Productivity usually refers to enabling people to be productive through planning. Which includes calendar, todo lists, text editors, file managment, etc. This seems to fit in that category.
Modern phones and web browsers are full of weaponized distractions with billions of dollars in forces fighting to steal your attention. To actually be productive, many (most?) people benefit from a device that does less.
It's why reMarkable is vastly superior to eInk Android tablets that do "more". It's why some people have switched to cameras instead of phone cameras and to other analog technologies - be it a paper notebook or what have you.
Fewer tools but fewer distractions beats many tools and push notifications.
I use 4-5 of these devices for mostly writing comments online and writing various mediums of comedy. I do other creative work on my personal devices but I have found I enjoy doing more with my hands and body as well.
For example, often when I am stuck on writing I go for a walk. I often don’t take my phone and force myself to focus only on the problem at hand. I often take a notebook and write any notes about my conclusions along the walk. Eventually the notes make it back into a computer.
I also enjoy cooking and can use my device to look up recipes or order food online and avoid cooking all together. But I choose to use the stack of throw away desk calendar paper to write down my grocery list and go to the store without my phone. I choose to chop the broccoli and carrots even though I cab buy a bag of pre steamed for less. I even keep a passive grocery list on my phone in reminders app. But I still do the ritual. Not at all because it’s productive.
But what I really enjoy about life and creating is not sitting at a desk by myself hammering the ideas and draining myself reading, reading, reading. And I like to read but a lot of reading these days is distraction and those devices are designed to be distracting. So much that I go out of my way to prevent them from distracting me and keeping me in a sitting position.
With a little device dedicated for productivity I gain the benefits of computing without all the distracting tracking, “use my product!” Side effects.
And do it because you have agency to do it. Living your life with productivity doesn’t mean being an efficiency slave.
At the end of the day I still may be middle/lower class consumer cattle. But at least I am cattle with agency.
My first thought was “I’m glad this has progressed and looking slimmer, this inspires me to investigate building the 4-inch square device of my dreams.”
I'm wanting to do that too but don't have the skills.
Whereas for US orders, maybe offer a delivery to hotels in case the buyer is having a trip outside of the country? (Presumably it's not a sustainable idea, there'd be just a handful of people wanting to buy this product who'd happen to be travelling out of the country soonish)
Well sort of. I have wanted a Sony Client PEG-UX50 for ages, if it had a proper modern hardware and OS. Some of the other Clie form factors would make amazing and geeky phones.
I really miss the mobile device era where big names tried random shit to see what people would buy. These days, everything is basically an iPhone. And to be fair, Apple is now mostly an iPhone company.
#2: I've programmed and used those EPD displays (The same model used here I believe specifically). They are neither a joy to program, or use. The programming is much more complicated than a normal display because of how you manage refreshes: Partial, full, when to do each etc. The latter because, as you can see in the video, the latency is high.
I think responsivity and latency are one of the most important things for a pleasant user experience. We as engineers and developers have failed at this in general over the past ~2 decades. I think a device like this that breaks conventions is in a nice spot to also break this trend. Especially not using an OS (Or using an RTOS?), there should be no perceptible latency, if he changes to a normal display. I could tolerate a display like this for some uses and like a static sensor that runs on battery, but for an interactive device like this? No.
I don't mean I want a Psion 5MX with a bunch of hacks to keep it running - I've seen that, no thanks.
I want the same great keyboard, same form factor, some ergonomics, but with a modern screen (mono/e-ink is fine), modern CPU, modern connectivity (wifi, bluetooth, usb-c, maybe 4G/5G eSIM if we're being fancy), and improved battery life with usb-c charging.
The first thing that goes with all these geek PDAs and mini form-factors is the keyboard. I want to be able to type a short email, I want to be able to ssh into a server and use vim (so, yeah, ESC is needed or ability to remap caps lock or something), and also do some basic doc writing and perhaps a spreadsheet or two. A web browser would be nice.
I don't need apps. I don't need a compressed desktop. I don't need games. It's a productivity device.
Thinking about it as I type this, perhaps a psion-style keyboard for an iPhone might hit the spot if I figure out the right focus mode setup in iOS for when I need that mode. Maybe.
I'm glad this hits the spot for some people... but that keyboard... no thanks.
Adapt it out of the conventions of the inferior form factor by making it a detachable, i. e. a UMPC in a smartphone-like form factor, and you might have a winner... if you don't skimp on all the other good stuff that makes a great ultra-portable general-purpose computing platform.
> "Thinking about it as I type this, perhaps a psion-style keyboard for an iPhone might hit the spot [...]."
The problem with the iPhone is that it's not a UMPC, but locked-down crap.
There are e-ink tablets that can have a keyboard attached to them that kinda approximate that, but I’ve always found the KB-tablet-stand form factor clunky at best, and they tend to run some Android derivative which is going to feel slow compared to “bare metal” software running on an SBC.
And I can see her being really into this device as an idea, but I would bet all the money in my pockets that she’d never actually use it.
None of this is a critique on these individuals, or how well this PDA performs at being a productivity device. It’s just this meta layer of productivity I’m noticing around me more and more.
My pocket index cards haven't run out of VC money or instituted a new subscription model yet!
I’ve done something similar - usually buying tools only when I need them, or when I find something I’ve been thinking about at a great deal used.
I do periodically however take time to straighten, arrange, and fix workflow / storage issues.
(This became important when I purchased at auction from a hardware store closing down 30+ 3 foot tall of bins of hardware - the exact ones used for display in the store - still filled ).
Maybe the workshop is what brings them the most joy about the hobby.
Maybe the recipe person appreciates their collection this way.
Maybe they don't frame things in terms of productivity, like you do (even if they do use that word).
The reason I would not get a device like this is because the device I have is already capable of doing all this. The problems that hamper my productivity are psychological and unless I’m going to completely get rid of all the devices and thoughts that are distracting me, I don’t see how another device is going to help me. In fact, I can see me being more unproductive just trying to get every little thing right with synchronization and using the product versus just doing the thing I should be productive at.
I really do like the aesthetic though. It’s a hell of a thing to build your own hardware and software and I hope it helps others and can grow.
Not LoraWAN, not Bluetooth.
The screen is what makes smartphones addictive. You can tell just by looking at the history of them. So my ideal productivity device would be a smartphone underneath - full android, great cameras, decent processor - but the screen would be small and rubbish. Let me do everything I want to do, just make it unpleasant to do it unless I really need to.
theamk•4d ago
Github says "custom OS", but it's more like "custom UI", it's actually Arduino-based and relies on Arduino libraries for all OS-like functionality.
https://github.com/ashtf8/EinkPDA