jboynyc · 5 years ago

Did you look at this product? It has an e-ink display. That makes it very different from an Ipad.

_ph_ · 5 years ago

Because it has an eInk display instead of a lcd. I ordered one while already owning an iPad Pro.

jmull · 5 years ago

Well, it’s $399, which is very different price point than an iPad Pro with Apple pencil.

They detail some other advantages, like the texture of the surface, though we can’t evaluate that without getting one in hand.

It’s a much more focused device, which is a pro and a con.

Personally, I’ll stick with my iPad Pro, but I hope this is actually good and successful.

tastyfreeze · 5 years ago

ReMarkable tablets don't have the same use case as LCD screen tablets. With an e-ink screen battery time is in another league.

If you want to watch videos and browse internet this isn't the tablet to get. If you want a notepad that can store and display every document you might want that is where "paper replacement" tablets come in.

matsemann · 5 years ago

The feel on Remarkable 1 vs a tablet was quite drastic when it comes to writing, tablets were not even close. Without having tried iPad Pro 2020 or reMarkable 2, my guess is that the gap will still be considerable.

And this is a single-use-case device, with pro's and cons based on that. Battery time, for instance. And like less than half the price of the cheapest iPad pro configuration without even getting a pen for your iPad at that price.

hartator · 5 years ago

I would say Remarkable is superior when taking notes. Mostly because it feels like regular paper without any bells and whistle. And you still do some advanced organization and editing.

nudpiedo · 5 years ago

It features a distraction free OS and an eInk display. That lack of distractions and specialized goal is the reason to buy it.

kissgyorgy · 5 years ago

Apples and oranges. If you are writing/drawing a lot on paper, you might find this very useful.

marvindanig · 5 years ago

No reason at all. At least we get to enjoy books, videos, notes and most importantly open web on proper hardware with the iPad.

x87678r · 5 years ago

Good point I have a kobo forma which at 7.8 is a bigger than normal ereader that is good for technical books. Outside I use the kobo (and I use less often than I expected), but inside I have a cheap windows tablet which is faster, easier to read and does other stuff too.

KaiserPro · 5 years ago

> iPad Pro 2020

against that? no thats about $1100, pencil, folio and ipad. The remarkable is a bargain compared to that. Granted the iPad can do a lot more.

Where it struggles is against an ipad air/mini and apple pencil. Its roughly the same price point, but the ipad does a lot more. Goodnotes is a very capable journalling tool. On the plus side you get the full iOS universe of apps and media.

On the downside the battery life is nowhere near as good, and the screen isn't optimised for text like the remarkable is.

I have no idea about the galaxy tab. I'm weary of android tablets as they are a mixed bag. Some are awesome, some are brilliant for the price, and some are just trash.

bobbiechen · 5 years ago

10 ms sounds completely out of reach right now. A quick search shows some black-and-white boards advertising 7.5 FPS (150ms) in 2019.

I was working with a three-color e-ink board from Pimoroni recently and a full screen refresh would take 20+ seconds. Looks very nice when it's done, but definitely unusable for anything real-time.

jmwilson · 5 years ago

What are your expectations and applications for color in an e-ink writable tablet? The best available color e-ink displays support a spot color palette of 3-7 colors. They're nowhere near being able to show a full-color image. If you want something for illustration, a Cintiq is the best option and you get to use software (like Illustrator) that's up to the task. Even the Cintiq Pro displays are only able to hit about 15 ms response time.

mmmateo · 5 years ago

How does it compare to writing on paper?

_ph_ · 5 years ago

That would be awesome. I have ordered the Remarkable and would like to use it as a dashboard connected to my computer. Just to display time, the calendar and other information which needs to be updated only very infrequently.

matsemann · 5 years ago

Case in point, this thread about running Parabola as OS on the reMarkable was also on the front page today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24294176

submeta · 5 years ago

Running Emacs on it would be cool. - Can‘t do it on my expensive iPad Pro.

davisr · 5 years ago

You can, with Parabola-rM. http://davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm

dheera · 5 years ago

- What is the latest word (as of 2020) on reading Kindle books on the ReMarkable? Is there a tool that makes it easy to buy Kindle books and strip them of their DRM?

- Is the ReMarkable capable of running an open source OS behind the hood? Is it a hacker-friendly piece of hardware in case ReMarkable runs out of business in the future?

I was thinking about getting the ReMarkable 2 if only because my Kindle's display is too small. For ebooks it's okay but I do would like to be able to use an eink reader for sheet music as well.

laksdjfkasljdf · 5 years ago

Do you use the text OCR feature?

Is that component opensource?

krick · 5 years ago

It's funny how your comment immediately makes me want to buy it, because the description on the site with all these silly photos and such for some reason got me thinking like "looks kinda nice, but since it's obviously something very Apple-like, it will be as restrictive as it gets, I won't be able to use it without some obligatory shitty web-account and I probably even won't be able to read *.cbz comics on it, so... nah, no way I'm paying €400 for it, and it's not really worth to spend more time looking into it".

Now I'm not sure what effect this site has on the average customer, and if making it more selling for me would make it less selling for them, but they actually lost me, and after reading your comment I'm seriously likely to pre-order. And it's not about your positive evaluation, of course. So I've got a feeling all these marketing people do advertising wrong somehow.

tyre · 5 years ago

Fantastic. I didn’t see anything about this on their site (admittedly a small percent of users would know/care what this means.)

Do you know of any RSS or saved articles sync? I use Feedly right now. Would love to save Reader Mode versions of long form to read/annotate. Right now I print them but…a lot of paper.

cominous · 5 years ago

Reminds me of this digital typewriter project using a e-ink display: https://alternativebit.fr/posts/ultimate-writer

The problem with this project was the lack of a affordable e-ink display with a decent refresh rate.

Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.

danShumway · 5 years ago

The device is open -- does that extend to the notes and filesystem itself? I'm very interested in the ReMarkable 2, but I want to be able to write scripts to handle stuff like syncing.

If this is something where I know I can get good integration with Emacs/Org-mode on my desktop (letting me insert diagrams on the fly into org-mode files, making one searchable interface between handwritten notes and typed notes, etc), I'd be very tempted to preorder right now. Especially if the handwriting recognition stuff they have is something I could hook around.

mahastore · 5 years ago

Is there any open source (DIY) hardware that goes with these APIs? Since $400 seems a little steep for a white screen I suspect it is possible to DIY similar hardware too. Any ideas?

kevinmgranger · 5 years ago

It's been verified that the ReMarkable 2 is just as open as the 1?

chrisweekly · 5 years ago

Thanks for the link.

> I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.

That would be really cool! I pre-ordered a RM2 (my 1st such device) and am in the November cohort... if you make time for said terminal, I'd love to know about it.

soperj · 5 years ago

What's it like for drawing?

snarfy · 5 years ago

> The device is open. It's just an embedded linux device.

That's all I needed to hear. Preordered.

j45 · 5 years ago

Really nice to see high end hardware that is completely open.

jinnko · 5 years ago

Boox devices are also very accessible as the run Android and you can install anything on them either from the Play store (requires manual setup at first) or F-droid, along with the usual adb access. I have the Nova Pro which I absolutely love. It has configurable screen refresh rates so it's possible to use a web browser with scrolling. You can install your favourite file sync app. Lately I've been using KDE connect to send/receive files. Writing on it is good and the notes app supports OCR that I found can make reasonable sense of my chicken scratches.

throwaway_827 · 5 years ago

I'm not sure they realize what a big selling point this is.

Feel free to tell them here: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Continually impressed with this company.

GekkePrutser · 5 years ago

I'd love an eInk terminal actually!! Or even an eInk laptop. Would be great to work on some code in the sun.

wyoh · 5 years ago

I get their ads all the time on IG, but they should have advertised it to me as open, Qt powered, and ssh friendly.

astrojams · 5 years ago

Your comment just made me buy it. I didn't realize it was an open device running linux. That sold me. There are probably some marketing lessons to be learned from these comments.

blisseyGo · 5 years ago

they really should also use this ability to be able to ssh and develop etc in their marketing material. It might get even more users.

crooked-v · 5 years ago

This reminds me that what I'd really like in an ebook reader is something that will sync a local library down from 'the cloud' in some automated way over wifi, without having to manually go in and update or import or whatever with books like everything else I've seen. ReMarkable seems like it wouldn't be practical for that for lack of enough storage for my Calibre library, though.

brightball · 5 years ago

Any way to sync it with Linux? It strikes me as odd that it’s that open, Linux based...but doesn’t have a Linux app.

mirekrusin · 5 years ago

Ok, this comment convinced me to get it.

Teknoman117 · 5 years ago

Look at u/rmhack on reddit. They managed to get a normal arm Linux image to boot on it.

My main complaints are that it's not encrypted at rest, and the only way to use cloud features are to go through reMarkable's cloud (and you can't host a private instance). Makes it really hard to get approved in an enterprise environment.

darau1 · 5 years ago

Can I bug you when you get the remarkable 2.0 to find out if it still does all that?

jberryman · 5 years ago

I thought I would like using an ereader to read PDFs but the touch screen (on this kobo) actually really bothered me; I always felt like I had to be very careful where I put my fingers and was always accidentally turning pages.

Do you find that bothers you, or can you just hold it like a notebook?

Thorentis · 5 years ago

If it had an SD/microSD reader, the openness would make me what to pre-order one. I can just imagine the 8GB internal storage quickly running out with all the extra stuff I'd want to do to it.

h0l0gr4ph1c · 5 years ago

You are say that the ReMarkable is open, but where is the GPLv2 code for the underlying Linux OS? As far as I can see there is nothing on the site that makes mention to it. That includes the Legal section which makes no mention of the GPL licensing.

tobias2014 · 5 years ago

Do we know the ReMarkable 2.0 will be just as open as well?

KingMachiavelli · 5 years ago

Have you used it as an e-reader (using KOReader I would assume)? How is the experience? It sounds like the prefect e-ink device if the hardware lends itself to other purposes.

shirakawasuna · 5 years ago

Man, they should really advertise the openness more. I'm considering this as a general re-reader and notebook replacement, now.

xs83 · 5 years ago

I sent mine back when I first got it (for a number of reasons) but this makes me want to re-buy one, I figured it would become hackable as I seem to remember the team saying they wanted to encourage it!

MobiusHorizons · 5 years ago

For anyone interested in this type of setup, I highly recommend considering the onyx book note 2, (or max 3, or nova 2) it runs android 9.1 with a relatively fast 8-core processor, have bluetooth and wifi, and I have found that the experience in termux is very good.

I currently use one with a brydge ipad keyboard which fits quite well.

ranaexmachina · 5 years ago

I bought the ReMarkable 1 because I thought it was just a Linux device. It turned out to be not exactly true. Their whole interface is closed source and they use a (IIRC) closed but reverse-engineered format to store PDF metadata. I installed Syncthing to synchronize papers and sheet music but because of their metadata format it didn't work for me at all, I got annoyed, eventually stopped bothering and sent it back.

Also, their GUI/DE is closed so there's no (easy) way to extend it with nice functionality. In my opinion the software was the bad part about that device that lead to a really bad experience with that device.

The hardware was great though. Wasn't super fast but it was light, felt good. I was very excited when I first took it out of the box.

They did a lot of great stuff with the ReMarkable but unfortunately it felt a lot closer to the semi-open Android than the Linux on my desktop.

dotancohen · 5 years ago

> The device is open. It's just an embedded linux > device. You can ssh into it, and run arbitrary code. > The SDK is based on Qt.

I use a Barnes & Noble e-ink Nook (Kindle competitor) to run AnkiDroid [1][2]. I have tried to use some note-taking Android apps on the device, but they all had horrible feedback due to the very slow CPU and very limited memory of the device.

Is it possible to run either an Android app (AnkiDroid) or a Qt/Python Linux application (Anki) on the ReMarkable 2? If so, I would happily buy such a device.

[1] https://apps.ankiweb.net/ [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichi2.anki

jrib · 5 years ago

I contacted their support about the openness of their device. This is their response in case others are interested:

    Aug 28, 2020, 3:44 PM GMT+2
    Hello there.
    
    Users can gain root access to the device by using SSH, so the device is open for developing your own software.
    The GPL and LGPL version 3 requires us to give users access to their own devices. It's part of the anti-tivoization clauses in the licenses.
    
    A lot of our software is open-source. You'll find a lot of our open source code here: https://github.com/reMarkable/. If you're interested in developing for the reMarkable, a good place to start would be on here https://remarkable.engineering/deploy/.
    
    Note that we do not currently provide any support for SSH related issues. Accessing the device and making changes through SSH is at the customers own risk.

ant6n · 5 years ago

Is the screen more paper-like than the olpc?

cordite · 5 years ago

Not sure about normal ebooks, but it's been a fantastic tool for getting through IETF RFCs.

No distractions, easy on the eyes. Would be nice if the contrast were even better for low light environments. Maybe this 2.0 would do it.

I seem to have lost my pen though, so I'm not sure what I'll do for any annotation now.

thaumaturgy · 5 years ago

It doesn't support any of the proprietary ebook formats, but it does display PDFs wonderfully and I use mine often this way.

I also export trip itineraries, lists, project files and so on to PDF and keep them on my ReMarkable. It's handy for that.

Andrex · 5 years ago

Same question, but for sheet music... Would be amazing to hook this up to a pedal to turn pages, or some even more advanced MIDI-USB solution...

devindotcom · 5 years ago

It's great at PDFs. Looks good, and you can mark them up easily and the changes sync back to the app, where you can export them or whatever.

It reads epubs and rtfs, but not mobi or lit or a few others. Its text handling and formatting aren't great but they're working on it. If I was reading a novel I'd stick with an ereader but if I had 20 research papers to go through it's the remarkable by a long shot.

eddiecalzone · 5 years ago

It sounds pretty basic from what other commenters are saying, but you can install koreader, which is outstanding (and also supports PDF, DjVu, XPS, CBZ, FB2, PDB, TXT, HTML, RTF, CHM, EPUB, DOC, MOBI):

https://github.com/koreader/koreader

gpm · 5 years ago

It claims to support PDFs, does that not work well for some reason?

jonahbenton · 5 years ago

PDFs work fine. I converted many Kindle books to PDF and sent them to the remarkable via their cloud API. I don't do it much but writing notes on PDF pages works fine.

marvindanig · 5 years ago

I agree with you. Don't understand why people are downvoting your observation though.

GrinningFool · 5 years ago

I can see the argument for color, but I'm curious why, for its intended use-case, 32/64 matters?

breakfastduck · 5 years ago

This is a bizarre take. Would you expect that same length of life from a tablet or phone?

If not, why would you apply it to this device?

rvense · 5 years ago

> EDIT: Not only that, Remarkable 2.0 and 1.0 are not even 64 bit and still use 32 bit processors in 2020. Completely pointless to use beyond 2038.

32-bit isn't an issue. You reference Y2038, but this is only an issue when you care about binary compatibility, which you do not. Wikipedia says:

"Linux originally used a 64-bit time_t for 64-bit architectures only; the pure 32-bit ABI was not changed due to backward compatibility.[15] Starting with version 5.6, 64-bit time_t is supported on 32-bit architectures, too. This was done primarily for the sake of embedded Linux systems."

There is absolutely no need for a 64-bit processor in a device with less than 4GB RAM.

kmclean · 5 years ago

I have an onyx boox note 2 and like it quite a bit, but note taking only really works on the built-in app, play store apps that support handwriting input are not responsive enough so it's a very glitchy experience. The stock note taking app is a pleasure to use, at least, and it is nice to be able to install and use a variety of e-book store/reader apps natively.

minimalist · 5 years ago

I have a Boox Note and its has tragically lousy software. Its stuck on Android Lollipop with an ancient, vulnerable kernel, SELinux disabled by the manufacturer and the device phones home to Chinese servers for just about everything. Handwriting recognition doesnt work without phoning home. Ony,x does not respect the GPL, the bootloader is locked on their devices, and the firmware is obfuscated.

I explain it all in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041543

This received some attention in the re--it community last month--the company still does not care [0]. I preordered a remarkable 2. As said by other people: after being abused by all of these conpanies who intentionally lock down the devices that /we purchase/ from them, spying on us and making the devices intentionallu obselescent, remarkable, purism, pine64 have infinite goodwill from me for making devices that you have actual control over.

[0]: https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7

nudpiedo · 5 years ago

They offer a companion app for mobile and desktop so you might want to move your reMarkable contents to OneNote when you are done editing. The device is also hacker friendly so you could probably just plug some APIs to export to OneNote automatically

marksc · 5 years ago

Yes https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse

See also https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable

_ph_ · 5 years ago

If I didn't misunderstand the keyknote, iPadOS 14 supposedly does handwriting recognition on the device.

lstamour · 5 years ago

I don't think it's that bad. It's not entirely open source, no, it's proprietary software on top of open source. The same is true of Android phones running Google Services. I'll note the EULA for the hardware doesn't seem to indicate you can't run other operating systems on it, but I am not a lawyer so YMMV. They've separated the EULAs for the hardware sales from the EULA for the software you can download. Makes sense to me, and is actually more liberal and easier to read than other EULA's I've read. Could it be more open? Of course, especially to allow the use of the product brand name with other third-party software, to open the device up more, and support more open uses. To me the real question will be if business and enterprise customers end up demanding code signing restrictions to the point where it becomes a cloud-managed device with a closed boot loader, like Chromebooks or iOS. Hopefully like Chromebooks, or Android, they'll still preserve a mode where you can turn off those features if you want to run third-party software and have the authority to do so. But they're not a charity, it's not completely open hardware, they're trying to build a business, at scale, and openness is one of their strategies, just not their only one.

matsemann · 5 years ago

What about it is BS? It's 100 pages shorter and less weird than most other EULAs I've seen. (Probably because EULAs are basically unenforceable in Norway)

jedimastert · 5 years ago

Care to explain what's bullshit about it?

minxomat · 5 years ago

This is here because the review embargo lifted today.

AshamedCaptain · 5 years ago

They have had two delays so far, and both of them were announced literally days before the "expected" shipping deadline. They are checking many checkboxes on my "likely vaporware" checklist.

The only thing they have in their favor is that they shipped v1 succesfully.

sireat · 5 years ago

Ohh, ok that explains why my March order has not shipped. I sort of expected that... but given that they did ship RM1 I was hoping for quicker delivery.

jldugger · 5 years ago

Definitely one of those 'cool product, and I'll be happy to buy it when it ships, but am declining to preorder' scenarios.

bronson · 5 years ago

This image from the order page implies 'yes': https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0e4kwcjv/production/6b0df7dbf80...

Although $12 ($17 inc shipping to US) for 8 tips doesn't seem too expensive to me.

1f60c · 5 years ago

https://archive.vn/V68bK

criddell · 5 years ago

The Remarkable does one thing and tries to do that one thing well. For a lot of people, not having Hacker News a swipe away is a feature. Having a much, much longer battery life is also nice.

Have you ever compared the screen of an iPad and Kindle outside? The Kindle is far easier to read in bright light. Even inside I prefer an eink screen because it isn't flashing 60 or 120 times per second.

bronson · 5 years ago

Eyestrain also stems from trying to use an LCD outside.

disgruntledphd2 · 5 years ago

To be fair, learning.oreilly.com is pretty good on iPad (not so much on mobile).

It's pretty expensive, but potentially worth it if you read a lot of technical books.

eddiecalzone · 5 years ago

I use 'briss' to trim PDF margins from a laptop, then send to a Kobo Forma (8-inch 4x3 screen) and read using the open source 'koreader', which also works with Remarkable. I was reading on an iPad mini before (same exact screen size), but that's collecting dust now. I expect with the Remarkable's 10.3-inch display you wouldn't even need to trim margins.

throwaway894345 · 5 years ago

The top comment suggests the device is open: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295820

justincormack · 5 years ago

Yes you can log in and run code. There is a proprietary driver for the fast screen refresh but everything else is open.

Abishek_Muthian · 5 years ago

>This looks so nice, and I've been desperate for years for a great, fast-refreshing e-ink device and/or monitor,

Unfortunately, the e-ink monitor space has still just two major players - Dasung/Onyx and there is a need gap for 'Affordable E-Ink large external displays'[1]. I hope that these newer e-Ink tablet/reader makers graduate soon to make large external monitors, but then again I've been hoping that for past several years.

[1]https://needgap.com/problems/43-affordable-e-ink-large-exter...

outworlder · 5 years ago

Just pretend you are carrying Star Trek tablets :)

marksc · 5 years ago

KOReader[1] runs on ReMarkable and supports DJVU and other formats.

[1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader

Falling3 · 5 years ago

Where did it let you down that made you want to return it?

curiousgal · 5 years ago

I was on the fence about this but the clunky zooming when reading PDFs made me decide not to get it. I think a tablet is better for browsing PDFs.

uniqueid · 5 years ago

It must be heaven for Math teachers and professors. No more mounds of discarded paper. I'm sure they use tablets already, but the look and feel of writing figures on an iPad isn't as nice as epaper.

eddiecalzone · 5 years ago

For a better PDF experience, you might want to try 'koreader'. The native PDF support on my Kobo Forma was so bad I was ready to return it, before finding this. It's an open source PDF/epub reader that you can install on Remarkable and other eInk readers. It's just an app - it doesn't replace or degrade any existing functionality.

https://github.com/koreader/koreader

pottertheotter · 5 years ago

I've always partially wanted something like this, but can't get away from paper. I recently completed a PhD and tried an iPad and my computer, but ended up always printing off articles. It's annoying having a lot of physical paper around, but I'm constantly flipping back and forth in papers and it's so inconvenient to do that digitally. I also find it's so much easier for me to recall information based on where it was, and I completely lose that in a digital device.

Curious if those have been issues for you or not. I wonder if it's just how my mind works, or if I'm not "doing it right"?

krick · 5 years ago

Is note taking good? How good is OCR? Do you know if it works with other languages/alphabets (cyrillics)? Can it handle usual stuff used in formulas, subscripts/superscripts, fractions, integrals, f : S³ → G, H⊲G ≡ ∀g∈G gHg⁻¹ = H and other weird symbols we use? How about stuff that comes with several columns/rows, like matrices? How about tables?

h3ctic · 5 years ago

Yes, apparently it only has a latency of 21ms

cjbconnor · 5 years ago

The display is marketed as twice as fast as the 1

soneca · 5 years ago

No evidence that I could see, but they do mention it, claiming that this version 2 is 2x more respondent ( ”Speed at which digital ink appears on reMarkable“ ) than version 1.

antongribok · 5 years ago

Looks like there is an Engadget review from earlier today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhTtl2iPkg

devindotcom · 5 years ago

I have the 2 right here and it's better than the first. There's still a perceptible lag (that is, it isn't imperceptible) but it's better than anything else out there including other eink devices (I also have a Boox here that I compared it to, and the Sony DPT before it).

uberduper · 5 years ago

I'd guess that this is a much better experience for left handers than right.

beezle · 5 years ago

I have RM1 and though I don't do a ton of sketching, I do annotate papers. Never felt there was lag in anything other than perhaps erasing, but I'm not a speed writer either.

waterhouse · 5 years ago

A Youtuber made a Lego robot that moves a pen at a constant speed and took 480fps video of it. He says the 1 had a latency of 54ms and the 2 has its advertised 21ms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpwbVwfWIKE&t=17m53s

About precision, I'm not really sure. There's a bunch of writing footage in this video, which might have what you're looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9wudCMFWPQ&t=8m10s

ASalazarMX · 5 years ago

Paper scatters light, smooth glass will reflect perfectly any window, light or glare. We usually don't notice it because we have trained ourselves to tilt our devices to minimize reflections.

Glossy glass is 21st century sexy, though. It looks premium compared to clear plastic.

crystaln · 5 years ago

Is this written by a lobbyist?

Blue light causes cataracts if nothing else. It also affects sleep cycles which can cause fatigue and all sorts of strain on the eye and body.

But “ Does this blue-light pose any hazard to our eyes?

Nope, not to my knowledge”

Animations are not perfectly smooth causing strain on scrolling (I can see the unevenness even on my 11 pro with every scroll). Colors are constructed - ever look at a phone on acid? This also can cause subconscious strain.

The article also fails to recognize that most eink displayed are in fact illuminated.

The bottom line is reading on eink is relaxing in ways a tablet is not.

paultopia · 5 years ago

Insert shrug here. I definitely get headaches after staring at iPad screens all day, and definitely have to squint to see them outside. Don't really care if that subjective suffering doesn't reflect some medically recognizable consequence, I still choose to avoid it.

dang · 5 years ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24296217.

criddell · 5 years ago

I don't think eink makes much sense on a phone especially if your phone is also your camera.

Even if you aren't using it as a camera, eink displays aren't great for content that needs to be updated frequently. Aside from the slow refresh, they physically wear out relatively quickly.

Abishek_Muthian · 5 years ago

Yes, but would prefer PostmarketOS or other pure Linux smartphone OS and there are couple of e-Ink phones out there running android apart from the YotaPhone.

[1]https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/10/24/hisense-a5-with-an-e-i...

[2]https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kingrow-k1-the-healthy-ph...

eugeniub · 5 years ago

There's a company called Yota that made YotaPhone, an Android phone with a normal screen on the front and an e-ink screen on the back. Very cool concept, but it was poorly executed. The last version was released in 2017, and the company went bankrupt in 2019.

ASalazarMX · 5 years ago

I would gladly trade a single-digit screen refresh for a week of battery life... and then I would trade back a couple of days of battery for an extra on-demand screen for videos :/

eddiecalzone · 5 years ago

I'd love to see an eInk display on the exterior of a clamshell like the Razr or Samsung Z-Flip/Fold. It'd be perfect for always-on notifications.

CrackpotGonzo · 5 years ago

I tried making an e-ink phone a few years back with some friends. E-ink was tough, refresh rate didn't quite work for a phone with text messaging etc. Decided to use Sharp's memory LCD, that was better but it was cost-prohibitive for a mass market phone and difficult to develop on.

E-ink has become cheaper and more responsive since we gave it a shot, glad to see companies like Mudita trying to bring something like this to life. https://mudita.com/

fancy_pantser · 5 years ago

There have been many attempts to find the right phone interface for eink displays. So far, I like the Light Phone 2 the best; it runs a version of Android that's totally stripped down to have a streamlined set of features that work well on eink.

https://www.thelightphone.com/

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 · 5 years ago

I would buy a Light Phone[1] if it came with a camera. A few other features like voice memos, google translate, and wikipedia previews would be nice.

https://www.thelightphone.com/

generalizations · 5 years ago

Absolutely, as long as there was a maps app with traffic updates.

redisman · 5 years ago

Definitely. It would need a lot of custom software though. I’d be happy with maps, podcasts, email, browser plus the usual dumb phone features but I think everyone has a different set of essentials and you just need brand new UX and UI to make things legible in 2 colors and the slow refresh rate.

crystaln · 5 years ago

Battery life and look-feel of paper. I love my kindle for reading because it doesn’t do anything else. Mostly I agree with you.

If combined with kindle I would definitely want one.

criddell · 5 years ago

Aside from the form factor, they are very different devices.

One isn't really a substitute for the other unless all you do is write notes and read.

system2 · 5 years ago

It is a very strange to compare two. They are absolutely serving different purposes.

overcast · 5 years ago

Sounds like you made the right choice, the iPad serves many functions, while the Remarkable services a small subset.

tomchuk · 5 years ago

Looks like the embargo just lifted today. reMarkable just sent out an email with links to reviews:

https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first-remarkable-2-reviews...

avel · 5 years ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/ov...

Check https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for more open source projects.

tastyfreeze · 5 years ago

8GB for text formats is quite a lot. The primary reason Kindle e-readers have larger storage is to support Audible.

formerly_proven · 5 years ago

> - no USB disk mode to download your notes

The website is very unclear about the I/O options of the device, which I don't get at all, that's clearly one of the most important things about it; I'm not writing stuff down for the bin after all.

How do I get stuff off it? Is OCR done on the device? What formats does it support? etc. etc.

It says it has USB-C "for file transfers", but then also "Sync notes and documents via Wi-Fi only", wayyyy down below it says "PDF and ePUB", but obviously when I'm taking notes I'm not generally interested in a PDF, because that works with _zero_ of my workflows.

Their opener is strong; it's an obviously interesting product. Yet everything else is unspecific fluff that wastes my time and only irks me by being vague or silent about core functional aspects of the product.

edaemon · 5 years ago

I'm not sure how useful it is, but they do have a left-handed mode: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000687545...

human_error · 5 years ago

As a left handed person that's the first thing I've noticed.

Quequau · 5 years ago

This is the only reason I'm not buying it either.

kraig · 5 years ago

I looked into this when I first heard about the ReMarkable 2.0, general consensus was usable but not as good. Some work is required to convert books to be used on the device and make fonts look OK. I also remember something about the built in reader not being as well designed.

SeriousM · 5 years ago

I guess some marketing guys lurking in this forum. Remarkable2 is very strong on Instagram and there must be a catch whenever marketing is heavily used.

matsemann · 5 years ago

Everyone I know that has it uses it for note taking, pdf reading and drawing simple diagrams. Unless you're buying it do draw art I wouldn't buy it based on it's merit of drawing art.

crystaln · 5 years ago

Use a freight forwarder?

gopkarthik · 5 years ago

It's a shame indeed. Then again we are a pretty small market with arbitrary customs screening at border.

I usually ask one of my friends to get similar products when they visit India but with the pandemic, it doesn't look like it'll happen for a year.

gamekathu · 5 years ago

Which screen protector do you recommend? Also, does using such paper-textured protector decrease the life of Apple pencil?

birdyrooster · 5 years ago

And with this protector you can get the same feel as paper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY

andrewnc · 5 years ago

I've heard these damage the pencil, is that not the case?

jeffbee · 5 years ago

You can buy half a million sheets of paper for this price.

neurotrace · 5 years ago

I have a similar device and while it's good for quick scribbling, it's really frustrating that you can't erase. The only option is to clear the whole screen. Still nice for quick whiteboarding though

shard · 5 years ago

If only you can download the image, it would be perfect for my use. Does anyone have a suggestion for such a device? All I want is an inexpensive device that can digitize what I write to replace my pile of notebooks. Doesn't need to erase, or display PDFs, or browse the web, or perform OCR.

ipsum2 · 5 years ago

What features does the Kindle have that make you use it more than the ReMarkable?

c-c-c-c-c · 5 years ago

You can mod it to accept sd-cards. I think it was feautured on HN a while ago http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/

obmelvin · 5 years ago

> Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle

Wow, thanks, I was very interested in this for marking up documents + notes. I guess I could still use my kindle for most of my reading anyway, but the video gave me the impression the RM2 was very fluid and fast.

If I'm understanding correctly, the screen's responsiveness to input is great, but the UI's responsiveness is not?

rohfle · 5 years ago

> 1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device.

In the FAQ at https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2:

> reMarkable 2 features USB-C for faster charging and data transfer.

Even if this does not mean that mass storage is or will be supported officially, maybe unofficial support could be added using the Linux Kernel's USB Gadget API g_mass_storage as a module. More info:

  https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/usb/mass-storage.rst
  https://developer.ridgerun.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_use_mass_storage_gadget
  https://github.com/reMarkable/linux
  https://remarkable.engineering/ -- toolchain here

To be fair it looks like a pretty small team (7 people listed with 2-3 actively developing) so I doubt it is management. More likely not a priority right now, limited resources, or in the too hard basket.

There is this repo in their Github org: https://github.com/reMarkable/vfatbuse

Looks like the CTO had a crack at implementing mass storage in v1

shados · 5 years ago

> It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device

> If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad

It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because "lolwhynot" and little more.

I have one and I really love mine. But all I wanted was a digital notebook. If I wanted more than that I would have gotten a Surface tablet or an Ipad Pro. It's definitely expensive for what it is, but it's not really marketed as a mass market device either.

gonational · 5 years ago

You just now saved me $530.

Thank you.

beezle · 5 years ago

2 - If they were that interested in selling cloud storage I suspect this would have happened by now. I have numerous large physics, math and comp sci text books on my RM1 and have no storage issus.

3 - They have issued numerous updates to the software. 4 - They have made improvements to reader functionality. As I and others have noted - font resizing and first use of epubs is slow because those files are converted to a pdf which is what is actually displayed on the device. 5 - The company would not be on a 2nd generation device if they did not understand their target audience. What is clear (to me) is that they don't see everyone as their audience ala Apple or Amazon.

SomeHacker44 · 5 years ago

I would have bought this if it had a microSD card slot. I will stick with my Surface Go. So close, so easy, yet so far.

waterhouse · 5 years ago

> Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle

It's not a constant factor. This is best understood as a bug. Here's what the reviewer demonstrated: If you change the font size, then the interface locks up and you can't do anything, until the backend has generated new page images for the entire PDF—no matter how many pages there are. He showed that, while it was fast for a small document, it locked up for about 50 seconds when resizing the font on The Count of Monte Cristo (a large novel, perhaps 1200 pages). Furthermore, he said that if, during that time, you changed any of the other settings (resizing again, changing line spacing, etc.), it would take another 50 seconds, and another if you pressed two of the buttons, and so on. It is very clear that no QA person (whose reports are heeded) tested out those operations on a decent-sized novel or technical manual. (If they tried Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—not the largest book in the series—then, going by word count, it would have locked up for 20.5 seconds.)

A sane viewer app—one of which the reviewer demonstrated—would redraw the current page, then give control back to the user, while continuing to redraw other pages in the background. It's a bit tricky, because until you render the previous pages at some level, it might not be clear where the page break for the current page would be; but you could choose an arbitrary point, use that temporarily, and eventually correct it when rendering catches up.

The reviewer did show convincingly that the viewer app is very lacking in features or basic polish. (Another example: You can zoom into a page, selecting a smaller section of it to view. However, you cannot drag this view around the page; if you want to see elsewhere on the page at the same magnification, you must undo the zoom, then select a new region to zoom into.) This is odd for an e-ink device, whose homepage has a section titled "An eye-friendly reading experience: Comfortably read PDFs or ebooks for hours on end without backlight, glare, or eye strain."

webkike · 5 years ago

As the top comment mentions the remarkable runs embedded Linux, it would be pretty simple to make your own syncing software and there’s likely alternative open source programs already made to do exactly what you want

aeturnum · 5 years ago

I kick started the first Remarkable and found it indispensable for grad school. It's just not practical to carry around a printout of every paper you've ever read for any of your classes, but a nice eink tablet meant I could read without eye strain and have older sources if I needed them.

I agree it's a poor replacement for writing notes on paper and I paired it with traditional notebooks for notes in class.

dragontamer · 5 years ago

I'm a big fan of pen-and-paper.

But years ago, on a Windows 8 Tablet, I copy/pasted my first handwritten note. That's when I knew that there's a huge future in the UI design of "paper-like" digital written notes.

Copy/paste. "Insert". Zoom. The digital landscape can make superior paper for thinking. It's still not as good as paper, but every year new devices come out and push the limits of UI / paper-like feel.

Eventually, someone will figure it out. Until then, tech-nerds will play with the toy and try to figure out how to make it better.

Artists have largely moved to digital ink / digital drawing styles. Its a bit odd that "thinkers" haven't found a computerized tool for "writing & thinking" yet.

Clearly, Remarkable (I never used this tablet before) is aiming at this niche. I'd probably give it a try, with a cautious degree of pessimism. I still haven't found anything as good as a $20 paper-notebook (Leuchtturm1917) and a $10 pencil (Pentel Kerry). But I await the day when some technology can replicate the experience.

eugeniub · 5 years ago

I have the XIRON Paperfeel. Sketchy name, totally worth it.

polemic · 5 years ago

I co-work with an architect who loves his ReMarkable 1. He'll do initial sketches on it, keep meeting notes, read contract docs etc on it, and so on.

It's an ideal "work support" device for what he does, vs an iPad which can do everything _if_ you find a good app, but still won't do those things as well, and is full of distractions like notifications and other anti-productivity cruft.

thekyle · 5 years ago

I recently bought an Onyx Boox Android tablet with eInk screen for $340. It comes with a Wacom stylus included which feels kinda cheap (it's plastic) but works better than any other stylus I've owned before (and it has a proper eraser on back which reMarkable charges extra for).

I think the main draw for the Onyx over a reMarkable is that you get access to full fat Android and all the apps in the Google Play store. An iPad still provides more functionality since it can watch videos and take pictures (my tablet has no webcam, speakers, etc.), but for reading (books, web, HN, Reddit, webcomics, etc.) the eInk screen is just so much nicer.

I also run the Android version of Microsoft Office and use it with a Bluetooth keyboard as a typewriter.

msb · 5 years ago

FWIW, I put a PaperLike brand screen cover on my ipad and it is eerily similar to paper when using the apple pen.

nucleardog · 5 years ago

Yeah, every time I see the ReMarkable anywhere I'm like "I'd love to have one of these." and I go look at their website and it's $600 and I realize I already own a kindle and a paper notebook and never buy one.

I'm sure it's great, but for something sold as, as far as I can tell, a notebook replacement, it's... a little crazy it seems? Like, no amount of better is gonna be $570 better than my paper notebook.

macca321 · 5 years ago

You should see the crazy Psion devices my dad used to spend £500 on in the 90s. There's a market

jlbnjmn · 5 years ago

10,000 sketches/scratch papers/PDFs in your hand.

Bigger than a Kindle, syncs with phone/laptop, doesn't feel like screen time.

For me it replaced a small whiteboard, printer paper, planner, and sketchpads.

If you do storyboarding, wireframing, process mapping, planning, or frequent note taking, it's brilliant.

To my knowledge, it's the best thinking tool available.

Edit: it's also brilliant for meeting notes.

Also, anything backlit is a non-starter for me. Too much screen time and I love working outside.

runeks · 5 years ago

> For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases.

If you like to read outside in the sun, then an iPad is not an option. This is where eInk shines, in my opinion. I have a Kindle and it’s so enjoyable to read on in full sunlight. Exactly the opposite of an iPad (or any light-emitting display for that matter).

cilea · 5 years ago

I have the 13.3 inch Digital Paper but not the ReMarkable. The A4 size is great for reading Magazines and Journals. The writing experience is good but the stylus does not support pressure sensitivity. One feature that stands out: split screen, i.e. one side as a reader and the other side for taking note. By the way, the stylus supports erasing and highlighting. I wish it supports EPUB (PDF-only reader). Was interested in getting a ReMarkable, but the A4 size won me over.

beezle · 5 years ago

I looked at those but the price (859) and being tied to Android were no goes. Perhaps in time the price of the screen will come down so as to get the device cost to a more acceptable 400 ish.

mft_ · 5 years ago

Well, at least the weak pound is doing it’s best to minimise your pain ;)

tandr · 5 years ago

and 599 CAD, which is like 14% markup comparing USD price to CAD

bsimpson · 5 years ago

Scares me too - wouldn't wanna drop hundreds of dollars on a thing with limited functionality (esp I/O) that might go out of business.

jonahbenton · 5 years ago

No, none of that. A similar device called Papyr seems to support shared whiteboarding features, but sharing and meetings are not what reM does. Just for writing, secondary use for reading.

jonahbenton · 5 years ago

Yeah, I like very thin tip stylus (physical or digital). reM v1 stylus with new nib is like a fine point, which is ok. Could try shaving a nib and getting to extra fine. Once nib is in use it becomes medium point fairly quickly- tho the width of the line it produces on the screen is determined by software, not the actual nib size.

enneff · 5 years ago

The absence of those features is a feature to me. I want a digital notebook not another damn computer.

ganlub · 5 years ago

have you heard of COVID-19?

iotku · 5 years ago

The review embargo just lifted so there's some extra interest currently.

That said it was announced months ago, so the seeing it on HN the first thought on my mind was PR campaign.

To a certain extent that is the point of sites like HN, but there's always the implication that it's just something someone stumbled upon rather than an "advertisment". (I figure more often than not OP is a stakeholder of some sort whenever it involves a product for sale)

Not accusing anyone of anything, but it took a surprising amount of scrolling to have someone actually mention the deficiencies such as the reading functionality being subpar.

akg_67 · 5 years ago

I am looking to buy Sony DPT-RP1 or very similar Fujitsu product. A quick review from actual user may be helpful in making decision. What do you not like about this Sony product?