Update your note taking without losing your penmanship with a digital notebook.

By Billy Cadden | Updated Dec 1, 2021 2:25 PM

While pens, pencils, and quills still work magic on a piece of paper, writing utensils for your bullet journal can be a pain to carry around. I still have nightmares from the stacks of paper in my high school backpack. If you’re like me, know you have the option to leave the loose sheets and explosion-prone ink pens in the past. Here are some high-tech digital notebooks to bring your handwriting into a digital era.

The Rocketbook Everlast Smart Notebook has 36 reusable pages that—if written on with Pilot FriXion pens, markers, or highlighters—can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. After 15 seconds, the ink dries and you can scan the notes with your smartphone’s camera to Dropbox, iCloud, or Google Drive. The notebook comes with one pen.

The EVO notebook is a 90-day productivity-tracking smart notebook with fancy copper gild on its pages. Within the planner, you’ll find daily, weekly, and monthly sections to record your daily activities and what you hope to get done. The notebook—supposedly the product of more than 10 years of cognitive psychology research and development—is designed to help keep your life organized and your mind goal-oriented. It combines your own notes with an intelligent organization system that you can capture using its EVO app. Each day, fill out the pages, and the app will help you keep track of your progress. There are four versions of the notebook—Alchemist, Architect, Explorer, and Oracle—each designed for different types of thinkers.

The Moleskine Evernote is a flat-lying notebook, with a hardcover, thick paper, an elastic band to keep the notebook closed, and a pocket inside to store loose papers or business cards. Use your smartphone—and the Evernote Page app—to capture pages from the notebook. Within the app are “Smart Stickers” that help you tag, organize, and search for scanned pages.

The Sony DPT-CP1/B is designed to feel like you’re holding a paper in your hand. It’s got an organic paper-y texture, is super-thin and is designed to have less glare. You can takes notes on PDFs, doodle on the screen, and easily send notes or documents to your computer via their app. The screen measures 10.3 inches diagonally and the device weighs 8.5-ounces. It can stay charged for three weeks, depending on how much you use it.

Billy Cadden is the Director of Commerce for the Camden Media tech group. He was part of NYC indie rock band The Postelles, and currently releases solo music under his name. His latest work is available on all streaming platforms. Contact the author here.

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