Any recommendations for a good note taking tablet?
I want to be able to write and sync notes with syncthing. Digitization would be a good plus.
And read notes, papers, books. Not necessarily bought on the device.

Is Remarkable the holy grail?

@joewilliams007

samsung tablets are great. i own a tab s7 for four years now in daily use with the spen. It's reliable, fast, has great battery, great screen and is a multitasking beast. samsung sucks ass in terms of data privacy though.

@joewilliams007 I never considered Samsung in the mix, thanks.

@jestdotty I got to know about it after logseq. I have tried logseq but never got around to trying obsidian.
I used to love OneNote desktop but don't use it anymore.

As an RM owner, it's the fawking best!

But, you have to mostly want to write notes, pdf reader is ok, and you can add notes to a pdf, it doesn't like gray's despite being b/w

Integration with other clouds is shit, and at a subscription only. You don't edit the book in the cloud, you copy it to the RM and it doesn't sync back.

The RM has its own proprietary format, so you can't just sync back to any cloud and have to export as pdf.

If you want handwriting to text, I use the Rocketbook app + the pdf as a template, the builtin is "ok" but really needs neat handwriting.

Once your 100 days is over, you can extend the base functionality with the rmhacks.

@C0D4 thanks!
The cloud lock was what I did not like about it. I want to be able to use syncthing so that I can take notes and later edit them on laptop.

Can you clarify what you mean by 'have to want to write'? Is it that it's awesome at writing and only that?
Seeing as I am looking to replace paper, I don't think that would be a problem.

@anux large PDFs can be laggy and zooming in isn't the best if your half blind, but if your goal is to write like you would in a notebook, it's the best thing since sliced paper (pun intended)

As a writing tablet / drawing tablet it does its thing well.

The cloud sync isn't what you'd expect, it's copy from Dropbox onto RM, use RM version to do anything and then copy back to Dropbox.

I only use the integration because I have a free subscriptions at the moment, but I wouldn't if I didn't.

@C0D4 I see. I was hoping I could read and annotate too along with taking notes.
Although I don't have large pdfs.

Thanks for your reviews though. It helps.
I hope rmhacks has a sync feature. I'll check it out later.

@joewilliams007 you had a complete list why remarkable didn't fit your needs, that's why I tagged you

@retoor totallii forgot

@joewilliams007 erm, could you share your dealbreakers please?

@anux you can write over the top of a pdf!

@C0D4 nice! And the display looks awesome! So fucking close to paper! Even though it is so bright outside.

@C0D4 this is what confuses me. The Remarkable display is must-have but the ecosystem is on the other extreme. *sigh

@anux the ecosystem is total lock in, it's bizarre given the price point.

It's like trying to be Apple, without the supporting devices / apps.

On the flip side I've had no regrets with it, and would recommend it on its own, the subscription is meh.

@C0D4 I agree. So for now Remarkable is still on the table.

@anux no multitasking (i often have mutliple notes and other apps open), no colour display, slow, not as easy to insert images, no built in scan camera, no free notes app,

a tablet also allows for multipurpose, like listening to music, watching movies or putting a video and taking notes at the same time about it. i do that alot, i dont known if it applies to everyone.

@joewilliams007 thanks. I could always play music on phone but the other dealbreakers match what I had in mind and what @C0D4 also indicated.

Just get an iPad?
Not sure if it fits your needs.
Also never had an iPad, so I don't know what I'm talking about.

@anux why not use OneNote anymore? is it since they switched it all to cloud?

@gitstashio I didn't know it was webapp only now.
Anyway webapp is the only option on linux. I find it limiting and hard to navigate.
I loved the desktop app when I was on Windows.

IPad, well, they are not e-ink displays, expensive, and I think the same ecosystem restrictions will apply like Remarkable. Although there might be some app on iOS which supports notes syncing and exporting in standard format that can work with linux.

even in 2024, pen&paper rules supreme.

@tosensei I have to agree. It's a shame that these things are like smartwatches. Toys that miss their potential.

@anux If your looking for a good note taking app for Linux I can recommend Xournal++. It has been working for me quite well and annotating PDFs is also possible.

@TheSilent very interesting. I will check it out. Any idea how I can easily back up the notes once I'm done writing them?

@gitstashio the notes are just normal files (.xopp). You can back them up like you would any other file.