13 ms·

The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

251 points by edward 7y ago

j-pb 7y ago
I agree with the assessment that opening up the remarkable software stack would be a huge selling point. I bought one for my girlfriend and she's super happy with it, but having a mosh console on there would allow her to ditch her macbook. Being able to code on it would also cause me to get one and ditch my iPad Pro.
- sandsmark 7y ago
  > [...] but having a mosh console on there would allow here to ditch her macbook. [..] Being able to code on it would also cause me to get one and ditch my iPad Pro. Not officially supported or endorsed in any way, shape or form, and I don't even know if it even still builds, but I did a quick proof of concept porting fingerterm; https://iskrembilen.com/fingerterm+vim.jpg https://iskrembilen.com/fingerterm+vim.jpg https://github.com/reMarkable/fingerterm https://github.com/reMarkable/fingerterm I don't think it's very usable in practice, though, but it was cool for about five minutes to muck about in a terminal emulator on an e ink display.
  - codetrotter 7y ago
    I didn’t realize it until visiting your HN profile but I see you are one of the people behind reMarkable! And you guys are based in Norway too! A few questions if you don’t mind. How many people are in your company? What are the current and future plans of the company in terms of product? Keep improving the software for the current hardware? Make new models with different hardware? Where in Norway are you located? Are you looking to increase the number of people working in your company? Planning to hire more software developers? And in terms of the open source parts of it, I don’t have this product, nor have I really heard about it before, so I haven’t had a chance to try it but, is everything that the community would need available in order to create a fully open source alternative “firmware” (or really, a “distro” might be a better name for it since it’s running a Linux kernel and all) that can run on your hardware?
    - sandsmark 7y ago
      We generally have a policy of not communicating externally by default (way too many startups have failed because of loose lips and over-promising), but I'll answer with what's already known publicly. :-) > How many people are in your company? Around 70¹. > Where in Norway are you located? Oslo¹ (or you can search for reMarkable on google maps). > Are you looking to increase the number of people working in your company? Planning to hire more software developers? Yes, yes and yes. :-) https://remarkable.com/careers https://remarkable.com/careers > [...] is everything that the community would need available in order to create a fully open source alternative “firmware” (or really, a “distro” might be a better name for it since it’s running a Linux kernel and all) that can run on your hardware? It's just a completely standard Linux system, and as required we publish the source code for u-boot and Linux and whatnot, so yes. I originally wanted to just run plain Debian on it (or ALARM), but it was easier to just start with a minimal system and put on as little as possible, especially when you're a single person trying to keep track of everything. Now we've expanded the team a bit, and ideally we could upstream at least the kernel patches so we don't have to forward-port everything ourselves, but it's not a high priority unfortunately. And we're still a relatively small team, it's a bit hard to find a lot of good kernel developers who want to switch jobs in Norway. ¹: https://www.dn.no/teknologi/teknologi/nettbrett/remarkable/remarkable-har-solgt-norske-nettbrett-for-400-millioner-kroner/2-1-562312 https://www.dn.no/teknologi/teknologi/nettbrett/remarkable/r...
      - 314 7y ago
        Have you considered hiring remotely? (I read your recruitment pages and while it does not say that you don’t explicitly your hiring process looks as if you are recruiting only for on-site positions).
  - tgerdin 7y ago
    Did you try running Emacs? Apparently the console version of Emacs has code to merge edits together so as be usable on slow high-latency connections (like in the 80's and early 90's I guess). In terms of refresh rate E-ink displays have similar characteristics so should be interesting to try!
ThePadawan 7y ago
I bought and returned one a year ago. I found that the two use cases I wanted most...: * quick note taking * syncing and reading long books didn't work out that well. As the author says, APIs for syncing are no fun. I also found that the tablet didn't keep up with my writing quickly enough at all. It also didn't really allow for "let me just jot this down and then check it out later on my PC". Like, all I wanted was a "notes-<timestamp>.png" automatically in a folder on my PC to look at later, and that seemed completely impossible.
- savolai 7y ago
  The writing experience improved a lot with an update this autumn. Doesn't seem slow at all for me, makes me wonder if you had a flawed or early version. https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-1-8-improved-brushes-better-syncing-and-a-smoother-reading-experience-ef0cc581a77a https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-1-8-improved-bru...
  - ThePadawan 7y ago
    I bought mine in May, so that sounds like I just missed it. Bummer! Unfortunately, retailers in Switzerland don't stock it, otherwise I would like to check out the improvements to confirm that my experience was just blemished by being an early adopter.
    - savolai 7y ago
      Mine is a couple of years old. It was a software update.
- vertnerd 7y ago
  I bought one almost two years ago and sold it about a year later. I wanted to use it for doing math but the inability to see more than one page at a time while I was working made it painful. Ability to copy across pages would have also solved the problem, but that still doesn't appear to be possible. There is simply no way to keep developing an expression, line by line, beyond the bottom of the page.
Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
A good alternative seems to be Onyx Boox Max2 which seems to be more open (android based and can use all the normal apps including sync etc), have similar functionality and can also work as an external hdmi screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk
- leppr 7y ago
  I use this for reading and annotating papers. It's great for that use case thanks to the large screen and auto-crop feature of the PDF reader, but the writing experience, while very good, isn't good enough to replace a real notebook. Also it's a bit too heavy to hold one-handed while reading on a couch.
- disfadbish 7y ago
  It is also double the price
- jsnell 7y ago
  The max3 is probably the better bet at this point. Just saw one yesterday, and it was just gorgeous.
- minimalist 7y ago
  I wouldn't recommend any of the Onyx Boox products. Sure they may run android, but: * They run an ancient version of android (Android 6 or Android 5, I don't remember) * This ancient version of android runs a kernel that is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities (like DirtyCOW)[0], and the developers have disabled selinux * Kernel sources are not released, in violation of the GPL and the last time I checked, it seemed like there was evidence of ripped off applications/IP theft in bundled but hidden applications. * The bootloader is locked * Access to the wacom digitizer is only possible through a proprietary blob, which has to be incorporated into an application that wishes to use it. Therefore, the stylus support has a tremendous lag for any application that is not an onyx-made application. * Handwriting recognition requires connection to their cloud services Their forums are down right now, but people have been begging them to at least comply with the GPL and release kernel sources for years now [1,2]. The last time I checked, there were 3 separate threads about this on their front page. It's a really tragic situation for such nice hardware. I can't think of any reasons why the company wouldn't want to open the source unless they were hiding something or were afraid of getting ripped off by other OEMs. The only thing that the onyx devices had over the ReMarkable is storage, but seeing as how the RM can be modded to accept an SD card[3] and has first-class linux support, it's the better choice IMO. [0]: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?s=42e53ed5d56f02832e3d471f6144513c&p=3788060&postcount=40 https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?s=42e53ed5d56... [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20190122063838/http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/please-provide-source-code-for-kernel-and-bootloader/237 https://web.archive.org/web/20190122063838/http://bbs.onyx-i... [2]: http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/install-linux-or-alternate-os-and-gpl2-kernel-source/698 http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/install-linux-or-alterna... [3]: http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/
alexandernst 7y ago
For the price it has, you could as well buy an iPad Pro, which will do literally anything the ReMarkable will do, but better.
- nieve 7y ago
  Except display text on an e-ink reflective screen. They're fundamentally different for most people.
- Allamann 7y ago
  Better as in "distract you" and for sure not better when it comes to writing and preventing taking care of your eyes
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- homarp 7y ago
  no e-ink though
- phaus 7y ago
  I agree it is overpriced just like every large form factor e-ink reader has been (likely unavoidable due to it being a niche product), but there are at least a few things that it does better than an iPad pro. Note that I'm not saying its better in general than an iPad Pro, because overall its not. The iPad does way more, but that's besides the point because this is a device with a very specific purpose. The most obvious advantage is the paperlike screen that reduces eye strain. Not everyone wants an e-ink screen, but for those to whom it is important, the iPad's screen isn't an acceptable alternative. The next advantage is battery life. It isn't as good as a kindle, but its better than an iPad Pro by a long shot. The other advantage is weight.
- michaelmior 7y ago
  It doesn't have an eink display which I find necessary. It also does a much worse job of helping me avoid distractions.
- johnday 7y ago
tapia 7y ago
I was thinking about buying it, because the stylus seemed to be much better than the one from the Sony DPT-RP1. However, I decided to buy the DPT-RP1 mainly for its size (13" is just perfect to read papers and taking notes!). The writing experience of the DPT-RP1 is not great, but I have been using it for almost a year now and would never go back. The amount of paper that I have laying around at work now is minimal. I have created a virtual printer to just sent whatever file I am reading to the DPT-RP1. Although there is no official support for Linux there is a very good python API developed by some guy, which works perfectly. Color e-ink would be nice to have for the next version, but I'm ok if only the stylus gets an upgrade.
- xvilka 7y ago
  Problem with Sony for that amount of cash is the lack of ePub support. This is why I bought iReader Smart. The biggest nuisance with iReader is the Chinese only interface.
  - jesuslop 7y ago
    Callibre has a decent EPUB->PDF converter
  - tapia 7y ago
    I understand that this might be a problem for some people. But I actually prefer to use my Kindle to read e-books. I actually like the rather minimalistic approach the DPT-RP1 has. It does one thing, and it does it great (for me at least).
  - naraic0o 7y ago
    i hadn't heard of this one before. do you have a link with more info? where did you purchase from?
    - xvilka 7y ago
      See these: [0] https://item.m.jd.com/product/100000118023.html https://item.m.jd.com/product/100000118023.html [1] https://www.ifanr.com/1096368 https://www.ifanr.com/1096368
rvdca 7y ago
I am actually wondering to see I buy one. Here is some links that I find interesting to consider before buying (some of those do answer some previous comments) : * Here is a [previous occurrence on HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16321531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16321531). * Here is a ["curated list of (code) projects related to the reMarkable tablet"](https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable). * Here is a [framework](https://github.com/canselcik/libremarkable https://github.com/canselcik/libremarkable) for "developing applications with native refresh support for Remarkable Tablet " (with a growing Rust APi if you fancy that). Some notes : * As you will see by exploring some the links, the tablet is Linux-based so it is definitely possible to piggy-back on some API (see https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#apis https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#apis for examples) * A bunch of alternative synchronization tools have already been implemented (see https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#cloud-tools https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#cloud-tools) * The company seems really attached to software updates to improve the device (see https://blog.remarkable.com/ https://blog.remarkable.com/). * From all above, I think that the device could reach a critical mass of adoption and blossom in uses and third-party development but only if enough people engage with the device. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- lima 7y ago
  There's a pretty active developer community! Main community resources are on Reddit and Discord: - https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet - https://discord.gg/n89uDN https://discord.gg/n89uDN You can use the tablet without the proprietary cloud platform by using the built-in web interface to transfer data.
  - ericlewis 7y ago
    I perused these before and didn’t feel like they are much for developer resources.. do you have some favorite posts to link to as opposed to the sub reddit entirely? (Which seems to consist of people wondering which update they got)
  - justinclift 7y ago
itronitron 7y ago
I've had one of these since 12/18 and like it quite a bit. I use it as a sketchbook and to take notes. When I first got it the stylus felt a bit too slippery however after some use it feels more like a normal writing instrument. My only suggestion is that they should sort templates so that recently used ones appear first.
Jhsto 7y ago
I bought the tablet for two reasons: - I write research papers. I suffer from writer's block when using a computer for a prolonged period of time. I thought that writing by hand would be different enough so that when I get a block on the computer, I could write by hand. This was true. And with the OCR engine built-in, I can easily convert my notes to a format ready to be pasted to Overleaf. - SVG support lets me draw illustrations for my academic papers. This turned out not to work as well as I imagined, but still good enough to get the point across and recreate the SVGs by hand on a separate software. I still read books on a Kindle, and I still read papers on the computer. This has more to do with how much easier it is to take and export notes on the devices. The reMarkable is expensive, but if your job is writing or illustrating, I think it makes sense to invest in your capability to do it more.
Tharkun 7y ago
I've stopped using mine. It's gathering dust in a corner somewhere. The hardware is pretty decent, and the writing experience is good. The software, on the other hand, is not good. There have been a couple of updates since I bought it, but they've been few and far between. Everything about it is mediocre. The file manager, meh. The note taking app, meh. The sync, meh. Getting stuff on it automatically is all but impossible. And I haven't been able to read some DRM books on it. It's too expensive to use as just a notepad, but it's not good enough to use for anything else. Additionally: the writing experience on the ipad pro is at least as good, and with just a bit less lag.
- michaelmior 7y ago
  My experience has been quite different. I've found the software updates to be great and fix a lot of the issues I had with the device. As far as getting things on the device, my primary use case is reading academic papers, so I wrote a script that uploads documents from a Zotero folder. https://michael.mior.ca/blog/zotero-remarkable-sync/ https://michael.mior.ca/blog/zotero-remarkable-sync/
- marvindanig 7y ago
  Oh I love the iPad Pro. I'm betting my dollars on books coming on to web straight up—like websites—and there are startups working on this already with an "iPad first" approach to experience of reading books online. I am loving this churn! :-)
  - windexh8er 7y ago
    That sounds absolutely horrible. The whole point of a book is it's finality. I don't want to have to pull a book as a site down every time I want to read a book. It sounds like this model is focused on some sort of DRM approach that has little to no usefulness for people who want to read a book.
    - marvindanig 7y ago
      Do you mean you don’t want to scroll to consume content or do you mean that you don’t like to download content on demand? Or both? And, no I don’t like "rights management" of the user, so fuck DRM fwiw. Have you seen Bubblin (https://bubblin.io https://bubblin.io) on the iPad? (Disc. I am one of the developers behind it.) Sadly, books are already DRM'ed either by being on dead-tree or by being behind proprietary tech like that of Kindle. Both are bad for books. Web is a ray of hope, IMO.
hsivonen 7y ago
I wish someone did a light A4-sized eInk device with these software features: * PDF reader * epub reader * well-maintained paged-media mode Web browser (well-maintained meaning timely security patches for the browser and the base system) * no app, just standard MTP over USB and whatever the Bluetooth file transfer protocol is called * reasonable privacy stance (not collecting what documents are read) When looking for the above, which doesn't exist, I settled on Sony Digital Paper (DPT-RP1) instead of ReMarkable. (My recollection is that the Sony device had a larger display and didn't assume a cloud component, which could shut down.) Sony has the hardware side solved albeit in U.S. Letter size instead of A4. However, of the other points, it only does PDF. Sadly, despite being based on Android 5, which meant they could have gotten the standard file transfers for free, Sony disabled that stuff and forces the use of their Windows and Mac app to load the PDFs onto the device. At least back when I bought the device (which was before the GDPR came into effect), the terms of service for the app were unreasonable: The terms claimed the content of the PC running the app as fair game for telemetry. Nope, nope. I've never connected the device to the network and I run the app in a manner that blocks it from accessing the network. One shouldn't have to take steps like this. The app and the terms for the app make even less sense considering that the marketing target of the device is doctors and lawyers, who even in the U.S. have specific document confidentiality obligations. Sadly, I have no idea what kind of business model would enable a well-maintained paged-media mode Web browser. Taking an existing Web engine and making its print-oriented paged-media capabilities work well in the interactive case would be a major project in itself. And top of that, actually keeping up with security patches would be hard work. (I have used a continuous-media Web browser on eInk, and it's not a good experience.) Anyway, I wouldn't go back to not having a Digital Paper device, but I feel dirty about Sony having gotten my money despite me having to deal with their PC-side app and its terms.
- balaksakrionon 7y ago
  I too am waiting for such a device. Does this remarkable tablet have a browser? I can't seem to tell from the product description and faq
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  My wishlist is comparable, though I'd also very much like to see document management tools scalable to 1,000s to 10,000s of items (yes, really, and yes, I've well over 5,000 docs on my current tablet, and no, I can't organise them anywhere near as I'd like). The Web browser is a danger (distraction) but also useful utility. Someone's web clippings / bookmarks / downloads manager (Pinboard, Pocket, etc.) or equivalent or export manager would be another hugely useful addition. The option to source content from third-party sites, including Gutenberg, Wikisource, Sci-Hub, and LibGen. Adding email and messaging is another distraction risk, but with appropriate disturbance controls, possibly within spec. And, because I find shells hugely useful, some sort of extensive Linux shell (like Termux for Android, or better). A minority want, but a powerful one.
moonbug 7y ago
these devices are just lovely for weiting and sketching.
19f191ty 7y ago
I've been using reMarkable for more than a year now. It's a very mediocre product with major software problems, BUT, I still will not trade mine with anyone for one simple reason: it allows me to disconnect and think. iPad, surface are all better in terms of features, but I get easily distracted. When I have to write something I am having real difficulty with, reMarkable works much better. Can't precisely explain why, but my guess is that it allows me to focus more deeply, like a blackboard or notebook.
- criddell 7y ago
  Does it do a good job of recognizing your handwriting?
ACS_Solver 7y ago
I'm a fairly early adopter of the RM, and bought it for keeping handwritten notes. I don't produce a great amount of notes as a student might, but I find that the experience of writing really helps me think. Some thoughts on the device: * The writing experience is top notch. It feels like pen and paper. I recently had the chance to try Onyx Boox Max 2 (very briefly), and it's nowhere close to the RM as far as the tactile feeling goes. This is the main selling point of the RM, and it's very good. * It's an open-source Linux-based device but not entirely. The actual UI application isn't open source. But as others have said here, it has pretty good hacking potential, and it's definitely more open than most commercial devices. The company's support of open-source was another reason for me to buy it. * The on-tablet software started out really bad but has improved. The first version had a bug that dramatically reduced battery life. It took a few more updates to get essential features like inserting a blank page in the middle of a notebook. * The off-tablet software is bad. There's a file manager webapp with remarkably poor UX, the cloud sync API isn't particularly convenient for automation, and so on. * As a reader, it's mediocre at best. PDFs formatted for large screens look good, but rendering is slow, navigation is poor, etc. I would absolutely not replace my Kindle with the RM. To summarize, I think the RM is a very good device if you treat it as a digital paper replacement. That's what it is for me, and I'm happy. But if you want a good e-book reader, or any advanced software at all, this isn't the right device.
- diggan 7y ago
  > * It's an open-source Linux-based device but not entirely. The actual UI application isn't open source. But as others have said here, it has pretty good hacking potential, and it's definitely more open than most commercial devices. The company's support of open-source was another reason for me to buy it. Can you tell us a bit more about this? Took a look at their website and searched around a bit, but don't find anything about it. What makes ReMarkable more open than most other commercial devices? Seems any device running Android and alike would be more open to hacking. Also can't find anything about the company's support of open source.
  - ACS_Solver 7y ago
    For one, unlike most Android devices, you don't have to root the RM. It comes with SSH running and you have the root password. The company's Github [1] has most of the source code, from their Linux kernel to the software update daemon. Their CTO, Martin Sandsmark, is a long-time KDE developer. Unfortunately, xochitl (the device's main UI) isn't open. It's a major miss in their open approach, and frankly I don't get why they would keep it closed - the RM's competitive advantage is in the hardware design, the xochitl software is merely okay and could only benefit from user patches. [1] https://github.com/reMarkable https://github.com/reMarkable
fatso784 7y ago
Bought mine a year ago, and love it. It’s fundamentally changed how I read and write —no more papers, easy to get PDFs and textbooks onto it through my Mac or phone. If you’re an academic and read a lot, it’s an invaluable way to do your eyes a favor and also eliminate distractions. Had an Ipad and disliked the backlight. Also, not sure what people are saying on here, but the writing fidelity is some of the best I’ve ever seen (used to work in pen-based interfaces). It’s not a glossy screen like ipad, it’s matte, there’s friction. The size of it too makes it perfect for reading academic PDFs and textbooks galore. Yes it can be slow, but I’m not on it to play games or whatever. I’m on it to read.
- amelius 7y ago
  > Yes it can be slow, but I’m not on it to play games or whatever. I’m on it to read. Ok, but what about zooming and panning, or flipping pages?
cassowary37 7y ago
Here's my use case: as a scientist, I'm often in the position of needing to review multiple 20+ page grants or manuscripts, resulting in hundreds of pages at a time. I find it far easier to read closely and retain info when I can write directly on the documents, then circle back to collect my comments, vs typing directly. At a certain point, looking at reams of paper coming out of the printer made me feel slightly sick to my stomach. Plus, I appreciate that I'm not left with those stacks of paper sitting on my desk. (Before someone does the inevitable HN calculation about why the materials used to make the Remarkable are far worse for the planet than all the trees killed to print grants - yes, you're probably right. YMMV.) I had tried the various ipad and equivalents, and the RM's big advantage is that it feels like reading/writing on paper, mostly - something about the matte screen and stylus, though the stylus is sort of craptastic. As others note, the software is clunky with annotations moving around on the page, and there's a bit of lag. But, I have yet to find anything better. I do wish there were an easy way to collect all the annotations in one place, but my handwriting as an MD is appallingly bad so that may be an impossible task.
- sdrothrock 7y ago
  > I had tried the various ipad and equivalents, and the RM's big advantage is that it feels like reading/writing on paper, mostly - something about the matte screen and stylus, though the stylus is sort of craptastic. I have a few artist friends who said the same thing about the iPad and Apple Pencil, but then they started buying paper-like non-glossy protective sheets and said it improved the experience immeasurably. I don't know how appropriate that would be for you, but they're apparently relatively cheap, so maybe you could give that a shot if you still have an iPad sitting around?
ngcc_hk 7y ago
The hard work of syncing kill me. I have to switch from these kind of paper device as it is hard to manage info across them. Pad like devices are paper to me and kindle. It is more like in Star Trek you see captain use a few pad devices as if there were separate books/doc. It would be better if the two New iPad Air can manage the files in their app. As it can’t, I bought new old stock of macbook 12”. It is all portable and all work together. as background I own kindle, boss the pad size and the huge one (max 2). Once the ipad has the paper like screen protector i did the switch. The newly bought 15” i9! Is not portable. Hence the macbook 12
barry27 7y ago
"I have for years not liked having paper books. They're expensive to store (need a larger home, and thus higher rent).." ah ha ha good one
Wowfunhappy 7y ago
How close is the "e-paper" screen to real e-ink?
- masukomi 7y ago
  there are a bunch of video reviews that cover this. The consensus seemed to be "close enough" for your average person but "not even remotely" like paper for people who pay attention to different paper types, and care about the tools they use for drawing / writing and how they interact with paper. That is to say, you'll be happy if you don't pay any attention to the paper or writing implements you use normally. If you _do_ it's nowhere close but much better than writing / drawing on glass.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    I've seen a lot of reviews comparing the writing experience to paper, but I'm more interested in the reading experience, and particularly how much contrast the screen has vs an e-ink Kindle. I've seen a few reviews actually refer to the screen as "e-ink"—but that must be a mistake, or the official website wouldn't use the more nebulous term "e-paper"... right? If it is e-ink, why is the refresh rate for drawing so good?
    - johnday 7y ago
      It is e-ink. The refresh rate is good because they have come up with a clever method of only refreshing regions of the screen at once. Eg if you draw a line, it will only refresh the axis-aligned rectangle enclosing that line.
Waterluvian 7y ago
What I need in my work life is an e ink tablet and the software to draw diagrams. I have terrible legibility. Using mouse based draw apps feel so tedious for rough iterative sketches that it's hard to ever justify. The app would ideally be like the Newton in the way it autocompletes the shapes. The tablet would likely be something like this one.
eyeball 7y ago
I put a paper feel screen protector on an iPad Pro. Using GoodNotes feels just like writing on paper with a pen now.
knolax 7y ago
As someone who use pens with 0.38mm tips, most touch screens and graphics tablets I've come across simply don't have enough resolution to write comfortably. Reading this review made me go down a rabbit hole of various E-Ink tablets but it's becoming increasingly frustrating to find that literally none of them list the LPI of the touch screen. I can't even find any measurements on how big the nibs on the styluses are. Can anyone else who uses fine-tipped pens comment on the writing experience for this tablet?
lottin 7y ago
Like the review says this device is most useful for reading PDFs. Tablets aren't an option because 1) too heavy and 2) not enough battery life, whereas most e-book readers do a poor job displaying PDFs because they're too small. There's only a handful of large screen e-ink devices and this tablet is one of them.
mintyc 7y ago
Any support for Microsoft office apps (even if via third party)? docx, pptx and xlsx?
shaded-enmity 7y ago
I'm still waiting for the ability to quickly share my drawings/writings with others over the internet. Really wanted to use it in architecture/design meetings instead of wonky jamboard.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  ReMarkable does allow emailing content. That's not directly Webable, but you might set up something to collect/publish, if you wanted.
zachruss92 7y ago
I bought one for myself for Christmas a few years ago. I disliked it so much I ended up returning it. My use case was to use it for notes (bullet journal) and as an eReader. It was ok for taking notes, but for the money it needed to be amazing. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Also their customer support was terrible.
foolano 7y ago
I'm a happy user of this tablet. I also created a [Go app](https://github.com/juruen/rmapi https://github.com/juruen/rmapi) to interact with the cloud API. I mainly use the tablet as a "virtual printer". Using the app I just mentioned above, I print directly to the device from my Mac. Yeah, this just saves me a couple of clicks and one drag and drop :) Here's a [tutorial](https://github.com/juruen/rmapi/blob/master/docs/tutorial-print-macosx.md https://github.com/juruen/rmapi/blob/master/docs/tutorial-pr...) on how to set it up and an actual [demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOGTYI15VxY&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOGTYI15VxY&feature=youtu.be). When I was studying, it was also great to use it to solve math problems on it when I was traveling without having to carry too much paper with me.
- m-p-3 7y ago
  I hope the idea of a virtual printer catches on for these type of devices. It would make the switch to a paperless environment in the corporate world so simple.
  - pintxo 7y ago
    OneNote uses the virtual printer on Windows. It is actually really helpful.
- sitkack 7y ago
  That is super cool! I have been printing web pages to pdf to read later and then copy of them over, but this way more seamless.
- e12e 7y ago
  Looks like a cool program - but a little sad that there's a need for an Api... Couldn't the device present as an ipp/cups printer via wlan/bonjour ? [ed: I suppose there's a case to be made for "cloud" Printing too, though]
just_testing 7y ago
How does this compare to a kobo libra? I have one Kobo Libra, use it for PDFs, as the screen has enough DPI and is big enough, but it's not the best experience. Absolutely love the Pocket integration and KOReader, though. Also, the lights.
yalogin 7y ago
Theoretically it’s good but I wonder how much market there is for it at that price. Tablets themselves are used a subset of population, compared to the phones. On top of that for people wanting to read ebooks only amazon already sells a reader for far less than this one. The iPad for example offers all these features on top of the 100s more. What is special about this and Where is the market for this?
- sitkack 7y ago
  Science, engineering, medicine. There are tens of millions of folks who would use this over an iPad.
  - joegahona 7y ago
    Is willingness to pay part of the definition of a "market"? (Honest question; I didn't go to business school.) I don't doubt there are "tens of millions of folks who would use this over an iPad" if it were free -- I'm one of those people -- but to buy this in addition to, or instead of, an iPad? No way.
- criddell 7y ago
  Sometimes lack of features is a feature.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Business, research, and government markets might have an appeal. There's a balance between general-purpose devices (Android, iPad), and something that's really geared at managing and creating content. Existing tablets and smartphones are still very much consumption devices, to an extent that's massively off-putting. (I've used Android devices for a decade, have hated them the entire time, find Apple generally less appealing, though I'm somewhat tempted presently.) A good, focus-preserving, e-ink, long-battery-life, capable, well-supported device might well find a niche.
jonahbenton 7y ago
I bought one from the early campaign. As a thinking/planning device I write tens to hundreds of pages per month on paper and was intrigued by the focus on the writing experience of this product. And it is a good product- between the surface, the plastic pen tips, and the device software, provides a good enough writing experience. However, I found that my recall when using the device became zero. The loss of the physical process of reviewing and paging through written pages was unexpectedly significant, and "paging" through the digital pages did not help. So it sits unused. I should sell it.
gregjotau 7y ago
I have bought both the Remarkable and all the Onyx Boox Max devices. I ended up selling the Remarkable since I stopped using it after University. For most textbooks a 13 inch e-reader is much better.
reustle 7y ago
I can't wait until I can browse the web on a device like this
jayaram 7y ago
did anyone ever try the sony's digital paper ? It is super pricey but I am yet to find someone reliable to get an honest opinion of the device link - https://www.sony.com/electronics/digital-paper-notepads/dpt-series https://www.sony.com/electronics/digital-paper-notepads/dpt-...
- jesuslop 7y ago
  I have one (DPT-S1) for years after a kindle DX screen felt too small, and still use it for reading technical papers and books. Papers are a pleasure to read. The weight is light-feather. The price was extravaganza-level but haven't repented, I love this gadget. It synchronizes via web-dav with (for me) a box.com account, perhaps slowly. Is a superb reading device, battery lasts more than a week. Is not a tablet, web browising is enough for landing in a specific blog post or wikipedia article, but anything cpu consuming will be slow. After the years the stylus cilindrical holder came apart. The writing experience is functional, but lags to a point compared with pen and pencil (but is workable). Mine has SD-card with 32 gigs. Page flip on scanned books makes you wait. The software is minimalist but not buggy. No sound.
- hsivonen 7y ago
  Earlier comments from this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040864 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040864 TL;DR: Better size for reading paper-oriented PDFs than reMarkable. Nice hardware. PDF software works well. The app for getting PDFs onto the device and its telemetry terms are bad (or at least were when I bought the device). Does nothing other than PDFs. Annotations are saved in the PDF itsel and move with the PDF to a PC.
Kevin_S 7y ago
Do any of these tablets sync with Endnote? I am an academic and organize research using Endnote, and I would need the tablet to pull and sync with my endnote.
canadev 7y ago
After reading this article I was all set to look into the ReMarkable as a big e-reader. Then I read this thread and I'm glad that I don't! I have no use for writing in a tablet. Can anyone recommend a big e-reader suitable for textbooks? I'd like a 13" Kindle or something...
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  One of the larger iPads might work for you. I've been using a 9" Android tablet, which has a pretty good form factor, but is abysmal in virtually all other regards. Extensive notes: https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq Having an integrable folio-style keyboard is a hard requirement, and Apple seem to be filling this niche, though their manufacturer (Logitech) is the same company I've had an horrible experience with myself. at 9", almost all PDF-format texts are readable, though good bookreading software is hard to come by. I've mostly settled on PocketBook, which is reasonably inobtrusive for reading, but which makes large-scale document management (10k+ items) impossible. The metadata fields, as an example, lack an author field, and updating content metadata is cumbersome to the point of being all but impossible. I've been hunting for alternatives, but to date, no joy. Apple's devices look superior based on hardware, though I have concerns for the actual usage experience. https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq
boltzmannbrain 7y ago
OP and ReMarkable users, what ebook stores do you use?
tzury 7y ago
IMHO, $500 is a stiff price for such device. https://remarkable.com/store/reMarkable-and-marker https://remarkable.com/store/reMarkable-and-marker
- jimmydddd 7y ago
  Agreed. As I scrolled through the Web page, I was thinking to myself that it looks cool and that I'd buy it on a whim if it came in around $200. But when I saw the about $500 price point, I was more like, hmmm, let me read the HN comments. The comments look to be fair but meh. So, it gets put on the someday wishlist.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Given that this provides access to at least 100s of books (at 5MB/book, about a thousand with 8 GB storage), and compared with similar tablet devices (Android or Apple), especially of comparable screen size, it's quite competitive. The Apple iPad Air runs $500, the base-model iPad is slightly less expensive (and a 10" screen). Larger-format Android devices tend to run around $400-$600. Given my experience with Android and limitations of iPad options, I'd be willing to pay considerably more for a suitable device, though the ReMarkable may not yet be that.
exabrial 7y ago
As a musician I am really interested in this to stop wasting paper on lead sheets.
balaksakrionon 7y ago
does this device have nextcloud integration?
DeepYogurt 7y ago
I also have one of these and price aside it's amazing. It's not android which I think is a positive as it aids the "get out of my way and let me read/write" ethos. It's expensive and it has had some really basic bugs, but if they make a version 2 I'll buy it in a heartbeat.
green7ea 7y ago
I have a reMarkable and I'm really happy with it. I can't recommend it for everyone yet but if you like to tinker it's really really nice. I wrote a small script that downloads the articles from news websites and puts them on the device using 'wkhtmltopdf -a5' and it has become my morning newspaper. The software isn't perfect but it works well enough (and getting better all the time) and the fact that you can write your own makes it perfect for me.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Does the script run on the the device or externally? Is there shell access on the device? If so, what packages / distribution does it run / use?
  - green7ea 7y ago
    For now the script runs on a computer and transmits the files to the device using wifi or a cable but there isn't really a reason why it can't run on the device. I do plan on making something like that work on the device eventually. I'm pretty sure it's a Yocto based Linux image based on the toolchain they distribute.
    - dredmorbius 7y ago
      Thanks. What's the WiFi transfer mechanism? Push or pull?
      - green7ea 7y ago
        For now the computer pushes to the tablet but it would be simple to write a program to pull.
kendallpark 7y ago
> While the tablet keeps up with writing just fine, it's a little slow when jumping around a long document. I haven't found a good tablet analog for a sense of "place" within a document and fast indexing. With a book, I can flip through the pages by bending the pages and sliding my thumb over the edges (like a deck of cards). On a laptop, ctrl+F is approximately the same speed as thumbing through physical pages (sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending on how unique the search term is). My iPad is intentionally set up for handwriting, [1] but I still find searching through documents on a tablet pretty tedious. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20271316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20271316
rasengan0 7y ago
I signed up to ReMarkable during the beta/pilot announcement having gone through decades of testing Palms, iPads, eReaders, pen scanners in search for that analog experience. I didn't pull the trigger after the early adopter review having seen so many of these devices rushed to market with half-baked file i/o or UI issues with crippled hardware/software slowing that "pen/pencil and paper" experience down. This marketing desire generation is usually coupled with amazing incredible first impression reviews https://youtu.be/RGsWLeHZT8Y https://youtu.be/RGsWLeHZT8Y that only scratches the surface of total ownership experience. So far the iPad with Pencil has come closest but who wants to lug that heavy thing around?! From my experience, customers really have to buy the company/platform not the device in hopes that they have staying power. Remember Livescribe? https://www.youtube.com/user/nevermissaword/featured https://www.youtube.com/user/nevermissaword/featured Well they're baaack ... again. I can only hope the best for ReMarkable and that they sustain the ecosystem to continue on with "your" notes. +1 for the open source we direly need it and that may be enough to support them and buy their 3rd gen model. Currently I'm really enjoying analog fountain pens and paper, although more expensive! (14K nibs with custom grinds) they're pros on interface pleasure, offset power consumption, privacy and well ingrained UI. Search is waay slower but it helps brain power. My later tech bet is on paper journal digitalization like Google Books with data capsules: https://wiki.htrc.illinois.edu/display/COM/HTRC+Data+Capsule https://wiki.htrc.illinois.edu/display/COM/HTRC+Data+Capsule and doesn't everyone use MyScript API for handrec anyways? https://developer.myscript.com/ https://developer.myscript.com/ or more openly I'm hoping on improvements to the tessaract pipeline: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract/wiki/ImproveQuality https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract/wiki/ImproveQuali... As for current digital solutions, sadly it's going to the big gorillas via market share like MS with Onenote, or Google with chromebook tablet https://chromeunboxed.com/chrome-os-78-tablet-mode-ui-overview-google/ https://chromeunboxed.com/chrome-os-78-tablet-mode-ui-overvi... (termux Evil Org-mode with your fav Android pdf reader for papers!?) and Apple iPad pencil. Does it have to be this way? It would be ReMarkable if they can pull this off!
mindB 7y ago
Does anyone have a way of setting up the ReMarkable to run Emacs with an external keyboard? If so, the device might be able to satisfy 2 disparate needs in my life for a more portable and readable outdoors coding environment as well as for note-taking as a paper replacement.
eximius 7y ago
Bought one, returned it within their 30 day window. It wrote well, but the software supporting it is terrible. The only way to get your scribbles off the thing is by having it do some attempt at OCR and then it EMAILS you the text.
avani 7y ago
It is a perfect device for those of us who spend a lot of our days reading and annotating scientific papers. The refresh rate on the screen is not relevant at (at least my) paper reading speed, and I can email marked up documents to collaborators and students.

251 points by edward 7y ago

j-pb 7y ago

I agree with the assessment that opening up the remarkable software stack would be a huge selling point. I bought one for my girlfriend and she's super happy with it, but having a mosh console on there would allow her to ditch her macbook. Being able to code on it would also cause me to get one and ditch my iPad Pro.

sandsmark 7y ago
> [...] but having a mosh console on there would allow here to ditch her macbook. [..] Being able to code on it would also cause me to get one and ditch my iPad Pro. Not officially supported or endorsed in any way, shape or form, and I don't even know if it even still builds, but I did a quick proof of concept porting fingerterm; https://iskrembilen.com/fingerterm+vim.jpg https://iskrembilen.com/fingerterm+vim.jpg https://github.com/reMarkable/fingerterm https://github.com/reMarkable/fingerterm I don't think it's very usable in practice, though, but it was cool for about five minutes to muck about in a terminal emulator on an e ink display.
- codetrotter 7y ago
  I didn’t realize it until visiting your HN profile but I see you are one of the people behind reMarkable! And you guys are based in Norway too! A few questions if you don’t mind. How many people are in your company? What are the current and future plans of the company in terms of product? Keep improving the software for the current hardware? Make new models with different hardware? Where in Norway are you located? Are you looking to increase the number of people working in your company? Planning to hire more software developers? And in terms of the open source parts of it, I don’t have this product, nor have I really heard about it before, so I haven’t had a chance to try it but, is everything that the community would need available in order to create a fully open source alternative “firmware” (or really, a “distro” might be a better name for it since it’s running a Linux kernel and all) that can run on your hardware?
  - sandsmark 7y ago
    We generally have a policy of not communicating externally by default (way too many startups have failed because of loose lips and over-promising), but I'll answer with what's already known publicly. :-) > How many people are in your company? Around 70¹. > Where in Norway are you located? Oslo¹ (or you can search for reMarkable on google maps). > Are you looking to increase the number of people working in your company? Planning to hire more software developers? Yes, yes and yes. :-) https://remarkable.com/careers https://remarkable.com/careers > [...] is everything that the community would need available in order to create a fully open source alternative “firmware” (or really, a “distro” might be a better name for it since it’s running a Linux kernel and all) that can run on your hardware? It's just a completely standard Linux system, and as required we publish the source code for u-boot and Linux and whatnot, so yes. I originally wanted to just run plain Debian on it (or ALARM), but it was easier to just start with a minimal system and put on as little as possible, especially when you're a single person trying to keep track of everything. Now we've expanded the team a bit, and ideally we could upstream at least the kernel patches so we don't have to forward-port everything ourselves, but it's not a high priority unfortunately. And we're still a relatively small team, it's a bit hard to find a lot of good kernel developers who want to switch jobs in Norway. ¹: https://www.dn.no/teknologi/teknologi/nettbrett/remarkable/remarkable-har-solgt-norske-nettbrett-for-400-millioner-kroner/2-1-562312 https://www.dn.no/teknologi/teknologi/nettbrett/remarkable/r...
    - 314 7y ago
      Have you considered hiring remotely? (I read your recruitment pages and while it does not say that you don’t explicitly your hiring process looks as if you are recruiting only for on-site positions).
- tgerdin 7y ago
  Did you try running Emacs? Apparently the console version of Emacs has code to merge edits together so as be usable on slow high-latency connections (like in the 80's and early 90's I guess). In terms of refresh rate E-ink displays have similar characteristics so should be interesting to try!

ThePadawan 7y ago

I bought and returned one a year ago. I found that the two use cases I wanted most...: * quick note taking * syncing and reading long books didn't work out that well. As the author says, APIs for syncing are no fun. I also found that the tablet didn't keep up with my writing quickly enough at all. It also didn't really allow for "let me just jot this down and then check it out later on my PC". Like, all I wanted was a "notes-<timestamp>.png" automatically in a folder on my PC to look at later, and that seemed completely impossible.

savolai 7y ago
The writing experience improved a lot with an update this autumn. Doesn't seem slow at all for me, makes me wonder if you had a flawed or early version. https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-1-8-improved-brushes-better-syncing-and-a-smoother-reading-experience-ef0cc581a77a https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-1-8-improved-bru...
- ThePadawan 7y ago
  I bought mine in May, so that sounds like I just missed it. Bummer! Unfortunately, retailers in Switzerland don't stock it, otherwise I would like to check out the improvements to confirm that my experience was just blemished by being an early adopter.
  - savolai 7y ago
    Mine is a couple of years old. It was a software update.
vertnerd 7y ago
I bought one almost two years ago and sold it about a year later. I wanted to use it for doing math but the inability to see more than one page at a time while I was working made it painful. Ability to copy across pages would have also solved the problem, but that still doesn't appear to be possible. There is simply no way to keep developing an expression, line by line, beyond the bottom of the page.

Erlich_Bachman 7y ago

A good alternative seems to be Onyx Boox Max2 which seems to be more open (android based and can use all the normal apps including sync etc), have similar functionality and can also work as an external hdmi screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk

leppr 7y ago
I use this for reading and annotating papers. It's great for that use case thanks to the large screen and auto-crop feature of the PDF reader, but the writing experience, while very good, isn't good enough to replace a real notebook. Also it's a bit too heavy to hold one-handed while reading on a couch.
disfadbish 7y ago
It is also double the price
jsnell 7y ago
The max3 is probably the better bet at this point. Just saw one yesterday, and it was just gorgeous.
minimalist 7y ago
I wouldn't recommend any of the Onyx Boox products. Sure they may run android, but: * They run an ancient version of android (Android 6 or Android 5, I don't remember) * This ancient version of android runs a kernel that is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities (like DirtyCOW)[0], and the developers have disabled selinux * Kernel sources are not released, in violation of the GPL and the last time I checked, it seemed like there was evidence of ripped off applications/IP theft in bundled but hidden applications. * The bootloader is locked * Access to the wacom digitizer is only possible through a proprietary blob, which has to be incorporated into an application that wishes to use it. Therefore, the stylus support has a tremendous lag for any application that is not an onyx-made application. * Handwriting recognition requires connection to their cloud services Their forums are down right now, but people have been begging them to at least comply with the GPL and release kernel sources for years now [1,2]. The last time I checked, there were 3 separate threads about this on their front page. It's a really tragic situation for such nice hardware. I can't think of any reasons why the company wouldn't want to open the source unless they were hiding something or were afraid of getting ripped off by other OEMs. The only thing that the onyx devices had over the ReMarkable is storage, but seeing as how the RM can be modded to accept an SD card[3] and has first-class linux support, it's the better choice IMO. [0]: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?s=42e53ed5d56f02832e3d471f6144513c&p=3788060&postcount=40 https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?s=42e53ed5d56... [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20190122063838/http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/please-provide-source-code-for-kernel-and-bootloader/237 https://web.archive.org/web/20190122063838/http://bbs.onyx-i... [2]: http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/install-linux-or-alternate-os-and-gpl2-kernel-source/698 http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/install-linux-or-alterna... [3]: http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/

alexandernst 7y ago

For the price it has, you could as well buy an iPad Pro, which will do literally anything the ReMarkable will do, but better.

nieve 7y ago
Except display text on an e-ink reflective screen. They're fundamentally different for most people.
Allamann 7y ago
Better as in "distract you" and for sure not better when it comes to writing and preventing taking care of your eyes
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
homarp 7y ago
no e-ink though
phaus 7y ago
I agree it is overpriced just like every large form factor e-ink reader has been (likely unavoidable due to it being a niche product), but there are at least a few things that it does better than an iPad pro. Note that I'm not saying its better in general than an iPad Pro, because overall its not. The iPad does way more, but that's besides the point because this is a device with a very specific purpose. The most obvious advantage is the paperlike screen that reduces eye strain. Not everyone wants an e-ink screen, but for those to whom it is important, the iPad's screen isn't an acceptable alternative. The next advantage is battery life. It isn't as good as a kindle, but its better than an iPad Pro by a long shot. The other advantage is weight.
michaelmior 7y ago
It doesn't have an eink display which I find necessary. It also does a much worse job of helping me avoid distractions.
johnday 7y ago

tapia 7y ago

I was thinking about buying it, because the stylus seemed to be much better than the one from the Sony DPT-RP1. However, I decided to buy the DPT-RP1 mainly for its size (13" is just perfect to read papers and taking notes!). The writing experience of the DPT-RP1 is not great, but I have been using it for almost a year now and would never go back. The amount of paper that I have laying around at work now is minimal. I have created a virtual printer to just sent whatever file I am reading to the DPT-RP1. Although there is no official support for Linux there is a very good python API developed by some guy, which works perfectly. Color e-ink would be nice to have for the next version, but I'm ok if only the stylus gets an upgrade.

xvilka 7y ago
Problem with Sony for that amount of cash is the lack of ePub support. This is why I bought iReader Smart. The biggest nuisance with iReader is the Chinese only interface.
- jesuslop 7y ago
  Callibre has a decent EPUB->PDF converter
- tapia 7y ago
  I understand that this might be a problem for some people. But I actually prefer to use my Kindle to read e-books. I actually like the rather minimalistic approach the DPT-RP1 has. It does one thing, and it does it great (for me at least).
- naraic0o 7y ago
  i hadn't heard of this one before. do you have a link with more info? where did you purchase from?
  - xvilka 7y ago
    See these: [0] https://item.m.jd.com/product/100000118023.html https://item.m.jd.com/product/100000118023.html [1] https://www.ifanr.com/1096368 https://www.ifanr.com/1096368

rvdca 7y ago

I am actually wondering to see I buy one. Here is some links that I find interesting to consider before buying (some of those do answer some previous comments) : * Here is a [previous occurrence on HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16321531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16321531). * Here is a ["curated list of (code) projects related to the reMarkable tablet"](https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable). * Here is a [framework](https://github.com/canselcik/libremarkable https://github.com/canselcik/libremarkable) for "developing applications with native refresh support for Remarkable Tablet " (with a growing Rust APi if you fancy that). Some notes : * As you will see by exploring some the links, the tablet is Linux-based so it is definitely possible to piggy-back on some API (see https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#apis https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#apis for examples) * A bunch of alternative synchronization tools have already been implemented (see https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#cloud-tools https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#cloud-tools) * The company seems really attached to software updates to improve the device (see https://blog.remarkable.com/ https://blog.remarkable.com/). * From all above, I think that the device could reach a critical mass of adoption and blossom in uses and third-party development but only if enough people engage with the device. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lima 7y ago
There's a pretty active developer community! Main community resources are on Reddit and Discord: - https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet - https://discord.gg/n89uDN https://discord.gg/n89uDN You can use the tablet without the proprietary cloud platform by using the built-in web interface to transfer data.
- ericlewis 7y ago
  I perused these before and didn’t feel like they are much for developer resources.. do you have some favorite posts to link to as opposed to the sub reddit entirely? (Which seems to consist of people wondering which update they got)
- justinclift 7y ago

itronitron 7y ago

I've had one of these since 12/18 and like it quite a bit. I use it as a sketchbook and to take notes. When I first got it the stylus felt a bit too slippery however after some use it feels more like a normal writing instrument. My only suggestion is that they should sort templates so that recently used ones appear first.

Jhsto 7y ago

I bought the tablet for two reasons: - I write research papers. I suffer from writer's block when using a computer for a prolonged period of time. I thought that writing by hand would be different enough so that when I get a block on the computer, I could write by hand. This was true. And with the OCR engine built-in, I can easily convert my notes to a format ready to be pasted to Overleaf. - SVG support lets me draw illustrations for my academic papers. This turned out not to work as well as I imagined, but still good enough to get the point across and recreate the SVGs by hand on a separate software. I still read books on a Kindle, and I still read papers on the computer. This has more to do with how much easier it is to take and export notes on the devices. The reMarkable is expensive, but if your job is writing or illustrating, I think it makes sense to invest in your capability to do it more.

Tharkun 7y ago

I've stopped using mine. It's gathering dust in a corner somewhere. The hardware is pretty decent, and the writing experience is good. The software, on the other hand, is not good. There have been a couple of updates since I bought it, but they've been few and far between. Everything about it is mediocre. The file manager, meh. The note taking app, meh. The sync, meh. Getting stuff on it automatically is all but impossible. And I haven't been able to read some DRM books on it. It's too expensive to use as just a notepad, but it's not good enough to use for anything else. Additionally: the writing experience on the ipad pro is at least as good, and with just a bit less lag.

michaelmior 7y ago
My experience has been quite different. I've found the software updates to be great and fix a lot of the issues I had with the device. As far as getting things on the device, my primary use case is reading academic papers, so I wrote a script that uploads documents from a Zotero folder. https://michael.mior.ca/blog/zotero-remarkable-sync/ https://michael.mior.ca/blog/zotero-remarkable-sync/
marvindanig 7y ago
Oh I love the iPad Pro. I'm betting my dollars on books coming on to web straight up—like websites—and there are startups working on this already with an "iPad first" approach to experience of reading books online. I am loving this churn! :-)
- windexh8er 7y ago
  That sounds absolutely horrible. The whole point of a book is it's finality. I don't want to have to pull a book as a site down every time I want to read a book. It sounds like this model is focused on some sort of DRM approach that has little to no usefulness for people who want to read a book.
  - marvindanig 7y ago
    Do you mean you don’t want to scroll to consume content or do you mean that you don’t like to download content on demand? Or both? And, no I don’t like "rights management" of the user, so fuck DRM fwiw. Have you seen Bubblin (https://bubblin.io https://bubblin.io) on the iPad? (Disc. I am one of the developers behind it.) Sadly, books are already DRM'ed either by being on dead-tree or by being behind proprietary tech like that of Kindle. Both are bad for books. Web is a ray of hope, IMO.

hsivonen 7y ago

I wish someone did a light A4-sized eInk device with these software features: * PDF reader * epub reader * well-maintained paged-media mode Web browser (well-maintained meaning timely security patches for the browser and the base system) * no app, just standard MTP over USB and whatever the Bluetooth file transfer protocol is called * reasonable privacy stance (not collecting what documents are read) When looking for the above, which doesn't exist, I settled on Sony Digital Paper (DPT-RP1) instead of ReMarkable. (My recollection is that the Sony device had a larger display and didn't assume a cloud component, which could shut down.) Sony has the hardware side solved albeit in U.S. Letter size instead of A4. However, of the other points, it only does PDF. Sadly, despite being based on Android 5, which meant they could have gotten the standard file transfers for free, Sony disabled that stuff and forces the use of their Windows and Mac app to load the PDFs onto the device. At least back when I bought the device (which was before the GDPR came into effect), the terms of service for the app were unreasonable: The terms claimed the content of the PC running the app as fair game for telemetry. Nope, nope. I've never connected the device to the network and I run the app in a manner that blocks it from accessing the network. One shouldn't have to take steps like this. The app and the terms for the app make even less sense considering that the marketing target of the device is doctors and lawyers, who even in the U.S. have specific document confidentiality obligations. Sadly, I have no idea what kind of business model would enable a well-maintained paged-media mode Web browser. Taking an existing Web engine and making its print-oriented paged-media capabilities work well in the interactive case would be a major project in itself. And top of that, actually keeping up with security patches would be hard work. (I have used a continuous-media Web browser on eInk, and it's not a good experience.) Anyway, I wouldn't go back to not having a Digital Paper device, but I feel dirty about Sony having gotten my money despite me having to deal with their PC-side app and its terms.

balaksakrionon 7y ago
I too am waiting for such a device. Does this remarkable tablet have a browser? I can't seem to tell from the product description and faq
dredmorbius 7y ago
My wishlist is comparable, though I'd also very much like to see document management tools scalable to 1,000s to 10,000s of items (yes, really, and yes, I've well over 5,000 docs on my current tablet, and no, I can't organise them anywhere near as I'd like). The Web browser is a danger (distraction) but also useful utility. Someone's web clippings / bookmarks / downloads manager (Pinboard, Pocket, etc.) or equivalent or export manager would be another hugely useful addition. The option to source content from third-party sites, including Gutenberg, Wikisource, Sci-Hub, and LibGen. Adding email and messaging is another distraction risk, but with appropriate disturbance controls, possibly within spec. And, because I find shells hugely useful, some sort of extensive Linux shell (like Termux for Android, or better). A minority want, but a powerful one.

moonbug 7y ago

these devices are just lovely for weiting and sketching.

19f191ty 7y ago

I've been using reMarkable for more than a year now. It's a very mediocre product with major software problems, BUT, I still will not trade mine with anyone for one simple reason: it allows me to disconnect and think. iPad, surface are all better in terms of features, but I get easily distracted. When I have to write something I am having real difficulty with, reMarkable works much better. Can't precisely explain why, but my guess is that it allows me to focus more deeply, like a blackboard or notebook.

criddell 7y ago
Does it do a good job of recognizing your handwriting?

ACS_Solver 7y ago

I'm a fairly early adopter of the RM, and bought it for keeping handwritten notes. I don't produce a great amount of notes as a student might, but I find that the experience of writing really helps me think. Some thoughts on the device: * The writing experience is top notch. It feels like pen and paper. I recently had the chance to try Onyx Boox Max 2 (very briefly), and it's nowhere close to the RM as far as the tactile feeling goes. This is the main selling point of the RM, and it's very good. * It's an open-source Linux-based device but not entirely. The actual UI application isn't open source. But as others have said here, it has pretty good hacking potential, and it's definitely more open than most commercial devices. The company's support of open-source was another reason for me to buy it. * The on-tablet software started out really bad but has improved. The first version had a bug that dramatically reduced battery life. It took a few more updates to get essential features like inserting a blank page in the middle of a notebook. * The off-tablet software is bad. There's a file manager webapp with remarkably poor UX, the cloud sync API isn't particularly convenient for automation, and so on. * As a reader, it's mediocre at best. PDFs formatted for large screens look good, but rendering is slow, navigation is poor, etc. I would absolutely not replace my Kindle with the RM. To summarize, I think the RM is a very good device if you treat it as a digital paper replacement. That's what it is for me, and I'm happy. But if you want a good e-book reader, or any advanced software at all, this isn't the right device.

diggan 7y ago
> * It's an open-source Linux-based device but not entirely. The actual UI application isn't open source. But as others have said here, it has pretty good hacking potential, and it's definitely more open than most commercial devices. The company's support of open-source was another reason for me to buy it. Can you tell us a bit more about this? Took a look at their website and searched around a bit, but don't find anything about it. What makes ReMarkable more open than most other commercial devices? Seems any device running Android and alike would be more open to hacking. Also can't find anything about the company's support of open source.
- ACS_Solver 7y ago
  For one, unlike most Android devices, you don't have to root the RM. It comes with SSH running and you have the root password. The company's Github [1] has most of the source code, from their Linux kernel to the software update daemon. Their CTO, Martin Sandsmark, is a long-time KDE developer. Unfortunately, xochitl (the device's main UI) isn't open. It's a major miss in their open approach, and frankly I don't get why they would keep it closed - the RM's competitive advantage is in the hardware design, the xochitl software is merely okay and could only benefit from user patches. [1] https://github.com/reMarkable https://github.com/reMarkable

fatso784 7y ago

Bought mine a year ago, and love it. It’s fundamentally changed how I read and write —no more papers, easy to get PDFs and textbooks onto it through my Mac or phone. If you’re an academic and read a lot, it’s an invaluable way to do your eyes a favor and also eliminate distractions. Had an Ipad and disliked the backlight. Also, not sure what people are saying on here, but the writing fidelity is some of the best I’ve ever seen (used to work in pen-based interfaces). It’s not a glossy screen like ipad, it’s matte, there’s friction. The size of it too makes it perfect for reading academic PDFs and textbooks galore. Yes it can be slow, but I’m not on it to play games or whatever. I’m on it to read.

amelius 7y ago
> Yes it can be slow, but I’m not on it to play games or whatever. I’m on it to read. Ok, but what about zooming and panning, or flipping pages?

cassowary37 7y ago

Here's my use case: as a scientist, I'm often in the position of needing to review multiple 20+ page grants or manuscripts, resulting in hundreds of pages at a time. I find it far easier to read closely and retain info when I can write directly on the documents, then circle back to collect my comments, vs typing directly. At a certain point, looking at reams of paper coming out of the printer made me feel slightly sick to my stomach. Plus, I appreciate that I'm not left with those stacks of paper sitting on my desk. (Before someone does the inevitable HN calculation about why the materials used to make the Remarkable are far worse for the planet than all the trees killed to print grants - yes, you're probably right. YMMV.) I had tried the various ipad and equivalents, and the RM's big advantage is that it feels like reading/writing on paper, mostly - something about the matte screen and stylus, though the stylus is sort of craptastic. As others note, the software is clunky with annotations moving around on the page, and there's a bit of lag. But, I have yet to find anything better. I do wish there were an easy way to collect all the annotations in one place, but my handwriting as an MD is appallingly bad so that may be an impossible task.

sdrothrock 7y ago
> I had tried the various ipad and equivalents, and the RM's big advantage is that it feels like reading/writing on paper, mostly - something about the matte screen and stylus, though the stylus is sort of craptastic. I have a few artist friends who said the same thing about the iPad and Apple Pencil, but then they started buying paper-like non-glossy protective sheets and said it improved the experience immeasurably. I don't know how appropriate that would be for you, but they're apparently relatively cheap, so maybe you could give that a shot if you still have an iPad sitting around?

ngcc_hk 7y ago

The hard work of syncing kill me. I have to switch from these kind of paper device as it is hard to manage info across them. Pad like devices are paper to me and kindle. It is more like in Star Trek you see captain use a few pad devices as if there were separate books/doc. It would be better if the two New iPad Air can manage the files in their app. As it can’t, I bought new old stock of macbook 12”. It is all portable and all work together. as background I own kindle, boss the pad size and the huge one (max 2). Once the ipad has the paper like screen protector i did the switch. The newly bought 15” i9! Is not portable. Hence the macbook 12

barry27 7y ago

"I have for years not liked having paper books. They're expensive to store (need a larger home, and thus higher rent).." ah ha ha good one

Wowfunhappy 7y ago

How close is the "e-paper" screen to real e-ink?

masukomi 7y ago
there are a bunch of video reviews that cover this. The consensus seemed to be "close enough" for your average person but "not even remotely" like paper for people who pay attention to different paper types, and care about the tools they use for drawing / writing and how they interact with paper. That is to say, you'll be happy if you don't pay any attention to the paper or writing implements you use normally. If you _do_ it's nowhere close but much better than writing / drawing on glass.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  I've seen a lot of reviews comparing the writing experience to paper, but I'm more interested in the reading experience, and particularly how much contrast the screen has vs an e-ink Kindle. I've seen a few reviews actually refer to the screen as "e-ink"—but that must be a mistake, or the official website wouldn't use the more nebulous term "e-paper"... right? If it is e-ink, why is the refresh rate for drawing so good?
  - johnday 7y ago
    It is e-ink. The refresh rate is good because they have come up with a clever method of only refreshing regions of the screen at once. Eg if you draw a line, it will only refresh the axis-aligned rectangle enclosing that line.

Waterluvian 7y ago

What I need in my work life is an e ink tablet and the software to draw diagrams. I have terrible legibility. Using mouse based draw apps feel so tedious for rough iterative sketches that it's hard to ever justify. The app would ideally be like the Newton in the way it autocompletes the shapes. The tablet would likely be something like this one.

eyeball 7y ago

I put a paper feel screen protector on an iPad Pro. Using GoodNotes feels just like writing on paper with a pen now.

knolax 7y ago

As someone who use pens with 0.38mm tips, most touch screens and graphics tablets I've come across simply don't have enough resolution to write comfortably. Reading this review made me go down a rabbit hole of various E-Ink tablets but it's becoming increasingly frustrating to find that literally none of them list the LPI of the touch screen. I can't even find any measurements on how big the nibs on the styluses are. Can anyone else who uses fine-tipped pens comment on the writing experience for this tablet?

lottin 7y ago

Like the review says this device is most useful for reading PDFs. Tablets aren't an option because 1) too heavy and 2) not enough battery life, whereas most e-book readers do a poor job displaying PDFs because they're too small. There's only a handful of large screen e-ink devices and this tablet is one of them.

mintyc 7y ago

Any support for Microsoft office apps (even if via third party)? docx, pptx and xlsx?

shaded-enmity 7y ago

I'm still waiting for the ability to quickly share my drawings/writings with others over the internet. Really wanted to use it in architecture/design meetings instead of wonky jamboard.

dredmorbius 7y ago
ReMarkable does allow emailing content. That's not directly Webable, but you might set up something to collect/publish, if you wanted.

zachruss92 7y ago

I bought one for myself for Christmas a few years ago. I disliked it so much I ended up returning it. My use case was to use it for notes (bullet journal) and as an eReader. It was ok for taking notes, but for the money it needed to be amazing. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Also their customer support was terrible.

foolano 7y ago

I'm a happy user of this tablet. I also created a [Go app](https://github.com/juruen/rmapi https://github.com/juruen/rmapi) to interact with the cloud API. I mainly use the tablet as a "virtual printer". Using the app I just mentioned above, I print directly to the device from my Mac. Yeah, this just saves me a couple of clicks and one drag and drop :) Here's a [tutorial](https://github.com/juruen/rmapi/blob/master/docs/tutorial-print-macosx.md https://github.com/juruen/rmapi/blob/master/docs/tutorial-pr...) on how to set it up and an actual [demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOGTYI15VxY&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOGTYI15VxY&feature=youtu.be). When I was studying, it was also great to use it to solve math problems on it when I was traveling without having to carry too much paper with me.

m-p-3 7y ago
I hope the idea of a virtual printer catches on for these type of devices. It would make the switch to a paperless environment in the corporate world so simple.
- pintxo 7y ago
  OneNote uses the virtual printer on Windows. It is actually really helpful.
sitkack 7y ago
That is super cool! I have been printing web pages to pdf to read later and then copy of them over, but this way more seamless.
e12e 7y ago
Looks like a cool program - but a little sad that there's a need for an Api... Couldn't the device present as an ipp/cups printer via wlan/bonjour ? [ed: I suppose there's a case to be made for "cloud" Printing too, though]

just_testing 7y ago

How does this compare to a kobo libra? I have one Kobo Libra, use it for PDFs, as the screen has enough DPI and is big enough, but it's not the best experience. Absolutely love the Pocket integration and KOReader, though. Also, the lights.

yalogin 7y ago

Theoretically it’s good but I wonder how much market there is for it at that price. Tablets themselves are used a subset of population, compared to the phones. On top of that for people wanting to read ebooks only amazon already sells a reader for far less than this one. The iPad for example offers all these features on top of the 100s more. What is special about this and Where is the market for this?

sitkack 7y ago
Science, engineering, medicine. There are tens of millions of folks who would use this over an iPad.
- joegahona 7y ago
  Is willingness to pay part of the definition of a "market"? (Honest question; I didn't go to business school.) I don't doubt there are "tens of millions of folks who would use this over an iPad" if it were free -- I'm one of those people -- but to buy this in addition to, or instead of, an iPad? No way.
criddell 7y ago
Sometimes lack of features is a feature.
dredmorbius 7y ago
Business, research, and government markets might have an appeal. There's a balance between general-purpose devices (Android, iPad), and something that's really geared at managing and creating content. Existing tablets and smartphones are still very much consumption devices, to an extent that's massively off-putting. (I've used Android devices for a decade, have hated them the entire time, find Apple generally less appealing, though I'm somewhat tempted presently.) A good, focus-preserving, e-ink, long-battery-life, capable, well-supported device might well find a niche.

jonahbenton 7y ago

I bought one from the early campaign. As a thinking/planning device I write tens to hundreds of pages per month on paper and was intrigued by the focus on the writing experience of this product. And it is a good product- between the surface, the plastic pen tips, and the device software, provides a good enough writing experience. However, I found that my recall when using the device became zero. The loss of the physical process of reviewing and paging through written pages was unexpectedly significant, and "paging" through the digital pages did not help. So it sits unused. I should sell it.

gregjotau 7y ago

I have bought both the Remarkable and all the Onyx Boox Max devices. I ended up selling the Remarkable since I stopped using it after University. For most textbooks a 13 inch e-reader is much better.

reustle 7y ago

I can't wait until I can browse the web on a device like this

jayaram 7y ago

did anyone ever try the sony's digital paper ? It is super pricey but I am yet to find someone reliable to get an honest opinion of the device link - https://www.sony.com/electronics/digital-paper-notepads/dpt-series https://www.sony.com/electronics/digital-paper-notepads/dpt-...

jesuslop 7y ago
I have one (DPT-S1) for years after a kindle DX screen felt too small, and still use it for reading technical papers and books. Papers are a pleasure to read. The weight is light-feather. The price was extravaganza-level but haven't repented, I love this gadget. It synchronizes via web-dav with (for me) a box.com account, perhaps slowly. Is a superb reading device, battery lasts more than a week. Is not a tablet, web browising is enough for landing in a specific blog post or wikipedia article, but anything cpu consuming will be slow. After the years the stylus cilindrical holder came apart. The writing experience is functional, but lags to a point compared with pen and pencil (but is workable). Mine has SD-card with 32 gigs. Page flip on scanned books makes you wait. The software is minimalist but not buggy. No sound.
hsivonen 7y ago
Earlier comments from this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040864 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21040864 TL;DR: Better size for reading paper-oriented PDFs than reMarkable. Nice hardware. PDF software works well. The app for getting PDFs onto the device and its telemetry terms are bad (or at least were when I bought the device). Does nothing other than PDFs. Annotations are saved in the PDF itsel and move with the PDF to a PC.

Kevin_S 7y ago

Do any of these tablets sync with Endnote? I am an academic and organize research using Endnote, and I would need the tablet to pull and sync with my endnote.

canadev 7y ago

After reading this article I was all set to look into the ReMarkable as a big e-reader. Then I read this thread and I'm glad that I don't! I have no use for writing in a tablet. Can anyone recommend a big e-reader suitable for textbooks? I'd like a 13" Kindle or something...

dredmorbius 7y ago
One of the larger iPads might work for you. I've been using a 9" Android tablet, which has a pretty good form factor, but is abysmal in virtually all other regards. Extensive notes: https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq Having an integrable folio-style keyboard is a hard requirement, and Apple seem to be filling this niche, though their manufacturer (Logitech) is the same company I've had an horrible experience with myself. at 9", almost all PDF-format texts are readable, though good bookreading software is hard to come by. I've mostly settled on PocketBook, which is reasonably inobtrusive for reading, but which makes large-scale document management (10k+ items) impossible. The metadata fields, as an example, lack an author field, and updating content metadata is cumbersome to the point of being all but impossible. I've been hunting for alternatives, but to date, no joy. Apple's devices look superior based on hardware, though I have concerns for the actual usage experience. https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq

boltzmannbrain 7y ago

OP and ReMarkable users, what ebook stores do you use?

tzury 7y ago

IMHO, $500 is a stiff price for such device. https://remarkable.com/store/reMarkable-and-marker https://remarkable.com/store/reMarkable-and-marker

jimmydddd 7y ago
Agreed. As I scrolled through the Web page, I was thinking to myself that it looks cool and that I'd buy it on a whim if it came in around $200. But when I saw the about $500 price point, I was more like, hmmm, let me read the HN comments. The comments look to be fair but meh. So, it gets put on the someday wishlist.
dredmorbius 7y ago
Given that this provides access to at least 100s of books (at 5MB/book, about a thousand with 8 GB storage), and compared with similar tablet devices (Android or Apple), especially of comparable screen size, it's quite competitive. The Apple iPad Air runs $500, the base-model iPad is slightly less expensive (and a 10" screen). Larger-format Android devices tend to run around $400-$600. Given my experience with Android and limitations of iPad options, I'd be willing to pay considerably more for a suitable device, though the ReMarkable may not yet be that.

exabrial 7y ago

As a musician I am really interested in this to stop wasting paper on lead sheets.

balaksakrionon 7y ago

does this device have nextcloud integration?

DeepYogurt 7y ago

I also have one of these and price aside it's amazing. It's not android which I think is a positive as it aids the "get out of my way and let me read/write" ethos. It's expensive and it has had some really basic bugs, but if they make a version 2 I'll buy it in a heartbeat.

green7ea 7y ago

I have a reMarkable and I'm really happy with it. I can't recommend it for everyone yet but if you like to tinker it's really really nice. I wrote a small script that downloads the articles from news websites and puts them on the device using 'wkhtmltopdf -a5' and it has become my morning newspaper. The software isn't perfect but it works well enough (and getting better all the time) and the fact that you can write your own makes it perfect for me.

dredmorbius 7y ago
Does the script run on the the device or externally? Is there shell access on the device? If so, what packages / distribution does it run / use?
- green7ea 7y ago
  For now the script runs on a computer and transmits the files to the device using wifi or a cable but there isn't really a reason why it can't run on the device. I do plan on making something like that work on the device eventually. I'm pretty sure it's a Yocto based Linux image based on the toolchain they distribute.
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    Thanks. What's the WiFi transfer mechanism? Push or pull?
    - green7ea 7y ago
      For now the computer pushes to the tablet but it would be simple to write a program to pull.

kendallpark 7y ago

> While the tablet keeps up with writing just fine, it's a little slow when jumping around a long document. I haven't found a good tablet analog for a sense of "place" within a document and fast indexing. With a book, I can flip through the pages by bending the pages and sliding my thumb over the edges (like a deck of cards). On a laptop, ctrl+F is approximately the same speed as thumbing through physical pages (sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending on how unique the search term is). My iPad is intentionally set up for handwriting, [1] but I still find searching through documents on a tablet pretty tedious. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20271316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20271316

rasengan0 7y ago

I signed up to ReMarkable during the beta/pilot announcement having gone through decades of testing Palms, iPads, eReaders, pen scanners in search for that analog experience. I didn't pull the trigger after the early adopter review having seen so many of these devices rushed to market with half-baked file i/o or UI issues with crippled hardware/software slowing that "pen/pencil and paper" experience down. This marketing desire generation is usually coupled with amazing incredible first impression reviews https://youtu.be/RGsWLeHZT8Y https://youtu.be/RGsWLeHZT8Y that only scratches the surface of total ownership experience. So far the iPad with Pencil has come closest but who wants to lug that heavy thing around?! From my experience, customers really have to buy the company/platform not the device in hopes that they have staying power. Remember Livescribe? https://www.youtube.com/user/nevermissaword/featured https://www.youtube.com/user/nevermissaword/featured Well they're baaack ... again. I can only hope the best for ReMarkable and that they sustain the ecosystem to continue on with "your" notes. +1 for the open source we direly need it and that may be enough to support them and buy their 3rd gen model. Currently I'm really enjoying analog fountain pens and paper, although more expensive! (14K nibs with custom grinds) they're pros on interface pleasure, offset power consumption, privacy and well ingrained UI. Search is waay slower but it helps brain power. My later tech bet is on paper journal digitalization like Google Books with data capsules: https://wiki.htrc.illinois.edu/display/COM/HTRC+Data+Capsule https://wiki.htrc.illinois.edu/display/COM/HTRC+Data+Capsule and doesn't everyone use MyScript API for handrec anyways? https://developer.myscript.com/ https://developer.myscript.com/ or more openly I'm hoping on improvements to the tessaract pipeline: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract/wiki/ImproveQuality https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract/wiki/ImproveQuali... As for current digital solutions, sadly it's going to the big gorillas via market share like MS with Onenote, or Google with chromebook tablet https://chromeunboxed.com/chrome-os-78-tablet-mode-ui-overview-google/ https://chromeunboxed.com/chrome-os-78-tablet-mode-ui-overvi... (termux Evil Org-mode with your fav Android pdf reader for papers!?) and Apple iPad pencil. Does it have to be this way? It would be ReMarkable if they can pull this off!

mindB 7y ago

Does anyone have a way of setting up the ReMarkable to run Emacs with an external keyboard? If so, the device might be able to satisfy 2 disparate needs in my life for a more portable and readable outdoors coding environment as well as for note-taking as a paper replacement.

eximius 7y ago

Bought one, returned it within their 30 day window. It wrote well, but the software supporting it is terrible. The only way to get your scribbles off the thing is by having it do some attempt at OCR and then it EMAILS you the text.

avani 7y ago

It is a perfect device for those of us who spend a lot of our days reading and annotating scientific papers. The refresh rate on the screen is not relevant at (at least my) paper reading speed, and I can email marked up documents to collaborators and students.