reMarkable Paper Pro and E Ink Gallery 3

The faster refresh speed in Gallery 3 on the Paper Pro strongly hints at reMarkable adopting E Ink's newer T2000 TCON technology, though official confirmation is still pending.

It was surprising that reMarkable released Paper Pro using E Ink Gallery 3. reMarkable calls the display Canvas Colour but clarifies that it is based on E Ink Gallery 3. Before Paper Pro, Bigme Galy was the only e-note that used Gallery 3. It was blighted with a slow refresh speed and heavy ghosting. Whether it was poor implementation or the inherent limitations of Gallery 3 at the time, it appeared the technology was not ready to be used for consumer e-readers and e-notes.

reMarkable's adaptation of Gallery 3 as a proprietary display (Canvas Colour) indicates that some software changes were implemented to resolve problems with ghosting and the slow processing of colour.

reMarkable appears to have also used E Ink’s improvement of Gallery 3, which was announced in July 2024. E Ink developed a new timer controller (TCON) implementation (T2000) in partnership with Himax to increase refresh speed for a smoother writing experience and lower power consumption. Compared to the previous generation (T1000), E Ink claims T2000 processes colour ten times faster:

The T2000 represents a significant advancement in TCON technology compared to E Ink's predecessor TCON, the T1000, which was introduced in 2019. The T2000 integrates E Ink's proprietary color imaging algorithm, which supports E Ink's latest full color ePaper display technologies, including E Ink Kaleido™ 3, E Ink Gallery™ 3, and E Ink Spectra™ 6. In addition to delivering high-quality image colors, the T2000 processes color rendering more than ten times faster compared to the previous generation.

Considering that reMarkable develops devices at a slower rate, it is unclear if they could have used T2000, which was announced shortly before the launch of Paper Pro. However, it is possible the development of T2000 was ready before its official announcement, and in partnership with E Ink, reMarkable may have had early access to implement the faster TCON.   

Judging from reviews of Paper Pro, the device’s refresh speed is slower than those of other e-notes that do not use Gallery 3. Yet, the slow refresh is a secondary issue as the device is foremost marketed for note-taking and a smooth writing experience. For all-around productivity features, Onyx BOOX devices are the superior choice.