Freewrite Traveler eink smart typewriter open for preorder at indiegogo $329

https://liliputing.com/2018/10/trav...ree-laptop-goes-up-for-pre-order-for-269.html

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/traveler-ultimate-distraction-free-writing-tool/

 

Is that eink display ... glossy?! I know I've always missed glare when using eink, well, now someone finally brought it back!

 

This is the same folks who brought out the Freewrite and it looks like it retains most of the same problems. It's a great concept but the execution is problematic for me. Also, keep in mind these won't exist for another year-- these are prototypes.

You might find this discussion interesting.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/alphasmart/discuss/72157671493587648/72157700462713051/

There are a couple of other Freewrite related threads there. Admittedly, we Alphasmart users are hard to please. ;-)

 

It's not for me. But ever since my Asus Transformer (with its super bright screen that still couldn't outshine the sun) I've longed for an eink screen on a laptop. I took my transformer to the park a few times. It was sort of a nice experience. Had to find the perfect light and angle and NOT MOVE one millimeter, as it was hard to see no matter what, but once the glare started moving across the glass I'd lose focus and eye strain and headaches followed. Loved the ambiance, but it wasn't worth it. Imagine a stereogram as a monitor.

I imagine someday I'll get some kind of external display I can hang on any laptop, but in addition to that being unlikely to have the battery life benefits of a device built around an eink screen, being less portable, bulkier, those are also super pricey. I think the last dasung eink display I saw was $1200. Yikes. Probably not gonna buy a $1200 accessory to occasionally use my $600 thinkpad in a sunny park. I really want to be able to run windows or at least android applications, and that means I need both a decent footprint and a half-way decent resolution. I'll probably be waiting a while before something workable is also affordable. If it ever is.

Good thread, Mr. Admin, lots of good info. I agree with you that it's a tempting form factor even if the whole package is definitely not for me.

 

I'm beginning to waver. They just aren't buying up those $329 units fast enough and a black hole is beginning to form around them and starting to suck me in. I know it's the software execution that I have problems with, but the form factor is sooo much what I have always wanted. Why didn't Psion do one this size. I can't believe I keep looking at my wallet for something that won't exist for a year and which I might end up being frustrated with...

My only hope is the $329s get all taken before I can decide. I think the next price jump will be easier to resist.

 

Phew! I think the fever is passing. Helps that I made a vow years ago that I would never buy any more electronics with a credit card.

 

It's a beautiful package, I'll admit I've revisited the link now and again to admire its shameless functionality over form design. Everyone loves to subjugate a keyboard to match the screen size, no matter how bad a fit it is. Not here, and they at least say that they gave a crap about the tactile experience, which is more than a lot of devices do. I have seen so many cheap, plasticy keyboards with bad feedback and buttons that fail or start sticking. Clamshell is the right way to make this and ensures both keys and screen a long life while allowing you to tote around worry free. They did so much right.

But then I see the glare off the glossy eink display surface, which is idiotic. No one glosses an eink display. It's matte. Always and forever. But seeing that breaks the trance and I can think clearly again. All the other flaws and my inability to afford even the old expired $270 early bird price come back to mind.

Normally I like to try to egg others into a tech purchase for the purpose of vicarious living, but can't do it this time. Be strong! Hopefully someone will copy the form factor but let users decide more how to use it, though with my luck, such a device would not have an eink screen. With the exception of Onyx (maker of android eink tablets), almost everyone shoves eink into tightly controlled experiences lest they get bad reviews from people trying to play youtube videos or Fortnite on them.

 

Sigh. They got me.

I tried to really resist. Even though it had that great clam shell design and the likelihood, after Astrohaus and Planet/Psion, of anyone else entering the clamshell keyboard space is probably nil. But then, at the end of a very bad week, Astrohaus waved a $299 flash sale under my nose. It was cruel. I was weak.

So sometime, this decade or next, I will have one of these babies. I hope it's better than I expect, but since I need to now justify my purchase, I'm getting a little bit excited.

 

Those half-witted, scruffy looking nerf herders!

But I'm excited to hear how it feels. Someday. Pretty unique little package.

 

From the posts on the IGG site (emphasis mine):