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Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

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Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just justified to yourself a reason to use an even more controversial word out of the blue in a contrived way. I hope you were being intentionally ironic.

It's less controversial than the r-word, which is why it's a good analogy. People who insist that it's okay to say one usually insist that it's okay to say the other one, because they don't understand the ways words hurt people.

It's less controversial than the r-word

I'm not sure that's true.

About a decade ago some prominent politician or other official was publicly excoriated for using "niggardly" correctly. I don't think anyone's lost their job for using "retarded" in its academic form.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you expound a bit on why you think it's more useful? I am thinking about getting one (or one of a couple other similar options), because I think it would be MUCH more comfortable for reading and annotating papers, which is my main practical use case for an iPad. And if it's at all a decent replacement for a paper notebook, that would reduce the number of things in my bag. But I'm also a bit worried that the org…

The remarkable is really good at feeling like pencil and paper, which mean it's really good for written notes. The epaper display is also nice for reading text in daylight. The iPad has the Apple Pencil and it's not bad but for everything else the iPad is far better. You can annotate a pdf and send it somewhere else in different ways. It can take a or download a picture and mark it up. With the appstore it can handle…

FWIW, I use a Paperlike screen protector, and have been very happy with the writing comfort I get out of it.

If there's one thing I'd absolutely miss with the actual writing experience on a ReMarkable, it's colored highlighting. I've been using the same color coding system for years and years now, and I'd hate to lose it. But it might just be worth it to lose the backlight and the glare, and gain the ability to do my reading outdoors.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#123
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't necessarily disagree with you, but seeing as "the r word" is no longer used to refer to mentally disabled people it seems a little late to be campaigning to end its use as a pejorative _now_. If anything, these efforts should be directed towards ending the use of "autism" in a pejorative context, as if that trend isn't stopped then that term is up next on the euphemism treadmill. I also wonder if perhaps these…

I wonder if this is an age thing? Up until very very recently, “retarded” did mean what we now refer to as mentally disabled. It was a slur that people pushed back on just like the words that preceded it, but the pejorative figurative use won out. But it’s too recent to say that’s definitively not what it means anymore. It’s hard to date these kinds of things, but the first document I found was the social security ad…

> the phrase “literally retarded,” is clearly contrasting against the figurative use.

There is a current fashion to use "literally" as an intensifier, rather than to mean "not figuratively". Google "literally misuse" for a wealth of hand-wringing articles.

I'm pretty sure RicoElectrico is using "literally" as an intensifier - after all, companies don't have thoughts or minds, cannot be IQ tested, and therefore cannot have intellectual disabilities.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#124
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Guess what, stupid, moron, idiot, etc used to refer to people with mental disabilities. No, they were not. And despite what the "you get offended so quickly" mob says, "retarded" main meaning when used in a negative fashion against someone always, always appeals to the "that person/entity has the mental abilities of someone with Down syndrome or any other similar intellectual disability". And you, me and everybody…

I think you and others are missing the point of how language works. The situation is similar to famous Dutch insults like Kankerlijer (cancer sufferer), Klerelijer (cholera sufferer), or Pleurislijer (tuberculosis suffer). Using these to insult people who indeed suffer from these diseases is questionable and can be rather tasteless. It may even be confusing and fail to work entirely. By the way, it's also wrong to in…

using such expressions to insult, swear, or exaggerate at healthy people is a quite normal function of the Dutch language

English, too.

It reminds me of early 2002 when all the little kids on the playgrounds were calling each other "terrorist" as an insult. Their parents were aghast, but to them, they just knew it meant a really bad person.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#125
post #10

I own a reMarkable 2. There is certainly enough to justify the cost, if you are a prolific note-taker. Conversely, I find it hard to justify the cost of an iPad, becuase I already have a phone and several laptops. I can't see a situation where a tablet would be more useful to me, so I've never bought one. Turns out different people have different needs, and the e-ink note-taking market caters to that. Most people wou…

same. I spent ~500$ on boox air. To me its my most used device after my laptop. I use it everyday for hours to save my eyes, totally worth $500. I also have an ipad which i never use.

Exactly the same as my situation. And given Boox is Android makes it really flexible for any kind of reading content.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#126
post #116
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one, and the cloud service is actually completely replaceable if you want. Since the device is running linux you can compile to arm7 and just run a sync cron to whatever server you want if you don't like their cloud service. Edit: I think people may have the impression this is like Android where the process is "ok, first reboot, hold all the buttons but not that one button and then unlock root, then flash the…

Does that still hold for the reMarkable 2?

Yes, and the filesystem is still mostly the same.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#127
post #97

I think e-ink screens would be great for musicians too! A lot of musicians are using iPad Pro, but I personally would rather have a dual screen e-ink device like this (for better battery life, better readability): https://www.gvidomusic.com/ ($1600!!) First company to build something like this and bring the cost down to something a bit more reasonable will get my business.

Do e-ink tablets even have music-worthy sound capability? Even at $1600 Gvido has no speaker!??

It's about displaying musical notes that the musicians then follow. Your options are either printing a lot or looking at a tablet.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#128
post #116
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one, and the cloud service is actually completely replaceable if you want. Since the device is running linux you can compile to arm7 and just run a sync cron to whatever server you want if you don't like their cloud service. Edit: I think people may have the impression this is like Android where the process is "ok, first reboot, hold all the buttons but not that one button and then unlock root, then flash the…

Does that still hold for the reMarkable 2?

yeah, I have the reMarkable 2 myself. It's an amazing device. The only downside is really the cost. It's premium quality like an Apple device (the unboxing is a trip) and it's hackable on day one.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if this is an age thing? Up until very very recently, “retarded” did mean what we now refer to as mentally disabled. It was a slur that people pushed back on just like the words that preceded it, but the pejorative figurative use won out. But it’s too recent to say that’s definitively not what it means anymore. It’s hard to date these kinds of things, but the first document I found was the social security ad…

I would like to point towards urban dictionary and different definitions of literally [1] that I found quite amusing, please excuse the language. > a word with no meaning in today's USA. Person 1: I am literally going to have a stroke if I see another tweet about fake news. Person 2: Are you really? Should I call 911? --- > Who fucking knows anymore? First, it meant factual, and now it means fictional. What the fuck,…

"begs the question" is another phrase whose meaning is now in the uncertain zone, by the same process.

Re: Ask HN: Why are e-ink note-taking devices so expensive compared to iPads?

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure one of the people who own one will chime in, but i think the whole device is hackable, you can get into a linux shell as root and do whatever you want.

I have one, thus far their cloud service is free and hopefully will continue to be so. Every ReMarkable comes with an 8gb cloud account, which is the same amount of storage on the device. Hopefully this doesn't change, because it's really a pain to put things on the tablet without using their app.

> Hopefully this doesn't change, because it's really a pain to put things on the tablet without using their app.

Have you tried Syncthing[0, 1]? I'm actually considering buying a ReMarkable 2 right now and the fact that Syncthing seems to be working on it is playing a major role in my decision process.

[0]: https://syncthing.net

[1]: https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_syncthing

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