> Remarkable 2 is better, because of the features it doesn't have.

Like syncing local notes using common cloud services?

Technically, the feature's there, but it's locked behind a $100 per year "service".

Rant aside, I have an iPad mini where I turned all notifications off. Just as good as if it didn't have those features when I don't care about them - but if I need them they're right there.

> Like syncing local notes using common cloud services?

Technically this is present on the Remarkable if you're willing to fiddle with the device some. They give you root by default (and provide an ssh service if the device is connected over usb), and the community has implemented quite a few syncing options.

That said - I was also very bummed to see them introduce the paid service. I'd really like them to succeed by selling good & open hardware, not by moving towards a locked down device ties to SaaS.

On my android devices, squelching unwanted notifications feels like whack-a-mole. I haven't been tracking it exactly, but it feels like various updated apps keep inventing new categories of notifications to get around my previous de-selections.

Clarification: the above are apps for which I still want /useful/ notifications, so I can't disable all notifications for them out-right.

Apps should have a notification category if you dig into the menus. Allowing you to specify but I think its up to the app developer to have it tuned to allow it.

If that happens, it's probably by design and a good sign that you should find a better app.

I have a Remarkable 2. I cannot describe how much I love the writing experience on it. I don't think any other standard tablet has ever come close to that.

I also feel like you for the paid Connect account, which I work around using open source tools that you're free to run on it. You can SSH as root easily and run whatever you want. I do it frequently for screen sharing.

I always find funny how people gush over the Remarkable especially the writing aspect.

I for one find the lack of progress astonishing. Because, you know, if you wanted great writing experience you could've used a CrossPad ... 25 years ago. You write on a notebook -- with a quality pen manufactured by Cross as the name suggests -- the CrossPad records it as vector strokes. Done. In 25 years the progress we got is there's a screen now but that's all. The device still can't do, say, offline OCR or indeed anything useful beyond what the CrossPad used to do.

I have contemplated a more fully-functional device, but I don't get the need for OCR - I can type way more accurately on my keyboard than I can write. By a lot. Anyway...

I've had other devices with pens, but never really used them. I got the Remarkable for my wife and it really compels me to use it, but not with any features, just the writing aspect. I can't tell you whether it's the texture, the screen or something else, but it just does. I admit the same could happen with other E Ink writing devices like the Onyx Max Lumi 2, but I don't have any of them to confirm.

Indeed, Connect feels bad. There's RCU http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/

You can install syncthing on it. Problem solved.

> No notifications, no messaging, no email, quiet tech.

Also, no spyware..

When a product originates from China, it must be full of spyware. Let's don't even question whether that's true or even reasonable. Then imagine one day, China's scientists invented a new semiconductor, a new material to make chip, or a new technological product that's order of magnitude better than everything out there.

My question: are you going to avoid it like the plague; don't buy anything made of it, which may be in a lot of the things you touch. Btw, that's not very far-fetched, judging from the number of breakthrough research coming out of that country.

thinking the same thing. how damaging to the brand that once I hear Huawei, I think of spyware.

are there concrete cases you're thinking about?

It's china. They have been caught putting chips in servers to infiltrate US companies.

It's everywhere. The CCP takes what the CCP wants. If you work for one of these companies like Huawei, or Boox or whatever, when the Chinese government asks you to do something nefarious, you comply because you want to keep existing. They ain't asking.

Caught putting chips in servers is as plausible as putting chips in masks.

After receiving this feedback, I went and reexamined this issue.

It was reported by multiple outlets, but never corroborated.

I sincerely apologize for perpetuating misinformation.

I should have looked at this issue harder when it happened, and again before posting about it.

You're probably referring to the Bloomberg chip hack 2018 article that had no primary source, that was doubled down on and still has no source.

Spyware and cheap knockoffs. Also rampant IP theft [0]. As they say, chabuduo! [1]

[0] https://blogs.cisco.com/news/huawei-and-ciscos-source-code-c...

[1] https://mothership.sg/2018/05/what-is-chabuduo/

HN cannot seem to decide whether to hate or love IP protection.

If I had to choose between China and Big Tech spying on me (and I technically do) I would pick China any and every time honestly.

Are you saying there’s a setting somewhere where I can choose between spying by China and spying by Big Tech?

Cool, please point me to it.

If not, your comment makes no sense.

BTW, if such a setting were available, I’d choose spying by Big Tech any day over spying by CCP/China.

Else, I want neither.

I am saying people make that choice when they choose which device manufacturer they go with (for example buying a Google phone vs a Huawei phone).

I disagree with you but I don't think the downvotes you're getting are justified. If you really do prefer Chinese spying, why so?

I have no connection whatsoever with China, my data is pretty much useless to them. Big Tech companies can use my data in all sorts of ways to fuck me over. It really is a no brainer to me.

Are you kidding me? One is a nuclear nation state currently committing genocide with a long history of "disappearing" wrong-thinkers. The other sells ads based on your online behavior. Seriously, what motivates your claim?

HN has long been infiltrated by CCP-backed commenters, and they come out in force for the expected title keywords.

I don't live in China. The Chinese are many miles away. I am not worth nuking, and I am not at risk of being involved in a genocide.

I live in a surveillance state. I don't really like being surveilled. Big companies share data between each other, and it influences my ability to do things like obtaining a house, or getting insurance.

The Chinese have nothing to do with my data. Western companies, on the other hand, can make a good deal of profit from data in aggregate, and don't care if it harms other people.

The Chinese stick to their own people (and what they believe to be China). Western companies, on the other hand, will track everyone on the globe, without any consent at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearview_AI

I don't use Chinese software; it's just that the person's claim isn't nearly as insane as you're making it out to be. They're acting more rationally than you are, here. It's not Chinese scaremongering or anti-anti-Chinese scaremongering to acknowledge that China can't really do much to the average Western citizen in aggregate.

Short term thinking at its worse. China isn't going to stop at its borders. Their tech companies not only answer to their government, they are just as greedy western big tech, if not more. Your info is going to be sold to the highest bidder, plus shared with the Chinese government.

"You're thinking short-term and you're bad for it. Here's a bunch of unfounded speculation, and I'm going to throw in "plus shared with the government," despite your information already being shared with the United States government, which isn't at risk of collapsing any time soon, and will never be part of China, nullifying the risk of your data being taken by the Chinese government."

That's not the point I was making.

Why do you think the Chinese tech companies are any better than western ones with your data? They have the same pressures of producing profit.

The CCP has long been building a database on people in all countries of strategic interest (U.S., UK, Austrlia, India, etc etc). And not just the prominent people. All the people. [1][2][3][4][5]

But hey, tell us again how China is only interested in the Chinese.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-a-...

[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/china-spent-years-coll...

[3] https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg89aj/china-has-been-doing-...

[4] https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94493-china-has-st...

[5] https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/969532277/china-wants-your-da...

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> HN has long been infiltrated by CCP-backed commenters

I suspect this is true to some degree but I also think there is no shortage of Chinese nationalists and anti-Americans (including Americans) who by default, upvote anything that has a pro-China agenda and downvote anything that has anti-China agenda.

People do not possess ideas, ideas possess people. There is no escaping the memeplexes driving these and our posts.

> anti-Americans (including Americans)

Alas, tankies and campies exist.

Where is there genocide? Have you ever been to China, or do you just watch the propaganda of the media hostile to China?

Currently, Xinjiang. Past, Tibet.

> Have you ever been to China, or do you just watch the propaganda of the media hostile to China?

Have you ever been outside of China, or do you just watch media censored and approved by CCP?

Of all the larger nation states that could spy on me, I would probably be the least concerned about Indonesia. But China is not far above it.

You can turn these all off. Lack of features is not a feature imho - no mather how hard people try to sell this.

Twitter exists because you can't write long posts. Snapchat exists because you can't view past messages. Tinder exists because you can't just talk to anyone unless they are interested in you too. Limitations and missing "features" absolutely can be an asset to a platform.

You're comparing apples to oranges - those are social networks where multiple people have to come to some sort of consensus, having rules over that consensus sure, can be a feature. I don't need anyone to agree with me to turn off notifications.

Devices with notifications are little skinner boxes for our brains. There's perfectly valid reasons for people to want a device where notifications are not even an option, just like there's valid reasons for alcoholics to not want booze in the house. If that's not an issue for you - congratulations, those devices are not designed for you. But please don't deny others them, just because you don't think they should exist - they absolutely should.

Nobody said the Remarkable shouldn't exist. The question was whether the lack of a feature that can be disabled is a feature, which it isn't. You know what else doesn't send notifications and doesn't even need a battery? Paper.

>The question was whether the lack of a feature that can be disabled is a feature, which it isn't.

It is, though, and examples have been provided of VERY successful platforms built upon this negative space.

Consider the lack of a feature as a feature itself; it lowers the amount of cognitive brainpower required to use the system, and that is VERY valuable.

I’m of two minds on this one. Starting without notifications as an option in my devices would help me tremendously in my day to day life. But that’s just me. There are so many different brains out there. How does a company make a product that sells to a sufficiently wide market to make it worthwhile? The only option I see is… options. User-specific customization.

> Starting without notifications as an option in my devices would help me tremendously in my day to day life.

Incredibly good for mental health.

> The only option I see is… options. User-specific customization.

You can SSH into a remarkable tablet and do whatever you want to it.

> How does a company make a product that sells to a sufficiently wide market to make it worthwhile?

It is very expensive. Its only purpose is to be a digital notebook.

I wasn’t referring to this product specifically, but electronics in general.

> You know what else doesn't send notifications and doesn't even need a battery? Paper.

Think of this product as very expensive paper that backs up writing to the internet. Not a sh*ty tablet that can't do a lot of things.

To a platform, sure. Limiting what other people can do can shape how a social platform works.

For a piece of hardware, not so much.

No you're wrong. Its absolutely a selling point. When i got my remarkable i did what i do with any other tech, start searching the menus and features and trying things out. What i immediately discovered... theres nothing to do! Until you start writing, or you have something to read, the device is useless. I got mine for XMas, and a week earlier i bought myself an ipad pro to use as a digital notebook. Unboxing it and using it day one and i was immediately struct by the quiet tech that it is. Its unlike anything else i've used in a long time.

Get an ipad and theres endless apps and accounts and notifications and a shiny bright screen begging for you to play with it. The ipad really wants to be your computer with a stylus attached, and that is great, i take it traveling instead of anything else and its really convenient. The remarkable is NOT a computer. The remarkable sits at my desk and is just ready for me, while the ipad is eternally charging, or chiming, or begging for attention and distraction. I can't have it at my desk while i work.

The remarkable is literally a digital notebook and has about as much utility as a real notebook - a lot for writing and reading and almost 0 for anything else. It is honestly the first product i've used that actually replaces paper at my desk.

I have an old iPad Air that I don’t link to my main Apple ID. It has no apps except for the minimum needed to function as an ebook reader and scratchpad.

It’s pretty distraction free. I would say if you’re willing to run your tablet under its potential it’s possible to have a quiet device.

I ordered a Remarkable 2 but canceled once I realized I had an old iPad lying around. It works for me.

> It works for me.

Thats really what matters.

I will say one big thing for me is the light and flashing and stuff. Humans are naturally evolved to be attracted to quick moving and bright things. Bright electronic screens totally hit that, and for me any sort of screen in my periphery completely distracts me. So a device without a light makes a big difference.

Ive had LCD tablets and have a few Boox devices. The Boox devices are IMO not really a distraction. Web browsing just feels off and beyond grabbing something to read off the net I never really find myself using it. I don't compulsively browse reddit on it. Games and movies obviously are pretty much no goes but I get the added flexibility of being able to read the newspaper or a library book. You don't even need to make an account with the Boox devices. It's there if you want but it's MUCH easier to ignore than a smartphone or traditional tablet.

In my opinion it's a great deal more complex than: "you can just turn off the features". To me "lack-of-a-feature" is not in itself a feature of the device or platform, rather a feature of the company who makes the device or platform. It signals that the manufacturer is fully committed to solving a specific use case. Avoiding feature creep is tough though. Companies need to make money, and the easiest way to do that is to exploit your current customers to upgrade. However, because no one upgrades a device without a reason, it may be inevitable that companies continue to follow the classic: phone -> phablet -> tablet -> basically laptop without a keyboard progression.

>You can turn these all off.

In many cases, you can't. Turning off popups and reminders is a constant battle with my hardware. Duolingo is about to murder me if I don't resume my language practice.

It must be great to live a life in perfect control of your impulses. Alas, as a mere human, being able to turn off all notifications, also means I can turn them back on when I get bored with what I'm doing.

Purposefully putting myself in a situation where any dopamine rush is more than a click away is one of the best feelings I've had in years. So yeah, I'd consider that a feature.

I was skeptical because of the cost, but it's honestly been a hugely valuable investment for my work. I don't even turn wifi on and don't care about syncing.

All I want is something I enjoy using to write notes throughout the day, sketch out ideas, and organize my day.

Yes, there's a trillion other tools, software, apps, paper notebooks, whatever that I could use to do this. The point for me is that I didn't use those things. I do use the Remarkable and I love it.

Same. I use pretty much every feature of the remarkable 2. My favorite product in a decade

Has PDF annotation improved on Remarkable 2?

Otherwise it's trival to disable notifications, messaging, email etc (at least on Boox and there are quite good youtube tutorials about how to do this), so that's not a particularly strong differentiation.

"You can have any color you want as long as it's black" only works as a selling point if other cars can't be black.

"You can have any color you want as long as it's black" isn't the selling point. The selling point is- "This car was designed to be black, and looks better in black than other cars."

It's like how my screwdriver is significantly better at driving screws than my swiss army knife. Purposeful design drives a better experience

In this case it doesn't. PDF is vastly superior on other devices.

What 'loud' tech did you see on the linked page? Everything was about reading and writing.

Not gp, but the app store and matebook syncing in particular jump out to me as going beyond reading and writing. Not that I disagree with their inclusion necessarily (I'm sure they put in whatever made sense in their ecosystem), but it won't be for everyone.

I think he means it in a metaphorical sense. Anything that grabs attention is "LOUD" in this sense (just as is ALL CAPS writing).

Does the Remarkable 2 have "templates" for pages?

A couple years ago I went from a largely "paperless" life to using a daily planner, largely for my daily work and personal TODO lists, and have found the process very valuable.

I toyed around with making a custom template for my daily notes/lists, and using the RocketBook ecosystem (maybe with just my own printed templates and using their app for scanning), but in the end just stuck with pre-printed planner books.

I'm just getting ready to order my third planner, and this topic comes up and tempts me with a technological solution to a largely solved problem, but makes me wonder what benefits it might have.

Out of curiousity, which planner do you use and which feature(s)/layouts are the most useful for you?

I've started building custom pdf planners for these eInk devices (I'm an rM2 owner myself) and am always looking for insight on how people use them. Have a little website setup for this at https://hyperpaper.me

My use is still evolving, but mostly I use it for daily "TODO" lists for both work and personal. Secondary I use it for notes about the day. Both are basically disposable, and my "what I did" I type into a notes file on the computer for future reference and searching. The planner I find quite valuable to let me flip to a page in the future and write down a "todo" to do in a few days or weeks.

The TODO lists I mark with Done, Won't Do, or Rescheduled for the future. That process is valuable, if I push something off too many times, I evaluate if I really need to do it.

I started with the Panda Planner Pro, but I ended up finding the personal and reflective things more onerous than useful. So once I filled up the first one I moved to the Amazon Basics Daily Planner ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078GVYRZG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b... ), which I mostly like. I like having two days of todos at once, because I can just see more that way. I'd probably be just as happy to have 3-4 todo columns per 2 pages, 5 would be convenient but probably too small.

I'm considering the Clever Fox Pro for the next one, but it's $40 while it has a nice week view, it probably doesn't have enough todo entries, I really need a good 10-15 per day. Maybe I just need a week todo, with daily "priorities". That would probably be ideal.

I'd like to try the "timeslots" where I plan out my todo a bit more with times, but that may or may not work.

Yeah it does, pretty certain you upload custom ones too though I've never tried it

Yes you can, in fact you can ssh/scp into the device since it runs Linux and transfer over any .png files to use as templates. It's pretty neat and unusual to be able to do that on a consumer devices these days.

Check out https://remarkablewiki.com/tips/templates

Also eInk means that the display doesn't have a backlight, which means it doesn't catch your eye and steal your attention. +1 feature missing that makes it better.

Isn't what the Boox Max Lumi & Co have a "Backlight" ? https://shop.boox.com/products/maxlumi2

I found that this made a big usability improvement in low light situations over previous eInk readers I owned, and that in practice there were more low light situations (or at least situations where I'd rather not turn on a light just to read).

Footnote 20-22 indicates it has a backlight. Which is honestly something I want just because I want to be able to read in a dark or low light room. Something which has kept me from buying a remarkable.

To be honest, I'd likely get one if I could read my work emails, check my calendar and keep myself up-to-date through my RSS feeds natively from it.

Remarkable is perhaps not clear enough that this isn't what they expect you to do with the Remarkable.

Perhaps it's not as remarkable as it claims to be.

Perhaps it’s exactly what it claims to be? I think I’ve heard, “remarkably simple” used as a compliment more often than “remarkably complex.”

Yep. I always think of spyware with Huawei now. However, I watched the clip that is partway down the page, and the song in that clip made me stop and listen. It is so relaxing to hear. Here is a direct link to the song in the video. [1]

If anyone can tell me the artist's name, I'd be grateful.

[1] https://consumer-img.huawei.com/content/dam/huawei-cbg-site/...

Edit: I found it through the lyrics. Olive Musique - Everything About You

Is there an Overdrive app for the Remarkable 2? I want to be able to checkout and read library books.

Overdrive was bought by Rakuten, owners of Kobo. I'd predict that you're not going to see Overdrive apps on non-Kobo ereaders, unless they have access to Google Play.

No Kindle app = Not useful to me. Do either of these support kindle?

There is no kindle app directly. You can go through a conversion process to convert from .kfx to .epub and then read those on (at least) the remarkable.

https://www.isummersoft.com/transfer-kindle-to-remarkable-ta...

Boox devices run Android, so you can install the Kindle app from the play store.

for $400????