7 ms·

Phenomenal news. I’m hoping competition drives prices down. Remarkable 2 looks neat but so expensive. Now there’s choice.

ChuckNorris89 5y ago
Most of the expense on these e-ink tablets comes from the huge cost of that screen, so unless Huawei is willing to subsidize this product and monetize your private data instead, I doubt this will be significantly cheaper than the competition. Regardless of price though, I'm not willing to out my private data on Huawei devices.
- CommanderData 5y ago
  Are there no other companies apart from e-ink?
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    There is no "other company". E-ink owns the parents, the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality e-ink film in good yelds. Even without the parents, building fabs and the film profitably without their secret sauce would be impossible. It's kind of like the early days of OLED when Samsung was the only one who could fab the tech profitably.
    - criddell 5y ago
      There are other companies now. Plastic Logic and OED are two I know of.
      - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        I checked them out and as far as I could tell, both are making displays based on E-ink's film. E-ink is also a major shareholder of Plastic Logic. As I was saying, E-ink is the only game in town making the film. All the others are making displays based on it.
        robinsoh 5y ago
        > both are making displays based on E-ink's film Jesus H Christ. Sigh... Just have a google again on OED and at least read the first page of their website properly. It is clear to me the level of confidence in your claims corresponds inversely with the level of accuracy of the facts.
        ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        You really have no idea what you're talking about. Please read E-ink's website before spreading more disinformation.
        robinsoh 5y ago
        You claimed OED buys E-Ink films. Please prove that with some evidence. Go ahead and google your heart out. You don't work in the display industry which is why you don't know the well known fact that OED is a competitor of E-Ink. They both produce electrophoretic films. What you said is literally the equivalent of saying Coca Cola buys its secret syrup from Pepsi. It is so ridiculous. And yet HN is filled with your level of comments on electrophoretics.
    - robinsoh 5y ago
      > E-ink owns the parents, the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality e-ink film in good yelds. fabs? Jesus H Christ. Based on just that one sentence, I can guarantee you have 0 experience and 0 direct knowledge of the display industry. Your statement is the equivalent to saying "Microsoft owns the parents (sp), the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality operating systems in good yelds (sp).
      - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        Would be nice if you also had an argument with your statement and not just mockery, to prove me wrong.
        robinsoh 5y ago
        > Would be nice if you also had an argument with your statement and not just mockery, to prove me wrong. So you make a massive unsubstantiated claim and I have to prove you wrong? I see the way your logic works. Lets see. You've made the claim that "E-ink owns the parents, the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality e-ink film in good yelds.". So let me ask a simple question. Since you say E-ink owns all the fabs, can you show me the location of even one E-ink fab? Here's a hint for the answer. E-Ink is a fabless company. That may confuse you so lets make it clearer. It means they don't have ANY fabs. In fact, I don't even know of even one electrophoretic material producer who has a fab. Would you like to try again and provide a more accurate statement that reflects your level of ACTUAL knowledge of the display industry?
        ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        Mate, you're going completely off the rails and I'm not sure if you're actively trolling or are misinformed and in denial. E-ink is a manufacturer of the E-ink pigment particles and the EPD film that's then sold to various display manufacturers where it gets sandwiched between glass, an ITO top electrode and a TFT bottom layer connected to a CoG (chip on glass), basically like any other LCD TFT display but instead of liquid crystal you have the famous patented E-ink pigment. Those EPD display manufacturers all depend on buying the e-ink film manufactured by E-ink, at their fab in ... drum-roll ... Taiwan (big surprise). None of these EPD display company could make displays by themselves without the film they buy from E-ink. Just read their website [1] and article [2] before spewing more nonsense [1] "E Ink manufacturers a number of EPD films, with different attributes depending on application needs" [1] https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html [2] " As part of E Ink’s manufacturing process, microcapsules of ink coat plastic film. The film is then dried, inspected, rerolled, and sent on for further processing." [2] https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-e-ink-developed-full-color-epaper https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-e-ink-developed-full-color-epa...
  - goosedragons 5y ago
    Not really. I'm pretty sure e-ink tech is still patented. There are some similar options like DES used in the maybe vaporware Reinkstone.
- 2Gkashmiri 5y ago
  not to sound cynical but you are willing to draw the line with an american company, say google but not an openly chinese company like huawei. cool. what about all the chinese people then? why would they want to use a google device over a huawei device? shouldnt the discussion be about no company being able to harvest data in the first place, then we wouldnt be having this discussion about nationalities of the overlords
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    You're making a lot of claims about me and about Chinese people, which are not true, based on stuff you made up.
    - 2Gkashmiri 5y ago
      made up what? i am not in the US or china and i already know xiaomi and google is harvesting data and selling ads as a form of extra revenue and they even make that as a selling point (ads help us subsidize cost of product) and other non-sense. does it matter that now huawei is doing the same? if i, as a user is having no issues with xiaomi or google or facebook harvesting and selling data to the highest bidder, how is huawei any "more" wrong or bad?
  - Ancapistani 5y ago
    For context, I own a Huawei Matebook D and multiple "smart" devices by Apple and Samsung. I'm hesitant to buy a Huawei device because of issues with support and build quality. My Matebook D is down at the moment due to an issue with the USB-C port, which also supplies power. I've owned many devices at this point that use USB-C, and the Huawei is the only one that has ever failed for this reason. To be fair I can't 100% lay the blame on "poor build quality", as my kids were the primary users and my youngest is hell on cables. What I can say is that getting parts or support for it seems basically impossible. Understanding that that's because of the US government doesn't make it better. I'm hoping I'll be able to reflow the jack on the motherboard and get it to work again, but if not, I'll end up having to source a pulled motherboard from eBay - there's no other way for me to get parts, and as far as I can tell, no way for me to send it to the manufacturer for repair, even on my dime. Between Apple, Samsung, and Google... My experience with Samsung devices tells me that longevity isn't their strong suit. I'll never buy another Samsung TV again, and am very unlikely to buy another Samsung appliance. I might be willing to buy a phone or laptop, but only if there is adequate insurance or a service plan included in the price. I don't trust Google. I try to keep as much of my data out of their hands as possible. I know that's a losing proposition - both because it may actually be impossible and because I'm not willing or able to completely cut Google services out of my life. I _really_ don't want an Android device if I can help it. I don't exactly trust Apple, either, but at least it seems like they have a slightly more conservative corporate policy when it comes to sharing the data they've collected on my identity and usage. They're known to push back against "mass" warrants, and I've not seen anything that would lead me to believe that they have or plan to sell those data to a third party. They collect it, archive it, and use it for their own purposes, though. I wouldn't call that "good", but it's better than the alternatives.
ericcholis 5y ago
Supernote seems to be a popular alternative.
- Buxato 5y ago
  I didn't knew that one, thanks!
  - gadders 5y ago
    Someone else has mentioned the Boox Note Air. I'm kind of hoping Amazon create one, and use ebook sales to subsidise the hardware cost.
    - goosedragons 5y ago
      Kobo has a 10.3" reader, it's a bit cheaper than competitors but it's also not as good. Amazon doesn't really seem to subsidize ereader hardware except maybe in countries where they are "losing" like Canada. Like compare what you get with a Boox Leaf or Boyue P78 for the price of a Kindle Oasis.
      - flatiron 5y ago
        My kindle is “ad supported” which I always took as they subsidized it. That being said at least a year ago you can hack it and install ko reader and set the ad directory to read only and you got yourself a darn good Ereader with no ads.
        goosedragons 5y ago
        It is or at least was cheaper to buy a Kindle Paperwhite in Canada with no ads than one in the U.S with ads. Even after taxes and conversion. It's really really unusual for an electronic product to be cheaper in Canada than the U.S. Usually a comparable Kobo or Pocketbook is within spitting distance if not cheaper. The 6.8" Paperwhite somewhat upset the balance as they don't have a direct response to it right now. A Kobo Libra 2 is 90% of what an Oasis is for 2/3rds the cost. And no ads.
Buxato 5y ago
Soon: https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ Also I want to recommend this one: Onyx Boox Nova3 Not so wallet gardened, and with a modern Android (so you could use google maps, openstreet maps or whatever among many other things)
- squarefoot 5y ago
  > Soon: https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ Eagerly waiting for it to become stable enough, and possibly the announcement of a bigger screen version. I'm not a mole, although I wear glasses, but books with diagrams and schematics need bigger screens not to be forced to zoom back and forth. I would also like a cheaper and bigger reader-only version, that is with no hardware/software to take notes, reduced eMMC storage in favor of external uSD cards, and good network integration supporting both NFS and CIFS. It would be nice for users who either bring their books on a uSD card, or would use the reader in a lab where most documentation files are already shared via local WiFi network.
- rich_sasha 5y ago
  I’d be keen, except I have no time to tinker. As far as I can tell, PinePhones are still very much DIY, might work etc.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  As soon as that is able to reliably show PDFs and ePUBs with decent battery life, I'll probably get one. My phone is too small for some reading content, and the remarkable tablets lack a frontlight.
- pedalpete 5y ago
  I hadn't see this. I've got a Boox Nova3, and though I like it in theory, the UX isn't great. That's the reason I'd consider the Huawei. But also, how long until Amazon makes a kindle that lets me take notes both in the book I'm reading, but also as just a blank notebook....please please...
goosedragons 5y ago
There's already been choice in the 10.3" eInk note pad segment, Kobo Elipsa, Fujitsu Quaderno, Boox Note and Note Air, Likebook P10W, Supernote A5X, etc. It's just such a niche thing combined with most of the devices being Asian focused and remarkable heavy online marketing that makes them seem like the only option.
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
  They are still relatively expensive in relation to kindles. I really hope the prices get below $200 one day.
  - einpoklum 5y ago
    Whatever Amazon sells you, you're probably paying for it indirectly some other way.
    - netizen-936824 5y ago
      I agree. This is a poor comparison. A product that's subsidized will always win the price war with one that's not
      - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
        Well, the difference between Kindle Paperwhite and Oasis is just one inch - but you need to pay twice as much. You could say only the former is subsidized - but wouldn't it be in Amazon's best interest to make reading experience more comfortable?
        netizen-936824 5y ago
        Its in Amazon's best interest to offer either convenience or lower price, which is what they do at the cost of treating labor poorly and harvesting usage data. It's comfort and convenience subsidized through suffering
ksec 5y ago
>Remarkable 2 looks neat but so expensive. Now there’s choice. R2 is $399, judging from the EUR retail price of €499 inc. VAT this will likely retail at $499 in US. It is not cheaper than R2.
- chrismorgan 5y ago
  The prices reMarkable advertise are deceptive to the point where I reckon they’re probably illegal under at least Australian advertising law: that price doesn’t include a marker, which is almost essential to the deliberately expressed purpose of the device; so add on another 20%. Most people will also want some kind of cover, which is another 20% for the cheapest reMarkable sells. You’ve got to be careful about this when comparing prices of different products, because they include different things. It sounds like Huawei’s will include a stylus and cover for that price, which does make it a little cheaper than reMarkable’s equivalent bundle.
  - smilespray 5y ago
    Also, if you want basic features like cloud sync and handwriting conversion, you have to sign up for the $8/mo subscription. Which is why hell will freeze over before I purchase a reMarkable. Incidentally, the free plan offers something called "50-day sync", which is described like this: "Without a subscription, you can still use the cloud to store and sync your notes. However, files will stop syncing to the mobile and desktop apps if they haven’t been opened in the last 50 days. They’ll still be automatically stored on your paper tablet." Just to be clear: This is a feature designed for the marketing department, not for users. The marketing people get to say that "we offer free cloud sync", while reducing users' trust in the cloud sync significantly enough that they feel obliged to sign up for the paid subscription. It's infuriating.
    - robga 5y ago
      > if you want basic features like cloud sync and handwriting conversion, you have to sign up for the $8/mo subscription. You don't "have to" for cloud sync. Remarkable is a fairly open platform and there is a vibrant open source community surrounding it. You can use a tool like the Remote Connection Utility [0], with support for $12pa. "RCU ensures the user's data is never out of their control, completely unshackled from the manufacturer's proprietary cloud.". There are other tools. I can't speak to handwriting conversion as I don't use it, but I suspect they don't have any secret sauce and that any 3rd party recognition app can deal with the content if provided in a standard format. I sure wouldn't be wanting boox or Huawei clouds to scan my raw text. [0] http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/
d4rkp4ttern 5y ago
It all comes down to the paper like writing feel + latency. Several contenders have been compared to RM2, but RM2 has consistently won out. Curious how this one does.
- Loic 5y ago
  The A5X from Supernote is now to the point that I personally have the feeling it writes as fast as paper[0]. [0]: https://old.reddit.com/r/Supernote/comments/rkw00t/a5x_chauvet_216_latency_wow/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Supernote/comments/rkw00t/a5x_chauv...
lhl 5y ago
I've been using a Onyx Boox Note 3 for a couple years now (I previously had a Remarkable 1 but it didn't stick for me) - it has Android 10 (w/ Google Play support) and even an SDK for responsive writing for 3rd party apps. It's been great for taking notes, and adequate for reading books and papers (although even a single color for highlighting would be a huge improvement). Note, that Onyx is notorious for violating the GPL (it doesn't release kernel sources), while reMarkable is not only compliant, but much more hacker friendly in general: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable But there are also other companies/products Boyue Likebook, Ratta Supernote, Quirklogic Papyr, Fujitsu Quaderno that compete in the e-ink notepad space as well. I'm keeping an eye on the Bigme Carve Color personally, which basically has all the hardware specs you'd want and color (Kaleido 2) to boot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydo5FtSt_qQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydo5FtSt_qQ For those looking at color, it might be worth waiting a few months to see if 1) if the Reinkstone R1 is actually vaporware or not (it has an alternative DES that looks like it provides better looking color, but is being developed by a questionable Chinese company that's been best by delays) and if eInk's Kaleido 3 is a significant improvement. For those interested in the relatively niche world of e-ink devices, I highly recommend MyDeepGuide as a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/c/MyDeepGuide/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/MyDeepGuide/videos
- DenisM 5y ago
  Which one has the best DPI?
  - leemailll 5y ago
    Sony
  - lhl 5y ago
    Almost all of them use the same E Ink displays and have the same resolution/density. The newest ones use the Carta 1200 panel which improves response/updates, not resolution. Here's a reasonable chart of pixel density: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Comparison_of_E_Ink_displays https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Comparison_of_E_Ink_disp...
chrisweekly 5y ago
Choice is good! But while ofc YMMV, IME the ReMarkable2 is priced very reasonably; it immediately became part of my daily workflow and has had big ROI for me.

ChuckNorris89 5y ago

Most of the expense on these e-ink tablets comes from the huge cost of that screen, so unless Huawei is willing to subsidize this product and monetize your private data instead, I doubt this will be significantly cheaper than the competition. Regardless of price though, I'm not willing to out my private data on Huawei devices.

CommanderData 5y ago
Are there no other companies apart from e-ink?
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  There is no "other company". E-ink owns the parents, the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality e-ink film in good yelds. Even without the parents, building fabs and the film profitably without their secret sauce would be impossible. It's kind of like the early days of OLED when Samsung was the only one who could fab the tech profitably.
  - criddell 5y ago
    There are other companies now. Plastic Logic and OED are two I know of.
    - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
      I checked them out and as far as I could tell, both are making displays based on E-ink's film. E-ink is also a major shareholder of Plastic Logic. As I was saying, E-ink is the only game in town making the film. All the others are making displays based on it.
      - robinsoh 5y ago
        > both are making displays based on E-ink's film Jesus H Christ. Sigh... Just have a google again on OED and at least read the first page of their website properly. It is clear to me the level of confidence in your claims corresponds inversely with the level of accuracy of the facts.
        ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        You really have no idea what you're talking about. Please read E-ink's website before spreading more disinformation.
        robinsoh 5y ago
        You claimed OED buys E-Ink films. Please prove that with some evidence. Go ahead and google your heart out. You don't work in the display industry which is why you don't know the well known fact that OED is a competitor of E-Ink. They both produce electrophoretic films. What you said is literally the equivalent of saying Coca Cola buys its secret syrup from Pepsi. It is so ridiculous. And yet HN is filled with your level of comments on electrophoretics.
  - robinsoh 5y ago
    > E-ink owns the parents, the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality e-ink film in good yelds. fabs? Jesus H Christ. Based on just that one sentence, I can guarantee you have 0 experience and 0 direct knowledge of the display industry. Your statement is the equivalent to saying "Microsoft owns the parents (sp), the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality operating systems in good yelds (sp).
    - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
      Would be nice if you also had an argument with your statement and not just mockery, to prove me wrong.
      - robinsoh 5y ago
        > Would be nice if you also had an argument with your statement and not just mockery, to prove me wrong. So you make a massive unsubstantiated claim and I have to prove you wrong? I see the way your logic works. Lets see. You've made the claim that "E-ink owns the parents, the fabs and the secret sauce to profitably producing quality e-ink film in good yelds.". So let me ask a simple question. Since you say E-ink owns all the fabs, can you show me the location of even one E-ink fab? Here's a hint for the answer. E-Ink is a fabless company. That may confuse you so lets make it clearer. It means they don't have ANY fabs. In fact, I don't even know of even one electrophoretic material producer who has a fab. Would you like to try again and provide a more accurate statement that reflects your level of ACTUAL knowledge of the display industry?
        ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        Mate, you're going completely off the rails and I'm not sure if you're actively trolling or are misinformed and in denial. E-ink is a manufacturer of the E-ink pigment particles and the EPD film that's then sold to various display manufacturers where it gets sandwiched between glass, an ITO top electrode and a TFT bottom layer connected to a CoG (chip on glass), basically like any other LCD TFT display but instead of liquid crystal you have the famous patented E-ink pigment. Those EPD display manufacturers all depend on buying the e-ink film manufactured by E-ink, at their fab in ... drum-roll ... Taiwan (big surprise). None of these EPD display company could make displays by themselves without the film they buy from E-ink. Just read their website [1] and article [2] before spewing more nonsense [1] "E Ink manufacturers a number of EPD films, with different attributes depending on application needs" [1] https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html [2] " As part of E Ink’s manufacturing process, microcapsules of ink coat plastic film. The film is then dried, inspected, rerolled, and sent on for further processing." [2] https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-e-ink-developed-full-color-epaper https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-e-ink-developed-full-color-epa...
- goosedragons 5y ago
  Not really. I'm pretty sure e-ink tech is still patented. There are some similar options like DES used in the maybe vaporware Reinkstone.
2Gkashmiri 5y ago
not to sound cynical but you are willing to draw the line with an american company, say google but not an openly chinese company like huawei. cool. what about all the chinese people then? why would they want to use a google device over a huawei device? shouldnt the discussion be about no company being able to harvest data in the first place, then we wouldnt be having this discussion about nationalities of the overlords
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  You're making a lot of claims about me and about Chinese people, which are not true, based on stuff you made up.
  - 2Gkashmiri 5y ago
    made up what? i am not in the US or china and i already know xiaomi and google is harvesting data and selling ads as a form of extra revenue and they even make that as a selling point (ads help us subsidize cost of product) and other non-sense. does it matter that now huawei is doing the same? if i, as a user is having no issues with xiaomi or google or facebook harvesting and selling data to the highest bidder, how is huawei any "more" wrong or bad?
- Ancapistani 5y ago
  For context, I own a Huawei Matebook D and multiple "smart" devices by Apple and Samsung. I'm hesitant to buy a Huawei device because of issues with support and build quality. My Matebook D is down at the moment due to an issue with the USB-C port, which also supplies power. I've owned many devices at this point that use USB-C, and the Huawei is the only one that has ever failed for this reason. To be fair I can't 100% lay the blame on "poor build quality", as my kids were the primary users and my youngest is hell on cables. What I can say is that getting parts or support for it seems basically impossible. Understanding that that's because of the US government doesn't make it better. I'm hoping I'll be able to reflow the jack on the motherboard and get it to work again, but if not, I'll end up having to source a pulled motherboard from eBay - there's no other way for me to get parts, and as far as I can tell, no way for me to send it to the manufacturer for repair, even on my dime. Between Apple, Samsung, and Google... My experience with Samsung devices tells me that longevity isn't their strong suit. I'll never buy another Samsung TV again, and am very unlikely to buy another Samsung appliance. I might be willing to buy a phone or laptop, but only if there is adequate insurance or a service plan included in the price. I don't trust Google. I try to keep as much of my data out of their hands as possible. I know that's a losing proposition - both because it may actually be impossible and because I'm not willing or able to completely cut Google services out of my life. I _really_ don't want an Android device if I can help it. I don't exactly trust Apple, either, but at least it seems like they have a slightly more conservative corporate policy when it comes to sharing the data they've collected on my identity and usage. They're known to push back against "mass" warrants, and I've not seen anything that would lead me to believe that they have or plan to sell those data to a third party. They collect it, archive it, and use it for their own purposes, though. I wouldn't call that "good", but it's better than the alternatives.

ericcholis 5y ago

Supernote seems to be a popular alternative.

Buxato 5y ago
I didn't knew that one, thanks!
- gadders 5y ago
  Someone else has mentioned the Boox Note Air. I'm kind of hoping Amazon create one, and use ebook sales to subsidise the hardware cost.
  - goosedragons 5y ago
    Kobo has a 10.3" reader, it's a bit cheaper than competitors but it's also not as good. Amazon doesn't really seem to subsidize ereader hardware except maybe in countries where they are "losing" like Canada. Like compare what you get with a Boox Leaf or Boyue P78 for the price of a Kindle Oasis.
    - flatiron 5y ago
      My kindle is “ad supported” which I always took as they subsidized it. That being said at least a year ago you can hack it and install ko reader and set the ad directory to read only and you got yourself a darn good Ereader with no ads.
      - goosedragons 5y ago
        It is or at least was cheaper to buy a Kindle Paperwhite in Canada with no ads than one in the U.S with ads. Even after taxes and conversion. It's really really unusual for an electronic product to be cheaper in Canada than the U.S. Usually a comparable Kobo or Pocketbook is within spitting distance if not cheaper. The 6.8" Paperwhite somewhat upset the balance as they don't have a direct response to it right now. A Kobo Libra 2 is 90% of what an Oasis is for 2/3rds the cost. And no ads.

Buxato 5y ago

Soon: https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ Also I want to recommend this one: Onyx Boox Nova3 Not so wallet gardened, and with a modern Android (so you could use google maps, openstreet maps or whatever among many other things)

squarefoot 5y ago
> Soon: https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ Eagerly waiting for it to become stable enough, and possibly the announcement of a bigger screen version. I'm not a mole, although I wear glasses, but books with diagrams and schematics need bigger screens not to be forced to zoom back and forth. I would also like a cheaper and bigger reader-only version, that is with no hardware/software to take notes, reduced eMMC storage in favor of external uSD cards, and good network integration supporting both NFS and CIFS. It would be nice for users who either bring their books on a uSD card, or would use the reader in a lab where most documentation files are already shared via local WiFi network.
rich_sasha 5y ago
I’d be keen, except I have no time to tinker. As far as I can tell, PinePhones are still very much DIY, might work etc.
aidenn0 5y ago
As soon as that is able to reliably show PDFs and ePUBs with decent battery life, I'll probably get one. My phone is too small for some reading content, and the remarkable tablets lack a frontlight.
pedalpete 5y ago
I hadn't see this. I've got a Boox Nova3, and though I like it in theory, the UX isn't great. That's the reason I'd consider the Huawei. But also, how long until Amazon makes a kindle that lets me take notes both in the book I'm reading, but also as just a blank notebook....please please...

goosedragons 5y ago

There's already been choice in the 10.3" eInk note pad segment, Kobo Elipsa, Fujitsu Quaderno, Boox Note and Note Air, Likebook P10W, Supernote A5X, etc. It's just such a niche thing combined with most of the devices being Asian focused and remarkable heavy online marketing that makes them seem like the only option.

hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
They are still relatively expensive in relation to kindles. I really hope the prices get below $200 one day.
- einpoklum 5y ago
  Whatever Amazon sells you, you're probably paying for it indirectly some other way.
  - netizen-936824 5y ago
    I agree. This is a poor comparison. A product that's subsidized will always win the price war with one that's not
    - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
      Well, the difference between Kindle Paperwhite and Oasis is just one inch - but you need to pay twice as much. You could say only the former is subsidized - but wouldn't it be in Amazon's best interest to make reading experience more comfortable?
      - netizen-936824 5y ago
        Its in Amazon's best interest to offer either convenience or lower price, which is what they do at the cost of treating labor poorly and harvesting usage data. It's comfort and convenience subsidized through suffering

ksec 5y ago

>Remarkable 2 looks neat but so expensive. Now there’s choice. R2 is $399, judging from the EUR retail price of €499 inc. VAT this will likely retail at $499 in US. It is not cheaper than R2.

chrismorgan 5y ago
The prices reMarkable advertise are deceptive to the point where I reckon they’re probably illegal under at least Australian advertising law: that price doesn’t include a marker, which is almost essential to the deliberately expressed purpose of the device; so add on another 20%. Most people will also want some kind of cover, which is another 20% for the cheapest reMarkable sells. You’ve got to be careful about this when comparing prices of different products, because they include different things. It sounds like Huawei’s will include a stylus and cover for that price, which does make it a little cheaper than reMarkable’s equivalent bundle.
- smilespray 5y ago
  Also, if you want basic features like cloud sync and handwriting conversion, you have to sign up for the $8/mo subscription. Which is why hell will freeze over before I purchase a reMarkable. Incidentally, the free plan offers something called "50-day sync", which is described like this: "Without a subscription, you can still use the cloud to store and sync your notes. However, files will stop syncing to the mobile and desktop apps if they haven’t been opened in the last 50 days. They’ll still be automatically stored on your paper tablet." Just to be clear: This is a feature designed for the marketing department, not for users. The marketing people get to say that "we offer free cloud sync", while reducing users' trust in the cloud sync significantly enough that they feel obliged to sign up for the paid subscription. It's infuriating.
  - robga 5y ago
    > if you want basic features like cloud sync and handwriting conversion, you have to sign up for the $8/mo subscription. You don't "have to" for cloud sync. Remarkable is a fairly open platform and there is a vibrant open source community surrounding it. You can use a tool like the Remote Connection Utility [0], with support for $12pa. "RCU ensures the user's data is never out of their control, completely unshackled from the manufacturer's proprietary cloud.". There are other tools. I can't speak to handwriting conversion as I don't use it, but I suspect they don't have any secret sauce and that any 3rd party recognition app can deal with the content if provided in a standard format. I sure wouldn't be wanting boox or Huawei clouds to scan my raw text. [0] http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/

d4rkp4ttern 5y ago

It all comes down to the paper like writing feel + latency. Several contenders have been compared to RM2, but RM2 has consistently won out. Curious how this one does.

Loic 5y ago
The A5X from Supernote is now to the point that I personally have the feeling it writes as fast as paper[0]. [0]: https://old.reddit.com/r/Supernote/comments/rkw00t/a5x_chauvet_216_latency_wow/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Supernote/comments/rkw00t/a5x_chauv...

lhl 5y ago

I've been using a Onyx Boox Note 3 for a couple years now (I previously had a Remarkable 1 but it didn't stick for me) - it has Android 10 (w/ Google Play support) and even an SDK for responsive writing for 3rd party apps. It's been great for taking notes, and adequate for reading books and papers (although even a single color for highlighting would be a huge improvement). Note, that Onyx is notorious for violating the GPL (it doesn't release kernel sources), while reMarkable is not only compliant, but much more hacker friendly in general: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable But there are also other companies/products Boyue Likebook, Ratta Supernote, Quirklogic Papyr, Fujitsu Quaderno that compete in the e-ink notepad space as well. I'm keeping an eye on the Bigme Carve Color personally, which basically has all the hardware specs you'd want and color (Kaleido 2) to boot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydo5FtSt_qQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydo5FtSt_qQ For those looking at color, it might be worth waiting a few months to see if 1) if the Reinkstone R1 is actually vaporware or not (it has an alternative DES that looks like it provides better looking color, but is being developed by a questionable Chinese company that's been best by delays) and if eInk's Kaleido 3 is a significant improvement. For those interested in the relatively niche world of e-ink devices, I highly recommend MyDeepGuide as a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/c/MyDeepGuide/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/MyDeepGuide/videos

DenisM 5y ago
Which one has the best DPI?
- leemailll 5y ago
  Sony
- lhl 5y ago
  Almost all of them use the same E Ink displays and have the same resolution/density. The newest ones use the Carta 1200 panel which improves response/updates, not resolution. Here's a reasonable chart of pixel density: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Comparison_of_E_Ink_displays https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Comparison_of_E_Ink_disp...

chrisweekly 5y ago

Choice is good! But while ofc YMMV, IME the ReMarkable2 is priced very reasonably; it immediately became part of my daily workflow and has had big ROI for me.