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> I'm all for fewer polished features - but we don't get any of those. I don't think that the rest of your comment substantiates this. You don't have any argu

by fouric 5y ago

> I'm all for fewer polished features - but we don't get any of those. I don't think that the rest of your comment substantiates this. You don't have any arguments that the core functionality is lacking in some way - everything you say seems to be about non-core things. > Hyperlinks in ePub and PDF didn't work. Note the "didn't", and also PDF hyperlinks is not an "essential" feature for the purpose of the rm2, which is writing and annotating. > If links don't work they must have some way to jump between pages easily, right? Not core to writing and annotating. You're looking for a document-navigation system, which the rm2 is not. > Search is very slow. See previous comment about the rm2 not meant to be a document-navigation system. > eBooks are slow to load, and changing text size requires you to wait while the entire book is rerendered (losing your notes in the process since they're image-based rather than proper annotations) This might be the only valid complaint here, although it's still a non-essential feature. An essential feature is the ability to take notes, which you can. > This is primarily a drawing/creation device. That's literally how it's marketed - "Writing, reading, and visualizing only". > A basic tool that would help here is stroke-based erasing. They have stroke knowledge since Undo supports that, but the eraser is a clumsy mess that reminds me of the worst cheap elementary school supplies. The eraser tool is perfectly functional. I use it continually with no problems. Could it be better? Yes, like almost every piece of software ever written. Is it "a clumsy mess"? Not even close. > While we're on basic UX, why is the entire device in "light mode" except for the settings app which is inverted into dark mode with no way to change it to a normal UX? That's a single UX issue, among many things that they got right, that has little impact on the usability of the device. You neglected to mention how the drawing, cut/copy/paste, convert-to-text, eraser, templates, and almost every other feature "just work". You do get all of those "polished features" - your stretch goals are not core functionality.

Arainach 5y ago
>That's literally how it's marketed - "Writing, reading, and visualizing only". >Not core to writing and annotating. You're looking for a document-navigation system, which the rm2 is not. Document navigation is absolutely a core part of reading. When I read a book, I page around it because that's how books work. When I reference a book I've already read, I want to look in the index or the table of contents and go there. There are 6 things that reMarkable claims the device does on their homepage. "All your notes, organized and accessible on all devices" and "Take handwritten notes, read, and review documents" are two of them. Reading and searching are core scenarios.
- leadingthenet 5y ago
  I don't personally own a reMarkable, so I have no idea if this is related to what you're mentioning, but version 2.7 does seem to have added improved navigation of the sort you're describing: https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-2-7-small-steps-can-lead-to-big-changes-to-your-workflow-842f5538ae41 https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-2-7-small-steps-...
- fouric 5y ago
  > Document navigation is absolutely a core part of reading. This is a stretch. "Reading" means reading. You open a book and read it cover-to-cover. "Document navigation" is extra stuff beyond reading - it is not core. When you read a novel, you are not expected to jump back and forth between different chapters or sections, and the vast majority of people don't. When you teach your child to "read", you don't teach them to click on PDF links (that's "web searching" or "computer literacy" or whatever) or to flip to arbitrary pages as fast as possible, or to search through a file - you literally teach them the English alphabet, how to parse words and sentences, and that's it - they know how to read. One knows how to "read" even if they've never seen a computer in their life, and if they don't know how to cross-reference books and articles, and if they don't know how to use an index. > When I read a book, I page around it because that's how books work. That's irrelevant. You can write on the margins of a book "because that's how books work", yet that's totally unrelated to "reading". I can clip out fragments of a book and put them on my refrigerator - that doesn't mean that a core part of reading is the extraction of inspirational quotes. > When I reference a book I've already read, I want to look in the index or the table of contents and go there. And yet, that's not a "core part of reading", and doesn't need to be optimized as such. The core parts of reading are reading words and flipping pages. Indices and tables of contents, while important, are not a core part of reading - they're important, sure, but if you remove them, you can still read things. That's what "core" means - "core" means "without this element, you cannot do the activity". Let me repeat that again - if you remove the ability to flip to arbitrary pages (but keep the spot you were last reading in - which the reMarkable does), remove the table of contents, and remove the index, you can still read a book. Will you be able to perform research effectively? No. But that's not what the reMarkable is for. I'll be the second to admit that the reMarkable 2 is terrible at research - but it's not meant to be used for research, it's meant to be used for simple reading, and note-taking while you do research on another device. > [...] searching are core scenarios. False. Their homepage literally never mentions "search" or "index". It's simply not there. Would search be useful? Heck yes. Is it necessary for reading? Absolutely not, see above. As feature-limited as the reMarkable is, it is upfront about those limited features, and it executes on the features that it does promise at least better than most other pieces of technology.

by fouric 5y ago

Arainach 5y ago

>That's literally how it's marketed - "Writing, reading, and visualizing only". >Not core to writing and annotating. You're looking for a document-navigation system, which the rm2 is not. Document navigation is absolutely a core part of reading. When I read a book, I page around it because that's how books work. When I reference a book I've already read, I want to look in the index or the table of contents and go there. There are 6 things that reMarkable claims the device does on their homepage. "All your notes, organized and accessible on all devices" and "Take handwritten notes, read, and review documents" are two of them. Reading and searching are core scenarios.

leadingthenet 5y ago
I don't personally own a reMarkable, so I have no idea if this is related to what you're mentioning, but version 2.7 does seem to have added improved navigation of the sort you're describing: https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-2-7-small-steps-can-lead-to-big-changes-to-your-workflow-842f5538ae41 https://blog.remarkable.com/software-update-2-7-small-steps-...
fouric 5y ago
> Document navigation is absolutely a core part of reading. This is a stretch. "Reading" means reading. You open a book and read it cover-to-cover. "Document navigation" is extra stuff beyond reading - it is not core. When you read a novel, you are not expected to jump back and forth between different chapters or sections, and the vast majority of people don't. When you teach your child to "read", you don't teach them to click on PDF links (that's "web searching" or "computer literacy" or whatever) or to flip to arbitrary pages as fast as possible, or to search through a file - you literally teach them the English alphabet, how to parse words and sentences, and that's it - they know how to read. One knows how to "read" even if they've never seen a computer in their life, and if they don't know how to cross-reference books and articles, and if they don't know how to use an index. > When I read a book, I page around it because that's how books work. That's irrelevant. You can write on the margins of a book "because that's how books work", yet that's totally unrelated to "reading". I can clip out fragments of a book and put them on my refrigerator - that doesn't mean that a core part of reading is the extraction of inspirational quotes. > When I reference a book I've already read, I want to look in the index or the table of contents and go there. And yet, that's not a "core part of reading", and doesn't need to be optimized as such. The core parts of reading are reading words and flipping pages. Indices and tables of contents, while important, are not a core part of reading - they're important, sure, but if you remove them, you can still read things. That's what "core" means - "core" means "without this element, you cannot do the activity". Let me repeat that again - if you remove the ability to flip to arbitrary pages (but keep the spot you were last reading in - which the reMarkable does), remove the table of contents, and remove the index, you can still read a book. Will you be able to perform research effectively? No. But that's not what the reMarkable is for. I'll be the second to admit that the reMarkable 2 is terrible at research - but it's not meant to be used for research, it's meant to be used for simple reading, and note-taking while you do research on another device. > [...] searching are core scenarios. False. Their homepage literally never mentions "search" or "index". It's simply not there. Would search be useful? Heck yes. Is it necessary for reading? Absolutely not, see above. As feature-limited as the reMarkable is, it is upfront about those limited features, and it executes on the features that it does promise at least better than most other pieces of technology.