Live data from Hacker News

The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

cfenollosa.com

141–150 of 283 posts

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#143
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how the hardware can be "right" when it cannot do its most important, touted feature on-device (handwriting recognition), it is basically a one-trick pony according to Wired (who said it only does note-taking well) and almost everything about the device is outclassed by a used iPad new enough to run iOS 14 or better and which supports the Apple Pencil. For about the same $400 (the device after a year is…

The most important feature is not handwriting recognition, but the fact that it is a large e-ink screen, where you can comfortably read and write. You don't get that with an iPad. If you read a lot of documents there is really no comparison, because it is a different category of device.

> The most important feature is not handwriting recognition, but the fact that it is a large e-ink screen, where you can comfortably read and write. You don't get that with an iPad.

This

If these are the killer features you're looking for, the RM is delightful. I've been using mine for over a year, almost every single day. I would love to see the software services flesh out a bit more, but honestly, that's icing on the cake.

A rock-solid paper note-taking replacement that doubles as a highlightable PDF reader and has no "apps" - I'm sold!

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#144

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 tha…

Wanting your documents and writings to not be fully accessible to CCP intelligence services....is not exactly "heightened security requirements" to me. This device is basically completely un-trustable. Leaking information related to financial stuff, research, invention, product design, or legal/government work. For a publicly traded company any manner of documents / notes on a device like this could spell trouble. Pl…

> CCP intelligence services

erm... it's a Norwegian company

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#145

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) a…

Almost bought mine again last week.

I've been using mine almost every day for a year now. A week ago I left it at Home Depot (it had all of my sketches and measurements for the thing I was building) and I despaired of finding it again. I was already planning to drop $500 on a second one without a second thought when it turned up at the customer service counter. Tangible feeling of relief when I got it back in my hands.

Do I hope some of the software support improves? Heck yes, but the writing and reading experience is exceptional and the software is good enough.

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#147

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 tha…

I have the same issue with the OCR. I've been using it for taking notes for my masters courses, and ironically as part of the course just finished making a machine learning model for OCR on armv7 devices that works as well if not better then the proprietary OCR service they use, and could easily run on the device without needing the network at all. My biggest issue with the rm2 is not any specific feature, but the to…

If you made this into an open source project (even just some hacked together scripts) I would definitely take a crack at helping tweak it! Especially if you're able to do on device -- that'd be incredible. Otherwise, I'm happy to just pull out the files and do it via SSH.

Seriously though, the value of some scripts that set a baseline would be enough for many people to finish the rest of the work!

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#148
Slightly off topic, but what happened to "smart pens"? 15ish years ago,I had a pen that could draw on special paper, and do interesting things. I really thought that paradigm would have progressed by now. Sort of like the original optical mice needed a special pad but now can work on any surface. I like drawing on a paper notebook (I use one with a grid of dots). I'd be fine with all of the "intelligence" coming from my smartphone. Is there any progress/products on this paradigm?

Re: The reMarkable as a notebook and eBook reader

#150
post #146

I have the Onyx Boox Max 3, it is great. Just a normal android device with an e-reader screen. You can install apps, listen to audio (it has a speaker). I'm wondering why there are not more like those devices..

My complaint with the Boox series (I had one of those as well) versus the reMarkable is that writing on a boox feels like trying to write on plastic. The reMarkable has a texture that makes it more akin to writing on paper. It really does interrupt my thought process and note-taking ability.
Post reply on HN