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The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

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Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#41

Post by robbedpeter »

chrisseaton wrote: post #9
martin_a wrote: post #2

> They are moving towards a subscription model. 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…

> I don't want to be caught in another cloud and pay monthly for something I don't want to use. Well... isn't that the advantage of subscription? If you stop using it you don't have to pay monthly for it anymore.

If it's clear and consensual, and not a means of endlessly extracting money for no value. SaaS is almost always rent seeking and brings no value to a consumer. Almost.

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#42

Post by evgen »

romeros wrote: post #31
kristopolous wrote: post #15

It's really the "pen computing" from the early 90s in some round 2. There were some pretty amazing things that the hardware wasn't ready for the first time (I'm thinking GO corp stuff) but when I asked the guys at CES 2020 if they had ever heard of it, it was a no. (For instance, if I worked there I'd get my hands on one of Jeff Hawkins GRiDpads ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRiDPad ) here's a nice overview Histo…

why it did not catch on then? why is round 2 successful?

In a lot of cases the hardware could just barely keep up at the top-end of the market and for devices that were in the 'affordable' zone the hardware was just not powerful enough.

An Apple Newton MessagePad 2000 was a sweet device; the ultimate note taking tool that was not equalled by any tablet for more than 20 years. My handwriting style happened to work well for the Newton and as a consequence it was an amazing tool that exceeded my expectations, but I knew several people whose handwriting was not picked up well by the recognition engine and so they struggled with the device. The earlier Newtons were also underpowered and the handwriting engine was over-hyped so they failed to live up to expectations.

Round 2 has much better hardware, improved connectivity and wireless tools, and a larger ecosystem they can try to fit into. I think it remains to be seen if round 2 of these notebook tools will succeed. I think that the eInk devices like the reMarkable are _not_ succeeding in the market but regular tablet devices are making progress in this area and are more likely to end up the winners in any revival of electronic notebook tools.

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#43

Post by akavel »

martin_a wrote: post #2

> They are moving towards a subscription model. 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…

Notably, and with a disclaimer that I myself unfortunately failed to live by ideals in this case and did buy, Onyx seem to have their own issue, which is violating GPL: https://old.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/p9ztru/lets_help...

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#44

Post by [deleted] »

throw_ojfs82309 wrote: post #19

Note that the author receives $40 when you buy a reMarkable using the provided link. I've been using a reMarkable for some weeks on the job, and I'm generally satisfied. However, the reMarkable is not a proud linux computer. When changing to the subscription model, they introduced new Terms of Services. Among others, these prohibit reverse engineering the cloud API. Upon request, a customer service employee who had c…

[deleted]

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#46

Post by SiempreViernes »

tweakimp wrote: post #27

What is wrong with using a paper notebook?

They run out of pages, there's no copy function, you can't cut and paste onto the same page without making the cleared space unusable for writing.

On the upside, the paper notebook doesn't crash randomly when battery is low, and it can store (flat) physical objects.

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#47

Post by pantulis »

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)

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#48

Post by Loic »

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.

[0]: https://supernote.com

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#49

Post by varjag »

tweakimp wrote: post #27

What is wrong with using a paper notebook?

Exactly. No subscription fees and OCR not working just as well.

I understand that botching your perfect brainstorming doodle with permanent pen gives a certain degree of anxiety. But one can treat those as drafts; you'll use up a lot of Moleskine pages before the cost breaks even with this.

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#50

Post by eatYourFood »

tweakimp wrote: post #27

What is wrong with using a paper notebook?

No password, hard to make copies, takes up more space in my bag, can't easily move things around or rework once you've put something on the page, end up with a stack of notesbooks that need disposing of, harder to file and easily look up things from a certain date or category.
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