ReMarkable 2.0 – A digital notebook that feels like paper - <AUTHOR> https://remarkable.com/#What_Is_New <comment><USER3> I have been very happy with my ReMarkable 1, and have ordered the ReMarkable 2.0.

Hacker News might be interested in the active development community around the device: [https://github.com/reHackable/awesome- reMarkable](https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable)

The device is open. It's just an embedded linux device. You can ssh into it, and run arbitrary code. The SDK is based on Qt. You can also connect a keyboard to it over a USB-on-the-go port.

I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.

<comment><USER4> It's funny how your comment immediately makes me want to buy it, because the description on the site with all these silly photos and such for some reason got me thinking like "looks kinda nice, but since it's _obviously_ something very Apple-like, it will be as restrictive as it gets, I won't be able to use it without some obligatory shitty web-account and I probably even won't be able to read *.cbz comics on it, so... nah, no way I'm paying €400 for it, and it's not really worth to spend more time looking into it".

Now I'm not sure what effect this site has on the average customer, and if making it more selling for me would make it less selling for them, but they actually lost me, and after reading your comment I'm seriously likely to pre- order. And it's not about your positive evaluation, of course. So I've got a feeling all these marketing people do advertising wrong somehow.

<comment><USER5> Same here last time ReMarkable came up. Saw the marketing page and really liked the hardware and expected it to be locked down, so moved on to reading the comments. Bunch of comments describing how it's open, runs linux and you can basically just ssh into it and run stuff. Made a pre-order right there and then and now waiting for it.

I think we're simply such a small user-base that they don't think to include it on their landing pages. Most people probably don't care. But since we're on HN, we most likely care to some degree.

<comment><USER6> Same boat lol. Saw the open-source comments and decided to buy one so I could make a sheet-music reader that changes pages automatically using facial cues from an ESP32-CAM

<comment> semi-extrinsic I'm slightly astonished (have been for a while) at the fact that no-one (as far as I know) have developed a Guitar Hero style e-ink sheet-music reader. Imagine how much easier you'd make life for kids learning how to play music! Software and hardware wise, it's got to be well within the realm of feasibility.

<comment><USER7> You should check out Rocksmith. Its guitar hero with real guitar, pretty cool stuff. I don't see how a scrolling format like guitar hero would fit the slow refresh rate of an e-ink display, but perhaps you imagine something different.

<comment><USER8> Absolutely love that toy, unfortunately they stopped producing DLCs for it some time ago to do something else... I wonder what that is.

<comment><USER9> They are working on RockSmith 2, you don't know this from me.

<comment><USER10> I remember a couple years ago getting Rocksmith for my ps4 and absolutely loving it. The controller mappings were a little unnatural in places but I did reasonably well with reading their notation/tab. Fast forward to when I tried to pick it up again a few weeks ago ... I can't read their notation/tab for the life of me. It's so confusing. Need to rewire my brain somehow.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I almost impulse per-ordered the RM2 when I first read about the SD card mod here on HN. I decided to wait after hearing about the limitations as a reader and the slow software development. If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad, I highly encourage you to watch this fantastic review from My Deep Guide: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM)

Full review: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5V...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5Vb- nB41UTnrXd)

I ultimately passed on the device for a few reasons:

1\. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. If you want local, non cloud based transfer, you need to use a flaky local web UI that hasn't been improved in years

2\. The internal storage still hasn't been updated from 8 (6 usable) GB. This is an obvious attempt to sell cloud storage in the future

3\. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the resources or ability to improve it

4\. There has been almost no attempt to improve reader functionality in years. Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle

5\. It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device

<comment><USER12> > It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target > audience for the device

> If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad

It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because "lolwhynot" and little more.

I have one and I really love mine. But all I wanted was a digital notebook. If I wanted more than that I would have gotten a Surface tablet or an Ipad Pro. It's definitely expensive for what it is, but it's not really marketed as a mass market device either.

<comment><USER13> > It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader > feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because > "lolwhynot" and little more.

I personally disagree with this. I almost bought one because I wanted a good notebook and a lot of notes I write these days is specifically related to ebooks and pdf documentation that I work against. I almost ordered one after seeing this post.

However, from the review it appears like this will be impossible to annotate documents with. I want to be able to highlight text on an epub (like I can on my kindle) and write notes to reference later about that section. I want to draw some diagrams as I'm reading the book to make sure I'm understanding code/workflows properly, etc...

I'm not sure why that's so out of the realm for a notebook style device.

<comment><USER14> Take a look at Onyx Boox gen. "2" devices, Nova 2 and esp. Max 2, may be interesting to you. (Not affiliated.)

<comment><USER13> I had never heard of this brand before, interesting. The Note 2 looks almost exactly like what I want.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I recently bought the ReMarkable 1 (wasn't willing to wait for preorder on the 2, and the differences don't look that significant). I kinda love it: I'm a professor, and 99% of my use is in reading article PDFs---it's a vastly better experience than reading on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens or printing off.

One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents ---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there.

But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.

<comment><USER16> I've always partially wanted something like this, but can't get away from paper. I recently completed a PhD and tried an iPad and my computer, but ended up always printing off articles. It's annoying having a lot of physical paper around, but I'm constantly flipping back and forth in papers and it's so inconvenient to do that digitally. I also find it's so much easier for me to recall information based on where it was, and I completely lose that in a digital device.

Curious if those have been issues for you or not. I wonder if it's just how my mind works, or if I'm not "doing it right"?

<comment><USER17> I'm in the middle of my PhD and switched from printing papers to reading them on my iPad roughly two years ago.

There are some things I miss from paper but overall I found the pros to overweight the cons.

I haven't found that flipping back and forth on iPad is that horrible, to be honest.

Not sure how helpful this will be but I'll share what I've been doing for now. I use the following apps:

* Mendeley (to organize papers)

* PDF Expert (to annotate PDFs)

* GoodNotes (mostly when working out the maths)

My usual workflow is:

* Read through the paper

* Annotate in the paper using Apple pencil as I read through

* Figure out the maths on the iPad when needed

* When I get back to a computer, upload the annotated file to Mendeley and type summary notes in Mendeley

A few things that I like/dislike about iPad when compared to paper.

\+ Search for information on the web while reading paper more easily

\+ Check notes/annotations quickly from my computer

\+ Share notes easily

\+ Search notes easily

\+ Clean desk =D

\- More context switching needed when I need to scramble something

\- Mendeley misses some basic features on iOS (e.g. attach PDF to existing paper) so need to context switch with computer at some point after reading the paper

I would say that for 90% of the papers I go through, where I don't dive that deep in the paper, the experience is just as good on iPad. For the 10% of the papers I read where I go in-depth, redo proofs, etc, it's a little more tedious. While it's for sure not perfect, given the above pros, I can live with the cons.

<comment><USER18> Let me know what you think about Polar:

[https://getpolarized.io/](https://getpolarized.io/)

We launched about a year ago and are REALLY close to a 2.0 release.

<comment><USER19> I'm a huge Polar fan! I'm considering buying an iPad just for using Polar, but I was wondering about the ReMarkable as well, since I like e-ink better for reading.

Do you have any recommendations for a tablet to use with Polar?

<comment><USER20> What app do you use for Polar? I used Polar for a bit on my Mac but gave up because I do most of my reading on an iPad. Would give it another shot if I could get Polar running on iPad.

<comment><USER19> I just use it on my laptop and desktop (Mac/Linux). I think I'd prefer to use a tablet though as I'm not a huge fan of reading on computers. Currently looking around and I've seen your sentiment about Polar and iPads before. Hopefully better support is coming in the 2.0 release though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Well I just got absolutely pipelined by this website. Went from never hearing about it "hmm, what's this link on the top of HN?" to spending $700 on it in about 3 minutes. Good product, great marketing, excellent website, I guess.

</comment><comment><USER22> I love my reMarkable — got the 1.0 once the price dropped due to 2.0.

e-Ink is a blessing after so much time on screens, and the rudiments make it quite hackable. So I get a device that pretty much CAN'T try to grab my attention, a calm device, and I can modify it to do more if I want.

(For example, since it can OCR and send notes, I've prototyped a little "message queue" on the other end to receive my notes, parse them ["TEXT Jake this is a text"], and do actions.)

I've even produced some custom e-ink maps which look great for no-phone navigation. (Feel free to let me know if that's interesting to you, happy to share an example and how.)

</comment><comment><USER23> I've been interested in eink displays and eink readers for a long time. Kindle owner since version 1. But...

Is the ReMarkable really worth $500 ($400 + the $100 pencil which seems like a requirement)? For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases. I understand that for the "paper on pencil" feel an iPad is no where near... but then again you can also just write using real paper and pencil.

Clearly I'm not the target demo, so what are the real target markets?

<comment><USER24> I co-work with an architect who _loves_ his ReMarkable 1. He'll do initial sketches on it, keep meeting notes, read contract docs etc on it, and so on.

It's an ideal "work support" device for what he does, vs an iPad which can do everything _if_ you find a good app, but still won't do those things as well, and is full of distractions like notifications and other anti-productivity cruft.

<comment><USER23> That makes sense. I supposed professions with lots of contracts or similar documents could benefit from "reading and note taking like paper" experience.

To be fair, the iPad is only as anti-productive as you want to make it. The default is distracting, but those notifications can easily be turned off or not installed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> But no mention and video evidence of the pen input lag and precision, which is what's supposed to set this apart from other eink display solutions. The 1 has some lag, just enough to still be a nuisance: did the 2 fix that?

<comment><USER26> I have the 2 right here and it's better than the first. There's still a perceptible lag (that is, it isn't imperceptible) but it's better than anything else out there including other eink devices (I also have a Boox here that I compared it to, and the Sony DPT before it).

<comment><USER27> Just to confirm, when you say, "better than anything else out there," that includes the latest generation of iPad Pro with Apple Pencil 2, correct?

<comment><USER28> Of course not. That wouldn't be an apple-to-apple comparison.

<comment><USER29> In what way? I find the lag on the iPad to be annoying enough that I've never bothered with it. I've never found any of the E-Ink devices to come close enough to paper to make me consider giving up paper notebooks - Though it's been about 3 years since I last checked them out.

<comment><USER27> Have you tried the current generation of iPad Pro? They claim a 9ms lag, and coupled with their technology for up-rezzing refresh rate and touch sensitivity when using the Pencil, it's quite a substantial improvement in experience.

That being said, the iPad Pro is clearly a high-end general-purpose device, with a price to match. The device that fits our pocketbook is always superior to the device that is amazing, but remains in a box in the manufacturer's shop because we can't justify the price.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Is anyone else excited purely on the basis that this isn't a hardware product from Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon or some other large company?

I know little about it, but it looks great too.

<comment><USER31> Scares me too - wouldn't wanna drop hundreds of dollars on a thing with limited functionality (esp I/O) that might go out of business.

<comment><USER32> You have root on it, you can always customize it (even fully replacing the OS) instead of using the vendor software.

But limited functionality is kinda the whole point. No distractions and all that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Would anyone here be interested in a eink phone running something like WebOS optimized for eink displays? I really feel WebOS was too early and PWAs make the barrier to entry much lower for a WebOS-like device.

<comment><USER34> There have been many attempts to find the right phone interface for eink displays. So far, I like the Light Phone 2 the best; it runs a version of Android that's totally stripped down to have a streamlined set of features that work well on eink.

[https://www.thelightphone.com/](https://www.thelightphone.com/)

<comment><USER35> To me the main benefit of an e-Ink display is the ability to read it for hours without eye strain. Judging by the size of the Light Phone's screen, it seems that the only benefit there is battery life.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> I have the current version, and between my Kindle and iPad Pro and spending 10 hours per day in front of my laptop I don't use it as much.

However, there is no better device on this planet for reading long-form PDF documents, research papers, or scans of textbooks. It wins. I wish the annotations were more useful (they're sort of kept a separate layer) but the reading experience is great.

Andy Matuschak has some good notes on the current version here too:

[https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable)

<comment><USER37> What features does the Kindle have that make you use it more than the ReMarkable?

<comment><USER36> For ebooks specifically (not PDFs) I find the Kindle is lighter and has a number of nice features like the built-in dictionary and Amazon's X-ray view making it much more comfortable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> How good is a ReMarkable as an ebook reader? I don't care that much about the writing, but having a large size ebook reader that can display A4 pdfs in acceptable quality would be a game changer for me...

<comment><USER39> Not sure about normal ebooks, but it's been a fantastic tool for getting through IETF RFCs.

No distractions, easy on the eyes. Would be nice if the contrast were even better for low light environments. Maybe this 2.0 would do it.

I seem to have lost my pen though, so I'm not sure what I'll do for any annotation now.

<comment><USER40> I second RFC, I've implemented plenty of them while scribbling over them on the RM1. Also great to quickly show a colleague something on a page.

But, the eBook (as in published books) experience is pretty bad compared to basically anything. What even the RM2 does is just load the epub/pdf into the editing buffer and other than somewhat faster navigation and a hidden menu, it's not good at all for consumption.

<comment><USER41> That's disappointing, I'd love it to be a great e-book reader, I want to love it...

If they could just side load the Kindle or kobo app I'd buy it in a second. For now, I'll keep reading ebooks on my phone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> Regarding the claim that it feels more like paper than the first version, the Engadget reviewer felt otherwise:

>The company says it used a new textured resin layer on top of the glass to make writing on the reMarkable 2 feel more like writing on paper, which I don't buy. If anything, the original reMarkable's screen had a more pronounced, paper-like grittiness that doesn't come through here. That's hardly a dealbreaker, though, because writing on the r2 still feels absolutely fantastic, I think this one strikes a better balance of tactility and flow. [0]

[0] [https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands- on-...](https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-review- marker-writing-note-taking-130044070.html)

</comment><comment><USER43> This looks so nice, and I've been desperate for years for a great, fast- refreshing e-ink device and/or monitor, but the closed ecosystem is so disappointing. Their 'avoid distractions' marketing is fine and good, but locking down the device makes it a non-starter for me. At the very least I'd need a feed reader I can use (without some workaround where I send stuff through the "remarkable cloud").

Am I reading things correctly that the only external interface to the device is through their cloud tool?

<comment><USER44> Yes you can log in and run code. There is a proprietary driver for the fast screen refresh but everything else is open.

<comment><USER45> But is it open by design, or by coincidence?

<comment><USER46> Absolutely by design. The founder is a prominent Linux community member.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> I showed this to my friends at work and one of them replied that she used a Rocketbook throughout grad school, suggested I check that out as a way of upgrading my note taking. Their products look very different from this but they're also a fraction of the price with similar value proposition where basic note-taking is concerned. Anyone have any experience with them? This is a field I know nothing about.

[https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook- core?variant=3...](https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook- core?variant=31416131534)

Regarding the reMarkable, I'd probably be open to it if reviews indicated it was a premium eReader in addition to everything else.

</comment><comment><USER48> I'm glad is in the front page. I own the first version and I'm quite happy and use it massively. I use it to read and annotate papers and technical books. This is for me what keeps it from perfection:

\- Bigger screen would be great for my use case

\- Software. As have been said repeatedly here the tablet is open. This is true in the sense that in order to comply with the GPL3 it's very easy to SSH to the tablet which runs Linux. This is awesome. However I think a little more support to developers would be great in the form of documentation instead of reverse engineering. Lot's of people think of ways of improving the software and this would make it much easier and better for end users (for example better file transfer, more file formats... in a reliable way)

Edit: formatting

</comment><comment><USER49> I like my ReMarkable 1. I _want to_ love it...but I'm not quite there yet. The company keeps focusing on improving the note-taking and drawing aspect of the device (which __is awesome now! __) but they haven 't improved the reading experience to nearly the same degree. Reading eBooks, PDFs, etc is an acceptable experience, but there are many UX improvements they could make.

That said, they have been releasing updates for years and improving the experience. The writing experience is by far the best of any tablet I've ever personally used. It does feel like writing on paper. The 2.0 looks really slick.

Finally, the hackability of the device is awesome. You can SSH to it without having to enable any special settings, and start messing around with stuff right away.

</comment><comment><USER50> Beyond the obvious differences to a tablet like the iPad, an interesting fact about the reMarkable is, that you can just ssh into the device to do your data exchange. Syncing documents should be as easy as writing some scripts on your PC. Which should appeal especially to Linux users.

</comment><comment><USER51> Remarkable haven't yet delivered the 2.0 device. Let's first see when it appears on the market. I has been delayed twice so far. So far it's in "pre- order" mode.

<comment><USER52> They have had two delays so far, and both of them were announced literally days before the "expected" shipping deadline. They are checking many checkboxes on my "likely vaporware" checklist.

The only thing they have in their favor is that they shipped v1 succesfully.

<comment><USER35> I'd say review units having been sent out is another positive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER53> I love my remarkable 1 but don't use it very much because I don't want to be tethered to yet another company's cloud, and I want document syncing not to require another app or website. I won't buy a R2 until they add support for one of the big cloud storage providers like Dropbox or OneDrive or gDrive or something.

The device itself is great; the OS is a little slow and takes a little getting used to navigate; recent updates made it better. The tactile feel is great.

<comment><USER54> As the top comment mentions the remarkable runs embedded Linux, it would be pretty simple to make your own syncing software and there's likely alternative open source programs already made to do exactly what you want

<comment><USER55> Most people don't want to have to ssh in and hack some solution together that probably doesn't work well or would take a load of your time. They just want a setting screen with a list of cloud services so they can log in to the one they want.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER56> Note that they're a bit behind on order processing due to covid-19. I bought one a few months ago and it's scheduled to be delivered in October. If you buy one today, it's scheduled for November delivery.

</comment><comment><USER57> It happens every single time. I like a product and want to order and it doesn't get shipped to India. Frustrating!

<comment><USER58> Use a freight forwarder?

<comment><USER59> A lot of companies won't ship to known freight forwarders because it triggers fraud measures (because freight forwarders are often used for cc fraud schemes).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER60> For owners of this (or v1) who are also using a GNU/Linux as their primary desktop - how's the workflow?

I note that you can sync _files_ easily enough -- but I'm curious on what the interop experience is like for people that don't use Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX. Syncing, updating, making notes & squiggles changes off-device and sending it back, etc.

</comment><comment><USER61> Here you go, save yourself $590

[https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble- Erasable...](https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable- Magnetic/dp/B07VP9H3ND)

You're welcome.

<comment><USER62> If only you can download the image, it would be perfect for my use. Does anyone have a suggestion for such a device? All I want is an inexpensive device that can digitize what I write to replace my pile of notebooks. Doesn't need to erase, or display PDFs, or browse the web, or perform OCR.

<comment><USER63> you could just take a photo with your phone?

there are some smart pens that do what you're asking for - [https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart- pens/](https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER64> I have the first version, and I really like it. The experience of writing on a textured e-Ink display is completely different than trying to do the same thing on smooth glass. (iPad Pro/Apple Pencil)

<comment><USER65> How does it compare to writing on paper?

<comment><USER64> It's not quite as good, but for me it falls into the "good enough/pretty good" category. I write quickly so for me latency is very important; the latency on version one is pretty good, and so if they've improved that on version two, even better.

<comment><USER66> What about pressure on the pen while writing as compared to regular styluses with small tips?

<comment><USER64> My best comparison would be to a fine-tipped rollerball pen (like the Pilot Precise), on rough paper.

I don't tend to press down very hard, but I don't really think about it as I'm writing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER67> It's a shame it is biased toward right handed users. And no, flipping it over leaves you with a narrow bezel on the bottom. Will not buy.

<comment><USER68> I'm not sure how useful it is, but they do have a left-handed mode: [https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en- us/articles/36000687545...](https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en- us/articles/360006875458-How-does-left-handed-mode-work-on-reMarkable-2-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER69> Just finished watching a review:

\- no USB disk mode to download your notes

\- 8 GB storage (of which about 6 are available)

\- any Linux support seems to be nebulous/unofficial, especially because of point 1

\- no search feature

\- no backlight

\- no landscape mode

Personally I've cancelled my pre-order, not worth the 450 GBP in my opinion.

<comment><USER70> > \- no USB disk mode to download your notes

The website is very unclear about the I/O options of the device, which I don't get at all, that's clearly one of the most important things about it; I'm not writing stuff down for the bin after all.

How do I get stuff off it? Is OCR done on the device? What formats does it support? etc. etc.

It says it has USB-C "for file transfers", but then also "Sync notes and documents via Wi-Fi only", wayyyy down below it says "PDF and ePUB", but obviously when I'm taking notes I'm not generally interested in a PDF, because that works with _zero_ of my workflows.

Their opener is strong; it's an obviously interesting product. Yet everything else is unspecific fluff that wastes my time and only irks me by being vague or silent about core functional aspects of the product.

<comment><USER71> The original RM (and all signs point towards the RM2 being the same) had direct root ssh access via a virtual network device on the USB port. This could be used to SCP backup the notebooks, add custom executables, etc. I understand why they don't list it in their marketing materials - it isn't intended as a polished experience and is more of a "hacker" option. The CTO of Remarkable is a KDE dev though, so there are a lot of subtle niceties you wouldn't expect like a full toolchain and bootloader available on their github.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER72> Why do I have tears in my eyes because of a technology ad? I have not felt this emotional about a technology product since Steve Jobs. I think even more. That was an amazing ad (video on their home page).

I have loved and used paper and pen as a primary tool for thinking since I was young. However, typing is much faster, and now that is my tool - the keyboard. Still, this clearly has its place.

My main interest now is whether it can be 'rooted' and a native Linux OS used on it, and/or whether it can be used with end-to-end encryption compatible self-cloud services like Nextcloud.

To me, open hardware and software is a necessary way forward for humanity.

Edit: I see it's very hackable indeed, from comments above, e.g.: [http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola- rm/](http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/)

</comment><comment><USER73> I am deeply disappointed in the general progress in this field. I had the CrossPad so long ago, you see. What the CrossPad could do was drawing on a piece of paper (any paper, this was not one of this magical dot things) and transfer the strokes in a vector format to the computer. What the ReMarkable can do is the ... same except the paper step is skipped and now you draw on a screen. But you still can't do anything remarkable ;) on the device with your strokes. It's clear from [https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en- us/articles/36000266143...](https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en- us/articles/360002661437-Convert-handwritten-notes-into-text) OCR is not on device because you need to be on wifi and logged in. Hurrah for twenty plus years of progress...?

</comment><comment><USER74> Anyone know whats the story on a color e-ink version of something like this?

That would be really compelling to me. Especially if you can get the latency down into the 10 ms range.

<comment><USER75> What are your expectations and applications for color in an e-ink writable tablet? The best available color e-ink displays support a spot color palette of 3-7 colors. They're nowhere near being able to show a full-color image. If you want something for illustration, a Cintiq is the best option and you get to use software (like Illustrator) that's up to the task. Even the Cintiq Pro displays are only able to hit about 15 ms response time.

<comment><USER74> I'm hoping for a world where e-ink gets iPad levels of repsonsiveness, honestly. I like the displays alot, they render text beautifully at a high DPI (at least ones i've seen).

Its just that they don't have the best response time. Thats really my limiting factor.

I don't expect them to replace the iPad, for instance, but for using as a true digital notebook and book reader (magazines too, if the color e-inks get better) they look and feel ideal for this, except for the lag time in responsiveness, that's the part that kills it for me every time I investigate it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER76> I love hand writing and note taking and been eyeing ReMarkable for a while. However, each time I think about buying it, I have a hard time justifying it over an iPad Pro with a pencil. It feels like an iPad will give me more bang for a buck though with heftier weight.

<comment><USER77> And with this protector you can get the same feel as paper [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY)

<comment><USER78> Have you tried this one for a while? Reviews suggest it's very harsh on the pencil tip.

<comment><USER77> It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER79> I'll have to echo what has been said. ReMarkable is the best e-ink tablet hardware I've laid my hands on, but I ended up returning it because of how hard it was to push and manage content in the device.

I now have a Onyx Boox Note that has inferior hardware. But at least I can use Google Drive and easily export documents.

I'm happy they have made a Chrome plugin because when I got my device, before returning it, I had a go at making exactly that: A Firefox extension that renders a simplified version and pushes it to ReMarkable as PDF [https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to- remarkable](https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable)

</comment><comment><USER77> I highly suggest this Paperfeel screen protector for iPad Pro [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY)

<comment><USER80> I've heard these damage the pencil, is that not the case?

<comment><USER81> Some of the reviews call that out, eg: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer- reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASI...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer- reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASIN=B07QMV54LY)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER82> I've been holding off on buying it until handwritten text recognition works on device without sending the data to the cloud. I had hoped it would have happened by now, but it looks I'm gonna have to wait a while longer.

<comment><USER50> If I didn't misunderstand the keyknote, iPadOS 14 supposedly does handwriting recognition on the device.

</comment></comment><comment><USER83> I was interested in buying one of these but was concerned as it didn't have disk encryption. Once again I can't find any info about that so I assume this still hasn't been added?

</comment><comment><USER84> I want to like products like this but I ultimately question the improvement versus actual pen and paper. I have a great notebook that I love, I found a pen that I love, and neither require power, take up much room, and have the best tactile experience possible. I can always use a computer whenever I need to get a lot of "digital" work done. Maybe I'm just not the target? But I do take a lot of notes frequently, just not annotations of PDFs.

</comment><comment><USER85> I was really excited about this until reading about the limitations and performance. Can't tell if I have unreasonable expectations from a device like this or it's unnecessarily limited due to limited development resources. In any case, it's an exciting prospect. Wonderful design, too. I'd love to try one out at least, get a sense of what it's actually like to use it. Some reviews are pretty terrible for R1, though.

</comment><comment><USER19> I've been considering this but I'm not sure if it fits my use case.

My main thing would be reading pdf's - specifically with Polar ([https://getpolarized.io/](https://getpolarized.io/) ). I use it for keeping track of notes/annotations and syncing across devices. Does anyone know if it would work with ReMarkable?

(Or does anyone have a Polar alternative?)

</comment><comment><USER86> Looks like a nice device, but my main issue with it is the price. The regular price is €556, and i can get a regular laptop for that. Even at the discounted price of €399 i can get an iPad or Surface Go, all devices that has much more generalized use.

I have no doubt it's a quality product, and i guess i just don't value my handwritten notes highly enough to warrant one :)

</comment><comment><USER87> I have the Onyx boox 3 with 13.3" screen, so I can read conveniently programming and math books and paper (wanted the big screen especially for papers). Pen works perfect for scratching, selecting and taking notes, it's perfection I can also split the screen on the left side exercises on the right side a blank page I solve the exercise.

<comment><USER88> I looked at those but the price (859) and being tied to Android were no goes. Perhaps in time the price of the screen will come down so as to get the device cost to a more acceptable 400 ish.

</comment></comment><comment><USER89> Could I connect this thing to my computer and use it as a whiteboard in a Zoom meeting, or something like that?

<comment><USER90> [https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/ov...](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/overboardch_on_rmcodex/)

Check [https://github.com/reHackable/awesome- reMarkable](https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable) for more open source projects.

<comment><USER89> Thank you! So in a nutshell, it's doable through VNC (among other solutions), but there's noticeable lag.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o) has a demo.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER91> I was close to buying this—the price is right, at least with the preorder discount in place; I think $400 is the upper limit—but it's missing a web browser! I need a good web browser, not this read-later stuff.

I want to be able to load up the homepage of TheVerge.com and browse as I would on any other device, except with text that's as easy to read as if it were on paper. I'd have to use paged scrolling, and images would be black-and- white, but that would be okay—they'd be crisp and clear.

This tablet is close to what I want, but it doesn't look like the software is there. (Or maybe it's hardware too—is one gigabyte of ram enough for a web browser these days if you don't use multiple tabs?)

</comment><comment><USER92> Been seeing a lot of FB adverts on RM 2.0 did a second take when I saw it at the top of HN! Feels like and advert but its not I guess yet the product is not live so a lot of speculation on how good or not it might be. Just strange to see this on top of HN.

<comment><USER93> The review embargo just lifted so there's some extra interest currently.

That said it was announced months ago, so the seeing it on HN the first thought on my mind was PR campaign.

To a certain extent that is the point of sites like HN, but there's always the implication that it's just something someone stumbled upon rather than an "advertisment". (I figure more often than not OP is a stakeholder of some sort whenever it involves a product for sale)

Not accusing anyone of anything, but it took a surprising amount of scrolling to have someone actually mention the deficiencies such as the reading functionality being subpar.

</comment></comment><comment><USER94> We have a review of it on our website + unboxing and videos.

[https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands- on-r...](https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-review)

</comment><comment><USER95> I have the Kindle DX, the original(ish) large eReader and it's slow enough to be pretty useless at reading tech docs - which is why I bought it. I'd love to be able to walk into a shop and try the Remarkable or similar out.

I couldn't give a stuff about writing (though it's a nice secondary feature) - I do however want to be able to throw a tech manual at my e-Reader (say, an O'Reilly programming manual) and be able to flip through it back and forth _easily_ like you can on a tablet.

The Remarkable looks beautiful in the link, but gives absolutely no indication as to whether that long-standing core flaw in e-readers has been solved here, which is very, very unreassuring.

<comment><USER28> I use 'briss' to trim PDF margins from a laptop, then send to a Kobo Forma (8-inch 4x3 screen) and read using the open source 'koreader', which also works with Remarkable. I was reading on an iPad mini before (same exact screen size), but that's collecting dust now. I expect with the Remarkable's 10.3-inch display you wouldn't even need to trim margins.

<comment><USER95> Yes - but my interest is in the UX responsiveness, the whole point of the bigger screen size is to fit them on without stuff like Briss (which I've used before); the issue is not screen fit, but performance when browsing back and forth - tech manuals are not linear reads like novels, for which kindles etc are ideal.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER96> Anybody know how to do MS OneNote integration? I have many years' worth of content there and use on multiple OS's, so I'd rather stay there than use their internal note-taking app, or at least be able to do import/export.

<comment><USER97> They offer a companion app for mobile and desktop so you might want to move your reMarkable contents to OneNote when you are done editing. The device is also hacker friendly so you could probably just plug some APIs to export to OneNote automatically

<comment><USER96> Doesn't look like the desktop app has any OneNote import/export functionality, so yeah looks like DIY project.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER98> I've been looking at this or an ipad to use as a notepad and a reader for technical books. But then I take a deep breath and compare the price to the price of buying used books and keep going along with physical objects.

<comment><USER99> You can buy half a million sheets of paper for this price.

</comment></comment><comment><USER100> I'm curious if there are other folks like me here - I have a peculiar hate of touch-screen pens/pencils. They're too thick at the tip.

When I write on (real) paper, I try to use the thinnest pen that I can still grip. I think I hold the pen at an odd enough angle that if the pen is fat enough before tapering, it starts covering the point where the tip touches the paper. Once that happens, I feel like I'm writing while holding one end of a yardstick. The alternative is to start angling the pen so I can still see the tip, but that makes writing awkward - I rather just type at that point.

<comment><USER101> Yeah, I like very thin tip stylus (physical or digital). reM v1 stylus with new nib is like a fine point, which is ok. Could try shaving a nib and getting to extra fine. Once nib is in use it becomes medium point fairly quickly- tho the width of the _line_ it produces on the screen is determined by software, not the actual nib size.

</comment></comment><comment><USER102> Still waiting on my pre-order. Absolutely love e-ink and it was incredibly sad to me when Google effectively killed Android e-ink by forcing OEMs to have a non-eink screen if they wanted to be a certified Android device with access to Google apps.

I understand Google's business position, but it was a shame to let an entire market segment die overnight.

Sadly my Re2 preorder has been delayed so long I went ahead and ordered an iPad so I could get down to work. iPad, and especially the apple pencil, has been incredibly useful and I'm looking forward to a head-to-head comparison. No longer sure I'll be keeping my re2

</comment><comment><USER103> I purchased the original one during the crowdfunding campaing, and paid a really low price (iirc less than $300). It's a great device, I used it for a few years. Pen latency was really good, paper feeling is true, battery was awesome. The handwriting->text conversion was poor, but my handwriting is horrible. I changed to an iPad Pro 6 months ago and have not looked back, but mostly because I went back to orgmode as my main note taking and using a keyboard is much easier.

Having said that, I'm actually considering getting this upgrade just to focus on taking notes and brainstorming.

</comment><comment><USER104> Sony DPT-RP1 user here. It's a similar large screen e-ink reader with writing support. It's of great help to me for PDF reading and taking notes. My opinion on reMarkable 2 (from the page):

Disadvantages: \- can only transfer with WiFi \- not A4 sized (I find this important for most of books and papers)

Advantages: \+ epub support (DPT only works with PDF) \+ customization (DPT software is completely uncustomizable, but good enough for most daily use, e.g. the screen can be synced to the computer screen for remote meetings) \+ OCR \+ cheaper (the A4 version of DPT is $600)

</comment><comment><USER105> I recently decided to purchase either this or an ipad, and ended up going with the ipad.

My primary use is reading academic articles, and I use Endnote to organize my pdfs and citations. I ended up going with the ipad because it has an endnote app and automatically syncs with my desktop, so I just always have all of my papers handy. If I had to manually sync papers to the remarkable it would be very annoying.

So I ended up going with the ipad despite wanting the experience of the remarkable. Though the ipad was cheaper and has other uses (entertainment).

</comment><comment><USER106> I got the reMarkable as a tool to make my writing process more natural, and less cumbersome. I have been editing a novel, which means carrying around a stack of 250 pages so I can add notes in the margins before I get back to the computer to write the next revision. It's heavy, and I'm tired of printing the full book so that I can have that tactile experience of writing on the page. The reMarkable tablet gives me a way to continue my writing processes without paper. Going to try this new version!

</comment><comment><USER107> I'm hoping to wait for reviews for this. I've been watching this for months. While waiting I've been thinking about how I'm going to use a combination of RSS reads, web archiving tools, pandoc, and some custom daemons on the device to setup syncing of hackernews + articals + news sites to the device to read during my commute (assuming we still have commutes in 4 months from now).

Very excited to see a polished device that is linux based that isn't hostile to developers trying to do cool stuff.

<comment><USER108> Looks like the embargo just lifted today. reMarkable just sent out an email with links to reviews:

[https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first- remarkable-2-reviews...](https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first- remarkable-2-reviews-634674)

<comment><USER107> I'm more interested in reviews from other HN users and programmers and the volume of activity in the awesome-reMarkable lists.

I have no desire for any of the built in cloud features or even doing much writing through the tablet. I however have many use cases for the hacking and modding abilities of the software that can run on this device.

I'm pretty sure major news outlets won't be sshing into the device and installing custom daemon services and measuring the impact they have on battery life.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER109> I can't help but feel like e-ink may eventually be replaced by something similar to this [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device)

The advantage would be immensely faster switching speed.

Imagine one side of the mirror being totally reflective and the other side totally black. If you can turn the mirror far enough, you could replicate to some degree, what e-ink is doing.

</comment><comment><USER110> Texture matters. I bought this screen cover for my iPad for the explicit use of adding texture since 99% of my iPad usage is with Apple Pencil. I had read it has a paper texture unlike other slick covers: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_inactive_ship_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Curious what others have tried!

<comment><USER35> I have the XIRON Paperfeel. Sketchy name, totally worth it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER111> Wondering if anyone is using it for Music Sheet? Im tempted to buy it just wondering if its any good for this use case since this is what im using my current tablet for.

</comment><comment><USER112> I've got mine on pre-order, scheduled for delivery in October. One of the things i'm most looking forward to experimenting with is reStream - [https://github.com/rien/reStream](https://github.com/rien/reStream) . It'd be amazing to be on meetings and be able to share diagrams and drawings in real- time! Certainly better than the webcam i've got pointing down at my desk at the moment!

</comment><comment><USER113> $900AUD (with the upgraded marker and folio). I love the idea and that it seems to be fairly open, but ouch. It'll be even more expensive after the pre- order.

</comment><comment><USER114> For someone with the current ReMarkable or with the 2.0, is it possible to use it as a drawing pad for remote meetings?

I pre-ordered mine, but I want to know if this is even feasible.

<comment><USER115> Yes [https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse](https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse)

See also [https://github.com/reHackable/awesome- reMarkable](https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable)

</comment></comment><comment><USER116> Does remarkable2 have Bluetooth though, that's really what I am looking for. I want to be able to pair this with a keyboard and stop staring at my laptop.

</comment><comment><USER117> What an utterly stunning bit of marketing. Some true talent in site building, set dressing, photography, and copy. Sheer quality. I'm heartened by it.

</comment><comment><USER118> Does anyone remember NoteSlate from like 2011? I came across it right before going off to college, and I was so ready for a writable e-ink tablet.

It ended up being a scam/vaporware so I was stuck taking notes on paper, but I'm glad things like this are becoming somewhat more common.

(I think they may have come out with some actual hardware like 5 years later, but from what I remember it was too little too late)

</comment><comment><USER119> 1\. $399 is kinda expensive. They should get it down to < $200 to be friendlier with younger generation.

2\. Offer a place for getting books as well - or partner with Amazon for books - if not there, this may be coming I guess. Then people don't need Kindle.

3\. They do not talk about security in their demo video. Don't know how they save what I write. Encryption / password / backup etc.,

</comment><comment><USER120> I ordered a ReMarkable 2.0 on 7th of May 2020 and they emailed me: "reMarkable 2 orders will be processed in batches. Your order is in batch 5, which is set to ship in Early September. You can follow the status of your batch at remarkable.com/delivery."

I opened the link again today (28th of August) and saw batch 5 is now postponed of 2 months to Early November :(

</comment><comment><USER121> It would be great if there were a regular pen/pencil that had the ability to capture a copy of notes to a digital medium in real-time while also operating like a normal pen/pencil. From what i can tell, capturing the orientation and positioning doesn't seem feasible yet and using image capture doesn't seem great either because of privacy and cost.

</comment><comment><USER122> Honest question: who works like that? Handwriting is slower than typing. Handwriting OCR is unreliable as well. I don't find myself doing a ton of diagrams either, and if I did need that, the e-ink lag would make me hate this device. The only real advantage I see is browsing internet would be uncomfortable on it, which aids productivity in those who are addicted.

</comment><comment><USER123> Is the market for "paper like substitutes" this large? What's wrong with a multi-use tablet (iPad or otherwise) and silencing your notifications for X amount of hours?

I personally hate writing on paper and trying to decipher barely legible handwriting. Seems like this product is just trying to appease the people who refuse to adapt to change.

</comment><comment><USER124> I ordered the ReMarkable last year. It was truly awesome and paper-like to write on but I ended up sending it back for a refund because I needed a more computing like device.

The device is fantastic, I love the idea and the company but the refund process (unless they have fixed it) is truly awful so expect to use a couple of days on it if you want to get your money back.

</comment><comment><USER125> Bullshit EULA.

[https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en- us/articles/36000028275...](https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en- us/articles/360000282757-reMarkable-End-User-License-Agreement)

[https://github.com/reMarkable](https://github.com/reMarkable)

<comment><USER126> I don't think it's that bad. It's not entirely open source, no, it's proprietary software on top of open source. The same is true of Android phones running Google Services. I'll note the EULA for the hardware doesn't seem to indicate you can't run other operating systems on it, but I am not a lawyer so YMMV. They've separated the EULAs for the hardware sales from the EULA for the software you can download. Makes sense to me, and is actually more liberal and easier to read than other EULA's I've read. Could it be more open? Of course, especially to allow the use of the product brand name with other third-party software, to open the device up more, and support more open uses. To me the real question will be if business and enterprise customers end up demanding code signing restrictions to the point where it becomes a cloud-managed device with a closed boot loader, like Chromebooks or iOS. Hopefully like Chromebooks, or Android, they'll still preserve a mode where you can turn off those features if you want to run third-party software and have the authority to do so. But they're not a charity, it's not completely open hardware, they're trying to build a business, at scale, and openness is one of their strategies, just not their only one.

</comment></comment><comment><USER127> I ordered ReMarkable 2.0, returned 13" Sony DPT. Then I got tired of waiting for ReMarkable 2 and got iPad Prod 13" with discount and ipad is enough for a little of technical reading (plus course videos and it is nice to have extra 13" display with mac os sidecar feature). So I'm going to cancel my batch 2 order...

</comment><comment><USER128> This is a remarkable device. The configuration looks good as well. It reminds me of the primary concept of Microsoft Courier.

While going through pros and cons for considering a buy, I found no email client, messenger or a browser. For the targeted audience, at that price point, and with that hardware config, those features are unavoidable.

<comment><USER129> The absence of those features is a feature to me. I want a digital notebook not another damn computer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER130> I have the Remarkable 1. It's the kind of jank hardware whose flaws you come to find endearing because the device as a whole is so good to you. I immediately ordered a Remarkable 2 when I caught wind of it. I'm going to give my Remarkable 1 to a friend or relative and hope it brings them as much joy as it did me.

</comment><comment><USER131> Does anyone have one of these in their hands yet? I'd love to see a good video on it before pulling the trigger.

</comment><comment> the-mitr My concern has been that there is no support for micro sd card and local storage is just 8GB which is quite small.

</comment><comment><USER132> Let me start by saying that my comment might be downvoted. However, I'm just wondering if the device justifies the price tag. For a little more I could get an iPad Air, which can do a lot more. Granted the battery needs to be charged everyday but it's probably not a deal breaker for many.

</comment><comment><USER133> I currently use iPad and I am considering reMarkable. One of the main things I do with iPad is share screen on meetings. Is the share screen option available and what about meeting platforms such as zoom, bluejeans, google? Are their compatible apps for all of the major online meeting platforms?

<comment><USER101> No, none of that. A similar device called Papyr seems to support shared whiteboarding features, but sharing and meetings are not what reM does. Just for writing, secondary use for reading.

</comment></comment><comment><USER134> PDFs can get massive when they're from scans. An e-Ink device should support better formats such as DJVU.

<comment><USER115> KOReader[1] runs on ReMarkable and supports DJVU and other formats.

[1] [https://github.com/koreader/koreader](https://github.com/koreader/koreader)

</comment></comment><comment><USER74> Is the hand writing correction any good? I really have to rely on this myself. My handwriting is very poor.

</comment><comment><USER135> Any reason why should i buy it instead of iPad Pro 2020 or recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 plus ?

<comment><USER136> Well, it's $399, which is very different price point than an iPad Pro with Apple pencil.

They detail some other advantages, like the texture of the surface, though we can't evaluate that without getting one in hand.

It's a much more focused device, which is a pro and a con.

Personally, I'll stick with my iPad Pro, but I hope this is actually good and successful.

<comment><USER137> I put a textured surface on my iPad Pro to great effect. It's one of those stick-on "screen protector" affairs. I find it much nicer if you predominantly use the Apple pencil (Procreate, etc.). I haven't yet tried it with the new handwriting recognition in iOS.

<comment><USER138> I frequently hear that screen protectors which mimic paper surface lead to a much faster abrasion of the tip of the Apple pencil. Is this the same in your case?

<comment><USER110> I also added a screen cover to my iPad to get texture with Pencil.

I haven't seen fast abrasion with this cover. Pencil tips seem to last a really long time.

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_inactive_ship_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> V-2 How well does text conversion work for joined handwriting? All the examples I've seen appear to use carefully segmented handwriting, which is a bit of a red flag to me.

Bonus points if someone could answer this for languages other than English (I'm thinking of diacritics)...

</comment><comment><USER139> I have been using apple most of my life. I considered waiting for iPad this year, but apple decided to reuse am2 year old processor, so I back in the market to experiment. I am hoping this will deliver what it promises.

</comment><comment><USER140> I ordered Remarkable 1.0 six months ago, used it for a few days before deciding to return it. I submitted a request to return and was supposed to get DHL to pick it up but it never happened. I was left feeling they really don't want you to return.

<comment><USER141> Where did it let you down that made you want to return it?

</comment></comment><comment><USER142> Here is a review: [https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands- on-...](https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-review- marker-writing-note-taking-130044070.html)

<comment><USER143> [https://archive.vn/V68bK](https://archive.vn/V68bK)

</comment></comment><comment><USER144> I ordered mine back in feb, just got an email yesterday how it's delayed yet again :(

</comment><comment><USER145> I'm glad to see [developer] excitement around this device, and look forward to ReMarkable 3 when all this new feedback is implemented into a new product.

Seriously, genuinely excited to use something like this as a consumer once the kinks have been sorted

</comment><comment><USER146> In a similar vein, I was really hoping that Ambient Devices would escape their niche market and we'd have a wide range of devices that looked analog but are actually digital.

They were just way, way too early (and on the wrong side of a recession).

</comment><comment><USER147> Unfortunately I had to buy an iPad (first apple product I buy ever) for my girlfriend since she needs an app (for work, she's a teacher) that only runs in iOS. I say unfortunately because I would have bought a ReMarkable instead :(

<comment><USER148> Aside from the form factor, they are very different devices.

One isn't really a substitute for the other unless all you do is write notes and read.

</comment></comment><comment><USER149> Some features of reading my books on an android tablet are the ability to lookup words with the dictionary service, and to sync all of my notes automatically to google drive.

Does anyone know how the reading features of the R2 stack up in this regard?

</comment><comment><USER150> I didn't know about this before I bought an iPad. I recently added a paper- textured screen protector (similar to Paperlike) and now I can't stop using it. I really recommend it for those who have an Apple Pencil - its great

<comment><USER151> Which screen protector do you recommend? Also, does using such paper-textured protector decrease the life of Apple pencil?

<comment><USER150> The best one I've tried is the Nilkin brand. As to the Apple pencil, I'm on ~9 months of use and the nib feels the same as the spare that came in the box when I got the pencil so I don't have reason to believe its damaging it

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER152> Interested in ordering this, but my country isn't on their very limited list (basically EU + Five Eyes). A bit frustrating, it's not like I live in Yemen or Easter Island. Why not ship to anywhere with DHL?

</comment><comment><USER153> Is the desktop app available on Linux or does the Windows version work under Wine?

</comment><comment><USER154> Being dropped to the #What_Is_New section is confusing, because I was expecting a landing page with a hero image, and instead had context-less comparison numbers. Maybe update the url to not include the section?

</comment><comment><USER155> Do they have a live draw feature? In recently purchased the Bamboo Slate. The live write is really handy when trying to express something on a Teams/Zoom meeting. I just share my screen and start drawing.

</comment><comment><USER156> Does this integrate with something like OneNote? Because this would still be only half my notes. If I can keep my hand-written ones and the ones I type when I work, for example, NOW we're talking.

</comment><comment><USER157> The one thing I wish the Remarkable 2.0 had is a backlight similar to the one from the kobo, it really makes it much more convenient in planes, train or anywhere where there's not enough light...

</comment><comment><USER158> I'm wandering whether the device is suitable for geometry style drawings? Just the type from the high school. Lines, circles and so on. Does someone has such an experience with this device?

</comment><comment><USER159> I gave in and ordered one. Thought I had previously, but no email to be found. The hackability is a useful feature. And it'll be interesting to compare it with an iPad Pro for notes/etc.

</comment><comment><USER160> I am surprised there is no discussion of alternative readers like Onyx Boox, which allow infinite customization through Android OS. Remarkable is a closed ecosystem with no third party apps.

</comment><comment><USER161> Looking for a great e-paper device, but the marketing of the video where deficiencies (no notifications etc) are treated as features sounds like bullshit spin and its really off-putting.

</comment><comment><USER162> I vaguely remember pre-ordering RM2 in the spring and being given a June delivery date.

Who has received the earlier batches?

PS. I just checked and I did pay for RM2 in March.. Let's hope their support responds.

</comment><comment><USER163> I ordered in March and the shipping schedule keep getting delayed. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a typical Kickstarter or Indigogo hardware project, that never ships.

<comment><USER164> have you heard of COVID-19?

</comment></comment><comment><USER165> The first version of this tablet had a slight lag between pencil and writing. I wonder if that's gone and ended up going with an Apple tablet for the time being.

</comment><comment><USER166> The product looks great, but, how does it work in terms of privacy? Is your stuff uploaded to the "cloud" automatically? Can you opt-out from that?

</comment><comment><USER167> I wonder how far off we are from eink with something like 16 bit color and a refresh rate of something like 20hz. A decade away? Or is it impossible?

</comment><comment><USER106> I'm wondering if there is an application that can be installed on a Kindle to provide a similar interface, it will be a game changer. Any thoughts?

</comment><comment><USER168> Has anyone had an experience with this? It looks pretty cool, although I'm probably never going to use it since I write mostly with my keyboard.

</comment><comment><USER169> I was looking into buying a ReMarkable 1.0 last year until I saw that it didn't have an SD card slot, so I couldn't fit my library in it.

</comment><comment><USER170> Can you touch/tap the screen with your finger to go to the next page of an ebook? Or do you need to use the pencil for "next page"?

</comment><comment><USER171> Where can I find more details about hardware implementation? The website doesn't seem too helping for that. What are batteries, for example?

</comment><comment><USER172> Anyone have a remarkable 2, and have they been delivered? If unhappy can buy it from you.

I recall they said it would be shipping in August?

My slot says delivery in November.

</comment><comment><USER133> Another question - is there anyway to take these notes and integrate with Evernote? Or has anyone tried a creative solution for this?

</comment><comment><USER173> Does it support two-page display? Given how you can take notes, I'd love to be able to read on one side and take notes on the other.

</comment><comment><USER174> I own the Sony DPT-RP1 and I love it because it's 13" (US letter size paper is 13.5").

The R2 is 10.3". Do peeps think smaller is better?

<comment><USER175> I am looking to buy Sony DPT-RP1 or very similar Fujitsu product. A quick review from actual user may be helpful in making decision. What do you not like about this Sony product?

</comment></comment><comment><USER176> Just bought a boox note 10 inch , same screen but android 9. Very nice device. You can even watch video on it with some ghosting.

</comment><comment><USER177> The handwriting to text seems cool but these things never work for anything else than English.

</comment><comment><USER178> I think it would be cool to do 3d design in a format like this, openscad, fusion360 etc. the pencil feels like a natural fit.

</comment><comment><USER179> Anyone have a lighting solution for the remarkable? I read mostly in bed and that's kind of a deal breaker.

</comment><comment><USER180> Damn this looks nice! How is the pen latency?

Sadly they don't ship to Japan so getting my hands on one is gonna be hard :(

</comment><comment><USER181> $399 when I set my country to US, £399 when set to the UK? That's not how currency works :/

</comment><comment><USER182> Interesting feature set but I don't see much value getting it if you already have iPad with Apple Pencil. There are several apps including Apple Notes that convert handwritten text to digital text. Also it doesn't replace a Tablet so will be another gadget taking space. I would rather wait for iPad or another full fledged Tablet to get some of these features.

<comment><USER58> Battery life and look-feel of paper. I love my kindle for reading because it doesn't do anything else. Mostly I agree with you.

If combined with kindle I would definitely want one.

</comment></comment><comment><USER183> Why has this been pinned to the top all day? Is ReMarkable associated with YCombinator somehow?

</comment><comment><USER184> Which formats are notes exported to? Can they be exported to markdown + latex + images?

</comment><comment><USER185> To me this is a bit absurd--if we're trying to replicate paper, maybe using a tree would be best? You can put the ink in the pen.

I guess the advantage is you can save many documents--but this is actually a disadvantage to me as I like having a physical copy I can splay out on my desk. Or even an entire wall covered with my designs.

</comment><comment><USER186> A honest question, who really need this ? A pen and a notebook is a couple of euros ..

</comment><comment><USER187> Do you still have to replace the pencil tips often and are they still expensive?

<comment><USER188> This image from the order page implies 'yes': [https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0e4kwcjv/production/6b0df7dbf80...](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0e4kwcjv/production/6b0df7dbf80cb99a7e810ce02d80a980f3ac6049-2832x2002.jpg)

Although $12 ($17 inc shipping to US) for 8 tips doesn't seem too expensive to me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER189> that sound from the stylus tip - I'm assuming the tip will wear down very quickly?

How intuitive is the wireless content transfer on the 1st gen model? At lot times on my iPad, I'm sourcing notes from web content.

</comment><comment><USER190> I wonder how well it would do as a replacement for the abandoned Kindle DX?

</comment><comment><USER191> Am I reading this right? It's a Linux OS but it doesn't work with Linux?

</comment><comment><USER192> Priced at 399 in USD, EUR and GBP. As usual, most expensive in the UK.

<comment><USER193> and 599 CAD, which is like 14% markup comparing USD price to CAD

</comment></comment><comment><USER194> i use ipad pro with some sort of 'paperlike' screen protector. Feels like writing on paper to me.

So other than supposedly reducing eyestrain( is this a proven claim?). What is the benefit?

</comment><comment><USER195> How is the latency when "turning" pages or taking notes?

</comment><comment><USER196> Does anyone have any opinions on this vs. the Sony Digital Paper?

<comment><USER197> I have the 13.3 inch Digital Paper but not the ReMarkable. The A4 size is great for reading Magazines and Journals. The writing experience is good but the stylus does not support pressure sensitivity. One feature that stands out: split screen, i.e. one side as a reader and the other side for taking note. By the way, the stylus supports erasing and highlighting. I wish it supports EPUB (PDF-only reader). Was interested in getting a ReMarkable, but the A4 size won me over.

<comment><USER196> Thank you. Appreciate it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER198> They announced a 2nd delay a few days ago. Hoping it's the last.

</comment><comment><USER199> I just ordered mine Remarkable 1 since there was a delay in 2

</comment><comment><USER200> How does this compare to something like a kindle for reading?

<comment><USER201> I looked into this when I first heard about the ReMarkable 2.0, general consensus was usable but not as good. Some work is required to convert books to be used on the device and make fonts look OK. I also remember something about the built in reader not being as well designed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER202> Can't click on the pre-order link on mobile Safari (iOS 13.6.1), no bueno. Trying hold the button down gives me the text options pop up (instead of the link preview) which makes me think there's an element over it

</comment><comment><USER203> I would had bought it, but no shipping to my country

</comment><comment><USER204> I just want the software. (And use it on my two in one)

</comment><comment><USER205> If I plugged a keyboard into the USB-C, would it work?

</comment><comment><USER206> A display with >10ms response times for writing does not cut it for me. I love the product, but this is something I can't compromise on. I really hope this problem on e-ink screens gets solved!

</comment><comment><USER207> Does this have any advantage against Boox Note 10.1?

</comment><comment><USER208> remarkable is nice, but it definitely needs someone to replace the main proprietary note taking application with an open source equivalent.

</comment><comment><USER209> Man that's a really beautiful website

</comment><comment><USER210> Now I have to carry three devices around...

<comment><USER211> Just pretend you are carrying Star Trek tablets :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER212> Too bad it has only 8GB and no SD card.

<comment><USER213> 8GB for text formats is quite a lot. The primary reason Kindle e-readers have larger storage is to support Audible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER214> In United States it costs 399$ or 337 Euro, but if I buy it in Germany, then it will cost 399 Euro - 20% more expensive...

In United States you make so much more money as a software developer comparing to Europe and then you pay much less than in Europe for all electronic devices. This is probably because Europe decided to go the communism way, charging everyone with INSANELY HUGE TAXES. Europe will soon become the next Africa with that kind of mindset.

</comment><comment><USER215> I think I'll spend that money on fancy notebooks and fountain pens/nice pencils. 0 latency, smell really good too.

</comment><comment><USER216> how is this different than any other tablet? just because the edges look like a notebook?

</comment><comment><USER217> Holding out for a larger version

</comment><comment><USER218> These will not ship to my country. Can anyone recommend a good eink note- taking alternative?

</comment><comment><USER219> Not shipped in India :-(

</comment><comment><USER220> I'll just put a matte / paper feel screen protector on my iPad and use GoodNotes.

</comment><comment><USER189> the marketing video intrigued me.. then I found real world reviews.. It's gonna be a nope for me.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE)

<comment><USER221> Everyone I know that has it uses it for note taking, pdf reading and drawing simple diagrams. Unless you're buying it do draw art I wouldn't buy it based on it's merit of drawing art.

<comment><USER189> the thing doesn't even support Adobe DRM Epub... what a waste of opportunity!

<comment><USER222> To be fair DRM is a waste of opportunity. If I buy a book, movie, or album I want to use it however I choose as long as it doesn't breach copyright laws.

I've been burned too many times by DRM'd content that stops working after a service/app update, is useless when the company goes out of business, or when it works on one of my devices but not another.

<comment><USER189> Libraries all use Adobe DRM. Kindle doesn't support it, so it's not in consideration for me.

I don't want to buy ebooks.. I want to check it out via my local library

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER223> Nice, but so expensive!

</comment><comment><USER224> Will it run doom?

</comment><comment><USER225> Does it run vim?

</comment><comment><USER226> boox max 3 or note 2, are way better than what remarkable can offer

</comment><comment><USER227> oh my god HN is like reading ads. what shite front page news....

</comment><comment><USER228> The availability of this e-reader is frustrating, I want it so bad but have to wait two months.

</comment><comment><USER229> > …on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens.

Are you sure about that? [1]

[1] [https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy- fatigue](https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue)

<comment><USER58> Is this written by a lobbyist?

Blue light causes cataracts if nothing else. It also affects sleep cycles which can cause fatigue and all sorts of strain on the eye and body.

But " Does this blue-light pose any hazard to our eyes?

Nope, not to my knowledge"

Animations are not perfectly smooth causing strain on scrolling (I can see the unevenness even on my 11 pro with every scroll). Colors are constructed - <USER2> look at a phone on acid? This also can cause subconscious strain.

The article also fails to recognize that most eink displayed are in fact illuminated.

The bottom line is reading on eink is relaxing in ways a tablet is not.

<comment><USER230> Cool story bro

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER231> I can buy 399 notebooks for 399

</comment><comment><USER232> Buy the Pen and Paper.

Nothing can feel like Pen and Paper without Pen and Paper. I stopped all this and bought $2 5 subject notebook and it relieved my anxiety and give me outlet to express.

Just buy Pen and Paper and stopped looking nostaliga and looking things in other things.

<comment><USER233> I kick started the first Remarkable and found it indispensable for grad school. It's just not practical to carry around a printout of every paper you've ever read for any of your classes, but a nice eink tablet meant I could read without eye strain and have older sources if I needed them.

I agree it's a poor replacement for writing notes on paper and I paired it with traditional notebooks for notes in class.

<comment><USER232> I tried some of solutions. But I could not replace. My needs are less. I use for journaling and some study.

I like the feel of paper and pen and I just think it can't be replaced.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER234> This seems like a perfect device for the single use of note taking. But something like [https://www.boox.com](https://www.boox.com) would probably make more sense for a lot of people since it can run other Android note taking and e-reader apps.

<comment><USER235> I have a Boox Note and its has tragically lousy software. Its stuck on Android Lollipop with an ancient, vulnerable kernel, SELinux disabled by the manufacturer and the device phones home to Chinese servers for just about everything. Handwriting recognition doesnt work without phoning home. Ony,x does not respect the GPL, the bootloader is locked on their devices, and the firmware is obfuscated.

I explain it all in this comment: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041543](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041543)

This received some attention in the re--it community last month--the company still does not care [0]. I preordered a remarkable 2. As said by other people: after being abused by all of these conpanies who intentionally lock down the devices that /we purchase/ from them, spying on us and making the devices intentionallu obselescent, remarkable, purism, pine64 have infinite goodwill from me for making devices that you have actual control over.

[0]: [https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7](https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7)

</comment></comment><comment><USER236> For me a big problem is that a lot of the things I want to save, mark up, and revisit (archive or search or share) are articles from webpages or PDFs - neither of which this eInk display is practical for.

<comment><USER101> PDFs work fine. I converted many Kindle books to PDF and sent them to the remarkable via their cloud API. I don't do it much but writing notes on PDF pages works fine.

<comment><USER237> How do you convert kindle books into PDFs?

<comment><USER101> Wiring together the work done in the Calibre project.

[http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle- books](http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books)

Start by downloading the owned book from Amazon, targeting one of the compatible devices. I have a bunch of old kindles still registered under my account that I use for this, for which I have the serial #. Then just follow instructions.

All the steps described as using the UI can be done with some digging from the command line.

Shipping a PDF up to the remarkable cloud also takes little digging and wiring, but it works totally reliably.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER229> I'm happy with my iPad. I can read books, watch videos or take notes all in one, plus I get to surf the open web on a super fast browser on top hardware that doesn't try to mimic the dead-tree. Not sure what the use-case for a sluggish 'paper-like' interface would ever be?

I know some folks will jump to suggest less eyestrain but neither paper books nor e-ink help with that. Since eyestrain stems from overworked eyes and a tired brain [1], it doesn't help to claim that the nature of surface revealing the text has anything to do with it.

[1] [https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy- fatigue](https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue)

<comment><USER148> The Remarkable does one thing and tries to do that one thing well. For a lot of people, not having Hacker News a swipe away is a feature. Having a much, much longer battery life is also nice.

Have you ever compared the screen of an iPad and Kindle outside? The Kindle is far easier to read in bright light. Even inside I prefer an eink screen because it isn't flashing 60 or 120 times per second.

</comment></comment><comment><USER238> When this device has an e-ink colour display then I would purchase it.

Until then: No Thanks and No deal.

EDIT: Not only that, Remarkable 2.0 and 1.0 are not even 64 bit and still use 32 bit processors in 2020. Completely pointless to use beyond 2038.

Like I said, wait for e-ink colour and 64 bit or don't bother.

<comment><USER229> I agree with you. Don't understand why people are downvoting your observation though.

<comment><USER239> Because the required hardware technology does not exist.

<comment><USER238> > does not exist.

Oh really? Lets have a look at the market shall we?

What is this then? [0]

Or this? [1]

Maybe this? [2]

Finally, an actual colour e-ink e-reader product. [3]

64 Bit e-reader bonus review: [4]

I have high hopes for reMarkable to do better than what is on the market right now which is why I would rather wait for a color e-ink version with a 64 bit CPU, which the technologies DO exist today. But unfortunately, what they are offering for a competitive e-reader tablet tells me that they are not even trying, even when they are selling a product with outdated technology. That isn't really a good deal is it?

[0] [https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html](https://www.eink.com/color- technology.html)

[1] [https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be- the-...](https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-year-of- e-ink-seriously/)

[2] [https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink- releasing...](https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing- new-color-screens-print-color-e-ink/)

[3] [https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e- read...](https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-reader-hands- on-review)

[4] [https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs- fujitsu...](https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu- quaderno-a5)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Set Theory: Should You Believe? - <AUTHOR> http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~norman/views2.htm

<comment><USER2> As a former mathematician, I can understand what he writes. Mathematically, it is basically a lot of ranting and raving over nothing. Set theory provides a foundation for mathematics. It is not the only foundation. Category theory is another. Pedagogically, his argument makes more sense. I think he is mostly arguing against using set theory in the teaching of math. True most mathematicians do not use set theory and mathematicians studied math for years without the concept of a set. Set theory is more used as a language and for that reason it is taught. In this sense, set theory is like turing machines and turing equivalence. Important concept, yes. Good to know, yes. Used by most in comp sci, no. Necessary, no.

<comment><USER3> _...set theory is like turing machines and turing equivalence. Important concept, yes. Good to know, yes. Used by most in comp sci, no. Necessary, no._

I have to disagree with this position in regards to Turing machines. This is because the definition of Turing machines leads directly to the problem of P vs. NP. Within the last month, I came across a problem that turned out to be NP-complete, a problem which also involved a very large data set (coincidentally, the problem was set cover). Had I not been aware of Turing machines and the P vs. NP problem, I could have spent hours implementing an algorithm which turned out to be unusable on the large data set I was working with. Instead, I knew that it would be necessary to find a reasonable approximation to the solution using some sort of greedy algorithm, and the piece of software I wrote actually turned out to be useful to the project we were working on.

I think that is one thing that really appeals to me about Computer Science. Nearly every core course I have taken has helped me as a programmer and as a computational thinker. I think this is part of the original author's problem with Mathematics education, that so much is learned and discarded, or simply taken for granted without being understood. Everything I have learned thus far in my CS education has been conceptually understandable (admittedly with a little work at times) and has helped me in some way (well, except maybe for that one COBOL course I took).

<comment><USER2> and set theory leads to the fact that the axiom of choice is independent and unprovable. But most mathematicians accept that axiom of choice is true. The same is true for the continuum hypothesis with a smaller majority accepting that as true. Similarly most in comp sci accept that P does not equal NP. One does not need to understand turing machines to understand the concept of time and memory for computers. It is just a way of formalizing the problem. Nice to know that the problem can be formalized but not necessary to be taught. I never said that turing machines where not important. But I am equally sure that you did not formalize your algorithm into a turing machine to show that it was np-complete. The author's point is that the same is true for set theory although he likes to phrase it in a very provoking way that I wholly don't agree with. Mathematicians use the general concepts of set theory not the formal one. Comp sci/programing uses the general concepts of turing machines not the formalizations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm glad I read that article. Do any mathematicians here (or at least math majors) have any comment on it? I don't know much pure mathematics, myself, but the author makes some very interesting assertions and claims which have piqued my interest.</comment>