Thingy itself is interesting but that website! It goes on, and on, and on, and on, in an almost endless stream of pseudo-intellectual, grandiose gibberish. Needs a brutal edit, and then what's left needs rewriting by an English-speaking copywriter.
Srsly; I almost ran out of memory before I got to the bottom. I felt very strongly like they were trying to imitate the way Apple aggrandizes their products, but they took it 300% too far.
Another thing; the writing in the demo video appeared to be Katakana, but to most Americans, from 3 feet away (as the video was), it looked like the lady was writing English and it was being converted into gobbly goop.
I was quite stunned by how long it was, I don't think I've ever seen a longer product page before. Once you get down to it though the resolution of that thing is quite impressive, I didn't know that you could get 1080x1440 px 6.8” e-ink panels. That's impressive. Not sure you could ever use it like they are picturing though, some of the examples have lines close to the edge where it is surely impossible to actually get the stylus.
Well, I didn't have to endure it because my Chrome refused to render most of the site at all. I had to view the source to be able to read the device specs.
Unfortunately, this device doesn't solve a thing, and it's good that they're at least honest and didn't edit it out of the video. The deal-breaker here? Lag.
There's a reason people don't use tablets as paper even though they're almost ubiquitous, and perfectly able to act like it. It's because the few hundreds milliseconds it takes to react to user input is enough to make handwriting insanely irritating.
Interestingly, one of the recent Windows tablets (I don't remember the model; I had the opportunity to play with it few months ago) seem to have input lag so low, that you can actually write comfortably on it. So it's most definitely possible.
I think the Surface Pro line has great input lag. I write on it all the time. In fact the irritating things are the fact that it's a screen, not paper, and the plastic-on-glass feeling is slippery, and it occasionally runs out of battery.
The upside is my notes all get indexed and are stored in the cloud (via OneNote, which has great pen integration) and the slightly worse writing experience is a small price to pay.
There are actually two problems keeping us from writing on such devices: lag and temporal resolution. Many touch sensitive input devices have a too low temporal resolution such that movements at the speed typical for handwriting cannot be captured in sufficient detail. I agree that the lag of this noteslate thing is a problem but at least the temporal resolution seems pretty decent.
It doesn't even need to have 0 lag, just the _illusion_ of having 0 lag would be enough, like faking the stroke until the actual stroke is digitally rendered/saved, maybe with the help of a film that responds to pressure such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oikY3mKkAs
Yeah, the first screen is basically unreadable, and the carousel keeps going automatically even if you manually click one of the items!
Also, the weird progress thing took long enough (not that I understand why it's even needed) that at first I thought the page was using some Javascript thing that was broken with adblocking on.
I think that these products are like 5 years behind the market. There will be need for pencils only in niche markets and definitely not for writing. It looks beautiful, but I don't see go this mainstream....
Cool product. I always wanted something like this when I was more interested in architecture than coding.
I opened this in another tab and went back to coding. I was wondering why everything started to slow down. Then I looked at how much memory chrome was easting again.
Anyways, site looks nice, but the UX is another story. You might want a copywriter, and speed up your site by alot. Also, might want to change the header fonts and color. I find some stuff hard to read.
Why do they keep saying 1-bit but then 16-level grayscale? That's 4 bits.
Looks neat but a bit small at 6.8". I'm nervous that the stylus might be small and cramping for my hand. I'm not big, just that a lot of stuff is small for design purposes first, usability second. (See: every MS mouse after the Intellimouse Explorer.)
I would totally buy this if it came with a magnet on the back so that it can stick to my fridge door, and if I could nicely plug it so as to not have to reload the battery...
Think about it, the fridge door is the only place where you're going to remember to use this thing: Open the door, no more figs, write a reminder on your slate, and later when grocery shopping, access the slate from your device. Any other use case is gadgety and you're going to use it 5 minutes and give it up. That said, it's quite expensive for a fridge door post it replacement.
In fact, I think the guys who created this should partner with fridge companies to embed their product in fridge doors. That would be freaking awesome.
Was watching the video, and near the end it said "Buy now at noteslate.com", and I was like "wow I give these guys 1000 points for actually SHIPPING IT instead of being just another lame kickstarter scam". And then I read some more, and it says "Pre-order" at the bottom of the page. Why of course, just another vaporware :(
For a product seemingly targetted at designers, the site design is pretty awful. Too much text, a billion fonts, hard-to-read text+background combination (the "picnic cloth" is nigh unreadable).
And why does it claim to be "sustainable"?
I'd say the execution/presentation needs serious work.
I remember hearing about this 5 years ago when it was first announced, with the $99 price point. I thought it was the perfect device for me as I was starting college and would work well for taking CS and math notes. Glad it finally shipped but boy does it feel like a dated.
Such a confusing website, I had no idea what this thing does even after watching the video, it looks like an etch a sketch or a boogie board. I'm sure those buttons do something.
the form factor looks terrible...imagine writing/drawing for any length of time with your wrist sitting on the corner of the device...can you say carpal tunnel?
[+] [-] scrumper|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flashman|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leesalminen|10 years ago|reply
Wow.
[+] [-] wishinghand|10 years ago|reply
It just needs a video, how long the battery lasts, and how much it costs. That's all anyone needs.
[+] [-] mangeletti|10 years ago|reply
Another thing; the writing in the demo video appeared to be Katakana, but to most Americans, from 3 feet away (as the video was), it looked like the lady was writing English and it was being converted into gobbly goop.
[+] [-] donatj|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] steckerbrett|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TeMPOraL|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ntumlin|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] volaski|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] detaro|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] a3n|10 years ago|reply
Doesn't fix the length, but you can read it or skim it easier.
[+] [-] TeMPOraL|10 years ago|reply
There's a reason people don't use tablets as paper even though they're almost ubiquitous, and perfectly able to act like it. It's because the few hundreds milliseconds it takes to react to user input is enough to make handwriting insanely irritating.
Interestingly, one of the recent Windows tablets (I don't remember the model; I had the opportunity to play with it few months ago) seem to have input lag so low, that you can actually write comfortably on it. So it's most definitely possible.
[+] [-] mizzao|10 years ago|reply
The upside is my notes all get indexed and are stored in the cloud (via OneNote, which has great pen integration) and the slightly worse writing experience is a small price to pay.
[+] [-] tmalsburg2|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notgood|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tcfunk|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chasing|10 years ago|reply
Lag.
With the half- or full-second lag between a drawing action and seeing the line on the screen, this feels like it'd be maddening to use.
[+] [-] zyxley|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] batbomb|10 years ago|reply
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2180623
[+] [-] aakilfernandes|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] melling|10 years ago|reply
http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/29/pixar-ipad-pro-pencil/
Apple tricked everyone into thinking a stylus was dumb, right up until they shipped a great one.
[+] [-] mangeletti|10 years ago|reply
1. http://google.com/search?q=noteslate+wiki
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
[+] [-] steckerbrett|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trishume|10 years ago|reply
The initial hero image has terrible contrast and readability though, and the site does too much unnecessary fanciness with scroll-ability.
[+] [-] Vendan|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zyxley|10 years ago|reply
Also, the weird progress thing took long enough (not that I understand why it's even needed) that at first I thought the page was using some Javascript thing that was broken with adblocking on.
[+] [-] rtpg|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomashertus|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kevindeasis|10 years ago|reply
I opened this in another tab and went back to coding. I was wondering why everything started to slow down. Then I looked at how much memory chrome was easting again.
Anyways, site looks nice, but the UX is another story. You might want a copywriter, and speed up your site by alot. Also, might want to change the header fonts and color. I find some stuff hard to read.
[+] [-] MichaelGG|10 years ago|reply
Looks neat but a bit small at 6.8". I'm nervous that the stylus might be small and cramping for my hand. I'm not big, just that a lot of stuff is small for design purposes first, usability second. (See: every MS mouse after the Intellimouse Explorer.)
[+] [-] smoreilly|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] d--b|10 years ago|reply
Think about it, the fridge door is the only place where you're going to remember to use this thing: Open the door, no more figs, write a reminder on your slate, and later when grocery shopping, access the slate from your device. Any other use case is gadgety and you're going to use it 5 minutes and give it up. That said, it's quite expensive for a fridge door post it replacement.
In fact, I think the guys who created this should partner with fridge companies to embed their product in fridge doors. That would be freaking awesome.
Just saying...
[+] [-] evolve2k|10 years ago|reply
"Discover the potential and simplicity of a monocrhome handwriting interface."
Moncrhome should read Monochrome :)
[+] [-] volaski|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Chipchipperson|10 years ago|reply
I believe Sony makes one as well nut significantly more expensive.
[+] [-] personjerry|10 years ago|reply
And why does it claim to be "sustainable"?
I'd say the execution/presentation needs serious work.
[+] [-] ryaneager|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] volaski|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshguthrie|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] an4rchy|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ljsocal|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AsakiIssa|10 years ago|reply
Still looking for a tablet like device with Wacom Digitizer and very high PPI. Hopefully the upcoming SP4 and Dell XPS 12 will tick all the boxes!