Ever since I used my first Kindle years ago, I've been hooked on using E Ink devices. They're fantastic to read on, like on the palm-sized Boox Palma, as the E Ink displays are easy on the eyes and can work even in glaring sunlight. That was great, as I get headaches from reading on LCD screens for too long, but it wasn't until I got an E Ink tablet that supported a stylus that I realized they could be used for so much more.

Since that first device, I've used most of the E Ink tablets that support a stylus. While they all have their own little quirks, I love the feeling of handwritten notes on E Ink screens. They're designed to feel more like paper than the finger-first screens used on other awesome tablets, and this makes them amazing for scribbling notes and organizing my thoughts.

5 No more inky fingers

A digital stylus does it all, with one pen

Anyone with kids knows that random pen marks on their hands, arms, and faces are an integral part of life. You never quite know where they came from, seemingly appearing by magic even if they've never touched a writing tool that day. Well, while most people grow out of that stage, I never did. I've always had terrible handwriting and cycled through dozens of pen types to find one that worked for me–finally resting on fountain pens. They make me slow down while writing so that my handwriting is legible, but they also come with one big drawback: ink that takes a little while to dry.

I'm sure you can imagine what the heel of my hand looks like after a day of taking notes, and it's not just fountain pen ink that attaches itself to me. Pencil graphite, or pretty much any other type of pen ink, will end up all over my hands. But with E Ink, I'm spared the mess, the frantic scrubbing of my hands to try and remove it, and the eventual acceptance that it'll wear off (eventually). I just don't have to worry at all, keeping my hands looking clean and presentable no matter how long I've been writing or sketching. For someone who's been branded messy all their life, that feeling is incredibly liberating.

• Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro

  The Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra C is a premium Android-based E Ink tablet with a full color display that's awesome for reading comic books, or for jotting down handwritten notes that save to the cloud.

  $650 at Amazon $600 at B&H

• reMarkable Paper Pro

  Storage

  64 GB internal storage

  CPU

  1.8 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53

  Memory

  2 GB LPDDR4 RAM

  Operating System

  ReMarkable OS

  Battery

  5,030 mAh

  Ports

  USB-C port

  The reMarkable Paper Pro has a custom textured color E Ink display, so it feels closer to writing on paper, giving you an enjoyable notetaking experience without the distractions of other tablets.

  $629 at Best Buy $629 at Amazon $629 at Official Site

4 Instant backups

Never lose your notes again

I also have a habit of scribbling notes down on whatever piece of paper is handy, which often means when I need to refer to them, the piece of paper is nowhere to be found. Even when I was working as a transportation clerk, I'd have a full-desk pad for immediate notes while on calls, then a second notepad to move any long-term notes to, and a pocket notebook for anything that came up while I was wandering around the warehouse. As you can imagine, this led to plenty of busywork shifting notes between different pieces of paper, but it did mean I rarely missed anything important.

But by taking notes on an E Ink device, I can have those notes synced to the cloud so that they're available on my other devices instantly, without the extra steps. It also means I can't lose any notes accidentally, as they're backed up instantly, so even if I lose the device, I can still access them. It's still not quite perfect, as I have to remember which overall note files I've been using, but it saves so much time from my tried-and-tested organizational system.

3 No more wasting paper

It feels more environmentally conscious to me

Growing up in a logging community in Canada, I've always appreciated where paper comes from and how much work it takes to get it into our hands. I've always tried to reduce my paper use or recycle wherever possible, but now I have an option that doesn't have the same drain on the environment. I wish I'd had the ability to take digital notes when I was at school because even the physical ones I managed to save had the ink fade over many years. Maybe I didn't use quality ink, but those mementos of a different time all faded like the memories they were attached to.

Don't get me wrong, I love the feel of paper and the smell of it, and nothing is quite like reading from a new book. I just wish I'd been able to save more of those earlier musings, poems, and other assorted writings, and a digital notebook would have done that.

2 I can do other tasks, too

Some E Ink tablets are Android-based, so you get the Play Store

While many of the E Ink readers and writing tablets use proprietary operating systems, some use Android, which means the Play Store is available. That means you can use them for web browsing, productivity tasks, or social media. I wouldn't suggest trying to play games on E Ink unless it's something like chess that doesn't rely on fast refresh rates because the slow transition times for E Ink displays make fast motion a blurry mess.

The availability of Android apps means I can multitask to some extent, even given the slower processors used in these devices. But there's something to be said for having a dedicated device for notetaking, whether that's a digital E Ink tablet or a paper notebook. The temptation to do other tasks is all too real when they're an option.

1 Handwriting recognition

Even my chicken scratch can be turned into typed text

Even with all the practice, my handwriting is still horrible to read after the fact. Sometimes, it's so bad I can't read it even straight away, which would have meant lots of crossing out and rewriting if I was still using a paper notebook. But on the two E Ink devices that I use the most, I can let handwriting recognition try to make sense of my notes and turn them into typed text. I don't like using voice transcription, so handwriting or typing are still the most accessible ways to take notes for me. Except, typing is slower when I'm trying to listen to someone talk, so handwriting is the main way I take notes.

It's a game changer for someone like me who's always struggled with being able to take notes anyone could read afterward. On the reMarkable 2, it creates a new page with the text so it doesn't interfere with my notes, which is handy. The Boox Tab Ultra C Pro takes this even further with an AI-powered feature that makes perfect shapes from scribbled versions, turns handwriting into typed text, and lets me search inside handwritten notes. It's all very exciting, and I can't wait to see the next improvements to handwriting recognition.

E Ink tablets have won me over as a notetaking device, and they're only getting better

Notetaking is a perfect use case for E Ink tablets, and the technology's inherent slow refresh rate isn't a drawback. Recent studies have also shown a correlation between handwriting and positive effects on learning and memory, so I feel justified in doing things the old way, just using new technology. E Ink is absolutely the best notetaking tool for me, and these devices have improved drastically in the time I've been using them. Maybe the ubiquitous writing tablets from early sci-fi are finally here.