Lenovo Smart Paper review: A solid e-ink tablet spoiled by the cost

Regardless of an infatuation with most issues e-ink, I’ve resisted the world of e-ink notebooks. I’m one of many few who as soon as owned a Kindle DX, that vast e-reader that existed for just a few years earlier than being retired.

In the previous couple of years, we’ve seen Amazon get into e-ink scribes, whereas startups like ReMarkable have carved out their very own area of interest with succesful {hardware} for an affordable value. Lenovo, having dabbled with e-ink on gadgets just like the Yoga Guide, has determined to hitch the fray with the Good Paper.

Whereas the product hasn’t but launched within the US (and is now curiously absent from Lenovo’s retail web site), the Good Paper is now out there in different international locations, together with the UK.

At round $400 (or £500 within the UK) it is costly. That is greater than the Kindle Scribe – and way more than the ReMarkable 2. I attempted utilizing the Good Paper as an alternative of a typical paper notepad, particularly intrigued to see if the offline handwriting recognition would create a seamless method of sharing notes throughout to my laptop computer or telephone. There are sufficient causes that Lenovo’s digital notepad stands out – however not all of them are good.

{Hardware}

The Good Paper has a comparatively easy design, with an indent for the stylus, alongside the left facet of the system, the one element on the entrance of the system, moreover the ten.3-inch E Ink touchscreen. You possibly can work together with the display by way of each the stylus and typical contact enter, though you may’t scribble along with your finger. The Good Paper’s matte display is crisp sufficient, at 227 pixels per inch (ppi), however noticeably just a little jaggier than the Kindle Scribe’s 300-ppi display, which is nearer to a high-definition pill show.

The {hardware} is strong too, and Lenovo bundles in each the stylus and a folio case for shielding the display – which additionally retains the stylus secure inside. Just like the Kindle Stylus, the Lenovo pen will also be magnetically hooked up.

It’s greater than enough for pencil sketches, doodles and note-taking. The Good Paper’s matte end makes it a delight to put in writing on, and in contrast to the ReMarkable 2, it has a built-in gentle to make use of it no matter ambient gentle ranges. I solely ever used it at its lowest brightness. (Who writes at midnight, anyway?) There’s additionally a built-in mic to document voice notes, however no audio system.

The Good Paper’s stylus feels nearly like a pencil, with a single flat facet aiding grip. The writing expertise is easy and responsive – it’s not at iPad ranges, however the 25 ms latency is easy sufficient to make sure it doesn’t interrupt your writing circulation. The nibs are replaceable, and it feels, effectively, pretty much as good as most different e-ink styluses I’ve used thus far. In comparison with the Kindle Scribe’s pen, I favor Lenovo’s streamlined design: no buttons, no eraser ends, simply an enter system. Tech-wise, the stylus has tilt and strain sensitivity (4,096 ranges of strain), to higher showcase 9 totally different enter types, together with some respectable calligraphy nibs, highlighter and extra simple pen choices.

Software program

Lenovo’s Good Paper runs Android 11, however with an open-source twist, which ought to make for extra highly effective software program that I would hoped would transcend Amazon’s Kindle Scribe. Sadly, until you’re keen to dive into sideloading and software program tinkering, it’s not remotely the Android expertise I hoped for. As a substitute, it’s a method for Lenovo to supply a responsive however easy contact interface.

The Good Paper’s notepad templates run the gamut from easy lined paper to multi-column affairs for spreadsheets on the go. Lenovo claims there are 74 templates, however the majority of them are extremely comparable.

Past tapping with the stylus, you should utilize swipes and faucets to navigate between notepad pages, however it’s so temperamental. A tappable icon to nudge you between pages – arrows would have been fantastic – would have saved me a whole lot of fruitless swipes.

As a substitute, I’d should wrestle with sliding from the middle of the show outwards. Do it fallacious, and also you’ll bounce out to your notepad library or return a web page as an alternative of ahead.

There are additionally probably the most primary of primary apps, together with a clock, calendar and e-mail shopper. The reader helps EPUB, PDF and Workplace information, alongside your digital notepads made on the Good Paper itself. You can too document voice notes and even dictate notes, in the event you’re feeling fortunate. There’s an eBooks.com app, which will probably be your principal place for e-book procuring.

The eBooks.com portal is… fantastic? Amazon, predictably, dominates ebooks, however at the very least there’s one thing right here appropriate with a longtime platform. Having stated that, even books purchased by way of eBooks.com don’t look nice. There aren’t any borders, so the textual content goes from edge to edge. As a substitute of leaping to the following web page, the physique textual content itself slides throughout the display, which is just a little jarring on a low-refresh-rate e-ink show. Barring the entire sideloading can of worms, the one solution to get your Kindle books on right here is to load them up on the Firefox browser, which requires an information connection.

You possibly can fairly simply switch appropriate information if you have already got a PDF of a e-book, or an EPUB file. There’s one app that would make it simpler to maneuver information: Google Drive. Nevertheless it isn’t on the homepage, it’s tabbed away. You can also’t use Drive to maneuver your digital notebooks, although. Sadly, for that you just want a particular subscription.

That is the place Lenovo’s Good Paper app is available in. It presents cloud-synced pocket book information, in the event you’re keen to pay for a subscription. It’s prohibitively costly, although. Right here within the UK, the shortest choice is £9 monthly for 3 months, with an add restrict of 5GB. It scales up from there for longer intervals and much more storage. By comparability, Google Drive offers you 200 GB of storage for a mere £2.49 a month. (And it really works on all the pieces.)

Much more bafflingly, to subscribe to the service, you’ll want entry to a Home windows or Android system and subscribe from these apps. For some motive, Lenovo doesn’t supply subscription purchases on iOS, regardless of providing the app on the App Retailer. It’s yet one more headache for an extremely overpriced, underwhelming service. Sadly, there’s no simple workaround, even with these Google Drive shortcuts,

I initially thought the Good Paper’s offline handwriting recognition can be the standout function, however with out simpler methods to sync your information (or copy and paste textual content), it’s extra of a useful ability that sometimes is available in helpful. As soon as I’d transformed my hen scratch to digital textual content, I used to be nonetheless beholden to a knowledge connection – and both Lenovo’s cloud sync or G Drive – to make the most of these digital notes. I’ve a horrible feeling that, with pages upon pages of handwriting to transform, it could simply be simpler for me to sort out my written notes, which defeats the aim of the factor.

Wrap-up

The {hardware} is dear, however strong. Regardless of these Android roots, although, it lacks the flexibleness of upstarts like ReMarkable’s e-ink gadgets. Whereas the Google Drive integration is beneficial, your digital scribblings are trapped in Lenovo’s expensive companion cloud service. Just some extra easy (related!) apps would even have made for a extra compelling system. If there’s Google Drive hooks, why not attempt to get a primary interface for Google Docs? Even when it didn’t assist handwriting recognition, the system lacks a solution to transpose your textual content notes to a textual content editor simply.

Ignoring the poorly thought-out cloud subscription pricing, the Good Paper can be nearly £200 greater than the ReMarkable 2. For that quantity, the Good Paper must be the right e-ink notepad, however it’s not.

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