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so I went into an e-ink device rabbit hole lately. a couple of years ago I acquired a second-hand first-gen freewrite from a friend https://getfreewrite.com/collections/freewrite – my interest in e-ink is due to chronic eye pain, not really the distraction-free part.
using it made me discover the joy of typing on a mechanical keyboard (it really makes a difference imo) but I stopped using it because I cannot deal with the inability to edit my words on the fly. my partner took it out recently to journal, and even sewed a custom cover for it.
my partner typing frantically on the freewrite made me sorta jealous, so I was tempted again by the freewrite traveler https://getfreewrite.com/products/freewrite-traveler, but unlike some writers I cannot convince myself to get a very expensive device that does only one thing.
but it made me go into the e-ink subreddit to see what is on the scene these days, and I was like pleasantly shocked. you can now get e-ink tablets in various sizes that can play youtube videos at acceptable speed, and open two apps in split screen mode: https://www.boox.com/
here is a video of the Boox Max Lumi playing video games in e-ink:
you can also now buy mobile phones running on e-ink, like the hisense A5: https://goodereader.com/blog/smartphones-2/hisense-a5-is-a-single-screen-e-ink-phone
hisense has also released a color e-ink phone displaying 4096 colours: https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/hisense-pro-cc-color-e-ink-smartphone-hands-on-review
there is also an 13.3" e-ink monitor by Dasung ( http://www.dasungtech.com/ ) which is regularly sold out, and I've learned that I'm not the only person who has chronic eye issues from looking intensely at screens more than 8 hours a day.
the Dasung monitor is expensive, you could buy a 4k 27" LED screen for less money, but if your job depends on it perhaps it is a small price to pay? I hope these devices will become more affordable. I think chronic eye pain is going to become more widespread.
it gives me hope that I can try coding again, if I'm ever able to afford an e-ink monitor. perhaps I could even do design work in B&W.
btw the tablets and mobile phones run on Android so technically you could install any Android app on it. PDFs and manga which usually struggle on traditional e-ink devices are now snappy to browse. you can install kindle, kobo, overdrive, libby, etc.
I intend to use a bluetooth mechanical keyboard with a small Boox Android e-ink tablet. there is a typing lag just like the freewrite, but I don't mind it. also interested to see if I can split the screen between an ebook app and a note-taking app, that would be wondrous for me.
