The Reinkstone R1 is an upcoming color digital note taking device and have a website where they will be taking pre-orders to raise funds for mass production. There are a few key factors that are going to make this a good product, it has a EMR layer and comes with a proprietary stylus that has some heft to it, but other stylus such as the Lamy are compatible. This is the first color e-note that has a large screen and is primarily aimed at an English speaking audience, although there are a ton of options for international users.
The Reinkstone R1 is not running an E INK Carta HD display or Kaleido Plus. Instead they are using a new display electronic slurry module, which is completely different from the existing micro cup structure and micro capsule structure. The structure forms a layer of cofferdam on the surface of the TFT by forming a cofferdam around a single pixel electrode. Structure, the cofferdam is covered on the source and gate lines on the TFT. The patterned structure is characterized in that each pixel electrode is surrounded by a cofferdam, the microstructure is not visible on the front side, and the number of layers is reduced, thereby obtaining high definition, High-resolution display, in order to distinguish the traditional micro-cup and micro-capsule technology, we call it the new display electronic slurry(DES) technology.
DES modules with reflection structure technology directly uses electronic slurry instead of traditional microcapsules or cups. Reflective structure technology, significantly enhanced the reflection brightness and product color saturation of the electronic slurry display, while reducing the effect of anti-reflection and anti-reflection; ITO conductive transparent substrate has a reflective hemispherical structure, thus increasing the conductive gold beads conductive reliability Display the uniformity of electronic slurry printing, improved the display‘s ability to withstand voltage.
The resolution is 1680 by 2232 with 280 PPI for black and white content and 140 PPI for color. The screen size is 10.1 inches and is completely flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. For drawing and stylus interactions, this device is employing EMR instead of WACOM and it comes with a stylus, with 4096 degrees of pressure sensitivity. If you tend to write with your palms pressing against the screen, fear not, there is palm rejection technology.
Underneath the hood is a quadcore 1.8 GHZ processor, 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. It has Bluetooth, WIFI, G-Sensor, USB-C with OTG. It is powered by a gigantic 4,500 mAh battery, so it will last around three weeks of usage and is very thin, 6.8mm. You will be able to sideload in your own apps and install alternative app stores. This is because it is running Android 11, which is the most current OS found on any E INK device, anywhere.
The retail packaging is fairly plain, it has a simple cardboard box, and the R1 is enclosed in a static proof bag. There is a really nice looking documentation that teaches you all of the key features, lists and specs and provides screenshots of commonly accessed options, all of the graphics are in full color. There is a stylus in the box, that has a triangle shape, it comes with 2 extra replacement nibs and a tool to remove the old one. Since these nibs are made of plastic, they should be highly durable, since they aren’t made of POM or Felt like the Sony or Remarkable.
When it comes to the overall design of the R1, it has color scheme that has two tones on the front. The top of the device is a really nice sky blue and the rest of the bezel is black, so the E INK screen really pops. The sides of the bezel, are also blue. There is where the power button, USB-C port and two stereo speakers are. The sound is actually fairly excellent, when it comes to playing podcasts and audiobooks, although you can connect via Bluetooth a pair of wireless headphones, if you want.
The main home screen has a bunch of apps that are listed. It comes with a PDF Reader, E-Reading app, a note taking app and common Android stuff like a music player, gallery and calculator. Reinkstone told me that they just finished up with their automatic firmware delivery system, so they can push out new updates.
The R1 from a design standpoint is the finished product. The software experience will change and likely the shipping box will have a better design. It is going to take us awhile for our hands on review, because there are lots of little bugs that need to be solved, before we can really do it justice. This includes a 4 second long audio file that is called, whenever you click on things, this should be 0.01 seconds instead. There is also no software full page refresh option, this is important, because without it, there is lots of ghosting. We submitted a big list of issues to the company and they said next week they will release an update and fix them. So at least, they are really proactive.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
