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Time to rip up the notepad? reMarkable's tablet aims to mimic real paper and ink

At $379, reMarkable's new tablet offers a screen surface with the same friction as pen against paper.
Written by Stig Øyvann, Contributor
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reMarkable says its tablet has solved the 'slow ink' problem that creates a lag between writing and screen response.

Image: reMarkable

Norwegian startup reMarkable has unveiled a tablet aimed at people who think best with a pencil in their hand but still want to go digital.

Its new E Ink tablet is targeted at business and creative people, as well as students and those used to working with paper notebooks, textbooks, pens, and highlighters.

The tablet is based on a proprietary electronic ink display, which the company has developed itself. The new product is "the world's fastest E Ink tablet on the market, replicating the pen-on-paper experience closely", according to reMarkable.

"Three years ago, when we first started talking to the leading vendors of screen technology about our ambitions, they said what we've now achieved wasn't possible," Magnus Wanberg, founder and CEO of reMarkable, told ZDNet.

The company calls its screen technology CANVAS, an electronic ink display that closely mimics the look and feel of real paper. It is glareless and the company says it has solved the 'slow ink' problem, the latency of the screen response when writing with a stylus.

"After several years of research and development, we've solved the technology challenges, so with the reMarkable tablet you'll get the feeling of writing on paper," Wanberg said.

"Among other things, we've made the display type significantly faster, and we've developed a screen surface with the same friction as pen against paper."

The reMarkable tablet is developed in close collaboration with electronic-ink innovator E Ink. The screen itself measures 10.3 inches diagonally.

To support the device, the company will offer a cloud service for backup and syncing between the users' devices. The device uses Wi-Fi for connectivity, but the company has yet to state which Wi-Fi standards it supports.

reMarkable opens a pre-buy campaign today, with an early ordering price at $379. The marker pen and cover come separately at $79 each. General availability will be in the summer of 2017, when the product will retail at $529.

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