I bought a ReMarkable 2 excited about the screen, without fully understanding the degree to which the general-purpose-device functionality had been hobbled. (No amount of we-let-you-ssh-into-it will get you bluetooth keyboard support when the wifi+bt chip has bluetooth hardware-disabled in solder. Caveat emptor.)
Of course it's early days yet for the PineNote, but it's moving in the direction of more general-purpose functionality, not less. And that can only be a good thing.
While I have found the Remarkable enormously useful, that has largely been in spite of the company. Had I researched it more closely before purchasing it, I would have realized that the seeming openness (SSH access, Linux, a development community and unofficial third-party software repository) appears to have been forced on an otherwise hostile company by the GPLv3. So it is promising to see the same style of device with a manufacturer that actually supports it being open and adaptable.
Not to defend them (I would choose the PineNote anyway) but I think the practice is common: crippling something that is very easy to get working in a current version of a product is how they can later use it as a bullet point to advertise the sale of the next version that contains the "latest development", "much wanted feature", etc.
If we don't see the practice employed often, it's likely because most products are tight closed and the turned off features aren't easy to spot.
Just... why??
At this stage it is very much for developers looking to contribute.
Pretty much like anything from pine at this point?
The Amazon Kindle Fire HD10 is cheap (less than $100 on sale, which happens every few months), has a 10.1" color LCD screen, and enough CPU and RAM to make it painless for reading comics. I recommend it for that purpose alone... and not really for anything else.
Also there are many options for LCD readers, it's more about how there is only one option for the eink type.
Also you'll probably view it at a bit higher distance than a 6" Kindle meant for reading only. Because this one is meant to write on.
I have no idea why that is, or why they won’t try to fix it up to at least meet what I consider the general industry minimum-standard, really.
That said: So far all my orders with Pine64 have come through none the less. There’s probably no reason to be worried.
And you'll need some kind of "coupon code", which I didn't search for. But in the past they've been pretty inclusive about developers (for the PinePhone, which definitely was for developers only, and hopefully didn't result in returns).
(Incorrect links: The Preorder button on https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/ goes to https://preorder.pine64.org/ , which says "There are not any on-going pre-order at this moment." And https://www.pine64.org/availability-and-shipping-status/ shows they have stock of the PineNote Developer Edition, and are also shipping it, but no links to get to where you could order it.)
If you are looking to get one now, you will have to wait for the "Explorer Edition", which I think will come out in a couple of months?
My personal opinion, Pine64 has had to work out a few "kinks" in the hardware (if you look at the Pinephone Braveheart, 1.1, 1.2a, 1.2b). I would not be surprised if similar kinks appear in the PP Pro.
Which you would have been given if you had registered as a qualified developer earlier on.
For the rest of us, we just have to wait it out until these developers have proven the hardware somewhat.
Pine64 is in the business of selling hardware, not software nor bundled HW+SW appliances after all.
Given that the Pinephone Pro is basically the Pinebook Pro packaged in a phone, should one expect the same problems?
Can anyone here comment from firsthand experience with the Pinebook Pro? (or Pinephone Pro prototypes in developer hands, if any such thing exists?)
"We worked closely with Rockchip’s engineering team to fine-tune the SoC’s performance so that it meets the necessary thermal and battery-consumption envelopes. The result of this cooperation is the RK3399S – a RK3399 variant made specifically for the PinePhone Pro."
The RK3399S being a new and even less mature variant of the RK3399 found in the Pinebook Pro doesn't encourage me to expect better results.
Again, honest firsthand accounts welcome.
