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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 acceptab

by 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?
  - cordite 6y ago
    I personally get the PDFs, sometimes links work. PDFs are also a bit friendly for annotation, at least in my experience with GoodReader on the ipad.
- driverdan 6y ago
  They sell replacement pens.
thaumaturgy 6y ago
It doesn't support any of the proprietary ebook formats, but it does display PDFs wonderfully and I use mine often this way. I also export trip itineraries, lists, project files and so on to PDF and keep them on my ReMarkable. It's handy for that.
- fastball 6y ago
  Does it support epub?
  - rococode 6y ago
    Their website suggests yes: > The reMarkable paper tablet supports the open ebook format EPUB without DRM, a format available with many ebook retailers. > Some ebooks are DRM-protected (Digital Rights Management), which the reMarkable does not support at this time. > The Amazon Kindle ecosystem is not open to third parties, so you can't read Kindle books directly on the reMarkable. https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002658737-Ebooks https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
  - fernandotakai 6y ago
    apparently yes, as long as there's no DRM https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002658737-Ebooks https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - thaumaturgy 6y ago
    I remembered having trouble with this previously, so I just tried it again. It "supports" epub in that I can load a DRM-free epub file onto it and then view it on the device, but it's not formatted well. The default font is unnecessarily large, some italicized text isn't being italicized, icons and other images are missing, and other layout elements aren't being rendered (sidebars for instance). This could be a problem with this specific file, but the PDF version renders fine and I think this might be the same trouble I was having with another epub file.
Andrex 6y ago
Same question, but for sheet music... Would be amazing to hook this up to a pedal to turn pages, or some even more advanced MIDI-USB solution...
- markvdb 6y ago
  It speaks usb-c and it runs a fairly unlocked embedded linux if I'm well informed. You'd probably get lucky hooking it up to a page turn pedal... If I weren't such a cheapskate, or if there were a budget for these kind of things where I teach the guitar, I'd probably experiment with this for teaching...
devindotcom 6y ago
It's great at PDFs. Looks good, and you can mark them up easily and the changes sync back to the app, where you can export them or whatever. It reads epubs and rtfs, but not mobi or lit or a few others. Its text handling and formatting aren't great but they're working on it. If I was reading a novel I'd stick with an ereader but if I had 20 research papers to go through it's the remarkable by a long shot.
eddiecalzone 6y ago
It sounds pretty basic from what other commenters are saying, but you can install koreader, which is outstanding (and also supports PDF, DjVu, XPS, CBZ, FB2, PDB, TXT, HTML, RTF, CHM, EPUB, DOC, MOBI): https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader

by roel_v 6y ago

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?
- cordite 6y ago
  I personally get the PDFs, sometimes links work. PDFs are also a bit friendly for annotation, at least in my experience with GoodReader on the ipad.
driverdan 6y ago
They sell replacement pens.

thaumaturgy 6y ago

It doesn't support any of the proprietary ebook formats, but it does display PDFs wonderfully and I use mine often this way. I also export trip itineraries, lists, project files and so on to PDF and keep them on my ReMarkable. It's handy for that.

fastball 6y ago
Does it support epub?
- rococode 6y ago
  Their website suggests yes: > The reMarkable paper tablet supports the open ebook format EPUB without DRM, a format available with many ebook retailers. > Some ebooks are DRM-protected (Digital Rights Management), which the reMarkable does not support at this time. > The Amazon Kindle ecosystem is not open to third parties, so you can't read Kindle books directly on the reMarkable. https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002658737-Ebooks https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
- fernandotakai 6y ago
  apparently yes, as long as there's no DRM https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002658737-Ebooks https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- thaumaturgy 6y ago
  I remembered having trouble with this previously, so I just tried it again. It "supports" epub in that I can load a DRM-free epub file onto it and then view it on the device, but it's not formatted well. The default font is unnecessarily large, some italicized text isn't being italicized, icons and other images are missing, and other layout elements aren't being rendered (sidebars for instance). This could be a problem with this specific file, but the PDF version renders fine and I think this might be the same trouble I was having with another epub file.

Andrex 6y ago

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

markvdb 6y ago
It speaks usb-c and it runs a fairly unlocked embedded linux if I'm well informed. You'd probably get lucky hooking it up to a page turn pedal... If I weren't such a cheapskate, or if there were a budget for these kind of things where I teach the guitar, I'd probably experiment with this for teaching...

devindotcom 6y ago

It's great at PDFs. Looks good, and you can mark them up easily and the changes sync back to the app, where you can export them or whatever. It reads epubs and rtfs, but not mobi or lit or a few others. Its text handling and formatting aren't great but they're working on it. If I was reading a novel I'd stick with an ereader but if I had 20 research papers to go through it's the remarkable by a long shot.

eddiecalzone 6y ago

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