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Jan 27, 2024

Type Folio Makes reMarkable 2 The Perfect Distraction

Back when I originally wrote about reMarkable 2, I praised it as a note-taking, content creation tool that brought back the lost art of writing longhand. But even as someone who grew up in an age

Back when I originally wrote about reMarkable 2, I praised it as a note-taking, content creation tool that brought back the lost art of writing longhand. But even as someone who grew up in an age where it was longhand notes or nothing at all, I have to recognize that putting Marker to e-ink screen and scribbling away can only get you so far when it comes to true productivity.

No, for a tablet to be a true content creation device it needs a keyboard. As good as reMarkable's handwriting to text conversion tool is, not being able to go back and edit your drafts on the device itself limits its utility.

reMarkable Type Folio in Sierra Brown

That's why the new Type Folio, with its built-in 60%(ish) keyboard is a game-changer for the reMarkable 2 tablet.

Available in black and brown, the vegan leather folio is a 6.6mm-thick cover for your reMarkable 2 e-ink tablet (it doesn't work with the reMarkable 1, sorry). Like the regular Folio, its cover folds out of the way entirely so that you can use your tablet as usual.

The Type Folio does add a bit of thickness to the reMarkable 2 tablet compared to the regular Folio. It's a bit thicker overall and definitely heavier. But you don't have to worry about charging the keyboard separately, it's powered by the tablet itself.

reMarkable 2 table with Type Folio

That little bit of extra girth hides an impressively functional keyboard. The entire keyboard sits under a foldable hinge and completely disappears when you're not using it. So after scribbling away like normal, you can convert your document to text and start editing. Or maybe you just start typing to begin with.

There are multiple positions you can type in, either completely flat, an extreme "mostly flat" angle and a more traditional "laptop style" angle. And the keys themselves are extremely responsive, able to keep up even with my 96 wpm pounding. They're mechanical-key sensitive with 1.3mm of travel, so it feels like you're typing on a regular keyboard.

What's surprising is that the keyboard feels nearly full-sized (overall it's closer to a 60% keyboard with quarter-sized number keys). It does this by using full-sized letter keys. It even manages to fit in four navigation arrows. It isn't backlit, but I don't mind that at all.

There's no pairing or syncing. Snap the reMarkable 2 tablet into the Type Folio and you're good to go. it doesn't seem to affect battery life much, if at all. Granted, the reMarkable 2 already has insane battery life because of the low-powered nature of the screen, so I can't imagine that the Type Folio is drawing enough juice to make a real dent in the overall battery performance.

Perfectly lappable

The Type Folio makes the reMarkable 2 tablet the perfect realization of what esoteric writing platforms like the Astrohaus Freewrite are trying to do but without cutting yourself off from things like in-line editing and navigation around the document.

What's fun is that you can still scribble and annotate on your page. Pop the Marker off the top of the tablet and start making notes. There's plenty of margin to take notes in.

Really, the Type Folio fixes the one issue I had with the reMarkable 2 tablet, being unable to fix the mistakes caused by my awful handwriting when converting to text. Now, I can start out writing longhand, then switch to the keyboard to properly edit my piece before uploading to my computer.

Even that bit is easier with the updated reMarkable app. Instead of having to go through the hassle of converting handwritten documents, then emailing them to yourself, you can convert them to text on the reMarkable 2, edit, then just copy the text right from the app (it syncs in the background automatically). In fact, most of this article was written, converted, and edited on the reMarkable 2 with Type Folio.

The only problem with the Type Folio is its cost. At $199, it's practically two-thirds the price of the reMarkable 2 tablet itself. With an all-in price tag of $478, a reMarkable 2 tablet with Type Folio is a considerable investment.

In the end, though, you're getting a device that's considerably more portable than a laptop or tablet, that will hold a charge for weeks longer than your typical smart device, and yet gives you distraction-free, no-compromise content creation powers.

And it keeps getting better. reMarkable hasn't slowed down since the launch of their second tablet and keep releasing substantial software updates, adding new functionality and quality of life improvements. It's rare that I hold on to hardware for more than a season or two after reviewing it, but the reMarkable 2 tablet is something I reach for again and again. The Type Folio only makes me want to use it even more.

You can learn more and pick up your own on the reMarkable site.