The Freewrite is a very unique type of device that has been on the market for a little while now. They released a 2nd gen model this past fall.
The Freewrite is a specialized writing tool that combines a mechanical keyboard with a frontlit E Ink screen.
Like a typical ebook reader, it’s made to be simple and distraction free.
It’s meant to be a writing tool only. It’s not for browsing the web or answering emails or even editing documents. Just writing.
It has a premium Cherry MX mechanical keyboard from Germany and Wi-Fi for syncing your documents with cloud services.
It has a USB-C port for charging and transferring documents, and it supports plain text files only.
The battery is rated to last for up to 4 weeks when typing for 30 minutes per day. That’s the same kind of battery life you’d expect from an ereader.
The Freewrite isn’t cheap. It currently sells for just over $500 from Amazon. For that price you could get a large-screen Onyx Boox ereader and use a Bluetooth keyboard, but of course that isn’t quite the same as an E Ink typewriter.
Here’s a recent YouTube video showing the Freewrite in action.
That small screen drives me nuts…why? I guess outs to offset price….idk. Seems kitschy….if that’s the right word.
If this is the kind of device your looking for checkout the AlphaSmart NEO or Dana… pick them up on EBay for under $50. I use both for distraction free typing and these have a simple word processor built in and use the Dana uses the Palm OS so you can also read ebooks… I have and use both 🙂
Might as well get a Sinclair Z88 or an Amstrad NC200 😀 Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but you can’t really beat the mechanical keyboard; those Alphasmart machines are for different purposes…
Actually more like a Tandy m100 or m102. Runs for days on two AA batteries!
Ah, got one of those 🙂 It was in the same family (usage-wise) as the ones I mentioned, basicvally. The NC200 was a hell of a machine, especially with is built-in drive…
Yeah, get an AlphaSmart Neo off Ebay for 30 bucks. The Freewrite is just too overpriced and overweight. And no arrow keys? What the…
The keys and switches look very satisfying, but the price is outrageous, and the idea of looking down at that screen makes my spine want to crawl out of my body and find a tech-free owner. Maybe a reasonable way to go distraction-free would be to just have the willpower to turn off wifi on a computer you already have. . .
I respect that they invented and marketed something, though; good on them if they make a profit, even if it’s not a product that appeals to me.