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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

#351

I've been thinking of buying a ReMarkable, but all I really want is a reader without a backlight that can handle PDFs smoothly. (Ability to mark up is a plus but not necessary.) Based on this thread it seems like the RM/Boox are not really what I'm looking for.

I read PDFs (and highlight and annotate) on my RM2 daily. It's a _fantastic_ PDF reader, IMO. It's the ability to annotate that's killer for me. I mark things up extensively, writing notes in the margins, starring items, underlining, and writing on the RM2 screen is a paper-like writing experience. It's e-reader software is a bit meh, so I still read books (fiction, mostly) on my Kindle Paperwhite.

So you don't have issues with the lack of PDF reflow? I just want something that works for reading and doing math/cs while laying in bed.

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

#352
post #336
post #320

Opportunities to ask about these devices don't come up very often, so please help me decide what I want here: I want something that allows me to do math problems while laying down horizontally, mostly before bed. With a book and paper, it's a mess trying to do this, and I require e-ink. So I need good support for reading PDFs _and_ writing on screen, which is a niche apparently. I need split screen functionality or s…

The remarkable is not able to do split screen (for now). Instead, you can install the [ddvk hacks]( https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-hacks ) for fast switching between recent documents and a swipe to the previous document. I'd recommend the remarkable2 as the hacker friendliness makes quite a difference

>fast switching between recent documents

This is what my research told me last I looked too, thanks for the confirmation that this is still true. I believe RM will deliver long term, hacker friendliness goes a long way. Not sure if it's worth the price atm, but I'll look out for a cheap used one. I could do so much more critical reading if I could do it while lying down.

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

#353

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…

I've got a ReMarkable 2 and love it. I also have written and sketched in notebooks so there is that habit. But a couple of things in your comment made me say "hmm".

This stood out "... and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing."

Over the years many folks have seen me writing in my notebook and said, "Wow I wish I could make notes like that." It motivated me for a time to carry around copies of pages from my early notebook notes which compare unfavorably to cro-magnon cave drawings :-). I would explain to them they are written for an audience of one (me) and serve to help me recall details that I might otherwise forget, so there isn't anyone judging or evaluating them. At the same time, the more you write and draw, you tend to get more capable (this is especially true if you're somewhat self critical of your own results).

So I would agree that something like the ReMarkable is a big chunk of change to spend on something you don't feel you would use, but consider that a 5 pack of quadrule or lined composition notebooks is a couple of dollars/euros when school starts and can be thrown away. A stack of those, a variety of writing instruments (I like 1mm gel pens or the BIC 4 color pens, but others like mechanical pencils or roller ball type pens) And be intentional about writing things down for a few weeks (the various habit books suggest six as a minimum number of weeks but its an experiment right?)

Then at the end of your experiment go back and review your notebook(s) and compare your awareness and "presence" in that time with a time where you were not taking notes.

My guess is that either you will say, "this is a good thing, I should do this more" or you will say "interesting but not my cup of tea." Either way, you have a good understanding of yourself and how note taking and notebooks fit into your life. At which point the decision to buy something expensive or not has the backing of your lived experience of whether or not you find it useful.

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

#354
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…

What’s the state of digitizing notes from an image? I mean, can you convert text and simple diagrams. And maybe just leave anything more complicated as an image.

The next macOS can select text in images: https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/07/macos-montereys-l...

… but that’s not handwritten text

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

#355
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.

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 benefi…

Off and on. Started on it again just yesterday, hence my comment.

>I'm never going to sit down and review the cards

Well, don't sit down then. Standing up flip through the cards you filled during the day and toss them into garbage, unless one is really important. You're strictly better off than writing down nothing at all during the day, which is the default state for most people.

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

#356
post #348
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Hopefully they add open sourcing the whole stack to their roadmap. That'd be the best thing they can do imo. I'm so eager for a device like this that I can 100% get behind.

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

#357
I preordered a rM2 and got it last October, and by November it was in my dead tech drawer. It doesn't come close to the experience of writing on top-quality blank notebooks with a good pen, and without a backlight it kind of sucks as an e-reader.

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

#358

I preordered a rM2 and got it last October, and by November it was in my dead tech drawer. It doesn't come close to the experience of writing on top-quality blank notebooks with a good pen, and without a backlight it kind of sucks as an e-reader.

> It doesn't come close to the experience of writing on top-quality blank notebooks with a good pen

We're all different, and I disagree. It's replaced all of my notebooks and pens.

I just wish it had a faster processor so that the UI was snappier.

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

#359
post #2

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

AFAIK adding backlight means that the distance between the display and the pen tip needs to increase, so you end up with a small parallax effect and writing doesn't feel as natural anymore.

Also, paradoxically, the added light layer reduces screen contrast when the light itself is off.

(Have an Onyx BOOX Max Lumi with Frontlight. The display is good in strong light, but even under fairly-brightly-lit indoor conditions, the Frontlight is useful.)

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

#360
I have a Boox Note Air--but no have no interest in using it for notes or "productivity." I just like e-ink for reading, and find screens smaller than 10" to be too small (too much page-turning, no good for PDFs). It's good as a reading device, and I like being able to use Google Play Books and Instapaper (and the way that Boox hides animations and increases contrast for Android apps is clever).

It could use a dedicated "page turn" button.

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