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* Says he has horrible handwriting and complains about the OCR * Never looks up how to do the basic gestures * Complains about the size, when it's comically o

* Says he has horrible handwriting and complains about the OCR * Never looks up how to do the basic gestures * Complains about the size, when it's comically obvious what the size is from the constant advertising. Look, the device isn't for most, but HN really deserves a less half-assed critique than this.

Spivak 5y ago
Whether or not it makes sense for a HN post notwithstanding, these kinds of reviews are good because if you are similar to the author then you’ll likely have the same feelings. It’s the same with movie critics, knowing a movie with 84% on Rotten Tomatoes or something isn’t half as useful as the opinion of your twin flame critic.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  The parent commenter cherrypicked a few of the weaker arguments and threw out the extensive criticism of other aspects of the device, such as the atrocious UI. The reMarkable was panned pretty hard by every major tech outlet as being useful for only one thing, and worse, not very good at that one thing.
  - eitland 5y ago
    > The reMarkable was panned pretty hard by every major tech outlet as being useful for only one thing, and worse, not very good at that one thing. yet my colleagues who loved the first one love this one to and keep recruiting new users so there is obviously a market for it. Personally I returned mine because I couldn't justify both the iPad and the reMarkable at that time but the writing experience was fantastic.
    - throwanem 5y ago
      Yeah, I got recruited that way too, only the trouble is that having had the device a few days now my takeaway is I should really have done more research first and ideally spent that money elsewhere. Presented by an excited aficionado, the thing looks amazing, but when you go to actually use it the way you use a notebook, the software just isn't there to help you do that. Oh, well. I guess if nothing else it's a valuable refresher on the correct weighting to apply when evaluating early adopter opinions.
      - eitland 5y ago
        I sent mine back. Is it too late to return your?
        throwanem 5y ago
        No, I've only had it a few days. I haven't yet really decided to return it, either; the tech is legitimately amazing, even if the software lacks a lot, and I've yet to more than scratch the surface of what the community has to offer. I'll find some worthwhile use for the thing, even if it takes a while. I'm just disappointed that that looks so much like not being the use for which I actually bought it.
  - brokenkebab 5y ago
    When you criticize you have to concentrate on what you see as wrong (i.e. weakest points) unless you plan to write a full review of review, so "cherrypicking" sounds rather unwarranted here.
BoorishBears 5y ago
* Making OCR work with perfect handwriting was happening in the 90s, it's not unreasonable to expect modern hardware to work with messy handwriting * Gestures should be intuitive, and if they're not they should be prompted * Size on paper != size in reality. The weight distribution alone can make two devices with seemingly identical dimensions feel very different in hand This is a fair critique of device, your comment just feels like a kneejerk defense of something you like. For the record I returned mine, I get it's meant to be a focused device but the value proposition is just not there, and it felt like a complete waste. It sits in the awkward position of doing too much to be smaller and cheaper and doing too little to take advantage of its size and computing power. No matter how much you value minimalism and paperfeel I'd easily recommend an iPad Mini over this. If you're a tinkerer making a distraction-free iPad is an evening's work. And if you're not a tinkerer the Remarkable is not that interesting
throwawayboise 5y ago
I thought it was a good review, because I find devices like this are always tempting, but never live up to the imagined utility compared to simple pencil and paper or simple "editor and text files" (or real books, in that case). I was glad to find out this is another one of those, before I spent $$$ on one.
- arlcode 5y ago
  Quick warning: I bought my device before they started offering a subscription service and got grandfathered in for free. It profoundly changed how I organise my desk and work day. I used to have a stack of papers which contained mostly random noted and work related diagrams. It was a mess to find anything and most notes were of "questionable" quality (strikethroughs and corrections galore) Over the years I tried several methods to get better at organising myself (hi-tech and lo-tech aka pen and paper). For some reason I can't explain, the remarkable stuck and helped me to get my shit together. I suspect that it was mostly by chance that this specific model came to my attention at the right time with the right design. Most likely any one of several similar products(e-ink, "paperlike writing feeling", no app store or browser) would've done the trick. It was quite expensive though and had they had their subscription service at the time, I probably wouldn't have bought it.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    > stack of papers The trick is to get a spiral paper notebook. When full, run it through a sheet-fed scanner, and throw the notebook away. You'll need a scanner anyway, for all those other random papers. Also, a sheet-fed scanner is infinitely faster than a flatbed, and it'll do both sides at once. Don't forget to back up your disk drive. If you drop it on the floor (like I did) it's gone.
    - striking 5y ago
      You can also use your phone camera for the occasional paper document. I wouldn't change my note taking strategy as a result of sometimes being given paper documents.
theon144 5y ago
>* Never looks up how to do the basic gestures To me, it read like it just didn't work, not that he didn't try or look it up. >* Complains about the size, when it's comically obvious what the size is from the constant advertising. It's still a valid criticism, no? The digital pen/e-ink combo gives you way less feedback, hence precision, hence density of writing in a given area. I'm not just speculating, I've tried out a Remarkable 2 my friend got, and that was my impression - nearly like paper, but I still had to focus more and write slightly bigger letters for it to be legible.
- stonogo 5y ago
  If you want to write denser you can just zoom in. I don't feel the need, because the fineliner pen does great, but sometimes I do it to fit notes into pdf margins.
nashashmi 5y ago
I had to relearn writing on a remarkable tablet by basically tracing letters repeatedly. The writing surface has less friction which makes writing different. And easily to be very sloppy. So like learning to write with a marker or a different stencil you have to relearn how to write again.

Spivak 5y ago

Whether or not it makes sense for a HN post notwithstanding, these kinds of reviews are good because if you are similar to the author then you’ll likely have the same feelings. It’s the same with movie critics, knowing a movie with 84% on Rotten Tomatoes or something isn’t half as useful as the opinion of your twin flame critic.

KennyBlanken 5y ago
The parent commenter cherrypicked a few of the weaker arguments and threw out the extensive criticism of other aspects of the device, such as the atrocious UI. The reMarkable was panned pretty hard by every major tech outlet as being useful for only one thing, and worse, not very good at that one thing.
- eitland 5y ago
  > The reMarkable was panned pretty hard by every major tech outlet as being useful for only one thing, and worse, not very good at that one thing. yet my colleagues who loved the first one love this one to and keep recruiting new users so there is obviously a market for it. Personally I returned mine because I couldn't justify both the iPad and the reMarkable at that time but the writing experience was fantastic.
  - throwanem 5y ago
    Yeah, I got recruited that way too, only the trouble is that having had the device a few days now my takeaway is I should really have done more research first and ideally spent that money elsewhere. Presented by an excited aficionado, the thing looks amazing, but when you go to actually use it the way you use a notebook, the software just isn't there to help you do that. Oh, well. I guess if nothing else it's a valuable refresher on the correct weighting to apply when evaluating early adopter opinions.
    - eitland 5y ago
      I sent mine back. Is it too late to return your?
      - throwanem 5y ago
        No, I've only had it a few days. I haven't yet really decided to return it, either; the tech is legitimately amazing, even if the software lacks a lot, and I've yet to more than scratch the surface of what the community has to offer. I'll find some worthwhile use for the thing, even if it takes a while. I'm just disappointed that that looks so much like not being the use for which I actually bought it.
- brokenkebab 5y ago
  When you criticize you have to concentrate on what you see as wrong (i.e. weakest points) unless you plan to write a full review of review, so "cherrypicking" sounds rather unwarranted here.

BoorishBears 5y ago

* Making OCR work with perfect handwriting was happening in the 90s, it's not unreasonable to expect modern hardware to work with messy handwriting * Gestures should be intuitive, and if they're not they should be prompted * Size on paper != size in reality. The weight distribution alone can make two devices with seemingly identical dimensions feel very different in hand This is a fair critique of device, your comment just feels like a kneejerk defense of something you like. For the record I returned mine, I get it's meant to be a focused device but the value proposition is just not there, and it felt like a complete waste. It sits in the awkward position of doing too much to be smaller and cheaper and doing too little to take advantage of its size and computing power. No matter how much you value minimalism and paperfeel I'd easily recommend an iPad Mini over this. If you're a tinkerer making a distraction-free iPad is an evening's work. And if you're not a tinkerer the Remarkable is not that interesting

throwawayboise 5y ago

I thought it was a good review, because I find devices like this are always tempting, but never live up to the imagined utility compared to simple pencil and paper or simple "editor and text files" (or real books, in that case). I was glad to find out this is another one of those, before I spent $$$ on one.

arlcode 5y ago
Quick warning: I bought my device before they started offering a subscription service and got grandfathered in for free. It profoundly changed how I organise my desk and work day. I used to have a stack of papers which contained mostly random noted and work related diagrams. It was a mess to find anything and most notes were of "questionable" quality (strikethroughs and corrections galore) Over the years I tried several methods to get better at organising myself (hi-tech and lo-tech aka pen and paper). For some reason I can't explain, the remarkable stuck and helped me to get my shit together. I suspect that it was mostly by chance that this specific model came to my attention at the right time with the right design. Most likely any one of several similar products(e-ink, "paperlike writing feeling", no app store or browser) would've done the trick. It was quite expensive though and had they had their subscription service at the time, I probably wouldn't have bought it.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  > stack of papers The trick is to get a spiral paper notebook. When full, run it through a sheet-fed scanner, and throw the notebook away. You'll need a scanner anyway, for all those other random papers. Also, a sheet-fed scanner is infinitely faster than a flatbed, and it'll do both sides at once. Don't forget to back up your disk drive. If you drop it on the floor (like I did) it's gone.
  - striking 5y ago
    You can also use your phone camera for the occasional paper document. I wouldn't change my note taking strategy as a result of sometimes being given paper documents.

theon144 5y ago

>* Never looks up how to do the basic gestures To me, it read like it just didn't work, not that he didn't try or look it up. >* Complains about the size, when it's comically obvious what the size is from the constant advertising. It's still a valid criticism, no? The digital pen/e-ink combo gives you way less feedback, hence precision, hence density of writing in a given area. I'm not just speculating, I've tried out a Remarkable 2 my friend got, and that was my impression - nearly like paper, but I still had to focus more and write slightly bigger letters for it to be legible.

stonogo 5y ago
If you want to write denser you can just zoom in. I don't feel the need, because the fineliner pen does great, but sometimes I do it to fit notes into pdf margins.

nashashmi 5y ago

I had to relearn writing on a remarkable tablet by basically tracing letters repeatedly. The writing surface has less friction which makes writing different. And easily to be very sloppy. So like learning to write with a marker or a different stencil you have to relearn how to write again.