It looks amazing. My concern is that it's around $500. That's about the price of an iPad and Apple pencil. Is it really worth the asking price?
The rM is best thought of as a pen and paper notebook, except of effectively infinite size. There are no apps. The UI (the only user-facing program) has minimal features, most of which are there just to mimic what you can do with an actual paper notebook. There are only a few exceptions, like being able to drag your notes/scribbles on the page. The device won't integrate with any 3rd party services, it doesn't have search, etc. If a physical notebook doesn't have it, then the rM probably also doesn't.
That definitely makes the rM a very niche device, but I'm getting great use out of mine, while I never managed to get much good use of an iPad.
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWY_bwFMxro&feature=youtu.be...
The conversion relies on some kind of cloud service (possibly Google's Cloud Vision API). So you need to be connected and there are privacy/security implications. And, it's very dependent on your handwriting. I cannot get coherent results with that feature, but my handwriting is as readable as base64-encoded Perl. I've seen it produce impressively good results when other people try it.
The process itself is indeed smooth, select an item in the menu and a few seconds later you have the text, which can then be emailed.
Just to make this bit clear: with effectively infinite number of pages. One would imagine that panning around infinitely large pages would be a possibility with a product like this, but the feature is not there.
Both physically and mentally this device has changed how I use tablets/devices. It feels like real paper to me, and without all of the glorified app icons and notifications screaming at me I feel more focused on the task at hand. Purpose-driven devices reduces distractions and has helped me grow professionally and I'll even go as far as saying reduced some stress and anxiety.
I am seriously considering buying a dumb phone (minimalist interface) thanks to the impact the rM1 has had on my productivity.
The only issue I had was waiting on shipping from Germany.
It's also pretty good IMO for taking meeting notes, because the only things one can do is listen to the meeting, take notes, and doodle (which has been shown to improve attention and detail recall [0]).
Of course, that also applies to a paper notebook and a nice pen.
[0] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-thinking-benefits-of...