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Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook review: Endlessly reusable notebook for the digital age

iMore Verdict

Bottom line: The eco-friendly reusable notebook lets you handwrite notes and save and store them digitally.

Handwrite notes on reusable paper

Upload notes to a variety of digital services

OCR-enabled

Eco-friendly

Easily replaceable pen

Ink dries slowly (bad for lefties)

OCR isn't great for bad handwriting

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• Price and availability
• What's good
• What's not good
• The competition
• Should you buy?

The endlessly reusable Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook gives you the best of both worlds: writing by hand and digital organization/storage. Write in the notebook with a Pilot FriXion pen. Scan your note with the Rocketbook app on your favorite iPhone and have the note sent to your choice of digital services. Then you can erase the note with a moist cloth and reuse that same page as many times as you'd like. Your notes are safely tucked away in digital form. The app even has OCR (Optical Character Recognition), so you can tag and search your notes later.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: Price and availability

The Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook comes in two sizes: Letter Size and Executive Size. The Letter Size is 8.5-by-11 inches and contains 32 pages, and the Executive Size is 6-by-8.8 inches and has 36 pages. For either size, choose dot-grid or lined paper. The notebook comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns.

The Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook can be found at Amazon and Rocketbook's site as well as big box and office supply stores everywhere. The retail price starts at $32, but you can often find it discounted as low as $20.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: What's good

Obviously, you can use an iPad and an Apple Pencil to take notes in your favorite note-taking app . But if you prefer the old-school feel of pen on paper, check out the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook. It's a slim spiral-bound notebook with a sturdy plastic cover. Inside you'll find 32-36 glossy paper pages, depending on which size you choose.

The paper is specially designed to work with Pilot FriXion erasable pens. Once the ink dries, it stays put until you wipe the page clean with a moistened cloth. One of these pens is included with the notebook, but it's not a proprietary pen. You can easily find these pens anywhere that sells writing implements. The cloth is included too, but it's not a special cloth.

You'll notice a QR code and seven symbols along the bottom of each page. This is how the notes are digitized. Download the Rocketbook app and set up where you want your notes to go. Choose from Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, OneNote, OneDrive, Trello, Slack, Box, iCloud, or email. Each of the symbols can be designated to a particular spot. So you can send your notes automatically to the service of your choice just by placing an "X" over the symbol you've set up.

You'll never need another notebook again; just reuse this one over and over

I'd definitely recommend taking the time to set up folders within the cloud services to send your notes. Alternatively, you can skip all that and just send the note wherever and however you'd like. You'll also need to set up OCR in the app if you wish to use that feature.

I set up the "arrow" symbol as my email address and the "diamond" symbol as my Google Drive. In fact, I created a folder in Google Drive specifically for my Rocketbook notes. So any note where I mark the diamond symbol goes right into that particular folder in Google Drive, without my having to select anything in the app.

The more you use the system, the more you learn about useful features. For example, if you write two hashtags on either side of your note's title, the OCR picks that up and will give the note that name digitally. You can also batch notes rather than sending one page at a time to the service of your choice.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: What's not good

The glossy paper and erasable pen don't feel exactly like a regular pen on normal paper. You won't get the smooth flow of a high-end pen on quality paper, and I saw some complaints about this online. I don't mind the glossy paper, it didn't bother me at all, but tastes will vary.

The bigger issue is that the ink doesn't dry immediately. It takes about 20-30 seconds to dry completely. The way I hold my pen, right-handed, this isn't an issue for me. But for left-handed folks, or right-handed folks writing in a right-to-left language, or anyone who tends to smear ink as they write or draw, it might be a big issue.

The OCR is pretty cool when it works. It allows you to name your notes automatically as well as search them once they're in your cloud service. However, your handwriting needs to be pretty neat, or the OCR just won't recognize it. I had to slow down and make a conscious effort to write neatly enough for the OCR to read it.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: Competition

Moleskine is such a popular luxury notebook brand that you can't talk notebooks without talking Moleskine. Moleskine has its own ecosystem that includes a variety of smart notebooks, writing sets, and digital tools. However, the paper notebooks themselves are not reusable.

There are cheaper reusable notebooks to be found on Amazon and the like, such as the HOMESTEC brand. This one must be erased with a hairdryer or the eraser end of the pen, making it a bit more cumbersome than the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook that only requires a moist cloth.

Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if ...

• You want a smart notebook that digitizes and organizes your notes
• You want to be able to reuse the notebook over and over
• You want OCR so you can search your stored notes quickly

You shouldn't buy this if...

• You don't like the feel of glossy paper
• You write left-handed and/or tend to smudge ink that dries slowly
• You have bad handwriting (OCR may not recognize it)

If you're looking for an endlessly reusable smart notebook that can scan, digitize, and organize your hand-written notes, you'll love the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook. However, if you don't like the feel of glossy paper, or the slow ink dry time will cause you to smear it, then look elsewhere. This also may not be ideal for the person with bad handwriting.

I've enjoyed using the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook. It's so easy to write a note, mark off where you want to send it, scan it, and send it on its way. The erasable Pilot FriXion pen dries slowly on the notebook's glossy reusable paper, but once it's dry, it stays put until you wipe it with a moist cloth.

Since you can just reuse this one notebook over and over, it's an eco-friendly choice. I can see it being great for students, creators, and anyone who likes to put pen to paper. With so many different cloud services that you can upload to automatically, it's such a useful tool. You can even use OCR to further organize and search your notes.

Bottom line: Get that old-school pen on paper feel with the advantages of digital notes.

This is the companion app to the Rocketbook Smart Notebook lineup. It puts the "smart" in your smart notebook.

Karen is a contributor to iMore.com as a writer and co-host of the iMore Show. She’s been writing about Apple since 2010 with a year-long break to work at an Apple Store as a product specialist. She's also a contributor at TechRadar and Tom's Guide. Before joining iMore in 2018, Karen wrote for Macworld, CNET, AppAdvice, and WatchAware. She’s an early adopter who used to wait in long lines on release days before pre-ordering made things much easier. Karen is also a part-time teacher and occasional movie extra. She loves to spend time with her family, travel the world, and is always looking for portable tech and accessories so she can work from anywhere.

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Rocketbook Fusion Review

A notebook that you can use again and again

It pretty much gives you the feeling of pen and paper, letting you record notes how you want them. However, the Rocketbook Fusion has a trick up its sleeve: you can wipe pages clean to reuse them. An app lets you quickly take backups of notes and store them where you want them, although its OCR feature wasn't particularly good when I used it. Even so, this is a well priced high-tech alternative to replace your old paper notebooks.

• Works like pen and paper
• Easy to wipe clean
• Smart app lets you scan pages
• OCR is poor
• Front cover looks cheap

Key Specifications

• Review Price: £39.99
• Reusable notebook
• Includes FriXion erasable pen, and cloth
• Diary, planner, objective, grid and lined pages

Try as it may, digital technology hasn’t managed to replace the ease and convenience of being able to hand-write notes. The Rocketbook Fusion aims to change that with its high-tech paper that can be wiped and used time and time again, combined with an app that will scan and save notes for use.

Cheaper than its digital-based alternatives, such as the Remarkable 2 E Ink tablet, this notebook feels much more like writing for real. A slightly limited number of pages and slow drying ink are minor issues but this is a handy high-tech way of replacing a low-tech item.

Design and writing – Pretty much like paper but with slower-drying ink

Rocketbook has several notebooks that use its technology, including the Core, which just has line pages, and the Fusion that I have here. This book is designed to replace many other notebooks, and contains pages with templates for tasks, two pages of weekly planning, a calendar, objectives, and then a decent chunk of pages with grids or lines.

That gives you a fair amount of flexibility, but the ideal would be an openable ring binder that lets you choose the combination of pages. A Filofax replacement, if you will.

Despite the cost of the notebook, it comes with a rather cheap-feeling hard plastic front to it. I’d like a more premium feel, more along the lines of a Moleskine notebook.

All of the pages are made from Rocketbook’s high-tech synthetic paper, which has the feel of a whiteboard: it’s flexible like paper but has a high-gloss sheen on it. While the company’s original notebooks could be wiped up to five times using a microwave, you can just wipe the Fusion’s pages clean using a damp cloth (cloth provided).

The only caveat is that you can only use Rocketbook FriXion pens. You get a 0.7 ball pen in the pack, which is a fairly cheap-feeling plastic model: Rocketbook also sells different pens, including different colours and you can buy refills that should fit most ball pens.

Writing with the pen is like writing on paper, with a couple of caveats. First, it seems to take a while for the ink to truly flow, so my first characters always looked a little faint. Secondly, the ink takes a while to dry, so be careful of smudging or closing the book too soon.

The results are impressive, and the Fusion is as readable as any regular notebook. And, when you’re finished with your text, you can just take the cloth, get it damp and wipe it to clean off the page and start all over again. Just wait until the page is fully dry, otherwise the ink won’t stick.

There’s a very faint outline of previous words if you look at the page at the right angle, but not enough that this will put you off writing. This suggests that at some point some pages may get worn out, so I recommend trying to use the entire notebook as evenly as you can. Again, it would be nice if you could buy replacement pages only and slot them in, just in case you have an issue with a single page.

App – Quick to scan with some neat options but OCR didn’t work well for me

So far so good, but what if you don’t want to lose your notes? That’s where the app comes in. This lets you scan pages, with the app recognising the QR code and automatically lining up the camera, cutting out areas around your desk. It’s far more fluid and gives better results than other scanning apps designed for regular paper, such as Scanbot.

Inside the app, you can set destinations to have your scans sent to. Each destination has a thumbnail icon, including a rocket, a diamond and an apple. For each choice, you can set the default options for how you want the scan to go across. You can choose to bundle scans together (scan multiple pages), and whether or not you want OCR turned on. There’s a huge range of destinations including email, Google Drive, Dropbox and Evernote.

While you can just scan a page and then choose the destination from the app, you’ll notice that the bottom of each page in the Rocketbook Fusion has the same icons. Just put a cross through the destinations you want, and the app can read these.

The quality of the scans will depend on the quality of the phone and camera that you’re using, but I found them very good using my iPhone X. The OCR wasn’t so good. Again, this will depend on how neat your handwriting is; for me, both the quality of the translation and the layout were pretty poor. OCR may be useful in a bind, but I tend to rely on the PDF notes instead.

Should you buy the Rocketbook Fusion?

The original microwavable Rocketbook could only be used five times, but the new Fusion gives you far more goes. It comes very close to replacing paper, and the ability to scan and save notes to PDF is really handy. If you love hand-writing notes and want a well-priced way to go high-tech, although I’d prefer it to have a nice front cover and the option of buying extra or replacement pages would be nice.

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How-To Geek

Rocketbook fusion review: a smart notebook you can reuse.

There's so much to love about the Rocketbook Fusion notebook. It's smart, eco-friendly, and makes keeping digital copies super easy.

Quick Links

Some pens/markers work better than others, the app is pretty awesome, bonus: it's eco-friendly, conclusion: definitely try it out.

Picture this: a smart notebook that lets you upload your written notes to your cloud service of choice. And after you write down what you need to, you can erase it and start from a blank slate. Rocketbook's Fusion journal sounds too good to be true, but I promise it's not.

The Fusion Notebook  has a total of 42 pages, with seven different page styles. Most of the pages are lined or dotted paper, but there's also a monthly calendar, two weekly calendar pages, and three pages geared toward project or idea tracking. Having these extra pages pretty much means I'll never need to buy a planner again.

Once you've written out everything you need, you can scan the page through the free Rocketbook app ( Android / iOS ) and upload it to cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, OneNote, Slack, iCloud, your email address, and more.

With any of Rocketbook's notebooks, you have to use Pilot's Frixion writing utensils. It only takes about 15 seconds for ink from the Frixion pens , markers , or highlighters to dry and bond to the Rocketbook's pages. Once you don't need those notes or plans anymore, you can wipe the page clean with a damp microfiber cloth (included).

I'm not usually a huge fan of ballpoint pens because I dislike how they bleed and smudge on traditional paper. So when I first got my Rocketbook, I purchased the Pilot Frixion markers to go with it. While they wrote okay, it was very easy for the writing to fade and sometimes completely erase just from the heat of my fingertips or arm.

Your purchase of a Rocketbook, whether you go with the larger Letter size or the smaller Executive size, comes with one Pilot Frixion gel ink pen that's very similar to ballpoint pens. This seemed to write okay, so I purchased a whole pack of Frixion gel ink pens .

The gel ink pens are amazing. They're so much better than the markers, and once the ink dries, it doesn't really come off at all unless you use water and the microfiber cloth. Plus, the colors are more vibrant than the markers.

I haven't tried out the highlighters yet, but they're on my list for sure!

While I haven't used the app a whole lot yet, the little I've seen has impressed me. They have easy-to-follow instructions in a how-to section that help you understand how to use your notebook and the app to their fullest potential.

The app's best feature (in my opinion, of course) is that you can pre-select a destination for your pages to scan to. There are seven different circled symbols at the bottom of each page in your Rocketbook, like a diamond, a bell, and an apple.

In the app, you can set each of these symbols to be attached to a specific account, like your email, your Google Drive account, etc. Then, if you want your page to upload to a particular location automatically, you can just put an X over the right symbol in your Rocketbook.

Then, in the app settings, you can also toggle on certain Handwriting Recognition features that allow you to search your uploaded documents. So if you're trying to search through your biology notes for a specific piece of info, you can find it quickly as long as you remember at least a word or two. You can toggle on Smart Lists, too, which will take a list from your Rocketbook and turn it into a virtual checklist in the app.

The app also has a fun Explore section where you can find all sorts of fun hacks and different ideas on how to use your Rocketbook. In the app, there's a video on Rocketbook hacks from real teachers, tips for labeling your notes with Smart Tags, and even a blog post listing five games you can play in your notebook. In this section of the app, you can also stay updated with all of Rocketbook's new products and see if anything catches your eye.

The app is free to download and use. The only in-app purchase available is a link to more Rocketbook notebooks if you find that one isn't enough.

One of my favorite things about the Rocketbook is that it's eco-friendly because it's reusable. You can wipe the pages clean and keep using the journal for pretty much forever. You can even purchase Pilot Frixion gel ink refills , helping you not use as much plastic.

I'm a paper person when it comes to making to-do lists, planning out a grocery list or a budget, or just taking notes on something. I could never get into keeping everything digital, even though that meant going through A LOT of paper every year.

With the Rocketbook, I still get to have that pen-to-paper feel that I love so much, but I don't have to waste paper to suit my needs. Plus, all my notes spread out across multiple journals will be neat and organized in my Google Drive.

Considering that many quality, hardcover journals out there today probably cost just as much as a Rocketbook, this is a solid investment. It's a steal at this price right now.

The gel ink pens bond well to the page and doesn't smudge, and you can reuse the pages as many times as you want to. As if the eco-friendly aspect wasn't enough of a selling point, the ability to keep a virtual version of all your calendars, plans, ideas, and to-do lists in a cloud service is just *chef's kiss*.

Rocketbook Fusion Notebook

• It's reusable (and therefore eco-friendly)
• It makes virtually organizing notes and lists super easy
• The app is well-executed and easy to use
• Wish there was one more calendar page
• Don't use Pilot Frixion markers with it

Rocketbook Fusion Review: Adding Structure To The Hybrid Notebook

• Infinitely reusable (almost)
• Ready-made productivity pages
• Ruled/lined pages
• Easily scratchable cover
• Less flexibility in ordering pages

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 may have sparked questions on the long-term viability of the product line. The Galaxy Note is largely defined by its S Pen stylus, which may have already peaked at this point. Some, however, are not completely sold on that particular use case and would prefer the more traditional pen and paper method.

For years, the folks over at Rocketbook have been offering a rather unorthodox way to bridge the digital and analog worlds together and with the latest Rocketbook Fusion notebook, it is attempting to appeal to one of the most passionate users of paper notebooks around: organizers and planners.

Rocketbook Recap

By now, the Rocketbook actually spans four products, one of which isn't even directly connected to notebooks. It all started with a revolutionary yet also almost ludicrous idea: reusing notebooks by erasing pages when you're done. The first Rocketbook Wave was magical but almost impractical. You had to microwave the notebook to erase contents and you could only do so five times.

The Rocketbook Everlast that followed was admittedly more refined and almost more futuristic. It functioned more like a dry erase board using the already erasable Pilot FriXion pens. Instead of rubbing out the ink, one simply uses a damp cloth to erase the page.

The heart of Rocketbook's experience, however, isn't just the writing and erasing. That wouldn't really fit the "digital" half of the equation. The other half is the app that scans the pages and, based on marks made on the page, automatically sends either an image or a PDF copy of the page to the user's cloud storage of choice. This core feature is what helped Rocketbook expand its scope to whiteboards using only Beacon markers that can be placed on almost any large surface for the same effect.

Fusing Use Cases

The Rocketbook Fusion launched against that backdrop as an extension of the Everlast. To some extent, it can be considered a specialization and specialized version of that easy to use reusable notebook. While the Everlast only had blank (really nearly invisible dot grid) pages, the Fusion offered a variety of pages designed to accommodate those that regularly use certain productivity strategies and find it too cumbersome to write the same boxes over and over again.

Some such users have resorted to using permanent markers to draw those guides, which partly nullifies the benefits of the erasable pages.

That's why the Fusion has pages that have already have those pages pre-made so you won't have to. That includes a calendar spread over two pages and two pages for weekly planning. The notebook also has room for productivity systems such as OKRs and other general planning and project pages.

Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to accommodate the dozens of productivity systems in a single, thin notebook. Good thing, then, that the Fusion still includes those dot grid pages to let your imagination run wild. It does, however, also have one other trick up its sleeve.

It has a few pages with solid lines, just like a regular notebook, for those who prefer having guidelines for certain classes of writing, like journaling or prose.

Familiar but also Similar

Aside from the different paper designs, the Rocketbook Fusion is almost exactly like the Rocketbook Everlast, which is both a good thing but can also be a disadvantage. On the one hand, the Fusion is immediately familiar to Everlast owners and offers the exact same revolutionary paper that blends ink and digital together.

It also enjoys the exact same experience with the Rocketbook app, its computer vision and AI-assisted analysis of pages and handwritten text. Any improvement done to the app for the other notebooks also apply to the Fusion.

On the other hand, it also means that the Fusion also shares in the same flaws of the Everlast. Rocketbook hasn't changed the textured plastic material it uses for the cover, making it almost too easy to scratch the surface.

The glossy paper might still be too slippery for pen and paper lovers and the 0.7 Pilot FriXion pen that Rocketbook ships with each pack takes the longest to dry, increasing the chances of smudging marks on the page.

Wrap-up: Looking forward

The Rocketbook Fusion immediately feels familiar but also feels like a half-step forward rather than a full iteration. Fans of the technology may feel that Rocketbook has peaked when it comes to revolutionary ideas.

Of course, there are a few places the company can take the unique notebook, not least of which is improving the covers. It can also create detachable pages that people can then mix and match as they need.

The Everlast Fusion is now available in the large Letter size and odd Executive format for $35 and $37, respectively. It may sound a bit pricey for a notebook with only 42 pages but it is almost infinitely reusable.

With preset pages for productivity, the Fusion offers even more flexibility by giving users the freedom to use more pages for everything else.

Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook | Innovative, Eco-Friendly,... › Customer reviews

Customer reviews.

Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook | Innovative, Eco-Friendly, Digitally Connected Notebook with Cloud Sharing Capabilities | Dotted, 6" x 8.8", 36 Pg, Infinity Black, with Pen, Cloth, and App Included

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The best smart notebooks you can buy: Expert tested

Do you enjoy the feeling of writing on paper but want the convenience of digital storage and organization? Writing down your to-do lists, class notes, and random reminders in an old-school notebook doesn't have to be your first option. As a hybrid option, a smart notebook offers the nostalgic pen-to-paper feeling while integrating cloud storage for note accessibility when you  don't  want the physical presence of pad and paper. 

Also: The best tablets we've tested

What is the best smart notebook right now?

To help you decide which smart notebooks are worth the investment, we tested and researched the best smart notebooks on the market, keeping in mind notebook feel, storage capabilities and options, special features, and price. Based on our hands-on experience, our pick for the best smart notebook overall is the Rocketbook Fusion Smart Notebook thanks to its user-friendly design and iCloud integration. We also included other notebooks from brands like Kindle, Moleskine, and more that other ZDNET staff use and recommend. 

The best smart notebooks of 2024

Rocketbook fusion smart notebook, best smart notebook overall.

• Transfers notes from book to app
• Different page styles allow for different uses
• Compatible with popular cloud services like Dropbox, iCloud, Evernote, and more
• No hardcover option

The Rocketbook Fusion Smart Notebook is our top pick thanks to its decent price range, ratings, and versatile page and template options. The notebook's synthetic paper allows you to write with the included Pilot FriXion pen, then wipe the page clean with a damp cloth to reuse it again and again.

In addition, you can save your pages to the Rocketbook app's cloud by tapping your pen on the icon at the bottom of the page to make them easy to find later.

I have gone hands-on with the Rocketbook Fusion, and it scratches that itch of satisfaction when hand-writing notes/to-do lists while also letting me check those lists via the app when I'm out and about. I also appreciated the different page styles to choose from such as weekly and monthly planners, goal setting, task trackers, an ideas page, dot grids, and lined pages, so I can carry around one notebook instead of three. 

Amazon customers who have bought and reviewed this smart notebook also agree that the Rocketbook Fusion's ease of use, quality, organization, performance, and writing experience make it a great option. 

Rocketbook Fusion features: Color options:  Nine |  Pages:  42 |  Page styles:  Seven

Kindle Scribe

Best smart notebook tablet.

• Impressive battery life
• Included pen for handwritten notes
• Compatible with Microsoft Word
• Premium pen upgrade will cost you more
• Does not support note-taking on magazines or newspapers

The Kindle Scribe is perhaps the perfect example of a smart notebook that doubles as a tablet of sorts. It has the same functions you've come to know and love in a Kindle, like 300ppi glare-free screen, weeks of battery life, and adjustable warm light. It's also compatible with Amazon's Basic or Premium Pen, so you can take handwritten notes or underline important quotations within the book you're reading. 

Your notes are automatically organized in one place for every book, so you can browse, review, and export them via email. The Kindle Scribe also comes with preset templates to help you create notebooks, journals, and lists, and you can create sticky notes in Microsoft Word and other compatible Word documents. 

Read the review:  Amazon Kindle Scribe review: 7 ways it could be even more remarkable

ZDNET's Matthew Miller, said that the Scribe has "made paper and pen notes obsolete for me." "While I have various other tablets, I've yet to find a pairing that feels natural, both in hardware and software, and often end up rarely ever using the stylus that they support," he wrote. "Also, I love that I can highlight text, make notes, and even sign documents with a signature that doesn't look like that of a two-year-old with the Scribe."

In addition, the Kindle Scribe comes with the Basic pen, but for the more advanced features like a dedicated eraser and the shortcut button, you'll need the premium pen, which costs $30 extra. Overall, 93% of customers who have bought the Kindle Scribe on Best Buy said they would recommend it.

Kindle Scribe features: Colors:  Black with colored folios |  Storage:  16GB/32GB, or 64GB |  Display:  10.2-inch display with 300ppi, 16-level gray scale |  Connectivity:  Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity

Rocketbook Mini Notebook

Best budget smart notebook.

• Compact and inexpensive
• Plenty of color options to choose from
• No icons on the bottom of the pages for quick filing of notes

For those looking for a much more budget-friendly smart notebook, Rocketbook's Mini notebook is a great alternative to its larger-sized notebooks and is tiny enough to carry in your pocket or purse. 

Like the Rocketbook Fusion notebook, this model comes with a Pilot Frixion Pen and a microfiber cloth to reuse the pages, although it comes with 48 dotted pages to fill up first. 

Also:  Smart, reusable sticky notes? Rocketbook is optimistic

This mini version is also compatible with many popular cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneNote, and others. One Amazon customer noted who gave the Rocketbook Mini a five-star review noted that it's the perfect size for grocery lists or meeting notes. 

Rocketbook Mini Notebook features:   Color options:  13 |  Pages:  48 |  Page styles : Dot grid

Moleskine Pen+ Smart Writing Set

Best stylish smart notebook.

• Real-time sync creates digital notes as you write them
• Sleek and stylish Moleskin notebook
• Thick and resistant 100 g/m paper
• Pages can stick together
• Sometimes slow transcription

If you appreciate the look and feel of Moleskine notebooks, then the company's Pen+ Smart Writing set could be the right smart notebook for you. The notebook features the signature dotted Moleskine page in a "paper tablet" format, so the pages are tucked in between a sturdy tablet-like design. Ncoded technology is embedded within each page, which enables the accompanying smart pen to recognize where it is within the notebook and to transfer all your freehand notes from page to screen in real-time.

You can upload or share your notes digitally through the Moleskine Notes app and share them to Google Drive or Evernote. In addition, you can use the pen to record audio that lines up with what you've written, creating a multimedia note-taking experience.

Read the review: Moleskine Pen+ Ellipse: Smart note-taking cuts out digital distractions

ZDNET put the Moleskine Pen+ to the test and particularly appreciated the replay option, which allows you to re-run how your notes came together.   " This might not seem very useful for simple note taking," Steve Ranger, who wrote the review, said, "but if you are drawing or brainstorming it's really quite handy to see how an image or a set of ideas come together." 

We thought that artists, in particular, may find playback useful to see how their drawing process evolved. Customers who have bought the Moleskine agree, saying that it's great for sketching, but cautions that the transcription process is a little slow. 

Moleskine Pen+ features:  Color options:  black |  Pages:  176  |  Page styles:  ruled and dot grid

reMarkable 2

Best smart notebook splurge.

• Free one-year subscription to Connect app
• Left-handed mode
• Easily markup documents
• Expensive option
• Have to buy the marker separately

Those diligent note-takers looking to really splurge on a smart reusable notebook should consider the reMarkable 2. This notebook is more of a large-screen tablet with a low-latency E-Ink writing experience that makes you feel like you're writing on paper rather than on a tablet screen. In addition, with reMarkable's cloud app called Connect, you get access to standout features like screen share, handwriting conversion, unlimited cloud storage, and more.

Read the review:  reMarkable 2 E-Ink tablet: Superb for on-screen writing, but key features are still missing

ZDNET contributor Sandra Vogel was impressed with how it felt writing on the notebook. "There's a 'gritty' feel to using the stylus on-screen that's not unlike writing on paper," she said. "Both styli support 4,096 pressure levels, and there are plenty of pen choices and ink thicknesses to select from."

The reMarkable 2 comes with the option of either the Marker or Marker Plus pen that doesn't need charging and has a built-in eraser (only in the Marker Plus). Customers rate this smart notebook a 4.6 out of 5, calling out its use as an organizational tool for students and professionals alike.

reMarkable 2 features: Color options:  Black, blue, red, gray, and white |  Storage:  8GB internal storage |  Pages:  Stores about 100,000 pages |  Resolution:  1872 x 1404 

What is the best smart notebook?

The best smart notebook is the Rocketbook Fusion Smart Notebook. I made this pick based on its quality for the price, average rating, and standout features it offers, such as seven different page styles and cloud service compatibility. 

*MSRP at the time of writing. Please note that actual prices may vary depending on available sales, deals, discounts, and coupons.

Which smart notebook is right for you?

While any of these smart notebooks are great options, it ultimately comes down to what size notebook you want, what kind of notes you will take, and what price you're willing to spend.

Factors to consider when choosing the best smart notebook:

When making our top picks, it came down to the following important factors. 

• Notebook feel:  Does the notebook have a traditional notebook feel? Does it have a resolution that makes it feel more like a tablet as opposed to a notebook, or an appropriate latency?
• Storage capabilities:  While some of these smart notebooks use actual paper, others have digital storage options. I considered both page count and storage capacity so you have plenty of room to write notes. 
• Price:  Smart notebooks range in price points from $10 all the way up to $450. The lower price points will get you real paper notebooks you can convert to digital notes, while the higher price points are more tablet-like notebooks. 
• Special features:  You may not need special features in a smart notebook, but they are nice to have. These include audio notes, page templates, cloud compatibility, etc. 

How did we test these smart notebooks?

I considered my own hands-on experiences with the products, as well as other ZDNET staff that have used and recommend these smart notebooks along with extensive research. We test these smart notebooks in real-world situations focusing on features, design, performance, and overall value. For products we recommend, we write a product spotlight review that we update periodically with new features and pricing information.

I also looked at real customer reviews (both good and bad) across various retail sites.

What are smart notebooks?

Smart notebooks digitize your handwritten notes so you can make them a PDF, share them with friends or colleagues, or always keep your ideas with you and properly organized. Smart notebooks usually work hand-in-hand with a smart pen, and most are sold together to work in tandem.

Do smart notebooks feel like paper?

That depends on the specific product. For example, Rocketbook's lineup of smart notebooks are made with real paper, as is the Moleskine smart notebook. However, other options like the Kindle Scribe and the ReMarkable 2 have low-latency, e-ink screens that feel paper-like, but you can still definitely tell they are more of a tablet than an actual notebook with paper. 

Can you use an iPad as a smart notebook?

While you won't get the "feel" of real paper with an iPad, you can use an iPad as a way to take notes digitally, especially if you have a quality stylus like the Apple Pencil. iOS apps like Noteflow allows you to take notes, annotate PDFs, sketch and doodle, and more while syncing to the cloud.

Are there alternative smart notebooks to consider?

I chose the best smart notebooks based on pricing, styling preferences, and purposes. If you want a few more choices, here are alternatives: 

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• Rocketbook Wave review: Ingenious digital notepad, but it's flawed

Rocketbook Wave review: Ingenious digital notepad, but it’s flawed

• Barry Collins

A clever - but ultimately flawed - attempt to bring pen and paper into the digital age

• High-resolution scans
• Straightforward wiping process
• Well-designed accompanying app
• Prone to wear and tear
• Only compatible with Pilot's Frixion pens

Nothing – repeat nothing – can replace the immediate tactile satisfaction of scribbling notes with pen and paper. Not Apple Pencil, not the Galaxy Note, nothing that involves a stylus and a slab of glass.

Rocketbook Wave doesn’t attempt to replace pen and paper – it is pen and paper. However, it attempts to bring some of the benefits of digital writing systems by letting you scan your handwritten notes with a smartphone and then wipe the book clean by giving it a quick spin in the microwave. Is it the proverbial best of both worlds?

Rocketbook Wave Smart Reusable Notebook - Upload Notes Using iOS/Andriod App and Then Microwave To Clear All Pages and Start Again - Standard / Large Size

Rocketbook Wave Smart - Dotted Grid Eco-Friendly Notebook with 1 Pilot Frixion Pen Included - Standard Size (8.5" x 9.5"), BLUE (WAV-S)

Rocketbook wave review: performance.

Agonisingly, not quite. As someone who’s spent years and way too much disposable income trying to bring some order to my handwritten notes, the Rocketbook Wave looked (if you’ll forgive the pun) good on paper. However, a couple of weeks spent jotting notes on its pages reveals flaws that prevent it from earning my unqualified endorsement.

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The first sticking point is the pens you have to use. The Rocketbook system is only compatible with Pilot’s Frixion pens – one comes free with the book. Jot down a phone number in your book with a nearby Biro when you’re on a phone call, and that’s your page ruined – it can’t be erased. That said, the Frixion range is widely available and not hideously expensive (£8.99 for a pack of five rollerballs on Amazon); you just have to remember to keep pen and pad close by.

The pad itself isn’t lined but marked with a feint grid of squares that aid the scanning process. That makes jotting notes slightly more awkward that it needs be. I’m constantly squinting to check I’m on the line, which is something that doesn’t even enter my consciousness with regular notepads.

The scan is performed with the accompanying smartphone app (iOS and Android), which is immaculately designed. Rocketbook is also integrated with a number of well-known services, including Dropbox, OneNote, Google Drive, Evernote and email. You simply tick a box at the bottom of each page to tell it which service or services you want the scanned notes delivered to and the rest is done seamlessly.

Files are delivered to their destination as PDFs, but forget about anything like OCR – you’ll have to rely on the destination app (such as OneNote) to convert handwriting into searchable text, which has always been imperfect in my experience.

The scans are high-resolution: up to 4,032 x 3,024 on my test Galaxy S7, but the default resolution is 3,264 x 1,836. That’s perfectly sufficient to make handwriting legible or retain the detail of hand-drawn diagrams. Scans are straightened perfectly, too. However, the grid of squares on the page is partially visible on the scanned results and some of my scans were marred by blue marks, which I suspect is the result of the scanned page getting damp at some point. These are notebooks you need to take good care of.

Rocketbook Wave review: How does it work?

Each 80-page notebook can be re-used up to five times. The wiping process is straightforward: pop the notebook on your microwave oven’s rotating plate, place a mug of water on top of the notebook to prevent the pages from charring, and blast the book at full power until the blue logo on the front of the pad disappears. Then flip the notebook over and repeat. The whole process takes less time than cooking a ready meal.

Are the pages wiped absolutely clean? Not quite. If you look closely, you can still see the underlying trace of what was written on the pages previously. However, some of that’s down to indentations – I press quite firmly when writing, so I’m scratching the page as I write. And, of course, the more you re-use the books, the worse the show-through from previous etchings becomes. It’s by no means a show-stopper, but it makes it even harder to see where those grid lines are when you’re writing.

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Rocketbook Wave review: Price

Then we come inevitably to the price. The 15.2cm x 22.6cm “Executive” notebook costs £26, which makes even Moleskine notebooks look like pound-shop items by comparison. If you got all five uses out of your Rocketbook Wave, that price effectively tumbles to around a fiver a book, but would you get all five uses?

Even after only a fortnight in my work bag, the Rocketbook Wave is starting to look tatty. It’s just a hard bound paper notebook, after all. And with the potential to ruin pages with coffee stains, smudges or absentmindedly jotting notes with the wrong type of pen, I think the chances of getting all the way through five full re-uses of the book are slim.

You have to admire the ingenuity and design effort that’s gone into the Rocketbook Wave. If you absolutely refuse to be parted from pen and paper and want some of the benefits of digitisation, it’s worth serious consideration.