My Kindle Scribe died and it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.
I’ve been a devoted Scribe user for the past three years. I’ve written hundreds of pages on my Scribe and loved it dearly. I, therefore, thought I’d treat myself to the latest model for my birthday.Well, I must have gotten a lemon: the bottom of the screen couldn’t be written on (my writing went all wobbly) and it would freeze up on me randomly. When it did that, I would have to restart it and, thankfully, everything I’d written would still be there (perhaps missing a word or two). Finally,one day it froze while I was in the middle of a word and would not restart no matter what I did. It was dead after less than two months after I’d purchased it. Amazon wouldn’t replace it (I’d at ready had it replaced once when there were spots on the side that couldn’t be written on—turned out that I had to remove the magnetic stylus attached to write). I was able to return it for a full refund, however. So, I did that and then started shopping around for another e- ink tablet.
I tried the Remarkable Paper Pro, but writing on it wasn’t much different from writing on my iPad and none of my EMR styli worked on it.
I then bought a Supernote.
The Supernote comes in two sizes: the Nomad, which is smaller “pocket sized”, and the Manta, a 10.7″ screen. I got the Manta.
It has an odd textured screen with a plastic a film on top. It feels odd to my hand when it slides along as I write, but the texture great for writing. It’s a little cushy, like writing on a pad of paper, which I really like. And, it uses an EMR stylus, which I appreciate as I have a few I love.
There are the usual “pens” and erasers (including one where you can draw a box and everything within the box is erased—great for deleting blocks of text). But there are two things which really make the Supernote stand out: 1) you can download apps so it can connect to the internet and be used like a simple tablet; and 2) you can link pages or documents within other documents. This last one is incredible for organizing work.
I have created a desktop document from a template I found in what they call the “Inkhub” (it’s where anyone can upload a template, digital planner, or “stickers” for use by others). In my “desktop” note I can write my daily to-dos (although the Supernote also comes with a to-do app and calendar preloaded), and I have links to the current chapter I am writing, and another document where I keep all my book notes.
To make it easy to organize within documents you can create headings or put in stars. There is a button in the toolbar that gives you a list of all headings and starred items. You can also add keywords which are listed in the same place.
Editing a PDF or word document is easy as well. All in all, the Supernote is a great e- ink tablet for handwriting whatever you want (or typing with a bluetooth connected keyboard).
As mentioned earlier, there is a calendar—which can be linked to a Google calendar, a to-do app, and (not yet mentioned) an email app. I have to admit, I’ve not used these features because I want my writing to be as distraction free as possible.
Converting your handwritten document to text is incredibly easy (just the press of a button) or you can export your document as a text document, word doc, or an image to the Supernote app which lives on your computer.
The only negative thing I’ve found after a few weeks of using my Supernote, is that it has no built in light. If you have no light around you, you can’t see the screen—so no reading or writing in the dark next to a sleeping spouse.
I’m not sorry at all that my Kindle scribe died. The Supernote is a better tablet in so many ways.