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

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

#341
post #268

I'm always super intrigued by the reMarkable 2, but I think it's because it paints an image of the type of person I think it'd be cool to be, someone who can just write down notes and draw stuff with a really cool, slim device. Someone who carries around moleskines and uses them, instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks. The problem keep…

Put a stack of 3x4 index cards in you back pocket, and write thing down as needed. In the evening, (eg when you pull keys/wallet out of the pocket) review the cards briefly and toss the used once into trash unless you really need to keep one. This is a low-commitment device that still achieves half the benefits of really writing things down.

Not to make it personal but: Do you do this? How do you find it? It's a simple and alluring solution plus I've been looking at the remarkable2, but this answer sounds like doing the dishes. I like a empty kitchen sink, but I honestly pay someone to come in twice week to have that, because the low-rent solution of just doing the dishes is beyond me. I'm never going to sit down and review the cards, and then the benefits of going digital. Globally instantly accessible by others, indexed, impossible to lose, etc.

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

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that early on; 15 years ago, I was keeping notes on a "feature phone with sliding keyboard". I was pulled by my manager for being disrespectful after the meeting; I showed him the notes and demonstrated that I was by far the most attention / had the best retention / was most involved in the meeting, but still... the message was - it looks unprofessional, stop it. Thing is: * My handwriting sucks (I liter…

I've noticed that as well -- no matter how engaged someone is, if there is a screen that they can see but others can't then it is an information imbalance that is disruptive to the normal flow of conversation. It's like hearing half a phone conversation -- your brain works overtime trying to reconstruct the part it can't see. And it makes some sense; when I am talking to a person and they keep glancing at their lapto…

Agreed; that one thing, has actually been made easier with Covid-induced remote work at my project. On Zoom, people don't know I'm typing furiously - I'm a touch typer and can do reasonable amount of formatting/bullet lists without looking down, so I can look at and engage with and react to person maintaining eye contact while my fingers do their own thing :).

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

#343
Shameless self-promotion: I am launching a free service to consume emails on your RM2. I mostly wanted it so I can read email newsletters, but plan to add some organizational features. It works by signing up for email lists with your @emailnewslettertracker.com address.

www.emailnewslettertracker.com if you're interested in being a beta tester.

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

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that early on; 15 years ago, I was keeping notes on a "feature phone with sliding keyboard". I was pulled by my manager for being disrespectful after the meeting; I showed him the notes and demonstrated that I was by far the most attention / had the best retention / was most involved in the meeting, but still... the message was - it looks unprofessional, stop it. Thing is: * My handwriting sucks (I liter…

I wonder if something like old school Graffiti (from Palm OS) would work for you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS)

I did use Palm devices extensively, and found Graffiti shockingly intuitive - it took me no time at all to be fully fluent in it. All the way up to Palm Treo, I loved them and couldn't figure out why people went Gaga over iPhone when it came out - I felt that I mostly had that same thing for years already (I recognize there are important differences in retrospective, not the least that iPhone was fashionable and cool to use;)

I would definitely work better with Graffiti-style input rather than full writing recognition; but:

a) I am a dorky minority - pretty much always a negative focus group for these things :P

b) even for me it's not ideal and modern lightweight laptops are a better solution -- I type at speed of speech these days; I don't think I could ever write / squiggle that fast.

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

#345

I always think of the remarkable as a really odd device. Hardware wise, it looks great, but I seldom hear good things about the software, only that it is "improving" for years now. Also, while I think the form factor would be great for a text and graphics based computing device, they seem to invest as much energy as possible in playing down the computing angle, so that instead of having something great to do technica…

> I accept that for me ~120€ ereader

There is no point chasing hardware customers who would only pay $120 for a device like this. You're never going to be able to make a sustainable business at that prices and those people are always going to be comparing your product to Amazon Kindle prices yet also demanding way beyond that.

Better to find an audience that is passionate about what you're building and passionate for a new alternative and willing to spend the money that can keep your business sustainable. I understand you'd be more interested if it was Jupiter notebooks tablet but eInk but that's an even more niche product than note taking and would therefore cost way more than the current price.

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

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that early on; 15 years ago, I was keeping notes on a "feature phone with sliding keyboard". I was pulled by my manager for being disrespectful after the meeting; I showed him the notes and demonstrated that I was by far the most attention / had the best retention / was most involved in the meeting, but still... the message was - it looks unprofessional, stop it. Thing is: * My handwriting sucks (I liter…

That's so funny- that makes me think: 2007 (or so) a manager asked me not to use a Windows Pen Tablet in a meeting because it wasn't respectful. 2011 Every senior manager brings an iPad to meetings and seem to get distracted. 2015 (Tech co) Everybody brings an MacBook Air or a MacBook pro to every meeting 2018 (Entertainment Co) Any electronic device is considered disrespectful in a meeting, especially phones.

You missed 2014 - Business Partners bring in their BlackBerry Passports :->

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

#347

I'm always super intrigued by the reMarkable 2, but I think it's because it paints an image of the type of person I think it'd be cool to be, someone who can just write down notes and draw stuff with a really cool, slim device. Someone who carries around moleskines and uses them, instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks. The problem keep…

Are you me, you sound like me. I feel the pain.

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

#348
post #327
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a ReMarkable 2 as well, and there are zero drawing tools or alike, if you want some graphical object, you just draw it. You have a multitude of background-guides (lines, grids, etc.) for easier aligning. The only features you have that you don't get with pen&paper are a layer system and a select tool which you can use for copy/paste/cut or move parts around. Page management is pretty basic, but ok. You have no…

Are you able to achieve a split-screen-like functionality, so you can do scratch work while referencing the text?

Unfortunately no. Not even with the 3rd party modifications. Though there are some full GUI linux installs iirc.

It's a common question in the community Discord, and the official patches have been accelerating and implementing a lot of long-asked-for features (e.g. pinch to zoom), but nobody really knows what's on their roadmap. So hard to say if it'll ever get side-by-side.

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

#349
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put a stack of 3x4 index cards in you back pocket, and write thing down as needed. In the evening, (eg when you pull keys/wallet out of the pocket) review the cards briefly and toss the used once into trash unless you really need to keep one. This is a low-commitment device that still achieves half the benefits of really writing things down.

When I was in the Navy I carried a little memoranda pad in my left breast pocket. I’d take notes each day, at the beginning of each new day, I’d carry any necessary information from the previous day to the next page and then fold the previous page along the diagonal, alternating the folds right and left each day. The effects of pulling out a notepad and jotting notes are markedly different than pulling out a phone or…

> The effects of pulling out a notepad and jotting notes are markedly different than pulling out a phone or tablet- especially in a conversation or meeting. IME a phone signals disengagement

This! It matters even if you are paying attention; in this day and age pulling a phone strongly signals disengagement. Even if you're actually the most attentive note taker, the rest of the attendees don't know this... and once one person signals disinterest, many will follow. It's like you're "giving them permission" to stop paying attention.

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

#350
post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my rm2 as a mental scratchpad, list maker, PDF reader, ebook reader etc. Etc. I have a trick, I bought the Lamy pen compatible with the rm2, and pushed the rm2 pen nib up it, makes for an awesome writing experience!!!!

I am reading the rm2 doesn't reflow pdfs? Has this been a problem for you?

I suppose coming from a Kindle, the screen space increase for me means I'm not that bothered. For me pdfs are formatted intentionally - so maybe take my words with a pinch of salt!
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