reMarkable 2 10.3" Eink tablet

[Renate]

I just saw this one: https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2
It seems sketchy with some sort of "Connect" service (that you have to pay $8/month for).
The attributes are lackluster, 8GB storage 1GB RAM, dual core 1.2G processor.
Who are they marketing this to?

[Pjama]

Corporations with money to burn, I think. It’s a joke.

[Renate]

I'd rather buy this, you get 18 for $25. https://www.ebay.com/itm/154701179049 [9" x 12" melanine MDF white boards]
(I have actually bought something similar. It's a great material for laser cutting and you can write on it.)

[ab78727]

I had it for a while and really loved using it. There is no device yet with the low latency for handwriting, which makes it about as good as paper for taking notes. Unlike paper, your notes are all accessible on the device and on the cloud vs. bulky notebooks. It also functions well as an ereader and allows transfer of ebooks (pdf, epub) to the device. The Connect plan enables you to also transfer between Google Drive and Dropbox in addition to their own cloud offering. Finally, there is a fairly active open source scene for the device enabling you to install hacks that considerably enhance the functionality and almost make the Connect subscription somewhat unnecessary.

I did find the storage limitation (6GB available) to be irritating enough to resell my device, which is why I no longer have it. The Kobo Elipsa I got is not thus limited but the writing experience is nowhere as good as it was on the Remarkable 2.

In summary, if you value taking notes and being able to access them easily and everywhere, there is no substitute.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by ab78727

but the writing experience is nowhere as good as it was on the Remarkable 2.

I prefer paper and pencil and scan.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by ab78727

I had it for a while and really loved using it. There is no device yet with the low latency for handwriting, which makes it about as good as paper for taking notes. Unlike paper, your notes are all accessible on the device and on the cloud vs. bulky notebooks. It also functions well as an ereader and allows transfer of ebooks (pdf, epub) to the device. The Connect plan enables you to also transfer between Google Drive and Dropbox in addition to their own cloud offering. Finally, there is a fairly active open source scene for the device enabling you to install hacks that considerably enhance the functionality and almost make the Connect subscription somewhat unnecessary.

I did find the storage limitation (6GB available) to be irritating enough to resell my device, which is why I no longer have it. The Kobo Elipsa I got is not thus limited but the writing experience is nowhere as good as it was on the Remarkable 2.

In summary, if you value taking notes and being able to access them easily and everywhere, there is no substitute.

The iPad has lower latency. Plus most of the note taking apps support some sort of cloud backup.

On the eInk side the Boox devices aren't too far behind either and you don't need to pay $8 a month to sync your notes on Dropbox or Google Drive. All my notes are automatically synced to Dropbox on my Boox Note Air.

The ePub reader of the remarkable is also not very remarkable compared to Kobo or Boox.

[ab78727]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

The iPad has lower latency. Plus most of the note taking apps support some sort of cloud backup.

On the eInk side the Boox devices aren't too far behind either and you don't need to pay $8 a month to sync your notes on Dropbox or Google Drive. All my notes are automatically synced to Dropbox on my Boox Note Air.

The ePub reader of the remarkable is also not very remarkable compared to Kobo or Boox.

You are right about the writing latency for the iPad but my reply was about eink devices. I used Nebo on the iPad (also the underlying note taking technology for the Kobo Elipsa) and sync to GDrive and I agree, it is pretty nice. I definitely miss the rM2 for its display, the excellent writing experience, the excellent sync experience - if not for the storage limitations, I would never have gotten rid of it but I have a lot of ebooks and I like to have them with me without depending on the cloud. If there is a rM3 that offers at least 32GB of expandable storage, you can rest assured I will be back in line to purchase it.

Also, the $8/month is not required to use the cloud though there are limitations for such users. There is also a rmfakecloud package that many users use to sync data to their own storage. It really is a nice hackable and open device and I value that a lot.

As for the Boox etc. not being far behind, I don't know what to say - every ms matters to avoid distractions for serious note taking and I will again say that the rM2 excels here; if you don't care about note taking and don't do it enough, then probably the boox is fine for you. I also have a Kobo Elipsa and its writing experience compared to the rM2 is not even close. If you value owning a thing that is about focus and does the things that it promises to do well, note taking in the case of the rM2, then there is no substitute for the rM2 imo.

I personally will never own a Boox given that they continue to violate the GPL license but it's a mostly free world so I guess we respectively spend our money in a manner that is reasonable to us. Hopefully you can root your device or see how Boox etc. handle your data; the rM2 offers root/ssh access and has no requirement to use the cloud so for corporate and privacy-conscious users, it offers a safer experience.

I hear people complain about the ereader experience on the rM2 but I've never had any complaints in this regard. Further, there are open source updates in place by volunteers that bring in Plato or KOReader to the device if one desires.

[ab78727]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I prefer paper and pencil and scan.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ab78727

I personally will never own a Boox given that they continue to violate the GPL license...

I though that most manufacturers sucked on this score? Are you speaking of releasing source code? Who gets a good rating by your criteria?

[ab78727]

Originally Posted by Renate

I though that most manufacturers sucked on this score? Are you speaking of releasing source code? Who gets a good rating by your criteria?

I believe Remarkable has stuck to the letter of the law in this regard, based on my read of the contributors on the rM reddit/discord that build hacks/enhancements for this device. While they make things difficult (change APIs ever firmware update, breaking rmfakecloud and ddvkhacks, for e.g.), they appear to have stayed true to the terms of the GPL afaict, releasing source code for their updates on their Github repo. The secret sauce, i.e. the low latency writing and the UI are proprietary but they made those proprietary in a manner avoiding violating the open source licenses afaik.

I also haven't heard anything bad about Kobo in this regard for their use of GPL, but I frankly haven't checked thoroughly on this. I base my opinion on the availability of various open-source enhancements and hacks for these devices, which indicates to me that Kobo isn't some locked-down mess.

[Renate]

Well, the Remarkable still seems like a mixed bag to me. The default is a locked-down manufacturer's cloud. You argue that because someone went to the trouble to get around this onerous limitation that makes the device great by the hackability standard.

I find that manufacturers give some lip service to putting source up somewhere but it's usually out of date and a low priority.

[ab78727]

Originally Posted by Renate

Well, the Remarkable still seems like a mixed bag to me. The default is a locked-down manufacturer's cloud. You argue that because someone went to the trouble to get around this onerous limitation that makes the device great by the hackability standard.

I find that manufacturers give some lip service to putting source up somewhere but it's usually out of date and a low priority.

In comparative terms and compared to other e-readers, I think Remarkable is doing a good job providing their current updates to the open source projects that they use, while still trying to make money. I understand that you don't like them but if my statements so far haven't convinced you, then probably it is not worth hashing it out further; if you can find a manufacturer that makes a more open device you should mention it - the PineNote doesn't count as it isn't usable yet and won't be for a while. Also, the cloud is not a required component to use the rM2 tablet so it is unfair to try to link them to it.

[Renate]

As I said in the first post, this device is underpowered by today's standards. The subscription cloud service is a head scratcher for me. You assert that they are great because they're (somewhat?) open source. I'm just saying that generally the level of access to the source code that you need is generally poor across the board. I was asking you who you you thought provided good source code support.

[ab78727]

Originally Posted by Renate

As I said in the first post, this device is underpowered by today's standards. The subscription cloud service is a head scratcher for me. You assert that they are great because they're (somewhat?) open source. I'm just saying that generally the level of access to the source code that you need is generally poor across the board. I was asking you who you you thought provided good source code support.

I explained that as a user of the device for 1+ year that the device is not underpowered with responsiveness second to none, that Remarkable respects open source licenses and provides good support, and doesn't need the cloud plan to work well.

I also explained that imo Remarkable and Kobo provide reasonable open source support, based on the open source projects that exist to customize their behavior. PineNote will be another option but I guess it will take a year to get it to a usable state.

I don't think we'll resolve this matter with this back and forth. If you are actually curious about Remarkable vs. just saying bad things about it for some reason, I urge you to order it and return it within the return period if you don't like it. Alternatively you can check the various reviews of the device on Youtube or sites such as Verge.

Again, I used the device for non-trivial period of time, liked what it offered, and kind of miss it; I will buy again once they address my storage concern.