My journey to creating a digital document system that works for me. (Part 2)

In this segment I will talk about some of the devices that I have used over the years for creating and accessing documents on the fly. Some of them were only used for access but others had a dual purpose to create as well as access. Every time I acquire a new device data access is one of the primary options that I consider. So, let’s wind back the clock.

I’m not going to go too far back because who really cares about outdated equipment. So, I am not going to talk about the Apple iPads that I had, Lenovo Tabs that I used, Samsung Note phone that I worked through. The real start of the digital collection and use is with my MS Surface book I purchased 8 years ago. The ability to use the touchscreen as a digital writing pad was a real draw to me and sold me on it right away. I was a big user of the OneNote application, and this became the central point of my using my surface book as a digital writing device. The issue over time I found was that it was a real pain for me to disassemble the screen so that I may use it as a writing surface. I stopped using this device as my writing surface because of this and it became a part of my desktop computer equipment.

Another issue I had with the notebook was that it could not be used easily out of doors. It was very hard to view the screen during the summer months when I spent a lot of time outside. I needed a new solution. I started seeing advertisements about the Remarkable II which intrigued me because it was very similar to the technology of the Kindle e-reader that was very suitable for using out-of-doors. I finally made the leap a year ago and purchased it to see how it would work out for me.

Remarkable II’s simplicity is taunted as its most remarkable feature. Because of its limited feature set, you have more time to focus on what you are writing with less distraction in the process. With all the new features that were pouring in and upgrading the capabilities of the device, I was finding more and more ways to use it.

However, simplicity as a feature in this case was not a positive thing for me. I needed more capabilities. After about a year of use I decided after much research, to move on to a product by Boox called the Note Air 2 plus. The difference between them Remarkable II and the Note Air 2 Plus is that the Remarkable II product is based on a Linux operating system and the Boox Note Air 2 Plus is based on Android 11.

What does this mean to the average user? First, every application for the Remarkable II needs to be written by the manufacturer primarily. It is a closed system except for the widening cadre of people that are supporting. However, I am impatient and because Android 11 is available on millions of devices, there is a huge library of applications that are already written for the Android operating system.

While initially having a single focus or use device, on the surface seemed a positive situation, in the long run I found I was extremely handicapped. I was not able to use the same device to access information from the many sources I needed. This has allowed me to increase my productivity and for me, is more important than having a single function device that did not provide access to all my information.

Tomorrow I will talk about the comparisons between the two devices in more detail.