E-Ink Device's Use Case

Personal wish:

• At work:
  • important PowerPoint annotation
• Read more Japanese article
  • from the website (print screen or convert to PDF)
    • need web browser
  • annotate terms/difficult words
    • need at least red & blue color
• Learn & practice kanji
  • create a worksheet/practice sheet
• Planner & notetaking:
  • Schedule (calendar)
  • To-do list
  • Notepad (note-taking)
  • Luxury:
    • Insert complicated drawing from web/image
      • need good portability
• Less charging frequency
  • Around once a week is great (less is better)

Conclusion:
– note-taking in the book's margin: mostly PDF, basically cannot be done in Kindle books
– monochrome devices' batteries last much longer (80h/3days++ up to weeks)
– offline data transfer (by cable): Supernote, Remarkable (?), maybe Quaderno & Kindle Scribe too (?)
– Kindle Scribe: data transfer can be by email
– Kobo Elisa: great e-reader but noticeable stylus lag especially for long writing

Idea from the net:

• Reddit: Using Quaderno A5 gen 2 for research: first impressions & review
  https://www.reddit.com/r/ereader/comments/pd0y5g/using_quaderno_a5_gen_2_for_research_first/Literature review
  It gets the job done.
  Sync and file management
  – USB is not 100% reliable (sometimes the PC app can't detect my device)
  – app sync
  Battery life: only lasts a day if used for more than 6-8 hours a daynon existent:
  an ability to create bookmarks in the notebooks and the PDFs.
  –> My notes are now becoming way too long and I would like to jump around in my notes from section to section.

  Side-by-side mode works great in the A4 a
  – a paper on one side and your notes on the other.

  "Sleep" mode : screen stays on the whole time – wasting battery

• Quaderno A4 battery life
  https://www.reddit.com/r/FujitsuQuaderno/comments/svi5ti/quaderno_a4_battery_life/E-ink tablet for technical literature reading and note taking
  The Quaderno A4 is really high on the list.
  Battery life: only one day of normal use
  One charge
  – Writing: about 10-14 hours
  – Reading + adding notes on top of documents: 25 or 35
  – not use at all: more than a week of sleep time
  – all: wifi turned off
  – leaving Bluetooth on will also drain more battery
  – writing (highlighting and notetaking with the pen hovering above the screen): 10% drop each hour + steady (but slow) draining in between sessions when it's automatically "asleep."
  – traveling: pen may have been accidentally resting on the table while it's in the pen pocket in the case: contributes to battery loss (the tablet apparently stays awake when the pen is on the screen).
  – A5 version, for financial reasons really.

  – A4: pleasantly surprised with battery: reading, split-screen and individual note-taking
  – as long as wifi and blue tooth are off, along with the pen not being nearby, my tablet lasts for days
  – For example:
  > received my tablet on Tuesday
  > used it for a bit each day from that point onwards (2-3 hours each day)
  > it's still at 60%
  – Quaderno pen is an EMR stylus, which works on Electromagnetic coupling between tablet and pen. basically pan draws its power from the tablet when it is close to the surface.
  https://community.wacom.com/us/emr-stylus-electro-magnetic-resonance-how-wacom-pens-work/
  So keeping the pen away from device when not writing should improve battery life.

• More first person experience on the battery life of the Quaderno? :
  https://www.reddit.com/r/FujitsuQuaderno/comments/1atwrhs/more_first_person_experience_on_the_battery_life/
  – paperless notes
  – a bit undecided again especially with not so good accounts on the battery performance.
  – writing notes for an hour: eat 30% of the battery
  – scared that the power will not even last me for a day- A4: take notes and at night to read, battery lasts 3-4 days
  – not super heavy on notes like about 4-6 pages a day
  – doodle quite a bit at my desk
  – Tips to improve battery life:
  > do all the firmware updates
  > keep your pen as far away from you device when not writing
  > even when not writing if pen was close to the device the battery got used up
  – love that it is fully offline
  – reading and noting a pure joy.
  – really light
  – if can charge inbetween it charges quite quickly

  – A5: battery is a non issue
  – turn off bluetooth and wifi when not in use
  – battery lasts an entire day of continuous use and maybe two
  – setting where you can chose auto-turn off after 5 or 10 minutes

  – A5: battery was absolutely acceptable

  – workflow:
  – turn on FQ at work
  – use it for notes, meeting minutes, meeting preparation
  – write notes for max 3 hours per day
  – changing pages for older notes
  – battery doesn't drop below 50%
  – consumption in locked/sleep mode is minimal
  – note/sleep time is aprox. 60/40 percent in working day
  – At home: upload 100-300 MB files for city council meetings (300-1000 pages in one PDF)
  – highlight the text, write notes from one line to half a page for each item of the program (up to 80 in one PDF)
  – Wifi and Bluetooth turned off
  – transfer data via USB-C cable.

  – the device eats up the battery in the day when it's filled with tons of PDF's, even after going to sleep
  – the PDF manager engine creates optimizations/text recognition etc. at the first place
  – the latest firmware works well without any crashes. Just wait for the optimized state
  – change the Auto Sleep to 15-20 minutes instead of 10 * if you take 10 minute brake it's better to keep on, because the sleep/wakeup refreshes the whole page and that consumes a lot
  – reboot the device like you do ocasionnally with your phone. It runs Android 9 in the background.

• E-ink for productivity: https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/1948a2a/first_eink_device_for_productivity_and_usage_case/
  – read and mark up pdfs,
  – write (then convert to txt)
  – organize notes, journal
  – brainstorming
  – meeting notes
  – diagram, sketches, mind-maps
  – to-do list, calendars
  – ebooks, audio books- less socializing & surfing
  – full focus & no multitasking
  – no social media, email alerts, random calendar reminders
  – not so compatible: involves color, photos, videos, specific software
• 11 Use Cases for E-paper Displays in Any Office or Facility
  Visionect: https://www.visionect.com/blog/11-use-cases-for-e-paper-displays-in-any-office-or-facility/
  Jun 28, 2023 — E-paper displays are a smart and elegant choice for any office, due to their low power consumption, ease of installation, and sleek design.
• What an E-Ink Tablet Is (and Isn't) Useful For
  Lifehacker: https://lifehacker.com/tech/what-an-e-ink-tablet-is-and-isnt-useful-for
  May 9, 2024 — What e-ink tablets do well · Brainstorming · Reading and marking up documents · Taking notes during a meeting · Planning my day · Playing Dungeons & …
• Are E-Ink Devices Worth It?, Here's My Experience
  emilyhokett.blog: https://www.emilyhokett.blog/31-are-e-ink-devices-worth-it-heres-my-experience/
  Some disadvantages about e-ink tablets and e-ink monitors for academic reading, writing, and note-taking. Are they worth your time?
• Why use an e-ink tablet and not an Ipad (or else) : r/eink
  Reddit · r/eink: https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/w3n4zp/why_use_an_eink_tablet_and_not_an_ipad_or_else/
  20+ comments · 1 year ago
  Hi, I'm studying computer science and especially Human computer interaction and I have to draw and write, from small sketch to big project.
  Top answer:
  If you don't get eyestrain from reading and working on backlit LCDs like an iP
  • Why use an e-ink tablet and not an Ipad (or else)
    https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/w3n4zp/why_use_an_eink_tablet_and_not_an_ipad_or_else/Think of your usage scenarios before purchase
    Do some serious research.E-ink table usage:
    – document review
    – notetaking
    > eyestrain
    – battery life is measured in days not hours
    – no email, text messages apps, can silence phone, put in another room, and work without distractions
    – calendar
    – learning languages
    – other studiesE-ink alternatives:
    Dasung E-ink HD-FT
    supernote a5x: real sensation of writing, checking the calendar and mail is also a nice feature, plugging it into windows pc or linux laptop works just like a hard drive

    Non e-ink alternatives:
    ipad (painful data transfer – confidential)
    surface go
    android based tablets

    concern depends on use case:
    – backlight/backlit: iPad, boox (NA2+)
    – handwriting to text conversion: iPad and the Boox offer the best solution.
    – work outside (no reflections) and/or reduce eyestrain? : E-ink screen
    – budget

• 101 Guide: What Is E-Ink: History, Benefits, and Applications
  Zhsunyco: https://www.zhsunyco.com/what-is-e-ink-benefits-and-applications/
  E-ink can be used by museums, airports, retail malls, etc., to guide tourists. It doesn't incur any additional fees and is simple to maintain. Additionally, the …
• This E Ink tablet could replace your iPad and Kindle—at a …
  Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/90937932/this-e-ink-tablet-could-replace-your-ipad-and-kindle-at-a-cost
  Aug 15, 2023 — The case for an E Ink tablet​​ The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra costs $500 with a stylus, and it has a 10.3-inch frontlit display, 128 GB of storage, and …
• Best E Ink Tablets for 2024: Devices Made for Reading …
  CNET: https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/best-e-ink-tablets/
  Mar 13, 2024 — The ReMarkable 2 is the best E Ink tablet for students who love to take lots of handwritten notes. It is only 0.19 inches thick and 0.88 pounds, …
  • E-ink Tablet/Device:
    – take all your notes in one place
    – store them on an online cloud
    – light as an e-reader
    – feel natural to write on$299 at Remarkable2 –> 4.7 me JPY?
    Best for writing and note-taking
    – thin, light
    – page templates
    – easy to use, with clear buttons at the top for you to add notebooks and folders
    – 8GB of internal storag
    – handwriting conversion
    – Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive integration
    – ReMarkable's Connect subscription; $3 a month: protection plan, along with unlimited cloud storage and the ability to add notes in your notebooks when you're on mobile and desktop devices
    – The included stylus doesn't require pairing or charging
    – supports tilt detection and pressure sensitivity
    – PDFs: Highlights automatically straighten themselves and turn a legible shade of gray without any needed adjustment
    – can add pages to PDFs for extra notes or write in the margins with ease
    – two-week battery lifedisadvantages:
    – no backlight
    – requires an external light source to use in the dark
    – only support PDF and unprotected epub (no Kindle content or any other epub books with digital rights management software)Kindle Scribe
    – pleasent writing experience
    – export your notebooks via email
    – 18 notebook templates available

    – no Dropbox or any other third-party support
    – lack any smart features (e.g., to insert equations or convert your handwriting to text)
    – writing in books and documents is too limited to be useful to serious highlighters and doodlers.
    – doesn't actually let you write directly on the page in anything other than a PDF
    > need to write on "sticky notes"
    > can not scribbling in the margins of books
    > need to take a separate action to start writing at all
    > there's collection of sticky notes (Notes & Highlights section)
    – doesn't let you write any kind of notes at all on manga, comics, graphic novels, magazines, or newspapers.

    – allowed to write directly on the page in PDFs, but the experience isn't great
    – dealing with documents is more difficult than it should be
    – Zooming problem: The Scribe makes it impossible to maintain your current zoom levels from one page to the next. Instead, you have to zoom all the way out again to swipe to the next page, just to reposition it all over again. This is a huge pain and makes reading long PDFs cumbersome and frustrating.

    Kobo Elipsa
    – excellent e-reader
    – offers battery life measured in weeks, depending on use
    – limitless ability to customize the reading experience: margins, line spacing, fonts and font size
    – stylus can be used on any PDF or Kobo ePub, so it works just as well on library books as it does on books from the Kobo store.
    – Advanced notebooks: insert drawings, diagrams, math equations and a free-form section, convert handwriting to text

    – deep integration with the ebook library service OverDrive (New York Public Library)

    – disadvantage
    – note-taking capabilities: for basic scribble
    – a noticeable lag when writing with the stylus for any length of time
    – the notebook features are fairly basic (only 4 basic notebook templates)
    – pen selection: a few pen types & only 5 pen brush sizes

    – 32GB of storage
    >> library-friendly e-reader with the ability to scribble in the margins.

    Onyx Boox Note Air 2
    The Boox Note Air 2 is the most tablet-like E Ink device
    – E Ink display and isn't made for games or video
    – only 64GB of non-expandable storage
    – 5GB of cloud storage from its own service for free to help transfer documents to the device
    – can also use Dropbox, Evernote and OneNote.

    – app store: access to your entire collection of books from your Kindle, Nook and Kobo libraries, Libby app for library books, and Marvel Unlimited users can download the app and read comics, although not in color
    – speakers and a microphone: to listen to audiobooks from Audible or other audiobook apps.

    – can't use pen to take notes or make highlights in books on the Kindle app.
    > type in notes you want to take
    > to write directly onto books, you'll need to have them in DRM-free ebook format.
    – supports a wide range of formats including PDF, epub, DOC, and Mobi.

    – strong: Note-taking and PDF management
    – (ReMarkable 2: seamless)
    – Highlights aren't automatically straightened,
    – users have to choose the color and width of the marker.

    – grayscale color: highlights looking dark and messy
    – pressure sensitivity but lags ever so slightly when writing across the page.
    – can include audio recordings
    – open a PDF and notebook at the same time in a split-screen view
    > read and take notes all at once.

    – measures its battery life in weeks, not days

    Onyx Boox Tab Ultra
    – 128GB of storage
    – almost double the battery,
    – rear camera for document scanning
    – optional keyboard case for typing notes on the go
    – Android 11

    Tab Ultra = note air + keyboard + camera

    TEST
    – one week
    – set-up process, loading PDFs and books onto the devices
    – highlighting, taking notes in the margins and creating and taking detailed notes in notebooks. – downloaded ebooks onto the device and used it as a recreational e-reader.

    for people who enjoy writing notes
    or sketching by hand
    who need to read and mark up lots of PDF or DRM-free ebooks

• The ReMarkable 2 E Ink tablet is close to flawless, but it's …
  Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.com/decidedly/remarkable-2-review
  Aug 2, 2022 — The ReMarkable 2 is a stunningly designed E Ink tablet that puts e-readers and iPads to shame — especially when it comes to note-taking, …
  Pros and cons: Easy and pleasant to use ⋅ Reading environment is enjoyable ⋅ Sleek and simple ⋅ View full list
• Digital Paper Tablet Solution for Business
  E Ink: https://go.eink.com/digital-paper-tablet-new
  The Digital Paper Tablet Solution is a customizable ePaper workflow for various business needs. It can help review documents, collect data, or take notes …