Yeah, the first screen is basically unreadable, and the carousel keeps going automatically even if you manually click one of the items!
Also, the weird progress thing took long enough (not that I understand why it's even needed) that at first I thought the page was using some Javascript thing that was broken with adblocking on.
They didn't trick anyone. If you've used a Wacom or a tablet PC in the last decade along with software like OneNote, you'll know how great it is. Plus every positive review of the Surface mentions it's fantastic if you need the stylus.
They said it was dumb as your primary input device instead of your finger, and they were right.
Apple never shipped any software for drawing/handwriting, however, until they had a stylus that was low-latency and the mainstream usage was solidified.
I think that these products are like 5 years behind the market. There will be need for pencils only in niche markets and definitely not for writing. It looks beautiful, but I don't see go this mainstream....
Thingy itself is interesting but that website! It goes on, and on, and on, and on, in an almost endless stream of pseudo-intellectual, grandiose gibberish. Needs a brutal edit, and then what's left needs rewriting by an English-speaking copywriter.
Yes, but the video is just as horrible. You sit there slowly watching someone write the narration, which you can't really read anyway so you read the subtitles. There is nothing that shows how the UI works to do anything other than write a single page of text (or doodles).
Srsly; I almost ran out of memory before I got to the bottom. I felt very strongly like they were trying to imitate the way Apple aggrandizes their products, but they took it 300% too far.
Another thing; the writing in the demo video appeared to be Katakana, but to most Americans, from 3 feet away (as the video was), it looked like the lady was writing English and it was being converted into gobbly goop.
I was quite stunned by how long it was, I don't think I've ever seen a longer product page before. Once you get down to it though the resolution of that thing is quite impressive, I didn't know that you could get 1080x1440 px 6.8” e-ink panels. That's impressive. Not sure you could ever use it like they are picturing though, some of the examples have lines close to the edge where it is surely impossible to actually get the stylus.
The newer kindles are actually the same resolution (making them maybe slightly denser since they're only 6 inches diagonal). Amazon doesn't seem to want to advertise anything but the PPI, but that's what the kindle voyage and newest paper white are.
Well, I didn't have to endure it because my Chrome refused to render most of the site at all. I had to view the source to be able to read the device specs.
Yeah, I've seen them too. But they don't save (maybe the do) the images. And most importantly for me, no undo button. I'll keep with my note pro 12.2 for now.
Why do they keep saying 1-bit but then 16-level grayscale? That's 4 bits.
Looks neat but a bit small at 6.8". I'm nervous that the stylus might be small and cramping for my hand. I'm not big, just that a lot of stuff is small for design purposes first, usability second. (See: every MS mouse after the Intellimouse Explorer.)
If you are interested in spending some cash on a writing experience, you may be much better off just buying some high quality pencils and paper. Get some Palomino Blackwing pencils and the branded sharpener. (This is not an ad, but) Just go to jetpens.com and spend the price of this device on some nice stuff. You'll love it. They have mechanical pencils that automatically rotate the lead as you write!
Cool product. I always wanted something like this when I was more interested in architecture than coding.
I opened this in another tab and went back to coding. I was wondering why everything started to slow down. Then I looked at how much memory chrome was easting again.
Anyways, site looks nice, but the UX is another story. You might want a copywriter, and speed up your site by alot. Also, might want to change the header fonts and color. I find some stuff hard to read.
I pulled this up first in a mobile app that strips out CSS and JS. I started reading the copy and thought that someone had a grandiose satire page trying to sell a pad of paper as a device. I kept waiting for them to talk about a real time communication network involving stamps and grandparents.
EDIT: I know that complaining about downvotes is stupid, but I'm curious what might have invited them in this comment? A bit cavalier perhaps, but they had me genuinely fooled without the javascript to load the images. Any insight?
Unfortunately, this device doesn't solve a thing, and it's good that they're at least honest and didn't edit it out of the video. The deal-breaker here? Lag.
There's a reason people don't use tablets as paper even though they're almost ubiquitous, and perfectly able to act like it. It's because the few hundreds milliseconds it takes to react to user input is enough to make handwriting insanely irritating.
Interestingly, one of the recent Windows tablets (I don't remember the model; I had the opportunity to play with it few months ago) seem to have input lag so low, that you can actually write comfortably on it. So it's most definitely possible.
I think the Surface Pro line has great input lag. I write on it all the time. In fact the irritating things are the fact that it's a screen, not paper, and the plastic-on-glass feeling is slippery, and it occasionally runs out of battery.
The upside is my notes all get indexed and are stored in the cloud (via OneNote, which has great pen integration) and the slightly worse writing experience is a small price to pay.
It doesn't even need to have 0 lag, just the _illusion_ of having 0 lag would be enough, like faking the stroke until the actual stroke is digitally rendered/saved, maybe with the help of a film that responds to pressure such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oikY3mKkAs
There are actually two problems keeping us from writing on such devices: lag and temporal resolution. Many touch sensitive input devices have a too low temporal resolution such that movements at the speed typical for handwriting cannot be captured in sufficient detail. I agree that the lag of this noteslate thing is a problem but at least the temporal resolution seems pretty decent.
Such a confusing website, I had no idea what this thing does even after watching the video, it looks like an etch a sketch or a boogie board. I'm sure those buttons do something.
the form factor looks terrible...imagine writing/drawing for any length of time with your wrist sitting on the corner of the device...can you say carpal tunnel?
Criticisms aside, I really appreciate how the non-anti-aliased and pixelated quality of the display is incorporated into the product's overall visual language.
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[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 97.0 ms ] threadThe initial hero image has terrible contrast and readability though, and the site does too much unnecessary fanciness with scroll-ability.
Also, the weird progress thing took long enough (not that I understand why it's even needed) that at first I thought the page was using some Javascript thing that was broken with adblocking on.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2180623
http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/29/pixar-ipad-pro-pencil/
Apple tricked everyone into thinking a stylus was dumb, right up until they shipped a great one.
When Apple does the "I'm sure those grapes are sour" routine, you can bet they've got the fix in their pipeline.
Apple never shipped any software for drawing/handwriting, however, until they had a stylus that was low-latency and the mainstream usage was solidified.
Lag.
With the half- or full-second lag between a drawing action and seeing the line on the screen, this feels like it'd be maddening to use.
It just needs a video, how long the battery lasts, and how much it costs. That's all anyone needs.
Another thing; the writing in the demo video appeared to be Katakana, but to most Americans, from 3 feet away (as the video was), it looked like the lady was writing English and it was being converted into gobbly goop.
Wow.
Doesn't fix the length, but you can read it or skim it easier.
Looks neat but a bit small at 6.8". I'm nervous that the stylus might be small and cramping for my hand. I'm not big, just that a lot of stuff is small for design purposes first, usability second. (See: every MS mouse after the Intellimouse Explorer.)
1. http://google.com/search?q=noteslate+wiki
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
I opened this in another tab and went back to coding. I was wondering why everything started to slow down. Then I looked at how much memory chrome was easting again.
Anyways, site looks nice, but the UX is another story. You might want a copywriter, and speed up your site by alot. Also, might want to change the header fonts and color. I find some stuff hard to read.
EDIT: I know that complaining about downvotes is stupid, but I'm curious what might have invited them in this comment? A bit cavalier perhaps, but they had me genuinely fooled without the javascript to load the images. Any insight?
"Discover the potential and simplicity of a monocrhome handwriting interface."
Moncrhome should read Monochrome :)
There's a reason people don't use tablets as paper even though they're almost ubiquitous, and perfectly able to act like it. It's because the few hundreds milliseconds it takes to react to user input is enough to make handwriting insanely irritating.
Interestingly, one of the recent Windows tablets (I don't remember the model; I had the opportunity to play with it few months ago) seem to have input lag so low, that you can actually write comfortably on it. So it's most definitely possible.
The upside is my notes all get indexed and are stored in the cloud (via OneNote, which has great pen integration) and the slightly worse writing experience is a small price to pay.
By "great" I assume you mean "low"?
Very interesting video, I've never seen such sorcery before. Thanks!
The old Minority Report gesturing fallacy.
Still looking for a tablet like device with Wacom Digitizer and very high PPI. Hopefully the upcoming SP4 and Dell XPS 12 will tick all the boxes!
I believe Sony makes one as well nut significantly more expensive.