4 ms·

E Ink Meenote Is a 10.3 Inch Digital Note Taking Device

3 points by webmaven 5y ago

rbanffy 5y ago
$300 for a 10" device that needs to be connected via cable to a phone or a desktop in order to be useful? What were they thinking?
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago
  Ultraportable USB-C monitors are about ~$200-300 so it doesn't seem that unreasonable.
  - rbanffy 5y ago
    A 10" iPad, arguably much more useful than this (can work untethered, has brains, a battery, software...) starts at $330. Doesn't have an e-ink display, but come on...
    - ThrowawayR2 5y ago
      I don't disagree that an iPad is more capable but, after reading the whitepaper just now, they're not positioning it as a tablet or e-reader so that's not a meaningful comparison. It seems to be intended as something like an external monitor with stylus input so it's more comparable to the Dasung Paperlike HD-FT or Wacom Cintiq / Wacom One. If it's not crazy for the Wacom One to exist, then it isn't that crazy for this to exist either.
      - rbanffy 5y ago
        I can understand the value proposition of both Wacom and Cintiq. I'm not sure I understand this one's though. The former ones are tools for directly manipulating images, but this one is limited to grayscale, with the slow response time of e-paper. To be fair, I'd be mostly OK if it had a simple reader/annotator, a battery and required a wireless connection to something else to do anything more complicated. As stated, at 13", the Wacom One seems to be a much better value unless you are really bothered by the backlight of the screen. And that if software support is good. The folks at e-ink look like they want to milk their patents until the market bleeds.
        robinsoh 5y ago
        > The folks at e-ink look like they want to milk their patents until the market bleeds. Here we go again. Based on what? I have no clue what you're referring to. But I see this kind of comment on HN again and again. There was a couple of throwaway accounts used to make allegations about them, and then a blogger who cited those throwaway posts and then HN posts that cited the blogger (infinite loop of "evidence"!) and when I asked for at least some explanation of their claims(because I actually work in the display industry), I never got a reply. Look at my comment history. Nobody has ever given me an answer to above that is even remotely believable.
- jqpabc123 5y ago
  Probably thinking if Apple can sell a connected watch for $400, why not give it a shot.
  - rbanffy 5y ago
    To be fair, it's a watch, a heart rate monitor, an EKG, blood-pressure, oximeter, step counter, Star Trek TMP communicator, TV remote, voice-activated AI assistant and a couple other things that also connects to (nice) phones and (luxury) computers.
    - jqpabc123 5y ago
      What it *can* do is very different from what people *actually* do with it. Most of the people I know who own one tell me they mainly use it to look at the time and answer their phone without taking it out of their purse/pocket. When I ask about the "gee-whiz" features, the typical reply is , "Yeah, it does stuff like that but I don't really use it". In other words, they're more for iMarketing and iBragging than iUse.
      - rbanffy 5y ago
        A TARDIS is still a TARDIS, even if you use it as a closet.
        jqpabc123 5y ago
        True but you're sorta missing the point. The people selling you a closet encourage you to pay extra for a TARDIS --- even though you have no real practical need or use for all the extra whiz-bang features, just to impress the neighbors. It's a total waste of your money but it earns more profit for them and that's what they really care about.
webmaven 5y ago
It took me a moment to figure out that with an appropriate case (ie. one that let me snap or strap a phone to the back and connect with USB), this would appear to work as an entirely functional e-reader, rather than only as a satellite display and input device. Alternatively, you could possibly tether it with Bluetooth LTE, and skip the case, keeping the phone in your pocket. Whether connected via USB or BT, it would make it an 'upgradable' ereader in a sense, by swapping out the phone it is tethered to.

3 points by webmaven 5y ago

$300 for a 10" device that needs to be connected via cable to a phone or a desktop in order to be useful? What were they thinking?

ThrowawayR2 5y ago
Ultraportable USB-C monitors are about ~$200-300 so it doesn't seem that unreasonable.
- rbanffy 5y ago
  A 10" iPad, arguably much more useful than this (can work untethered, has brains, a battery, software...) starts at $330. Doesn't have an e-ink display, but come on...
  - ThrowawayR2 5y ago
    I don't disagree that an iPad is more capable but, after reading the whitepaper just now, they're not positioning it as a tablet or e-reader so that's not a meaningful comparison. It seems to be intended as something like an external monitor with stylus input so it's more comparable to the Dasung Paperlike HD-FT or Wacom Cintiq / Wacom One. If it's not crazy for the Wacom One to exist, then it isn't that crazy for this to exist either.
    - rbanffy 5y ago
      I can understand the value proposition of both Wacom and Cintiq. I'm not sure I understand this one's though. The former ones are tools for directly manipulating images, but this one is limited to grayscale, with the slow response time of e-paper. To be fair, I'd be mostly OK if it had a simple reader/annotator, a battery and required a wireless connection to something else to do anything more complicated. As stated, at 13", the Wacom One seems to be a much better value unless you are really bothered by the backlight of the screen. And that if software support is good. The folks at e-ink look like they want to milk their patents until the market bleeds.
      - robinsoh 5y ago
        > The folks at e-ink look like they want to milk their patents until the market bleeds. Here we go again. Based on what? I have no clue what you're referring to. But I see this kind of comment on HN again and again. There was a couple of throwaway accounts used to make allegations about them, and then a blogger who cited those throwaway posts and then HN posts that cited the blogger (infinite loop of "evidence"!) and when I asked for at least some explanation of their claims(because I actually work in the display industry), I never got a reply. Look at my comment history. Nobody has ever given me an answer to above that is even remotely believable.
jqpabc123 5y ago
Probably thinking if Apple can sell a connected watch for $400, why not give it a shot.
- rbanffy 5y ago
  To be fair, it's a watch, a heart rate monitor, an EKG, blood-pressure, oximeter, step counter, Star Trek TMP communicator, TV remote, voice-activated AI assistant and a couple other things that also connects to (nice) phones and (luxury) computers.
  - jqpabc123 5y ago
    What it *can* do is very different from what people *actually* do with it. Most of the people I know who own one tell me they mainly use it to look at the time and answer their phone without taking it out of their purse/pocket. When I ask about the "gee-whiz" features, the typical reply is , "Yeah, it does stuff like that but I don't really use it". In other words, they're more for iMarketing and iBragging than iUse.
    - rbanffy 5y ago
      A TARDIS is still a TARDIS, even if you use it as a closet.
      - jqpabc123 5y ago
        True but you're sorta missing the point. The people selling you a closet encourage you to pay extra for a TARDIS --- even though you have no real practical need or use for all the extra whiz-bang features, just to impress the neighbors. It's a total waste of your money but it earns more profit for them and that's what they really care about.

webmaven 5y ago

It took me a moment to figure out that with an appropriate case (ie. one that let me snap or strap a phone to the back and connect with USB), this would appear to work as an entirely functional e-reader, rather than only as a satellite display and input device. Alternatively, you could possibly tether it with Bluetooth LTE, and skip the case, keeping the phone in your pocket. Whether connected via USB or BT, it would make it an 'upgradable' ereader in a sense, by swapping out the phone it is tethered to.