Reder Tseng

I have been trying out the music app Endel for a month and I am quite amazed at how it changed my life.

It helps me get into the zone easily. I will put on my headset, pick a “soundscape”, and get into the zone. There are 4 free “soundscapes” available: Focus, Relax, Sleep, and Move, where each soundscape is a continuous, generated sound track. One should be able to get what situation they are suitable based on the name.

I am sold by the idea of generated music. Instead of trying to steal your attention, the music provides the atmosphere without the listener caring about which song it is. The lack of choices is a feature to me. There is no need to search for “the right playlist” or “the right song” to start with when I decide to focus, to relax, or to sleep. Using the same soundscape may make me bored someday, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Twitter was the only social network I used daily, though I post far less in recent years. I relied on it for news and updates, though most of my acquaintances are not there. It was quite an effective news aggregator, so I didn’t find an alternative even after Elon Musk took over Twitter.

It was a wake-up call to me when Twitter banned third-party apps like Tweetbot. I suddenly realized that Twitter still somewhat works because of those apps, otherwise it’s a broken experience for long. I dislike the official Twitter app or website, which are full of ads and “suggested content”. It’s time to find a news aggregator.

I discovered Feedbin (*), which suits my needs of tracking updates across platforms. I used it to track blogs, Twitter, Mastodon, YouTube channels, and even newsletters. After using it for a while, I realized that the “social media timelines” urge users to stay on a website as much as possible so they can see more ads. A user may either feel they need to follow more people or read more to catch up because of the recommendations. To me, I ended up wasting more time that I want.

Using an old school RSS reader like Feedbin reminds me how efficient those tools are: they track the reading progress, so I only need to care about unread entries. Once I cleaned the unread feeds up, I am good to leave. This saves me time once I switched. Social media blend the content discovery and the people interaction together. Putting the former in a news aggregator frees me from the latter when I only want to read.

I may need to thank Elon Musk for pushing me out of my comfort zone and dropping Twitter. Now I feel I am having a better life. :)

(*) I ended up using Reeder, as it has similar features without a subscription. It doesn’t support newsletters though.

What is Pomera?

Pomera is the name of “portable digital memo pad” devices from King Jim, a Japanese company that mainly sells stationery.

I have always wanted to get one but was scared away by the Japanese keyboard and user interface. I recently knew that Pomera actually has a full English UI and supports the US keyboard layout, so I decided to get the latest version – Pomera DM250. Since Yen was down this year, I decided to take the chance and got one myself.

Hardware

My first impression is that the size is bigger than I thought, then I realized it comes with a full 80-key keyboard. It weights about 620 g and the size is 263×120×18 mm.

The keyboard feels like what you would expect for a portable keyboard, and even with this expectation it’s on the weak side. I won’t say the keyboard is joyful to type, as I am used to the mechanical keyboard I got half year ago. The typing sound is quiet, so there shouldn’t be an issue to use in a quiet setting.

The keyboard layout will take some time to get used to. I started with a lot of errors, then I realized that the keyboard is actually a bit leaning toward the left side. It supports the US layout so I don’t need to learn the Japanese one, but the print is in the Japanese layout. They provide stickers to “overwrite” the print, though I haven’t use them because most of my muscle memory is correct.

At the start, I didn’t know why sometimes the keyboard gives me double typing even though I didn’t feel I did that. It’s probably because of the typing depth is shallow and without the ability to bounce back, so I kept my finger on a key for too long. The other reason may be because of the “simultaneous key determine time”, and I changed it from the longest possible to the shortest possible. This seems to reduce the chances it detects false double clicking.

The screen is a monochrome TFT and have the ability to adjust the brightness. It’s big enough that editing is workable to perform. The battery is enough, similar to my experience with a Kindle. With my heavy first-week usage, it went down to about 40%. It is quiet enough if the battery can last for two weeks. The charging time seems to be longer than I expected, as the first full charge is about 6 hours if I remembered correctly. It is a fingerprint magnet, where the fingerprints are very easy to stick on the exterior. This is top complain I have, even though it doesn’t affect the usage.

Writing/editing

It’s a pretty decent writing/editing environment. There are several available font size with 2 available fonts. The adjustable backlight makes it comfortable to write in different light settings. There are keyboard shortcuts that are like the Windows settings to help navigate through the document.

It has the outline feature to break down large documents into small sections and jump to a specific header. The headers in the outline is also hierarchical, so I can see the tree structure based on the headers. It can split the screen into two to compare different sections of a document or even a different document. Those are useful editing features that I didn’t expected this device to provide.

I like the ability of having grids when I write. I never use a text editor that provides this functionality, but I feel more calm and organized when turning on the grids. The built-in font may not be my favor, but there is at least one font that I am comfortable living with. I have never been a template guy but I started to use the template function within it.

Content sharing

Pomera is meant to be a device for drafting so it supports several ways to get the document out. The quickest way is to generate QR codes and scan them with the Pomera companion app. Then the doc can be shared through the sharing menu on an iPhone. One may also use the wifi sharing to connect the app to the device directly. One may also connect the device through a USB cable to a computer and it will work like an external drive. There is another way to send the document out through email, though I never use it.

To me, the most convenient way is to use a SD card to save and transfer the documents. Based on the company policy, I shouldn’t share or store anything online, so I can’t use lots of online services. With Pomera, I can type a draft, store it in an SD card, and load it in my work laptop. I can also go the other way to transfer my existing notes quickly and seamlessly to the device.

How to get one?

I would recommend going through Amazon.jp to purchase one, given the reasonable price you will get and the shipping should be uneventful. This is the route I took, but YMMV. The price on eBay is almost double compared to the Amazon JP price, so I can’t think of a good reason buying there.

Note that on the box it says that “This product is for use only in Japan”, so I assume the warranty is non-existed. Please use your own judgement.

Verdict

Pomera is now my favorite “thinking” device. As a distraction free writing device, it does what I would expect and more. I am able to write and think more than an hour until I realized it.

It is also a convenient brain-dumping device. I only need to wait for 4 seconds to get into an environment that is ready for me to type down any thoughts that I have.

I also use it for note taking, even though I won’t be able to do note linking and see backlinks on it.

I know I am still in the honeymoon period as I am trying to do as much as I can with it, but I am sure it will at least be a fantastic device for initial drafts.

Appendix: My feature wishlist

Below are a couple of wishes that I have, written in the “user story” format. They range from “this should be easy to do” to “why will they do that”. I share them more like a public rant, but this may help you understand the limitations or problems.

As a Pomera user:

• I want to have the word count instead of the character count in English so I can know how long a document is.
• I want to save calendar entries to the SD card so I can view and edit them on my computer through the SD card.
• I wan to have a better exterior painting so the device doesn’t look dirty.
• I want to have an e-ink screen with backlight so I can keep staring at the screen and don’t have sore eyes.
• I want to have backlighted keyboard so I can type in dark.
• I want to have a keyboard with more feedback so I can enjoy the typing.
• I want a built-in English to English dictionary so I can look up words when writing.
• I want to have a English keyboard version so I don’t need to rely on stickers.
• I want the ability to connect other bluetooth keyboard as the input source so I can use my mechanic keyboard if I prefer.

I have been thinking about my relationship with the internet recently.

It’s weird that I have built a strong dependency toward the internet through out the years without noticing it. Or, I noticed it but it is too weird to stay distant from it, given that everyone is there and using it everyday, right?

I have to admit that internet is addictive, and it’s addictive in many ways. For example, I have a bad habit of reading a random Wikipedia entry and dig into related entries. It’s reading for pleasure with the sense of learning something new. The thing is, if I don’t try to memorize the details or at least write a note about it, I won’t be able to recall anything.

The whole internet though, is a media that contains too much interesting content. While a single person won’t be able to read all the available books in their life, the internet content is way beyond that. If I am not careful, I may save more than 20 interesting articles that I want to “read later” in a day. This habit has leaked into Youtube videos. I have thousands of articles to read and videos to watch, they all seem to be interesting to me, at least for the past me. “Interesting” is now an insufficient criteria to determine if something is worth digest.

This may be fine when I was young and didn’t feel the stress of time. But as I am closer to my 40s, I started to realize that I don’t have infinite time and I care about too many things. There are too many interesting things in the world but I cannot care about them all. There must be a priority built for myself, otherwise I am dragging around by others' priorities.

Another source of the internet stickness is from the social networks. I shouldn’t care about the social pressure because I quitted Facebook back in 2019. There shouldn’t be a pressure for me to keep checking Twitter timeline because most of my acquaintances are not on Twitter. But why is it still a problem?

The reason is that the social pressure isn’t from my acquaintances. It comes from those numbers on the social networks. We human likes to compare and subconsciously I can’t stop comparing to others. The term “peer pressure” describes it, and the social networks make it worse. One may compare the number of Likes received with other people they follow; one may feel depressed if a new post didn’t receive any Like; one may try hard to earn Likes.

I have to remind myself that quality is more important than quantity. Because quantity is far easier to measure, it’s easier to set up a goal using quantity as the measurement. For example, number of books read in a year; number of notes written in a month; words written in a day; number of posts/pictures/videos posted; number of likes or comments obtained. I won’t say those measurement is meaningless, but each one has its own pitfalls. Relying on a single measurement gives the wrong target to chase after, and that may misdirect me. What I want is an improved internet experience with better quality.

I started to build a new set tenets for myself, that will be the north star for me to deal with my relationship with the internet with the quality in mind. The tenets include:

• Slow is fast.
• Less is more.
• Far is near.

Previously, I always try to hunt for interesting people to follow and make my timeline as rich as I can. Now, I only follow a few people when using a new platform and keep a short list of “must read” in the existing platforms. I try to have a short list of ongoing subjects that I want to explore and be more mindful on what I read. I try to keep distances to “news” or “modern stuff” and leave room for me to reflect. I remove any social media app if I started to scroll through the timeline aimlessly on my phone and use them on my iPad or laptop.

What will the result be? I don’t have a solid answer yet as I started it half month ago but it seems to be promising.

Related readings that inspired this post:

• Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen
• Why You Should Stop Reading News
• A Guide For Reading Less And Thinking Better
• Read Less. Learn More.
• ‘I want to savour every word’: the joy of reading slowly
• Social media may prevent users from reaping the creative rewards of profound boredom
• These ‘Luddite’ Teens Are Abstaining From Social Media - The New York Times

A bit about myself

I would like to share my experience on similar devices before talking about Kindle Scribe, so you may understand my perspective more. Please feel free to skip this section.

I am always keen to e-ink readers as I always feel it’s more comfortable for my eyes to read with them. My first e-ink reader was a Kindle DX. I owned a couple more Kindles after that – 2 Paperwhite, a Voyage, and an Oasis. I bought a lot of books through Amazon along my Kindle journey.

Reading PDFs was a big reason for me to buy a Kindle DX. Yet, every Kindle after the Kindle DX isn’t suitable for that purpose. I had to turn to other non-Kindle devices after my Kindle DX died. I tried a first generation of Boox Note and a first generation of Remarkable. (The Remarkable was originally for my wife. I keep it when she switched back to use pen and paper). The main problem with them is that they are not Kindle, so I have to split my reading between two devices. In the end, it is too much to carry two devices and I gave up.

This is why I pre-ordered Kindle Scribe. It’s a device I have been waiting since my Kindle DX died. I wanted it as long as it has a big screen, even if it doesn’t have a pen. I hoped a single device can handle my reading needs.

For digital writing, I used iPad with Notability and Good Notes to take class notes (around 2012). They are all good apps that compensate the limitation of the digital writing at the time. I got a iPad Pro with Apple Pencil back in 2019 to see if I was able to go back to digital writing. But, I don’t like the writing experience – writing with a hard tip on a piece of glass isn’t delightful. And I always forgot to charge the Apple Pencil.

I tried smaller devices such as Sharp’s electronic notebook or Mobiscribe. The good thing of these devices is that the form factor is small and easy to carry around. But with the size, they mainly replaced stick notes, not a full size notebook. Another problem of the Sharp’s e-notebook is the screen reflection, which makes it nearly unusable unless having a right light direction. The Mobiscribe I owned is the first generation, which is slow and lagging, and that impacts the writing experience.

First impression

First of all, this is a Kindle. It has the same control to move forward and backward; it has the same “Home”, “Library”, and Kindle store. The menu is almost identical so there isn’t too much to learn. Other than a bigger screen, the most obvious change is the new “Notebook” tab. For any Kindle user, the overall experience is familiar.

Hardware

The Kindle Scribe feels solid and sturdy. The metal back gives a premium feel to it. The bezel is a plus when holding the device, as it’s possible to lay the thumb at the front to balance the weight. The device is on the heavy side, so holding it for a long time may not be preferable. I use it by the desk most of the time so weight is not an issue.

The pen is one of the best I have ever used. Other pens are made with plastic and feel light in hand. I have the Premium Pen and it has a balanced weight to hold for a long time. It can stick to the device side so carry it around is an easy job. It uses the same Wacom technology as Boox, Remarkable, and Mobiscribe, so I can use the same pen on other devices.

The battery is why Kindle Scribe is so useful. It lasts for a week for my first week usage, with reading, writing, and backlight on. Most of non-Kindle devices I listed don’t have similar battery time. I am always charging a device or it is out of battery when I try to use it. Weak battery is the main reason I dumped other writing-focused devices. If they can’t be there when I need them, I would rather rely on pen and paper.

The backlight is an important factor to me. I wrote on Scribe in the middle of the night a couple times last week. The midnight thoughts are always quirky and fade out fast, so having Scribe on the side help catch those thoughts so I am able to review it later in the day.

Kindle Scribe seems to be the fastest Kindle I ever own, and the nimbleness shows up in every aspect. Opening up a book, page turns, even browsing the Kindle store are all faster experiences.

Reading

Kindle Books

It is the biggest and fastest Kindle so far, and size and speed matter in reading. It’s a much enjoyable reading experience, even if it’s reading plain-old Kindle books. The bigger screen means more words in a single page, and having a pen in hand makes highlighting and look-ups more accurate.

Magazines

It’s a surprise to me that Amazon hasn’t optimized magazine rendering for Kindle Scribes. There is no way to see magazines in the full-page view. Maybe it’s because the processor isn’t fast enough to render the whole graph, but that’s a bit disappointing, considering the screen size.

Comics

It’s now the best Kindle device to enjoy comics. The form factor is closer to what a usual comic book is, so there is not much compensation with the need to shrink content into a small screen. I don’t need to complain the words may be too small. I am satisfied.

PDFs

Reading PDFs is a big reason for me to get a Kindle Scribe, but the current experience is worse than my expectation. The big screen helps reading, but it is missing features that other Kindles have. The missing features include: 1) the ability to crop margins; 2) the ability to change the font weight; 3) the ability to change the layout orientation. I am surprised that Amazon didn’t deliver those features, given that PDF reading should be a big use case.

Writing

One big difference of Scribe is that it supports writing. I have to admit that I didn’t expect I use this feature much, as I didn’t develop the digital writing habit even though I tried it many times. As mentioned above, the main reason is that the battery of other devices is too weak to be “always ready” when I need to write. The other reason is that Kindle Scribe is a good enough reading device. That gives me a stronger reason to keep it always by my side.

The writing experience itself feels nature to me. It’s not as impressive as Remarkable, but I am not that picky. I don’t need a close-to-paper experience or different types of pen touches. As long as it records my strokes well, I accept it.

The page and notebook management are quite lacking. I can’t move the page around a notebook or between notebooks. I can’t see the snapshots of all pages in a notebook. I can’t select pages to delete. I decided to treat it like physical notebooks and create as many notebooks as I need. This way, I am able to process notes and delete them by notebooks.

Based on the product page:

Coming Soon: Kindle Scribe provides regular, free software updates that include new features. In the coming months, Kindle Scribe will add more writing tools, including new brush types and copy/paste tools, additional notebook organization options, and the ability to send documents to Kindle Scribe directly from within Microsoft Word.

Comparison

I know a lot of people compare this to other devices like Remarkable, but they are in different categories. Kindle Scribe is a reading device that a user can write on, where Remarkable is a device focused on writing with reading functionality. I tried Remarkable 1 but I don’t like it. Even though the writing experience is superior, the battery is always an issue. It’s annoying that when I need to jot down a thought but the device is out of battery, and it happens a couple of times to me. The backlight makes Scribe more useful, given that I need to use Remarkable in a well-lighted environment.

Verdict

Kindle Scribe is a clear keeper to me, in an unexpected way. What I had high hopes falls short, but there are places that I didn’t expect to be an important factor.

It is a device for people to focus on reading and writing. The reduced functionality is a feature, so users can take back the control and be focused. In contrast, iPad has more functionality, but that means more distractions. I write on it more than I expected. It’s a smooth experience – when reading, I can write thoughts down without breaking the flow.

I hope this ends my multi-year device hunting journey and hope it will last long enough so I don’t need to hunt again soon.