This Kindle Scribe rival is better on every level, | Tech News

I’m a huge fan of E Ink, the screen technology made well-known by the Amazon Kindle. Over the years, I’ve delved into the area of interest world of E Ink units, discovering all the things from dumbphones to photograph frames, however I feel I’ve come throughout one of my favorite makes use of of E Ink ever from an unlikely company.

Alongside e-readers just like the Kindle and Kobo, a comparatively new class of E Ink gadget is the digital pocket book. Popularised by the Kindle Scribe and reMarkable vary of tablets, these large-screen slates offer a digital canvas on which to take notes utilizing a stylus.

This allows you to create scores of near-infinite notebooks and carry them round with you always, identical to you’ll have tons of of books on a Kindle. Amazon cottoned on to this and made the Kindle Scribe, a 10-inch Kindle with an included pen to scribble in e-books and create your own notes.

It’s good having each features in a single gadget, however I discover the dimensions just too huge to cart round each day, and it’s comically giant to learn a guide on.

I’ve additionally examined a number of reMarkable tablets, E Ink notebooks from the Norwegian company of the identical identify, that don’t double up as e-readers. The £399 reMarkable Paper Pro Move appealed to me with its smaller measurement once I reviewed it final yr, however its slender screen meant I didn’t write on it persistently.

Enter the $299 Supernote Nomad, a lesser-known E Ink pill from Chinese firm Ratta, which I’ve been testing for a couple of months. It has hit the precise candy spot for my digital notetaking wants, with the proper screen measurement, wonderful stylus, good battery life and even e-book integration.

reMarkable does a great job of making its screens really feel such as you’re writing on paper, nevertheless it at all times irks me that it’s a must to buy substitute nibs for the pens, as the fabric wears down like a pencil’s graphite, albeit slower. It’s the identical on the Scribe.

While the Supernote Nomad doesn’t fairly really feel nearly as good to put in writing on, it’s totally close, and the large benefit is that suitable pens don’t put on down and also you by no means need to exchange the nibs. This is because of the (deep breath) “FeelWrite 2 Soft Self-Recovery Film and Ceramic NeverReplace Nib”. FeelWrite technology is from Wacom, the firm well-known for its digitiser enter systems within the inventive industry.

The easy indisputable fact that I don’t have to hold round spare nibs has made me use the Supernote Nomad more than some other E Ink pocket book.

The Nomad is additionally absolutely person repairable, a rarity in your entire client electronics industry in 2026. You can unclip the back plate and substitute the battery and different elements simply. It additionally has an SD card slot to broaden the storage, and Ratta asserts that it needs the person to “truly own your device”, a uncommon opinion in at this time’s world of month-to-month subscriptions and cloud storage lock-in.

The Nomad has a 7.8-inch screen, which I discovered the best measurement for taking notes in conferences and for each day duties and to-do lists. The 300ppi decision is nearly as good as trendy e-readers, and the software program is pleasingly easy – create a pocket book and off you go.

Swiping down on the touch-sensitive bezel – changeable relying on which hand you write with, which additionally shifts the pocket book’s toolbar to the opposite aspect of the screen – and also you get a fast menu to create notes and think about information, alongside non-compulsory further apps.

This consists of an e mail app and calendar that may sync with Google or Outlook, and, amazingly, the official Kindle app.

Although I’m a Kobo convert lately, the truth that the Nomad helps Kindle natively makes it an completely official Kindle Scribe substitute. For a cheaper price, you get a repairable E Ink gadget that isn’t too giant, and has a better writing expertise to your notes. It’s win-win.

The caveat right here is you possibly can’t annotate or markup Kindle e-books on the Nomad, one thing I didn’t miss. I would like an e-reader that is, individually, a pocket book. If you additionally need to scribble in your books, this gadget is not for you.

I discovered there was a bit of a studying curve to get used to Nomad’s complicated software program. There are superior options I’ve not used, however for my use case of compiling weekly and month-to-month work notes, and the occasional personal journaling, it has been a great pick-up and go option.

The draw back is it doesn’t have a frontlight, so you possibly can’t make notes at nighttime. That doesn’t hassle me a lot, however a mild would have been a great addition for the Kindle app to make this an e-reader for all hours of the day.

I additionally discovered the battery life a little erratic – though we’re nonetheless speaking in days, not hours. There are settings to put the Nomad to sleep routinely, in addition to run more energy effectively when it is aware of you’ve stopped writing, however general I may rely on the factor for about two weeks of energy earlier than needing to plug in – and it’s more if you happen to flip the Wi-Fi off.

You can decide to backup to Supernote’s own cloud service, or Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive. I like how Supernote’s companies are non-compulsory, supplying you with control over the place your knowledge is saved.

The software program is customisable, and Supernote lets very clients view its company’s software program roadmap of new instruments it is working on.

The pill itself is a good deal at $299, however you need to pay no less than $59 for a suitable pen, and I’d additionally suggest the folio case, which is no less than a additional $49. That’s $407 all up, which is £300 on the time of writing.

The newest Kindle Scribe is £379.99 for the pill and pen, however with no case and solely 16GB storage. The total Supernote Nomad bundle is cheaper, and also you get 32GB. The catch? Shipping and import tax to the UK bumps the price to $543.70, which is £400. But that price is nonetheless corresponding to the Amazon and reMarkable alternate options.

If you might be on the lookout for an all-in-one digital pocket book to additionally learn Kindle books on, the Supernote Nomad is the proper measurement and repairable with an eternal pen, and it’s cheaper than the Amazon various. You simply need to be OK with the absence of a frontlight.

Buy the Supernote Nomad