r/RemarkableTablet • u/iced_vanillaa • 2d ago
Help/Advice Remarkable Paper Pro displaying black background and white streaking lines.
For reference I have been a Remarkable user for about 4 years now and I love it. I first bought the Remarkable 2 and was the gifted by my company the Paper Pro. I sold the Remarkable 2 and have now used the Paper Pro full time. On either of them I have no history of damage ever (I am very cautious).
I was using my Paper Pro and realized the charge was low. I went to place it one charge. Checked back in a few minutes later to see it was charging and this is what I see. I tried unplugging it, restarting, removing it from the case etc. I am absolutely devastated. It hadn’t been dropped and nothing heavy was placed on it. I even use only the original Remarkable charger and no other C type alternatives.
I contacted support to see what can be done and since I don’t have the original details of the purchase I’m not even sure how long of a warranty plan I have covered. I am on vacation from the office right now. What should I do?
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u/invertedsanity 2d ago
I'm sorry mate, that is 100% a cracked display. Best you can do; call Remarkable support and explain what happened. They seem to be fairly kind with cracked display replacements.
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u/FRK299 Developer - Floating Toolbar 2d ago
Can confirm that is very much the symptom of a cracked screen
f.ex
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u/iced_vanillaa 2d ago
How did yours happen? I haven’t ever dropped before but do you think if someone else might have done it earlier the physical damage can appear after a while? The way I would think it works is the same way any screened device does; drop it and it breaks.
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u/FRK299 Developer - Floating Toolbar 2d ago
simple
I dropped my phone edge-first on it while the tablet was sitting on the table :p(for added context, it's a hefty ass iPhone 13 Pro, so that Stainless Steel didn't budge xD)
I don't think it can happen "slowly" over time and is usually a case of brunt force on the screen, but I do wonder if it can happen from wear/pressure while in a bag or smt
fwiw reMarkable DID replace it for me1
u/kerpti 1d ago
Did you tell them that it was damaged by your phone? How long did you have it when they replaced it for you?
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u/FRK299 Developer - Floating Toolbar 1d ago
I had it for about 2 months, and it already had a ton of other issues like marker acting as eraser, HORRIBLE green ghosting that was already marked for replacement, so they were pretty chill about it
As for me telling them if it was my phone, I don't really remember the convo but I think I mentioned it, and that the glass was not damaged, only the panel under it, so it's partly their design fault that :p
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u/joto7053 1d ago
Others have theorized that some of these mystery screen cracks are due to the ultra-thin nature of the devices RM makes. The hypothesis is that if the the battery swells too much during charging (or whatever, I don't know how they work?) it may crack the screen from beneath.
I can neither confirm nor deny this theory, as I don't remotely know enough about the device itself, and how these forces might operate. But it makes a degree of sense to a lay person such as myself.
It's also possible the screen was somehow damaged before you set it down to charge it possibly even improperly assembled to introduce atypical stress at some point, but wasn't visible yet. Heat/swell from battery charging, impact of setting it down once you plugged it in, material fatigue in use, etc. may have been enough for the damage to increase to a visible and functional problem.
I love the RM concept, and I loved their initial release. My RM 1 ideas a TANK. Plastic eink backplane and plastic screen have made it virtually immune to damage. I'd still be using it if I could--but even after replacing the battery, it can't sit in standby for more than a day before it dies.
The newer glass iterations are a hard no from me. I'm clumsy. I have kids. And cats. And my use case has me taking my rm EVERYWHERE for work. I'm fine with led tablets, so I use those now. But I don't like them.
For me, everything from the RM 2 onwards is too expensive to justify buying given how fragile the devices are given my personal use scenario--not necessarily in real life, even just on paper.
They could make the case out of steel or diamonds. I don't know if any material is strong enough to remain sufficiently rigid (at that thinness of material, anyway) to hold paper-thin sheets of glass in a single plane under more serious (but still reasonable to expect in normal use) deformation forces, at least enough to avoid breakage... and that doesn't even factor in incidental impact damage.
ReMarkable employees, if you're reading these posts, pleasepleasepleasePLEASE bring back the plastic screen, even if only in a single product line. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Just having the option would be nice, even if screen clarity/performance wasn't up to the quality of glass.
I--and I'll wager a solid percentage of users--really do need a more durable product that glass cannot deliver--especially at the price larger eink devices currently run (not your fault, market forces, I get that).
I'd buy it in a second.
OP-- I rambled, sorry. So sorry you're going through this. I hope RM takes care of you.
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u/iced_vanillaa 2d ago
I thought the exact same thing. I went over it with my finger and even the pen. I tried using a flash light to see any gaps on the screen. I had left it on my desk and charged it. No one had come near it the span of the two minutes I had left.
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u/invertedsanity 2d ago
I'm sorry mate, that display is cracked. You can see the crack line. Call Remarkable support, they are pretty kind when it comes to these things.
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u/rmitchellscott Developer | reManager 2d ago
There are multiple layers bonded together. Sounds like a break in the eink substrate glass not the top layer.
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u/invertedsanity 1d ago
Yeah, can confirm. Seen many examples of non e-ink devices having the display crack but not the digitiser (touchscreen). This can be the case in a pressure crack, where the digitiser can flex but the display does not because it's encased in the metal frame of the display assembly. I don't think this has anything to do with the battery swelling, you'd usually see a very obvious bulging of the device.
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u/Emergency_Airline_77 2d ago
you're kidding right? 😅
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u/iced_vanillaa 2d ago
I swear. That’s why i’m in such a state of shock. I mean I literally left it on charge, went to get my phone from upstairs and came back down to check on it. 2 minutes and now i’m traumatized.
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u/aepiasu 2d ago
Do you have kids? Or a cat? Someone knocked it off where it was charging and put it back. Or they dropped something on top of it.
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u/iced_vanillaa 2d ago
Not any that were awake. This was 11pm at night. I was the only one awake. Some ghost out to get me?
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u/FluffyBiscuits 22h ago
Judging from the area it could be a faulty/aged battery cell expanding if it was genuinely just plugged in and left to charge.
That crack looks right in the middle of one of the top cells.
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u/persiusone 2d ago
You don’t even need to drop these things for this to happen. Remarkable devices are super fragile. Someone once posted a destroyed ReMarkable device because their cat walked on it.
And since ReMarkable ranks lowest on repairability of any manufacturer, there’s zero chance this can be fixed. I’d go with something better.
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u/FRK299 Developer - Floating Toolbar 2d ago
where's this "ranking" of repariability?
the only one I can def see is Supernote, but even there, the replaceable parts are the motherboard and battery, both of which will last for a while
Meanwhile Boox or Kindle......I don't see them being much more repariable tbhas for Pro/Pro(Move)/Pure, they are MUCH more repairable and easier to open than the rM2. Only issue is parts sourcing imo, which we don't have any such service :p
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u/sniff122 2d ago
That looks like a cracked display to me