Best smart notebooks

Smart notebooks are a new way of taking notes, but they have been designed for people who prefer paper over digital. They come with a stylus that's pressure-sensitive and offers the benefits of digital note-reading without the need to use a computer or tablet.A smart notebook brings the benefits of digital note-taking with the feel of writing tools on paper.

In a nutshell, most smart notebooks will register your handwriting or drawing and translate them to a digital format that you can view from the smart notebook's accompanying app on pretty much any device with a screen.

Some notepads need special pens or paper with tracking technology built-in. Not having to use special paper may not be a bad thing, and some smart notebooks allow you to erase your writing so you can reuse the same pages over and over.We’ve rounded up the best smart notebooks that you can buy. These include a reusable notebook that wipes clean when you’re done and an app-connected notebook that gives digital copies of your notes.

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1. Best for traditionalists: Rocketbook Everlast
2. Best easy to use: Moleskine Smart Writing Set
3. Best on a budget: Rocketbook Wave
4. Best for illustrators: Wacom Bamboo Slat

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Best for traditionalists: Rocketbook Everlast

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Rocketbook Smart Reusable Notebook - Dot-Grid Eco-Friendly Notebook with 1 Pilot Frixion Pen & 1 Microfiber Cloth

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The Rocketbook is reusable because you can wipe down the page after use.
The Rocketbook is not a "smart" device like most of the others in this guide. It looks like a normal notebook at first, but it has many more functions. Once you're done with a page, just wipe it with a damp cloth and use the paper again, as long as you used Pilot FriXion pen to do the writing.

The Everlast notebook offers many benefits. Not only is it reusable, but the note pages also have symbols and a QR code at the bottom. Simply scan over your favorite cloud storage service's symbol and your page will be scanned and automatically sent to the cloud platform you chose.

The Rocketbook is a pad of paper that uses a specialized pen. The pen still feels like a normal pen, and the paper looks and feels like normal paper. Pros: Looks and feels like a normal notepad; inexpensive; infinitely reusable Cons: More work is required to digitize notes.

Pros:

Looks and feels like a normal notepad, inexpensive, infinitely reusable

Cons:

More work required to digitize notes

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Best easy to use: Moleskine Smart Writing Set

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Moleskine Pen+ Smart Writing Set Pen & Dotted Smart Notebook

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The Moleskine writing set is a notebook with a cover that folds back to reveal its contents. The inside contains two sections for notes, which can be easily updated as you write. Notes are also easily shared and saved with the help of an app that can be downloaded on your phone or tablet.

There are a few companies that make smart notebooks, but the best one is made by Moleskine. It's called the Moleskine writing set, and it includes a paper tablet, smartpen, and one pen ink refill.

The smart notebook is 8.50 by 5.25 inches, and it looks just like a standard notebook with the exception of the pages sticking out from the cover. On the inside, you'll find that the pages are dotted with a grid pattern. Unlike some other intelligent notebooks, you can't use standard paper when you run out of space in this notebook.

Instead of buying a new paper tablet from Moleskine, you'll have to purchase a new paper tablet, but it's not too expensive and the companion app is more accurate when recording notes.

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The included pen uses smart technology, an embedded infrared camera, and dotted paper. Because of this, you won't be able to switch to any other pen, but it's well-built and easy to handle. Thankfully, the pen's ink refills are standard, so once the ink runs out, you can replace it with these affordable refills from Zebra.

The Smartpen contains a LED status indicator, power button and MicroUSB port for charging. The pen lasts five hours on a full charge and can store up to 1,000 note pages. You can color-code your notes in the app and save them anywhere you desire.

Mara Leighton tested the writing set and she loved it. She also loves Moleskine's smart planner, which syncs up with Google Calendar.

Pros:

Easy to use, a high-quality, beautiful notebook, good app

Cons:

Must use dedicated paper

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Best on a budget: Rocketbook Wave

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Rocketbook Wave Smart Notebook - Dotted Grid Eco-Friendly Notebook with 1 Pilot Frixion Pen

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The Rocketbook is a notebook that saves your notes to the cloud and you microwave it to erase the pages when you're done.

Rocketbook not only makes the Everlast notebook, but it also makes the Rocketbook Wave. With this notebook instead of wiping pages with a damp towel to erase them, you'll simply pop the book in the microwave for a few seconds.

The Wave is made of a different material than the Everlast and has to be microwaved before reuse. If you don't mind the faint remnants, it's a good option. The best part about this design is that you can use it again without wiping down every page, but you will have to erase all your pages at once since they are not reusable.

Apart from that, the model is similar to the Everlast. Once you're done taking your notes, you'll pull out your phone and take a photo of the page, and it'll scan the photo to upload the notes to your preferred cloud storage service.

Pros:

Easy to use, microwave to erase is unique, inexpensive

Cons:

Remnants of notes remain, not as quick and easy as some other offerings

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Best for illustrators: Wacom Bamboo Slate

Wacom CDS610S Bamboo Folio Smartpad Digital Notebook Gray, Small

The Wacom tablet is a great product for artists and note-takers alike. It is easy to use, and comes in two sizes, making it an optimal choice.

Wacom is well known for its styluses, Cintiq tablets, and other high-end art and writing technology. Their newest creations combine their tech with analog paper notepads like the Bamboo Slate. You get a regular paper notepad, a nice pen, and a pressure-sensitive clipboard-style holder for the notepad that tracks your pen strokes
Setting up the Slate is really easy. You charge it through the MicroUSB port, install the Wacom InkSpace app on your phone or tablet and pair it with your mobile device via Bluetooth. Once you've set it up, you can start writing or drawing on the paper. When you're done, hit the button on the holder and everything you wrote or drew on the paper will be saved in the app.

You can also upgrade to the InkSpace Plus app to unlock image-to-text recognition, so that your drawings and notes can be searchable. The app stores all your drawings and notes, provided you press the button when you're done.

One of the best things about the Wacom is that you can use any paper you want because the pen stroke tracking tech is built into the clipboard-style holder. That's good news, especially for artists who may prefer to use a specific type of paper for their sketches.

There are a few downsides to the model, of course. It does have a clipboard form-factor that should keep paper neatly in place if your paper moves, but it can't compensate for that and your drawing or notes will ultimately be misaligned.

Pros:

Two sizes, a little cheaper than some options, decent app

Cons:

Paper can become unaligned, writing-to-text requires a subscription

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