reMarkable Connect subscription plans(support.remarkable.com)
support.remarkable.com
reMarkable Connect subscription plans
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406217575441-Information-about-Connect
132 comments
Yeah at first glance this service's rollout seems terrible. You are dogged all through the checkout process with dark patterns and threats that your device will cost more while doing less if you don't subscribe... why would I buy this at all then?
Indeed. I truly hope that PineNote takes off:
https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/
I am not crazy about the PineNote design as the SoC and memory are well beyond what I would consider efficient for an eInk tablet who's primary role is to replace paper and pencil.
There's a saying that for every trend there's an anti-trend. I do wonder when we'll reach a critical mass of subscription services such that a preference against subscriptions in general becomes a trend.
It’s hard because subscription services hit a sweet spot in human psychology - cheap on a monthly basis so many are happy (can you go back to paying 400$ for software unless it’s something you are 100% guaranteed to want and use for a long time), and expensive in the long run so businesses are happy (also recurring stable revenues)
It’s unfortunate, but I don’t see a reversal any time soon. If I was a developer I would also want to do subscription based services, would you (put yourself in the shoes of someone running a software company)?
It’s criminal how many times I have paid for Microsoft Office though.
It’s unfortunate, but I don’t see a reversal any time soon. If I was a developer I would also want to do subscription based services, would you (put yourself in the shoes of someone running a software company)?
It’s criminal how many times I have paid for Microsoft Office though.
I think we just need to be much more discerning about the added value from a subscription.
In the case of some SaaS tools I pay for (like Todoist), I don't resent the model because I've seen steady improvements and the cost is low enough relative to the value I feel like I get. If they increased the price more than ~20%, I would probably cancel and use an alternative.
Netflix is different; I actually don't watch much content and would happily live without it, but it appears to be good enough value during the times I do use it, particularly given that I'm well aware of how expensive their products are to create in the first place.
The problems with reMarkable here are two-fold. Firstly, the existence of any subscription is problematic when the device has such a high up-front cost. Secondly, the prices they have chosen far exceed the value their "extra" services can offer. If they had priced it at $12 per year I would have probably grumbled but accepted it. By $24 we are around my personal tipping point where I think they are being unreasonable and I want to get out of the ecosystem. The real price of around $96 is totally absurd and makes me actively root against the company, at least enough to write these long comments and post them into the void.
In the case of some SaaS tools I pay for (like Todoist), I don't resent the model because I've seen steady improvements and the cost is low enough relative to the value I feel like I get. If they increased the price more than ~20%, I would probably cancel and use an alternative.
Netflix is different; I actually don't watch much content and would happily live without it, but it appears to be good enough value during the times I do use it, particularly given that I'm well aware of how expensive their products are to create in the first place.
The problems with reMarkable here are two-fold. Firstly, the existence of any subscription is problematic when the device has such a high up-front cost. Secondly, the prices they have chosen far exceed the value their "extra" services can offer. If they had priced it at $12 per year I would have probably grumbled but accepted it. By $24 we are around my personal tipping point where I think they are being unreasonable and I want to get out of the ecosystem. The real price of around $96 is totally absurd and makes me actively root against the company, at least enough to write these long comments and post them into the void.
Already passed that point for me. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Cable TV, Spotify? Nope.
I pay for larger iCloud storage and I have a library card.
I pay for larger iCloud storage and I have a library card.
The library card is more about making use of an existing subscription since they cost $100-200/year per family in taxes or increased rental costs. :)
(I’m a big fan of the library.)
(I’m a big fan of the library.)
I don’t care about subscriptions in general and why should I? Netflix adds new content and my VPS is also a subscription, it just doesn’t call itself that. They have running costs and I’m not dependent on them. But there are services where the sole intention of the subscription is to generate a steady cash flow (almost all software, things like ink catridge subscriptions), subscriptions where the platform prohibits alternatives (iCloud) and bait and switch offers like the remarkable. These should be better regulated.
In general, I don't mind subscriptions for the streaming services (so long as they're easy to cancel). I get a few, keep my eye on how much I'm using them, and cancel any that aren't giving me value. I can always get back in if I want to some day.
My philosophy is that there's pretty much no content I can't live without and the amount I save from canceling my cable TV pays for the other subs and more.
Software subscriptions I'm much more leery of. I do get Lightroom/Photoshop but I use LR a lot so don't really mind.
My philosophy is that there's pretty much no content I can't live without and the amount I save from canceling my cable TV pays for the other subs and more.
Software subscriptions I'm much more leery of. I do get Lightroom/Photoshop but I use LR a lot so don't really mind.
My impression is that the reMarkable has pretty poor hardware, and a rather exotic software (for a tablet). Which means they are limited in what they can do on the device, and the support they can harvest from community. Which also means, outsourcing stuff to the cloud is a natural effect, which means demanding money for running the cloud is also natural.
For similar reasons the device is expensive and still has a rather poor situation because it's quite special, with a relative small market. Which means it's trapped in a situation where it needs more supporting customers to deliver a good device, but to gain more customers it needs to deliver a good experience.
For similar reasons the device is expensive and still has a rather poor situation because it's quite special, with a relative small market. Which means it's trapped in a situation where it needs more supporting customers to deliver a good device, but to gain more customers it needs to deliver a good experience.
I actually think the hardware (at least in gen2) is pretty good, and the software has progressed from "OK but a bit rough" to also being pretty good. I can accept the high device price given what a niche market they have, but the subscription prices are a massive over-reach relative to the value delivered. Charging business customers (eg for more flexible isolated/shared storage accounts and other collaboration features) would have made sense, but the current model feels like they just plucked a number out of the air based on what other subscriptions cost, with no reference to the consumer value delivered.
The hardware for the gen 2 is pretty good in my opinion. The only "exotic software" is the notetaking app, the rest of the system is linux. The device is running ssh and the root password is in the licenses file.
That's a lot more than you get from most devices of this type.
That's a lot more than you get from most devices of this type.
> The hardware for the gen 2 is pretty good in my opinion.
My 5 year old android-tablet has more ram and cpu than the gen2 remarkable. So I assume they outsourced parts to the cloud simply because it's not running well enough on the tablet itself.
> the rest of the system is linux
Linux, especially on tablets is very exotic. There is no way to benefit from the big ecosystem on android or iOS. Everything must come from the users, the company or regulary desktop-linux, which is not optimized for tabled or eInk. Linux is a good selling point for hackers and nerds, but irrelevant for casual users.
My 5 year old android-tablet has more ram and cpu than the gen2 remarkable. So I assume they outsourced parts to the cloud simply because it's not running well enough on the tablet itself.
> the rest of the system is linux
Linux, especially on tablets is very exotic. There is no way to benefit from the big ecosystem on android or iOS. Everything must come from the users, the company or regulary desktop-linux, which is not optimized for tabled or eInk. Linux is a good selling point for hackers and nerds, but irrelevant for casual users.
Your Android tablet probably does not last for two weeks of daily use on a single charge. The reMarkable 2 is power-sipping, especially with wireless disabled, without compromising note-taking or PDF-reading experiences.
What Android tablet with eInk did you buy that can display A4? Id be interested.
There is one actually. https://shop.boox.com/products/maxlumi2
Do you have experience with that one? Does it work with A4? The reMarkable works but could be slightly bigger for two-column A4 scientific papers.
I think you have an issue with the entire class of eink notebooks because both of these points are completely immaterial to their designed purpose.
You want a general purpose eink tablet. The reMarkable is most definitely not.
You want a general purpose eink tablet. The reMarkable is most definitely not.
I assume the hardware targets battery life rather than performance; the lack of on-device features is quite deliberate. As far as cloud offloading goes, the only thing which seems to match that framing is the handwriting recognition, which is honestly pretty rubbish and I'd happily live without.
The reMarkable is not supposed to compete with an Android tablet, think of it more like a Kindle you can write on.
The hardware is perfect for the target audience and there are very few comparable products, but the software is pretty bare-bones and most people have issues with it.
The hardware is perfect for the target audience and there are very few comparable products, but the software is pretty bare-bones and most people have issues with it.
It's also worth noting that unlike the broader tablet market, eInk readers commonly use Linux. Kindle and Kobo devices are examples.
I like hardware. Love it infact.
For me the subscription service itself is not the issue, it is far far far too expensive for what they offer in it, and they have broken my trust.
The first thing I did after their announcement was disable auto-updates, I dont really use their cloud services anyway prefering to interact with the device either with SSH or a 3rd party tool (RCU), my fear now is a future update will disable SSH and the ability for people to opt-out of their cloud.
I am grandfathered in, so I get it for free, but I have no intention of using
Today if I needed to replace my device I would buy a SuperNote A5X
For me the subscription service itself is not the issue, it is far far far too expensive for what they offer in it, and they have broken my trust.
The first thing I did after their announcement was disable auto-updates, I dont really use their cloud services anyway prefering to interact with the device either with SSH or a 3rd party tool (RCU), my fear now is a future update will disable SSH and the ability for people to opt-out of their cloud.
I am grandfathered in, so I get it for free, but I have no intention of using
Today if I needed to replace my device I would buy a SuperNote A5X
disabling ssh would violate GPL licensing, right?
No, what makes you think that? OpenSSH isn't even GPL.
Excerpt from my reMarkable → settings → Help → Copyrights and licenses → General information:
> The General Public License version 3 and the Lesser General Public License version 3 also requires you as an end-user to be able to access your device to be able to modify the copyrighted software licensed under these licenses running on it.
> To do so, this device acts as an USB ethernet device, and you can connect using the SSH protocol using the username 'root' and the password 'hunter2'.
(Incidentally, “an USB”—are they pronouncing “usb” as one syllable or something?)
So COGlory is actually roughly right. They could disable SSH, but would need to replace it with something at least vaguely similar for GPLv3 and LGPLv3 compliance for other parts of the software.
> The General Public License version 3 and the Lesser General Public License version 3 also requires you as an end-user to be able to access your device to be able to modify the copyrighted software licensed under these licenses running on it.
> To do so, this device acts as an USB ethernet device, and you can connect using the SSH protocol using the username 'root' and the password 'hunter2'.
(Incidentally, “an USB”—are they pronouncing “usb” as one syllable or something?)
So COGlory is actually roughly right. They could disable SSH, but would need to replace it with something at least vaguely similar for GPLv3 and LGPLv3 compliance for other parts of the software.
No subscription is an option. I'm not sure how much of your own sync you could setup, but the subscription isn't forced upon you.
You can do your own sync in a hacky manner - but if I were going down that route, I'd just choose one of the more open (and cheaper) alternative devices.
I'm in the market for alternatives. What equivalent devices are both cheaper and more open? I haven't found any. :(
The Onyx Boox series come in different sizes and are just Android with a custom launcher, and they're cheaper and with more choice (most notably regarding screen size).
Caution however, the company violates the GPL, which might be a deal-breaker for some.
Caution however, the company violates the GPL, which might be a deal-breaker for some.
I got a Supernote and its a bit cheaper and has really great features. Remarkable shies away from anything but writing, so sync is limited - while the supernote has great calendar sync thats come in handle for note taking.
Pray do tell of those more open (and cheaper) alternative devices?
I have a BOOX Max Lumi, it has all those features, for free. Plus is a fully functioning android tablet.
Not sure it's any open (Kobo devices usually are hackable), but Kobo Elipsa[0] is feature par with Remarkable 2.
[0] https://us.kobobooks.com/products/kobo-elipsa
[0] https://us.kobobooks.com/products/kobo-elipsa
A friend of mine uses an Onyxbook (not sure what model) extensively for note taking and he seems pretty happy with it. Software developer with a bit of math thrown in, to get an idea of what he writes on it.
I'm being a bit future-looking here and considering alternatives to the gen3 reMarkable, not the current hardware. Specifically, the PineNote seems like it could fill the niche for me.
> Not everything needs to be a subscription.
Everything needs to be a subscription, according to Wall Street.
Everything needs to be a subscription, according to Wall Street.
I got the e-mail to grandfather me in due to my recent purchase of the second gen device. It was a tough sell for many due to price before a subscription may doom it further.
There 3 Options:
1. Connect: $7.99 per month
2. Connect Lite: $4.99 per month
3. No Plan: but the device costs more
I dug in deep to find the prices so others don't have to. Personally, I'm fine with this model a lot of the great features are probably supported by doing compute in the cloud and there are also huge advantages to having storage in the cloud.
I dug in deep to find the prices so others don't have to. Personally, I'm fine with this model a lot of the great features are probably supported by doing compute in the cloud and there are also huge advantages to having storage in the cloud.
I think a lot of people were turned-off by:
1. the device without subscription is crippled in unnecessary ways (access to third-party cloud-services like Dropbox, for instance)
2. the already high cost of the hardware relative to other options.
I've been looking at ReMarkable since I saw a prototype that a friend was using. But in the end I just knew it would join the pile of unused gadgets (with good intentions) that litter my home.
A subscription service really is the nail in the coffin for me.
1. the device without subscription is crippled in unnecessary ways (access to third-party cloud-services like Dropbox, for instance)
2. the already high cost of the hardware relative to other options.
I've been looking at ReMarkable since I saw a prototype that a friend was using. But in the end I just knew it would join the pile of unused gadgets (with good intentions) that litter my home.
A subscription service really is the nail in the coffin for me.
Outside of Cloud Storage (which is is not worth $8/mo) and handwritting there is nothing in their services that require cloud..
The storage integration should be on the device, they choose to make it via the cloud service. There is no technical reason they could not have made it work directly on the device.
Further their 2 largest competitors in the Space, SuperNote, and Boox all seem to be able to offers these features and more for free.
The storage integration should be on the device, they choose to make it via the cloud service. There is no technical reason they could not have made it work directly on the device.
Further their 2 largest competitors in the Space, SuperNote, and Boox all seem to be able to offers these features and more for free.
Agree with this I think the other thing to consider is that this is probably a long term fee to help keep a niche business afloat. They probably can't keep enough revenue coming in to support the business long term just by device sales. I think it's hard for a business like this to survive long term without a recurring fee model.
Based on tax filings other users have posted on reddit, they are a profitable company, now their level of profitability is probably not enough to satisfy the venture capital they took though.
The issue here, with niche products you must interact with the community, you must listen to the users, you must have a good communications team to show the users what is commming, what your plans are, etc..
Remarkable does none of that, they act like they are apple, but they neither have the marketshare, the deep pockets, nor the cache that Apple does.
Hell I would be more than happy to donate cash to fund features but they do not even have a public roadmap, or uservoice, or any indicate they give a shit at all about what their users want.
hell one of the most basic features, 3 years running, has been custom templates. Which are literally just a PNG file background layer. No official support but several 3rd parties have filled this gap very well.
Remarkable is remarkably bad at customer service, and communications. Which is more likely to be their downfall than the subscription service. Niche product live and die by their community, remarkable ignores the owner community
One of the reasons I selected the SuperNote a5x as my target replacement if/when I need to replace my Remarkable is the fact that the developers of the SuperNote are very active in the community, on reddit, and publish roadmaps which they deliver on...
The issue here, with niche products you must interact with the community, you must listen to the users, you must have a good communications team to show the users what is commming, what your plans are, etc..
Remarkable does none of that, they act like they are apple, but they neither have the marketshare, the deep pockets, nor the cache that Apple does.
Hell I would be more than happy to donate cash to fund features but they do not even have a public roadmap, or uservoice, or any indicate they give a shit at all about what their users want.
hell one of the most basic features, 3 years running, has been custom templates. Which are literally just a PNG file background layer. No official support but several 3rd parties have filled this gap very well.
Remarkable is remarkably bad at customer service, and communications. Which is more likely to be their downfall than the subscription service. Niche product live and die by their community, remarkable ignores the owner community
One of the reasons I selected the SuperNote a5x as my target replacement if/when I need to replace my Remarkable is the fact that the developers of the SuperNote are very active in the community, on reddit, and publish roadmaps which they deliver on...
Handwriting also does not require a cloud. My 2002 Sony Clie TH55 (with Decuma handwriting recognizer) and 2003 WinMo devices (block recognizer) did it just fine on the device, on terrible (~200MHz, < 1.0 IPC)
CPUs.
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Especially considering Dropbox is $10/mo (Annual billing). If you're in Apple's ecosystem, you can get 50gb iCloud storage for $1/mo.
The cost for the connect plans is what confuses me. For what you get, $5-$8 per month seems oddly expensive. I don't really use any of the features in the full connect plan. The cloud syncing is convenient, and I'd be willing to throw some money their way for it, but $5/month is a lot for what amounts to 8GB of storage.
I have a ReMarkable 1 and II (which I bought for my partner as a gift). They are nice e-readers that are well built. They really do fail on their key promise as a paper replacement however. The one saving grace of having spent so much money on the device is the "Send to ReMarkable" extension in my browser.
I received the email a few days ago telling my that those cloud based services, which were advertised as part of the product when we purchased it, would be switching to a subscription service.
Thew new service appears to be offered for FREE to us because we already purchased the devices. Phew!
That said, I think this is going to tank their sales going forward. The TCO on the device has now increased dramatically.
I received the email a few days ago telling my that those cloud based services, which were advertised as part of the product when we purchased it, would be switching to a subscription service.
Thew new service appears to be offered for FREE to us because we already purchased the devices. Phew!
That said, I think this is going to tank their sales going forward. The TCO on the device has now increased dramatically.
I have not figured out how to jump directly to chapters yet, and not sure if it’s possible. I uploaded a 900 page ebook, and gave up trying to browse to the page where I left off.
I gave up on their original ereader the day I bought the device. I install KorReader and get all the features I require for free.
I'm in the same boat. I use the rM extensively for meeting notes, but I have never been able to give up on having a paper notebook as well. The problem is mostly the ease of page-flicking; skipping forward and backward on an e-ink device is an O(N) operation, while in a physical book it is O(1). The same problem has basically forced me towards using a Kindle only for fiction where the content is linear - for technical material, I still buy physical books.
Not that I'm going to buy a reMarkable, but I do wonder what kind of organization tools it provides. Being able to tag a given note with arbitrary categories and have the device produce a date-ordered index on any category seems like it would help with this a lot.
(I use a similar system in my paper notes, with a topic index mapping to page numbers. A few minutes of grooming a day suffices to keep it up to date, and it speeds lookups enormously.)
(I use a similar system in my paper notes, with a topic index mapping to page numbers. A few minutes of grooming a day suffices to keep it up to date, and it speeds lookups enormously.)
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I think a physical book is something like O(log n), unless you can crack it precisely to the page you want every time.
norminal case, or worst case? it's nominally O(1+c) - find the right section, turn forwards or back a couple pages (c). Problem is, worst case for an analog journal is something like O(NaN) because you can't find it and then give up, frustrated.
The new service is currently offered for free to people who purchased a device from them before October 12, 2021, if they accept the new terms and conditions. I have to wonder how long that free subscription will last. There is nothing in the notices they sent about how long the subscription will last. There are FAQ entries, which, rather than making any concrete promises, have statements like 'We plan to offer free access to Connect for as long as we're able to. There are things we can't control that might affect this', and 'If we do make any changes, we’ll strive to give you free access for as long as you want it'. This type of change seems vaguely familiar, and I would not be surprised if 'things we can't control' will happen to arise about one or two years from now.
When the change does happen, the new terms of service require you agree that, by them sending you an email with 30 days notice, you'll be deemed to automatically consent to any new charges and fees if you continue to use the service, so you'll probably want to keep a close eye on your inbox:
>reMarkable reserves the right to change the subscription fees or applicable charges and to institute new charges and fees, upon thirty (30) days prior notice (which may be sent by email). Your continued use of reMarkable Connect after the end of the notice period of the aforementioned changes to fees or charges constitute your consent to such fees or charges.
None of this affects me too much, as I've never used their cloud services, use syncthing for synchronization, and bought the device for its (partial) openness, even if that openness appears to have been forced on them by GPLv3 requirements.
When the change does happen, the new terms of service require you agree that, by them sending you an email with 30 days notice, you'll be deemed to automatically consent to any new charges and fees if you continue to use the service, so you'll probably want to keep a close eye on your inbox:
>reMarkable reserves the right to change the subscription fees or applicable charges and to institute new charges and fees, upon thirty (30) days prior notice (which may be sent by email). Your continued use of reMarkable Connect after the end of the notice period of the aforementioned changes to fees or charges constitute your consent to such fees or charges.
None of this affects me too much, as I've never used their cloud services, use syncthing for synchronization, and bought the device for its (partial) openness, even if that openness appears to have been forced on them by GPLv3 requirements.
Totally lame. I have tried so many note taking services and apps that my head spins when I think about it. Notion, Notability, OneNote, Evernote, Apple Notes, Google Keep, Squid, and more...
At this point, I am 100% OneNote and a physical paper notebook. I use OneNote on every single device I own including a Raspberry Pi. I use the handwriting features of OneNote with an iPad pro to sketch ideas while researching. I can also keep handwritten todo's for bigger projects organized with OneNote. I use klipper from my Desktop and Laptop to capture websites into OneNote books all organized by topic. I can get these on my iPhone and iPad. My garage houses my CNC and 3D printers running on Raspberry Pi's. I can look up settings and configurations for my machines inside the notebooks and modify them as needed or just copy and paste from notebook to commandline... all sync'ed to EVERY.DEVICE.I.OWN with a browser or native support in most cases.
These walled gardens are sooooo tired. My paper notebook is the backup and used when I want to sketch or think without distraction from the internet's ubiquitous pull. I take pictures and post those notes into OneNote every now and then to develop the idea further. OneNote on the iPhone makes that super simple and the friction is literally two clicks.
Sometimes, my handwriting will be legible enough to strait OCR into a notebook! I find the OCR to be remarkable for most things, but its not perfect and fails too. However, the whole ecosystem is very much worth the price!
At this point, I am 100% OneNote and a physical paper notebook. I use OneNote on every single device I own including a Raspberry Pi. I use the handwriting features of OneNote with an iPad pro to sketch ideas while researching. I can also keep handwritten todo's for bigger projects organized with OneNote. I use klipper from my Desktop and Laptop to capture websites into OneNote books all organized by topic. I can get these on my iPhone and iPad. My garage houses my CNC and 3D printers running on Raspberry Pi's. I can look up settings and configurations for my machines inside the notebooks and modify them as needed or just copy and paste from notebook to commandline... all sync'ed to EVERY.DEVICE.I.OWN with a browser or native support in most cases.
These walled gardens are sooooo tired. My paper notebook is the backup and used when I want to sketch or think without distraction from the internet's ubiquitous pull. I take pictures and post those notes into OneNote every now and then to develop the idea further. OneNote on the iPhone makes that super simple and the friction is literally two clicks.
Sometimes, my handwriting will be legible enough to strait OCR into a notebook! I find the OCR to be remarkable for most things, but its not perfect and fails too. However, the whole ecosystem is very much worth the price!
Why did you write that as EVERY.DEVICE.I.OWN? Does that refer to something besides its literal meaning?
It's for emphasis. You might see this stylized as with the hand clap emoji between words in other contexts. HN isn't advanced though to support emoji, however.
Use asterisks, it's very effective. (I think)
Or should that be, I think?
Or should that be, I think?
It’s the GP’s domain.
Just kidding… probably literal meaning.
Just kidding… probably literal meaning.
User and avocate of the rm2 here; it completely replaced my notepad/s in and out of the office.
Worth mentioning that they have given lifetime access to existing customers, but I had been planning on giving devices to staff at the end of the year, this announcement has significantly cooled my enthusiasm.
If Remarkable staff are reading and are willing to extend the lifetime offer to existing clients for new purchases, feel free to speak up..
Worth mentioning that they have given lifetime access to existing customers, but I had been planning on giving devices to staff at the end of the year, this announcement has significantly cooled my enthusiasm.
If Remarkable staff are reading and are willing to extend the lifetime offer to existing clients for new purchases, feel free to speak up..
>Worth mentioning that they have given lifetime access to existing customers, but I had been planning on giving devices to staff at the end of the year, this announcement has significantly cooled my enthusiasm.
Notice that they avoid saying ‘lifetime’ anywhere, or saying anything about how long that access will last in their announcements and communications. They do discuss the length of the access in their FAQ, where they say that they plan to offer the free access for ´as long as we're able to’, but that ‘there are things we can't control that might affect this’, along with a number of other vague statements. The terms of service, even for the free subscription, has you agree that they can start charging you at any time after 30 days notice, with no other consent or acknowledgment from you. Everything seems to be written with the expectation of removing the free access after disappointment with the new subscription service subsides.
Notice that they avoid saying ‘lifetime’ anywhere, or saying anything about how long that access will last in their announcements and communications. They do discuss the length of the access in their FAQ, where they say that they plan to offer the free access for ´as long as we're able to’, but that ‘there are things we can't control that might affect this’, along with a number of other vague statements. The terms of service, even for the free subscription, has you agree that they can start charging you at any time after 30 days notice, with no other consent or acknowledgment from you. Everything seems to be written with the expectation of removing the free access after disappointment with the new subscription service subsides.
What is 'lifetime' for a startup company?
I can use Dropbox and Google drive on a 2011 laptop running Win7, already EOL'd for 2 years. Even when desktop sync is no longer supported, the web client will still work.
What will happen when these guys get bored and move on to something else?
I can use Dropbox and Google drive on a 2011 laptop running Win7, already EOL'd for 2 years. Even when desktop sync is no longer supported, the web client will still work.
What will happen when these guys get bored and move on to something else?
$WORK allotted each employee a $500USD stipend for our at-home office space. I was just about to buy the rm2, when this change occurred. Instantly soured me on the device.
Sigh. I really love my reMarkable 2 and recommended it to a number of people. Moving unlimited cloud storage behind a $5/mo paywall is the end of that. Deleting anything you haven't updated in 50 days means you have no backup for those notes if your device gets dropped. (Which happened to me.)
Even if I was okay with this, it makes me worry about the long term survival of the company.
For myself, I have my own backups from installing rsync with toltec. It'll be a few years (hopefully more if the hardware lasts) before I need to find an alternative.
Even if I was okay with this, it makes me worry about the long term survival of the company.
For myself, I have my own backups from installing rsync with toltec. It'll be a few years (hopefully more if the hardware lasts) before I need to find an alternative.
The user group on Facebook did not take the news of this new subscription well at all.
Personally I’m on the fence about it, I got my remarkable 2 last year and I’ve been very pleased with all the updates and features they’ve added to it, I’m also pleased that existing purchasers and users are grandfathered in to the new plan.
What I’m less enthusiastic about is for the potential of new features being exclusive to a higher tier plan than the grandfathered connect plan.
I’m less enthusiastic about recommending the system to new users as well because of the initial expense of the tablet and the ongoing increased costs to ownership that new users will face.
I know many creative types who would love to use this solution, but the expense of the subscription on top of the cost of the device means that it’s prohibitively expensive for them.
I wish remarkable well with this venture because it was probably a difficult choice to make, the risks of potentially closing the door on some new users must have potentially outweighed the revenue gains on new customers. It can’t have sat well with everyone at the organisation, given how they’ve been so good with new features and updates to both versions of the hardware.
Personally I’m on the fence about it, I got my remarkable 2 last year and I’ve been very pleased with all the updates and features they’ve added to it, I’m also pleased that existing purchasers and users are grandfathered in to the new plan.
What I’m less enthusiastic about is for the potential of new features being exclusive to a higher tier plan than the grandfathered connect plan.
I’m less enthusiastic about recommending the system to new users as well because of the initial expense of the tablet and the ongoing increased costs to ownership that new users will face.
I know many creative types who would love to use this solution, but the expense of the subscription on top of the cost of the device means that it’s prohibitively expensive for them.
I wish remarkable well with this venture because it was probably a difficult choice to make, the risks of potentially closing the door on some new users must have potentially outweighed the revenue gains on new customers. It can’t have sat well with everyone at the organisation, given how they’ve been so good with new features and updates to both versions of the hardware.
Completely agree with you. I preordered both gen 1 and gen 2, and after receiving the gen 2 I passed my gen 1 around among friends interested in remarkable to help them decide if the device fits their usage pattern.
IMO remarkable already have extremely stiff competition from the iPads, and the only advantage is it’s eink display. The iPad is pretty much better in every other dimension except for the eink display, but then it’s different rather than worse, since it allows for much more applications (graphics, movies, etc). I truly wish the best for remarkable and for them to start the flood of more high quality eink reader/writer devices.
IMO remarkable already have extremely stiff competition from the iPads, and the only advantage is it’s eink display. The iPad is pretty much better in every other dimension except for the eink display, but then it’s different rather than worse, since it allows for much more applications (graphics, movies, etc). I truly wish the best for remarkable and for them to start the flood of more high quality eink reader/writer devices.
Not just iPads. Kobo has recently gotten into the big eInk screen notetaker game too. They have a 10" model that comes with the pen and a case for the same price as the RM2 by itself and they just introduced an 8" model with pen support. Oynx Boox seems to be stepping up their game too and there is the Pinenote. RM has better writing feel but to ask $100 a year to connect to Dropbox which your competitors do for free seems like a poor move. Especially when they STILL don't have basics like ePub support fully nailed down.
The terms of service are unclear for existing users. Can anyone on this thread add clarity for
1. How long is the term of the 'free' offer for existing users? No term is specified. Does that mean they will attempt billing (or cutoff service) after a year?
2. What exactly will happen to the existing online services, and when? They mention this is a transition but there's no timeline. Is this a new platform from scratch or just a paywall on what already exists?
1. How long is the term of the 'free' offer for existing users? No term is specified. Does that mean they will attempt billing (or cutoff service) after a year?
2. What exactly will happen to the existing online services, and when? They mention this is a transition but there's no timeline. Is this a new platform from scratch or just a paywall on what already exists?
Not at all surprised. This is pretty much the fate of all "minimalistic" devices like this (the freewrite comes to mind as well). Minimal just means that they reserve the right to put necessary features behind subscription walls.
What this also means long term is that any openness of the device is under a Damocles sword and will be actively expanded except where GPL demands it. The benefit of openness does not appear directly in a spreadsheet like a subscription service does, and if people start trying to supercede the subscription service, they will attack it.
Or just not continue it into the next iteration.
What this also means long term is that any openness of the device is under a Damocles sword and will be actively expanded except where GPL demands it. The benefit of openness does not appear directly in a spreadsheet like a subscription service does, and if people start trying to supercede the subscription service, they will attack it.
Or just not continue it into the next iteration.
I've been somewhat interested, but you can count me out now.
From their announcement to existing customers:
Dear reMarkable customer,
We’re excited to be launching Connect, our brand new subscription service.
Connect replaces our existing cloud service and its associated features moving forward.
We want to offer all our existing customers full free access to Connect. Our way to thank all of you for believing in us right from the start.
All you need to do is log in to My reMarkable to view and accept our new terms and conditions.
Accept new terms and conditions
To ensure you can continue storing all your notes in the cloud, using our desktop and mobile apps, and enjoying features such as Handwriting conversion and Send by email, please accept our new terms and conditions.
Your free access to Connect includes all new launch features, such as integration with Google Drive and Screen Share, and applies regardless of if you own a reMarkable 1 or 2.
Dear reMarkable customer,
We’re excited to be launching Connect, our brand new subscription service.
Connect replaces our existing cloud service and its associated features moving forward.
We want to offer all our existing customers full free access to Connect. Our way to thank all of you for believing in us right from the start.
All you need to do is log in to My reMarkable to view and accept our new terms and conditions.
Accept new terms and conditions
To ensure you can continue storing all your notes in the cloud, using our desktop and mobile apps, and enjoying features such as Handwriting conversion and Send by email, please accept our new terms and conditions.
Your free access to Connect includes all new launch features, such as integration with Google Drive and Screen Share, and applies regardless of if you own a reMarkable 1 or 2.
Charging for cloud storage is fine, but gating features like Dropbox sync, handwriting recognition and sending emails behind the "premium" tier monthly subscription is ridiculous. If a $50 tablet can do all this out of the box, a $450+ one should as well, especially when it is sold specifically for the purpose of note taking.
Wild. Mine has only proved so useful, but I definitely won't be upgrading to future ones with these changes.
When assessing e-book / e-ink options earlier this year, what soured me on reMarkable was its anaemic onboard storage (16 GB) and lack of extensibility. I'd written the company regarding plans for expansion. When reMarkable II was announced ... and continued to have only 16GB storage, I passed. Note that the price differential between 16 and even 128 GB storage is only a few tens of dollars.
The notion of a Linux-based tablet was appealing. I hugely dislike Android. However I purchased an Onyx BOOX with 64 GB onboard storage. It is a fairly customised Android build (and largely de-Googled). This provides access to several useful apps (Firefox, Pocket, and Termux most notably), as well as built-in Bluetooth support meaning external keyboards can be used. (reMarkable supports this only through a hardware connection.)
I'd really like a viable Linux tablet. I'm keeping an eye on Pine's offerings. But reMarkable appear to be headed in an unfortunate direction.
My interpretation is that reMarkable are crippling onboard storage (much as Google have on Android devices) to drive adoption of cloud-based services, whether for surviellance (in Google's case) or subscription revenues (in reMarkable's).
The notion of a Linux-based tablet was appealing. I hugely dislike Android. However I purchased an Onyx BOOX with 64 GB onboard storage. It is a fairly customised Android build (and largely de-Googled). This provides access to several useful apps (Firefox, Pocket, and Termux most notably), as well as built-in Bluetooth support meaning external keyboards can be used. (reMarkable supports this only through a hardware connection.)
I'd really like a viable Linux tablet. I'm keeping an eye on Pine's offerings. But reMarkable appear to be headed in an unfortunate direction.
My interpretation is that reMarkable are crippling onboard storage (much as Google have on Android devices) to drive adoption of cloud-based services, whether for surviellance (in Google's case) or subscription revenues (in reMarkable's).
This does not make me very happy. I already own the tablet, so I get the service for free, but I can't recommend it anymore. For $ 100 per year, it's fairly expensive just to own. And without the service... I mean it's usable, but not something I'd recommend. reMarkable does not support USB mass storage, but it has a pretty buggy Web UI over USB - which will be your only choice if you choose to go with the No Plan route (as far as I understand it). I'd be fine if they were charging for "premium features", but the file synchronization PC - tablet is a needed feature.
I am surprised to see no mentioned of Onyx Boox Air in this thread. I bought it recently instead of Remarkable 2 and it's amazing.
You simply can't beat open ecosystem like android with some proprietary crap (unless you're FAANG). Having chrome browser fully in-sync with desktop one is a killer feature for me.
You simply can't beat open ecosystem like android with some proprietary crap (unless you're FAANG). Having chrome browser fully in-sync with desktop one is a killer feature for me.
I went ahead and bought a boox air within a week of the original connect service announcement (yet to arrive). I originally wanted a RM after trying a coworker's RM1 but the connect announcement pushed me away.
With supernote currently giving a roadmap that improves handwriting recognition and boox allegedly having the ability to convert and search handwritten notes already, the remarkable connect plan is very unattractive.
With supernote currently giving a roadmap that improves handwriting recognition and boox allegedly having the ability to convert and search handwritten notes already, the remarkable connect plan is very unattractive.
Onyx is knowingly and willfully violating the GPL and claiming detractors are showing an "anti-China bias".
Can you provide a link or some details?
I'd like to see a source for this as well.
I hope this won't undermine the openness of the device. It seems quite apparent that someone will use the root access of the device to implement the paid features on their own and package it as an alternative UI. And at that point, reMarkable has no other way to prevent that than by locking the device.
ridiculous, as if the device wasn't pretty expensive already. laughable price for the pens as well
Going to tell my story, again, as I think it's important.
Remarkable seem like the type of company that are pouring money into marketing and not much else. To their detriment.
I bought a Remarkable 2 in September. Realized I did not want it, because it was missing a core feature I needed (the ability to search hand written notes, which Goodnotes does, Remarkable does not). Remarkable sends their products via DHL. Who, separately, are an awful shipment carrier.
I called DHL, to have them return to sender (requested by Remarkable). DHL, after 2 days failed to do this... they kept trying to contact whomever had the shipment... why they can't just mark it as return to sender in their system? No one knows.
The product arrived at my doorstep, no signature, just dropped on the porch. Okay.. great. I start the return process. It took Remarkable 4 days to get this process done. First day they email with a return portal, it couldn't find my purchase. Second day they finally respond to my plea for help and send a second portal. That one worked, but the Remarkable support team are terrible and sent incorrect instructions. 3rd day I finally got it squared away and they approved my return the 4th day, which I got shipped out on the 5th day (again via DHL). Oh, and one other mark against Remarkable, they kept referring to my return as "return for replacement" instead of "return for refund" so I had to correct them about 8 times to make sure they were actually going to refund instead of send me a replacement.
It arrives at a local hub. Where it is stuck for 30 days.
During this time, I call DHL to start an investigation as to why it's stalled. They spend 4 days unable to come up with an answer. Reach out to Remarkable again, they start their own investigation and say repeatedly that it is "on it's way." Meanwhile it doesn't move.
Now DHL is only Remarkable's problem in so far as they choose who their carrier is. I didn't get to choose to send it differently. So they can't control what DHL does, but they do need to take ownership of their terrible choice. IMO anyway, it's what I'd do as customer support.
While all this is happening, I'm asking for a refund because the product seems lost in shipment. Around day 20 I ask for a supervisor.
Supervisor responds twice, first time "we're issuing your refund and you should see it in 24 hours." then an hour later "We'll immediately issue you a refund when we receive the product which you'll see in 24-48 hours after."
After day 30 the product finally arrives in Hong Kong, they said 24-48 hours for a refund. 5 days later still no refund.
I thankfully, filed a dispute and it's being taken care of now. But my advice is avoid these clowns.
The product is kind of cool, but their support is awful. Their team is inept. They can't take responsibility for their shortcomings.
This was for a return, imagine dealing with this for an in warranty repair/replacement? Ugh. Awful.
To be clear, we're nearing 45 days from original cancellation and still no direct refund from Remarkable.
Remarkable seem like the type of company that are pouring money into marketing and not much else. To their detriment.
I bought a Remarkable 2 in September. Realized I did not want it, because it was missing a core feature I needed (the ability to search hand written notes, which Goodnotes does, Remarkable does not). Remarkable sends their products via DHL. Who, separately, are an awful shipment carrier.
I called DHL, to have them return to sender (requested by Remarkable). DHL, after 2 days failed to do this... they kept trying to contact whomever had the shipment... why they can't just mark it as return to sender in their system? No one knows.
The product arrived at my doorstep, no signature, just dropped on the porch. Okay.. great. I start the return process. It took Remarkable 4 days to get this process done. First day they email with a return portal, it couldn't find my purchase. Second day they finally respond to my plea for help and send a second portal. That one worked, but the Remarkable support team are terrible and sent incorrect instructions. 3rd day I finally got it squared away and they approved my return the 4th day, which I got shipped out on the 5th day (again via DHL). Oh, and one other mark against Remarkable, they kept referring to my return as "return for replacement" instead of "return for refund" so I had to correct them about 8 times to make sure they were actually going to refund instead of send me a replacement.
It arrives at a local hub. Where it is stuck for 30 days.
During this time, I call DHL to start an investigation as to why it's stalled. They spend 4 days unable to come up with an answer. Reach out to Remarkable again, they start their own investigation and say repeatedly that it is "on it's way." Meanwhile it doesn't move.
Now DHL is only Remarkable's problem in so far as they choose who their carrier is. I didn't get to choose to send it differently. So they can't control what DHL does, but they do need to take ownership of their terrible choice. IMO anyway, it's what I'd do as customer support.
While all this is happening, I'm asking for a refund because the product seems lost in shipment. Around day 20 I ask for a supervisor.
Supervisor responds twice, first time "we're issuing your refund and you should see it in 24 hours." then an hour later "We'll immediately issue you a refund when we receive the product which you'll see in 24-48 hours after."
After day 30 the product finally arrives in Hong Kong, they said 24-48 hours for a refund. 5 days later still no refund.
I thankfully, filed a dispute and it's being taken care of now. But my advice is avoid these clowns.
The product is kind of cool, but their support is awful. Their team is inept. They can't take responsibility for their shortcomings.
This was for a return, imagine dealing with this for an in warranty repair/replacement? Ugh. Awful.
To be clear, we're nearing 45 days from original cancellation and still no direct refund from Remarkable.
I’ve had a similar experience with my RM1 that had a broken screen when I started it for the first time. It literally took months before I could get a replacement. Their TrustPilot page is a stream of horror stories.
Small update here. After nearly 45 days, and one dispute later, I have my refund.
I get the feeling this company is going out of business.
I get the feeling this company is going out of business.
When I see a hardware company shifting toward subscription revenue, it makes me wonder if they see decreasing revenue opportunities for their hardware business. Apple has shifted toward subscriptions, undoubtedly in part because they could see that iPhones are no longer changing significantly from year to year.
Could this be one of the reasons Remarkable is launching this service? Or are they just trying to get more revenue (and higher profit margins) out of their existing business?
Could this be one of the reasons Remarkable is launching this service? Or are they just trying to get more revenue (and higher profit margins) out of their existing business?
I wonder if we will see Framework go down this route?
> “When I see a hardware company shifting toward subscription revenue, it makes me wonder if they see decreasing revenue opportunities for their hardware business.”
it’s almost never because of a revenue decline. it’s almost certainly revenue plateauing that’s seen as a problem, in a political economy that simplistically only values ‘more’. i’m sure remarkable could be a good niche business (where niche is many, many millions of dollars), but that’s clearly not enough. diverting limited resources from developing better on-device software to cloud-based software is the telling move here. many companies are capable delivering enough incremental value over time to create a (more slowly) growing, sustainable business without instituting a subscription model (logitech or even pre-itunes apple, for instance).
it’s almost never because of a revenue decline. it’s almost certainly revenue plateauing that’s seen as a problem, in a political economy that simplistically only values ‘more’. i’m sure remarkable could be a good niche business (where niche is many, many millions of dollars), but that’s clearly not enough. diverting limited resources from developing better on-device software to cloud-based software is the telling move here. many companies are capable delivering enough incremental value over time to create a (more slowly) growing, sustainable business without instituting a subscription model (logitech or even pre-itunes apple, for instance).
Luckily I sold mine before this scam
I’m a very happy ReMarkable 2 user, and I have pre-ordered it more than a year ago which means I don’t have to pay anything.
Yet I think the linked page is an example of a terrible marketing: instead of highlighting the benefits of the premium service, they are emphasizing how horrible your user experience will be if you don’t buy one.
Regardless of your stance on their pricing action, that’s a grave marketing mistake. I hope they will fix that.
Yet I think the linked page is an example of a terrible marketing: instead of highlighting the benefits of the premium service, they are emphasizing how horrible your user experience will be if you don’t buy one.
Regardless of your stance on their pricing action, that’s a grave marketing mistake. I hope they will fix that.
>instead of highlighting the benefits of the premium service
No need to put lipstick on a pig. It's a monthly fee to connect to Dropbox and Google Drive.
No need to put lipstick on a pig. It's a monthly fee to connect to Dropbox and Google Drive.
Yet another example showing that if you don't control the software running on a device, then it's not really your device.
They sent new features over the years (i own one since they came first to market). I do think it's better to pay for subscription and get updates to your device than be forced to buy a new device every two years to get new software (aka Android business model).
Man I have been a Remarkable user since the initial crowdfunding, but I feel like they are about to throw it.
Many of these features were free up until now. Yes, we get grandfathered in, for now, but you gotta agree to a new TOS which I am sure makes this a time limited offer if they so choose.
These niche devices need their community, people who are not only taking a lot of notes, drawing a ton or annotating many pdfs, but are willing to invest in this particular platform.
These people you probably want on your side as a company. And yet, look at this lackluster announcement.
Who is to read this and come away with a positive opinion? Current users don’t gain anything that wasn’t already free or announced. They just face the danger of eventually having to pay for what they thought was free. And new users? 8 bucks for yet another cloud storage and little else.
I mean, I appreciate that we now teach revelation principle and two part tariffs in intro econ and mba classes, but you can also blow it in other ways, exhibit A: this announcement.
Many of these features were free up until now. Yes, we get grandfathered in, for now, but you gotta agree to a new TOS which I am sure makes this a time limited offer if they so choose.
These niche devices need their community, people who are not only taking a lot of notes, drawing a ton or annotating many pdfs, but are willing to invest in this particular platform.
These people you probably want on your side as a company. And yet, look at this lackluster announcement.
Who is to read this and come away with a positive opinion? Current users don’t gain anything that wasn’t already free or announced. They just face the danger of eventually having to pay for what they thought was free. And new users? 8 bucks for yet another cloud storage and little else.
I mean, I appreciate that we now teach revelation principle and two part tariffs in intro econ and mba classes, but you can also blow it in other ways, exhibit A: this announcement.
Sounds like they recently hired their first MBA.
They should fire the individuals responsible and blast that news to the world, and focus on providing a device that doesn't become yet another wallet sucker. If they don't, they won't even be a footnote in gadget history. e-ink screens are becoming accessible, patents are expiring, and sbcs and socs are becoming trivial to develop with.
As-a-service models are rent seeking grift and doomed to failure once a sufficient portion of the population becomes tech literate.
As-a-service models are rent seeking grift and doomed to failure once a sufficient portion of the population becomes tech literate.
> As-a-service models are rent seeking grift and doomed to failure once a sufficient portion of the population becomes tech literate
I don't think the tech literacy in western countries will change much. And it has nothing to do with the as-a-service model, which makes a lot of sense in many scenarios, on both the seller's side (predictable cashflow, finances updating old(er) software instead of churning new services/products that need to sell) and the buyers' ( you know you keep getting updates and the provider can't just not fix a serious issue). Why wouldn't a cloud sync service be as a service? You're literally paying for an ongoing thing ( storage somewhere).
I don't think the tech literacy in western countries will change much. And it has nothing to do with the as-a-service model, which makes a lot of sense in many scenarios, on both the seller's side (predictable cashflow, finances updating old(er) software instead of churning new services/products that need to sell) and the buyers' ( you know you keep getting updates and the provider can't just not fix a serious issue). Why wouldn't a cloud sync service be as a service? You're literally paying for an ongoing thing ( storage somewhere).
> Why wouldn't a cloud sync service be as a service? You're literally paying for an ongoing thing ( storage somewhere).
Reminder: they want you to pay for using someone else's storage that you've already paid for. Namely Dropbox.
If they just offered their own cloud sync service for a subcription, as opposed to hiding all useful features behind it, nobody would have complained.
Reminder: they want you to pay for using someone else's storage that you've already paid for. Namely Dropbox.
If they just offered their own cloud sync service for a subcription, as opposed to hiding all useful features behind it, nobody would have complained.
Yeh I was a big fan and waited over a year for the original. Its main drawback has always been it's crappy sync with Dropbox etc. 100 dollars are year for that? Get last time I buy a Remarkable...
I started bullet journaling for work a couple of months ago, and I was about to pull the trigger on buying a remarkable because I like everything about bujo except for the book itself.
I was waiting for my next paycheck to buy one, and then this happened right before. Now I’m opting to just stick with my book.
Smooth move, remarkable.
My favorite part is how they tell you that you’re saving money on the hardware, but having just recently checked all the pricing I can tell you that they increased the base cost on everything to mitigate that.
I was waiting for my next paycheck to buy one, and then this happened right before. Now I’m opting to just stick with my book.
Smooth move, remarkable.
My favorite part is how they tell you that you’re saving money on the hardware, but having just recently checked all the pricing I can tell you that they increased the base cost on everything to mitigate that.
$100/year or else I "won’t unlock the full potential of (my) paper tablet" that I just paid $400 for? $60/year for cloud storage? What happened to connecting to the Dropbox/OneDrive/iCloud storage I already have and calling it day? Oh, right, recurring revenue. (EDIT: OIC, 3rd-party cloud storage is in the $100/year tier. But then WTF would I need your unlimited cloud...oh, never mind.)
I've recently been trying to talk myself into a remarkable. Now I don't have to. Thanks, Remarkable.
I've recently been trying to talk myself into a remarkable. Now I don't have to. Thanks, Remarkable.
I've been hesitating between remarkable or wait and jump onto pinenote. Remarkable seem to have taken that decision for me, in a remarkable way.
The PineNote is unlikely to be ready any time soon - the development devices will probably ship next year, and it might take years for the software to become stable and usable afterwards. For people who need something sooner, there are still multiple alternatives to Remarkable - Kobo, Onyx Boox, etc.
So, some people recommended this thing to me for note taking. However, there was VERY aggressive marketing for it on my Facebook. I tend to react to aggressive marketing with an equal and opposite reaction so I don't have one.
And now... they want you to pay a subscription to access your Dropbox ? I'm guessing they spent too much money on marketing so now they need to recoup it somehow.
And now... they want you to pay a subscription to access your Dropbox ? I'm guessing they spent too much money on marketing so now they need to recoup it somehow.
What an absurdly idiotic thing to do. You can try this when you're WhatsApp or Google, and you have stickiness and network effects, but here? If you have more and more competitors every day (boox, kobo) and no serious moat, it is no time to turn into dicks (subscription for basic features).
I've recommended rM2 widely, and know of > 30 sales reMarkable made due to my recommendations. I will not be recommending it any longer.
I've recommended rM2 widely, and know of > 30 sales reMarkable made due to my recommendations. I will not be recommending it any longer.
Meanwhile I can hook up a BT keyboard to my Onyx Boox Note and edit Google Docs on the official app because it runs Android.
I can use Syncthing Fork on it to handle P2P file sync because I cam install Fdroid as well.
The SaaS-ification of everything in the US is just such a tragedy. Buy once, pay forever.
I can use Syncthing Fork on it to handle P2P file sync because I cam install Fdroid as well.
The SaaS-ification of everything in the US is just such a tragedy. Buy once, pay forever.
It's telling that they (a) Never state how long the free access for existing customers will last, and (b) force you to agree to terms which say they can change the price within 30 days at any time they would like.
It is quite disappointing that they are trying to extract value via subscriptions for what is the functionality of a piece of hardware that they advertised.
It is quite disappointing that they are trying to extract value via subscriptions for what is the functionality of a piece of hardware that they advertised.
The whole subscription story is why I decided not to buy one of these.
Just from a marketing perspective, I think it would have been wise if they'd held off their Google Drive integration announcement and made it part of their premium tier.
It's a real shame. I was seriously considering buying one of these when the next model came out but this is a hard "no" from me, and I don't think they could possibly regain trust after attempting this.
I was considering buying one as a gift, but there is no way I am going to saddle a family member with the cost of a subscription for what should be core functionality of a device.
I was almost ready to buy a reMarkable 2 even though I don't really need one, because of how cool a gadget that thing is. You know what I mean, right? Looking for reasons and excuses, trying to justify the purchase no matter what.
So this made it much easier.
So this made it much easier.
reMarkable might do it for me if they had a more powerful CPU onboard and a way to get your code to run on it so the device can be tailored to solve more use-cases.
I'm hesitant to say I want an app-store, because it implies a lot of stuff I don't want, but something like an app-store would make it a very different proposition. It would turn a single use device into a platform. It feels a bit silly to point this out in 2021. I can't say I understand the reMarkable product strategy. There is something extremely Norwegian about it: let's limit our scope to what we're comfortable with and keep ambitions in check. We Norwegians like to play it safe - so we rarely make a difference when it comes to innovation.
I've been on the fence with reMarkable since it was launched. Waiting to see which direction it would head in. I think this announcement probably means it isn't going to be a device for me.
I'm simply not looking for yet another device that requires some form of ongoing engagement (monthly payment) to merely work. I try hard to reduce the number of things sucking money out of my account whether I use them or not.
In order to justify that it would have to be on par with my mobile in terms of "importance" - and right now the reMarkable kind of struggles to beat pen and paper for me. This makes me a bit sad, because I think there is a lot of untapped potential in eInk form factors. Especially form factors that lend themselves to interactivity.
I think reMarkable needs to multiply all their ambitions by an order of magnitude or two, find funding and get to work. This announcement feels a bit like they're giving up on having ambitions.
I'm hesitant to say I want an app-store, because it implies a lot of stuff I don't want, but something like an app-store would make it a very different proposition. It would turn a single use device into a platform. It feels a bit silly to point this out in 2021. I can't say I understand the reMarkable product strategy. There is something extremely Norwegian about it: let's limit our scope to what we're comfortable with and keep ambitions in check. We Norwegians like to play it safe - so we rarely make a difference when it comes to innovation.
I've been on the fence with reMarkable since it was launched. Waiting to see which direction it would head in. I think this announcement probably means it isn't going to be a device for me.
I'm simply not looking for yet another device that requires some form of ongoing engagement (monthly payment) to merely work. I try hard to reduce the number of things sucking money out of my account whether I use them or not.
In order to justify that it would have to be on par with my mobile in terms of "importance" - and right now the reMarkable kind of struggles to beat pen and paper for me. This makes me a bit sad, because I think there is a lot of untapped potential in eInk form factors. Especially form factors that lend themselves to interactivity.
I think reMarkable needs to multiply all their ambitions by an order of magnitude or two, find funding and get to work. This announcement feels a bit like they're giving up on having ambitions.
They give you SSH root access to the device. There are many many apps people have developed for it, look for the reHackable GitHub repos.
(The SSH root password is in the help/about section where the open source licenses are listed.)
(The SSH root password is in the help/about section where the open source licenses are listed.)
If you are going to run third party code on the device there needs to be a bit more than a hackish way to upload software to the device.
My dad isn't going to SSH into a tablet.
"Feature phones" illustrated this. I wrote a few (very simple) apps for Symbian phones, and for Java Mobile Edition way back when. But there were good reasons why this never caught on and why I never bothered doing any serious development on them.
My dad isn't going to SSH into a tablet.
"Feature phones" illustrated this. I wrote a few (very simple) apps for Symbian phones, and for Java Mobile Edition way back when. But there were good reasons why this never caught on and why I never bothered doing any serious development on them.
I was responding to this in GP:
> reMarkable might do it for me if they had a more powerful CPU onboard and a way to get your code to run on it so the device can be tailored to solve more use-cases.
And there are a few app loaders/package managers that let you download new packages for it, but I agree that reMarkable isn't yet a product for your dad. Another serious product design flaw is that it does not support full disk encryption, or any encryption of documents for that matter. That means that anything uploaded to reMarkable cloud is accessible to reMarkable staff. That makes it basically unusable for work for me. It's a shame because the Screen Share (f.k.a. Live View) feature makes it a really great whiteboarding tool.
> "Feature phones" illustrated this. I wrote a few (very simple) apps for Symbian phones, and for Java Mobile Edition way back when. But there were good reasons why this never caught on and why I never bothered doing any serious development on them.
Back in the day, WhatsApp did spend the time to build a messenger app in J2ME (this was long before the Facebook acquisition), which made it possible for them to serve a very large worldwide population where smartphones hadn't penetrated. There weren't too many cheap, accessible smartphone options that had app stores or package managers available for under $500USD back then, but you could get a Motorola phone for cheap or even free from your carrier in most countries, and those supported J2ME apps. Their J2ME apps were a key (if not THE key) customer acquisition channel that got them a large underserved userbase from countries that Facebook hadn't penetrated deeply at that point. In my opinion, this non-overlapping set of users that were using WhatsApp daily was one of the reasons they were able to command a premium during acquisition. It was a hell of an increase to DAU/MAU.
In that era, per-message SMS fees, per-minute phone plans, long distance charges, and other extortionate fees were commonplace. Many WhatsApp users used it to avoid SMS/MMS charges, for which the J2ME UI was good enough to deliver tons of value, especially in low income areas.
> reMarkable might do it for me if they had a more powerful CPU onboard and a way to get your code to run on it so the device can be tailored to solve more use-cases.
And there are a few app loaders/package managers that let you download new packages for it, but I agree that reMarkable isn't yet a product for your dad. Another serious product design flaw is that it does not support full disk encryption, or any encryption of documents for that matter. That means that anything uploaded to reMarkable cloud is accessible to reMarkable staff. That makes it basically unusable for work for me. It's a shame because the Screen Share (f.k.a. Live View) feature makes it a really great whiteboarding tool.
> "Feature phones" illustrated this. I wrote a few (very simple) apps for Symbian phones, and for Java Mobile Edition way back when. But there were good reasons why this never caught on and why I never bothered doing any serious development on them.
Back in the day, WhatsApp did spend the time to build a messenger app in J2ME (this was long before the Facebook acquisition), which made it possible for them to serve a very large worldwide population where smartphones hadn't penetrated. There weren't too many cheap, accessible smartphone options that had app stores or package managers available for under $500USD back then, but you could get a Motorola phone for cheap or even free from your carrier in most countries, and those supported J2ME apps. Their J2ME apps were a key (if not THE key) customer acquisition channel that got them a large underserved userbase from countries that Facebook hadn't penetrated deeply at that point. In my opinion, this non-overlapping set of users that were using WhatsApp daily was one of the reasons they were able to command a premium during acquisition. It was a hell of an increase to DAU/MAU.
In that era, per-message SMS fees, per-minute phone plans, long distance charges, and other extortionate fees were commonplace. Many WhatsApp users used it to avoid SMS/MMS charges, for which the J2ME UI was good enough to deliver tons of value, especially in low income areas.
How long did that time window last?
I started working for a telco that had a lot of business in emerging (Asian) markets in 2009. Three months after whatsapp was founded. What I do remember from that period was how quickly smart phone prices fell and how rapidly they came to dominate much of the picture in just a few years.
I started working for a telco that had a lot of business in emerging (Asian) markets in 2009. Three months after whatsapp was founded. What I do remember from that period was how quickly smart phone prices fell and how rapidly they came to dominate much of the picture in just a few years.
Long enough for the network effect to take root in many countries. IIRC, it was at least 1-2 years in Israel and other countries, and today WhatsApp is ubiquitous there. J2ME apps showed up on a few smartphones too.
Sounds about right.
The reason I asked is that working in the telco industry gave me a slightly different perspective on time. Nothing happens fast in the telco industry and what would take perhaps a quarter in my previous jobs could easily stretch out for a couple of years (for a number of reasons largely having to do with organizations that do not respond well to changes).
The reason I asked is that working in the telco industry gave me a slightly different perspective on time. Nothing happens fast in the telco industry and what would take perhaps a quarter in my previous jobs could easily stretch out for a couple of years (for a number of reasons largely having to do with organizations that do not respond well to changes).
> "reMarkable might do it for me if they had a more powerful CPU onboard and a way to get your code to run on it so the device can be tailored to solve more use-cases."
The reMarkable is very intentionally an e-ink notebook and very little else. If you want a device that can be tailored to solve more use cases, one of the e-ink Android tablets would probably be a better choice.
The reMarkable is very intentionally an e-ink notebook and very little else. If you want a device that can be tailored to solve more use cases, one of the e-ink Android tablets would probably be a better choice.
I was sad when I canceled my preorder but now I am glad.
Okay not getting one of these now. Looks like great hardware but I wouldn't rent one for the price of using it after I've already paid for it.
Ignoring all of the debates about business strategy etc, if you assume you'd be able to use the device for about 5-years before replacing it, this is effectively raising the price from $399 to $779 without adding any additional appealing features.
I've considered splurging on one of these and resisted at $400. Nearly $800 seems like a huge stretch.
I've considered splurging on one of these and resisted at $400. Nearly $800 seems like a huge stretch.
After this change it should be possible for all European consumers to return their product on RMA.
The product is sold with a feature that makes it possible to convert notes to text. This feature _only_ work when having a subscription. Ie. without a subscription the product is broken, as the advertised feature does not work.
The product is sold with a feature that makes it possible to convert notes to text. This feature _only_ work when having a subscription. Ie. without a subscription the product is broken, as the advertised feature does not work.
Not everything needs to be a subscription. I don't care about your cloud storage (in fact, I would prefer to just use my own), and the other "features" should be table stakes for something which costs so much to buy in the first place.