Introducing the PineNote

[orebmur]

www.pine64.org/2021/08/15/introducing-the-pinenote/

»The PineNote is one of, if not the, most powerful e-ink device available on the market. It shares in much of the Quartz64’s pedigree, sporting the same RK3566 quad-core A55 SoC paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB eMMC flash storage. The PineNote is also fitted with two microphones and two speakers, a USB-C port for fast charging and data, as well as 5Ghz AC WiFi. Suffice to say, there is more than enough power in the device to serve its intended purpose (more on that later). The inner frame – the midsection – of the PineNote is made out of a magnesium alloy (similar to the Pinebook Pros outer chassis), making for a sturdy construction, while the back features a pleasantly ‘grippy’ plastic back cover with speaker cut-outs. The e-ink panel is covered by scratch resistant and glare reducing hardened glass. The entire assembly comes in at just over 7mm thick, which is approx. 1mm thinner than the Kindle Oasis 3, if you ever held one of those.

With the base-specs out of the way, let’s talk about the e-ink panel, which is indisputably the most important part of the device. The 10.1 inch, 3:4 panel has a resolution of 1404×1872 (227 DPI), can display 16 levels of grayscale and is capable of a 60hz refresh rate. It features a frontlight with cool (white) to warm (amber) light adjustment. [...]
Atop the e-ink panel sit a capacitive glass layer – for finger touch-based input – and a Wacom electromagnetic resonance layer (EMR) for EMR pen input. We will be selling a EMR pen for the PineNote, but in the event you don’t like it or already have a pen you’re accustomed to, then you can use it with the PineNote (granted it is compatible with the Wacom EMR standard).

[...]

We will be making the PineNote available for early adopters later this year for $399. The early adopter’s PineNote batch will ship with a magnetic cover (working with an on-board hall sensor, putting the device to sleep) as well as the EMR pen. Following the early adopter’s batch, both the cover and the pen will be sold separately. «

wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineNote

forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=171

[Quoth]

It's most unlikely it's 60Hz refresh. Also i'm not convinced of the need for microphones and speakers on a 10.3" eink note /annotation device. Thin makes for abysmal acoustics.

There are three main competing devices with this size screen.
Are there any decent ereaders that don't have an alloy chassis, which is a necessity?

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's most unlikely it's 60Hz refresh. Also i'm not convinced of the need for microphones and speakers on a 10.3" eink note /annotation device. Thin makes for abysmal acoustics.

There are three main competing devices with this size screen.
Are there any decent ereaders that don't have an alloy chassis, which is a necessity?

Since it runs a full Linux distro you can use the mic/speaker for online meetings. You could also use it to record lectures/in-person meetings and play them back later. Makes sense for a note taking device. Other devices like the Boox Note Air/Note 3 and Likebook P10 also have them.

They did update about the 60Hz business:

"Edit August 16 00:09 UTC: A previous version of this post listed the e-ink panel’s refresh rate at 60Hz. This number requires much more context. It takes multiple frames to display most images on an e-ink panel. The visual performance of the panel also depends on the method of converting the screen image to data the panel understands. We will be unable to make estimates of the panel’s true performance in frames per second without much more testing and development. So we’ve removed the 60Hz figure for now. We apologize for any misunderstanding."

This will easily be the most open eReader available. Of course it will probably have a lot of software kinks especially in the beginning but it is exciting IMO to have an essentially eInk linux tablet available with all the expected parts.

[rantanplan]

It'll have the same problems as all Android-based e-readers. If the software isn't built around eInk capabilities, the experience will not be good.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

It'll have the same problems as all Android-based e-readers. If the software isn't built around eInk capabilities, the experience will not be good.

Except more clunky than Kobo Elipsa (Linux and not particularly locked down) or Boyue or Onyx (Android). I don't exactly know about the Android 10.3", but the Boyue Likebook Mars 7.8" is a nicer Android GUI than regular Android, lets you turn off the Google Framework (almost spyware), works with BT headset or BT keyboard (not tried both). I've not done actual handwriting much in 20 years. I use Jota for notes on Mars which has the same number of pixels as the 10.3" screen and was about €250 including VAT. The screen cost puts up the price of the 10.3" models and a shame none are 300 dpi.

Also I'd use my phone to record & play audio even if I was using a 10.3" eink for notes as the UI performance for audio play/record is garbage on eInk and easier to do notes with the phone recording. Though if I was really expecting to record audio I'd use my Zoom H4N as it has decent stereo mics and massive record time on 2 x AA cells and does uncompressed wav or MP3. It, or current replacement, is the best audio narration recording solution using external microphones and Kobo Libra in a stand as the page turn button is a must for gapless reading.

[PeterT]

Seen today on SlashDot
"Pine64's 'PineNote' E-Ink Tablet Now Available for $399 for Developers"
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/...for-developers

Here's the link to PineNote https://pine64.com/product/pinenote-developer-edition/