Forget Amazon’s recent Kindle refresh, the most exciting e-ink device around is the PineNote from prolific open-source hardware makers Pine64.
I reported last month that Pine64 had confirmed a new PineNote production run, the first in several years, now that it has a solid Debian-based OS to run.
And now it’s begun taking pre-orders, with shipping expected to begin in mid-November.
The PineNote has a 10.1-inch e-ink scratch-resistant display with up to 16 levels of greyscale at a resolution of 1404×1872 (227 DPI). Powered a quad-core RK3566 SoC with 4 GB RAM, 128GB storage, on-board Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a front-light, speakers, and USB Type-C port.
It comes with a magnetic cover and EMR pen stylus for taking notes, annotating documents and eBooks, and drawing moustaches on your friend’s selfies.
PineNote software support is community-based, and applications pulled from what’s already available on Linux (and works on ARM). For note taking, Xournal++ is preinstalled out of the box, while reading ebook files is handled by the terrific Foliate.
Battery life isn’t going to rival the Kindle, Remarkable, and Boox Onyx‘s of the world, so think days, not weeks or months like a Kindle.
But unlike those mainstream, locked-down devices you have a proper Linux OS on the PineNote – it can run Doom, if you want!
If any of that sounds like I’m trying to talk you out of buying one, I’m not – it’s the only device of its kind out there and while the software side has matured a lot in the past year, it’s better to go in aware of rough edges, rather than expect a flawless experience.
Pine64 say the PineNote Community Edition is “will be great for early adopters and should still be considered as BETA phase product”.
Price is $399 (which includes cover and EMR stylus).