Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

hanselman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 530 posts

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#11

Post by nicoburns »

oblio wrote: post #6

I wonder which will happen faster: A) classic displays (LCD/OLED/Mini-LED/Micro-LEDs) reaching a point where the quality and power consumption are so low as to be indistinguishable from paper B) Color e-ink displays get good enough for interactive use, movie watching, etc. Maybe someone who's an expert in display tech can chime in? My money's on A) since so much is invested in it.

I think A is fundamentally impossible. A backlit display is always going to look different to a reflective surface.

My money's on C: a new display tech which works similarly to color E-ink, but isn't actually E-ink. Qualcomm's Mirasol technology looked amazing for this, but sadly it never made it into any mainstream products and they've basically shut it down at this point.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#12

Post by fsloth »

martin_a wrote: post #4
noja wrote: post #2

Why the ReMarkable doesn't have a backlight I do not understand.

The whole purpose of E-Ink is to use "passive" displays which are more comfortable to the eye. Adding a backlight would remove that.

IMO lighting on an E-Ink display does not increase the strain any more than illuminating a paper with reading lamp does.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#13

Post by bryanrasmussen »

oblio wrote: post #6

I wonder which will happen faster: A) classic displays (LCD/OLED/Mini-LED/Micro-LEDs) reaching a point where the quality and power consumption are so low as to be indistinguishable from paper B) Color e-ink displays get good enough for interactive use, movie watching, etc. Maybe someone who's an expert in display tech can chime in? My money's on A) since so much is invested in it.

>A) classic displays (LCD/OLED/Mini-LED/Micro-LEDs) reaching a point where the quality and power consumption as so low as to be indistinguishable from paper

I thought in relation to eye strain and ability to read in sunlight the quality would be theoretically impossible to ever be indistinguishable?

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#14

Post by Tho85 »

I bought the Onyx Boox Note Air some months ago, and I must say that I'm really happy with it. Screen refresh is good, there's almost no ghosting in default mode, and refresh rates are acceptable.

There are only two downsides about it: The vendor does not respect FOSS and does not publish the sources for their modified Linux kernel, and the device constantly phones home to China. However, the device can be rooted easily [1], and you can install a firewall to stop the preloaded apps from phoning home (verified it with Wireshark).

[1]: https://blog.tho.ms/hacks/2021/03/27/hacking-onyx-boox-note-...

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#15

Post by 0-_-0 »

martin_a wrote: post #4
noja wrote: post #2

Why the ReMarkable doesn't have a backlight I do not understand.

The whole purpose of E-Ink is to use "passive" displays which are more comfortable to the eye. Adding a backlight would remove that.

You can turn off the backlight

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#16

Post by teruakohatu »

codethief wrote: post #9

> Later this month I'll take a look at Supernote which already has a enthusiastic community and promises to have a rich API for 3rd parties to explore and expand. I tried the Remarkable 2 for a month but ended up returning it and ordering the Supernote A5X instead – I couldn't be happier! Its main advantages (IMO): - The Supernote acts as a regular USB mass storage device, so syncing files (w/o resorting to the cloud…

How is it better than the remarkable?

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#18

Post by ploek »

oblio wrote: post #10
ploek wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to guess it is to keep it slim. And while I normally think this fad to make everything thin is stupid, in this one case I feel it makes sense. You want the thing you're writing on to protrude from the table as little as possible.

Thin (and especially light) tablets are not stupid. I have the fact that especially "pro" tablets are becoming heavier. They're not comfortable to hold. In my opinion the "perfect" tablet should not weigh more than 250-300 grams, we just don't have the tech for a flagship tablet that can weigh that much, yet.

You are right of course. I was primarily thinking of phones, where the battery life is sacrificed for half a millimeter and laptops, where ports are eliminated for a millimeter or two.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#19

Post by Deukhoofd »

I bought a Remarkable 2 myself, and I have to say I'm really happy with it. The built in e-reader was a bit mediocre, but a quick SSH session and a couple community scripts later and with just a long swipe across the screen I could access Koreader whenever I wanted.
Post reply on HN