33 ms·

ReMarkable 2.0 – A digital notebook that feels like paper

1410 points by punnerud 6y ago

nathcd 6y ago
This looks so nice, and I've been desperate for years for a great, fast-refreshing e-ink device and/or monitor, but the closed ecosystem is so disappointing. Their 'avoid distractions' marketing is fine and good, but locking down the device makes it a non-starter for me. At the very least I'd need a feed reader I can use (without some workaround where I send stuff through the "remarkable cloud"). Am I reading things correctly that the only external interface to the device is through their cloud tool?
- throwaway894345 6y ago
  The top comment suggests the device is open: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295820 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295820
  - nathcd 6y ago
    Oh nice, very glad to be wrong! I'll have to do some closer reading.
    - Groxx 6y ago
      There's a fairly healthy dev community around it too fwiw, e.g. a bunch of linked projects here: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable e-reader app ports, screen mirroring, full OS replacements, etc. It's a relatively niche device so of course there are significant gaps in what's available, but it's active and the depth is fairly impressive.
- justincormack 6y ago
  Yes you can log in and run code. There is a proprietary driver for the fast screen refresh but everything else is open.
  - amelius 6y ago
    But is it open by design, or by coincidence?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - yuchi 6y ago
      Absolutely by design. The founder is a prominent Linux community member.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y 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-external-displays-eink-displays https://needgap.com/problems/43-affordable-e-ink-large-exter...
truth_seeker 6y ago
Any reason why should i buy it instead of iPad Pro 2020 or recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 plus ?
- jboynyc 6y ago
  Did you look at this product? It has an e-ink display. That makes it very different from an Ipad.
  - haasted 6y ago
    Yeah, the correct question is probably how it competes with something like Kindle. The presentation made me fairly intrigued.
    - jboynyc 6y ago
      It's not an e-reader but a tablet computer. The founder of ReMarkable is (or was?) a KDE developer, so they supposedly do a lot of things right when it comes to developer experience, openness, and documentation.
      - Foxboron 6y ago
        > The founder of ReMarkable is (or was?) a KDE developer The CTO is a KDE Developer and a long-time member of the Arch community.
    - matsemann 6y ago
      Unless there are some newer Kindle models I'm unaware of, they are very different. The Kindle is a passive device, where one can read and barely interact with buttons and stuff. It's great for reading books and I use it often for that, but not much more. The reMarkable is a device for production, where you can write, sketch, organize etc. The display is much quicker to update and the pen is really good. I also like that it's a bit bigger, so reading PDFs isn't as much hassle as on a smaller Kindle. At least that's my take on it. Kindle for leisure, reMarkable for work.
    - 6y ago
no_wizard 6y ago
Anyone know whats the story on a color e-ink version of something like this? That would be really compelling to me. Especially if you can get the latency down into the 10 ms range.
- bobbiechen 6y 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 6y 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.
  - no_wizard 6y ago
    I'm hoping for a world where e-ink gets iPad levels of repsonsiveness, honestly. I like the displays alot, they render text beautifully at a high DPI (at least ones i've seen). Its just that they don't have the best response time. Thats really my limiting factor. I don't expect them to replace the iPad, for instance, but for using as a true digital notebook and book reader (magazines too, if the color e-inks get better) they look and feel ideal for this, except for the lag time in responsiveness, that's the part that kills it for me every time I investigate it.
bla3 6y ago
Note that they're a bit behind on order processing due to covid-19. I bought one a few months ago and it's scheduled to be delivered in October. If you buy one today, it's scheduled for November delivery.
amacbride 6y ago
I have the first version, and I really like it. The experience of writing on a textured e-Ink display is completely different than trying to do the same thing on smooth glass. (iPad Pro/Apple Pencil)
- mmmateo 6y ago
  How does it compare to writing on paper?
  - amacbride 6y ago
    It’s not quite as good, but for me it falls into the “good enough/pretty good” category. I write quickly so for me latency is very important; the latency on version one is pretty good, and so if they’ve improved that on version two, even better.
    - ksd482 6y ago
      What about pressure on the pen while writing as compared to regular styluses with small tips?
      - amacbride 6y ago
        My best comparison would be to a fine-tipped rollerball pen (like the Pilot Precise), on rough paper. I don’t tend to press down very hard, but I don’t really think about it as I’m writing.
jbeard4 6y ago
I have been very happy with my ReMarkable 1, and have ordered the ReMarkable 2.0. Hacker News might be interested in the active development community around the device: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable 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. You can also connect a keyboard to it over a USB-on-the-go port. 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.
- _ph_ 6y 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.
  - moonbug 6y ago
    that's mental.
    - _ph_ 6y ago
      Doesn't mean, I wouldn't use it for its advertised purposes too. But I really would like an eInk display as an add-on to my computer - unfortunately, the Kindle is not so open. Would also be great as an extra screen for e.g. man pages while you are working on your main screen.
      - ncmncm 6y ago
        There is also a smaller, cheaper, and less slick device at Crowd Supply made from recycled Kindles. https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 15cm, 800x600, 8M RAM, 4M flash, wifi/btle, usb/sdio/i2c, 3 capacitive-touch buttons, battery charger, microSD slot, GPIO pins, and is programmable in microPython. Three-bit greyscale pixels. (I don't have one.)
tanzbaer 6y ago
Has anyone had an experience with this? It looks pretty cool, although I'm probably never going to use it since I write mostly with my keyboard.
roel_v 6y ago
How good is a ReMarkable as an ebook reader? I don't care that much about the writing, but having a large size ebook reader that can display A4 pdfs in acceptable quality would be a game changer for me...
- cordite 6y 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.
  - minxomat 6y ago
    I second RFC, I've implemented plenty of them while scribbling over them on the RM1. Also great to quickly show a colleague something on a page. But, the eBook (as in published books) experience is pretty bad compared to basically anything. What even the RM2 does is just load the epub/pdf into the editing buffer and other than somewhat faster navigation and a hidden menu, it's not good at all for consumption.
    - surajs 6y ago
      knew they had to skimp somewhere to bring the costs down, predictably, they went with software.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - Zenbit_UX 6y ago
      That's disappointing, I'd love it to be a great e-book reader, I want to love it... If they could just side load the Kindle or kobo app I'd buy it in a second. For now, I'll keep reading ebooks on my phone.
  - packetlost 6y ago
    I'm curious, what format do you consume IETF RFCs in?
throwawaysea 6y ago
For me a big problem is that a lot of the things I want to save, mark up, and revisit (archive or search or share) are articles from webpages or PDFs - neither of which this eInk display is practical for.
- jonahbenton 6y 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.
  - meigetsu 6y ago
    How do you convert kindle books into PDFs?
    - jonahbenton 6y ago
      Wiring together the work done in the Calibre project. http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books Start by downloading the owned book from Amazon, targeting one of the compatible devices. I have a bunch of old kindles still registered under my account that I use for this, for which I have the serial #. Then just follow instructions. All the steps described as using the UI can be done with some digging from the command line. Shipping a PDF up to the remarkable cloud also takes little digging and wiring, but it works totally reliably.
- gpm 6y ago
  It claims to support PDFs, does that not work well for some reason?
_ph_ 6y ago
Beyond the obvious differences to a tablet like the iPad, an interesting fact about the reMarkable is, that you can just ssh into the device to do your data exchange. Syncing documents should be as easy as writing some scripts on your PC. Which should appeal especially to Linux users.
rvz 6y ago
When this device has an e-ink colour display then I would purchase it. Until then: No Thanks and No deal. 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. Like I said, wait for e-ink colour and 64 bit or don't bother.
- marvindanig 6y ago
  I agree with you. Don't understand why people are downvoting your observation though.
  - s800 6y ago
    Because the required hardware technology does not exist.
    - rvz 6y ago
      > does not exist. Oh really? Lets have a look at the market shall we? What is this then? [0] Or this? [1] Maybe this? [2] Finally, an actual colour e-ink e-reader product. [3] 64 Bit e-reader bonus review: [4] I have high hopes for reMarkable to do better than what is on the market right now which is why I would rather wait for a color e-ink version with a 64 bit CPU, which the technologies DO exist today. But unfortunately, what they are offering for a competitive e-reader tablet tells me that they are not even trying, even when they are selling a product with outdated technology. That isn't really a good deal is it? [0] https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html [1] https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-year-of-e-ink-seriously/ https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-... [2] https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing-new-color-screens-print-color-e-ink/ https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing... [3] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-reader-hands-on-review https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-read... [4] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu-quaderno-a5 https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu...
- GrinningFool 6y ago
pat2man 6y ago
This seems like a perfect device for the single use of note taking. But something like https://www.boox.com https://www.boox.com would probably make more sense for a lot of people since it can run other Android note taking and e-reader apps.
- kmclean 6y 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 6y 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 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 https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7
thelazydogsback 6y ago
Anybody know how to do MS OneNote integration? I have many years' worth of content there and use on multiple OS's, so I'd rather stay there than use their internal note-taking app, or at least be able to do import/export.
- nudpiedo 6y 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
  - thelazydogsback 6y ago
    Doesn't look like the desktop app has any OneNote import/export functionality, so yeah looks like DIY project.
huevosabio 6y ago
For someone with the current ReMarkable or with the 2.0, is it possible to use it as a drawing pad for remote meetings? I pre-ordered mine, but I want to know if this is even feasible.
- marksc 6y ago
  Yes https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse See also https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
shock 6y ago
I've been holding off on buying it until handwritten text recognition works on device without sending the data to the cloud. I had hoped it would have happened by now, but it looks I'm gonna have to wait a while longer.
- _ph_ 6y ago
  If I didn't misunderstand the keyknote, iPadOS 14 supposedly does handwriting recognition on the device.
abinaya_rl 6y ago
I'm wondering if there is an application that can be installed on a Kindle to provide a similar interface, it will be a game changer. Any thoughts?
iicc 6y ago
Bullshit EULA. https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000282757-reMarkable-End-User-License-Agreement https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000028275... https://github.com/reMarkable https://github.com/reMarkable
- lstamour 6y 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 6y 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 6y ago
  Care to explain what's bullshit about it?
haddr 6y ago
Remarkable haven't yet delivered the 2.0 device. Let's first see when it appears on the market. I has been delayed twice so far. So far it's in "pre-order" mode.
- minxomat 6y ago
  This is here because the review embargo lifted today.
  - vmladenov 6y ago
    They just emailed yesterday about another delay too
- AshamedCaptain 6y 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.
  - eugeniub 6y ago
    I'd say review units having been sent out is another positive.
  - beezle 6y ago
    Given the whole covid situation it is hardly shocking. I personally think they have been pretty upfront about it.
- sireat 6y 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 6y ago
  Definitely one of those 'cool product, and I'll be happy to buy it when it ships, but am declining to preorder' scenarios.
olah_1 6y ago
Do you still have to replace the pencil tips often and are they still expensive?
- bronson 6y ago
  This image from the order page implies 'yes': https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0e4kwcjv/production/6b0df7dbf80cb99a7e810ce02d80a980f3ac6049-2832x2002.jpg 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.
kissgyorgy 6y ago
Here is a review: https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-review-marker-writing-note-taking-130044070.html https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...
- 1f60c 6y ago
  https://archive.vn/V68bK https://archive.vn/V68bK
marvindanig 6y ago
I'm happy with my iPad. I can read books, watch videos or take notes all in one, plus I get to surf the open web on a super fast browser on top hardware that doesn't try to mimic the dead-tree. Not sure what the use-case for a sluggish 'paper-like' interface would ever be? I know some folks will jump to suggest less eyestrain but neither paper books nor e-ink help with that. Since eyestrain stems from overworked eyes and a tired brain [1], it doesn't help to claim that the nature of surface revealing the text has anything to do with it. [1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue
- criddell 6y 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 6y ago
  Eyestrain also stems from trying to use an LCD outside.
mellosouls 6y ago
I have the Kindle DX, the original(ish) large eReader and it's slow enough to be pretty useless at reading tech docs - which is why I bought it. I'd love to be able to walk into a shop and try the Remarkable or similar out. I couldn't give a stuff about writing (though it's a nice secondary feature) - I do however want to be able to throw a tech manual at my e-Reader (say, an O'Reilly programming manual) and be able to flip through it back and forth easily like you can on a tablet. The Remarkable looks beautiful in the link, but gives absolutely no indication as to whether that long-standing core flaw in e-readers has been solved here, which is very, very unreassuring.
- disgruntledphd2 6y 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.
  - mellosouls 6y ago
    Sure, but the whole point of using ereaders compared to tablets (like iPad) is the screen which tablets can't compare with for pure reading. But eReaders don't traditionally have remotely comparable UX performance so are only suitable for linear reads like novels. My question is whether Remarkable have solved that. It's far more important to me and similar potential users than the writing/whatever stuff they are selling on the webpage linked.
    - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
      Ah I see. For me, the writing on a screen is enough, I take a lot of notes in meetings, and having these digitised would be incredibly useful for me. Additionally, being able to annotate PDFs would also prove great for me, I don't want to print out large amounts of paper, but I would like to take notes.
- eddiecalzone 6y 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.
Koshkin 6y ago
Now I have to carry three devices around...
- outworlder 6y ago
  Just pretend you are carrying Star Trek tablets :)
gtsteve 6y ago
I was interested in buying one of these but was concerned as it didn't have disk encryption. Once again I can't find any info about that so I assume this still hasn't been added?
notthemessiah 6y ago
PDFs can get massive when they're from scans. An e-Ink device should support better formats such as DJVU.
- marksc 6y ago
  KOReader[1] runs on ReMarkable and supports DJVU and other formats. [1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader
zaidf 6y ago
I ordered Remarkable 1.0 six months ago, used it for a few days before deciding to return it. I submitted a request to return and was supposed to get DHL to pick it up but it never happened. I was left feeling they really don't want you to return.
- Falling3 6y ago
  Where did it let you down that made you want to return it?
j45 6y ago
The first version of this tablet had a slight lag between pencil and writing. I wonder if that's gone and ended up going with an Apple tablet for the time being.
eutropia 6y ago
Being dropped to the #What_Is_New section is confusing, because I was expecting a landing page with a hero image, and instead had context-less comparison numbers. Maybe update the url to not include the section?
paultopia 6y ago
I recently bought the ReMarkable 1 (wasn't willing to wait for preorder on the 2, and the differences don't look that significant). I kinda love it: I'm a professor, and 99% of my use is in reading article PDFs---it's a vastly better experience than reading on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens or printing off. One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there. But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.
- curiousgal 6y 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.
  - andrewnc 6y ago
    I just bought an Ipad Pro for this purpose and I love it. I have tons of PDFs open for research and I can annotate super easily. Plus, I can draw, animate, and watch youtube on the same device. It's been quite nice. I was going to get the ReMarkable, but am very happy with my Ipad
    - varrock 6y ago
      Which size did you find appropriate for your needs?
  - crazygringo 6y ago
    That's the deal-breaker for me as well. I'm always resizing PDF's so that the text is a legible size (neither too small or big), and therefore scrolling across larger pages, and the smoothness of a tablet is necessary. I've tried reading PDF's on my Kindle, but it's just so frustrating to navigate around the page. But the iPad is perfect.
mgn01 6y ago
The availability of this e-reader is frustrating, I want it so bad but have to wait two months.
TheRealPomax 6y ago
But no mention and video evidence of the pen input lag and precision, which is what's supposed to set this apart from other eink display solutions. The 1 has some lag, just enough to still be a nuisance: did the 2 fix that?
- h3ctic 6y ago
  Yes, apparently it only has a latency of 21ms
  - ksd482 6y ago
    21ms sounds really low, which is good of course. But as humans, would we notice 21ms lag while writing even if we paid close attention?
    - jm_l 6y ago
      You would definitely notice a 21ms lag while writing. Ideally you want to get below 10ms, but for physical-object-like responsiveness 1ms is the standard. See this old video from Microsoft research which demonstrates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4
      - zaksoup 6y ago
        I just watched the video and maybe I missed it but doesn't that mean that in order to have 1ms latency you'd have to have a screen refresh rate of 1000 frames per second? That seems like it would cause serious cost increases for displays, controllers, and graphics cards.
        zaroth 6y ago
        If it helps, you just have to refresh the (very small number of) pixels under pressure, and only at such a high right for a brief moment while they are being pressed. I wonder if you could have a separate layer which physically (chemically) responded to the pressure to make it look like the screen was drawing your line, but which only lasted for about 50ms after the pressure is removed. This chemical layer would be visible for just enough time for the real eInk pixels to actually refresh underneath the "pressure mask".
marvindanig 6y ago
> …on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens. Are you sure about that? [1] [1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue
- ASalazarMX 6y 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.
  - Twirrim 6y ago
    > Glossy glass is 21st century sexy, though. It looks premium compared to clear plastic. I really hate the glossy screen thing. I have this strange idea where I want to see what is actually on the screen, instead of a detailed reflection of stuff behind me. Crazy, right?
    - sixothree 6y ago
      You are very much not alone here. Especially on portable devices. People are very much attracted (I would say addicted) to bright shiny colors. Device manufacturers know this and thus glossy screens are the norm.
    - caleb-allen 6y ago
      As I read this on a Macbook Pro I'm staring also at the ceiling light behind me. Oh how I wish I could leave my light on and still use my multi-thousand dollar machine without strain!
    - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
      Most monitors and laptops have matte screens. Its just apple stuff thats glossy. Apparently it gives better color which helps for video/image editing but for programming the matte screens are clearly better.
bgorman 6y ago
Would anyone here be interested in a eink phone running something like WebOS optimized for eink displays? I really feel WebOS was too early and PWAs make the barrier to entry much lower for a WebOS-like device.
- criddell 6y 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.
  - redisman 6y ago
    They do? My 7 year old kindle still seems to work just fine
    - criddell 6y ago
      Right, because the Kindle refreshes when you turn the page or use the menus. That would be a refresh every 30 seconds or so while you are using it. If you are using it as a primary display on a phone showing dynamic content, you are going to be refreshing it as quickly as you can the entire time you are using it. I think modern low end panels can maintain about 7 fps or a refresh every 0.15 seconds. That's a two order of magnitude difference.
      - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
        I have never seen or heard of an epaper display wearing out but I don't know of anyone who has tested. I'm tempted to grab one of my spare screens and just hook it up to an arduino to constantly refresh it.
        Eric_WVGG 6y ago
        I hacked an old Kindle DX to run a screensaver, swaps out a full screen PNG about once every 30 seconds, been going for several years without a hitch.
ahnick 6y ago
Is the desktop app available on Linux or does the Windows version work under Wine?
the-mitr 6y ago
My concern has been that there is no support for micro sd card and local storage is just 8GB which is quite small.
suyash 6y ago
Interesting feature set but I don't see much value getting it if you already have iPad with Apple Pencil. There are several apps including Apple Notes that convert handwritten text to digital text. Also it doesn't replace a Tablet so will be another gadget taking space. I would rather wait for iPad or another full fledged Tablet to get some of these features.
- crystaln 6y 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.
pachico 6y ago
Unfortunately I had to buy an iPad (first apple product I buy ever) for my girlfriend since she needs an app (for work, she's a teacher) that only runs in iOS. I say unfortunately because I would have bought a ReMarkable instead :(
- criddell 6y 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 6y ago
  It is a very strange to compare two. They are absolutely serving different purposes.
- overcast 6y ago
  Sounds like you made the right choice, the iPad serves many functions, while the Remarkable services a small subset.
gravypod 6y ago
I'm hoping to wait for reviews for this. I've been watching this for months. While waiting I've been thinking about how I'm going to use a combination of RSS reads, web archiving tools, pandoc, and some custom daemons on the device to setup syncing of hackernews + articals + news sites to the device to read during my commute (assuming we still have commutes in 4 months from now). Very excited to see a polished device that is linux based that isn't hostile to developers trying to do cool stuff.
- tomchuk 6y 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-634674 https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first-remarkable-2-reviews...
  - gravypod 6y ago
    I'm more interested in reviews from other HN users and programmers and the volume of activity in the awesome-reMarkable lists. I have no desire for any of the built in cloud features or even doing much writing through the tablet. I however have many use cases for the hacking and modding abilities of the software that can run on this device. I'm pretty sure major news outlets won't be sshing into the device and installing custom daemon services and measuring the impact they have on battery life.
apricot 6y ago
Could I connect this thing to my computer and use it as a whiteboard in a Zoom meeting, or something like that?
- avel 6y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/overboardch_on_rmcodex/ https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/ov... Check https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for more open source projects.
  - apricot 6y ago
    Thank you! So in a nutshell, it's doable through VNC (among other solutions), but there's noticeable lag. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o has a demo.
adhoc32 6y ago
Too bad it has only 8GB and no SD card.
- tastyfreeze 6y ago
  8GB for text formats is quite a lot. The primary reason Kindle e-readers have larger storage is to support Audible.
sharpercoder 6y ago
A display with >10ms response times for writing does not cut it for me. I love the product, but this is something I can't compromise on. I really hope this problem on e-ink screens gets solved!
1_player 6y ago
Just finished watching a review: - no USB disk mode to download your notes - 8 GB storage (of which about 6 are available) - any Linux support seems to be nebulous/unofficial, especially because of point 1 - no search feature - no backlight - no landscape mode Personally I've cancelled my pre-order, not worth the 450 GBP in my opinion.
- formerly_proven 6y 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.
  - nebopolis 6y ago
    The original RM (and all signs point towards the RM2 being the same) had direct root ssh access via a virtual network device on the USB port. This could be used to SCP backup the notebooks, add custom executables, etc. I understand why they don't list it in their marketing materials - it isn't intended as a polished experience and is more of a "hacker" option. The CTO of Remarkable is a KDE dev though, so there are a lot of subtle niceties you wouldn't expect like a full toolchain and bootloader available on their github.
refresher 6y ago
Regarding the claim that it feels more like paper than the first version, the Engadget reviewer felt otherwise: >The company says it used a new textured resin layer on top of the glass to make writing on the reMarkable 2 feel more like writing on paper, which I don't buy. If anything, the original reMarkable's screen had a more pronounced, paper-like grittiness that doesn't come through here. That's hardly a dealbreaker, though, because writing on the r2 still feels absolutely fantastic, I think this one strikes a better balance of tactility and flow. [0] [0] https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-review-marker-writing-note-taking-130044070.html https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...
kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
It's a shame it is biased toward right handed users. And no, flipping it over leaves you with a narrow bezel on the bottom. Will not buy.
- edaemon 6y 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/360006875458-How-does-left-handed-mode-work-on-reMarkable-2- https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000687545...
- human_error 6y ago
  As a left handed person that's the first thing I've noticed.
- Quequau 6y ago
  This is the only reason I'm not buying it either.
izaak 6y ago
These will not ship to my country. Can anyone recommend a good eink note-taking alternative?
jordache 6y ago
that sound from the stylus tip - I'm assuming the tip will wear down very quickly? How intuitive is the wireless content transfer on the 1st gen model? At lot times on my iPad, I'm sourcing notes from web content.
ilyas121 6y ago
How does this compare to something like a kindle for reading?
- kraig 6y 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.
jordache 6y ago
the marketing video intrigued me.. then I found real world reviews.. It's gonna be a nope for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE
- SeriousM 6y 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 6y 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.
  - jordache 6y ago
    the thing doesn't even support Adobe DRM Epub... what a waste of opportunity!
    - _heimdall 6y ago
      To be fair DRM is a waste of opportunity. If I buy a book, movie, or album I want to use it however I choose as long as it doesn't breach copyright laws. I've been burned too many times by DRM'd content that stops working after a service/app update, is useless when the company goes out of business, or when it works on one of my devices but not another.
      - jordache 6y ago
        Libraries all use Adobe DRM. Kindle doesn't support it, so it's not in consideration for me. I don't want to buy ebooks.. I want to check it out via my local library
ankit70 6y ago
It happens every single time. I like a product and want to order and it doesn't get shipped to India. Frustrating!
- crystaln 6y ago
  Use a freight forwarder?
  - vorpalhex 6y ago
    A lot of companies won't ship to known freight forwarders because it triggers fraud measures (because freight forwarders are often used for cc fraud schemes).
- gopkarthik 6y 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.
techsin101 6y ago
I can buy 399 notebooks for 399
ryndbfsrw 6y ago
I didn't know about this before I bought an iPad. I recently added a paper-textured screen protector (similar to Paperlike) and now I can't stop using it. I really recommend it for those who have an Apple Pencil - its great
- gamekathu 6y ago
  Which screen protector do you recommend? Also, does using such paper-textured protector decrease the life of Apple pencil?
  - ryndbfsrw 6y ago
    The best one I've tried is the Nilkin brand. As to the Apple pencil, I'm on ~9 months of use and the nib feels the same as the spare that came in the box when I got the pencil so I don't have reason to believe its damaging it
mufufu 6y ago
Can’t click on the pre-order link on mobile Safari (iOS 13.6.1), no bueno. Trying hold the button down gives me the text options pop up (instead of the link preview) which makes me think there’s an element over it
Evidlo 6y ago
remarkable is nice, but it definitely needs someone to replace the main proprietary note taking application with an open source equivalent.
spsneo 6y ago
Not shipped in India :-(
gorgoiler 6y ago
What an utterly stunning bit of marketing. Some true talent in site building, set dressing, photography, and copy. Sheer quality. I’m heartened by it.
tiku 6y ago
Just bought a boox note 10 inch , same screen but android 9. Very nice device. You can even watch video on it with some ghosting.
Kevin_S 6y ago
I recently decided to purchase either this or an ipad, and ended up going with the ipad. My primary use is reading academic articles, and I use Endnote to organize my pdfs and citations. I ended up going with the ipad because it has an endnote app and automatically syncs with my desktop, so I just always have all of my papers handy. If I had to manually sync papers to the remarkable it would be very annoying. So I ended up going with the ipad despite wanting the experience of the remarkable. Though the ipad was cheaper and has other uses (entertainment).
etaioinshrdlu 6y ago
I can't help but feel like e-ink may eventually be replaced by something similar to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device The advantage would be immensely faster switching speed. Imagine one side of the mirror being totally reflective and the other side totally black. If you can turn the mirror far enough, you could replicate to some degree, what e-ink is doing.
ygmelnikova 6y ago
Had to double-check I wasn't on Amazon.
harrylepotter 6y ago
I've got mine on pre-order, scheduled for delivery in October. One of the things i'm most looking forward to experimenting with is reStream - https://github.com/rien/reStream https://github.com/rien/reStream . It'd be amazing to be on meetings and be able to share diagrams and drawings in real-time! Certainly better than the webcam i've got pointing down at my desk at the moment!
vvladymyrov 6y ago
I ordered ReMarkable 2.0, returned 13" Sony DPT. Then I got tired of waiting for ReMarkable 2 and got iPad Prod 13" with discount and ipad is enough for a little of technical reading (plus course videos and it is nice to have extra 13" display with mac os sidecar feature). So I'm going to cancel my batch 2 order...
salimmadjd 6y ago
I love hand writing and note taking and been eyeing ReMarkable for a while. However, each time I think about buying it, I have a hard time justifying it over an iPad Pro with a pencil. It feels like an iPad will give me more bang for a buck though with heftier weight.
- birdyrooster 6y ago
  And with this protector you can get the same feel as paper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY
  - salimmadjd 6y ago
    Thanks! Added to wishlist.
  - Infinitesimus 6y ago
    Have you tried this one for a while? Reviews suggest it's very harsh on the pencil tip.
    - birdyrooster 6y ago
      It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.
hamiltont 6y ago
Still waiting on my pre-order. Absolutely love e-ink and it was incredibly sad to me when Google effectively killed Android e-ink by forcing OEMs to have a non-eink screen if they wanted to be a certified Android device with access to Google apps. I understand Google's business position, but it was a shame to let an entire market segment die overnight. Sadly my Re2 preorder has been delayed so long I went ahead and ordered an iPad so I could get down to work. iPad, and especially the apple pencil, has been incredibly useful and I'm looking forward to a head-to-head comparison. No longer sure I'll be keeping my re2
birdyrooster 6y ago
I highly suggest this Paperfeel screen protector for iPad Pro https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY
- andrewnc 6y ago
  I've heard these damage the pencil, is that not the case?
  - Karunamon 6y ago
    Some of the reviews call that out, eg: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASIN=B07QMV54LY https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASI...
  - jtth 6y ago
    i guess more friction will wear the nub down more but it's not a big effect
  - birdyrooster 6y ago
    It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.
mrfusion 6y ago
I think it would be cool to do 3d design in a format like this, openscad, fusion360 etc. the pencil feels like a natural fit.
madhadron 6y ago
I've been looking at this or an ipad to use as a notepad and a reader for technical books. But then I take a deep breath and compare the price to the price of buying used books and keep going along with physical objects.
- jeffbee 6y ago
  You can buy half a million sheets of paper for this price.
BooneJS 6y ago
They announced a 2nd delay a few days ago. Hoping it’s the last.
ismail 6y ago
Anyone have a remarkable 2, and have they been delivered? If unhappy can buy it from you. I recall they said it would be shipping in August? My slot says delivery in November.
no_wizard 6y ago
Is the hand writing correction any good? I really have to rely on this myself. My handwriting is very poor.
PatrolX 6y ago
Here you go, save yourself $590 https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable-Magnetic/dp/B07VP9H3ND https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable... You're welcome.
- neurotrace 6y 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
  - dharma1 6y ago
    newer models have erasing, still similar price
- shard 6y 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.
  - dharma1 6y ago
    you could just take a photo with your phone? there are some smart pens that do what you're asking for - https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/
jborichevskiy 6y ago
I have the current version, and between my Kindle and iPad Pro and spending 10 hours per day in front of my laptop I don't use it as much. However, there is no better device on this planet for reading long-form PDF documents, research papers, or scans of textbooks. It wins. I wish the annotations were more useful (they're sort of kept a separate layer) but the reading experience is great. Andy Matuschak has some good notes on the current version here too: https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable
- ipsum2 6y ago
  What features does the Kindle have that make you use it more than the ReMarkable?
  - jborichevskiy 6y ago
    For ebooks specifically (not PDFs) I find the Kindle is lighter and has a number of nice features like the built-in dictionary and Amazon's X-ray view making it much more comfortable.
jron 6y ago
I almost impulse per-ordered the RM2 when I first read about the SD card mod here on HN. I decided to wait after hearing about the limitations as a reader and the slow software development. If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad, I highly encourage you to watch this fantastic review from My Deep Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM Full review: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5Vb-nB41UTnrXd https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5V... I ultimately passed on the device for a few reasons: 1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. If you want local, non cloud based transfer, you need to use a flaky local web UI that hasn't been improved in years 2. The internal storage still hasn't been updated from 8 (6 usable) GB. This is an obvious attempt to sell cloud storage in the future 3. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the resources or ability to improve it 4. There has been almost no attempt to improve reader functionality in years. Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle 5. It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device
- c-c-c-c-c 6y 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/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/
  - LegitShady 6y ago
    Breaks the warranty for sure.
  - enricozb 6y ago
    Unsure if this works for the RM2
- obmelvin 6y 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?
funkaster 6y ago
I purchased the original one during the crowdfunding campaing, and paid a really low price (iirc less than $300). It’s a great device, I used it for a few years. Pen latency was really good, paper feeling is true, battery was awesome. The handwriting->text conversion was poor, but my handwriting is horrible. I changed to an iPad Pro 6 months ago and have not looked back, but mostly because I went back to orgmode as my main note taking and using a keyboard is much easier. Having said that, I’m actually considering getting this upgrade just to focus on taking notes and brainstorming.
bitdizzy 6y ago
I have the Remarkable 1. It's the kind of jank hardware whose flaws you come to find endearing because the device as a whole is so good to you. I immediately ordered a Remarkable 2 when I caught wind of it. I'm going to give my Remarkable 1 to a friend or relative and hope it brings them as much joy as it did me.
iask 6y ago
Do they have a live draw feature? In recently purchased the Bamboo Slate. The live write is really handy when trying to express something on a Teams/Zoom meeting. I just share my screen and start drawing.
Solstinox 6y ago
I think I'll spend that money on fancy notebooks and fountain pens/nice pencils. 0 latency, smell really good too.
sireat 6y ago
I vaguely remember pre-ordering RM2 in the spring and being given a June delivery date. Who has received the earlier batches? PS. I just checked and I did pay for RM2 in March.. Let's hope their support responds.
efitz 6y ago
I love my remarkable 1 but don’t use it very much because I don’t want to be tethered to yet another company’s cloud, and I want document syncing not to require another app or website. I won’t buy a R2 until they add support for one of the big cloud storage providers like Dropbox or OneDrive or gDrive or something. The device itself is great; the OS is a little slow and takes a little getting used to navigate; recent updates made it better. The tactile feel is great.
- webkike 6y 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
  - crispyporkbites 6y ago
    This reminds me of the top comment on the original HN launch for Dropbox
  - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
    Most people don't want to have to ssh in and hack some solution together that probably doesn't work well or would take a load of your time. They just want a setting screen with a list of cloud services so they can log in to the one they want.
eyeball 6y ago
I’ll just put a matte / paper feel screen protector on my iPad and use GoodNotes.
futureproofd 6y ago
Some features of reading my books on an android tablet are the ability to lookup words with the dictionary service, and to sync all of my notes automatically to google drive. Does anyone know how the reading features of the R2 stack up in this regard?
andi999 6y ago
I just want the software. (And use it on my two in one)
chx 6y ago
I am deeply disappointed in the general progress in this field. I had the CrossPad so long ago, you see. What the CrossPad could do was drawing on a piece of paper (any paper, this was not one of this magical dot things) and transfer the strokes in a vector format to the computer. What the ReMarkable can do is the ... same except the paper step is skipped and now you draw on a screen. But you still can't do anything remarkable ;) on the device with your strokes. It's clear from https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002661437-Convert-handwritten-notes-into-text https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266143... OCR is not on device because you need to be on wifi and logged in. Hurrah for twenty plus years of progress...?
codesternews 6y ago
Buy the Pen and Paper. Nothing can feel like Pen and Paper without Pen and Paper. I stopped all this and bought $2 5 subject notebook and it relieved my anxiety and give me outlet to express. Just buy Pen and Paper and stopped looking nostaliga and looking things in other things.
- aeturnum 6y 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.
  - codesternews 6y ago
    I tried some of solutions. But I could not replace. My needs are less. I use for journaling and some study. I like the feel of paper and pen and I just think it can't be replaced.
- dragontamer 6y 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.
walkingolof 6y ago
A honest question, who really need this ? A pen and a notebook is a couple of euros ..
tito 6y ago
Texture matters. I bought this screen cover for my iPad for the explicit use of adding texture since 99% of my iPad usage is with Apple Pencil. I had read it has a paper texture unlike other slick covers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_inactive_ship_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i... Curious what others have tried!
- eugeniub 6y ago
  I have the XIRON Paperfeel. Sketchy name, totally worth it.
udev 6y ago
How is the latency when "turning" pages or taking notes?
fcatus 6y ago
how is this different than any other tablet? just because the edges look like a notebook?
ShakataGaNai 6y ago
I've been interested in eink displays and eink readers for a long time. Kindle owner since version 1. But... Is the ReMarkable really worth $500 ($400 + the $100 pencil which seems like a requirement)? For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases. I understand that for the "paper on pencil" feel an iPad is no where near... but then again you can also just write using real paper and pencil. Clearly I'm not the target demo, so what are the real target markets?
- polemic 6y 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.
  - ShakataGaNai 6y ago
    That makes sense. I supposed professions with lots of contracts or similar documents could benefit from "reading and note taking like paper" experience. To be fair, the iPad is only as anti-productive as you want to make it. The default is distracting, but those notifications can easily be turned off or not installed.
  - FrozenSynapse 6y ago
    iPad has a remarkable number of Pro apps for note taking, drawing, architecture, design, and so on. There are screen protectors that try to create the paper feeling for the screen. I love my Apple for drawing and note taking
- thekyle 6y 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.
desmap 6y ago
Does it run vim?
WalterBright 6y ago
I wonder how well it would do as a replacement for the abandoned Kindle DX?
ActsJuvenile 6y ago
I am surprised there is no discussion of alternative readers like Onyx Boox, which allow infinite customization through Android OS. Remarkable is a closed ecosystem with no third party apps.
sscotth 6y ago
Holding out for a larger version
IMAYousaf 6y ago
Does anyone have any opinions on this vs. the Sony Digital Paper?
- cilea 6y 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.
  - IMAYousaf 6y ago
    Thank you. Appreciate it.
exabrial 6y ago
I ordered mine back in feb, just got an email yesterday how it's delayed yet again :(
eitland 6y ago
I ordered the ReMarkable last year. It was truly awesome and paper-like to write on but I ended up sending it back for a refund because I needed a more computing like device. The device is fantastic, I love the idea and the company but the refund process (unless they have fixed it) is truly awful so expect to use a couple of days on it if you want to get your money back.
avmich 6y ago
Where can I find more details about hardware implementation? The website doesn't seem too helping for that. What are batteries, for example?
dcchambers 6y ago
I like my ReMarkable 1. I want to love it...but I'm not quite there yet. The company keeps focusing on improving the note-taking and drawing aspect of the device (which is awesome now!) but they haven't improved the reading experience to nearly the same degree. Reading eBooks, PDFs, etc is an acceptable experience, but there are many UX improvements they could make. That said, they have been releasing updates for years and improving the experience. The writing experience is by far the best of any tablet I've ever personally used. It does feel like writing on paper. The 2.0 looks really slick. Finally, the hackability of the device is awesome. You can SSH to it without having to enable any special settings, and start messing around with stuff right away.
tomerbd 6y ago
I have the Onyx boox 3 with 13.3" screen, so I can read conveniently programming and math books and paper (wanted the big screen especially for papers). Pen works perfect for scratching, selecting and taking notes, it's perfection I can also split the screen on the left side exercises on the right side a blank page I solve the exercise.
- beezle 6y 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.
o23ijoi2j 6y ago
In United States it costs 399$ or 337 Euro, but if I buy it in Germany, then it will cost 399 Euro - 20% more expensive... In United States you make so much more money as a software developer comparing to Europe and then you pay much less than in Europe for all electronic devices. This is probably because Europe decided to go the communism way, charging everyone with INSANELY HUGE TAXES. Europe will soon become the next Africa with that kind of mindset.
solinent 6y ago
To me this is a bit absurd--if we're trying to replicate paper, maybe using a tree would be best? You can put the ink in the pen. I guess the advantage is you can save many documents--but this is actually a disadvantage to me as I like having a physical copy I can splay out on my desk. Or even an entire wall covered with my designs.
knolax 6y ago
I was looking into buying a ReMarkable 1.0 last year until I saw that it didn't have an SD card slot, so I couldn't fit my library in it.
fluffy87 6y ago
Which formats are notes exported to? Can they be exported to markdown + latex + images?
deleted 6y ago
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m0zg 6y ago
Honest question: who works like that? Handwriting is slower than typing. Handwriting OCR is unreliable as well. I don't find myself doing a ton of diagrams either, and if I did need that, the e-ink lag would make me hate this device. The only real advantage I see is browsing internet would be uncomfortable on it, which aids productivity in those who are addicted.
nikolay 6y ago
Nice, but so expensive!
jamborta 6y ago
Priced at 399 in USD, EUR and GBP. As usual, most expensive in the UK.
- mft_ 6y ago
  Well, at least the weak pound is doing it’s best to minimise your pain ;)
- tandr 6y ago
  and 599 CAD, which is like 14% markup comparing USD price to CAD
lwansbrough 6y ago
Well I just got absolutely pipelined by this website. Went from never hearing about it "hmm, what's this link on the top of HN?" to spending $700 on it in about 3 minutes. Good product, great marketing, excellent website, I guess.
DrJaws 6y ago
boox max 3 or note 2, are way better than what remarkable can offer
maxioatic 6y ago
I've been considering this but I'm not sure if it fits my use case. My main thing would be reading pdf's - specifically with Polar (https://getpolarized.io/ https://getpolarized.io/ ). I use it for keeping track of notes/annotations and syncing across devices. Does anyone know if it would work with ReMarkable? (Or does anyone have a Polar alternative?)
htor 6y ago
oh my god HN is like reading ads. what shite front page news....
dominotw 6y ago
i use ipad pro with some sort of 'paperlike' screen protector. Feels like writing on paper to me. So other than supposedly reducing eyestrain( is this a proven claim?). What is the benefit?
franciscop 6y ago
Can you touch/tap the screen with your finger to go to the next page of an ebook? Or do you need to use the pencil for "next page"?
inamberclad 6y ago
Does anyone have one of these in their hands yet? I'd love to see a good video on it before pulling the trigger.
brightball 6y ago
Am I reading this right? It’s a Linux OS but it doesn’t work with Linux?
DennisP 6y ago
If I plugged a keyboard into the USB-C, would it work?
fudged71 6y ago
I’m glad to see [developer] excitement around this device, and look forward to ReMarkable 3 when all this new feedback is implemented into a new product. Seriously, genuinely excited to use something like this as a consumer once the kinks have been sorted
tanilama 6y ago
Does this have any advantage against Boox Note 10.1?
livq 6y ago
Does anyone remember NoteSlate from like 2011? I came across it right before going off to college, and I was so ready for a writable e-ink tablet. It ended up being a scam/vaporware so I was stuck taking notes on paper, but I'm glad things like this are becoming somewhat more common. (I think they may have come out with some actual hardware like 5 years later, but from what I remember it was too little too late)
lukeplato 6y ago
It would be great if there were a regular pen/pencil that had the ability to capture a copy of notes to a digital medium in real-time while also operating like a normal pen/pencil. From what i can tell, capturing the orientation and positioning doesn't seem feasible yet and using image capture doesn't seem great either because of privacy and cost.
azinman2 6y ago
I want to like products like this but I ultimately question the improvement versus actual pen and paper. I have a great notebook that I love, I found a pen that I love, and neither require power, take up much room, and have the best tactile experience possible. I can always use a computer whenever I need to get a lot of “digital” work done. Maybe I’m just not the target? But I do take a lot of notes frequently, just not annotations of PDFs.
daguar 6y ago
I love my reMarkable — got the 1.0 once the price dropped due to 2.0. e-Ink is a blessing after so much time on screens, and the rudiments make it quite hackable. So I get a device that pretty much CAN'T try to grab my attention, a calm device, and I can modify it to do more if I want. (For example, since it can OCR and send notes, I've prototyped a little "message queue" on the other end to receive my notes, parse them ["TEXT Jake this is a text"], and do actions.) I've even produced some custom e-ink maps which look great for no-phone navigation. (Feel free to let me know if that's interesting to you, happy to share an example and how.)
sickcodebruh 6y ago
I showed this to my friends at work and one of them replied that she used a Rocketbook throughout grad school, suggested I check that out as a way of upgrading my note taking. Their products look very different from this but they’re also a fraction of the price with similar value proposition where basic note-taking is concerned. Anyone have any experience with them? This is a field I know nothing about. https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=31416131534 https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=3... Regarding the reMarkable, I’d probably be open to it if reviews indicated it was a premium eReader in addition to everything else.
hinkley 6y ago
In a similar vein, I was really hoping that Ambient Devices would escape their niche market and we'd have a wide range of devices that looked analog but are actually digital. They were just way, way too early (and on the wrong side of a recession).
clankyclanker 6y ago
Does it support two-page display? Given how you can take notes, I’d love to be able to read on one side and take notes on the other.
sersi 6y ago
The one thing I wish the Remarkable 2.0 had is a backlight similar to the one from the kobo, it really makes it much more convenient in planes, train or anywhere where there's not enough light...
jmspring 6y ago
I gave in and ordered one. Thought I had previously, but no email to be found. The hackability is a useful feature. And it'll be interesting to compare it with an iPad Pro for notes/etc.
mraza007 6y ago
I just ordered mine Remarkable 1 since there was a delay in 2
viraj_shah 6y ago
Is anyone else excited purely on the basis that this isn't a hardware product from Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon or some other large company? I know little about it, but it looks great too.
- bsimpson 6y 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 6y ago
    Definitely a bet. But as a user, and observer of the org, I would buy equity. Who knows what the future brings but they have been doing all the right things and...the gut likes them. Cheers.
  - floatboth 6y ago
    You have root on it, you can always customize it (even fully replacing the OS) instead of using the vendor software. But limited functionality is kinda the whole point. No distractions and all that.
  - sundarurfriend 6y ago
    It being a smaller company has its risks for sure. But having the product be their sole focus, rather than it being one among a hundred products of a large company that's ready to throw it away at any time, that too has its advantages - a lesson many of us have learnt the hard way.
l8again 6y ago
I currently use iPad and I am considering reMarkable. One of the main things I do with iPad is share screen on meetings. Is the share screen option available and what about meeting platforms such as zoom, bluejeans, google? Are their compatible apps for all of the major online meeting platforms?
- jonahbenton 6y 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.
NightMKoder 6y ago
I'm curious if there are other folks like me here - I have a peculiar hate of touch-screen pens/pencils. They're too thick at the tip. When I write on (real) paper, I try to use the thinnest pen that I can still grip. I think I hold the pen at an odd enough angle that if the pen is fat enough before tapering, it starts covering the point where the tip touches the paper. Once that happens, I feel like I'm writing while holding one end of a yardstick. The alternative is to start angling the pen so I can still see the tip, but that makes writing awkward - I rather just type at that point.
- jonahbenton 6y 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.
jmpeax 6y ago
Looking for a great e-paper device, but the marketing of the video where deficiencies (no notifications etc) are treated as features sounds like bullshit spin and its really off-putting.
Aldo_MX 6y ago
I would had bought it, but no shipping to my country ️
l8again 6y ago
Another question - is there anyway to take these notes and integrate with Evernote? Or has anyone tried a creative solution for this?
colordrops 6y ago
Why has this been pinned to the top all day? Is ReMarkable associated with YCombinator somehow?
jp0d 6y ago
Let me start by saying that my comment might be downvoted. However, I'm just wondering if the device justifies the price tag. For a little more I could get an iPad Air, which can do a lot more. Granted the battery needs to be charged everyday but it's probably not a deal breaker for many.
Jedd 6y ago
For owners of this (or v1) who are also using a GNU/Linux as their primary desktop - how's the workflow? I note that you can sync files easily enough -- but I'm curious on what the interop experience is like for people that don't use Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX. Syncing, updating, making notes & squiggles changes off-device and sending it back, etc.
kozmonaut 6y ago
We have a review of it on our website + unboxing and videos. https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-review https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-r...
steve_adams_86 6y ago
I was really excited about this until reading about the limitations and performance. Can’t tell if I have unreasonable expectations from a device like this or it’s unnecessarily limited due to limited development resources. In any case, it’s an exciting prospect. Wonderful design, too. I’d love to try one out at least, get a sense of what it’s actually like to use it. Some reviews are pretty terrible for R1, though.
crvdgc 6y ago
Sony DPT-RP1 user here. It's a similar large screen e-ink reader with writing support. It's of great help to me for PDF reading and taking notes. My opinion on reMarkable 2 (from the page): Disadvantages: - can only transfer with WiFi - not A4 sized (I find this important for most of books and papers) Advantages: + epub support (DPT only works with PDF) + customization (DPT software is completely uncustomizable, but good enough for most daily use, e.g. the screen can be synced to the computer screen for remote meetings) + OCR + cheaper (the A4 version of DPT is $600)
deleted 6y ago
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dvcrn 6y ago
Damn this looks nice! How is the pen latency? Sadly they don’t ship to Japan so getting my hands on one is gonna be hard :(
ashleysmithgpu 6y ago
$399 when I set my country to US, £399 when set to the UK? That's not how currency works :/
sergioisidoro 6y ago
I'll have to echo what has been said. ReMarkable is the best e-ink tablet hardware I've laid my hands on, but I ended up returning it because of how hard it was to push and manage content in the device. I now have a Onyx Boox Note that has inferior hardware. But at least I can use Google Drive and easily export documents. I'm happy they have made a Chrome plugin because when I got my device, before returning it, I had a go at making exactly that: A Firefox extension that renders a simplified version and pushes it to ReMarkable as PDF https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable
strooper 6y ago
This is a remarkable device. The configuration looks good as well. It reminds me of the primary concept of Microsoft Courier. While going through pros and cons for considering a buy, I found no email client, messenger or a browser. For the targeted audience, at that price point, and with that hardware config, those features are unavoidable.
- enneff 6y ago
  The absence of those features is a feature to me. I want a digital notebook not another damn computer.
29athrowaway 6y ago
The product looks great, but, how does it work in terms of privacy? Is your stuff uploaded to the "cloud" automatically? Can you opt-out from that?
oblio 6y ago
I wonder how far off we are from eink with something like 16 bit color and a refresh rate of something like 20hz. A decade away? Or is it impossible?
cheezburgerman 6y ago
Will it run doom?
chheplo 6y ago
I ordered in March and the shipping schedule keep getting delayed. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a typical Kickstarter or Indigogo hardware project, that never ships.
- ganlub 6y ago
  have you heard of COVID-19?
the_arun 6y ago
1. $399 is kinda expensive. They should get it down to < $200 to be friendlier with younger generation. 2. Offer a place for getting books as well - or partner with Amazon for books - if not there, this may be coming I guess. Then people don't need Kindle. 3. They do not talk about security in their demo video. Don't know how they save what I write. Encryption / password / backup etc.,
abinaya_rl 6y ago
I got the reMarkable as a tool to make my writing process more natural, and less cumbersome. I have been editing a novel, which means carrying around a stack of 250 pages so I can add notes in the margins before I get back to the computer to write the next revision. It’s heavy, and I’m tired of printing the full book so that I can have that tactile experience of writing on the page. The reMarkable tablet gives me a way to continue my writing processes without paper. Going to try this new version!
deniscepko2 6y ago
Wondering if anyone is using it for Music Sheet? Im tempted to buy it just wondering if its any good for this use case since this is what im using my current tablet for.
caligarn 6y ago
Does remarkable2 have Bluetooth though, that's really what I am looking for. I want to be able to pair this with a keyboard and stop staring at my laptop.
monkeydust 6y ago
Been seeing a lot of FB adverts on RM 2.0 did a second take when I saw it at the top of HN! Feels like and advert but its not I guess yet the product is not live so a lot of speculation on how good or not it might be. Just strange to see this on top of HN.
- iotku 6y 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.
plafl 6y ago
I'm glad is in the front page. I own the first version and I'm quite happy and use it massively. I use it to read and annotate papers and technical books. This is for me what keeps it from perfection: - Bigger screen would be great for my use case - Software. As have been said repeatedly here the tablet is open. This is true in the sense that in order to comply with the GPL3 it's very easy to SSH to the tablet which runs Linux. This is awesome. However I think a little more support to developers would be great in the form of documentation instead of reverse engineering. Lot's of people think of ways of improving the software and this would make it much easier and better for end users (for example better file transfer, more file formats... in a reliable way) Edit: formatting
giorgioz 6y ago
I ordered a ReMarkable 2.0 on 7th of May 2020 and they emailed me: "reMarkable 2 orders will be processed in batches. Your order is in batch 5, which is set to ship in Early September. You can follow the status of your batch at remarkable.com/delivery." I opened the link again today (28th of August) and saw batch 5 is now postponed of 2 months to Early November :(
8fingerlouie 6y ago
Looks like a nice device, but my main issue with it is the price. The regular price is €556, and i can get a regular laptop for that. Even at the discounted price of €399 i can get an iPad or Surface Go, all devices that has much more generalized use. I have no doubt it's a quality product, and i guess i just don't value my handwritten notes highly enough to warrant one :)
schattschneider 6y ago
Man that's a really beautiful website
VonBlue 6y ago
Does this integrate with something like OneNote? Because this would still be only half my notes. If I can keep my hand-written ones and the ones I type when I work, for example, NOW we’re talking.
lordgrenville 6y ago
Interested in ordering this, but my country isn't on their very limited list (basically EU + Five Eyes). A bit frustrating, it's not like I live in Yemen or Easter Island. Why not ship to anywhere with DHL?
voltagex_ 6y ago
$900AUD (with the upgraded marker and folio). I love the idea and that it seems to be fairly open, but ouch. It'll be even more expensive after the pre-order.
ibobev 6y ago
I'm wandering whether the device is suitable for geometry style drawings? Just the type from the high school. Lines, circles and so on. Does someone has such an experience with this device?
mindfulhack 6y ago
Why do I have tears in my eyes because of a technology ad? I have not felt this emotional about a technology product since Steve Jobs. I think even more. That was an amazing ad (video on their home page). I have loved and used paper and pen as a primary tool for thinking since I was young. However, typing is much faster, and now that is my tool - the keyboard. Still, this clearly has its place. My main interest now is whether it can be 'rooted' and a native Linux OS used on it, and/or whether it can be used with end-to-end encryption compatible self-cloud services like Nextcloud. To me, open hardware and software is a necessary way forward for humanity. Edit: I see it's very hackable indeed, from comments above, e.g.: http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
V-2 6y ago
How well does text conversion work for joined handwriting? All the examples I've seen appear to use carefully segmented handwriting, which is a bit of a red flag to me. Bonus points if someone could answer this for languages other than English (I'm thinking of diacritics)...
Pet_Ant 6y ago
Anyone have a lighting solution for the remarkable? I read mostly in bed and that's kind of a deal breaker.
xtiansimon 6y ago
I own the Sony DPT-RP1 and I love it because it’s 13” (US letter size paper is 13.5”). The R2 is 10.3”. Do peeps think smaller is better?
- akg_67 6y 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?
  - xtiansimon 6y ago
    I first heard about e-ink in a Newsweek article ~1999 featuring IDEOs technologies of the future. I’ve waited years for a full-size display. The RP1 was something like 1.5k when it came out. Thankfully the RP1 was half that. Never regretted the purchase. I’m imagining some MBA dips#it at Remarkable doing some kind of regression analysis on cost of device, screen size compared to competitors in the market—and missing the point. Full size paper is everywhere. As far as the Sony’s UE. finding files seems unrefined. You only notice if you store a lot of files on the device or have deep folders. Annoying but not a deal breaker. FWIW, I posted here at HN some of my ideas for improvement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17220073 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17220073
xyst 6y ago
Is the market for “paper like substitutes” this large? What’s wrong with a multi-use tablet (iPad or otherwise) and silencing your notifications for X amount of hours? I personally hate writing on paper and trying to decipher barely legible handwriting. Seems like this product is just trying to appease the people who refuse to adapt to change.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
I was close to buying this—the price is right, at least with the preorder discount in place; I think $400 is the upper limit—but it's missing a web browser! I need a good web browser, not this read-later stuff. I want to be able to load up the homepage of TheVerge.com and browse as I would on any other device, except with text that's as easy to read as if it were on paper. I'd have to use paged scrolling, and images would be black-and-white, but that would be okay—they'd be crisp and clear. This tablet is close to what I want, but it doesn't look like the software is there. (Or maybe it's hardware too—is one gigabyte of ram enough for a web browser these days if you don't use multiple tabs?)
kushan2020 6y ago
I have been using apple most of my life. I considered waiting for iPad this year, but apple decided to reuse am2 year old processor, so I back in the market to experiment. I am hoping this will deliver what it promises.
hattori31 6y ago
The handwriting to text seems cool but these things never work for anything else than English.

1410 points by punnerud 6y ago

This looks so nice, and I've been desperate for years for a great, fast-refreshing e-ink device and/or monitor, but the closed ecosystem is so disappointing. Their 'avoid distractions' marketing is fine and good, but locking down the device makes it a non-starter for me. At the very least I'd need a feed reader I can use (without some workaround where I send stuff through the "remarkable cloud"). Am I reading things correctly that the only external interface to the device is through their cloud tool?

throwaway894345 6y ago
The top comment suggests the device is open: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295820 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295820
- nathcd 6y ago
  Oh nice, very glad to be wrong! I'll have to do some closer reading.
  - Groxx 6y ago
    There's a fairly healthy dev community around it too fwiw, e.g. a bunch of linked projects here: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable e-reader app ports, screen mirroring, full OS replacements, etc. It's a relatively niche device so of course there are significant gaps in what's available, but it's active and the depth is fairly impressive.
justincormack 6y ago
Yes you can log in and run code. There is a proprietary driver for the fast screen refresh but everything else is open.
- amelius 6y ago
  But is it open by design, or by coincidence?
  - deleted 6y ago
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  - deleted 6y ago
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  - yuchi 6y ago
    Absolutely by design. The founder is a prominent Linux community member.
Abishek_Muthian 6y 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-external-displays-eink-displays https://needgap.com/problems/43-affordable-e-ink-large-exter...

truth_seeker 6y ago

Any reason why should i buy it instead of iPad Pro 2020 or recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 plus ?

jboynyc 6y ago
Did you look at this product? It has an e-ink display. That makes it very different from an Ipad.
- haasted 6y ago
  Yeah, the correct question is probably how it competes with something like Kindle. The presentation made me fairly intrigued.
  - jboynyc 6y ago
    It's not an e-reader but a tablet computer. The founder of ReMarkable is (or was?) a KDE developer, so they supposedly do a lot of things right when it comes to developer experience, openness, and documentation.
    - Foxboron 6y ago
      > The founder of ReMarkable is (or was?) a KDE developer The CTO is a KDE Developer and a long-time member of the Arch community.
  - matsemann 6y ago
    Unless there are some newer Kindle models I'm unaware of, they are very different. The Kindle is a passive device, where one can read and barely interact with buttons and stuff. It's great for reading books and I use it often for that, but not much more. The reMarkable is a device for production, where you can write, sketch, organize etc. The display is much quicker to update and the pen is really good. I also like that it's a bit bigger, so reading PDFs isn't as much hassle as on a smaller Kindle. At least that's my take on it. Kindle for leisure, reMarkable for work.
  - 6y ago

no_wizard 6y ago

Anyone know whats the story on a color e-ink version of something like this? That would be really compelling to me. Especially if you can get the latency down into the 10 ms range.

bobbiechen 6y 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 6y 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.
- no_wizard 6y ago
  I'm hoping for a world where e-ink gets iPad levels of repsonsiveness, honestly. I like the displays alot, they render text beautifully at a high DPI (at least ones i've seen). Its just that they don't have the best response time. Thats really my limiting factor. I don't expect them to replace the iPad, for instance, but for using as a true digital notebook and book reader (magazines too, if the color e-inks get better) they look and feel ideal for this, except for the lag time in responsiveness, that's the part that kills it for me every time I investigate it.

bla3 6y ago

Note that they're a bit behind on order processing due to covid-19. I bought one a few months ago and it's scheduled to be delivered in October. If you buy one today, it's scheduled for November delivery.

amacbride 6y ago

I have the first version, and I really like it. The experience of writing on a textured e-Ink display is completely different than trying to do the same thing on smooth glass. (iPad Pro/Apple Pencil)

mmmateo 6y ago
How does it compare to writing on paper?
- amacbride 6y ago
  It’s not quite as good, but for me it falls into the “good enough/pretty good” category. I write quickly so for me latency is very important; the latency on version one is pretty good, and so if they’ve improved that on version two, even better.
  - ksd482 6y ago
    What about pressure on the pen while writing as compared to regular styluses with small tips?
    - amacbride 6y ago
      My best comparison would be to a fine-tipped rollerball pen (like the Pilot Precise), on rough paper. I don’t tend to press down very hard, but I don’t really think about it as I’m writing.

jbeard4 6y ago

I have been very happy with my ReMarkable 1, and have ordered the ReMarkable 2.0. Hacker News might be interested in the active development community around the device: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable 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. You can also connect a keyboard to it over a USB-on-the-go port. 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.

_ph_ 6y 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.
- moonbug 6y ago
  that's mental.
  - _ph_ 6y ago
    Doesn't mean, I wouldn't use it for its advertised purposes too. But I really would like an eInk display as an add-on to my computer - unfortunately, the Kindle is not so open. Would also be great as an extra screen for e.g. man pages while you are working on your main screen.
    - ncmncm 6y ago
      There is also a smaller, cheaper, and less slick device at Crowd Supply made from recycled Kindles. https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 15cm, 800x600, 8M RAM, 4M flash, wifi/btle, usb/sdio/i2c, 3 capacitive-touch buttons, battery charger, microSD slot, GPIO pins, and is programmable in microPython. Three-bit greyscale pixels. (I don't have one.)

tanzbaer 6y ago

Has anyone had an experience with this? It looks pretty cool, although I'm probably never going to use it since I write mostly with my keyboard.

roel_v 6y ago

How good is a ReMarkable as an ebook reader? I don't care that much about the writing, but having a large size ebook reader that can display A4 pdfs in acceptable quality would be a game changer for me...

cordite 6y 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.
- minxomat 6y ago
  I second RFC, I've implemented plenty of them while scribbling over them on the RM1. Also great to quickly show a colleague something on a page. But, the eBook (as in published books) experience is pretty bad compared to basically anything. What even the RM2 does is just load the epub/pdf into the editing buffer and other than somewhat faster navigation and a hidden menu, it's not good at all for consumption.
  - surajs 6y ago
    knew they had to skimp somewhere to bring the costs down, predictably, they went with software.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - Zenbit_UX 6y ago
    That's disappointing, I'd love it to be a great e-book reader, I want to love it... If they could just side load the Kindle or kobo app I'd buy it in a second. For now, I'll keep reading ebooks on my phone.
- packetlost 6y ago
  I'm curious, what format do you consume IETF RFCs in?

throwawaysea 6y ago

For me a big problem is that a lot of the things I want to save, mark up, and revisit (archive or search or share) are articles from webpages or PDFs - neither of which this eInk display is practical for.

jonahbenton 6y 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.
- meigetsu 6y ago
  How do you convert kindle books into PDFs?
  - jonahbenton 6y ago
    Wiring together the work done in the Calibre project. http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books Start by downloading the owned book from Amazon, targeting one of the compatible devices. I have a bunch of old kindles still registered under my account that I use for this, for which I have the serial #. Then just follow instructions. All the steps described as using the UI can be done with some digging from the command line. Shipping a PDF up to the remarkable cloud also takes little digging and wiring, but it works totally reliably.
gpm 6y ago
It claims to support PDFs, does that not work well for some reason?

_ph_ 6y ago

Beyond the obvious differences to a tablet like the iPad, an interesting fact about the reMarkable is, that you can just ssh into the device to do your data exchange. Syncing documents should be as easy as writing some scripts on your PC. Which should appeal especially to Linux users.

rvz 6y ago

When this device has an e-ink colour display then I would purchase it. Until then: No Thanks and No deal. 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. Like I said, wait for e-ink colour and 64 bit or don't bother.

marvindanig 6y ago
I agree with you. Don't understand why people are downvoting your observation though.
- s800 6y ago
  Because the required hardware technology does not exist.
  - rvz 6y ago
    > does not exist. Oh really? Lets have a look at the market shall we? What is this then? [0] Or this? [1] Maybe this? [2] Finally, an actual colour e-ink e-reader product. [3] 64 Bit e-reader bonus review: [4] I have high hopes for reMarkable to do better than what is on the market right now which is why I would rather wait for a color e-ink version with a 64 bit CPU, which the technologies DO exist today. But unfortunately, what they are offering for a competitive e-reader tablet tells me that they are not even trying, even when they are selling a product with outdated technology. That isn't really a good deal is it? [0] https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html [1] https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-year-of-e-ink-seriously/ https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-... [2] https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing-new-color-screens-print-color-e-ink/ https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing... [3] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-reader-hands-on-review https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-read... [4] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu-quaderno-a5 https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu...
GrinningFool 6y ago

pat2man 6y ago

This seems like a perfect device for the single use of note taking. But something like https://www.boox.com https://www.boox.com would probably make more sense for a lot of people since it can run other Android note taking and e-reader apps.

kmclean 6y 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 6y 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 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 https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7

thelazydogsback 6y ago

Anybody know how to do MS OneNote integration? I have many years' worth of content there and use on multiple OS's, so I'd rather stay there than use their internal note-taking app, or at least be able to do import/export.

nudpiedo 6y 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
- thelazydogsback 6y ago
  Doesn't look like the desktop app has any OneNote import/export functionality, so yeah looks like DIY project.

huevosabio 6y ago

For someone with the current ReMarkable or with the 2.0, is it possible to use it as a drawing pad for remote meetings? I pre-ordered mine, but I want to know if this is even feasible.

marksc 6y ago
Yes https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse See also https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable

shock 6y ago

I've been holding off on buying it until handwritten text recognition works on device without sending the data to the cloud. I had hoped it would have happened by now, but it looks I'm gonna have to wait a while longer.

_ph_ 6y ago
If I didn't misunderstand the keyknote, iPadOS 14 supposedly does handwriting recognition on the device.

abinaya_rl 6y ago

I'm wondering if there is an application that can be installed on a Kindle to provide a similar interface, it will be a game changer. Any thoughts?

iicc 6y ago

Bullshit EULA. https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000282757-reMarkable-End-User-License-Agreement https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000028275... https://github.com/reMarkable https://github.com/reMarkable

lstamour 6y 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 6y 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 6y ago
Care to explain what's bullshit about it?

haddr 6y ago

Remarkable haven't yet delivered the 2.0 device. Let's first see when it appears on the market. I has been delayed twice so far. So far it's in "pre-order" mode.

minxomat 6y ago
This is here because the review embargo lifted today.
- vmladenov 6y ago
  They just emailed yesterday about another delay too
AshamedCaptain 6y 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.
- eugeniub 6y ago
  I'd say review units having been sent out is another positive.
- beezle 6y ago
  Given the whole covid situation it is hardly shocking. I personally think they have been pretty upfront about it.
sireat 6y 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 6y ago
Definitely one of those 'cool product, and I'll be happy to buy it when it ships, but am declining to preorder' scenarios.

olah_1 6y ago

Do you still have to replace the pencil tips often and are they still expensive?

bronson 6y ago
This image from the order page implies 'yes': https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0e4kwcjv/production/6b0df7dbf80cb99a7e810ce02d80a980f3ac6049-2832x2002.jpg 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.

kissgyorgy 6y ago

Here is a review: https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-review-marker-writing-note-taking-130044070.html https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...

1f60c 6y ago
https://archive.vn/V68bK https://archive.vn/V68bK

marvindanig 6y ago

I'm happy with my iPad. I can read books, watch videos or take notes all in one, plus I get to surf the open web on a super fast browser on top hardware that doesn't try to mimic the dead-tree. Not sure what the use-case for a sluggish 'paper-like' interface would ever be? I know some folks will jump to suggest less eyestrain but neither paper books nor e-ink help with that. Since eyestrain stems from overworked eyes and a tired brain [1], it doesn't help to claim that the nature of surface revealing the text has anything to do with it. [1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue

criddell 6y 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 6y ago
Eyestrain also stems from trying to use an LCD outside.

mellosouls 6y ago

I have the Kindle DX, the original(ish) large eReader and it's slow enough to be pretty useless at reading tech docs - which is why I bought it. I'd love to be able to walk into a shop and try the Remarkable or similar out. I couldn't give a stuff about writing (though it's a nice secondary feature) - I do however want to be able to throw a tech manual at my e-Reader (say, an O'Reilly programming manual) and be able to flip through it back and forth easily like you can on a tablet. The Remarkable looks beautiful in the link, but gives absolutely no indication as to whether that long-standing core flaw in e-readers has been solved here, which is very, very unreassuring.

disgruntledphd2 6y 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.
- mellosouls 6y ago
  Sure, but the whole point of using ereaders compared to tablets (like iPad) is the screen which tablets can't compare with for pure reading. But eReaders don't traditionally have remotely comparable UX performance so are only suitable for linear reads like novels. My question is whether Remarkable have solved that. It's far more important to me and similar potential users than the writing/whatever stuff they are selling on the webpage linked.
  - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
    Ah I see. For me, the writing on a screen is enough, I take a lot of notes in meetings, and having these digitised would be incredibly useful for me. Additionally, being able to annotate PDFs would also prove great for me, I don't want to print out large amounts of paper, but I would like to take notes.
eddiecalzone 6y 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.

Koshkin 6y ago

Now I have to carry three devices around...

outworlder 6y ago
Just pretend you are carrying Star Trek tablets :)

gtsteve 6y ago

I was interested in buying one of these but was concerned as it didn't have disk encryption. Once again I can't find any info about that so I assume this still hasn't been added?

notthemessiah 6y ago

PDFs can get massive when they're from scans. An e-Ink device should support better formats such as DJVU.

marksc 6y ago
KOReader[1] runs on ReMarkable and supports DJVU and other formats. [1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader

zaidf 6y ago

I ordered Remarkable 1.0 six months ago, used it for a few days before deciding to return it. I submitted a request to return and was supposed to get DHL to pick it up but it never happened. I was left feeling they really don't want you to return.

Falling3 6y ago
Where did it let you down that made you want to return it?

j45 6y ago

The first version of this tablet had a slight lag between pencil and writing. I wonder if that's gone and ended up going with an Apple tablet for the time being.

eutropia 6y ago

Being dropped to the #What_Is_New section is confusing, because I was expecting a landing page with a hero image, and instead had context-less comparison numbers. Maybe update the url to not include the section?

paultopia 6y ago

I recently bought the ReMarkable 1 (wasn't willing to wait for preorder on the 2, and the differences don't look that significant). I kinda love it: I'm a professor, and 99% of my use is in reading article PDFs---it's a vastly better experience than reading on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens or printing off. One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there. But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.

curiousgal 6y 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.
- andrewnc 6y ago
  I just bought an Ipad Pro for this purpose and I love it. I have tons of PDFs open for research and I can annotate super easily. Plus, I can draw, animate, and watch youtube on the same device. It's been quite nice. I was going to get the ReMarkable, but am very happy with my Ipad
  - varrock 6y ago
    Which size did you find appropriate for your needs?
- crazygringo 6y ago
  That's the deal-breaker for me as well. I'm always resizing PDF's so that the text is a legible size (neither too small or big), and therefore scrolling across larger pages, and the smoothness of a tablet is necessary. I've tried reading PDF's on my Kindle, but it's just so frustrating to navigate around the page. But the iPad is perfect.

mgn01 6y ago

The availability of this e-reader is frustrating, I want it so bad but have to wait two months.

TheRealPomax 6y ago

But no mention and video evidence of the pen input lag and precision, which is what's supposed to set this apart from other eink display solutions. The 1 has some lag, just enough to still be a nuisance: did the 2 fix that?

h3ctic 6y ago
Yes, apparently it only has a latency of 21ms
- ksd482 6y ago
  21ms sounds really low, which is good of course. But as humans, would we notice 21ms lag while writing even if we paid close attention?
  - jm_l 6y ago
    You would definitely notice a 21ms lag while writing. Ideally you want to get below 10ms, but for physical-object-like responsiveness 1ms is the standard. See this old video from Microsoft research which demonstrates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4
    - zaksoup 6y ago
      I just watched the video and maybe I missed it but doesn't that mean that in order to have 1ms latency you'd have to have a screen refresh rate of 1000 frames per second? That seems like it would cause serious cost increases for displays, controllers, and graphics cards.
      - zaroth 6y ago
        If it helps, you just have to refresh the (very small number of) pixels under pressure, and only at such a high right for a brief moment while they are being pressed. I wonder if you could have a separate layer which physically (chemically) responded to the pressure to make it look like the screen was drawing your line, but which only lasted for about 50ms after the pressure is removed. This chemical layer would be visible for just enough time for the real eInk pixels to actually refresh underneath the "pressure mask".

marvindanig 6y ago

> …on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens. Are you sure about that? [1] [1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue

ASalazarMX 6y 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.
- Twirrim 6y ago
  > Glossy glass is 21st century sexy, though. It looks premium compared to clear plastic. I really hate the glossy screen thing. I have this strange idea where I want to see what is actually on the screen, instead of a detailed reflection of stuff behind me. Crazy, right?
  - sixothree 6y ago
    You are very much not alone here. Especially on portable devices. People are very much attracted (I would say addicted) to bright shiny colors. Device manufacturers know this and thus glossy screens are the norm.
  - caleb-allen 6y ago
    As I read this on a Macbook Pro I'm staring also at the ceiling light behind me. Oh how I wish I could leave my light on and still use my multi-thousand dollar machine without strain!
  - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
    Most monitors and laptops have matte screens. Its just apple stuff thats glossy. Apparently it gives better color which helps for video/image editing but for programming the matte screens are clearly better.

bgorman 6y ago

Would anyone here be interested in a eink phone running something like WebOS optimized for eink displays? I really feel WebOS was too early and PWAs make the barrier to entry much lower for a WebOS-like device.

criddell 6y 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.
- redisman 6y ago
  They do? My 7 year old kindle still seems to work just fine
  - criddell 6y ago
    Right, because the Kindle refreshes when you turn the page or use the menus. That would be a refresh every 30 seconds or so while you are using it. If you are using it as a primary display on a phone showing dynamic content, you are going to be refreshing it as quickly as you can the entire time you are using it. I think modern low end panels can maintain about 7 fps or a refresh every 0.15 seconds. That's a two order of magnitude difference.
    - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
      I have never seen or heard of an epaper display wearing out but I don't know of anyone who has tested. I'm tempted to grab one of my spare screens and just hook it up to an arduino to constantly refresh it.
      - Eric_WVGG 6y ago
        I hacked an old Kindle DX to run a screensaver, swaps out a full screen PNG about once every 30 seconds, been going for several years without a hitch.

ahnick 6y ago

Is the desktop app available on Linux or does the Windows version work under Wine?

the-mitr 6y ago

My concern has been that there is no support for micro sd card and local storage is just 8GB which is quite small.

suyash 6y ago

Interesting feature set but I don't see much value getting it if you already have iPad with Apple Pencil. There are several apps including Apple Notes that convert handwritten text to digital text. Also it doesn't replace a Tablet so will be another gadget taking space. I would rather wait for iPad or another full fledged Tablet to get some of these features.

crystaln 6y 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.

pachico 6y ago

Unfortunately I had to buy an iPad (first apple product I buy ever) for my girlfriend since she needs an app (for work, she's a teacher) that only runs in iOS. I say unfortunately because I would have bought a ReMarkable instead :(

criddell 6y 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 6y ago
It is a very strange to compare two. They are absolutely serving different purposes.
overcast 6y ago
Sounds like you made the right choice, the iPad serves many functions, while the Remarkable services a small subset.

gravypod 6y ago

I'm hoping to wait for reviews for this. I've been watching this for months. While waiting I've been thinking about how I'm going to use a combination of RSS reads, web archiving tools, pandoc, and some custom daemons on the device to setup syncing of hackernews + articals + news sites to the device to read during my commute (assuming we still have commutes in 4 months from now). Very excited to see a polished device that is linux based that isn't hostile to developers trying to do cool stuff.

tomchuk 6y 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-634674 https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first-remarkable-2-reviews...
- gravypod 6y ago
  I'm more interested in reviews from other HN users and programmers and the volume of activity in the awesome-reMarkable lists. I have no desire for any of the built in cloud features or even doing much writing through the tablet. I however have many use cases for the hacking and modding abilities of the software that can run on this device. I'm pretty sure major news outlets won't be sshing into the device and installing custom daemon services and measuring the impact they have on battery life.

apricot 6y ago

Could I connect this thing to my computer and use it as a whiteboard in a Zoom meeting, or something like that?

avel 6y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/overboardch_on_rmcodex/ https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/ov... Check https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for more open source projects.
- apricot 6y ago
  Thank you! So in a nutshell, it's doable through VNC (among other solutions), but there's noticeable lag. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o has a demo.

adhoc32 6y ago

Too bad it has only 8GB and no SD card.

tastyfreeze 6y ago
8GB for text formats is quite a lot. The primary reason Kindle e-readers have larger storage is to support Audible.

sharpercoder 6y ago

A display with >10ms response times for writing does not cut it for me. I love the product, but this is something I can't compromise on. I really hope this problem on e-ink screens gets solved!

1_player 6y ago

Just finished watching a review: - no USB disk mode to download your notes - 8 GB storage (of which about 6 are available) - any Linux support seems to be nebulous/unofficial, especially because of point 1 - no search feature - no backlight - no landscape mode Personally I've cancelled my pre-order, not worth the 450 GBP in my opinion.

formerly_proven 6y 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.
- nebopolis 6y ago
  The original RM (and all signs point towards the RM2 being the same) had direct root ssh access via a virtual network device on the USB port. This could be used to SCP backup the notebooks, add custom executables, etc. I understand why they don't list it in their marketing materials - it isn't intended as a polished experience and is more of a "hacker" option. The CTO of Remarkable is a KDE dev though, so there are a lot of subtle niceties you wouldn't expect like a full toolchain and bootloader available on their github.

refresher 6y ago

Regarding the claim that it feels more like paper than the first version, the Engadget reviewer felt otherwise: >The company says it used a new textured resin layer on top of the glass to make writing on the reMarkable 2 feel more like writing on paper, which I don't buy. If anything, the original reMarkable's screen had a more pronounced, paper-like grittiness that doesn't come through here. That's hardly a dealbreaker, though, because writing on the r2 still feels absolutely fantastic, I think this one strikes a better balance of tactility and flow. [0] [0] https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-review-marker-writing-note-taking-130044070.html https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

It's a shame it is biased toward right handed users. And no, flipping it over leaves you with a narrow bezel on the bottom. Will not buy.

edaemon 6y 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/360006875458-How-does-left-handed-mode-work-on-reMarkable-2- https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000687545...
human_error 6y ago
As a left handed person that's the first thing I've noticed.
Quequau 6y ago
This is the only reason I'm not buying it either.

izaak 6y ago

These will not ship to my country. Can anyone recommend a good eink note-taking alternative?

jordache 6y ago

that sound from the stylus tip - I'm assuming the tip will wear down very quickly? How intuitive is the wireless content transfer on the 1st gen model? At lot times on my iPad, I'm sourcing notes from web content.

ilyas121 6y ago

How does this compare to something like a kindle for reading?

kraig 6y 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.

jordache 6y ago

the marketing video intrigued me.. then I found real world reviews.. It's gonna be a nope for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE

SeriousM 6y 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 6y 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.
- jordache 6y ago
  the thing doesn't even support Adobe DRM Epub... what a waste of opportunity!
  - _heimdall 6y ago
    To be fair DRM is a waste of opportunity. If I buy a book, movie, or album I want to use it however I choose as long as it doesn't breach copyright laws. I've been burned too many times by DRM'd content that stops working after a service/app update, is useless when the company goes out of business, or when it works on one of my devices but not another.
    - jordache 6y ago
      Libraries all use Adobe DRM. Kindle doesn't support it, so it's not in consideration for me. I don't want to buy ebooks.. I want to check it out via my local library

ankit70 6y ago

It happens every single time. I like a product and want to order and it doesn't get shipped to India. Frustrating!

crystaln 6y ago
Use a freight forwarder?
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  A lot of companies won't ship to known freight forwarders because it triggers fraud measures (because freight forwarders are often used for cc fraud schemes).
gopkarthik 6y 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.

techsin101 6y ago

I can buy 399 notebooks for 399

ryndbfsrw 6y ago

I didn't know about this before I bought an iPad. I recently added a paper-textured screen protector (similar to Paperlike) and now I can't stop using it. I really recommend it for those who have an Apple Pencil - its great

gamekathu 6y ago
Which screen protector do you recommend? Also, does using such paper-textured protector decrease the life of Apple pencil?
- ryndbfsrw 6y ago
  The best one I've tried is the Nilkin brand. As to the Apple pencil, I'm on ~9 months of use and the nib feels the same as the spare that came in the box when I got the pencil so I don't have reason to believe its damaging it

mufufu 6y ago

Can’t click on the pre-order link on mobile Safari (iOS 13.6.1), no bueno. Trying hold the button down gives me the text options pop up (instead of the link preview) which makes me think there’s an element over it

Evidlo 6y ago

remarkable is nice, but it definitely needs someone to replace the main proprietary note taking application with an open source equivalent.

spsneo 6y ago

Not shipped in India :-(

gorgoiler 6y ago

What an utterly stunning bit of marketing. Some true talent in site building, set dressing, photography, and copy. Sheer quality. I’m heartened by it.

tiku 6y ago

Just bought a boox note 10 inch , same screen but android 9. Very nice device. You can even watch video on it with some ghosting.

Kevin_S 6y ago

I recently decided to purchase either this or an ipad, and ended up going with the ipad. My primary use is reading academic articles, and I use Endnote to organize my pdfs and citations. I ended up going with the ipad because it has an endnote app and automatically syncs with my desktop, so I just always have all of my papers handy. If I had to manually sync papers to the remarkable it would be very annoying. So I ended up going with the ipad despite wanting the experience of the remarkable. Though the ipad was cheaper and has other uses (entertainment).

etaioinshrdlu 6y ago

I can't help but feel like e-ink may eventually be replaced by something similar to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device The advantage would be immensely faster switching speed. Imagine one side of the mirror being totally reflective and the other side totally black. If you can turn the mirror far enough, you could replicate to some degree, what e-ink is doing.

ygmelnikova 6y ago

Had to double-check I wasn't on Amazon.

harrylepotter 6y ago

I've got mine on pre-order, scheduled for delivery in October. One of the things i'm most looking forward to experimenting with is reStream - https://github.com/rien/reStream https://github.com/rien/reStream . It'd be amazing to be on meetings and be able to share diagrams and drawings in real-time! Certainly better than the webcam i've got pointing down at my desk at the moment!

vvladymyrov 6y ago

I ordered ReMarkable 2.0, returned 13" Sony DPT. Then I got tired of waiting for ReMarkable 2 and got iPad Prod 13" with discount and ipad is enough for a little of technical reading (plus course videos and it is nice to have extra 13" display with mac os sidecar feature). So I'm going to cancel my batch 2 order...

salimmadjd 6y ago

I love hand writing and note taking and been eyeing ReMarkable for a while. However, each time I think about buying it, I have a hard time justifying it over an iPad Pro with a pencil. It feels like an iPad will give me more bang for a buck though with heftier weight.

birdyrooster 6y ago
And with this protector you can get the same feel as paper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY
- salimmadjd 6y ago
  Thanks! Added to wishlist.
- Infinitesimus 6y ago
  Have you tried this one for a while? Reviews suggest it's very harsh on the pencil tip.
  - birdyrooster 6y ago
    It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.

hamiltont 6y ago

Still waiting on my pre-order. Absolutely love e-ink and it was incredibly sad to me when Google effectively killed Android e-ink by forcing OEMs to have a non-eink screen if they wanted to be a certified Android device with access to Google apps. I understand Google's business position, but it was a shame to let an entire market segment die overnight. Sadly my Re2 preorder has been delayed so long I went ahead and ordered an iPad so I could get down to work. iPad, and especially the apple pencil, has been incredibly useful and I'm looking forward to a head-to-head comparison. No longer sure I'll be keeping my re2

birdyrooster 6y ago

I highly suggest this Paperfeel screen protector for iPad Pro https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY

andrewnc 6y ago
I've heard these damage the pencil, is that not the case?
- Karunamon 6y ago
  Some of the reviews call that out, eg: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASIN=B07QMV54LY https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASI...
- jtth 6y ago
  i guess more friction will wear the nub down more but it's not a big effect
- birdyrooster 6y ago
  It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.

mrfusion 6y ago

I think it would be cool to do 3d design in a format like this, openscad, fusion360 etc. the pencil feels like a natural fit.

madhadron 6y ago

I've been looking at this or an ipad to use as a notepad and a reader for technical books. But then I take a deep breath and compare the price to the price of buying used books and keep going along with physical objects.

jeffbee 6y ago
You can buy half a million sheets of paper for this price.

BooneJS 6y ago

They announced a 2nd delay a few days ago. Hoping it’s the last.

ismail 6y ago

Anyone have a remarkable 2, and have they been delivered? If unhappy can buy it from you. I recall they said it would be shipping in August? My slot says delivery in November.

no_wizard 6y ago

Is the hand writing correction any good? I really have to rely on this myself. My handwriting is very poor.

PatrolX 6y ago

Here you go, save yourself $590 https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable-Magnetic/dp/B07VP9H3ND https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable... You're welcome.

neurotrace 6y 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
- dharma1 6y ago
  newer models have erasing, still similar price
shard 6y 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.
- dharma1 6y ago
  you could just take a photo with your phone? there are some smart pens that do what you're asking for - https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/

jborichevskiy 6y ago

I have the current version, and between my Kindle and iPad Pro and spending 10 hours per day in front of my laptop I don't use it as much. However, there is no better device on this planet for reading long-form PDF documents, research papers, or scans of textbooks. It wins. I wish the annotations were more useful (they're sort of kept a separate layer) but the reading experience is great. Andy Matuschak has some good notes on the current version here too: https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable

ipsum2 6y ago
What features does the Kindle have that make you use it more than the ReMarkable?
- jborichevskiy 6y ago
  For ebooks specifically (not PDFs) I find the Kindle is lighter and has a number of nice features like the built-in dictionary and Amazon's X-ray view making it much more comfortable.

jron 6y ago

I almost impulse per-ordered the RM2 when I first read about the SD card mod here on HN. I decided to wait after hearing about the limitations as a reader and the slow software development. If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad, I highly encourage you to watch this fantastic review from My Deep Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM Full review: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5Vb-nB41UTnrXd https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5V... I ultimately passed on the device for a few reasons: 1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. If you want local, non cloud based transfer, you need to use a flaky local web UI that hasn't been improved in years 2. The internal storage still hasn't been updated from 8 (6 usable) GB. This is an obvious attempt to sell cloud storage in the future 3. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the resources or ability to improve it 4. There has been almost no attempt to improve reader functionality in years. Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle 5. It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device

c-c-c-c-c 6y 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/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/
- LegitShady 6y ago
  Breaks the warranty for sure.
- enricozb 6y ago
  Unsure if this works for the RM2
obmelvin 6y 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?

funkaster 6y ago

I purchased the original one during the crowdfunding campaing, and paid a really low price (iirc less than $300). It’s a great device, I used it for a few years. Pen latency was really good, paper feeling is true, battery was awesome. The handwriting->text conversion was poor, but my handwriting is horrible. I changed to an iPad Pro 6 months ago and have not looked back, but mostly because I went back to orgmode as my main note taking and using a keyboard is much easier. Having said that, I’m actually considering getting this upgrade just to focus on taking notes and brainstorming.

bitdizzy 6y ago

I have the Remarkable 1. It's the kind of jank hardware whose flaws you come to find endearing because the device as a whole is so good to you. I immediately ordered a Remarkable 2 when I caught wind of it. I'm going to give my Remarkable 1 to a friend or relative and hope it brings them as much joy as it did me.

iask 6y ago

Do they have a live draw feature? In recently purchased the Bamboo Slate. The live write is really handy when trying to express something on a Teams/Zoom meeting. I just share my screen and start drawing.

Solstinox 6y ago

I think I'll spend that money on fancy notebooks and fountain pens/nice pencils. 0 latency, smell really good too.

sireat 6y ago

I vaguely remember pre-ordering RM2 in the spring and being given a June delivery date. Who has received the earlier batches? PS. I just checked and I did pay for RM2 in March.. Let's hope their support responds.

efitz 6y ago

I love my remarkable 1 but don’t use it very much because I don’t want to be tethered to yet another company’s cloud, and I want document syncing not to require another app or website. I won’t buy a R2 until they add support for one of the big cloud storage providers like Dropbox or OneDrive or gDrive or something. The device itself is great; the OS is a little slow and takes a little getting used to navigate; recent updates made it better. The tactile feel is great.

webkike 6y 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
- crispyporkbites 6y ago
  This reminds me of the top comment on the original HN launch for Dropbox
- Polylactic_acid 6y ago
  Most people don't want to have to ssh in and hack some solution together that probably doesn't work well or would take a load of your time. They just want a setting screen with a list of cloud services so they can log in to the one they want.

eyeball 6y ago

I’ll just put a matte / paper feel screen protector on my iPad and use GoodNotes.

futureproofd 6y ago

Some features of reading my books on an android tablet are the ability to lookup words with the dictionary service, and to sync all of my notes automatically to google drive. Does anyone know how the reading features of the R2 stack up in this regard?

andi999 6y ago

I just want the software. (And use it on my two in one)

chx 6y ago

I am deeply disappointed in the general progress in this field. I had the CrossPad so long ago, you see. What the CrossPad could do was drawing on a piece of paper (any paper, this was not one of this magical dot things) and transfer the strokes in a vector format to the computer. What the ReMarkable can do is the ... same except the paper step is skipped and now you draw on a screen. But you still can't do anything remarkable ;) on the device with your strokes. It's clear from https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002661437-Convert-handwritten-notes-into-text https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266143... OCR is not on device because you need to be on wifi and logged in. Hurrah for twenty plus years of progress...?

codesternews 6y ago

Buy the Pen and Paper. Nothing can feel like Pen and Paper without Pen and Paper. I stopped all this and bought $2 5 subject notebook and it relieved my anxiety and give me outlet to express. Just buy Pen and Paper and stopped looking nostaliga and looking things in other things.

aeturnum 6y 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.
- codesternews 6y ago
  I tried some of solutions. But I could not replace. My needs are less. I use for journaling and some study. I like the feel of paper and pen and I just think it can't be replaced.
dragontamer 6y 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.

walkingolof 6y ago

A honest question, who really need this ? A pen and a notebook is a couple of euros ..

tito 6y ago

Texture matters. I bought this screen cover for my iPad for the explicit use of adding texture since 99% of my iPad usage is with Apple Pencil. I had read it has a paper texture unlike other slick covers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_inactive_ship_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i... Curious what others have tried!

eugeniub 6y ago
I have the XIRON Paperfeel. Sketchy name, totally worth it.

udev 6y ago

How is the latency when "turning" pages or taking notes?

fcatus 6y ago

how is this different than any other tablet? just because the edges look like a notebook?

ShakataGaNai 6y ago

I've been interested in eink displays and eink readers for a long time. Kindle owner since version 1. But... Is the ReMarkable really worth $500 ($400 + the $100 pencil which seems like a requirement)? For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases. I understand that for the "paper on pencil" feel an iPad is no where near... but then again you can also just write using real paper and pencil. Clearly I'm not the target demo, so what are the real target markets?

polemic 6y 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.
- ShakataGaNai 6y ago
  That makes sense. I supposed professions with lots of contracts or similar documents could benefit from "reading and note taking like paper" experience. To be fair, the iPad is only as anti-productive as you want to make it. The default is distracting, but those notifications can easily be turned off or not installed.
- FrozenSynapse 6y ago
  iPad has a remarkable number of Pro apps for note taking, drawing, architecture, design, and so on. There are screen protectors that try to create the paper feeling for the screen. I love my Apple for drawing and note taking
thekyle 6y 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.

desmap 6y ago

Does it run vim?

WalterBright 6y ago

I wonder how well it would do as a replacement for the abandoned Kindle DX?

ActsJuvenile 6y ago

I am surprised there is no discussion of alternative readers like Onyx Boox, which allow infinite customization through Android OS. Remarkable is a closed ecosystem with no third party apps.

sscotth 6y ago

Holding out for a larger version

IMAYousaf 6y ago

Does anyone have any opinions on this vs. the Sony Digital Paper?

cilea 6y 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.
- IMAYousaf 6y ago
  Thank you. Appreciate it.

exabrial 6y ago

I ordered mine back in feb, just got an email yesterday how it's delayed yet again :(

eitland 6y ago

I ordered the ReMarkable last year. It was truly awesome and paper-like to write on but I ended up sending it back for a refund because I needed a more computing like device. The device is fantastic, I love the idea and the company but the refund process (unless they have fixed it) is truly awful so expect to use a couple of days on it if you want to get your money back.

avmich 6y ago

Where can I find more details about hardware implementation? The website doesn't seem too helping for that. What are batteries, for example?

dcchambers 6y ago

I like my ReMarkable 1. I want to love it...but I'm not quite there yet. The company keeps focusing on improving the note-taking and drawing aspect of the device (which is awesome now!) but they haven't improved the reading experience to nearly the same degree. Reading eBooks, PDFs, etc is an acceptable experience, but there are many UX improvements they could make. That said, they have been releasing updates for years and improving the experience. The writing experience is by far the best of any tablet I've ever personally used. It does feel like writing on paper. The 2.0 looks really slick. Finally, the hackability of the device is awesome. You can SSH to it without having to enable any special settings, and start messing around with stuff right away.

tomerbd 6y ago

I have the Onyx boox 3 with 13.3" screen, so I can read conveniently programming and math books and paper (wanted the big screen especially for papers). Pen works perfect for scratching, selecting and taking notes, it's perfection I can also split the screen on the left side exercises on the right side a blank page I solve the exercise.

beezle 6y 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.

o23ijoi2j 6y ago

In United States it costs 399$ or 337 Euro, but if I buy it in Germany, then it will cost 399 Euro - 20% more expensive... In United States you make so much more money as a software developer comparing to Europe and then you pay much less than in Europe for all electronic devices. This is probably because Europe decided to go the communism way, charging everyone with INSANELY HUGE TAXES. Europe will soon become the next Africa with that kind of mindset.

solinent 6y ago

To me this is a bit absurd--if we're trying to replicate paper, maybe using a tree would be best? You can put the ink in the pen. I guess the advantage is you can save many documents--but this is actually a disadvantage to me as I like having a physical copy I can splay out on my desk. Or even an entire wall covered with my designs.

knolax 6y ago

I was looking into buying a ReMarkable 1.0 last year until I saw that it didn't have an SD card slot, so I couldn't fit my library in it.

fluffy87 6y ago

Which formats are notes exported to? Can they be exported to markdown + latex + images?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

m0zg 6y ago

Honest question: who works like that? Handwriting is slower than typing. Handwriting OCR is unreliable as well. I don't find myself doing a ton of diagrams either, and if I did need that, the e-ink lag would make me hate this device. The only real advantage I see is browsing internet would be uncomfortable on it, which aids productivity in those who are addicted.

nikolay 6y ago

Nice, but so expensive!

jamborta 6y ago

Priced at 399 in USD, EUR and GBP. As usual, most expensive in the UK.

mft_ 6y ago
Well, at least the weak pound is doing it’s best to minimise your pain ;)
tandr 6y ago
and 599 CAD, which is like 14% markup comparing USD price to CAD

lwansbrough 6y ago

Well I just got absolutely pipelined by this website. Went from never hearing about it "hmm, what's this link on the top of HN?" to spending $700 on it in about 3 minutes. Good product, great marketing, excellent website, I guess.

DrJaws 6y ago

boox max 3 or note 2, are way better than what remarkable can offer

maxioatic 6y ago

I've been considering this but I'm not sure if it fits my use case. My main thing would be reading pdf's - specifically with Polar (https://getpolarized.io/ https://getpolarized.io/ ). I use it for keeping track of notes/annotations and syncing across devices. Does anyone know if it would work with ReMarkable? (Or does anyone have a Polar alternative?)

htor 6y ago

oh my god HN is like reading ads. what shite front page news....

dominotw 6y ago

i use ipad pro with some sort of 'paperlike' screen protector. Feels like writing on paper to me. So other than supposedly reducing eyestrain( is this a proven claim?). What is the benefit?

franciscop 6y ago

Can you touch/tap the screen with your finger to go to the next page of an ebook? Or do you need to use the pencil for "next page"?

inamberclad 6y ago

Does anyone have one of these in their hands yet? I'd love to see a good video on it before pulling the trigger.

brightball 6y ago

Am I reading this right? It’s a Linux OS but it doesn’t work with Linux?

DennisP 6y ago

If I plugged a keyboard into the USB-C, would it work?

fudged71 6y ago

I’m glad to see [developer] excitement around this device, and look forward to ReMarkable 3 when all this new feedback is implemented into a new product. Seriously, genuinely excited to use something like this as a consumer once the kinks have been sorted

tanilama 6y ago

Does this have any advantage against Boox Note 10.1?

livq 6y ago

Does anyone remember NoteSlate from like 2011? I came across it right before going off to college, and I was so ready for a writable e-ink tablet. It ended up being a scam/vaporware so I was stuck taking notes on paper, but I'm glad things like this are becoming somewhat more common. (I think they may have come out with some actual hardware like 5 years later, but from what I remember it was too little too late)

lukeplato 6y ago

It would be great if there were a regular pen/pencil that had the ability to capture a copy of notes to a digital medium in real-time while also operating like a normal pen/pencil. From what i can tell, capturing the orientation and positioning doesn't seem feasible yet and using image capture doesn't seem great either because of privacy and cost.

azinman2 6y ago

I want to like products like this but I ultimately question the improvement versus actual pen and paper. I have a great notebook that I love, I found a pen that I love, and neither require power, take up much room, and have the best tactile experience possible. I can always use a computer whenever I need to get a lot of “digital” work done. Maybe I’m just not the target? But I do take a lot of notes frequently, just not annotations of PDFs.

daguar 6y ago

I love my reMarkable — got the 1.0 once the price dropped due to 2.0. e-Ink is a blessing after so much time on screens, and the rudiments make it quite hackable. So I get a device that pretty much CAN'T try to grab my attention, a calm device, and I can modify it to do more if I want. (For example, since it can OCR and send notes, I've prototyped a little "message queue" on the other end to receive my notes, parse them ["TEXT Jake this is a text"], and do actions.) I've even produced some custom e-ink maps which look great for no-phone navigation. (Feel free to let me know if that's interesting to you, happy to share an example and how.)

sickcodebruh 6y ago

I showed this to my friends at work and one of them replied that she used a Rocketbook throughout grad school, suggested I check that out as a way of upgrading my note taking. Their products look very different from this but they’re also a fraction of the price with similar value proposition where basic note-taking is concerned. Anyone have any experience with them? This is a field I know nothing about. https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=31416131534 https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=3... Regarding the reMarkable, I’d probably be open to it if reviews indicated it was a premium eReader in addition to everything else.

hinkley 6y ago

In a similar vein, I was really hoping that Ambient Devices would escape their niche market and we'd have a wide range of devices that looked analog but are actually digital. They were just way, way too early (and on the wrong side of a recession).

clankyclanker 6y ago

Does it support two-page display? Given how you can take notes, I’d love to be able to read on one side and take notes on the other.

sersi 6y ago

The one thing I wish the Remarkable 2.0 had is a backlight similar to the one from the kobo, it really makes it much more convenient in planes, train or anywhere where there's not enough light...

jmspring 6y ago

I gave in and ordered one. Thought I had previously, but no email to be found. The hackability is a useful feature. And it'll be interesting to compare it with an iPad Pro for notes/etc.

mraza007 6y ago

I just ordered mine Remarkable 1 since there was a delay in 2

viraj_shah 6y ago

Is anyone else excited purely on the basis that this isn't a hardware product from Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon or some other large company? I know little about it, but it looks great too.

bsimpson 6y 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 6y ago
  Definitely a bet. But as a user, and observer of the org, I would buy equity. Who knows what the future brings but they have been doing all the right things and...the gut likes them. Cheers.
- floatboth 6y ago
  You have root on it, you can always customize it (even fully replacing the OS) instead of using the vendor software. But limited functionality is kinda the whole point. No distractions and all that.
- sundarurfriend 6y ago
  It being a smaller company has its risks for sure. But having the product be their sole focus, rather than it being one among a hundred products of a large company that's ready to throw it away at any time, that too has its advantages - a lesson many of us have learnt the hard way.

l8again 6y ago

I currently use iPad and I am considering reMarkable. One of the main things I do with iPad is share screen on meetings. Is the share screen option available and what about meeting platforms such as zoom, bluejeans, google? Are their compatible apps for all of the major online meeting platforms?

jonahbenton 6y 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.

NightMKoder 6y ago

I'm curious if there are other folks like me here - I have a peculiar hate of touch-screen pens/pencils. They're too thick at the tip. When I write on (real) paper, I try to use the thinnest pen that I can still grip. I think I hold the pen at an odd enough angle that if the pen is fat enough before tapering, it starts covering the point where the tip touches the paper. Once that happens, I feel like I'm writing while holding one end of a yardstick. The alternative is to start angling the pen so I can still see the tip, but that makes writing awkward - I rather just type at that point.

jonahbenton 6y 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.

jmpeax 6y ago

Looking for a great e-paper device, but the marketing of the video where deficiencies (no notifications etc) are treated as features sounds like bullshit spin and its really off-putting.

Aldo_MX 6y ago

I would had bought it, but no shipping to my country ️

l8again 6y ago

Another question - is there anyway to take these notes and integrate with Evernote? Or has anyone tried a creative solution for this?

colordrops 6y ago

Why has this been pinned to the top all day? Is ReMarkable associated with YCombinator somehow?

jp0d 6y ago

Let me start by saying that my comment might be downvoted. However, I'm just wondering if the device justifies the price tag. For a little more I could get an iPad Air, which can do a lot more. Granted the battery needs to be charged everyday but it's probably not a deal breaker for many.

Jedd 6y ago

For owners of this (or v1) who are also using a GNU/Linux as their primary desktop - how's the workflow? I note that you can sync files easily enough -- but I'm curious on what the interop experience is like for people that don't use Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX. Syncing, updating, making notes & squiggles changes off-device and sending it back, etc.

kozmonaut 6y ago

We have a review of it on our website + unboxing and videos. https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-review https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-r...

steve_adams_86 6y ago

I was really excited about this until reading about the limitations and performance. Can’t tell if I have unreasonable expectations from a device like this or it’s unnecessarily limited due to limited development resources. In any case, it’s an exciting prospect. Wonderful design, too. I’d love to try one out at least, get a sense of what it’s actually like to use it. Some reviews are pretty terrible for R1, though.

crvdgc 6y ago

Sony DPT-RP1 user here. It's a similar large screen e-ink reader with writing support. It's of great help to me for PDF reading and taking notes. My opinion on reMarkable 2 (from the page): Disadvantages: - can only transfer with WiFi - not A4 sized (I find this important for most of books and papers) Advantages: + epub support (DPT only works with PDF) + customization (DPT software is completely uncustomizable, but good enough for most daily use, e.g. the screen can be synced to the computer screen for remote meetings) + OCR + cheaper (the A4 version of DPT is $600)

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dvcrn 6y ago

Damn this looks nice! How is the pen latency? Sadly they don’t ship to Japan so getting my hands on one is gonna be hard :(

ashleysmithgpu 6y ago

$399 when I set my country to US, £399 when set to the UK? That's not how currency works :/

sergioisidoro 6y ago

I'll have to echo what has been said. ReMarkable is the best e-ink tablet hardware I've laid my hands on, but I ended up returning it because of how hard it was to push and manage content in the device. I now have a Onyx Boox Note that has inferior hardware. But at least I can use Google Drive and easily export documents. I'm happy they have made a Chrome plugin because when I got my device, before returning it, I had a go at making exactly that: A Firefox extension that renders a simplified version and pushes it to ReMarkable as PDF https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable

strooper 6y ago

This is a remarkable device. The configuration looks good as well. It reminds me of the primary concept of Microsoft Courier. While going through pros and cons for considering a buy, I found no email client, messenger or a browser. For the targeted audience, at that price point, and with that hardware config, those features are unavoidable.

enneff 6y ago
The absence of those features is a feature to me. I want a digital notebook not another damn computer.

29athrowaway 6y ago

The product looks great, but, how does it work in terms of privacy? Is your stuff uploaded to the "cloud" automatically? Can you opt-out from that?

oblio 6y ago

I wonder how far off we are from eink with something like 16 bit color and a refresh rate of something like 20hz. A decade away? Or is it impossible?

cheezburgerman 6y ago

Will it run doom?

chheplo 6y ago

I ordered in March and the shipping schedule keep getting delayed. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a typical Kickstarter or Indigogo hardware project, that never ships.

ganlub 6y ago
have you heard of COVID-19?

the_arun 6y ago

1. $399 is kinda expensive. They should get it down to < $200 to be friendlier with younger generation. 2. Offer a place for getting books as well - or partner with Amazon for books - if not there, this may be coming I guess. Then people don't need Kindle. 3. They do not talk about security in their demo video. Don't know how they save what I write. Encryption / password / backup etc.,

abinaya_rl 6y ago

I got the reMarkable as a tool to make my writing process more natural, and less cumbersome. I have been editing a novel, which means carrying around a stack of 250 pages so I can add notes in the margins before I get back to the computer to write the next revision. It’s heavy, and I’m tired of printing the full book so that I can have that tactile experience of writing on the page. The reMarkable tablet gives me a way to continue my writing processes without paper. Going to try this new version!

deniscepko2 6y ago

Wondering if anyone is using it for Music Sheet? Im tempted to buy it just wondering if its any good for this use case since this is what im using my current tablet for.

caligarn 6y ago

Does remarkable2 have Bluetooth though, that's really what I am looking for. I want to be able to pair this with a keyboard and stop staring at my laptop.

monkeydust 6y ago

Been seeing a lot of FB adverts on RM 2.0 did a second take when I saw it at the top of HN! Feels like and advert but its not I guess yet the product is not live so a lot of speculation on how good or not it might be. Just strange to see this on top of HN.

iotku 6y 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.

plafl 6y ago

I'm glad is in the front page. I own the first version and I'm quite happy and use it massively. I use it to read and annotate papers and technical books. This is for me what keeps it from perfection: - Bigger screen would be great for my use case - Software. As have been said repeatedly here the tablet is open. This is true in the sense that in order to comply with the GPL3 it's very easy to SSH to the tablet which runs Linux. This is awesome. However I think a little more support to developers would be great in the form of documentation instead of reverse engineering. Lot's of people think of ways of improving the software and this would make it much easier and better for end users (for example better file transfer, more file formats... in a reliable way) Edit: formatting

giorgioz 6y ago

I ordered a ReMarkable 2.0 on 7th of May 2020 and they emailed me: "reMarkable 2 orders will be processed in batches. Your order is in batch 5, which is set to ship in Early September. You can follow the status of your batch at remarkable.com/delivery." I opened the link again today (28th of August) and saw batch 5 is now postponed of 2 months to Early November :(

8fingerlouie 6y ago

Looks like a nice device, but my main issue with it is the price. The regular price is €556, and i can get a regular laptop for that. Even at the discounted price of €399 i can get an iPad or Surface Go, all devices that has much more generalized use. I have no doubt it's a quality product, and i guess i just don't value my handwritten notes highly enough to warrant one :)

schattschneider 6y ago

Man that's a really beautiful website

VonBlue 6y ago

Does this integrate with something like OneNote? Because this would still be only half my notes. If I can keep my hand-written ones and the ones I type when I work, for example, NOW we’re talking.

lordgrenville 6y ago

Interested in ordering this, but my country isn't on their very limited list (basically EU + Five Eyes). A bit frustrating, it's not like I live in Yemen or Easter Island. Why not ship to anywhere with DHL?

voltagex_ 6y ago

$900AUD (with the upgraded marker and folio). I love the idea and that it seems to be fairly open, but ouch. It'll be even more expensive after the pre-order.

ibobev 6y ago

I'm wandering whether the device is suitable for geometry style drawings? Just the type from the high school. Lines, circles and so on. Does someone has such an experience with this device?

mindfulhack 6y ago

Why do I have tears in my eyes because of a technology ad? I have not felt this emotional about a technology product since Steve Jobs. I think even more. That was an amazing ad (video on their home page). I have loved and used paper and pen as a primary tool for thinking since I was young. However, typing is much faster, and now that is my tool - the keyboard. Still, this clearly has its place. My main interest now is whether it can be 'rooted' and a native Linux OS used on it, and/or whether it can be used with end-to-end encryption compatible self-cloud services like Nextcloud. To me, open hardware and software is a necessary way forward for humanity. Edit: I see it's very hackable indeed, from comments above, e.g.: http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/

V-2 6y ago

How well does text conversion work for joined handwriting? All the examples I've seen appear to use carefully segmented handwriting, which is a bit of a red flag to me. Bonus points if someone could answer this for languages other than English (I'm thinking of diacritics)...

Pet_Ant 6y ago

Anyone have a lighting solution for the remarkable? I read mostly in bed and that's kind of a deal breaker.

xtiansimon 6y ago

I own the Sony DPT-RP1 and I love it because it’s 13” (US letter size paper is 13.5”). The R2 is 10.3”. Do peeps think smaller is better?

akg_67 6y 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?
- xtiansimon 6y ago
  I first heard about e-ink in a Newsweek article ~1999 featuring IDEOs technologies of the future. I’ve waited years for a full-size display. The RP1 was something like 1.5k when it came out. Thankfully the RP1 was half that. Never regretted the purchase. I’m imagining some MBA dips#it at Remarkable doing some kind of regression analysis on cost of device, screen size compared to competitors in the market—and missing the point. Full size paper is everywhere. As far as the Sony’s UE. finding files seems unrefined. You only notice if you store a lot of files on the device or have deep folders. Annoying but not a deal breaker. FWIW, I posted here at HN some of my ideas for improvement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17220073 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17220073

xyst 6y ago

Is the market for “paper like substitutes” this large? What’s wrong with a multi-use tablet (iPad or otherwise) and silencing your notifications for X amount of hours? I personally hate writing on paper and trying to decipher barely legible handwriting. Seems like this product is just trying to appease the people who refuse to adapt to change.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

I was close to buying this—the price is right, at least with the preorder discount in place; I think $400 is the upper limit—but it's missing a web browser! I need a good web browser, not this read-later stuff. I want to be able to load up the homepage of TheVerge.com and browse as I would on any other device, except with text that's as easy to read as if it were on paper. I'd have to use paged scrolling, and images would be black-and-white, but that would be okay—they'd be crisp and clear. This tablet is close to what I want, but it doesn't look like the software is there. (Or maybe it's hardware too—is one gigabyte of ram enough for a web browser these days if you don't use multiple tabs?)

kushan2020 6y ago

I have been using apple most of my life. I considered waiting for iPad this year, but apple decided to reuse am2 year old processor, so I back in the market to experiment. I am hoping this will deliver what it promises.

hattori31 6y ago

The handwriting to text seems cool but these things never work for anything else than English.