Freewrite

Does the screen tilt up so you can see it better?

>>59376741
>As a "tech" person,
stopped reading there

>>59376768
I don't blame you. I agree, it sounds stupid.

>>59376758
I don't think so. otoh, e-ink is pretty readable at any angle. And it has a front light so you can use it in low light or the dark.

its really expensive but I suppose that's a given for small batch stuff

its a cool idea, the implementation could definitely be better

if I want "distraction-free writing", which I sometimes do, I just use my Thinkpad without X11

>>59376883
Yeah, I use vi in a full screen. But for someone who is writing college papers or a book? It is kind of the legal pad or composition notebook of word processors. What it reminds me of most is the TRS-80, but with more display lines. What bothers me is that it only saves things in plaintext which is really primitive. I don't think I would buy or invest in it as is, but I do think there's a market out there for something along the same lines.

>>59376741
>Cherry™ keyswitches are rated for at least 20+ million presses.
wtf? I thought Cherry were rated at 50M...
>When connected to the internet, drafts are automagically saved to the cloud.
Fucking kek. And people are going to actually buy this?

Would pay $100 tops, not $500. They are insane

>>59376741
if you wanted e-ink, you could do it with a rooted Nook Simple Touch, a USB OTG cable and your choice of keyboard.

>>59377046
The thing is, I love the form factor.

>>59377067
Agree.

>>59377046
>wtf? I thought Cherry were rated at 50M...
it depends on the switch type, apparently MX browns are only rated for 20 million

>>59377083
looking into it a bit more it seems that Cherry changed their numbers and updated their manufacturing processes over the years, the tactile switches used to all be 20M and the linears 50M but at some point they started saying they're all 50M but some people still say it's 20M.. I have no idea

>>59376741
For the same functionality (better in some ways because lighter, smaller, and no useless mechanical keyboard meme), used Neos are like $20 or $25 on ebay. I use one for all my drafting. There's literally no reason to waste your money on one of these.

File: AS_Neo[1].jpg (143KB, 1200x800px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59376741
hahaha holy shit it's essentially a tiny alphasmart

>>59376741
>On the other hand, as a writer, I find this beast to be sexy as fuck.
something is off. This looks like shit. Any desktop computer with a decent mech keyboard or even any laptop running shit like Q10 or WriteRoom and you are golden.
If you need to spend money you can buy a really nice mech keyboard for less than 200. There, I saved you at least 300 bucks and you could sleep at night knowing you didn't fund some piece of shit piss poor idea.

>>59376741
You stupid fuck. Buy an Alphasmart for twenty bucks.

>>59376741
>worlds first smart typewriter
did they not know about word processors?

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>>59377008
Well, these things used to exist (alphasmart). But now they're not made anymore I think. And in addition to writers, they were marketed at people with disabilities etc.

>But for someone who is writing college papers or a book?
For whatever reason, I've gotten into the habit of writing everything in a text editor and only transferring finished parts into a "proper" word processor. I prefer dividing the work into parts like that.

Fucking hipster garbage shill cunt. Get on your penny farthing and fuck off. This is some plebbit tier faggotry.

>>59377429
>in addition to writers, they were marketed at people with disabilities
i'm too lazy to develop the joke further, but i'm sure you can extrapolate

I personally do not see why you'd need a dedicated typewriter in current year+2. But at the same time, I still carry around a dedicated MP3 player, so I can relate to having a niche need.

>>59376741
why would anyone buy this instead of a shit tier laptop

Fuck off reddit cuck.

it's hilariously bad

You can't edit text with it, the only way to correct something is to delete everything from the end of the whole text to your mistake with backspace.
Seriously.

The e-ink display can't keep up when you type shit and you have to wait to see if what you entered is correct every time.

And you can only transfer texts from it through some shitty cloud service.

>>59378540
This. I like the idea, and the package is good-looking, but there are serious usability problems. Read any review.

That being said, if there was a device with a good e-ink screen (bigger than Freewrite's, and faster response time), that basically just had a minimal Linux installation, I'd snap it up in a second.

It's really not a typewriter if it's not using cherry blues. What a scam

>>59376741
>tech person
>done a lot cheaper with, say, an ipad
kill yourself.

>>59376741
What's the point just use your laptop or smartphone. You're literally gonna use it for a week and stop.

why not just make yourself a linux-based distro that has basically nothing except word/office tools on it? nano, vim, hell even libreoffice, and put it on a usb drive
boot that up on an old laptop and there you go, only-good-for-text-work machine

It's like $30 worth of hardware and at retail should be about $69.95. Asking $500+ for this is just another example of stupid fucking people at large.

>stupid fucking people will be the death of us all

>>59377429
I have an Alphasmart for my annual camping trip. It's not something I use for every other week of the year and really just takes up space in my closet, but it has a very specific purpose that I really like. It has a battery life that will last a week and doesn't do anything other than write, and if it gets beaten up I'm out another $20.

I'd love to see something like an Alphasmart, just modern and with better software support for word processing than what Palm OS has to offer (like better formatting and better file output, even better battery life) but unfortunately that will never come to pass. Someone could make a fuckton of money just by doing something like that and finding a way to make it onto a shelves at Best Buy.

>>59376741
Agreed. This is probably one of the most disappointing tech products. It could easily be made so much better:
>give it at least a 65% keyboard with arrow keys
>give the option to buy it as a kit and solder your own switches
>give the option to tilt the screen up so you don't murder your neck and back trying to use it
>don't use it to shill a retarded cloud service (you've already made enough money on the device itself)
>give it hackable firmware so users have the option of doing things like installing alternative keyboard layouts or using it as a distraction-free code editor
>give it support for basic formatting (bold, italic, horizontal rules)
>make it half the price or less

I get that distraction-free writing is a noble goal and that part of that involves removing unnecessary features, but if its featureset is so opinionated that it can't even have arrow keys and it's also $500, I wonder how big their target audience could possibly be. Also if you're too distracted by fucking arrow keys to write, you're probably just not cut out for writing.

>>59379058
>It's like $30 worth of hardware and at retail should be about $69.95.
It's ridiculously overpriced, but it's not that overpriced. It has a mech keyboard and an aluminium body, so you'd never see it for under $100.

Why not get a netbook?
Or get a bluetooth keyboard for your smartphone.
What the fuck is the purpose of this trash at this price.

>>59379821
>Why not get a netbook?
>Or get a bluetooth keyboard for your smartphone.
No mech keyboard and no e-ink screen. I'd honestly buy this product if it was done right, it wasn't tied to a shitty cloud service, and it was less than half the price. It's a shame.

ITT: we see that /g/ doesn't do creative writing.

It is a horrible device yes as far as the implementation goes, but the idea is good. Distractions aren't good if you need to focus on simply writing, and having a dedicated, single-purpose device is a good way to get in the mood of focusing.

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>>59377008
>But for someone who is writing college papers or a book?
>writting anything college related without Zotero, Equation Editor or EVEN FUCKING ARROW KEYS

>>59379852
I feel you, but are there really no e-ink screens you can use a mech with? You could get the cheapest e-ink screen tablet/ereaders (with functionality) and a cheap 60% mech and it'll still be cheaper (and more customizable).
I might be talking shit about the ereaders, I am not sure if any actually allow you to have notes.

If the goal is something portable with a physical keyboard, why not something like: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gpd-pocket-7-0-umpc-laptop-ubuntu-or-win-10-os-laptop--2 ?

>>59379852
Yothaphone has a e-ink screen. So thats an alternative i guess.

>>59379915
There you go.
It's less than $200, and a cheap 60% is less than $100. And a OTG cable is less than $10.
Much better functionality overall too.

E-ink is the only redeeming feature and it's implemented poorly.

This reminds me of the Smith carona type writer

>E-link
It needs like 1s to redraw itself, it would be too slow for a comfortable typing.

>>59379898
There are android e-readers (with e-ink). I'm 100% sure that some of them would allow you to use a mech keyboard w/ an USB OTG thingie.

No idea about battery lives, though.

And it will end up a hacked-together mess, not really something convenient to carry with you or anything - but maybe nice for focused writing at home.

>>59380062
I think it'd be fine for _writing_, not just any typing of course. IRC would suck ass. But working on an article or a novel? Maybe not so much, it will be slow anyway no matter what you use to write.

>>59376758
No but you shake it to erase everything.

>it's for distraction-free writing

Like a pen and paper?

>>59379869
There are a gorillion "distraction free" simple writing programs for all imaginable platforms. No point in a dedicated device.

>>59380025
Except a Smith Corona allows you to correct mistakes without erasing all your text and doesn't pester you for Wi-Fi.

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>>59376741
Would you rather pay $200 for this?
What if I say it's made in Japan?

>>59376741
>(((cloud)))
>(((proprietary military-grade encryption)))

>>59377008
>>59376741
If you want to write something "without distraction", buy an old notebook and take off the wifi card, or really old one that doesn't even have one with text processor of your choice.
This will give you 3 bonus hipster achievements instead of one:
- writes without distraction.
- loves old technology.
- greenfag who cares about environments and is responsible fro ethical recycling.

>>59376741
looks like something that a mentally ill person would buy. normal people can use a text editor on a computer.

>>59377199
mechanical keyboards, pretty much any kind of mechanical keyboard, is objectively better then dome shit.

>>59382330
not horrible, but god do chiclet keyboards suck.

>>59376741

what they should have done was this. instead of keyboard + screen combo, just focus on the screen and os, make some kind of hinge clamp, and let us choose a keyboard.

then let us plug in a usb or ps/2 keyboard, could have various lengths of plastic so if we choose a 10keyless board, we can cover it, or if we chose a full keyboard its still covered.

Put some plastic inserts of various heights so the thing can rest on the keyboard and not press into it, and you have a fairly functional custom keyboard built for typing. apposed to this 500$ piece of shit they made.

>>59379869
Just write the fucking book. Or use the Alphasmart.

>>59384596
No way I'm gonna use the expensive, hardly functional piece of shit posted by the OP.

Still, the idea isn't bad.

>>59376758
Of course not. That would make it better.
The key of modern design is to remove everything that makes it look even slithy shit. Regardsless if it benefits the function. As long as it looks good, it's good. Nobody cares if it handles like shit or overheats or whatever, just as long as it looks awesome. Then everything is fine.

>>59379891
this

this thing is trash.

>>59382379
Yeah, but OP is shilling this trash for the next generation who is trying to seem hipsterish without having that underlying cultural ethos that is actually driving hipsters to be like they are.

>>59376741
I love typewriters and niche gimmicky tech so I'm biased as fuck.
That said the price is WAY too high. For like $150 tops I'd impulse buy this in a heartbeat, but I don't even see where my money is going here.

>>59377008
well, when I'm writting a first draft of a long important thing, I usually do it by hand on like, a notebook.

Then can type later in vim, editing , then can add formatting.

>>59378540
sounds like early word processors really.

>>59379852
I have a mech keyboard. I'd rather not have to buy another than can only be used with one device. what would be more cool would just be to get an eink screen for an existing computer.

>>59379891
>arrowkeys
>not even viming

comrade mine, gosh. have you not even begun to learn?

I'd rather have a small keyboard without the arrow keys for all purposes, to be honest.