Last week the Remarkable Pro Move was released; it’s a 7.3-inch eInk tablet. An eInk tablet has an eInk display that also supports input via a stylus and Remarkable made the first eInk tablet that earned success. It’s advertised writing experience that is as good as writing on paper is what first caught my eye, but I always felt the Remarkable too expensive for only being an electronic equivalent to a pad of paper. Last year I bought a Boox Note Air 3C that I am very happy with, it has the same writing experience but comes with the Google Play store so that one can install and run any Android app.

The problem with the Note Air 3C is that while it’s larger size works very well for replacing paper notepads to write, it is too large for reading books. When it comes to reading I prefer the size of the iPad Mini, and I like eInk so I have been using the Boox Go 7 as my primary reading device. The physical size of the Remarkable Pro Move looks perfect for my needs but it does not have the ability to run the Kindle or Readwise apps that I need for reading. I am not going to pay $500 for a single function device, at that price I expect to device to have more ultility, but I would pay $300 for it.

The Boox Go 7 does support stylus input but it’s not the same writing experience as the Note Air 3C, the capacitive stylus has a plastic nib so it has the “writing on glass” feel of the Apple Pencil and iPad. I also think the screen size is a tad too small for notetaking, at best the equivalent paper experience is post-it notes. The best thing about the Go 7 is that it only costs $249 and comes with the Google Play store so you can install whichever Android reading app you prefer. If it had the same Wacom EMR stylus support as the Note Air 3C it would be nearly perfect and worth $100 more in price. I think Boox sees the Go 7 as an alternate to a Kindle that can do more and it fulfills that description perfectly.

The Remarkable Pro Move looks like the perfect size for a portable electronic notepad that has the best writing experience. I probably would be all in on it if it at least had the Kindle app.

My most current tablet is the iPad Mini 6, which is an N-1 generation device. I also have the fourth generation iPad Air that for the most part has been replaced by the Note Air 3C. I don’t plan to replace the iPad Air, I expect my needs for large sheets of “paper” to write notes will diminish greatly after the beginning of the year so I am thinking my future tablets will be smaller in size. I expect to replace the iPad Mini 6 with a new iPad Mini, I just don’t know when, mostly to be able to run iPad OS apps, and I am also thinking about replacing the Boox Note Air 3C and the Books Go 7 with a single smaller screen tablet. Right now that might be the iFlyTek AINOTE Air 2 or the VIWOODS AIPaper Mini, the AIPaper Mini is the front runner due to price. I wonder whether Boox will make tablet equivalent to the Remarkable Pro Move given that the Go 10.3 is clearly intended to compete with the Remarkable 2.