels per inch.
- Battery life. Its long-lasting battery can go for up to two weeks on a single charge, making it ideal for extended use.
- Storage. With 64 GB of internal storage, the device can hold thousands of pages of notes and documents.
- Pen and writing experience. The included stylus (which they call a “Marker”) is responsive and precise, offering tilt and pressure sensitivity that enhances the natural feel of writing. It offers a crisp and clear writing experience. Writing on the reMarkable Paper Pro differs from writing on paper with a fountain pen, but the Paper Pro improves on the writing experience offered by the previous model, the reMarkable 2.
- Writing tools. The “writing tools” software feature allows you to customize how the notes you take with the stylus appear on the display, providing versatility for different types of note-taking. The device allows you to choose between nine writing tools: ballpoint pen, fine liner, marker, pencil, mechanical pencil, paintbrush, highlighter, calligraphy pen, and shader. Each tool can appear in thin, medium, or thick lines and in nine choices of colors: black, gray, white, blue, red, green, yellow, cyan, and magenta. As the device uses e-ink technology, the colors do not have the vibrancy that you would get on an iPad or iPhone. Think of them more as a washed-out watercolor; at least, that is how I perceive them. The color in this technology will continue to evolve. For example, the newly released Kindle Colorsoft uses a similar technology, but the colors reflect more vibrancy than those in the Paper Pro. Nevertheless, the colors work well for highlighting material and emphasis. While I have no artistic skill in drawing and do not feel qualified to address this point, the manufacturer represents that, in addition to note-taking, the Paper Pro also works well for drawing needs.
- Connectivity. The device supports WiFi for cloud synchronization, allowing users to access their notes across multiple devices seamlessly. With seamless Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive integration, users can sync their notes across devices and access them from anywhere. The Paper Pro also offers end-to-end encryption, ensuring that sensitive data remains secure.
- Software. The reMarkable operating system is intuitive and user-friendly, featuring tools for note-taking, sketching, and document organization. Additionally, it offers a handwriting-to-text conversion feature, allowing users to easily convert their handwritten notes to typed text, making it convenient for sharing and editing documents. The conversion software works well and converts handwriting with reasonable accuracy. The more neatly you write, the more accurate the conversion will be. Surprisingly, although my handwriting has historically ranked on the illegible side (we used to give secretaries a raise once they could decipher it), the Paper Pro did a creditable job of converting it. You should, however, make a practice of reviewing the conversion and correcting any miscues immediately.
A more detailed description of the device’s features can be found on the reMarkable website.
