There are a myriad of digital note taking devices that employ e-paper technology that is easy on the eyes and great in the outdoors, since they don’t reflect light. They have long battery life, so you can go weeks without having to charge it. One of the downsides of products such as Sony Digital Paper, Onyx Boox MAX 3, or even the Likebook series is that there is no cloud system where you can access your notes on any device you want.
The Remarkable Writing Tablet has a cloud storage solution, but you can only have one Remarkable attached to any given account. If you buy a second Remarkable tablet, you cannot share the same cloud storage, it is only accessible from the original tablet and you can’t view any of your materials. The Remarkable login system can only recognize one tablet per account. The company does have an Android companion app, where you can view all of your notes, but you cannot edit or make new ones.
Supernote has their own cloud storage solution and is one of the best reasons to purchase an A5 or A6 writing tablet. Their cloud storage can be accessed with only a login and password. So if you have both tablets, they can share the same cloud storage, and ditto with any future devices they release. Supernote also has a companion app for Android AND iOS, so you can view your notes, but like Remarkable, you cannot make new notes or edits.
The Sony Digital Paper, Onyx Boox Line, Boyue Likebook, Mobiscribe and many other digital note taking devices do not have any cloud storage solutions out of the box. There is no way to easily access your notes via the cloud or if you have multiple devices. Onyx and Boyue both run Android, so you can download Onedrive, Dropbox or whatever cloud storage solution you already do business with, but neither company operates their own cloud service, nor do they have companion apps. Sony does not have a cloud storage solution, but like Supernote and Remarkable, they do have a companion app to view content, but you cannot make edits or create new notes.
I believe that Sony, Onyx, Boyue and all the other companies that do not operate their own cloud servers, should do so. It would give people with multiple devices an out of the box solution, they could bill their devices as cross-platform-compatible. No matter what device you own, or buy in the future, they are all compatible with the same cloud.
I also think that all of the companies that have companion apps, such as Remarkable, Sony and SuperNote should introduce features to draw and make edits to notes that are stored in the cloud and introduce a new “sync” feature, that would check the cloud for updates, and then download them via WIFI and update any notes that have been edited with a mobile phone or tablet.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
