Remarkable 2

[gwynevans]

From a quick google, and browse of https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable, I don’t believe it there’s anything that does support that sort of thing - you’re probably going to need iOS or Android with encryption enabled if that’s a requirement.

[datanoise]

Originally Posted by curtw

Thanks! I sent them a tech question, but maybe somebody here knows. Do any of the alternate readers, or possibly the OS itself suppose onboard encryption?

Nope, and cloud encryption seems to mean TLS when connecting to google cloud's server and encryption (at the server/storage layer, not specially for your data).

[Philippe D.]

Originally Posted by curtw

Thanks! I sent them a tech question, but maybe somebody here knows. Do any of the alternate readers, or possibly the OS itself suppose onboard encryption? It mentions encrypted cloud storage and fine transfer, bt there's no indication that you can protect the documents that are retained on the device itself.

I don't think this is likely to be different between rM2 and rM1, so my guess is, probably not. My rM1 offers to lock the device with a password, an option that I have never enabled; but encrypting the documents would make the device much more cumbersome to use - in my opinion, its strength is enabling you to work with a document, then quickly switch to another, let it go to sleep, wake up fast...

If you have to type in a password every time, plus the time (and CPU) for decryption, you'll lose much of the efficiency.

I ordered the newer version, despite already owning the older one. If it's just more of the same, but slightly faster and with a bit more battery life, it's still a very good device for my use cases (reading PDFs, annotating them, taking handwritten notes). It's probably also very good if you want to sketch, as it's obviously what it was intended for.

For other uses, I don't think it will be very good. Storage is limited; no light; and it doesn't natively support third-party apps.

To be honest, I'm not even sure the differences between the two versions warrant buying a new device altogether, but hey, I ordered during the COVID lockdown; I wasn't losing any income and was spending much less than usual... so I could afford it.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by Philippe D.

in my opinion, its strength is enabling you to work with a document, then quickly switch to another, let it go to sleep, wake up fast...

If you have to type in a password every time, plus the time (and CPU) for decryption, you'll lose much of the efficiency.

However, for somebody working in law, banking, or real estate, efficiency isn't the only concern. You have client privacy to worry about. If this is ever expected to replace a legal pad, it will have to offer data protection.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by curtw

However, for somebody working in law, banking, or real estate, efficiency isn't the only concern. You have client privacy to worry about. If this is ever expected to replace a legal pad, it will have to offer data protection.

That is why one firm I do some work for decided to not order the Remarkable 2 and continue with the Sony DTP-RP1/CP1 devices. The original reply they go from Remarkable seems to suggest that encryption is supported but a closer reading says that encryption is only for data stored in the Google cloud or being transferred between the device and the cloud. As a legal firm, on-device encryption is pretty much mandatory. The 10 week delay for their sample device didn't help either.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by curtw

However, for somebody working in law, banking, or real estate, efficiency isn't the only concern. You have client privacy to worry about. If this is ever expected to replace a legal pad, it will have to offer data protection.

It’s an interesting consideration, as on the one hand, replacing a legal pad should realistically need no more encryption than a piece of paper supplies, but it’ll be compared with a laptop rather than a legal pad so probably will have issues in certain market sectors...

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

It’s an interesting consideration, as on the one hand, replacing a legal pad should realistically need no more encryption than a piece of paper supplies, but it’ll be compared with a laptop rather than a legal pad so probably will have issues in certain market sectors...

I asked a question about this and at that legal firm, their corporate policy with the legal pads was that the pages were transcribed and then shredded. Not to mention that since they were mostly in shorthand, the person who wrote the notes was often the only person who could easily read them. I hadn't realized that even for people trained in a shorthand system, their notes often became very idiosyncratic as they develop their own symbols/abbreviations/whatever.

[Philippe D.]

Originally Posted by curtw

However, for somebody working in law, banking, or real estate, efficiency isn't the only concern. You have client privacy to worry about. If this is ever expected to replace a legal pad, it will have to offer data protection.

I think this part of the market has already been cornered by Sony, right? I'd say reMarkable not trying to compete with Sony on their established turf is a rather smart move. Or, in this case, absence of move.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Philippe D.

I think this part of the market has already been cornered by Sony, right? I'd say reMarkable not trying to compete with Sony on their established turf is a rather smart move. Or, in this case, absence of move.

There are a few competitors in that niche market but, yeah, it's a niche.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by DNSB

There are a few competitors in that niche market but, yeah, it's a niche.

At these prices, if Sony's had an aluminum case (like my awesome 505 did), I'd probably go with that. I think I'm sold on reMarkable.

[prom king]

I like that this device has a large 10 inch screen when all other devices are around 6 inches, and that it seems that it runs PDFs smoothly.

But it seems this can't connect on the internet so that you can't read online articles and books from sites like archive.org and projectgutenberg. And reviewers say that inporting ebooks on it is a drag.

So can anyone recommend me a device with 10 inch screen which can connect to internet and run PDFs smoothly?

EDIT ok, I see that Kobo Forma is something like that.

[Dr. Drib]

^

I'm considering the Boox Note2 or the ReMarkable 2.

The boox Note2 is supposed to be more of an actual ebook reader, and is supposed to work excellently with PDF files.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

^

I'm considering the Boox Note2 or the ReMarkable 2.

The boox Note2 is supposed to be more of an actual ebook reader, and is supposed to work excellently with PDF files.

I just got an Onyx Boox Note 2 and seems to be working very well with both its stock software and with KOReader. I was somewhat leery of trying an Onyx device, but so far I have been pleasantly surprised, with its features and performance. I did notice that a number of its features are "phone home", possibly to China through the cloud. I just keep the WiFi off most of the time and don't enable it for those features (mostly that means not using them, not a loss, in my case).

You can download the user's manual (PDF).

Luck;
Ken

[Dr. Drib]

Thank you for the info on Boox Note2.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by prom king

I like that this device has a large 10 inch screen when all other devices are around 6 inches, and that it seems that it runs PDFs smoothly.

But it seems this can't connect on the internet so that you can't read online articles and books from sites like archive.org and projectgutenberg. And reviewers say that inporting ebooks on it is a drag.

So can anyone recommend me a device with 10 inch screen which can connect to internet and run PDFs smoothly?

EDIT ok, I see that Kobo Forma is something like that.

I've pre-ordered a reMarkable 2, and the built-in workaround for not having its own browser is a Chrome plug-in to send web pages from your PC to your reMarkable. Apparently, there's also a MacOS script that adds a "printer driver" for the reMarkable, and you can send any document from a Mac by "printing" it.

(I'm buying primarily for the note-taking and handwriting recognition capabilities.)