Imagine a world where processors, displays, and networks continue to advance, but where operating systems powering convergence devices have never materialized. There are no laptops that can both play games and make slide shows. There are no smartphones that have assimilated the functions of other portable electronics or that offer transformative apps. Rather, this world's digital devices are highly optimized for their limited purpose, offering the keen advantage of allowing users to focus on the tasks at hand. Some, such as the digital camera and iPod, have evolved from analog predecessors.
Luckily, we don't live in such a world, but we occasionally encounter products that seem imported from such a place. Joining products such as the Light Phone 2[1], two companies recently launched second generations of pioneering E-Ink devices[2] devoted to creating a digital update to the timeless pad/pencil combination and the typewriter: The reMarkable 2[3] and the FreeWrite Traveler[4]. Their design teams share a passion for simplicity and creativity and antipathy toward distraction, with their products boasting long battery life (but no backlight). Beyond serving as tools for creating notes or short documents, though, they're aimed at different tasks.
REMARKABLE 2
The E-Ink tablet market[5] is niche as it is, but includes two kinds of products. Some, like the recent and impressive Onyx Boox Note Air[6], seek to come as close as possible to offering a traditional tablet experience with support for Android apps (sometimes via Google Play) and Bluetooth devices like keyboards. Others, like the reMarkable 2, are focused on a few tasks such as reading, marking up, handwriting, and drawing.
Like the pioneering, pricey Sony Digital Paper[7] products that defined this latter group, the reMarkable 2 lets you read and mark up