I'm always super intrigued by the reMarkable 2, but I think it's because it paints an image of the type of person I think it'd be cool to be, someone who can just write down notes and draw stuff with a really cool, slim device. Someone who carries around moleskines and uses them, instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks.
The problem keeps coming back to the fact that I'm absolutely not the type of person who wants to carry that thing around everywhere and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing. I realize I won't base all my life and processes around this one device that is also supposedly hard to get info off of easily into things like OneNote. If I was somewhere without a computer, then I wouldn't be carrying this big tablet on me. I've bought enough tablets and laptops with writable screens and MS surfaces over the years to know that I still never drew or took notes with the pen, but I still keep buying them hoping I will.
The thing is still so cool and I want it, but maybe I'll wait for version 3 or 4 and extra disposable income that will go to waste on it!
Put a stack of 3x4 index cards in you back pocket, and write thing down as needed. In the evening, (eg when you pull keys/wallet out of the pocket) review the cards briefly and toss the used once into trash unless you really need to keep one.
This is a low-commitment device that still achieves half the benefits of really writing things down.
When I was in the Navy I carried a little memoranda pad in my left breast pocket. I’d take notes each day, at the beginning of each new day, I’d carry any necessary information from the previous day to the next page and then fold the previous page along the diagonal, alternating the folds right and left each day.
The effects of pulling out a notepad and jotting notes are markedly different than pulling out a phone or tablet- especially in a conversation or meeting. IME a phone signals disengagement, while a notepad signals the opposite. When I pulled out my pad, I could see body language and word choices change almost immediately. If it was a positive or neutral conversation, people tended to show appreciation for my interest in what was being said. If it was a negative interaction, people started to be much more careful about what they were saying.
Now I carry an attaché case and use larger, more professional looking, notebooks. Even in the age of Zoom, I angle my camera to ensure it’s obvious I’m taking notes. Sure, it’s an extra step to digitize the important stuff, but I think it’s worth it.
> The effects of pulling out a notepad and jotting notes are markedly different than pulling out a phone or tablet- especially in a conversation or meeting. IME a phone signals disengagement
This! It matters even if you are paying attention; in this day and age pulling a phone strongly signals disengagement. Even if you're actually the most attentive note taker, the rest of the attendees don't know this... and once one person signals disinterest, many will follow. It's like you're "giving them permission" to stop paying attention.
I've noticed that early on; 15 years ago, I was keeping notes on a "feature phone with sliding keyboard". I was pulled by my manager for being disrespectful after the meeting; I showed him the notes and demonstrated that I was by far the most attention / had the best retention / was most involved in the meeting, but still... the message was - it looks unprofessional, stop it.
Thing is:
* My handwriting sucks (I literally can't read my own; I'm 42yo - don't tell me to practice / it'll improve, just don't be that arrogant ignoramus ;).
* I'll never be organized on paper. Ever. My circles are potatoes, my lines are squiggles, and everything is all over the place and disheartening to read (I love whiteboards but it's a whole other thing, somehow)
* I love love love my typed notes. I can type fast and asynchronously while I listen and look at the speaker. I can search them, retain them, review them, summarize them.
But I'm aware that I'll always look disengaged on my laptop compared to somebody with their notebook :-/
I've noticed that as well -- no matter how engaged someone is, if there is a screen that they can see but others can't then it is an information imbalance that is disruptive to the normal flow of conversation. It's like hearing half a phone conversation -- your brain works overtime trying to reconstruct the part it can't see. And it makes some sense; when I am talking to a person and they keep glancing at their laptop, phone, or watch it's exceedingly off-putting and they seem disengaged even in cases when other evidence indicates they are paying attention.
I've similarly noticed that interacting with someone wearing a bluetooth headset or smart glasses is off-putting no matter how much they indicate they are paying attention and not watching or listening to something I can't see.
Like you, I prefer to type my notes. I've found that angling the screen down so that I can't see it either and then maintaining normal eye contact with everyone makes the problem mostly go away. Possibly because I'm not constantly breaking eye contact to furtively glance at a glowing screen that they can't see. Or possibly because I wasn't paying as much attention as I felt like I was -- there is some research that indicates that people who can see a screen or TV while they are accomplishing a task often significantly underestimate how much time they spent looking at it and how much it negatively impacted their task performance.
Agreed; that one thing, has actually been made easier with Covid-induced remote work at my project. On Zoom, people don't know I'm typing furiously - I'm a touch typer and can do reasonable amount of formatting/bullet lists without looking down, so I can look at and engage with and react to person maintaining eye contact while my fingers do their own thing :).
I haven't had a chance to use the remarkable 2 in an in-person meeting (covid) but with the stylus/pen and its shape, it's really obvious that it's not a consumption device. If it's flat on the conference room table, everyone in the room with decent eyesight will identify it as a monochromatic screen for note taking (as long as the pen is in the picture). Depending on camera angle, it's also obvious in video chats and easy to screen share using their app. Other thoughts:
* Remarkable's handwriting recognition is some of the best I've seen (but that's a low bar). Works well even on doctor chicken scratch but it's tied to their cloud stuff. The calligraphy pen setting helps with the aesthetics of bad hand writing
* This is why the remarkable has been a game changer for me. The pen selection tool allows me to draw an arbitrary shape and selects all strokes that fall within it. I can then drag or copy/cut/paste the selection, which I use all the time to rearrange my diagrams and copy/paste bits that I draw with a straightedge as a template. The big missing pieces are shape drawing tools and an infinite canvas so you can infinite scroll to the sides to keep drawing but with pinch to zoom, I usually just zoom way into a page when I open a notebook i know is going to be huge. Even zoomed out the resolution on the display makes it really readable (I can barely identify individual "pixels" with a 10x loupe)
* If the process of hand drawing/writing/annotating doesn't appeal to you or help with retention, the remarkable 2 is a really expensive ebook reader... with ssh.
It seems Note Air has potential but is not priced well. You might think reMarkable 2 is also expensive, but with Note Air you have to buy additional stylus too. The video above shows how Note Air works with reMarkable 2 Marker and Staedtler stylus.
I personally think if latency and price would get solved, Note Air has much more potential than rM2. I couldn't believe they actually put a lot of thought into designing the software that run Note Air, but the guy in the video explains things in detail.
If all you want is an ereader with ssh, a Kobo with Koreader will do that for you. They just run Linux, so it's quite a fun device for hacking around in.
Plus Koreader itself is in Lua and is relatively easy to make changes to.
>My handwriting sucks (I literally can't read my own; I'm 42yo - don't tell me to practice / it'll improve, just don't be that arrogant ignoramus ;).
I am close to 40, 2 - 3 years ago, I re-practiced handwriting with my daughter who wanted to learn (out of school) writing. To my surprise, my handwriting did improve and I was actually surprised by the result (cursive, I am French), hers was miles ahead of mine but really I was damn surprised by how effective it was.
I used to have teachers that refused to correct my copies because of my handwriting, so it's never too late.
Having been at university in France, I know what it means to be judge by handwriting and style rather than content. Ironically, a few points off here and there for handwriting can actually be the cutting line in some cases for admissions in the future. Thy destiny is lying in thy hands.
Similar experience going to a French school for the equivalent of 10th grade, after attending US schools until then. My first math test grade was very low, mostly because I didn't write things in the correct colors. That was quite a shock.
and this is why I love remote work in a tight team. Cameras are really only on for standups / outside of team meetings / coffee breaks. Instead we do whatever we think is appropriate during meetings.
I normally make notes on paper and use the computer to fact check myself and the conversation (where it matters). It makes everything waay faster.
By a certain definition we are cyborgs with augmented reality when working remotely in a way we can't be in-person. It's as though everyone has a HUD with as many monitors as they wish on which they can pull up any program while facing the rest of the team and looking them in the eye (camera) when necessary.
So even though your phone had a keyboard, it still looked like you were texting instead of paying attention. A small laptop would have probably had a better reception. But I agree, nothing beats taking notes on paper as far as giving the impression of being engaged and attentive.
To add to that, with a laptop (tactile keyboard), it's also easier to type notes while maintaining eye contact. That goes a long way to show respect and look engaged.
On a side-note, I do this on video calls too, keeping the window near where the camera is located so that there is still eye contact.
I did use Palm devices extensively, and found Graffiti shockingly intuitive - it took me no time at all to be fully fluent in it. All the way up to Palm Treo, I loved them and couldn't figure out why people went Gaga over iPhone when it came out - I felt that I mostly had that same thing for years already (I recognize there are important differences in retrospective, not the least that iPhone was fashionable and cool to use;)
I would definitely work better with Graffiti-style input rather than full writing recognition; but:
a) I am a dorky minority - pretty much always a negative focus group for these things :P
b) even for me it's not ideal and modern lightweight laptops are a better solution -- I type at speed of speech these days; I don't think I could ever write / squiggle that fast.
Does anything modern support this? Does the remarkable? Because this would be killer for me. I have terrible hand writing and being able to type without hauling out a keyboard would be great for notes.
I’ve found the disorganization of writing is actually a benefit. I have a remarkable and I put almost everything in a single organizational notebook. There’s no pressure to do things right, no fretting about space or making clean shapes, just thought dumps and open notes.. which I condense down later on a computer if I ever decide I actually want to “go forward” with an idea. Works for me given I feel a friction with long term cleanly organized notes that sometimes inhibits the process altogether.
Could tap strap[^1] be a viable solution to this? It does have some learning curve but I didn't found it too bad (was able to memorize all alphabets in a weekend). Though being as fast and accurate as keyboard will take some time and effort.
With 10mins per day, after 15 days I'm at 28WPM with 98.5% accuracy (they have a training app)
I’m a poor typist, for some reason I can touch type with my left hand, but I have a tendency to “hunt & peck” with my right hand. This is probably because I have to use a lot of GUI-intensive, mouse-based design software for work (constantly taking my right hand off the keyboard).
After reading your comment, I decided what the heck and my TapStrap2 arrived Thursday. I know I should just take those 15 minutes a day and improve my typing skills, but where’s the fun in that?
In any case, I’ve got the alphabet memorized, and now (at the end of Sunday) I can consistently get 18 WPM. For extra challenge, I decided to learn on my non-dominant (left) hand. I’m pretty impressed with how quickly basic proficiency can be achieved. I haven’t explored the mousing features, or macros, but I can definitely see myself using this in meetings in the future— if for no other reason than some sweet show-off value.
This looks really cool! Do they allow customizing gestures / "key bindings"? (Some of them don't look too comfortable and give me RSI just from looking at them.)
I also wish they allowed using two of these things at the same time (on both hands) so that one could type on a "virtual" QWERTY keyboard instead of having to resort to weird multi-finger gestures.
My handwriting sucks too, and much of it is nearly illegible, but I find that I have much better retention if I keep written notes rather than typing.
Even if some of my notes are difficult (or even impossible) to read, it's still sufficient to help remember what I felt so notable that I wrote it down.
I realize that everyone's not the same, but studies have shown that writing leads to better conceptual recall (but typing tends to record more information)
The pen and paper kind of steno or the digital kind?
What device is this?
AFAIK digital steno depends on steno keyboards (which are very cool), and I haven't seen any portable device with one.
I would love to have a laptop with an ortholinear n-key rollover keyboard (it's easy to adapt an ortholinear keyboard to steno mode and switch between modes).
Also I have not seen any software supporting analog steno, but that would be awesome.
If you want something slightly more techy; the ONLY app that I absolutely cannot live without is Blitzmail on Android (I believe there's an Apple equivalent?)
It's simply an an ultra-simplified one destination email client.
One button on your homescreen opens up a little text input window. Hit send, and it emails yourself. That's it, and it has been absolutely life changing, I've retained so much and simplified so many things. Ideas, scheduling, notes, etc.
I use Telegram to take notes on my phone. You can "message yourself", they changed it to "saved messages" but it's essentially just you chatting with yourself. Each message is a note, beginning with "Topic :", e.g. "Game design :".
Then about once a month I copy paste the whole chat into a text file on my workstation PC, date and archive it, and clear the chat. Telegram includes the exact time and date of each message in the paste, and my consistent "tagging" of the notes with the topic means that I can programmatically parse the text files later to organize them, maybe on my website.
After years of note-taking in various forms, I find that I rarely actually need to peruse my notes archive. It's the act of taking notes itself which helps with retention of ideas.
Event scheduling I do in "remind calendar" for Linux with a little notify-send.
Most everything else in my life organization-wise, I use http://zim-wiki.org for. I just go through them and file them in ideas or todos.
I try to avoid using my phone as much as possible. The rule of thumb there is -- if it's not a real human communicating to me directly/individually or as part of a small group, I should try to just use the computer or not use it at all.
This got some discussion as the "Hipster PDA" some years back (originally 2004 from Merlin Mann), along with some low-cost options to simplify managing it - multicolor cards, bullet journal rules, cutting out card-sized pieces of plastic from a cheap folder to make a "cover" and of course various sizes of binder clips.
I found a medium to large binder clip to work better than hole punching and a ring - you can't just open it up and use it while standing, but it holds together better and easier to add/remove cards.
A big advantage of this over journals (Moleskine, Field Notes, etc) is that there's no mental block of "I don't want to write something stupid or trivial in my journal/notebook."
Not to make it personal but: Do you do this? How do you find it? It's a simple and alluring solution plus I've been looking at the remarkable2, but this answer sounds like doing the dishes. I like a empty kitchen sink, but I honestly pay someone to come in twice week to have that, because the low-rent solution of just doing the dishes is beyond me. I'm never going to sit down and review the cards, and then the benefits of going digital. Globally instantly accessible by others, indexed, impossible to lose, etc.
Off and on. Started on it again just yesterday, hence my comment.
>I'm never going to sit down and review the cards
Well, don't sit down then. Standing up flip through the cards you filled during the day and toss them into garbage, unless one is really important. You're strictly better off than writing down nothing at all during the day, which is the default state for most people.
I do this. Todo items that pop into my head, little notes about ongoing projects. Things I want to remember or process but aren't an immediate task.
Later in the day when I pull them out, many do get trashed. Lots of Todo items never make it to my digital Todo list because my brain processed them mostly in the background during the day. I find the physical nature of the cards means I can't avoid that processing step. The times I revert back to digital first, my notes end up everywhere (I input them in the fastest way, rather than finding the right place) and immediately begin rotting because now I have remember and force myself to condense and organize rather than it occurring naturally.
I do something like this, though generally just in the situations where I don't have my notebook.
For me, it's a bit more adhoc than the suggested above. Recent uses: jotting down measurements of some furniture; writing for somebody the name of a book I was recommending them; shopping and todo lists; doodles and sketches. notes tend to be odd phrases from conversations.
The reviewing is minimal -- under 10% of what I write needs preserving, the cards mostly get a quick glance and then go straight into the recycling.
I use the same index cards when I'm writing something, for paragraphs or ideas which I can visually arrange on a table.
I've been doing this in some form for a couple of years, but just as a low-key background thing. For me it's just the minimal viable equipment for being able to write things.
I could use my phone for almost all of this, but index cards are a lower risk of distraction.
Shameless plug, but if you like note-taking on index cards but are still looking for a slightly more digital solution to the problem, we've[1] built an online note-taking platform that is based around digital markdown note-cards, which is a bit different from most other digital solutions which are usually document or bullet-list based. I realize that many on HN want to "own" their data a little more than you typically expect of a cloud-platform, but you owning your notes is very important to us which is why we've spelled it out in our T&Cs[2] and why we have a publicly-accessible API[3] for maximum flexibility.
Exactly what I do.
Even made a simple 3x5 holder that is two pieces of leather riveted on one short edge.
If needed, I pick up colored 3x5s to color code.
For example, yellow = my Home Depot shopping list, or measurements notes.
I've used a number of gadgets over the years (starting with an Apple Newton), and none of my notes on them have survived.
On the other hand, I've got boxes and boxes of notebooks (Strathmore sketchpads and Moleskine-equivalents) that will outlast me -- to say nothing about cloud providers, backup media or outdated file formats -- unless I suffer a house fire or natural disaster.
Notebooks are cheap, and even terrible ones will last decades with little or no care. You can toss them into backpacks, lend them, get them (a little) wet, leave them in the sun, sit on them, forget them at the coffee shop, and even lose them permanently and basically not worry too much. If I was using a $400 gadget instead, I'd never carry it to the places I currently carry paper. My note-taking and scribbling would go down. I'm not even going to talk about battery capacity anxiety.
The gadget-lover in me would probably be happy with one of these things. My practical side and experience tells me that in the long run they are more trouble than they're worth.
You have different selves working at different time scales. Your problem is that your short term self is winning out against your long term self. The remedy is to learn to hold your attention where you want it, so when the short term self directs your attention to the line of cocaine you can keep it on the long term goal instead. To get better at directing your attention... meditate, particularly deeply focusing on a sensation. Practice practice practice.
You can meditate (it possible that it works for somebody). It is easier to create an environment where you don’t have to exercise the control most of the time e.g., don’t buy/put cookies on the kitchen table unless you intend to eat them. Though one doesn’t exclude another one.
Make it easy for your “short-term” self to do the right (from the “long-term” self point of view) thing.
I purchased one a couple months ago, and it has definitely helped to 'become a different person' in that I have found a joy in both handwriting notes and sketching that I never had before.
I downloaded some PDFs on how to sketch, and I can sketch right there in the PDF along side the examples..
The futility of hand-written note taking was always my lack of organization, but the auto syncing of this really helps in that department.
I can't say it is for everyone, but while I was definitely not the target consumer for this device, I am more that person now after buying it. I appreciate anything that pushes any of my time from consumption to production, and this helps me to do that.
I will add, it probably isn't the ideal device to learn how to sketch, because it isn't as expressive via pressure as normal pencils, or able to do different levels of shading, but at least I am trying now.
Having used the RM2 for a month, I would actually say the RM2 comes very close to a regular pencil and is actually more flexible than one, as it comes with additional brushes.
Yes, with a Remarkable you get a several different "tools" (Pen, Pencil, Mechanical Pencil, Marker, Paint Brush etc).
However I think each of these is much less expressive than actually having the Pencil, Marker, Paint brush etc..
These don't provide nearly the versatility, such as levels of shading, that the real tools do, but the convenience of having some form of all of them in one small "pencil" is extremely nice.
If your end goal is to produce good art on paper, I would probably not start here, but for having fun and developing an interest it's been fantastic.
Now that I think about it, maybe it is the "Undo" feature that sells me =)
Great comment that also gets right to the appeal of the moleskines (and GoPros). Everyone wants to be this person who is so flooded with genius insight every thought must be transcribed, or whose athletic prowess is so unmatched every minute should be recorded. Of course in reality, that's mostly not how either one works.
For my part, all my best ideas are incredibly simple, abstract, and writing it down is both incredibly difficult and also worthless. Sometimes I doodle to work through an issue, but that takes little more than a napkin and a crayon.
All that said I really, really love eink. I could almost buy an RM2 just to support eink development.
For comparison I rarely use the pen on my iPad Pro. I think partially because of all the distractions, as soon as I grab my iPad there’s lots of other stuff I could be doing other than taking notes. And partially because the writing on glass never felt right. So it’s been more of an occasional use when I really need to sketch something.
I was on the fence for the RM2 for a while for the same reasons you mentioned. Would I really use it?
Well I got it recently after trying a friend’s and I’ve surprised myself by using it daily. We’ll see if the habit sticks but so far the killer feature for me compared to a notebook is being able to erase, move text around and insert pages.
This makes me much more likely to just start jotting stuff down without being worried about “wasting” pages in a notebook.
By the way the device I hear comes with a 30 day trial period for this very reason. Lots of people don’t know whether they would really use it. So you can order it, find out how it fits into your life and return it if it doesn’t.
I've looked at it seriously a while back when it was on presale, but it's definitely a heavy chunk of change, especially since I'm Canadian and have to pay the exchange rate prices.
I do like the idea of no distractions and being able to move stuff around and organize it, unlike with paper, but most of my life is at home (since I'm self-employed) and I already have a computer on all 3 floors of my house that I'm usually at with OneNote and Notepad++ with a ton of tabs on each, so I'm worried that I'll never really use it unless I want to sit on the couch and focus, but then will I be wishing I had all my subsequent notes and such already on OneNote and in my various notepad++ tabs? What happens when I go back and sit at my computer for the majority of the day where I do work, play, research, side businesses etc.? Do I need some stand and will I just be cross copying notes back and forth?
Is it something I can comfortably hold and write on while sitting on a couch, or on some random chair or while leaning against a wall? Or am I going to be doing weird grips and being forced to counterbalance my writing on a floating pad if it's not sitting on a desk? I find writing in a small notebook way harder if it's not just on a table, so even that already worries me. Will I get less legible or not be able to as effectively write on the entire surface area of the device while holding it if not on a desk or having it setup on my lap (which may not even be that feasible without some cushion or stand)?
A 30 day trial could definitely help me figure this out, but I'm leaning towards the fact that it probably won't work out, at least not with the current version and I'm always afraid I won't commit the time I need to really test it in those first 30 days, haha!
The hard back makes it like a clipboard so you could use it on a couch or sitting anywhere really, but I mostly use it for writing while at a table or my desk. I’d rather take notes by hand than type though. Previous attempts to type notes never worked out for long. Too many distractions on the computer for me.
If you’re already heavily invested in taking notes in OneNote then this probably won’t help much due to the overhead required to sync back and forth.
Getting OneNote on the Remarkable would be awesome though, I hope this will happen in some future version.
The writing/drawing/painting experience of the Apple Pencil would be massively improved if it had a small high resolution haptic speaker similar to the Switch Joycons or Steam Controller to emulate different drawing tools and surfaces.
Like you I'd wanted a remarkable but could never justify it. Then a friend told me about the handshake crypto that was given away to GitHub users back in 2019 https://handshake.org/claim/ and how it was worth real money now.
Anyway, I claimed the coins, transferred them into dollars (just before the recent crash) and bought a remarkable for "free".
Honestly, it's a nice tablet, but, I'm glad I got it for free ;)
The remarkable tablet allows me to go sit under a tree and design system diagrams or draw mindmaps. And then recover them for reference later. It's particularly helpful for work-thinking. For personal thoughts, having written/drawn them is often enough to cement them and I'll reference them months/years later as a novelty.
But the core of all this is that the sitting-under-a-tree-habit came after the device. Before, it was a bit of a romantic idea I'd tried with moleskines, but it didn't really scratch my itches.
This is pretty accurate, from someone who just got one as a gift. They are useful devices, however your criticism is spot on.
That said, a couple big advantages I haven’t seen advertised:
- I don’t have a dozen notebooks around, just one
- easy to start a new notebook, plus the centralization, is sort of an “organized by default” mode
- I can’t take notes on my computer, so it’s either this or paper
- distraction free is good, and the physicality of the pen and screen is a much better experience than an iPad
Your other criticisms are valid and a little too accurate. It’s still a useful device, there’s just a bit of a premium price because of the fancy factors you discussed.
One of the things I love about mine - I never realized that I get 'anxiety' about wasting paper or space on paper. Being able to write and keep a few lines per page has been great.
I've got a ReMarkable 2 and love it. I also have written and sketched in notebooks so there is that habit. But a couple of things in your comment made me say "hmm".
This stood out "... and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing."
Over the years many folks have seen me writing in my notebook and said, "Wow I wish I could make notes like that." It motivated me for a time to carry around copies of pages from my early notebook notes which compare unfavorably to cro-magnon cave drawings :-). I would explain to them they are written for an audience of one (me) and serve to help me recall details that I might otherwise forget, so there isn't anyone judging or evaluating them. At the same time, the more you write and draw, you tend to get more capable (this is especially true if you're somewhat self critical of your own results).
So I would agree that something like the ReMarkable is a big chunk of change to spend on something you don't feel you would use, but consider that a 5 pack of quadrule or lined composition notebooks is a couple of dollars/euros when school starts and can be thrown away. A stack of those, a variety of writing instruments (I like 1mm gel pens or the BIC 4 color pens, but others like mechanical pencils or roller ball type pens) And be intentional about writing things down for a few weeks (the various habit books suggest six as a minimum number of weeks but its an experiment right?)
Then at the end of your experiment go back and review your notebook(s) and compare your awareness and "presence" in that time with a time where you were not taking notes.
My guess is that either you will say, "this is a good thing, I should do this more" or you will say "interesting but not my cup of tea." Either way, you have a good understanding of yourself and how note taking and notebooks fit into your life. At which point the decision to buy something expensive or not has the backing of your lived experience of whether or not you find it useful.
A few weeks of practicing 10 minutes a day or so will give you good handwriting.
A few weeks of a basic drawing course with a small amount of practice will give you decent enough skills to get your ideas down on paper.
People naturally do the things they like to do. I actually enjoy the process of writing with fountain pens, calligraphy, taking notes, etc. Strangely, I also really enjoy the experience of typing.
Taking notes and drawing don't make me cool. Carrying a notebook and a fountain pen made people think I was kind of eccentric more than anything. Carrying an iPad Pro 12.9 with a stylus made people think I was a geek. No one was mean about it or anything, but it definitely doesn't make a person cool. Just be who you are and do the things you enjoy.
If you think you would enjoy writing/drawing, put a little bit of effort into it and you will have pretty good results.
As far as the e-ink tablets go, I'm hoping the large format ones become more affordable and more polished. I would love to have one but the value proposition vs an Ipad is terrible. Single-purpose devices can frequently be better than a more generalized device, but in the case of these E-ink tablets the few things they do (reading, writing, drawing) generally offer a worse experience than doing that same thing on an Ipad. The only upsides are battery life and the e-ink screen.
There's tons of free ones on youtube so there's no need to spend a bunch of money. Proko has some good stuff on his channel. He does a lot of comic book stuff but he's a classically trained artist. Pretty sure he's got a beginner's section. He also has some videos giving advice on learning resources. There are lots of others that are really good too.
Drawabox.com has some good free stuff too.
If you'd prefer books I think Andrew Loomis books might be public domain. Fun with a Pencil is a good one. If they aren't public domain you can get them for $10-15 on Amazon because they started reprinting them.
How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is also a really good introduction to drawing. Don't let the title fool you though because its one of the best beginner's drawing books regardless of the genre.
Those are just examples though, there's tons and tons of great resources and everyone has their favorites.
There is a book called Visual Thinking by Williemien Brand which goes over drawing basic things. I love it because the author did amazing research into how to draw things with the least effort. I use it to supplement my notes.
The beautiful part of the remarkable 2 is that you can erase and redraw. You can also copy and paste. When making diagrams, the arrows will look identical. Recently, they added zooming in.
I used to take notes on paper. I bought thick, quality paper. I used a nice Japanese made fountain pen. I loved taking notes that way. I still miss parts of it.
When I started, my writing was not very beautiful, but I used a couple of cheats that helped. I write in all caps and I write quite small so that there is some padding above and below my letters. I write slowly so as to have consistent lettering. Even if they are imperfect, they look consistent. The focus should be on letter spacing.
Before covid, people used to come up to my desk and say it was the most beautiful writing they have ever seen. It wasn't, but the techniques do work.
As far as the feel of the notebook. I let my kids play with it. They love it.
But I don't and I won't because that's just not how I work however much I'd like to. And that's OK. In fact, it's good to accept that about one's self.
Now that I know I have ADHD, I at least have an explanation why my desire to be something I'm not has always failed, but even without the diagnosis, we all have our personality quirks that mean that certain things just won't work for us. It's nice to have beautiful notebooks to give away as presents for other people though. :-)
I'm actually using my moleskine quite a bit, but it's frustrating because everything is chronological, all mixed up. I'm not using it enough to justify having different ones for all activities. And when it's full and I get a new one I never have have my older one at hand, it stays at home.
So this kind of tablet looks really nice...
The reason I prefer to write on my moleskin rather than my laptop is because if I have my laptop, I get distracted and I do stuff I'm not supposed to.
Additionally I find it rude to be on your laptop when you're in a meeting, because people might think you're doing other stuff, and also because having your screen between you and other people creates a kind of "barrier".
I actually like that it's chronological and mixed up. It's a nice little time machine. Mine have meeting notes next to drawings of birds and measurements from the garage.
I'm somewhat like you (aspiration-based notebook purchaser), but I actually did buy a remarkable - both the original and V2.
Bizarrely, I've ended up using the RM exclusively for work-related notes, and still keep all my personal ideas in a paper notebook. Aside from a subconscious desire to work through my stationery backlog, I have no idea why.
RM is nice to use and I'd definitely recommend to note-taking gadget lovers, but the software quality prevents me from calling it a more general must-buy device.
There are some great suggestions in this sub-thread... don't get a gadget for the sake of getting one.
That said, if you have a considered need for one, here's my take:
I "think by writing" and unfortunately my textfiles are more organized than my physical papers.
The reMarkable 2 was worth it for me.
The thing eliminates all my paper clutter and is so close to paper it's effectively identical. There's tooth to the paper and drag on the "pencil." It OCRs your handwriting and is searchable.
Options: I recommend absolutely spending the money on the eraser-equipped stylus. Otherwise you have to manually switch tools using the slow eInk UI and it would be a nightmare. I got the grey cloth cover and it's a great understated look compared to the leather. Just looks like a notepad.
My reMarkable 2 had an odd build quality issue where the back was bumped out a little. I got an early one.
The device goes past the uncanny valley right into a paper replacement. I had to stop myself setting a coffee cup on it because I forgot it was 'lectronic.
Re: durability, I still use paper pads at the electronic or mechanical bench due to worrying about scratches on the reMarkable. The screen has not scratched yet for me but I do worry about it.
On a serious note, this comment resonates so well. I actually bought a RM2 but returned it since the transcription & syncing was nowhere near what I expected. But, also what you wrote. Turns out, I'm near a laptop often enough that typing in Notion works pretty damn well for me. Coupled with all of Notion's rich document structures and fast navigation there's no way a RM2 can compete.
Also, for the record I have an iPad Pro and basically have one, very specific use case. I'm a private pilot and use the iPad extensively for flying. Writing down instrument flight rules clearances which I get over the radio from the tower has been the only persistent use case for the stylus that I've found. Cockpits are too cramped for the keyboard and there's too much information to write it with a finger.
What was awesome though was when my then 3 year old daughter found one of the moleskins and a pen and did a bunch of scribbles on every 10 pages or so.
I truly love that little moleskin.
I just recently (last week) bought an outdoor log with graph paper and some other logs....
Your comment makes me want to prove you (myself) wrong and actually use it.
I've always been impressed with the. Various engineers I have worked with, like John Blair of nerflix... he is really fn today keeping a solid tech journal
I also just bought a super mini and thick notebook for $10 that I haven't used, but was just so cool looking. I still feel like an idiot for buying it, but maybe I will use it someday.
I have a $2 notebook from Muji sitting in my drawer but it's too nice to write in. It's $2!!
Japan is on a whole other level with writing and stationary. Go to a Tokyo Hands or Muji and you'll feel like the type of person that should be writing constantly. I can't imagine we would fetishize writing so much if computers didn't exist.
That’s perfect. That’s exactly how I felt about nice notebooks and that’s why the digital version is so much better for me. The freedom to erase and reorganize removes that anxiety.
I've been thinking of getting one (or something similar) since I tend to write short-term notes on stickies and leave them on my desk or monitor. I haven't found a computer based equivalent that I like using as much as writing.
This works well when I'm working 100% at home or at the office, my notes are where I work, but my company plans to have a hybrid workplace with employees working from the office 2 or 3 days a week, now my notes will be scattered between home and office. (well, worse, the office might move to a "hoteling" desk format where no one has a permanent desk, so I can't leave my notes on my desk at work).
So one of the electronic paper products seems like a good solution - write my notes in epaper, and I can access them from work (or vice versa).
Though they are still pretty expensive so more likely, I'll just switch to keeping notes in a notebook that I carry back and forth.
I carry a Moleskine everywhere. There's a bigger notebook on my desk. I just think better on paper. I took a serious look at those E-Ink tablets, but none of them beat the price or reliability of pen and paper. You can't easily flip through the pages. They're too big. They need an account. They need software updates and long term support. They work with a private cloud.
I'd love a sketch book with layers and an undo button, but at the same time, I appreciate the simplicity and realness of a physical notebook. I can smoothe lines with my thumb, or use colouring pencils.
When I finish a notebook, I scan its pages. It takes about 15 minutes. I suspect I'd spend a lot more time building a system around a digital tablet.
I'm in no way cool or carry moleskins, but for some dumb reason I thought doing a second Masters in an area unrelated to anything I do - my first is in computer engineering, this new one is GeoEngineering - would be a good idea. I'm someone that needs to write thoughts and notes on paper and then construct a doc around such. I have a Remarkable2 and it was great for note taking, it was also great for hand writing out some advanced math courses / problems I had to revisit.
In some classes where we used Excel, I would do a mix of an iPad Pro (with pencil) and on the computer excel.
I like the simplicity of the Remarkable2, but it doesn't handle all my needs, but it does many.
I have put Working Copy (a git client with a half decent editor - ie it does not do autocorrection) on my phone and if the moment strikes I put a note into one or two books that I Promise To Publish Real Soon now.
was out jogging today and had a thought and popped it in. is in gthub right now so i think of it as safe.
But yes. I completely understand - i too want to be one of those people.
in fact watching this i thought there is a market for business pads - that look like your are taking notes and updating tickets not thumbing thorugh facebook in a meeting.
Slap a specialised JIRA client on this and I think you have a package winner.
Voice commands like "Hey Siri, add X to my [grocery/hardware/project] list" and "Hey Siri, remind me [tomorrow at 10] to do X" have made me more effective at pretty much everything.
The really good thing is that it's open. Like you can ssh into it from day one. No cloud forced on you. refreshing.
I think my #1 use is to jot down notes during a phone call. It is like an infinite stack of post-its. Jotting does not get in the way of a phone call.
#2 is reading ebooks and pdfs. It's a little slow working with .epub books, but with pdf files it is fast.
Actually I convert ebooks to pdf format using calibre. It's a pretty good experience. I've figured out the fonts, font sizes, margins and so forth, and made that my calibre conversion default. Works well for me.
>instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks.
That was me until I started bullet journaling. My notebook becomes whatever I need at the time. Todo list, calendar, journal. Flexibility with structure.
Small(ish), syncable (bit of a learning curve to do so, but it is possible), and even comes with a physical keyboard if you want to really type things out rather than just use a stylus.
In my experience its OCR software is on-par with the Remarkable, if not better.
I bought a Remarkable 2 a month or two ago because I wanted a cool hackable e-ink Linux computer. But instead I immediately started using it as an e-book and document reader and note-taking pad, and nothing else. And, so far at least, that's perfect.
The screen is beautiful (a bit gray, but the black is really black so the contrast is still good), the device is thin and reasonably light, I only have to charge it once a week or so, and there are absolutely no distractions. I have even rediscovered the visceral pleasantness of writing by hand.
I especially like that it's *not* running Android (which I dislike more with each release). The biggest drawbacks, to me, are the fragile pen nibs and the inability to just SCP a PDF or EPUB to the device and have it work (their sync software works but isn't great).
> I have even rediscovered the visceral pleasantness of writing by hand.
A bit unrelated, but I’ve often wondered if I’m in the minority that hates writing by hand. Compared to typing, I’m much slower, and it looks terrible — I print in caps just so that it’s remotely legible.
I avoid handwriting at all costs, and loath the few times it’s required.
I long hated writing, and like you only wrote in block capitals, until I decided to re-learn to write cursive. Mostly I wanted to be able to write sweet paper notes to my lovers that didn't look like a 5th grader wrote them. I've found that when the process is approached as art, maybe even meditation, it's far more pleasurable than an act simply meant to record words on paper.
I wooed my wife with my handwritten letters... Thirty years ago. Of course, these days, I'm also her wife, and my handwriting isn't so good anymore. But my Remarkable 2, after the latest software updates is remarkably good. Now I wish we could reconvene our RPG club from thirty years ago, because it's the best RPG notes device I've ever used, better than paper, because it's more flexible.
Anytime I write in print, I'm slow and janky but cursive seems to flow out of my hand. By default, it's not very legible except to me but I actually appreciate how it looks and it's easy to focus it when writing to someone else. Cursive definitely flows much easier than print. My only gripe with writing in general is that writing left handed excludes me from about 92% of pens that will streak under my hand.
Being left handed, you've probably found this, but the Zebra Sarasa Dry is what my left handed daughter uses. It's the only cheapish pen that she likes
I've done it twice in my adult life. The first time, I was unhappy with my block capitals, and looked up the letter form references for architectural block lettering, and spend a few hours over a week or so just practicing letter forms. I, in a very literal way, installed a font in meatspace :)
Cursive I think is really more just about getting a feel for the flow of script. There are some technical aspects, like the letter forms themselves, and the rules of joining them -- not all letters in a word can or should be joined, which is obvious to long-time cursive users but was not to me!
But mostly it comes down to knowing the letter forms, and then just using cursive. Write a dear friend a sweet note. Write a couple pages in your diary on occasion. Your forms will become clearer and will flow better with practice. Embellish! Draw huge risers and tails on your letters and pretend you're writing in elvish or something. haha.
I worked for about a month a few years back to improve my writing. I just found an example of handwriting I liked and would spend time each morning copying individual characters, then words. Very slowly at first, then it became natural. My handwriting has slipped since then, seems to be something you need to keep working at from time to time.
Over the last years, I felt my handwriting was deteriorating. I blamed my lack of practice and reliance on computers, and accepted that.
But, last year I got glasses. With them, my hand writing quickly improved. As an aside, I can type a lot faster on a touch screen now too. Presbyopia snuck up on me somewhere when I hit 40...
Yes, I’m in that minority too. I’ve always had poor handwriting and always hated writing by hand.
After introspecting about it, I realized that, for me, it’s because of low grade stress during handwriting, as my attention is constantly churned between thinking about the content and about legibility.
It might seem obvious but the less you write the more illegible your handwriting seems to you. I noticed this during school. Over summers I would pretty much never have to handwrite anything, and in august I had all the same gripes that you do about my slow illegible terrible looking handwriting. Those kinks would be worked out two weeks into the school year, after your hand is back in shape from writing notes 8+ hours a day.
The other thing about handwriting is that you remember things better. The act of transmuting something you've heard, put it into a thought, then taking that thought and stroking out words on a distinct location on a physical page taps into all these levels of comprehension and processing that you just miss if you take the stenographer approach with a keyboard and transcribe directly what you hear, or even writing digitally on the exact same 8x10 screen day in day out. I've fallen asleep in lectures with my hands on the keyboard mid sentence typing up some note, because the effort required by your brain is so much smaller and you are not nearly as engaged as when you are actually stroking out words and in the background thinking about how to fit relevant information on a unique 8'x11' sheet of paper.
Have you tried writing with your other hand, if you have it? Writing with my non-dominant hand is slower and more precise. It’s been twenty-odd years of practice, in part in case I lose a hand, and it continues to feel like a fun, healthy challenge.
You're not alone. I appreciate that some people enjoy hand-writing (the act itself, the ergonomics, and all the various bits of physical ephemera that accompany it-- pens, papers, etc) but for me typing's sheer efficiency and inherent machine-readability (not to mention being readable by other humans) wins every time.
This has been a bit of tug-o-war for me for a while. Where I've mostly settled is that I use TiddlyWiki as my main notetaker / knowledge base and using a paper notebook as a sort of sidecar (taking notes by hand where it is easier or more appropriate and then transcribing them into the wiki).
My wiki entries range from little "cards" of a few short sentences to longer entries written while analyzing or designing something.
I use handwriting for thinking, not writing. I don’t really expect to be able to recover the things I write down more than 2 weeks after the fact without some extra work.
I’m terrible at it, but I enjoy fountain pens. They make me slow down enough that it’s at least legible, where my biro-scrawl is very much not. It is hard not to let my brain race ahead though, as it does when I’m typing.
Also fountain pens are shiny and you can get all sorts of inks and accessories!
I took the LSAT on a lark about 20 years ago, and at the time they required an essay written in cursive. Took me a couple of hours just to reconstruct my distant memories of how to write cursive, and I hated every minute of the essay itself.
Writing text by hand is certainly slower than typing.
Unless you're filling out a form or writing an essay in school, handwritten things should use more symbolic language. Use a shorthand of words and images and arrows and circles that are meaningful to you. Whether or not someone else (or even you later) can read it is really a secondary concern.
I worked in positions that required me to write by hand more than I had in the last decade. I found that my handwriting found an equilibrium that balanced speed and legibility after a while.
When I take notes I usually don't limit myself to writing to lines, I write on the sides, makes arrows, etc... For this "visual note taking" paper (or e-ink tablet) is way better.
I don't have a remarkable, and have therefore not experimented with this software. But it's the approach I'd prefer if / when I get a device like this.
You can actually SCP into the device without any modification. It's under the Copyright section of the device. It'll show you the default SSH password for your device and then you can drop files in there. :)
i don't haven the device but the above sounds like a 10 line shell script to me. slap files in a local directory, execute script, see screen flash on device, items loaded.
Sure, you can SCP all the files you want but even if they're PDFs or EPUBs they won't show up in the interface. (I can't remember if I actually tried this or if I just read it somewhere. Maybe it's worth a shot.)
Actually you can. The IP address is shown at the bottom of the copyright notice, you can ssh into the device and once your have put your ssh keys onto it, just scp onto it (the ip changes on reboot). Unfortunately, you cannot just copy the documents, but you have to bundle them with some meta data, it is pretty trivial to construct, I made a small script, will try to share it at some time.
you can fix the ip changing on reboot by pegging the MAC to an IP in your router. if you are also running something like pi-hole you can give it a local dns entry too, which makes it even easier to remember.
On my OS at least (ubuntu and probably many others) it can resolve by hostname (after all that is the whole point of having hostnames). So I just do `ssh remarkable` without even having an `.ssh` entry for it.
That can work, if your LAN router's DHCP and DNS are set up to respect the hostname suggested by the client, to update it in the DNS for the LAN domain, and tell DHCP clients to use the router for DNS.
For LAN devices you want to access as a server, I think it's usually easiest and most reliable to just designate a permanent IPv4 address for them with your router's DHCP server, like what OP suggested.
Your SSH client will probably prefer static IP addresses, too, for the record-keeping it probably does about which servers it knows and at what addresses.
> the inability to just SCP a PDF or EPUB to the device and have it work (their sync software works but isn't great).
Are you aware of the web interface? It's only available over USB, and requires flipping a switch in the settings. That interface is so simple that I imagine that an scp replacement is just an novice-level curl invocation away.
Yes, but the "only over USB" thing is unfortunate so I find myself mostly using the bundled cloud service, which is usually something I try to avoid relying on. Some sort of peer-to-peer sync like Syncthing would be great.
Same here. RM2 is probably one of my best investments for research and learning ever. Only drawback is I cannot read it without light at night. Would have been perfect if there was a back light like kindle.
I was seriously considering popping over to their site and ordering an RM2. But no backlight? That's a show-stopper for me - thanks for mentioning it as I think I just assumed it would have one given that most eReaders do.
Man, I got the thing because I wanted to use it as an ebook and document reader, but it's totally failed at that for me. I spent hours working on a decent system for getting books on the thing and came up empty. I think it would be good for reading and taking notes on academic papers, but I mostly read books, and I couldn't figure out how to get most books on there. A lot of this is Amazon's fault for kindle being a proprietary format, but a lot of it is also the non-Amazon e-book community for failing to provide solutions that are as user friendly as Amazon is.
Edit: But yeah, I love the hardware. It just isn't functional enough for me to use it regularly, which is a bummer.
This is what makes the Android eInk devices better IMO. Yeah, note taking is a touch worse but they are way better at reading as you can just grab the Kindle, Kobo, Google Play Books, Libby, Comixology app etc. And getting things off and on is a breeze because it supports MTP and cloud service apps like Dropbox and OneDrive.
> inability to just SCP a PDF or EPUB to the device
Do they support document delivery through email like Kindle? Recently I showcased[1] 'HN to Kindle' here and someone asked for Remarkable tablet support, But I didn't get an answer regarding email delivery.
Update:
A quick search on their website says documents can be emailed out of the device i.e. sharing, But there doesn't seem to be a way to email content to the device.
remailable works by associating their email with a device ID in its own db, so you don't even need to ask users for their device ID as long as you can send emails from a unique email addr. (I can explain more if helpful!)
I also have a public free version hosted at https://remailable.getneutrality.org/ if you prefer not to run one yourself, which you and your users are welcome to use. (it's tricky if you haven't worked with AWS serverless tech previously!)
Thanks again, I'm already using unique email addr just to be safe with Amazon and have prior experience with Lambda.
I'm currently in the process of validating my project and if there's enough need for reMarkable support I'll definitely use your project with due credits + donation(If my project makes any money).
I have been looking at the Remarkable 2 and other devices in the category. My use case is taking notes on CS and maths, which both often require diagrams and other drawings. Can you speak to how well it works for something like this and how it compares to note-taking with a pen and paper?
I have a ReMarkable 2 as well, and there are zero drawing tools or alike, if you want some graphical object, you just draw it.
You have a multitude of background-guides (lines, grids, etc.) for easier aligning.
The only features you have that you don't get with pen&paper are a layer system and a select tool which you can use for copy/paste/cut or move parts around.
Page management is pretty basic, but ok. You have notebooks which are folders of pages and you can change their order.
Unfortunately no. Not even with the 3rd party modifications. Though there are some full GUI linux installs iirc.
It's a common question in the community Discord, and the official patches have been accelerating and implementing a lot of long-asked-for features (e.g. pinch to zoom), but nobody really knows what's on their roadmap. So hard to say if it'll ever get side-by-side.
Hopefully they add open sourcing the whole stack to their roadmap. That'd be the best thing they can do imo. I'm so eager for a device like this that I can 100% get behind.
I use the Remarkable 2 daily. It feels like writing in a notebook - the screen gives you just a little bit of drag like a mechanical pencil and paper would. Very good to use.
I am surprised anyone would want reflow in their PDFs (that is what epub is for). The PDFs I read would be completely ruined even by minor reflow (e.g. I work with two-column text with many inline figures and math). PDF inherently as a format is not meant to have reflow.
With that context, I love reading PDFs on my remarkable 2. Zooming and panning also works pretty well (given the slow refresh rate of e-ink).
That's a legitimate criticism, and one reason I've held off buying one. I wonder how long it would take to get a screen size of 13.5" (about the same as US letter paper size, which is what most pdfs are formatted for).
> I wonder how long it would take to get a screen size of 13.5"
Probably quite long. I remember a discussion here on HN a while ago where it was said e-ink displays are expensive since there's no economy of scale and there are only a few manufacturers. Now for larger displays the demand is even lower, so prices tend to be even steeper.
That is legitimately the one thing I wish was different about the RM2 - the screen is 1/3 or so smaller than a regular sheet of paper. If it were 1:1 with a sheet of paper, I would absolutely love this thing.
I see it's been replaced by the Sony DPT-RP1, though that's still expensive. At least this is proof it's possible and creates hope for competitors to emerge.
I have both the Sony and the remarkable and the note taking experience is not comparable. Since I bought the RM2 I've essentially not touched the Sony, the RM2 is so much better. I'd also add that I use the RM2 for reading and annotating pdfs a lot and I had the same thought about size at the beginning. I am a bit more twisted now, I'd definitely like a larger screen when annotating pdfs (just reading is fine actually), but I also think I would leave the device at home much more if it were bigger. The RM2 is a perfect size for always having it with me.
That is really too bad. Hopefully there's either a larger device or upgrade soon, I've been waiting a long time for something like the reMarkable to mature into a product that fits my needs.
I bought the Onyx Boox Note Air some months ago, and I must say that I'm really happy with it. Screen refresh is good, there's almost no ghosting in default mode, and refresh rates are acceptable.
There are only two downsides about it: The vendor does not respect FOSS and does not publish the sources for their modified Linux kernel, and the device constantly phones home to China. However, the device can be rooted easily [1], and you can install a firewall to stop the preloaded apps from phoning home (verified it with Wireshark).
Man, I don't know. I have the Onyx Poke 3 and I find the software pretty janky. For instance, in order to install a dictionary, I have to jump through a whole series of hoops to download one to a PC and then upload/install it on the tablet. I could install the Kindle app (after I enable the Google Play Store), but then I might as well buy a Kindle. In order to upload epub or pdf documents to the Poke3, I have to interface through a browser on a page with a very limited interface. They do not have upload by email, bluetooth, or any other convenient interface with my phone. All in all, it's just felt like a half-baked product to me.
I use Syncthing [1] to do all the syncing, works like a charm. I have a folder synchronized between my reader, my PC and my phone, and whenever I need to send a document to the reader or from the reader to my PC, I just put it into that folder.
I discovered Syncthing last week, and it's exactly what I was looking for: a local server that syncs between Device A and Device B on the same network. No need for a middleman like Dropbox.
This is why I'm leaning towards the Note Air. The Kobo Elipsa is coming out soon but it syncs with Dropbox only.
You can install a dictionary on the device, they are just stardict dictionary files...it's literally putting a file in a folder. They also have some available to download although mainly focused on Chinese/Russian.
It runs Android. You can just sync things through the cloud provider of your choice. Put the Dropbox, OneDrive, NextCloud etc. app on and just download it from there.
Most eReaders don't have upload by email just Kindles and that doesn't let you send a more recent better formats like KFX or AZW3, just ancient mobi. Ditto Bluetooth.
And guess what? At least with Android phones "Nearby Share" works too (although that may require setting up Google Play Store.
I thinks he is looking for a "kindle" and really should get a Kindle. I actually own a Kindle and a BOOX Nova 3, they are two different products, not interchangeable if you are picky about which is better at doing what. I would have a E-ink tablet, a Kindle and a iPad depending on the tasks.
Yeah maybe. I use my Nova 2 as an everything eReader. Run the Kindle app for Kindle books, Kobo for kobo stuff, etc. Plus it will do things like Marvel Unlimited, Tachiyomi that readers from Amazon and Kobo won't.
I don't use most of their stuff on it; anything Android works and that's what I use. However I do like their reader. Never tried a dictionary installation but the rest is all resolvable with Android apps I would think; for synching anything you would use on an android phone works here too; dropbox, google drive etc.
The fact it runs Android is vastly better than some custom software (like Kindle and others) because of this reason.
If it phones home to China count me out. I’ll go for the reMarkable tyvm
I can just see me working on a brilliant invention (one can dream , right?) and putting my notes into the note boox, only to realize it gets patented before me by a Chinese company.
I have also really enjoyed my BOOX Note Air. I read like crazy on it and use it for note taking constantly. I like that I can have Firefox on it, for a little light web browsing. Maybe it's because it's my first e-ink device and I got enamored with the "new and shiny" of it all; I dunno.
Personally, I don't need it to translate my handwriting, I just like the act of writing and like being able to design my own paper types on demand, with infinite paper. For me, it meets my needs. I put hands on a variety of devices at Yodobashi Camera and this was the only one that felt natural to write on. Everything else had a perceptible lag, or the pen was weird, that I couldn't handle for long.
Of course, leave it to HN to make me feel like a total shithead for not looking into FOSS and other things (it didn't cross my mind even once). Guess I'll be rooting it this weekend; I really hate sinking the time/effort/risk into doing stuff like that.
I don’t like the software on my Onyx boox. It’s over engineered with too many options often not intuitive. Unless you opt in for their cloud service syncing sucks. I still can’t figure out how to access documents from Dropbox and edit them and sync it back.
It's been a while since I looked at it, but here's what I remember:
In the UI, you can choose if the device should communicate to Chinese or US servers. Both of them are available under the boox.com domain, so I assume they are both controlled by the Chinese manufacturer. The device uses this to check for firmware upgrades, to sync notes, for their own book store and IIRC to send some basic usage statistics. As per firmware version 3.0 (v3.1 is current), this traffic was only partly encrypted.
Besides this, the software seems to include some kind of Tencent SDK, which tries to contact Chinese servers quite aggressively, regardless of which setting you choose in the UI. The traffic is encrypted, so I couldn't figure out what it does. The servers seem to belong to Tencent's QQ service [1], so they supposedly use it for their on-device support feature. However, because the device tries to contact the servers immediately after startup, I assume it does some kind of analytics tracking as well. Blocking the service's domains on the DNS level doesn't work though, as the SDK will start to contact fixed IP addresses if DNS resolution fails.
Luckily, all of this traffic can be blocked after rooting and installing a firewall (see my post above), since all of this is implemented under Android user ID 1000, which makes it easy to block in AFWall+.
I bought this last year during pandemic. My reading time has grown exponentially, i couldn't update sure . I like that i can use play store apps so i use kindle, libby, pocket and oreilly.
My kid has been doing remote learning during the pandemic and using my RM1 for her school work. Wrote some scripts that sync the handouts her teacher posts online to the RM1 and she can work on them as if she was drawing on paper handouts like she would in school. This is much better than what the teachers were trying to teach her to do: using Adobe's PDF reader and marking up the PDFs using all those menus and buttons and typing things in.
I enjoy writing long-form especially when I need to think. I find that I get a lot of subtle anxiety and distraction using a modern computer these days that I can't just sit and think deeply about a problem anymore while using one. Instead I can take the RM2 to a quiet place, take my notes, and I can use the transcribe features to email myself plain text later or send a copy of individual pages where I've scribbled diagrams, etc. I then refine and edit my thoughts down later on a computer.
I want to be able to do more of my computing this way to be honest. Document-oriented, using long-form writing, being able to step away into different physical spaces without missing anything.
Overall though I am really happy with my RM2. It doesn't replace my paper journals... I still prefer those for longevity/archiving -- but it does great for ephemeral notes, books, marking up papers, etc. It's great for capturing the seed of ideas and letting me work without distractions.
I'm really glad I bought my ReMarkable2 (and Marker "Plus"), as it suits my use case extremely well: replacing stacks of 8.5x11" graph notepads, while adding digitization / sync, undo/redo, select/cut/paste/resize/move, (modest) pan/zoom, etc. Battery life and form factor are great. The writing UX is really something: low-latency, ~perfect hand detection, and the "feel" of writing. Yeah, the software's mediocre, but it's gotten noticeably better since I bought it ~6mo ago. And it's still early days. The OSS community did wonders for the RM1, and I expect RM2 to follow suit. It's not a do-anything kind of device (I absolutely love my Kindle Oasis for reading) but for me it was easily worth the $.
Same here. I had literally dozens of moleskines that I've been writing in for nearly 15 years. I'm a huge fan of paper, but was looking for a solution that allowed me to digitize my note-taking without giving up the ergonomics of paper.
As you point out, the "writing UX" was so astonishing, it was probably the quickest "adoption" of any major tech upgrade for me.
I bought Remarkable 2 and returned it sadly. It does one thing very well which is writing. But not a great tool for reading PDFs. When I figured pinch to zoom was not possible that was it for me. It’s a really polished tool for wiring but they have a lot of room to improve for reading experience.
Although that only helps to zoom in to one spot, if I were to try using that to read a page where the font is too small, having to shift the page left and right while zoomed, it would be a nightmare to read a document.
My gripe is I cannot switch the device to show a PDF in landscape mode. Then at least pretty much all documents' fonts would be large enough, if I use the height of the device for the width of the PDF. Then I would only have to scroll down and only after reading half a page. That would work well, scrolling left-right-left-right-.... while zoomed in does not, unless the page has two columns of text so that I don't have to scroll right-left-....
I use my RM2 mostly as epub reader. For the price - I got the preorder discount - it was the same or even lower as other pure readers of a similar size.
The software does have some weaknesses, for example sometimes I have to edit the epubs and remove some CSS background color because it ends up black on dark gray (unreadable of course), or it has set defaults for font, line height and such settings and I cannot set new defaults so I end up setting those for each and every document I sync to it anew. Still, it's acceptable for me, it's just a few (now muscle memory) clicks. To sync I sometimes have to start the Windows app to which I added a document a second time before it uploads it to the cloud server. That too now is a muscle-memory action. I hope they fix it some day but it's not a deal breaker.
I did a bit of writing and that just works and feels very good too. Other than the base use cases the software is very barebone. As others have pointed out, that's a goal. The device does everything I expect from it, which is just some basic writing and the epub reading. I can send webpages to the device (while it's online) by clicking an extension icon in the browser, which I do for RoyalRoad chapters, for example. WebToEpub creates epub files for entire Webnovels, which have to be uploaded using the Windows app though.
For me main use case is reading research articles annotate on it and sync it with my desktop and share it with my colleagues. Ideally I wanted a bibliography library tool like mendeley or zotero and keep all my annotations and notes synced. But that is far from possible on any e-ink tablet so far I have tried.
You can get reasonably close. You can use the zutilo extension for zotero which offers you a "move to tablet" option where you just point it to directory. I point it to a fuse mount of the remarkable. When zutilo moves the pdf to the tablet it removes it from the bibliography (just the pdf) and adds a special tag. At a later point you can do a fetch from tablet and zotero pulls back the paper from the tablet directory and extracts the annotations. This is also the biggest issue, because it can't extract text from your handwriting.
That's interesting, because I read PDFs (and annotate) every single day. Pinch-to-zoom works great, and it's the best PDF reader I've experienced. Can't recommend highly enough.
Pinch zoom is available in PDFs now. I'm on 2.7, but I believe it was added in 2.6. It works really well. Of course it's far slower than on a normal tablet due to the e-ink screen, but it's definitely fine for me.
Yeah, I'm on some facebook reMarkable groups and it's stunning how many people bought it without watching a single video from manufacturer. They though browser, video, dropbox/google drive/others will be available, or that it will integrate with their decade worth of notes from various services...
Those tablet e-ink devices does some of that. reMarkable is just a notepad with very simple cloud sync to their cloud.
That's disappointing to hear. I've been on the fence about way to pick one of these up but I had heard that the reading experience was sub par. I have yet to find an e-ink tablet that's attractive enough to spend money on.
I'm using ReMarkable 2 as well and am happy with it, but if I would just wait for other devices to come up I'd consider boox nova or something like that for their completely different (and better) text convertion and so on.
But still - the device is quite awesome and I tough myself some drawing. Use it all the time to prototype diagrams and show architecture. Love it that I can draw some weird system connections on a diagram, copy and paste, and change some parts. Then I send a PDF and use it as a flip-book on zoom cals :)
Opensource tweaks are pretty good now. Some are actually obsolete as ReMarkable did nice improvements to zoom and document links. But most tweaks support RM2 already.
I have a remarkable 2 as well and It's a fantastic notetaker and pdf annotation device. One benefit I didn't think about beforehand but use somewhat frequently is signing documents while working from home. Just print to pdf, copy to remarkable, sign, email back to sender. Way easier than printing, signing, scanning, and then emailing back.
In those cases I usually take the PDF, open it with LibreOffice and paste over my signature, scanned once upon a time. Never got any complaints, but it could be easily discovered for sure.
This is my experience too. I used to keep a stack of notebooks around, and I never seemed to have the right one on hand. Now I just have to keep track of one notebook that will never run out of space. With the most recent updates the e-reading experience has also gotten much better.
At this point the only feature I'd say is lacking is some kind of e-book store integration. I'd like to be able to purchase books from mainstream publishers to read on the device (it's sad how few publishers distribute books in non-DRM, plain ePub files these days).
I always think of the remarkable as a really odd device.
Hardware wise, it looks great, but I seldom hear good things about the software, only that it is "improving" for years now.
Also, while I think the form factor would be great for a text and graphics based computing device, they seem to invest as much energy as possible in playing down the computing angle, so that instead of having something great to do technical sketching, email or even interactive notebooks like Jupiter on, you get a really over engineered piece of paper.
Now, it's pretty open, which is great, but I am not that convinced it will necessary remain so, and at that price, buying it only in the hopes of some people making better software in their free time always seems like a bigger gamble I like to take. I accept that for me ~120€ ereader, but for 5 times the price?
I really wish they would embrace mobile computing. Combining an e-ink tablet optimized for text with a moldable operating system like on the old xerox machines could be so incredibly good.
By the way, does the hardware allow connecting an external keyboard?
Remarkable is really a device for people who explicitly don't want those features. They're betting hard that the market exists, although it probably isn't as large as the market for an as-powerful-as-possible general-purpose computing device.
I've seen it mentioned that someone got an USB keyboard working, and the device is pretty hackable overall (you can SSH to root over wifi out of the box!), but I think if you want to connect an external keyboard then it probably isn't for you anyway. You can't even type text in documents.
Disclaimer: reMarkable 2 user, pretty happy with their focus, but I wish the device was more responsive in some scenarios (complicated drawings are very slow) and there's certainly many missing core drawing/writing/reading features.
Let me just add that I am not talking about a powerful all purpose computing device, because I think we pretty much have this with modern tablets/laptops.
But I do feel the computing part could be much more utilized to make taking notes and reading text better. I am thinking of Hypertext, drawing tools like sketchpad, simple programming tools etc.
Not a device that does as much as possible badly, but one that could really push forward computing and text to get something more akin to digital paper we have seen for years in science fiction.
I don't begrudge people who like the extremely limited use case it has today, I personally just don't really get it why I should spend hundreds of dollars on something that I can pretty much get with a notebook and my smartphone camera.
On the other hand, this is a general problem these days that hampers innovation. As hard as hardware seems to be, it is obviously much easier than software, which is why so many devices these days fall short.
> But I do feel the computing part could be much more utilized to make taking notes and reading text better. I am thinking of Hypertext, drawing tools like sketchpad, simple programming tools etc.
The problem is that even those "simple" things are a massive amount of work to get right (where "right" means bug-free, performant, well-documented (or intuitive - pick at least one), flexible, and with an ergonomic interface). Additionally, they're significantly more work than the even simpler restricted feature-set that the reMarkable currently offers.
I believe that the reMarkable developers are shooting for "quality over quantity" - polishing a small feature-set to a blinding shine, rather than trying to implement a larger feature-set poorly - that is, an intentional trade-off. I'm happy with that trade-off, but I know that others might not be - in which case, you'll probably get the Android device that other people in the thread are discussing.
Also, the reMarkable is open - you can add all these things yourself, if you're sufficiently motivated.
> something that I can pretty much get with a notebook
The reMarkable's features, as limited as they are, are still miles beyond what a notebook gives you. You have backup, synchronization, document export (PDF, raster, SVG), undo/redo, multiple documents, digital storage, cut/copy/paste, erasing (pen can't be erased, pencil usually leaves marks and has other problems), multiple brushes, page reordering, multiple page templates (lined, grid, music, blank canvas, and more), layers, really good handwriting recognition, and more.
Yes, it's light-years behind what we could have - but we're stuck in the place we're at because of a number of computing decisions that we made in the past (and continue to make now) that hamper creativity and flexibility, and overcoming those choices requires a lot of resources and the ability to ignore/bypass/counteract a massive amount of market inertia. The reMarkable team simply doesn't have those resources, so they have to make a trade-off - and the trade-off they made was quality over quantity (of features).
> Also, the reMarkable is open - you can add all these things yourself, if you're sufficiently motivated.
Since I had bought (and later returned) the RM2 largely due to misleading statements here on HN about it being "so very open", I'd like to add a warning to anyone reading the parent comment:
The RM2 is open in the sense that anyone with a background in reverse engineering might be able to modify a few things. It is far from being an open platform, though. Remember how some people complain that Android is not really open because Google controls it, source code often gets released with a delay and some libraries are proprietary? Well, I've got bad news – in terms of openness Android is still light years ahead of the Remarkable software stack.
You have to explicitly turn on SSH access, and each device has its own unique SSH password which is only accessible from the device itself. It's not a set of generic admin/admin creds.
One would hope not, but it makes connecting to less trusted networks much more risky than it needs to be. And I'm sure that's something users will regularly do.
Software updates are infrequent and they certainly aren't pushing out standalone security errata that I've seen.
I don't see this as a fair point when the option is disabled by default, like in this case. If you enabled it, then you should be aware of the risks of it, if you connect it to untrusted networks.
I'm a fan of the remarkable, use v2 every day. My high school daughter uses my old v1 every day. We both love it.
But it is absolutely very opinionated- entirely oriented around hand-writing use cases, specifically those that involve being away from power and network. So its power budget is low and it has amazingly robust synchronization.
You can read and do some other things on it, but that's not what it solves for.
>I seldom hear good things about the software, only that it is "improving" for years now.
I think that depends on what you want out of the device. It's definitely limited - but, as other posters note, that's an explicit design choice. A design goal in fact. But what it does, it does pretty well. I've had my RM2 for maybe a year now. And I use it daily. It's become my preferred note-taking & sketching medium, replacing the paper notepads I've used for years.
I don't use it for anything else: but it supports those two use cases very nicely. It's simple but subtle things that I've found useful, for example:
1. Keeping my notes in folders.
2. Being able to add notes to a subject (folder), rather than interleaving in a paper book
3. Being able to move things about when sketching. I'd often get to the edge of the paper in a notebook and need to cram something awkwardly. Now, I can just select and move.
I've tried using a wacom tablet connected to the PC instead, and much prefer the remarkable. The ergonomics just feel so much better.
It's not perfect: live sync can be a bit unreliable, and I'd prefer the "todo" template to be a bit more app-like (move items off the list when complete).
But I can live with those. I like the fact it's focused, efficient, pleasant to use, and doesn't try to be all things to all people.
I think that as e-ink gets better and better refresh rates, that having it as a grayscale monitor for things like textbooks/markup and browsing the web will make sense. Having an e-ink tablet to browse HN, check email and read the morning paper sounds pretty nice. I used to get the NYTimes delivered to my Kindle each morning.
That's not this product. The point to a device like the Remarkable is that it can't do those things. I could have an iPad Pro with a better pen, the full power of OneNote, etc., but it's way too easy to go get distracted by HN or email or a news flash. The Remarkable is a focus device.
> I think that as e-ink gets better and better refresh rates,
Could you clarify your meaning? Because as far as I know, there hasn't been any improvement in "refresh rates". Typical update times are still around 600ms. Unless you mean tricks like A2 as used by vendors like Dasung which aren't real completed updates.
Forget grayscale, E-ink is going color. Early color devices are on the market already. And there are displays in the works that are fast enough to render video.
I'm really looking forward to the future of e-ink displays.
yeah, call me in 5 years when those devices are no the crap they are today with their own subpixel problems where everything is blurry unless you use giant size font's .
But should a more modern, digital paper, not enhance the human intellect? Why should I not be able to jot down a math formula that the computer then solves for me? Why cant I draw a triangle and let it compute the sides? Why not write a letter to a friend and send it directly to them and also read their answer on the same device?
This would be enhancing paper for me. Combining the at this point pretty natural way of writing on paper with many of the modern computers amenities. Sure, you might not need all these, but paper is also cents if you really need "Not features". Minimalism and focus on core features is fine, but artificially limitations in this way does not seem to help remarkable to deliver good software. So what does it achieve?
The RM2 pen latency (20 ms) is double the iPad's (9 ms).
I wouldn't call the RM2 interactive paper. It's digital paper. Remarkable has focused their device to that niche and I think that was very smart of them. It's all about e-ink, crazy battery life, no distractions. I know a lot of people want more functionality - especially in the reader area, drawing apps, and calendar functions. So far Remarkable has managed to stay focused on the core functionality and I think the longer they can remain focused, the better off the company is. Every feature they add is something they have to test and maintain forever and that's a lot for a small company to do and still sell the device for about $400 (which is a bargain IMHO).
What I'd like to see is a bigger option. It would be nice to have at least a full A4/letter size screen. It would make dealing with PDFs a much better experience.
I have a reMarkable 2 for a while now, and I'm super happy with it. I specifically didn't want an Android device because of the obsolescence. The reMarkable doesn't run much in the background and does its job well.
I bought it to read my IT books, works perfectly. I'm also an artist, and even though I didn't expect much from the pen, sketching on it is very fun and I find myself filling a page of sketches almost every day.
Having full access to the underlying OS is also a big plus, even though I didn't do anything with that yet.
Boox Note Air does through Bluetooth or USB C. It just runs Android so you can pretty much do whatever. It's literally an Android Tablet with an eInk screen.
Remarkable you can hack in keyboard support. They are just focused on making a good digital notepad. Even their reading software is sub-par.
There is no point chasing hardware customers who would only pay $120 for a device like this. You're never going to be able to make a sustainable business at that prices and those people are always going to be comparing your product to Amazon Kindle prices yet also demanding way beyond that.
Better to find an audience that is passionate about what you're building and passionate for a new alternative and willing to spend the money that can keep your business sustainable. I understand you'd be more interested if it was Jupiter notebooks tablet but eInk but that's an even more niche product than note taking and would therefore cost way more than the current price.
What I can say is it just works. If you keep a notebook, it is a viable alternative with few drawbacks and many advantages in my experience.
They have been very careful and deliberate with their features. At first it was odd or even frustrating that the capabilities are limited, but over time I have started to understand their approach and wanting to align with their goal of being a focused and distraction free experience.
It seems like they have little real competition in this niche they have carved out, so can take the time to slowly but continuously role out enhancements. It reminds me of how the iPhone has been limited in overall capabilities compared to Android but stays more streamlined as enhancements are made.
I can tell you my wife absolutely loves her Remarkable 2. I kinda want one myself now, but am not sure I can justify the cost for myself because my technology usage is different.
In her case, the ereader functionality is secondary. She's big on writing in notebooks and the Remarkable's experience there justifies the cost. It's really a device for writing, not reading.
> Hardware wise, it looks great, but I seldom hear good things about the software, only that it is "improving" for years now.
It was pretty much DOA for me. Over the years I have learned/trained my hand to keep away from pen and paper. Well, mostly. Asking the same limb to now go back into taking notes by hand or drawing free-hand is a no-go for me. I learned this the hard way. And yes, laggy software makes it worse.
Well, in theory. One could write an app for that I guess. But the whole complex android stack does not really appeal to me. Simplicity I think, would also be really important. And I think openness goes hand in hand with that.
Boox is easy to root and the remarkable is open. Not sure how well the remarkable would work with a keyboard, but my Boox included a keyboard (it's just a BLE one but it has good support). On the remarkable at least you should be able to run some tiny linux distro with a simple as you want stack. Guess in time we will get something; just not sure how to make sure it's more open.
> Later this month I'll take a look at Supernote which already has a enthusiastic community and promises to have a rich API for 3rd parties to explore and expand.
I tried the Remarkable 2 for a month but ended up returning it and ordering the Supernote A5X instead – I couldn't be happier! Its main advantages (IMO):
- The Supernote acts as a regular USB mass storage device, so syncing files (w/o resorting to the cloud) is not as hard as with the RM2 (which serves a really buggy web interface over USB, pretending to be an ethernet device). Sure, the RM2 gives you SSH access but that doesn't help much because it's using a shitty proprietary file system, so you can't just scp your documents but need to convert them first.
- The Supernote comes with much better PDF reading and annotation capabilities. (The RM2 has pretty much none.)
- The Supernote's soft non-glass surface is more comfortable for long writing sessions – writing on it feels like writing with a gel pen. Plus you'll never need to replace your pen tips as they're made from ceramic.
- The Supernote A5X is running Android instead of a barebones Linux system, meaning that it comes with more features out of the box and it'll be much easier to extend it in the future when Ratta opens up their platform. (Sure, you can "hack" your RM2 but the chances that the next official update will then completely brick your device are rather high – /r/RemarkableTablet/ is full of these stories.)
> Sure, you can "hack" your RM2 but the chances that the next official update will then completely brick your device are rather high – /r/RemarkableTablet/ is full of these stories
No... they're approximately 0.
The next update will wipe out your modifications, everything outside of the home directory is wiped, but the device will still work.
People bricking their devices are people actively doing things that brick their devices, not updates coming along and bricking them later.
I learned that 9-10 inches is to small to annotate pdfs so I decided against remarkable or supernote a5. To be honest, most science-y documents I read by the computer, because I try to use knowledge right away in some notebook and/or repl.
But then I noticed that I also read substantial amount of soft skill/self help/popscience books and they're easily obtainable in epubs. I pulled te trigger and bought supernote a6x. It size is perfect. I can read and annotate on the go, I can jot during coffee breaks. I take notes on the meetings and then I can put supernote on the stand beside monitor and see bullet points/todo lists for this day.
Supernote support and community is very helpful and constant upgrades take user requests into account.
Thanks for sharing. I got the reMarkable 1 pretty early and I've been debating ordering the reMarkable 2. I've heard almost exclusively good things about it, but right now I'm happy enough with the original device. I hadn't heard of Supernote until seeing this comment, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on when I think about upgrading.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say the RM2 has "pretty much none" when it comes to PDF reading and annotation capabilities. That's pretty much exclusively what I use my RM1 device for and it works great.
EDIT: Wow. Looked at the A5X and for the price compared to the RM2, it's very enticing. (Once you throw in the folio and the pen for the RM2, the A5X is comparable if not cheaper.) Since my old Kindle Keyboard died a while back, I haven't replaced it. Looks like the A5X can also read Kindle books which is a huge draw for me. Do you know if there's any API that allows me to write my own utilities to sync with the A5X? Specifically, I want to be able to send PDFs to the device programmatically that will be eventually synced the next time I use it.
> I'm not sure what you mean when you say the RM2 has "pretty much none" when it comes to PDF reading and annotation capabilities.
Well, all you can basically do is scribble within a PDF. The RM2 doesn't offer proper PDFs annotations and it doesn't even come close to the Supernote in terms of other useful features like bookmarking, digests, etc.
> EDIT: Wow. Looked at the A5X and for the price compared to the RM2, it's very enticing.
Yup, exactly. It seems more expensive upon first sight but it's actually a pretty good deal.
> Do you know if there's any API that allows me to write my own utilities to sync with the A5X? Specifically, I want to be able to send PDFs to the device programmatically that will be eventually synced the next time I use it.
This is exactly what I'm waiting for, too! My hope is that once they open up their platform I'll be able to install the Syncthing Android app and sync my Supernote with all my other devices over WiFi.
This is true and I don't really mind that personally although having read up a bit more on the Supernote, the annotations it generates do seem much nicer.
> it's actually a pretty good deal
Pricing seems about the same really. Especially when you consider the bundle of table, folio, and pen together for each. I was disappointed to see that the standard Supernote pen does not include an eraser and the LAMY pen which does lacks the ceramic tip and instead requires replacing nibs just like the reMarkable pen.
> Pricing seems about the same really. Especially when you consider the bundle of table, folio, and pen together for each.
Fair enough. On the other hand, the Supernote comes with more features than the RM2 and gets updates much more frequently, so one would have to price that in, too.
> I was disappointed to see that the standard Supernote pen does not include an eraser and the LAMY pen which does lacks the ceramic tip and instead requires replacing nibs just like the reMarkable pen.
True. I hear that Ratta (the company behind the Supernote) is working on a pen with built-in eraser, though.
I recently saw that in a firmware update last month there was a new "gesture eraser" feature added. Supposedly if you hold two figures down elsewhere on the screen, then drawing turns into area erase. Curious if you've tried this and how well it works.
This is going to sound like an odd question -- does the Supernote do too much? Or is it still simple to use?
I've been wavering on a RM2. I already have an iPad with the Paperlike screen cover. And I absolutely love writing on it. However, it has two downsides for me that keep me from using it all the time for notes:
1) It's still pretty heavy
2) It does too much. Seriously, I also have a keyboard for it, and there are tons of apps that I can use. This is the problem -- because it can do so much, I can't just use it for only notes.
I never heard of the Supernote until today, but it sounds great. I'm just worried that it might do a little too much? I'd love to have a note taking device that I used as much as I used to use a paper notebook.
I understand where you're coming from! Let me dodge your question by saying that, at least for me, the RM2 provides too little . Remarkable (the company) seems to pursuing Apple's vision here in that they're trying to avoid feature bloat – this I appreciate but I still think they should provide more than the most basic of features.
As for the Supernote, it comes with quite a few features I love but also a few ones (email, cloud sync, OCR) I don't really use. But that's fine as they never get in my way, so I don't really notice them.
One exception where the RM2 is (still?) superior feature-wise: Brush styles. The Supernote doesn't come with a lot of options here and is still missing a caligraphy pen and a pencil. It hasn't really bothered me but it might bother people who want to use their e-ink tablet for drawing.
It has an excellent note taking app, a quirky way to create word docs, a calendar, ability to read and annotate pdf/epub, an email app (which I found impossible to set up), and kindle. That's it. You cannot install/side-load apps.
So, it is a perfect device for no distraction note taking.
I don't use those features but currently you can sync it using Ratta's own cloud (which is optional by the way, no obligation to create an account), dropbox or email.
Otherwise you can copy files via USB.
There's no APIs that i know off and currently the device is not hackable so there's no alternative software.
The supernote website / product pages are super confusing.
If I want the Lamy pen, and don't want the "nebula" cover, I have to buy the lamy pen separately, but I'll also still get the standard set, which I don't want? Or can I choose the Lamy set but change the cover?
Also, the Lamy pen has a function button, but also doesn't have the ceramic nib. This is weird since they go to such great lengths to convey how valuable the "never wear-out nib" is on the regular supernote pen. Also, does the Lamy pen need to be charged somehow?
Also, apparently, Canadians have had to pay ~$95 in duty, and shipping already isn't cheap. 95$ in duty is insane IMO.
Seems like an interesting product, but the website needs a huge overhaul IMO. I've been looking to replace my Kobo H20 Aura for a while, and I wouldn't mind ponying up a more for the supernote, but the website leaves me with more questions than answers.
It's important to note that unlike the Onyx Boox that exposes the Play Store, the Supernote is only using Android under the hood, it's not visible. It's still an experience controlled by Supernote.
That why they could preinstall the Kindle app, however they don't let you install apps and have a bad experience in the Play Store, bad experience with apps that work but are clunky on an e-ink display...
Not sure why you're getting downvoted – this is certainly a matter of taste. Why do you consider it a feature, though?
Here's why I prefer Android over plain Linux on anything that's not a laptop or desktop computer (or a server):
- Much more secure. Every app is running in a sandbox and permissions are clearly defined. (This is a big one! I don't want to have to trust the apps I'm running.)
- Data encryption by default
- Clearly defined ways for apps to talk to one another (intents etc.), for user data to be separated from app cache etc, for user data to get backed up via Google Backup / Seedvault. Anyone who's trying to do the same on Linux needs to re-invent the wheel here. As Ratta is planning to open up their Supernote platform for 3rd-party apps, this is crucial.
- A/B updates – it's hard to break your device
- Bluetooth & fingerprint support. I wish the Supernote came with a fingerprint reader but it does allow you to use a bluetooth keyboard (though typing comes with a rather long delay)
Part of the draw for me is a device that does very few things with hardware/software optimized for doing those few things well.
In a lot of ways that's the opposite of Android. It doesn't mean that an Android implementation as the base OS has to be bad, but it requires extra effort to constrain it to be good. I've also had performance issues with Android in the past, but maybe that's better now.
I bought a Remarkable 2 myself, and I have to say I'm really happy with it. The built in e-reader was a bit mediocre, but a quick SSH session and a couple community scripts later and with just a long swipe across the screen I could access Koreader whenever I wanted.
I don’t understand how they put so little effort into software compared to hardware. They raised money recently they should be able to hire a decent software team, but I’m afraid they’ll start pushing towards subscription only features now
"so little effort into software"? Quite the opposite, it seems like they've put a lot of effort into the software. Everything "just works" and is polished, unlike almost every other piece of software I've ever used.
Don't mistake a lack of advanced features for a lack of software effort. reMarkable is making an intentional trade-off - more feature quality, less feature quantity.
If a guy could create amazing ux improvements without access to code [1] and by binary patching I’d assume a vc funded company could also. I consider this patch to be essential for my sanity
I'm all for fewer polished features - but we don't get any of those.
Prior to the latest updates I actively regretted my reMarkable 2 purchase. Now it's back to "a decent device that I would never recommend anyone pay full price for"
Let's start with eReading: Hyperlinks in ePub and PDF didn't work. As such, your table of contents and index are worthless, you don't have quick access to footnotes, and so on. They only very recently finally added this in the 2.6 update.
If links don't work they must have some way to jump between pages easily, right? No, wrong again. Jumping to a page number is 3 clicks deep (pretty sure it was 4 prior to 1.17): Upper left corner, page overview, "Go to page". You then have to move from the top of the screen to the bottom to enter the page number and then back to the top since they couldn't be bothered to put an enter/OK button with the other buttons.
Then there's the controls in general. To switch between writing utensils, you need the left menu. This covers your document content and there's no way to just scale the content into the remaining space. This means that to work on an entire document you need to be constantly opening and closing that menu. There's not even a way to have the button backgrounds be transparent so you can read what's behind them without interacting.
Search is very slow. It takes FOREVER to index a book, and you're given no indication of if it's done. Instead, if I open a large PDF and search, I will be told that there are no results rather than that it hasn't finished looking yet. If I wait 15 seconds, things may magically appear on my screen unexpectedly.
eBooks are slow to load, and changing text size requires you to wait while the entire book is rerendered (losing your notes in the process since they're image-based rather than proper annotations)
This is primarily a drawing/creation device. A basic tool that would help here is stroke-based erasing. They have stroke knowledge since Undo supports that, but the eraser is a clumsy mess that reminds me of the worst cheap elementary school supplies.
While we're on basic UX, why is the entire device in "light mode" except for the settings app which is inverted into dark mode with no way to change it to a normal UX?
Those are all off the top of my head. I have a much longer list of thoughts in a document somewhere. My overall point is that my expectations a full Android device with fancy editors. My expectations were an optimized focus/creation device, but the software lets the hardware down in a bad way even for their core scenarios of reading, annotating, and drawing.
> I'm all for fewer polished features - but we don't get any of those.
I don't think that the rest of your comment substantiates this. You don't have any arguments that the core functionality is lacking in some way - everything you say seems to be about non-core things.
> Hyperlinks in ePub and PDF didn't work.
Note the "didn't", and also PDF hyperlinks is not an "essential" feature for the purpose of the rm2, which is writing and annotating.
> If links don't work they must have some way to jump between pages easily, right?
Not core to writing and annotating. You're looking for a document-navigation system, which the rm2 is not.
> Search is very slow.
See previous comment about the rm2 not meant to be a document-navigation system.
> eBooks are slow to load, and changing text size requires you to wait while the entire book is rerendered (losing your notes in the process since they're image-based rather than proper annotations)
This might be the only valid complaint here, although it's still a non-essential feature. An essential feature is the ability to take notes, which you can.
> This is primarily a drawing/creation device.
That's literally how it's marketed - "Writing, reading, and visualizing only".
> A basic tool that would help here is stroke-based erasing. They have stroke knowledge since Undo supports that, but the eraser is a clumsy mess that reminds me of the worst cheap elementary school supplies.
The eraser tool is perfectly functional. I use it continually with no problems. Could it be better? Yes, like almost every piece of software ever written. Is it "a clumsy mess"? Not even close.
> While we're on basic UX, why is the entire device in "light mode" except for the settings app which is inverted into dark mode with no way to change it to a normal UX?
That's a single UX issue, among many things that they got right, that has little impact on the usability of the device.
You neglected to mention how the drawing, cut/copy/paste, convert-to-text, eraser, templates, and almost every other feature "just work". You do get all of those "polished features" - your stretch goals are not core functionality.
>That's literally how it's marketed - "Writing, reading, and visualizing only".
>Not core to writing and annotating. You're looking for a document-navigation system, which the rm2 is not.
Document navigation is absolutely a core part of reading. When I read a book, I page around it because that's how books work. When I reference a book I've already read, I want to look in the index or the table of contents and go there.
There are 6 things that reMarkable claims the device does on their homepage. "All your notes, organized and accessible on all devices" and "Take handwritten notes, read, and review documents" are two of them. Reading and searching are core scenarios.
I don't personally own a reMarkable, so I have no idea if this is related to what you're mentioning, but version 2.7 does seem to have added improved navigation of the sort you're describing: https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-2-7-small-steps-...
> Document navigation is absolutely a core part of reading.
This is a stretch. "Reading" means reading. You open a book and read it cover-to-cover. "Document navigation" is extra stuff beyond reading - it is not core. When you read a novel, you are not expected to jump back and forth between different chapters or sections, and the vast majority of people don't.
When you teach your child to "read", you don't teach them to click on PDF links (that's "web searching" or "computer literacy" or whatever) or to flip to arbitrary pages as fast as possible, or to search through a file - you literally teach them the English alphabet, how to parse words and sentences, and that's it - they know how to read. One knows how to "read" even if they've never seen a computer in their life, and if they don't know how to cross-reference books and articles, and if they don't know how to use an index.
> When I read a book, I page around it because that's how books work.
That's irrelevant. You can write on the margins of a book "because that's how books work", yet that's totally unrelated to "reading". I can clip out fragments of a book and put them on my refrigerator - that doesn't mean that a core part of reading is the extraction of inspirational quotes.
> When I reference a book I've already read, I want to look in the index or the table of contents and go there.
And yet, that's not a "core part of reading", and doesn't need to be optimized as such. The core parts of reading are reading words and flipping pages. Indices and tables of contents, while important, are not a core part of reading - they're important, sure, but if you remove them, you can still read things. That's what "core" means - "core" means "without this element, you cannot do the activity".
Let me repeat that again - if you remove the ability to flip to arbitrary pages (but keep the spot you were last reading in - which the reMarkable does), remove the table of contents, and remove the index, you can still read a book.
Will you be able to perform research effectively? No. But that's not what the reMarkable is for. I'll be the second to admit that the reMarkable 2 is terrible at research - but it's not meant to be used for research, it's meant to be used for simple reading, and note-taking while you do research on another device.
> [...] searching are core scenarios.
False. Their homepage literally never mentions "search" or "index". It's simply not there. Would search be useful? Heck yes. Is it necessary for reading? Absolutely not, see above.
As feature-limited as the reMarkable is, it is upfront about those limited features, and it executes on the features that it does promise at least better than most other pieces of technology.
I only have the reMarkable 1, but I've actually been pretty happy with the software on the device on the constant upgrades. What has been really disappointing is the clunky desktop and mobile apps and the fact that there's no Web app. Personally I wish they would just abandon the desktop and mobile apps and build a great Web app that works OK everywhere.
The software is fine for note taking, and reading and annotating PDFs, which is what I mostly use it for at work. The reader does however not feel set up for reading books. With it being fairly trivial to install Koreader however this turned into a non-issue to me.
I have an RM2 and use it a lot but the jagged lines bother me. I got the Onyx Boox and returned it, the software was just too clunky and did not have the paper feel, instead felt very plasticky
I am happy with the Boox; it's a great device (hardware + the reader too) I think and I use it every day. Besides the China nature (which means what user Tho85 already explained here), I am a huge fan of the idea more different eReader types. For a lot of tasks. I often work in bright sunlight and it works really well while my laptops, including the MacBook m1 will give me a headache in 15 minutes glaring against the sun; this is just perfect and powerful enough to be a big screen for another device.
Because of this device I now have the weird hallucination of my perfect device; seems it would be a surface pro x lte (but later gen; it needs to at last get closer to usable software wise) but with a color eInk screen. I know they will never make this but yep, that would be basically my daily driver. The Boox people could come quite far but they focus on eReaders.
Has anyone here used a reMarkable 2 and had the chance to compare it to a Supernote or a Note Air?
I've had the opportunity to use a reMarkable in person, and it's the first and only digital writing device that I could tolerate to write notes. The MS Surface, iPad Pro and Samsung tablets have never cut it for me.
It's difficult to quantify why - a combination of pen-to-display distance, latency and screen texture perhaps.
Reviewers seem to agree that the Supernote and Note Air have higher latency, and higher pen-to-display distance, so I wonder if I could work with them or not.
The reMarkable seems to to be the go-to device as a digital notepad, but doesn't do anything beyond that, whereas the other devices offer a (near) full Android experience, which would be more useful to me as a dwevice that costs £400+.
I don't think I'd get a huge amount out of Android itself, but just being able to install a browser with a reader mode would be really nice. In my mind, I'd install Firefox and use that when reading articles.
I've used the Note Air, briefly, and now use the RM2 everyday - my use case is for reading documents, signing documents, and storing notes at work due to the high number of lawsuits and FOIA requests. I use it almost exclusively for those three things.
The Note Air felt like drawing on plastic. Like using a ballpoint pen on a projector screen. It was easy for me to drift around the page. And my already terrible handwriting suffered. The transcription wasn't clean, and had many errors based on my handwriting. The RM2 feels like writing on paper. It has fantastic recognition for my handwriting, and the transcribing has one or maybe two weird words per page.
The only thing with the RM2 is there is no way to tag and search your pages. So you have to be very strategic with how you organize your notebooks, otherwise it's easy to just have a mess of a million pages you can never get through to find what you need. Tagging and searching would make the RM2 just AMAZING.
> Reviewers seem to agree that the Supernote and Note Air have higher latency, and higher pen-to-display distance, so I wonder if I could work with them or not.
The Supernote does come with slightly higher input latency but not by much – I got used to it pretty quickly and honestly don't really notice it anymore.
If the reMarkable could integrate well with other productivity tools, I'd probably ask my employer for one.
Being able to read my emails, manage my calendar, read my RSS feeds, access my documents from Google Drive and optionally annotate them (a copy of it in PDF form) would be what I'd have in mind to justify buying one.
Personally, I really wish the Remarkable 2 would integrate with O'Reilly's new learning platform. I love having access to just about every tech book ever written, but I hate reading on a screen. The Remarkable is the perfect form factor for displaying tech books and if I could get the O'Reilly app on the Remarkable and read from their library on it... that would be enough to push me over the edge to get one. Hell, if that was all I ever did with it that would be worth it for me.
You can do this on a Boox android-based e-ink tablet, which I’ve done and generally works well (after initial setup fiddling with the color to grayscale conversion)
I'm a very happy ReMarkable 2 owner. I only wish it had been available many years ago: maaaan this thing would have saved me lugging around (and losing!) a gazillion duplicates of papers with different sets of notes on them during my PhD. I'm an incredibly disorganized person, and the RM2 has been an absolute godsend for me.
Positives:
* Build quality feels great.
* Screen is super responsive when writing. And responsive enough when flipping pages (although I am not familiar with the state of the art ebook readers).
* Pen feels really good against the surface. After one day of getting used to it, it started feeling as natural as paper for me.
* Hacker friendly: Tick a box under "settings" and it gives you the root password, and you just plug in a USB cable and SSH in as you please. Inside is a pretty standard Busybox-based Linux. All the cloud gizmos are optional. See also https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
* Eternal battery life and perfect viewing angles and everything else you'd expect from this kind of screen.
Negatives:
* I would have like the screen to be just a liiiittle bit bigger. Some papers on A4 paper with smaller fonts cause me to squint a little unless I zoom in to crop out the margins (and if the margins aren't the same on each page, that's annoying).
* The upselling price of the nice carrying cases and the "fancy" pen are a bit ridiculous. Thankfully, the fancy pen isn't really that useful to me, because I prefer the fill-erase mode anyway.
* I often accidentally hit the power on button when carrying the thing.
* I know they're trying to minimize physical buttons, but I would personally have loved a physical button (preferably on the pen!) to flip into (fill-)erase mode.
I love eink devices but got turned off by the first couple of generations because they always underdelivered with PDF display, which seemed like a central use case to me. I should be able to open a random graphics-heavy PDF and have it display perfectly (ignoring color) and in a reasonable amount of time for an eink device to be worth it to me.
This has made me want to revisit them but I don't think I'd want to purchase one without being able to stress test in person.
I understand that. I gotta say I was blown away with how well the RM2 handles complex PDFs.
Edit: As a stress test, I just opened the most complex PDF I had on my computer – http://mirrors.ctan.org/graphics/pgf/base/doc/pgfmanual.pdf . I think it works really well on the RM2. The gradients in some of the fancier features look ugly, but other than that everything is quite readable, and flipping pages is quite spiffy (I know some ordinary computer PDF readers sometimes have noticable loading times for certain pages in this document).
I use the Boox with papers (so almost only PDFs) on the internal reader and on Android readers; it works really well. In the end I keep using the internal reader because it has split view for me to scribble notes next to every page. Disclaimer: I am older with glasses but not reading glasses; I read fine with incredibly small fonts; I prefer it that way. So YMMV but for me and for PDFs it is an ideal device for sure. If the built-in reader is not good enough, you just get one from the Play Store; there are enough very good ones there.
Ah, e-readers. I'm looking for a good one since forever, but they are either too small, too slow or too costly. Hopefully technology developments will bring soon a good 10" before my eyes will need a 15" one:)
Reading old books and magazines is also a problem: they're often 100% graphics with no OCRed text, therefore they're really slow, also zooming a page with diagrams on a technical book can be painful on low end hardware.
Does anyone have a model to suggest with 10" screen size?
I don't have many other requirements, other than:
Decent speed, storage space and battery life.
Support for beefy pdfs and other e-book formats. (this is important, one of my old readers took like forever to load a big book, then 15 seconds to turn each page).
I would connect it only to my network, so it must not rely on cloud services et al.
Color not needed, grayscale will do if well implemented.
Taking notes not needed, although being able to fill pdf forms might be handy,
but it's not a requirement.
No offense, but the article discusses 10" ereaders heavily (that's the screen size of both the reMarkable 2 and the Note Air). There's also the Kobo Elipsa if you'd like something that's totally focused on reading.
I've been using a 7.8" Nova 3 myself for a few months now, and it's a dramatic improvement over the 6" Kindle I was using before. I love having a screen that's closer to the size of your average hardcover page, and it's just large enough to make PDFs readable at 100% zoom. It's also very fast, though there's always a bit of perceivable e-ink related lag unless you put an app on the fastest refresh rate. The warm frontlight is also the best I've experienced on an ereader, even better than what I've seen on Kindles.
IMO, 10" might be a smidge too large for comfortably reading in bed -- the Note Air might feel a bit too large physically and heavy to hold up if you're reading for long periods of time with one arm holding it up. If that's a common use case for you, you should really consider the Onyx Boox Nova 3, like I have, or maybe the Kobo Forma, which is a bit cheaper and reading-focused.
I'm using my Nova 3 completely disconnected from the internet most of the time, though I do occasionally find it useful to fire up Firefox for random browsing (and to sometimes transfer files with https://snapdrop.net/, which is like Apple's Airdrop on your local network). I don't think using the Nova 3, Forma, Elipsa, reMarkable 2, or Note Air offline most or all of the time would be a problem, though from what I can tell reMarkable has invested a lot in sync functionality that you might not necessarily want to turn off. Though the reMarkable probably wouldn't be for you, since it's focused on note-taking, rather than reading.
Thanks. They seem really nice devices, especially the Remarkable2.
The problem with working online is that most of these devices phone home regularly, and while I wouldn't mind if they read with me an electronics magazine or book, that would be different since I'd also use a reader for displaying medical prescriptions and/or other personal documents.
Broadly speaking, device manufacturers (TVs, home appliances, etc.) became obsessed with making users sign in to their own cloud and downloading their own app; no thanks, I'd rather buy a device that lets me browse shares on the local network I'm connected to, and/or save documents into their storage using a USB cable. If the reader and the media are both within my house walls, I don't see reasons to connect outside.
I don't use a Boox account or sign into any cloud services on my Boox, FYI -- the device isn't crippled in the slightest as a result. While I usually use Snapdrop to transfer files for convenience, I also sometimes use a USB connection. Both are essentially "offline".
Thanks, I'm looking at the Max Lumi 13.3, and am very tempted, the price tag however is what prevents me from buying it just now. I mean, it's adequate for the hardware, but I hoped I could spend not much over €500. Hopefully their price will drop next winter.
I picked up a kindle fire 10 for the express purpose of reading PDFs (RPGs, mostly, so lots of graphics), and I'm very happy with it. It is far from perfect, but it is really cheap and you get a lot for the money. You can easily install the google app store and get a solid pdf reader (I like Xodo). I got it on a Black Friday sale for $90, but they are normally $150. So worth the price!
I just wish they would put out a 12 or 13" one, and wish the aspect ratio was a bit more square to fit more PDFs perfectly.
I splurged on the 13.3" Onyx BOOX Max Lumi for largely similar reasoning: I do a lot of reads of older materials with poor-quality scans, and wanted to be able to read as many of those at full-screen rather than zoomed resolution. I also had concerns with the size of the device.
I'm happy with my purchase, though with experience, I'm happy to suggest trade-offs.
Onyx's product line is based around 7.8", 10.3", and 13.3" e-ink screens. Those are what their vendor offers, so it's what Onyx bases its builds around.
My previous experience was with a 9" emissive (OLED) Android tablet, which saw principle use as an e-book reader (the only application to which it's well-suited), with portrait-mode presentation of books and articles working fairly well. It was hard to read in bright light, with overhead lighting (screen glare), or, of course, outdoors.
The jump to 13.3" e-ink at 220 ppi makes even low-quality scans of small-print materials readable at full size (without zooming). There are a few specific cases that really impressed this on me. Many books can be read landscape mode, 2-up, which is also good.
The device is large, about the size of an A4 or Letter-sized paper tablet. This is just about at the maximum size for comfortable in-hand viewing, and you might prefer a smaller device. It packs easily into my courier pouch.
If you don't wanto to spend the $800 (over $900 when you include stylus and cover), you can shave a a few hundred on a smaller device with some compromises in reading convenience. There's an in-page navigation that will scroll either in "reverse-N" or "Z" mode, for articles or comics, respectively, dividing the page into four regions (a 2x zoom). This makes virtually any material readable, at a cost of not being able to see the full page in a single glance. Even with a 10" or 8" device, you'd likely only have to engage this for a portion of your reading. Most books are readable at 100%, and even many articles. You can also trim margins to increase the size of the actual text on the page.
Battery life is quit good (I get a couple of days per charge, but use the device for much of the day, what I'm spared is any battery anxiety), performance is quite good, the display is delicious.
The notetaking feature wasn't something that attracted me to the device but it has turned out to be surprisingly useful and appealing.
Boox Note Air seems like the best fit for me, because it runs full Android, instead of a restricted device-only OS. So for example, if you want to use it as a glare-free word processor, connect a BT keyboard, fire up Word and you're good to go. The refresh rate is fine for normal typing.
The problem is that Boox is a Chinese/HK brand with no customer support depot overseas. So if you get a lemon, you might be able to return it, but it'll be expensive, and your refund might be subject to a restock fee depending on the vendor.
The Kobo Elipsa is coming in a few weeks, and looks similar to the Note Air, and is cheaper as well. It would be well-supported in Canada, but it's running a custom Linux OS that's pretty locked down and only integrates with Dropbox, Pocket and Kobo's e-store. You can't sideload apps.
I love my Remarkable 2 but I will say their customer service experience was pathetic.
When I received my Remarkable 2 I had an issue with the WiFi card as it would connect and then after syncing once it would disconnect and required a restart to get it working again. So I emailed support to discuss a replacement. The support had me adjust MY router to specific channels so that the WiFi card could work (the only device I've had to do this for, and I have my channels tuned to not interfere with the neighbors). The problem persisted for the first few months I had the device and after I made the adjustments. I even offered to use my software engineering skills to help diagnose this issue on the device.
Worse still, the customer support agent stopped responding to my emails. I don't know if there was a software update that fixed this issue, but the way the customer support black balled me and gave up, I will probably not buy another device from them again, especially if there are similar devices on the market.
Why? I tried to support this company by preordering and go through the proper channels and it lead me to a place where a customer support agent decided my questions and time were better shoved into the abyss rather than address my concerns. That doesn't happen from a customer support agent actions, but rather how management and C-suite trains customer support agents.
I've actually been saving the emails from companies that do this to me. Anyone know somewhere I can report and share my poor experiences with companies (ex BBB)?
Their CS seems to have improved a lot in the last few months and there is now an accompanying survey at the end of each interaction (ime) so if you still have your device, I would ask you to retry. Also, consider joining the Discord/Matrix/Reddit forums for the device if you like - someone might be able to help you anyways.
The problem has been fixed by a software update or some change I did not perform. If a company wants me to use a chat service or forum to solve my problem, they should direct me there and/or maintain that service. I contacted them directly to their support service, which should be trained to deal with questions, not push them into the abyss. While I appreciate your feedback I think it's a band-aid to the problem.
There's nothing wrong with saying:
"We have found that your problem is common and are working on a solution. We will reach out in a few weeks once this has been resolved."
Then the company can gather like problems and triage for later resolution.
I mean really sometimes it seems like companies act like support is a mystery and they have the first buggy product ever on the market.
I was pretty ok with the "it's just note taking" paradigm. But the problem for me is that it should be "just a note taking" device but with advanced note taking features, not just "nothing more than a sheet of paper".
The number one issue for me was the poor navigation experience. Going from one page to another was a pain if they were not contiguous. This could have been solved by allowing to create "links" between pages for example. But I the end, I found myself writing everything on the current page because getting to a new page in the right place was too long.
Let apart my issue, which maybe is really personal, Remarkable is a remarkably (!) engineered experience. Particularly , the writing experience is impressive.
The new software update lets you hit a button to take you to a "notebook overview" type page, where you can see all the pages in the notebook laid out in a quasi-grid. You can then tap whichever page you want to navigate to. Of course there's always complications with determining which page to use, having to scroll if your notebook has 1000 pages, etc, etc, but I think it might hit the 90% case you're looking for with trying to quickly switch between non-contiguous pages without having to scroll through the whole notebook.
Onyx Boox Note Air Is extremely fragile. I had mine in a case in my backpack. Not a scratch on the screen, not a crack anywhere. The E-ink has crazy lines in it, not sure if it was pressure in the back pack but be careful. I loved the device, reading and writing on it was awesome but the company wanted $200 to fix it plus shipping both ways. Thankfully Amazon made an exception and I got all my money back.
I bought a Remarkable 2 for note taking and annotating scientific papers. As far as it's promise of "better paper", I think it's only partly fulfilled. I haven't returned it, but I'm sadly also not using it regularly.
It's obviously better than paper since you don't end up with stacks of printed articles. The feel of reading and writing is also exactly like paper, which is great. You get some basic select/cut/paste functionality, which improves on paper. But.
I used it to take notes at work, create simple TODO lists etc. The issue with this is that the resulting notes are way harder to navigate than a simple paper notebook, as the software doesn't support even basic bookmarks. Whereas with paper I can add bookmarks as I please, a paper organizer notebook allows me to navigate my calendar easily etc. I'm still amazed that the RM software offers absolutely no functionality for such navigation. This is a huge drawback for me.
When using it to annotate PDFs, the app offers you a few tools (pencil, pen, eraser, etc). Ideally you'd like to fit the article on the remaining portion of the screen, possibly cropping the margins if your the article is created for a different page size and your eyesight is as bad as mine. But the support for this sucks, as the toolbox always covers a piece of the document, so you end up having to hide/unhide it constantly.
Next, while the pen feels quite good, and feels almost as precise as a real pencil, I find the eraser quite hard to control. It erases an area somewhere around the end of the pen, but unlike a physical eraser, you don't see its boundaries. There's no support for stroke-based erasing. Finally, stating the obvious, the device is black-and-white. But I find different colors helpful when annotating papers, or creating sketches of systems etc.
So right now I can't really recommend the device, but I'm still holding onto mine hoping it will improve. I think the hardware can serve as a basis for better paper - but I think the software would need many of the features of http://www.styluslabs.com/ to get there
A) classic displays (LCD/OLED/Mini-LED/Micro-LEDs) reaching a point where the quality and power consumption are so low as to be indistinguishable from paper
B) Color e-ink displays get good enough for interactive use, movie watching, etc.
Maybe someone who's an expert in display tech can chime in? My money's on A) since so much is invested in it.
I work in the display industry. My take is neither will happen. Lets start with B.
> B) Color e-ink displays get good enough for interactive use, movie watching, etc.
There is no commercially sold genuine color e-ink today. Kaleido is a grayscale e-ink with a color filter laminated on top. Kaleido Plus is just the same with a light guide.
E Ink did show off a genuine color display back in 2018 called Advanced Color and marketed as "Gallery". But it would take 30s to display an image and it was 32 colors or 16 colors. Not 16-bit color. I mean only 16 colors. E Ink tried to get the industry to buy in and start making products using this technology but nobody really signed on. They revamped their production to then start producing 7 color panels in much smaller sizes like 5" for signage. I heard that hasn't hit the numbers they needed to even cover their RnD costs. I doubt it will be a commercial success.
When you say "good enough for movie watching", I'll say that'll never ever happen with electrophoresis. You can't violate physics. Either a pigment particle moves slowly and stably or it moves fast and is unstable. You'll never be able to get both. That's why newer technologies by various startups like ClearInk sacrifice the bi-stability in order to get fast video speeds. But look at the market response, the market isn't exactly embracing that either. Venture capitalists aren't exactly eager to fund the billions needed to create new display tech when they could invest in some new internet services startup or AI/ML startup instead.
As for A), these are all emissive technologies. They will by their physics always be distinguishable from paper. As to whether you'll care or not, that is something I can't predict.
LCD doesn't have to be emissive. Black-and-white LCDs are most often not. It's unlikely but not impossible for there to be some breakthrough in colors LCDs
I actually thought of that! I had a friend in high school who had one. You had to set the contrast separately for each color and could never quite get it looking right
Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of it. I would go as far as saying the article is quite confusing because the author (Mike Kozlowski) says things like "ACEP achieves a full color gamut, including all eight primary colors, using only colored pigments" and then jumps to "They can display a total of 32,000 colors". Statement A contradicts statement B unless I have missed something obvious.
I think A is fundamentally impossible. A backlit display is always going to look different to a reflective surface.
My money's on C: a new display tech which works similarly to color E-ink, but isn't actually E-ink. Qualcomm's Mirasol technology looked amazing for this, but sadly it never made it into any mainstream products and they've basically shut it down at this point.
In principle it's possible to measure the ambient light and set the emitted light to simulate reflected light from paper so that an OLED looks indistinguishable from paper. Next gen QLED displays might have the brightness to pull this off even in bright sunlight.
If you really want to simulate reflected light you also have to be able to control the angle of the light that you emit, and you want to absorb incoming light almost completely otherwise there'll be a conflict (glare, in particular).
I suspect that it might be easier to improve reflective displays, but I have no expertise in this field so maybe I'm completely wrong about that.
> If you really want to simulate reflected light you also have to be able to control the angle of the light that you emit
Uniform emission is fine because paper has close to Lambertian reflectance. "The apparent brightness of a Lambertian surface to an observer is the same regardless of the observer's angle of view." [0]
> and you want to absorb incoming light almost completely otherwise there'll be a conflict (glare, in particular).
Or make sure that the display itself has close to Lambertian reflectance and take into account its color in the emission calculations.
> I think A is fundamentally impossible. A backlit display is always going to look different to a reflective surface.
Not all LCDs are backlit. Some are purely reflective or 'transflective' (eg. the screen used on the old Gameboy.) That's not to say they look like paper now but it's not 100% impossible.
Edit: Also the screen used on the Pebble Time watches looks reasonably close to a colour print-out with the backlight off. These are a "memory LCD" made by JDI (although they were somewhat confusingly marketed as "e-paper" despite being an LCD.)
>A) classic displays (LCD/OLED/Mini-LED/Micro-LEDs) reaching a point where the quality and power consumption as so low as to be indistinguishable from paper
I thought in relation to eye strain and ability to read in sunlight the quality would be theoretically impossible to ever be indistinguishable?
Addressing the pricing con: I have the Remarkable 1 and it addresses most of the pros but not quite as fancy as the 2. It still costs a lot but is 300 vs 500. Seems like prices have gone up since I bought it for ~200.
My biggest complaint about the ReMarkable is the lack of any meaningful business management tools -- I love using it, but, I need to be able to limit sharing, specify a specific SMTP service to use for sharing pdf files, remotely wipe a device, enforce a password on the device before storing and sharing notes from a sensitive meeting amongst my team.
Outside of that edge case, I love it and it's indispensable and I use it at least 3 times a day for meetings and other to-do lists for myself.
Opportunities to ask about these devices don't come up very often, so please help me decide what I want here:
I want something that allows me to do math problems while laying down horizontally, mostly before bed. With a book and paper, it's a mess trying to do this, and I require e-ink. So I need good support for reading PDFs _and_ writing on screen, which is a niche apparently. I need split screen functionality or something like it, so I can have half my screen be scratch paper, and in the other half I can flip through the text (and I need a reasonably sized screen to accommodate all this). If I cannot do this, the device is not usable enough to purchase imo. I have no desire to take notes, draw or convert my writing to text. It would be a big plus if it could also read epubs as then I wouldn't need my current ereader.
I'm leaning toward the Remarkable 2, mostly due to it shaping up to be 'hacker friendly' (so I can lean on the community to write some features) and the writing supposedly feeling real, but I don't like how expensive the little pencil nubs are and having to replace them is kind of a drag. I tend to binge research my options a couple times per year but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I get frustrated because I feel like I want something so basic that it should already exist - just a book and scratch paper in one device, with a screen that doesn't keep me awake at night or distract me with a web browser. Anyway, last I checked the Remarkable 2 didn't quite have a splitscreen feature or anything close enough, so I opted to wait.
Would appreciate any input, I'm probably going to break down and buy one this month.
I love my rm2 as a mental scratchpad, list maker, PDF reader, ebook reader etc. Etc. I have a trick, I bought the Lamy pen compatible with the rm2, and pushed the rm2 pen nib up it, makes for an awesome writing experience!!!!
I suppose coming from a Kindle, the screen space increase for me means I'm not that bothered. For me pdfs are formatted intentionally - so maybe take my words with a pinch of salt!
The remarkable is not able to do split screen (for now).
Instead, you can install the [ddvk hacks](https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-hacks) for fast switching between recent documents and a swipe to the previous document.
I'd recommend the remarkable2 as the hacker friendliness makes quite a difference
This is what my research told me last I looked too, thanks for the confirmation that this is still true. I believe RM will deliver long term, hacker friendliness goes a long way. Not sure if it's worth the price atm, but I'll look out for a cheap used one. I could do so much more critical reading if I could do it while lying down.
That looks great, 13 inch screen ensures no reflow issues too. Are you able to flip through the pages with minimal issues while in split screen mode, or do you have to manually resize the page each time? Also, it looks like you have this in 'landscape' mode - is that correct? Awesome feature if so. Too bad these are still so niche and therefore pricey, $800 is a painful price point for such a device imo.
I have a Remarkable 2 and the device is great, software is improving as well and taking notes is a joy BUT finding those notes later on is next to impossible.
OCR is very bad and basically makes indexing and full-text searching impossible (and off device)
This is EXACTLY the reason why, after weeks of review, I ended up with an iPad pro.
Clearly it's a very different look and feel. However, using GoodNotes, it immediately finds whatever I've written (even in my sloppy handwriting) on any page I wrote it. It's kind of amazing actually.
I'd have preferred eInk, but notes that I can't find are not useful to me.
What's the situation with reMarkable 2's privacy? I'm interested in it as an extensible Linux device, but part of that would mean connecting it to a network to take advantage of SSH support.
Is there a way completely turn off analytics so it never connects to a remote server at all without my permission? Can I disable updates without disconnecting it from the network? Or is there a replacement OS/hack that can disable any data collection?
I get nervous around proprietary software, even if it is extensible. I like that I can SSH onto the device itself, I like a Linux base, but I want to know that I'm not going to be fighting with their UI layer for control in the future.
I guess KoReader exists, but as far as I know from other e-readers KoReader doesn't actually replace anything, it just runs automatically after the normal OS has booted. I want the ability to completely disable any part of the OS that would be reaching out to a remote server without my permission.
Sure, but part of the appeal to me is WiFi access. That's where things like Syncthing or using the device as a handheld tablet input during meetings would be very powerful.
I can quarantine everything, but I don't want to quarantine the device, I want to be able to connect it to WiFi and take advantage of its networking features while trusting that it won't send a bunch of data somewhere.
If it does you could certainly set up iptable rules to do so... but that would admittedly be a bit of a pain.
> Can I disable updates without disconnecting it from the network?
Yes, there's a toggle in the UI
> Or is there a replacement OS/hack that can disable any data collection?
Again, not sure if there is any data collection or even outgoing network traffic if you have the cloud services off. The hard part of a replacement OS would be controlling the screen, I don't think anyone has done that.
In music production, during the 80's and 90's there was a gradual switch from hardware studio equipment to DAW software, as computers became more powerful.
But in recent years, many musicians decided come back to stand-alone hardware devices, there is even a term for this: it's a "dawless" setup.
The most commonly mentioned reason for this is "I want a distraction free environment", or something along the lines of "I don't want to create music on the same device where I receive social media notifications".
To me, devices like reMarkable are basically responding to the same need, but in a different field (note taking as opposed to music production).
I wonder if this could become a more general trend, where people at least partially move away from general purpose devices.
I bought the ReMarkable 2 when it was released. The hardware is beautiful (as well as the packaging and presentation). The software was pretty underwhelming, but they seem to be speeding up and fixing glaring deficiencies.
For my use case, it's lovely (reading and annotating technical books and papers, meetings, writing, even the drawing experience is better than expected).
Right now there are things that I could imagine myself wanting but not really _needing_. Maybe plugging in a keyboard would be appreciated.
I can really recommend it if you enjoy "thinking" with paper and writing by hand. I am barely use traditional notebooks anymore. Plus: it's a very open and hackable device.
I pre-ordered the Remarkable 1 and ended up returning it due to buggy software and the battery life not performing as advertised (had to recharge literally every day). I pre-ordered the Remarkable 2 when it came out because it was much more affordable.
I've had it since November and have used it virtually every day. It's light and portable and I think I've charged it three times since November. They've definitely improved their software a lot and I love the OSS community around it.
The only feature I wish it had was full text search on my notes. But I and willing toive without it as I want a lower tech solution for note taking that is still portable.
Interesting. That hasn't been my experience at all with the reMarkable 1. I do agree the software needed some work, but it has improved significantly since I first bought it. I have been debating purchasing the reMarkable 2 and although it looks great, I think I'm happy enough with the first device to keep it for now.
I have a similar but older device, the Likebook Mars.
These no-name Chinese Android e-ink tablets are actually really great devices, when it comes to hardware. Where they fail of course is the questionable software. I find the Likebook actually works well enough, but I'm sure it's got untold security issues that prevent it from being useful for anything serious.
I don't really understand why there really aren't any reputable companies in the Android e-ink tablet space, and I also don't understand why Google themselves seem to have absolutely no interest in Android for this use case. An e-ink Pixel tablet seems like it would be a real win.
> I don't really understand why there really aren't any reputable companies in the Android e-ink tablet space, and I also don't understand why Google themselves seem to have absolutely no interest in Android for this use case.
Just guessing, but maybe they did the market research and the audience isn’t big enough. After all, e-ink devices are primarily for consuming large amounts of text, and most peoples’ reading these days is short form, multimedia content (articles, blogs, lists, slideshows, social media posts, explainer videos, etc.) which is better suited to existing phones and tablets.
I’m still among those who read book-length content, but far less than I did in years past. I’d say the actual number of words I read every year has gone up, but the number of 300+ page books I read has gone down.
The upside is, I’m much more selective about the books I do read and mostly only read excellent ones.
I bought the Onyx Boox Note air after much deliberation. Apart from the GPL violations, I don't see any major problems in the Note air, and it's a perfect device for my needs. I can recommend it to someone who wants a all-round eInk tablet.
* Taking notes is really great, the notes app is highly customisable to personal needs. Handwriting to text is quite powerful as well.
* Searching for text in your handwritten notes is a quite cool and useful.
* You can use the Kindle Android app and it's just perfect.
* The browser is quite powerful and offers a great reading experience.
* Keyboard is surprisingly good, I like the write-to-text feature very much.
I bought a Pocketbook 912 [0] soon after it came out, around 2012. It wasn't cheap - I think around £400. It had a 9.7" screen with a resolution of 1200×825. But the CPU & memory were what you'd expect a decade ago, so the experience was quite laggy. OTOH the display was superb for reading most text books - almost native size, PDF rendering & page turning was fast enough, and zero eye-strain. It came with a pen for doing highlights and basic drawing. I still use it occasionally for distraction-free textbook reading.
In 2014 I picked up a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2" - an android(ish) device, good pen support. Slightly laggy, but the ability to sync my notes and colour drawings (in SVGs, typically) back to my computer was valuable. Samsung notoriously ceased supporting this flagship product soon after release. (They're now on my list.)
The Remarkable2 looks great, but I'm wary now. I'd want to be extremely confident about inter-op of content between my computers (Debian, mostly) and the device - in both directions - before wanting to make a long-term commitment to yet another platform.
I used to have a 912 as well but its bugs were tiresome so I stopped using it. I can say that the rM2 is a very different beast from that. I didn't expect to like the rM2 and was anticipating returning it when I preordered it but now it pretty much accompanies me everywhere.
Can I ask two questions please? First, what don't you like about it now that you've used it for a while? Second, are you sharing data to and fro with a GNU/Linux desktop/laptop (if to is the workflow comfortable) or is it primarily a reader and note taker that generates notes that are sent one-way back to your computer?
My biggest dislike is the storage: my ebook collection is closer to 20GB and I'd love to be able to put it all in the device but it's not to be.
The sync story is itunes like (transfer+metadata), which I somewhat dislike, but the use of rmapi plus other mechanisms to transfer data to it (e.g. plug in via usb and then post/curl a file vs. using their somewhat silly front end directly) has made it work for me.
I use their app as an easy way to look at my notes on my work+personal laptop plus also use the send-as-email functionality to share notes. I also transfer content from my chromebook to it via the chrome plugin.
All in all, the storage limitation is my biggest criticism but in general the other improvements it's brought to my life have been much appreciated.
PS: I use the Staedtler Noris Digital Jumbo stylus instead of the stock due to the built in eraser. The writing experience is less realistic with this though but the eraser is handier; I wish I had bought the marker plus when I preordered.
Edit: I didn't really answer your 2nd question: I don't know of good approaches to share data with a Linux desktop in this case though I think rmapi would do well for it. It would be nice if they had a webapp vs platform dependent apps for sharing data. Some of the hacks people have developed for it might help in that case. I recommend joining their discord or checking out remarkablewiki.com
WRT 20GB - I'd just assumed it had a microSD slot. Your comment led me down a spiral, to find a guy who pulled the v1 device apart and soldered in socket for one. That's extra frustrating then that the electronics are already there, but the socket + hole is not. [1]
WRT pen - yes, I splashed out for the 'extra good' pen for the Samsung, and was glad I did. The bundled pen was serviceable, but things like the ersatz eraser, and thicker / heftier feel, made it worth while. When ogling the remarkable2 shop page I've kind of assumed I'd get the better pen at the same time, so it's good to have further confirmation on that gut feel.
Sync - sounds like that SyncThing project I found earlier, if it's still viable, might be a better option for us Linux users. If the data is coming across as SVG's or similar then I guess any native apps (Krita, etc) should work, but how good the interoperability on that actually is ... is not well blogged about. (A doubly niche market, I fear.)
The rM1 I think has the capability to solder in a socket but it is not clear to me that the rM2 is similarly modifiable. The low storage and the lack of support for external storage via the usb-c port really make things unnecessarily complicated. There is a rm2-pogo project that hopes to use the built-in pogo pins to add support for external accessories such as keyboard and storage but it is still in progress
I haven't checked out the remarkable-syncthing solution you mentioned in a different comment but it seems like a good idea.
I have a Remarkable2. The hardware is fantastic but the software is so unbelievably bad I want to throw it in a river every time I pick it up.
I also have the original Remarkable, an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, a Boogie Board (2011), an iRex iLiad (2007), and I used Windows 3.1 for Pen Computing back in the '90s.
The use case I've long wanted to digitize -- quickly working out problems -- is one I still do on paper. The Remarkable2 hardware is finally there, but the software makes it useless to me.
I don't have any of these note taking e-ink devices but I plan to get one eventually. I've been aware of both the Book Note and reMarkable 2 but for whatever reason I've wanted to wait another few generations and see how products in this space evolve. For now I have an iPad Pro with paperlike.
I followed a link at the bottom of this article to a product I'd never heard of before, Supernote [1], and something there caught my eye. Namely on the accessories tab, there's a link to a LAMY Series stylus [2]. For those who haven't heard of LAMY, they're a pretty big name in the fountain pen world. The page is pretty light on the details, but AFAIK this is the first ever collaboration between fountain pen giant & writing tablet. It even has their iconic pocket clip design... Definitely piqued my interest.
Although interestingly, the tip of the Supernote pen that comes with the A5/A6 series looks more like something that would produce more of a pen-to-paper feeling with its 0.7mm tip.
I have a remarkable 1, and, honestly, I'm deeply disappointed in it. It'd pretty slow just in terms of hardware responsiveness, which maybe the RM2 corrects, but it also just... gets most of the little things wrong in a way that makes it feel so much worse on a day to day basis than most consumer-grade tech projects.
For example: it comes with its own cloud sync. Which is extremely slow and unreliable: if you upload a pdf from a laptop, it might show up right away, or it might show up tomorrow, there's no way to tell and no reliable way to force synchronization.
Or this: the software is super clunky. For example, there's no direct switching between documents. If you're reading a PDF and trying to take notes in a separate file (a good idea because it is also really hard to just get annotations out of a PDF), it takes a looong time to close the pdf, open the other notebook, take the note, close the notebook, and reopen the PDF again.
Honestly, the remarkable experience has soured me on the entire class of products. I really want to get that color onyx book thing, but I'm too skeptical.
do not get a boox. First they do not publish their kernel source violating GPL, second the device constantly phones home to China and third the color display is really clunky: low contrast, washed out colors and very low DPI (around 160).
Wait a few generations until color eink tech is fleshed out.
The ddvk hacks are easy to apply and reversible. They add a bunch of gestures like instantly flipping between documents. One of my other favorites is a quick swipe gesture to switch to the last-used tool.
I don't want to annotate PDFs and then only save the annotations, but it sounds like biff would help with that if you don't mind another tool in the chain: https://github.com/soulisalmed/biff
I'm in the same boat. If I could get Kindle e-books for free alongside the physical purchase of a book on Amazon, and these devices could import them I'd be all ears for a new toy to play with. Alas, two things which will never happen. :(
my handwriting is also terrible yet this is so incredibly better than notetaking on computer as soon as you have graphs, e.g. here's my current page: https://imgur.com/a/D0m4okF
"E Ink is easier on the eyes than OLED and iPads and the like."
This is a popular anecdotal claim, but as far as I know there is zero research to solidly back it. There is research showing there's little difference, however. One example:
I am using 80% of my time working with Dasung eink monitor. The advantages are:
-Zero eyestrain
-Focussed work/Less Distraction
-Less temptation to do anything else (e.g. videos) because its not inviting to do so
-More energy after work day and improve of sleep quality
-No Bluelight exposure
Disadvantages:
-Only BW so need to look at normal screen for graphics
-Needed two eink screens otherwise two small to work (but ordered now the 25inch one)
I have an RM1 and it's pretty good, it's a one trick pony and does that trick (paper notebook replacement) well. The only issue I have is discovery/searching of old notes. If ReMarkable would add wiki or roam style linking, it could readily become a second brain. I really think they are missing a trick there...
Honestly, if they would just allow any sort of tagging of pages and selection by tag, this thing would completely change my life. We get so many lawsuits and foia requests that being able to quickly find notes related to "person a" or "activity a" is vital.
If the current RM2 had tagging, and an 8.5"x11" functional screen, I would be obscenely content with the product. It might be the perfect daily driver tool for my job at that point.
I was one of the supporters for the first remarkable and pre-ordered with a bundle with case for $350 (I think) which seemed pretty expensive but I really wanted to support businesses developing these larger scale e-paper tablets.
The battery life was really bad in the first software versions but seems to be a lot better now.
I use it for recipes (I like to write my own version out even when working from a cookbook so that I can modify), UX sketches, and most recently I’ve joined a bookclub and has been great to highlight passages and write notes in the margin for discussion.
Overall it’s been useful, but the early bad experiences with battery life/power management really turned me away from more consistent use (after a couple meetings where it powered down and had to go back to my desk to grab a paper pad).
Would be curious to hear from
anyone who got RM2 after RM1 and what their battery life difference has been!
I own both Remarkable and an the same size android eink tablet which I ordered on kickstarter. I use my remerkable tablet almost everywhere from reading and annotating PDFs to making excessively complex calculations for my PhD and sending them directly to my supervisour. The best part that I can just lay on the bed while I do so ;)
I thought it would be great to read online articles as I read books on remarkable, check email and etc. so I ordered another Android eink tablet. It was a great purchasing mistake which I barely use today.
The morale is that eink screen is very limited with it's refresh rate and lack of color making software as significant as hardware.
My girlfriend got a remarkable 2 and is really, really happy with it. We are both computer-science master students and beside the remarkable she uses an older laptop. Of course it's expensive, but if you are doing a lot of handwriting or annotating pdfs it's might be worth it. She spends most of her day using the remarkable, not her laptop. She also started using it to organise her day, it just works as good as any physical planner. There's something pleasant about writing per hand and they really nailed writing.
It probably is important that we both don't really code that much, it's only a smaller part of our studies.
I want to switch fully to digital magazines (as PDFs or via the publishers apps), but I can't find the right hardware to do this.
I've worked out that for almost 100% scaling of a magazine PDF, I need about a 13" screen, in 4:3 ratio (or thereabouts). 16:9 ratio is just too tall and thin.
e-ink devices seem too expensive for this single use-case, as does the iPad Pro, which although ideal is massive overkill.
I've even started going down the crazy route of trying to design something with a Raspberry Pi zero, and a HDMI LCD panel, but the power draw seems too prohibitive to make it viable.
The RPi boards aren't the best choice for low current consumption, even other competing but similar ARM boards are better suited for that use.
However, the main processor is just one of the power hungry devices: a LED screen needs its backlight on to be read, while an e-paper screens don't, and their power consumption falls to zero when the user is reading a still image, which also allows the processors to enter in extremely low power sleep modes.
Making a reader with LCD/LED displays in my opinion is doable, but tuning the power consumption to save as much power as possible will require a lot of effort, and would never compare to e-readers anyway.
However, if one accepts a heavier and more thick device, then yes, it's definitely doable, and could also become a better platform for other uses too.
For any current publications, you can probably get by with slightly reduced page-size, so a 10" device should still present most current and well-typeset content at full-page width.
Most e-book readers have an option to specify in-page navigation of a document, generally into four quadrants, read either in "ᴎ" or "Z" flow (first is "article", second is "comic book" navigation"). This effectively quadruples screen resolution, at the cost of a slight decrease in fidelity to the original experience. Given the cost trade-offs in devices (~$340 for 7.8", $800 for 13.3") this may be acceptable.
That said, I splurged on the 13.3" Max Lumi. The first time I was faced with a less-than-perfect scan of a three-column article first published in the 1970s that I could comfortably read at full size (with just a smidge of margin trim), it was worthwhile. If your budget constraint is stronger, you still have options.
Most book texts read fine at 8", so the compromise is not something you'll be seeing all the time.
How about a Chromebook with a detachable screen (e.g. Lenovo Duet, Acer, or the HP X2)? These can run Android apps and thus support most digital magazine apps such as Zinio plus they often cost much less than a comparable ipad.
I have reMarkable 2 and I think it is brilliant, however it has one deal breaker that is there is no encryption on the device. If you lose it, you risk your documents landing in a bad actor hands.
One may say it's the same with actual paper - sure, but reMarkable 2 can store much more data than a suitcase of documents.
Then I have no idea whether documents on their cloud are encrypted and who has access to it beside myself.
So reMarkable has become an expensive paperweight.
I saw some people tried to get encrypted fs working, don't how well that works though.
I wrote an email to support about this and I never got any reply. Says all...
Their cloud is fully optional - you don't have to use the rM cloud, or even create an account. To me that is itself one of the killer features of the rM, it works as an offline device with local storage.
I am surprised no one has mentioned E Ink phones. My daily driver is an E Ink Hisense A5 phone that is modified to run Google Play. It can run all Android apps without any major issues.
The E Ink display has two advantages over LCD: it consumes very little power and it looks great under bright sunshine. I also get less eyestrain reading eBooks and RSS on the matte E Ink display.
I love E Ink so much I doubt I am ever going back to LCD, but the E Ink display is not perfect: it is black and white (there is a color version but it is very grainy), and the E Ink display is also less responsive than an LCD.
I have owned a reMarkable 2 since January of this year. While it isn't perfect, I am happy with my purchase. The software updates are stable, the build quality of the hardware is solid.
I love the distraction free writing and this is the main reason I bought it along with school. I put on some Brain.fm and I tend to get lost in my focus and I don't realize hours have gone by.
I have heard that their customer service isn't very good and that devices are hard to get repaired. I haven't had an issues yet and fingers crossed because this is my biggest worry. Something breaks and I am out $600.
I would like remarkable 2 or any of these devices to be used as a pen tablet in an easy way with the different OS. It would make much easier drawing diagrams while working in a presentation. Even better if they at some point can be hooked to some kind of software for collaboration editing.
How I see myself using it. Prepping diagrams early in the morning, pulling that on the computer, keep editing while presenting to my coworkers, let my coworkers add any other information(even better using their own devices).
adding a different perspective here: we're still comparing 2 technologies that, to me, are not yet mature enough for the mainstream. i have both but still use my pen and notebook. why? firstly, its not quite a joy. they are slow (janky, glitchy refreshes, latency, etc, depending on your specific device..) for example changing a page is still jarring. in some lighting the screens dont look good (grey, low contrast). and sometimes i reach for the boox, and woops, dead battery. what i thought i would benefit from the most was having a "single notepad to rule them all" (i have multiple notebooks for various purposes and thought it would be cool to just have one device, with the multiple notebooks inside, and searchable!) well, in some ways its more convenient, but in others its clearly lacking polish. its a pain to move a page from one book to another for instance, or to open up the section i want, so i end up with notes mixed up sometimes anyway. i cant be as precise as with a real pen, so a single page in my real book is about 2 on the tablet. etc. anyway, there werent many dissenting voices here so i thought id share a dose of reality for anyone with an itch. im very excited to see what comes in the next generation of both, maybe then ill finally be able to recommend them
One segment that has disappeared entirely, but which was excellent for taking notes, was the 7-9" netbook. In college, I bought two of the Asus EeePCs as cheap little beat-around Linux laptops - far better to carry around campus than my real 17" laptop. Also it would fit comfortably with those horrible little rotating/folding desklets that you have in auditorium lecture halls. With a little practice, you could type along at a good clip in emacs with one hand.
I did buy the little ( boox poke 3) and the big boox note air, mainly to do some reading and drawing on the go.
What I also used it for during the lockdown was to switch it for the tablets my kids use to control their screen time (not so much fun in black and white) while allowing them to listen to music and audio books...
I like this trend also because I observe myself using the device different than my mobile or tablet... I am just starting out but I think it definitely has a niche to fill.
I have a Boox Note Air--but no have no interest in using it for notes or "productivity." I just like e-ink for reading, and find screens smaller than 10" to be too small (too much page-turning, no good for PDFs). It's good as a reading device, and I like being able to use Google Play Books and Instapaper (and the way that Boox hides animations and increases contrast for Android apps is clever).
I had an Onyx Boox 1 and it was slower than my 5-year-old iPad, the touchscreen would only register touches from the stylus they didn't provide so much as a storage strap for, and the OS was Android 6 with a custom spin so you couldn't load a lot of normal apps on it, and was abandoned and never upgraded. Total dogshit waste of €400. I gave it to my dad after a week. I hope he used it as a rifle target, but I never asked.
Not if you bought an M96 before they released the M96C
"The Onyx Boox M96 is an Android-powered ereader with a 9.7-inch E Ink screen. Up until recently it was only available with a touchscreen that requires using a stylus pen for input."
There is something about handwriting, that makes it more personalized. Show me a typed text, I cant tell you if I wrote it 10 days ago, but handwritten things have a bit of "me" built in.
I got my reMarkable2 6 months ago to sketch some infrastructure stuff and keep a TODO list. It did help a bit in organizing! U lose the papers u take notes on, but this stays longer and can be helpful
Has anything improved recently for RM2 around secure sync to a LAN? Would like to experiment with one for my psychiatrist wife to replace her paper chart notes, but anything hitting an external cloud service is out of the question for patient information. Sync via cable would be too obtrusive. And I gather handwriting recognition etc. is done via cloud.
It's just linux. It has ssh installed (it tells you the password in the "copyright and licenses" menu, and you can private keys on the device like normal). It connects to wifi. You can write a script that runs on the device and periodically syncs notes somewhere (I have this setup with restic for backups).
Handwriting recognition is done by cloud, and, I mean, unless you want to set up your own software for handwriting recognition (doesn't sound easy) you would need to give up that feature (I have)...
DIY handwriting recognition is actually really easy using Microsofts SaaS offerings. The results are astonishingly good too - it makes mincemeat of my awful handwriting.
You might be better off with an e-reader running full Android. I use Syncthing Fork, and it lets me do two-way sync between my tablet and a Macbook, which acts as a local server. No middleman cloud service required.
If you run syncthing on android you lose its power management. Also it's a horrible OS for long running services for other reasons, one of the largest being how huge apps are and how it quickly kills things when memory gets low.
I am using Syncthing Fork from F-droid, and you can configure it to respect Android's power saving features. Besides, you can turn sync off entirely if you choose.
I bought both of these last year and although the reMarkable 2 has a great story, the software significantly lets it down. The Boox Note Air isn’t quite as good (but it is negligible in my experience) of a “on-paper” writing experience but its software is significantly better if you want to do anything other than take hand-written notes.
I've been tempted to get one of those for my coding hours as I'm back in the office and can't use the whiteboard I have at home (on top of having a hefty amount of technical books and articles I want to get through in PDF), but I had doubts on the refresh rate and the cost. The feedback from the thread quite convinced me.
Shameless self-promotion: I am launching a free service to consume emails on your RM2. I mostly wanted it so I can read email newsletters, but plan to add some organizational features. It works by signing up for email lists with your @emailnewslettertracker.com address.
www.emailnewslettertracker.com if you're interested in being a beta tester.
I find these devices cool but ever since getting hooked on Anki, I've basically stopped taking notes completely and instead capture information in flashcard form directly. I find that this approach enables me to get way more long-term value than written or digital notes.
I was the owner of an Onyx Boox Max 2. The device was large enough to allow the reading of A4 magizines. It's a pity that after a year and a half I had to trash it because the battery was about to explode. Very disappointed about it. Don't waste your money with it...
I've been thinking of buying a ReMarkable, but all I really want is a reader without a backlight that can handle PDFs smoothly. (Ability to mark up is a plus but not necessary.) Based on this thread it seems like the RM/Boox are not really what I'm looking for.
I read PDFs (and highlight and annotate) on my RM2 daily. It's a _fantastic_ PDF reader, IMO. It's the ability to annotate that's killer for me. I mark things up extensively, writing notes in the margins, starring items, underlining, and writing on the RM2 screen is a paper-like writing experience.
It's e-reader software is a bit meh, so I still read books (fiction, mostly) on my Kindle Paperwhite.
Oh, I absolutely _don't_ want PDF reflow! The PDFs I read are formatted a specific way for a reason. 2-column, latex-generated academic papers, etc.
Reflow is one of the worst things to happen to digital publishing, IMO. I get it that it makes ebooks readable, but typesetting is an art, and one we haven't even come close to nailing in the digital realm.
I think by reflow I really meant "maintain zoom between page turns". On my Kobo's default software, I had to re-zoom each page (so I installed KoReader).
A little bit too expensive but so cool (because not just eInk but also hackable!) I'm definitely going to buy it. At the same time I would never buy function-limited proprietary thing like Kindle even if it was extremely cheap (I actually bought a PocketBook instead).
With how hackable the remarkables have been (u/rmhacks on Reddit even booted straight Debian on them), I'm somewhat surprised there hasn't been an effort to completely replace the stock firmware with a tailored replacement.
I preordered a rM2 and got it last October, and by November it was in my dead tech drawer. It doesn't come close to the experience of writing on top-quality blank notebooks with a good pen, and without a backlight it kind of sucks as an e-reader.
Musicians, are there any tablet you use, recommend, for partitions (sheet music) ?
Someone I know uses a iPad Pro, 13" seems like a good size to get the approximate good size. But it's also very expensive for just diplaying partitions.
I have had my remarkable 2 for a month and really love it. It replaces paper and annotating paper PDFs. It is simple and easy to use. If you currently take notes or write paper PDFs, it is for you (this is enough for many people).
we used livescribes which were very usable. However instead of constantly improving their physical device they wasted a few years trying to make a platform for apps.
The pens were fat and they should have invested in making really nice form factors.
1) you wrote on their special dot paper. I filled many moleskin notebooks
2) You could record at the same time that you wrote
3) the writing was digitized
4) You could touch anywhere in the notebook and the audio that was recorded at the time you were taking notes would play.
Livescribes are really amazing, but I think their marketing was crap. Every college student, business analyst etc should be using one by now.
I am very price conscious and want an e-book just to read research paper pdf. I don't care if it does ssh or it has memory or i can write on it. I just want it to read pdfs. What do you guys suggest.
AFAIK adding backlight means that the distance between the display and the pen tip needs to increase, so you end up with a small parallax effect and writing doesn't feel as natural anymore.
Also, paradoxically, the added light layer reduces screen contrast when the light itself is off.
(Have an Onyx BOOX Max Lumi with Frontlight. The display is good in strong light, but even under fairly-brightly-lit indoor conditions, the Frontlight is useful.)
Pure speculation, but could be a combination of keeping the thickness down (it's only 4.7mm thick), and the purism of recreating the pen-on-paper feel.
That being said I wouldn't be bothered at all about a thickness increase, or breaking out of the pen-on-paper "immersion"... Perhaps there's a more technical reason.
Same here. I'm so used to reading with the backlight at night for years (kindle paper white and Oasis) that going back to clip-on external light (I haven't used one since the paperwhite came out, do then even sell those still???) is a non-starter for me.
I'm going to guess it is to keep it slim. And while I normally think this fad to make everything thin is stupid, in this one case I feel it makes sense. You want the thing you're writing on to protrude from the table as little as possible.
Thin (and especially light) tablets are not stupid.
I have the fact that especially "pro" tablets are becoming heavier. They're not comfortable to hold.
In my opinion the "perfect" tablet should not weigh more than 250-300 grams, we just don't have the tech for a flagship tablet that can weigh that much, yet.
You are right of course. I was primarily thinking of phones, where the battery life is sacrificed for half a millimeter and laptops, where ports are eliminated for a millimeter or two.
I find weight particularly important for reading in bed or when lying down on the couch.
Experimentally, I've found that my Kindle (320 grams including case) hurts a lot less than my iPad (470 grams) which hurts a lot less than my Surface Pro 4 (790 grams) when dropped on my face.
I have an Onyx Boox Max Lumi [1], there are 2 reasons why the "backlight" is very useful.
First off it's not really a backlight like you see in most LCD displays, it's a front-light, or edge-light that projects directly on to and is reflected by the e-ink display (the transparent top layer of the display acts as a wave guide for the edge lighting, and it's really quite an impressive engineering feat that they got it to apply so evenly on a 13.3" display area).
Obviously this will be useful when ambient lighting is too dim to even read paper, but the fact is current e-ink technology is just not as reflective, or high contrast as regular printed text on copy paper. The front-light illumination at low to mid levels (at least on the Onyx series) goes a long way towards making the screen background look almost as white as real paper. Granted if you are outside in the sun you will not notice the frontlight even at max brightness. But in dim indoor lighting, it's the difference between looking at greenish-grey kinda washed out image, and something that might fool a casual passer by into thinking it really is paper & ink.
Most e ink doesn't use a true backlight, but an array of lights along the inside of the bezel that light up the screen reflectively. It's still very good for battery life. Both the kindle Paperwhite and the onyx tablets have this feature. Onyx even let's you tune the warmth of the light.
I wonder what the average age of an E-Ink Tablet purchaser is vs a purchaser of a traditional tablet (traditional tablet being an iPad, not a wax-covered slate)
I've got an Onxy BOOX with the optional (and cheap!) Bluetooth keyboard.
As this is an Android device, Termux (a Linux userland for Android) is available (through F-Droid). So yes, both vim and emacs (as well as a slew of other editors).
I've done some light editing on the device, and the display is generally suitable. My main gripe is that there's no way to position the device and keyboard in my lap in a stable format (a kickout selfsupporting folio case, as I have for an earlier Android tablet, would be better).
And: as with all Android devices, the OS chooses to kill what the OS chooses to kill, when it wants, for memory GC purposes. So that shell session may suddenly cease to be at any point (usually when backgrounded and you're tending to other affairs). This is ultimately a dealbreaker. Android is simply not suitable to Real Work.
(You could use Termux + keyboard + ssh + screen/tmux to work on another remote system, of course, but that's not nearly as portable, unless you're carrying that remote system with you at all times as well.)
There is some 3rd party software for remarkable, but mostly to enhance the standard operation of the tablet, i.e. reading, drawing and writing. I really wish a better open source launcher and more apps were written. I would prefer to check a checkbox and sync my todos off the tablet rather than write them out then erase or cross them out them when done. Or use an app for habit tracking, etc. There's a big underserved market here. I am going to give a go at building something if I can find the time.
I keep reading that reading stuff on a paper or e-ink display is easier on the eyes than a monitor. Certainly makes sense if the comparison is to a CRT but compared to a standard LCD? Are there any medical studies that confirm this? As far as I know modern life exposes us to far little brightness, causing myopia for a lot of people. If anything a very bright backlight display should probably be better for our eyes...
I think it comes down to emitted light vs reflected light.
If you're looking into an LCD panel and the light it's emitting is not adjusted to match the environment you're in, too bright or too dull, then you will strain your eyes.
With an e-ink screen, anything printed, or even a cinema screen, it doesn't usually emit light and therefore relies on the light emitted from other things around you to reflect off of the surface, illuminating the surface of the thing you're looking at. This is more natural and provides less strain on your eyes.
On a personal preference side of things, I can't look at bright sources in the evening. My wife is a terror for looking at her phone at 100% brightness, it's blinding if she hands it to me to look at. Where as my devices are setup to dim and be as low as possible in the evening, even the profile on the TV.
I work a lot in the sun (even in the shade here there is a lot of sun) and a lot of times I have to get inside to do any work as normal LCD is simply not readable. While eInk is readable like, well, paper. So works fine in sun and shade.
I don't think that's true as long as you provide healthy lightning. Light is light, doesn't matter whether it came from the sun or from backlight lamp. E-ink obviously is preferable when you're reading in the direct sun light, because LCD could be barely visible in those conditions.
One significant difference is that with e-ink you can provide healthy lighting. With an LCD display you are stuck with whatever backlighting is built in.
Light from the sun contains a much greater number of wavelengths (and different depending on time of day) than that from the backlight; it's not the same.
I have been looking at the Remarkable 2 and other devices in this category. My use case is taking notes on CS and maths, which both often require diagrams and other drawings. Can anyone speak to how well these devices work for this use case and how they compare to note-taking with a pen and paper?
To date, I have used pen and paper because taking such notes in a text editor is too difficult and time consuming. To deal with the risk of losing my physical notes, I take photos of the pages and back them up to my Google Photos (text search through photos works decently well actually), but I would much prefer to have the notes in digital form to begin with.
I picked up the Onyx BOOX Max Lumi, a 13.3" e-ink tablet and bookreader earlier this year. I'm mostly happy with it. I'm far happier with it than I have been with my earlier Android devices (10 years of phone and 6 of tablet use), though the BOOX is in fact an Android 10 device, though not fully Google-compliant. It also has 4x the onboard storage of the Remarkable2, at 64 GB rather than 16 GB (more below). That alone was the convincing factor for me.
The display is gorgeous. 1650x2200 pixels at 207 dpi 16 shade greyscale. It reads wonderfully in direct sunlight, and well under any interior lighting conditions with the "Frontlight" to assist. Unlike emissive displays, frontlight + increased room light increases readability.
The stock bookreader software ("Neoreader") is good at reading, less so at organising (more below). Well-processed books directly rendered from markup can generally be viewed landscape at 2-up, for a more booklike experience (ePubs of course as well). Even lower-quality scans of 3-column articles from before the age of computer typesetting are readable without having to zoom the page. (Most recently I've been going through the Whole Earth Catalog's back-editions --- the pasted-in layout, often with patterned or coloured overlays, is ... almost always ... readable. It's a good test of bad quality typography.)
I'd written a bit recently on the fact that tablets are for the most part not a viable device cateogory, with far too many design compromises. The notable exceptions being ebook readers, baby pacifiers, and watching videos. For any other task, a laptop (even a small and cheap one) is far more capable. See the following, most of the meat is in my subsequent comments: https://joindiaspora.com/posts/880e5c403edb013918e1002590d8e...
My principle uses are as a book/document reader, accessing my Pocket archive (more below), and some Android use (Web, podcasts, Termux). I hadn't expected to use the note-taking feature at all, but that is actually surprisingly good and habit-forming.
The BOOX is, of course, a tablet, but it's one with a few interesting twists.
- Display: Pixels are cheap, paints are expensive, persistence costs nothing, viewability increases rather than decreases as ambient lighting increases, and colours are nonexistent. (There are colour e-ink devices, performance is middlin', price is not ... too outrageous, sizes tend to the smaller.) Contrast is lower than paper, though it's good. Video is possible, if far from optimal. Issues with colour-discrimination can be an issue in apps and websites. Multiple modes trading increased quality for faster refresh. Video can be viewed, though it's not pretty. Line-art and halftone rendering is excellent.
- Battery: Claim is a month of standbye, a week of normal use. I am not a normal user, my goal was to not have range-anxiety. I can go a day or two between charges, and charging is fast (1--2 hours to full), whilst using the device for much of the day. This is more than sufficient and exceeds expectations.
- Storage: My goal is to have a portable and well-organised library (more on the 2nd bit below). I have well over 64 GB in texts alone, and also use devices for podcasts. I've already chewed through most of the capacity of the BOOX (system and apps also require some space), and would prefer a 128--256 or larger storage option. The fact that Remarkable2 is limited to 16 GB given the pitifully low costs of storage, for a device principally aimed at reading, is ... inexplicable.
- WiFi: 2.4G & 5G (unsure what specs). Slightly less range than my earlier tablet, though still adequate and reliable.
- Bluetooth. Mostly for the optional $35 keyboard, though also capable of sharing audio to speakers.
- Touch: Works better than expected. Note-taking in particular is excellent. The display depth is slightly increased (due to various layers?), so drawing may be difficult, but for text notes and rough diagraming, it's actually pretty addictive.
- Audio: Two speakers and (counter to my initial belief) an onboard mic. More than sufficient for listening to podcasts.
- Camera: None.
- Security: A mixed bag. Device password is only available with Onyx's Cloud service, which is inexcusable. No device encryption. I treat the device as largely untrusted.
- Interface: Usable, with some kinks and personality. Occasional instances of Engrish / Chinglish.
- Android: On basis, this was a strike against the device, though given it's reasonably Google-Free, the Google App store does not work, and F-Droid offers a useful selection of much-better-behaved applications, a feature. Access to some Android settings (e.g., device UUID reset) aren't provided. The device is actually a rather better tablet than I'd hoped (which increases distractions).
- Stock apps: The bookreader, storage manager, a web browser (re-badged and e-ink optimised Chromium AFAICT), clock, calendar (with no alarms!), calculator, and a few other stock apps exist. Most are specifically designed for e-ink and benefit by this. Features are fairly spare.
- Note-taking: Surprisingly good. This wasn't a key interest, but the ability to simply write what I want to capture, as well as diagram and annotate freely, makes up for much of the keyboard lack.
- Apps: Supposedly the Google App Store can be enabled, though I've found this doesn't work. I consider this to be a feature. Instead I rely on F-Droid and APK Mirror to install Fennec Fox, EinkBro (a browser, more below), Pocket, Termux, a Feeder (RSS), VLC, Wikipedia, and a very small handful of other apps.
- EinkBro Browser: (Additional install, not stock.) This is a web browser specifically engineered for e-ink devices. It features full-screen immersive mode (no app or device menus), paginated navigation (fewer paints), a Reader Mode, print-to-PDF, a verticle-text mode (for Japanese text). It is lacking an Incognito mode, and some of the features are rough (adblock, JS, and cookie whitelists can be added, but not edited or individually removed). For pages which are painful in Fennec Fox, it's a very handy fallback option. I still principally use Fennec as a browser. As an exemplar of eink-aware UI/UX, it's excellent.
- Termux: The Linux-environment-on-Android utility lives up to its reputation of the one Android App That Does Not Completely And Specifically Suck. It also continues to be periodically garbage-collected by Android, though that's not Termux's fault. There's a black-on-white eink display style which suits the BOOX wonderfully, and "Speed Mode" display seems to work best on text. The Onyx hardware keyboard does NOT include an "esc" key, which is quite frustrating for this vim addict.
I do have some complaints.
Storage. I'd prefer 128 GB -- 512 GB available -- enough to store thousands of books and audio episodes, without any concern for running out of storage. It's less a factor of "what's sufficient" and more "why allow a few dollars in cost stand in the way of sufficient storage?" 512 GB microSD now costs about $50. I paid more than that for the cover for the device.
Root. I'd prefer a rootable device. AFAICT the BOOX is not.
The bookreader and storage utility don't facilitate organising and managing content. This seems to be a weak point of many ebook tools. In particular:
- I'd like to be able to edit / add metadata to documents from within the document itself, based on the Dublin Core metadata + tags. I'm mostly be interested in title, author, publication, and date, though other fields also prove useful. Search should be metadata-aware. The storage utility should also provide for metadata managment. I'm interested in media / library management tools that integrate with tablets.
Android management tools are generally lacking. Onyx's rebranding of Android removes most of the configuration tools.
Instability. The device does crash and kill apps from time to time. That's probably on Android, but increases certain types of anxiety. Restarting every few days isn't a bad idea. No worse than any other Android device I've had. But I've rarely had printed books crash on me.
Keyboard: Please include "esc" on tablet keyboards.
Still I have some unresolved issues. When I say 'unresolved issues' I mean I tried a few things but didn't found something comfortable 'enough' to use. I need something that 'just works' without me dealing with it constantly.
* How would you sync notes between rM and Mac quickly?
Of course syncing through their online service/apps is out of the question due to the privacy.
* How would you sync quickly books with it?
I know you can connect it directly to a computer and use Web Interface. It's too slow and not always works. I perhaps works for one or two books but not very practicle for everyday use. Besides my new Mac doesn't come with normal usb port (thanks apple) and dealing with adapter is too much of a headake each time.
* How would you read HackerNews on rM1 comfortably?
* How would you use it as second monitor for Mac to read some web articles and work?
I know there is: https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee
I've managed to configure it as second screen for linux virtual machine running on Mac but this is not the same as running it as second screen to the Mac itself.
Also since my last model of macbook pro (2016) had successfully died lately due to the quality of this garbage I had to buy a M1 model. The virutal machine configured for this purpose was based on Virtual Box which is if I understand correctly doesn't work very well on M1 and so far there are no plans to make it work there. So I am still looking for good alternative option to make it run at least this way. If you have some advice I would be happy to hear.
* What is the 'safest' or 'correct' way to backup the whole rM and be sure that you can restore it without a danger to brick it completely.
* How to connect BT Keyboard and configure it properly.
* All these 'issues' basically about how to make it usable for programming.
If you have any good solutions/ideas about those issues please share.
I was interested in purchasing a ReMarkable tablet last year then realised the ReMarkable 2 just released months ago and was very surprised that to see that they still don't have a color e-ink version.
Until then, I am skipping it since I don't think it is worth the price.
Downvoters: So I disagreed with the HN hivemind with a point I made about saving money for a better version and now I get downvoted for wrongthink? So somehow, this device is worth $400 to spend on a 32 bit machine with 8 GB of space and 1 GB of RAM?
That is more like spending $400 on an over powered Raspberry Pi 2 just to read ebooks. (In black and white). You also might as well buy the latest iPad then.
Why you would be surprised baffles me. There are only a few e-ink tablets with color and they're all small and expensive. Setting that aside, they're not focusing (that much) on e-book comic reading, their focus is note taking, drawing and pdf reading. I use mine to do all three things and it works excellent, couldn't be happier. The remarkable is expensive no doubt but it's a much better device at what it does than an ipad or any other tablet for that matter if you ask me.
I can't comment on the other tablets mentioned her as I haven't used anything else but ipad previously and now the remarkable 1. gen.
The problem keeps coming back to the fact that I'm absolutely not the type of person who wants to carry that thing around everywhere and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing. I realize I won't base all my life and processes around this one device that is also supposedly hard to get info off of easily into things like OneNote. If I was somewhere without a computer, then I wouldn't be carrying this big tablet on me. I've bought enough tablets and laptops with writable screens and MS surfaces over the years to know that I still never drew or took notes with the pen, but I still keep buying them hoping I will.
The thing is still so cool and I want it, but maybe I'll wait for version 3 or 4 and extra disposable income that will go to waste on it!