Our favourite note-taking device just shrank – introducing the reMarkable Paper Pro Move

By some happy coincidence, reMarkable’s team of designers and product planners seem to be perfectly attuned to my thinking. As a long-time user of the Norwegian company’s elegantly designed e-ink tablets, the only conceivable improvement I could imagine would be a smaller model to keep on hand when the A4-sized reMarkable Paper Pro was too big to slip into a pocket.

As if by magic, the company has now introduced the new reMarkable Paper Pro Move, a true digital notebook that combines all the convenience and analogue feel of the Paper Pro in a compact 7.3” format. I’ve been trialling the Move ahead of the official launch and talking to the reMarkable team about the new model.

Anyone familiar with reMarkable’s award-winning approach will be instantly at home with the Paper Pro Move. Everything about the new device is identical to its larger flagship sibling, right down to the backlit ‘Canvas’ colour screen. It runs exactly the same software, lightly tweaked to take account of the lesser visual real estate, as well as the same dedicated Marker pen, which clips magnetically to the side of the screen.

The company’s ethos has been well articulated over the years; create a writing tool that allows ‘better thinking through technology’, with minimal distractions yet also seamlessly connectivity through a mature and stable cloud-based file system.

There’s been a certain amount of feature creep over the years, both at the behest of power users and via reMarkable’s own design team, but even though you can supplement the marker with the Type Folio keyboard on the larger models, for the most part the Paper tablet family is about scribbling, jotting, scrawling, sketching and making marks.

According to reMarkable’s CEO Phil Hess, the company has struck a chord with its commitment to a ‘freeform surface’, with the tactile feel of paper but easy to share or keep secure. ‘Paper’s not going away,’ Hess says, ‘but it comes in multiple sizes.’ Hence the introduction of the Paper Pro Move.

Exactly one third the size of the Paper Pro, the Move is genuinely pocketable. Easy to use in both portrait and landscape modes, it comes with a few OS tweaks to make it easier to present and search your files.

The Move was developed alongside the Paper Pro, launched last year, which in turn succeeded the reMarkable 2 (2020) and the original reMarkable 1 (2017). Hess describes how the firm went through 1,000 prototypes of the textured glass surface, exploring the perfect level of pushback against on the nib, whilst also preserving the ideal distance between the tip of the pen and the ink layer, sandwiched beneath ultra-thin layers of glass and film.

‘The Holy Grail of what we were aiming for is the feel of a 3B pencil on Moleskine paper,’ Hess explains, and although there’s a distinct difference between the Paper Pro screen and the reMarkable 2, there’s no denying the pleasure each device gives.

One of the key focuses of the shift to a colour screen was to ensure that there were no trade-offs between the Paper Pro and Paper Pro Move. The latter might be smaller, but it has the same two-week battery life. Ten minutes of charging should get you three days-worth of use.

The Move is 6.5mm thick and weighs 232g, with an aluminium case featuring the same ribbed edges that evoke a stack of paper, just like the larger model (the big Paper Pro is just 5.2mm thick but weighs in at 520g – add in the Type Folio case and it starts to weigh down on you when used as a portable clipboard). By comparison, the Move is small enough to be held in one hand when in use.

Software tweaks include a moveable toolbar than can now be shifted around edges of the screen, and the ability to scale the icons that depict your files. The company has teamed up with a template specialist to create responsive dynamic templates covering every conceivable workplace and creative scenario, from calendars to sheet music, story boarding to strategizing.

File management capabilities have also been bolstered, with a new handwriting search facility. There’s also Slack integration as well as upcoming features that will radically shift the Paper Pro family’s usability for reviewing documents. Thanks to a newly developed file system, updates and edits can be transcribed across devices – any highlights or scribbles you make on a piece of text, for example, will persist in place when you share it.

The handy ‘Read in reMarkable’ browser extension also makes it simple to clip and send articles to your device. These ‘Active Reviewing’ capabilities are supported by AI, which cleans up and simplifies web pages for easier reading.

Unsurprisingly, the compact Move is the most sustainable tablet reMarkable has made so far – 20% of the device by weight is made from recycled material, as is 100% of the packaging. Longevity is a core part of the company’s approach - the reMarkable 1 is still supported with updates, for example.

Power users will want to subscribe to the (essential, in my opinion) Connect service, which keeps notes synced across devices and tablets, as well as invest in the Book Folio case, which not only protects the screen but keeps a tighter grip on the pen. Available in leather and a new mosaic weave, the Folio features integrated magnets that hold the Move tightly in place.

The reMarkable Paper Pro Move has shot straight to the top of my favourite device list. As a minimalist piece of tech with deliberately limited functionality, the Move is at odds with an over-complicated world. Yet it’s been crafted with utility in mind, serving as both sieve and cache for clippings and ideas, a portable filter that only serves to enhance your creative workflow.

reMarkable Paper Pro Move, £399, reMarkable.com, @reMarkable