This is the biggest minus point for me. I want devices that I own, that I can use like I want to. I don't want to be caught in another cloud and pay monthly for something I don't want to use.
Currently I'm looking into getting a device from Onyx, because those support the Android App Stores, so I could set it up with Notion or my Nextcloud probably.
Remarkable seems to have better hardware (as in screen and writing), though.
edit: lots of people mentioning that you have SSH on the Remarkable. Good thing, but fiddling with shell scripts (yeah, no big deal for others, new for me) to sync with a cloud service of your choice... not sure I want that.
I have a remarkable v2, and I don't use their online services. I just wanted to replace a pen-and-paper notebook, and read occasional PDFs on it. It works fine as an ereader and brilliantly as an e-notebook. If better hardware is the key criterion for you, I'd go for the remarkable and just ignore the services.
Well, from the review it does state that their hardware is Linux based, and you have root access. The device is not locked down in the way a Kindle is.
So it sounds like you do, in fact, own this particular device when you buy it. You could write applications for syncing files to your OwnCloud instance or whatever you’d like.
The hardware isn't better on the Remarkable. It's a slower weaker chipset than what's used on any of the Oynx devices and the screen in the RM2 is literally the same part as what is in the Oynx Note Air. Both use Wacom EMR for writing so you can use the same pens and nibs on both.
Remarkable has a plastic layer to improve writing feel and optimized software to get pen latency down. The Oynx Note Air 2 supposedly also has improved writing feel but I'm not sure how it compares.
The subscription mode is for syncing your content on their cloud storage.
One of the nice features of the remarkable device is that they allow you to ssh on the device and run your software on it. There is a community who builds various tools that run on the device. I didn't check recently but I'm pretty sure you have one or more open options to sync your content to your remote storage of choice.
You can go into settings and enable ssh, and put pretty much whatever you want on it. Configure your own synchting or nextcloud sync, and not pay a penny.
Worth noting that if you bought the device before October this year, then you get a free subscription - which is what I am using currently, but good to know that I can just swap it out if I want to
Or you could do like me, who never felt the urge to "sync to the cloud" any notebook, be it paper or e-ink based.
RM2 works great offline and does not need any network connection to do its main job. I think you will find you won't really need updates if you use it the same way as me.
And yes, as they mentioned it is enough FOSS friendly that there is quite a community of tinkerers around it
Let's work out a deal. You pay me $7.98/month, and I'll "fiddle with shell scripts" for you! Of course if you don't trust me, you can always pay Remarkable $7.99/month, no fiddling necessary. And they'll even bundle it in their desktop app UI!
If you can accept that you don't want to fiddle with shell scripts, then why is paying someone else for the privilege so far beyond the pale?
> edit: lots of people mentioning that you have SSH on the Remarkable. Good thing, but fiddling with shell scripts (yeah, no big deal for others, new for me) to sync with a cloud service of your choice... not sure I want that.
I mean, yeah, as much as it sounds fun, I pay for things like this to have more time/ease doing other stuff (drawing, taking notes, etc), so this seems to defeat the point.
iPad Pro + paperwhite + concepts and procreate does the job for me for that specific reason. I know that otherwise I’d get derailed and just start hacking things together instead of doodling
Onyx make great devices. Running android means it has access to all kindle features via the Kindle app, plus anything else the android store or internet have to offer (I play sudoku on mine often).
If you want to roll your own you can get an arduino attached to a recycled kindle display with wifi - i love this idea (but touch support is just emerging) https://inkplate.io/
Good luck ever getting a warranty or return done on these. Look around at their support. It’s awful. I had to file a dispute after they wouldn’t provide a refund for my return after nearly 30 days of non-movement of the return (their label, their shipping carrier).
I would strongly caution you run away. Worst customer support I’ve ever experienced.
Edit: I will never understand people that downvote a warning like this. But HN, you do you, I have karma to burn and if this warning helps one other person I’ll consider it worth it.
Anecdotal:
I right away, broke my screen
** from my perspective **
dropped something on the screen,
the next time I used it there were all sorts
of horizontal and vertical lines on it.
My wife got me a replacement because that is how she is.
I contacted the company to see if there was anything I could to try and fix the old one ...
I am not opposed to opening it up an poking around.
They suggested I send them pictures of the damage
then replied that it should not have happened
and exchanged with a replacement.
Noting that at no point did I ask them for anything
and took full responsibility (in writing) for the
impact I assume caused the failure.
I have nothing but high praise for their "support".
I can agree. I had a WiFi issue with mine and the customer support had me reconfigure my router a few different ways to alleviate the issue until an update released. Then they stopped responding after the issue wasn’t fixed. From other anecdotes, I’ve determined that their policy is to string the customer along until an update is released or they’ve run out of options to diagnose the problem, then you’re trash. Even opening new tickets returned no response.
I advise people review other eink tablet options before considering Remarkable.
Addendum:
At some point, months later the issue was resolved via a software update. This issue was originally discovered a few days after unboxing and using the device. I did not expect the return process to be non-existent or refusal.
Wow, that's a really crappy experience. Personally, I had a pretty good experience with their customer service. My stylus broke after a few weeks (just stopped working for writing entirely). They sent me a new one right away and didn't require me to mail mine back.
I think the way they do returns is pretty unfriendly compared to other electronic companies I've gone through this with. I was going to exchange my tablet after I bricked it, and they wouldn't send a replacement until they received and processed the return. Based on the label, the return center is in Hong Kong (IIRC), so it probably takes a while to get the replacement even if everything goes according to plan. I ended up recovering the device myself (that ordeal's another story, but that's entirely my fault) so fortunately I just had a week without use of it, not a month+.
I would expect it to be beneficial to them to send the replacement first along with a return box, then charge for a whole new device if the return isn't received on time. Maybe that only works if you have the scale and resources to build such a system that companies like Amazon have.
Can you provide more details? It's a bit unclear what happened. You bought it, asked for a return, and then what? I don't know what non-movement means.
I'm always suspicious though of heavy affiliate links and when every review on a product (1000+) are all 4-5 stars. I know it's not but it screams to me of the dropshipping popup sites.
To balance your report with something positive, I also had a warranty issue, as there was a bad batch of R2's around August, and they provided me with a replacement with minimum fuss.
I bought one, then returned it. For the price they're selling it at, the following points were a deal breaker for me:
1. Custom file system: this means I can ssh into it, but I can't rsync my bibliography into it, since it won't display regular pdf files whose name is not hashed and registered in some sort of index. Moreover, the lack of a Linux client meant it was very hard to put my pdfs on it, or extract my notes from it.
2. Left hand support is ridiculous. They just flip the screen left-to-right; which means you lose the nice bevel and it becomes very uncomfortable to use in "handheld" mode. Finally, the "close" button gets placed on the top-left corner of the screen, which is the first place a left-handed writer touches.
3. The lack of some sort of backlight and slightly gray background means I can't read under suboptimal light. Sure, I get it, its e-ink; but for the price they charge, it would be a very nice-to-have feature.
I ended up returning mine and went for the Samsung Galaxy Tab s7 and that thing is amazing! Plus, I get to follow through bibliography immediately without needing to go back to my computer and get another article then do the whole sync'ing dance again.
> 1. Custom file system: this means I can ssh into it, but I can't rsync my bibliography into it, since it won't display regular pdf files whose name is not hashed and registered in some sort of index. Moreover, the lack of a Linux client meant it was very hard to put my pdfs on it, or extract my notes from it.
FWIW, rmfuse [0] allows you to mount the reMarkable cloud and you have easy access to sync with real filenames.
> RMfuse provides access to your reMarkable Cloud files in the form of a FUSE filesystem. These files are exposed either in their original format, or as PDF files that contain your annotations. This lets you manage files in the reMarkable Cloud using the same tools you use on your local system.
1. I'm with you here. I'd like to be able to just copy files directly on/off
2. Also left handed. I just turn off the menu when I'm drawing/writing, so the close button and everything else is fine until I need it. However, what annoys me is that the pen's mark on the screen is about 0.2mm off from the tip of the contract point, to account for the angle of the pen and the thickness of the screen glass. While it's a subtle problem, it is noticeable.
3. I don't think this is a cost issue, it's battery life. I'm happy with their choice, and you certainly can't please everybody
For me it's the size. I used to say that if they came out with a full page (A4 or letter) display I would buy one, but since then I've become very fond of the iPad + Pencil + iOS focus mode combination. I'm not sure the Remarkable offers much for me anymore.
The reMarkable dilemma is that they got the hardware right --modulo backlighting, but that will come--. It's the services around such a powerful device that people will find lacking. Open source enthusiasts will state that they want freedom, while people who care less about that freedom will get suspicious as to what happens if the company ceases to exist. The latter will probably consider an iPad a better value proposition, but then the reMarkable offers a less distractive environment.
I find the reMarkable a truly interesting device but I feel that I do not have time to tinker with it as it currently is, so for the moment I am on an iPad (use it for sheet music and PDF annotation)
I have one, and I find the writing part nearly perfect. But there are a couple of downsides mentioned in the article that mean I barely use it:
- Searching and organisation is really difficult. I wish everything would be OCRed transparently and you could instantly search for it (while keeping the original graphics)
- It's unfortunate that the OCR runs on their cloud. It would be really perfect if it was a web app that you could install on your own servers, if you have hightened security requirements for example
- In the UI, there is an on screen keyboard and you have to press keys. Why can't you just write in the text fields?
I think most of these problems come down to the fact that the OCR is some "secret sauce" provided by a third party. I wonder if there is any viable free handwriting OCR one could use instead to build a better experience (open source, source available, or even just some research papers)?
Having tried a number of notebook type devices I'll just add that the Remarkable (v2) is excellent. It is not a computer, not an iPad, just an excellent digital notepad and eReader. Price, yeah its high but you get what you pay for and this is something I do find genuinely useful for reading and taking notes.
Is it perfect? Far from it. There are lots of silly UI decisions that make no sense (e.g. limited pen size) and clunky modal menu system. So there is room for improvement. Why they don't incorporate the ddvk remarkable hacks into an update in onequickupdate I do not know - the ddvk hacks change the remarkable from a good device to a great one. See here:
But otherwise, I would recommend strongly for these specific use-cases. I still have to have a laptop with me occasionally, and sometimes an iPad. But if I am reading a PDF it is always with the Remarkable.
The battery life is pretty amazing, the lack of eye-strain fantastic, carrying a ton of books that I can catch up with wonderful. Digital note taking is the best in class due to the screen and pen/nib combination. (Yes lack of search and OCR is a bit annoying but I don't really use it, even on the iPad in Notability).
Anyway, I wanted to offer these thoughts from someone who reads a lot on the remarkable and takes notes daily.
Wish it had: More pen sizes, different highlight shades, easier syncing, iCloud support, better tools for cropping pdfs before sending them, etc.
If you are not sure which gadget could be the one for you, take also a look at the Supernote[0]. I have been using one (A5X) for the past month with a Lamy EMR and I really really enjoy it. It improves my note taking.
I still have 7 Moleskins on my desk right now, but I haven't written in them for the past two weeks.
The philosophy of the Supernote is not to replace the notebook, but more to improve it. You can create titles which automatically go to a table of content, you have tags, all packaged in a very nice hardware.
The other very nice thing for me, it works totally "offline" if you want. No need to sync with a cloud or whatever. Connect it with USB to your computer, sync your folders like normal folders, done.
I bought the first generation and returned it sometime 2.5 years ago.
My takeaways:
- my colleagues who loved it back then still love it and have been joined by a few more
- personally I'm still happy that I returned mine and got an iPad instead although ideally I had gotten the iPad in addition instead of as a replacement.
- the writing experience was fantastic! It feels like writing on paper and the results are of similar quality. When someone I know who can draw she made a beautiful drawing quickly and was impressed.
- the return process (at that time) was a case study in bad ux. Not dark patterns as far as I could see (once I contacted them they were very helpful and did not try to upsell me or anything, but I actually gave up trying to register the return myself)
- what turned me away in the end was that 1.) I didn't have budget for both the Remarkable and and iPad and 2.) the Remarkable was then too limited on its own (I use my iPad for notetaking, udemy, virtual meetings over Zoom and what not that I don't want to install on my work machine and probably a few more things) 3. at the time there was no Linux sync and it was bot clear for me how good ssh support was going to be (I still don't know but hear good things). 4. Locking was limited to 4 digit pin.
- an unintended benefit of going for the iPad was that I realized iOS was sufficiently different from Mac that I could actually like it, so I now have a cheap iPhone as well.
I have a feeling that reMarkable hired some remarkable hardware wizards with GPL in their blood and then let some beancounters ruin the frontend.
reMarkable is great looking hardware with subpar software.
I should not need to SSH into a device to install Koreader to get an acceptable ereading esperience.
I rarely use my reMarkable 2 much preferring an old Kobo HD for bedtime reading and the original 13 inch Sony dpt-rp1 for larger A4 texts.
As the article says:
"If you are familiar with dedicated ebook readers, you will miss a dictionary, bookmarks and annotations. You can highlight parts of the text, but there is no index of annotations anywhere. This makes it unsuitable for some types of editing and annotated reading."
Surely those are not remarkable features to ask for?
I was not able to use this thing comfortably. I think my handwriting style might not be optimal for it, as too small details and tight loops seemed to disappear on me. My handwriting is pretty small to begin with, and only gets tinier with subscripts and tiny details in mathematical writing.
There was also a slight input delay that I found annoying. I love writing on paper, and so if the experience is significantly inferior I won't be sold. I totally disagree with the author's claim that this thing provides a superior writing experience, unless they've improved on their designs and it now actually does feel like paper.
I would instead highly recommend a much cheaper, though dumber, yet far superior LCD-slate (like one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-howshow-lcd-writing-t...). The writing is instant, and even the tightest loops and smallest details will show up as if on paper (though green-on-black). When I was in university, I would use this for sketches in discussions, rough calculations and drafts, and saved a ton of paper that I would otherwise just have thrown away.
The fact that it wouldn't let me save stuff or share my drawings didn't bother me at all. Worst case scenario, I'd just take a picture of it.
The reMarkable is one of those devices for which I consistently feel like "I'll wait for the next one".
Few reasons why:
- backlight
- ocr
- better pen and eraser
In my mind I'd like to make it a "programming sketchbook", where every time I save, text get OCRd, compiled and I get some compile information out of it.
Obviously I would be just sending the buffer to an external computer and get the output, or something like that.
But the current reMarkable and its ecosystem made me think what I was looking for was way too experimental.
I bought a physical notebook recently and oh man it's so much better than an iPad. Especially when I'm trying to sketch out architecture or play around with ideas, a pen and paper is unbeatable. Maybe it's all the years of school making me hand write code, but I've started to like hand writing an algorithm or hand writing potential syntax for a language.
The only thing that annoys me is not having buttons to turn pages. Swiping over a touchscreen is counterproductive and Remarkable sometimes fails to recognize the gesture.
I have one but it's been sitting in a drawer for a long time now. I went back to iPad Pro with Apple Pen as it's much easier to navigate around and I enjoy the color screen much more. It also allows me to use Miro or similar whiteboard tool. I personally regret buying it. The lag is more noticeable on an iPad, but that doesn't bother me.
I have the recent version but I have to say I'm not happy with it. While the writing / drawing itself is great, the responsiveness of the UI and some actions (like erasing content) makes the whole experience super frustrating for someone with ADD. It also lacks some features that would make it a worthy Kindle alternative, like structured text higlighting. You can highlight fragments using Highlighter, but it's not smart about indexing and browsing those higlights afterwards, it's just a dumb overlay over the document.
Seems like mostly people that are not satisfied with their remarkable are trying to do the extra features (ssh, book reading, etc.). for me i 99% use it to keep notes, sketching, read articles and its perfect. for the first time in my life i do actually read my notes
I have an rM2, and I loved it at first. But honestly, I've just gone back to carrying a notepad and a pen. One of the biggest issues I have is that for /most/ things when I want to take notes, it's because I've found myself in a spur of the moment situation and I need something that will fit in my pocket. For planned note-taking, I'd rather type than write. I write because I can fit a pen in my pocket. I guess it's somewhat of a tautology, but in the end my rM2 has sat very prettily on my desk, completely unused, for months.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the device itself, I think it just didn't fit the way that I take notes. The only thing I found as an actual annoyance was that they forced you into using their cloud services which I didn't think were very good. I would have much rather had it OCR my notes into Standard Notes or figured out a way to sync. Syncing to Standard Notes never happened, so I just type long-form notes directly into Standard Notes and keep a Rite in the Rain pad in my pocket and a pen for spur of the moment stuff.
I bought a remarkable because I was thinking of buying a whiteboard. I hoped that the remarkable could be a replacement for that, but I was very wrong.
On the surface, remarkable seems pretty great and even feels pretty great. But for all it could be doing, it's almost not doing anything. The note-taking and drawing tools are extremely barebones. There are no line or shape drawing tools of any kind. There's no real way of using it as an infinite canvas kind of thing, because the canvas isn't infinite, and you can't scroll like that. You have to zoom in and out or resize your drawings and move them around.
The hardware is extremely hackable, which is the coolest part, but also makes it even more weird that the remarkable's software is so lackluster, because there are actually tools out there already you can use to make up for some of these.
I ended up not using mine very much because it's just not a very good experience for anything past simple note-taking, and then eventually sold it and bought a whiteboard instead. No regrets.
Color e-ink probably isn't going to be at quality-parity with e.g. LCD displays anytime especially soon. Kaleido is still really cool, especially when it's used properly, but it's probably going to be a bit too weird for something really like reMarkable for a little while yet.
Sometimes there's Indiegogo hype for "ooh, a large color e-ink tablet!" and I'd encourage cautious pessimism about those listings. Might be a good idea to wait for them to ship, and to wait for some reviews.
I’ve got the boox note 3 color for my partner.
It’s 7”, a bit small for me but it’s pretty good.
She loves it but after couple of months she used only the black ’color’ and doesn’t bother to switch to other colors.
[+] [-] martin_a|4 years ago|reply
This is the biggest minus point for me. I want devices that I own, that I can use like I want to. I don't want to be caught in another cloud and pay monthly for something I don't want to use.
Currently I'm looking into getting a device from Onyx, because those support the Android App Stores, so I could set it up with Notion or my Nextcloud probably.
Remarkable seems to have better hardware (as in screen and writing), though.
edit: lots of people mentioning that you have SSH on the Remarkable. Good thing, but fiddling with shell scripts (yeah, no big deal for others, new for me) to sync with a cloud service of your choice... not sure I want that.
[+] [-] akavel|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] OliverM|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wincy|4 years ago|reply
So it sounds like you do, in fact, own this particular device when you buy it. You could write applications for syncing files to your OwnCloud instance or whatever you’d like.
[+] [-] salamandersauce|4 years ago|reply
Remarkable has a plastic layer to improve writing feel and optimized software to get pen latency down. The Oynx Note Air 2 supposedly also has improved writing feel but I'm not sure how it compares.
[+] [-] ithkuil|4 years ago|reply
One of the nice features of the remarkable device is that they allow you to ssh on the device and run your software on it. There is a community who builds various tools that run on the device. I didn't check recently but I'm pretty sure you have one or more open options to sync your content to your remote storage of choice.
[+] [-] bennyp101|4 years ago|reply
Worth noting that if you bought the device before October this year, then you get a free subscription - which is what I am using currently, but good to know that I can just swap it out if I want to
[+] [-] mirekrusin|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gspr|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sharikous|4 years ago|reply
RM2 works great offline and does not need any network connection to do its main job. I think you will find you won't really need updates if you use it the same way as me.
And yes, as they mentioned it is enough FOSS friendly that there is quite a community of tinkerers around it
[+] [-] fragmede|4 years ago|reply
If you can accept that you don't want to fiddle with shell scripts, then why is paying someone else for the privilege so far beyond the pale?
[+] [-] beowulfey|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rpastuszak|4 years ago|reply
I mean, yeah, as much as it sounds fun, I pay for things like this to have more time/ease doing other stuff (drawing, taking notes, etc), so this seems to defeat the point.
iPad Pro + paperwhite + concepts and procreate does the job for me for that specific reason. I know that otherwise I’d get derailed and just start hacking things together instead of doodling
[+] [-] schwartzworld|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robarino|4 years ago|reply
If you want to roll your own you can get an arduino attached to a recycled kindle display with wifi - i love this idea (but touch support is just emerging) https://inkplate.io/
[+] [-] chrisseaton|4 years ago|reply
Well... isn't that the advantage of subscription? If you stop using it you don't have to pay monthly for it anymore.
[+] [-] ed_elliott_asc|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jedimastert|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] selykg|4 years ago|reply
I would strongly caution you run away. Worst customer support I’ve ever experienced.
Edit: I will never understand people that downvote a warning like this. But HN, you do you, I have karma to burn and if this warning helps one other person I’ll consider it worth it.
[+] [-] tejtm|4 years ago|reply
My wife got me a replacement because that is how she is.
I contacted the company to see if there was anything I could to try and fix the old one ... I am not opposed to opening it up an poking around.
They suggested I send them pictures of the damage then replied that it should not have happened and exchanged with a replacement.
Noting that at no point did I ask them for anything and took full responsibility (in writing) for the impact I assume caused the failure.
I have nothing but high praise for their "support".
[+] [-] yepthatsreality|4 years ago|reply
I advise people review other eink tablet options before considering Remarkable.
Addendum:
At some point, months later the issue was resolved via a software update. This issue was originally discovered a few days after unboxing and using the device. I did not expect the return process to be non-existent or refusal.
[+] [-] 6chars|4 years ago|reply
I think the way they do returns is pretty unfriendly compared to other electronic companies I've gone through this with. I was going to exchange my tablet after I bricked it, and they wouldn't send a replacement until they received and processed the return. Based on the label, the return center is in Hong Kong (IIRC), so it probably takes a while to get the replacement even if everything goes according to plan. I ended up recovering the device myself (that ordeal's another story, but that's entirely my fault) so fortunately I just had a week without use of it, not a month+.
I would expect it to be beneficial to them to send the replacement first along with a return box, then charge for a whole new device if the return isn't received on time. Maybe that only works if you have the scale and resources to build such a system that companies like Amazon have.
[+] [-] sillysaurusx|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bilekas|4 years ago|reply
I'm always suspicious though of heavy affiliate links and when every review on a product (1000+) are all 4-5 stars. I know it's not but it screams to me of the dropshipping popup sites.
[+] [-] zarkov99|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] fouric|4 years ago|reply
With that said:
> Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
[+] [-] vcmiraldo|4 years ago|reply
1. Custom file system: this means I can ssh into it, but I can't rsync my bibliography into it, since it won't display regular pdf files whose name is not hashed and registered in some sort of index. Moreover, the lack of a Linux client meant it was very hard to put my pdfs on it, or extract my notes from it.
2. Left hand support is ridiculous. They just flip the screen left-to-right; which means you lose the nice bevel and it becomes very uncomfortable to use in "handheld" mode. Finally, the "close" button gets placed on the top-left corner of the screen, which is the first place a left-handed writer touches.
3. The lack of some sort of backlight and slightly gray background means I can't read under suboptimal light. Sure, I get it, its e-ink; but for the price they charge, it would be a very nice-to-have feature.
I ended up returning mine and went for the Samsung Galaxy Tab s7 and that thing is amazing! Plus, I get to follow through bibliography immediately without needing to go back to my computer and get another article then do the whole sync'ing dance again.
[+] [-] sasvari|4 years ago|reply
FWIW, rmfuse [0] allows you to mount the reMarkable cloud and you have easy access to sync with real filenames.
[0] https://github.com/rschroll/rmfuse
> RMfuse provides access to your reMarkable Cloud files in the form of a FUSE filesystem. These files are exposed either in their original format, or as PDF files that contain your annotations. This lets you manage files in the reMarkable Cloud using the same tools you use on your local system.
[+] [-] raffraffraff|4 years ago|reply
2. Also left handed. I just turn off the menu when I'm drawing/writing, so the close button and everything else is fine until I need it. However, what annoys me is that the pen's mark on the screen is about 0.2mm off from the tip of the contract point, to account for the angle of the pen and the thickness of the screen glass. While it's a subtle problem, it is noticeable.
3. I don't think this is a cost issue, it's battery life. I'm happy with their choice, and you certainly can't please everybody
[+] [-] criddell|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pantulis|4 years ago|reply
I find the reMarkable a truly interesting device but I feel that I do not have time to tinker with it as it currently is, so for the moment I am on an iPad (use it for sheet music and PDF annotation)
[+] [-] captainmuon|4 years ago|reply
- Searching and organisation is really difficult. I wish everything would be OCRed transparently and you could instantly search for it (while keeping the original graphics)
- It's unfortunate that the OCR runs on their cloud. It would be really perfect if it was a web app that you could install on your own servers, if you have hightened security requirements for example
- In the UI, there is an on screen keyboard and you have to press keys. Why can't you just write in the text fields?
I think most of these problems come down to the fact that the OCR is some "secret sauce" provided by a third party. I wonder if there is any viable free handwriting OCR one could use instead to build a better experience (open source, source available, or even just some research papers)?
[+] [-] extreme_orang|4 years ago|reply
Is it perfect? Far from it. There are lots of silly UI decisions that make no sense (e.g. limited pen size) and clunky modal menu system. So there is room for improvement. Why they don't incorporate the ddvk remarkable hacks into an update in one quick update I do not know - the ddvk hacks change the remarkable from a good device to a great one. See here:
https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-hacks
But otherwise, I would recommend strongly for these specific use-cases. I still have to have a laptop with me occasionally, and sometimes an iPad. But if I am reading a PDF it is always with the Remarkable.
The battery life is pretty amazing, the lack of eye-strain fantastic, carrying a ton of books that I can catch up with wonderful. Digital note taking is the best in class due to the screen and pen/nib combination. (Yes lack of search and OCR is a bit annoying but I don't really use it, even on the iPad in Notability).
Anyway, I wanted to offer these thoughts from someone who reads a lot on the remarkable and takes notes daily.
Wish it had: More pen sizes, different highlight shades, easier syncing, iCloud support, better tools for cropping pdfs before sending them, etc.
Would I buy again: Yes.
[+] [-] Loic|4 years ago|reply
I still have 7 Moleskins on my desk right now, but I haven't written in them for the past two weeks.
The philosophy of the Supernote is not to replace the notebook, but more to improve it. You can create titles which automatically go to a table of content, you have tags, all packaged in a very nice hardware.
The other very nice thing for me, it works totally "offline" if you want. No need to sync with a cloud or whatever. Connect it with USB to your computer, sync your folders like normal folders, done.
[0]: https://supernote.com
[+] [-] eitland|4 years ago|reply
My takeaways:
- my colleagues who loved it back then still love it and have been joined by a few more
- personally I'm still happy that I returned mine and got an iPad instead although ideally I had gotten the iPad in addition instead of as a replacement.
- the writing experience was fantastic! It feels like writing on paper and the results are of similar quality. When someone I know who can draw she made a beautiful drawing quickly and was impressed.
- the return process (at that time) was a case study in bad ux. Not dark patterns as far as I could see (once I contacted them they were very helpful and did not try to upsell me or anything, but I actually gave up trying to register the return myself)
- what turned me away in the end was that 1.) I didn't have budget for both the Remarkable and and iPad and 2.) the Remarkable was then too limited on its own (I use my iPad for notetaking, udemy, virtual meetings over Zoom and what not that I don't want to install on my work machine and probably a few more things) 3. at the time there was no Linux sync and it was bot clear for me how good ssh support was going to be (I still don't know but hear good things). 4. Locking was limited to 4 digit pin.
- an unintended benefit of going for the iPad was that I realized iOS was sufficiently different from Mac that I could actually like it, so I now have a cheap iPhone as well.
[+] [-] sireat|4 years ago|reply
reMarkable is great looking hardware with subpar software.
I should not need to SSH into a device to install Koreader to get an acceptable ereading esperience.
I rarely use my reMarkable 2 much preferring an old Kobo HD for bedtime reading and the original 13 inch Sony dpt-rp1 for larger A4 texts.
As the article says: "If you are familiar with dedicated ebook readers, you will miss a dictionary, bookmarks and annotations. You can highlight parts of the text, but there is no index of annotations anywhere. This makes it unsuitable for some types of editing and annotated reading."
Surely those are not remarkable features to ask for?
[+] [-] treenurse|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frodetb|4 years ago|reply
There was also a slight input delay that I found annoying. I love writing on paper, and so if the experience is significantly inferior I won't be sold. I totally disagree with the author's claim that this thing provides a superior writing experience, unless they've improved on their designs and it now actually does feel like paper.
I would instead highly recommend a much cheaper, though dumber, yet far superior LCD-slate (like one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-howshow-lcd-writing-t...). The writing is instant, and even the tightest loops and smallest details will show up as if on paper (though green-on-black). When I was in university, I would use this for sketches in discussions, rough calculations and drafts, and saved a ton of paper that I would otherwise just have thrown away.
The fact that it wouldn't let me save stuff or share my drawings didn't bother me at all. Worst case scenario, I'd just take a picture of it.
[+] [-] epolanski|4 years ago|reply
Few reasons why:
- backlight
- ocr
- better pen and eraser
In my mind I'd like to make it a "programming sketchbook", where every time I save, text get OCRd, compiled and I get some compile information out of it.
Obviously I would be just sending the buffer to an external computer and get the output, or something like that.
But the current reMarkable and its ecosystem made me think what I was looking for was way too experimental.
[+] [-] hardwaregeek|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gnull|4 years ago|reply
The only thing that annoys me is not having buttons to turn pages. Swiping over a touchscreen is counterproductive and Remarkable sometimes fails to recognize the gesture.
[+] [-] dsirola|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] methyl|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deniscepko2|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tristor|4 years ago|reply
I don't think there's anything wrong with the device itself, I think it just didn't fit the way that I take notes. The only thing I found as an actual annoyance was that they forced you into using their cloud services which I didn't think were very good. I would have much rather had it OCR my notes into Standard Notes or figured out a way to sync. Syncing to Standard Notes never happened, so I just type long-form notes directly into Standard Notes and keep a Rite in the Rain pad in my pocket and a pen for spur of the moment stuff.
[+] [-] IceDane|4 years ago|reply
On the surface, remarkable seems pretty great and even feels pretty great. But for all it could be doing, it's almost not doing anything. The note-taking and drawing tools are extremely barebones. There are no line or shape drawing tools of any kind. There's no real way of using it as an infinite canvas kind of thing, because the canvas isn't infinite, and you can't scroll like that. You have to zoom in and out or resize your drawings and move them around.
The hardware is extremely hackable, which is the coolest part, but also makes it even more weird that the remarkable's software is so lackluster, because there are actually tools out there already you can use to make up for some of these.
I ended up not using mine very much because it's just not a very good experience for anything past simple note-taking, and then eventually sold it and bought a whiteboard instead. No regrets.
[+] [-] bryanrasmussen|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nfd|4 years ago|reply
Sometimes there's Indiegogo hype for "ooh, a large color e-ink tablet!" and I'd encourage cautious pessimism about those listings. Might be a good idea to wait for them to ship, and to wait for some reviews.
[+] [-] ijuhoor|4 years ago|reply