I was pretty sold on RM2 but then I read about the slow development pace, the apparent nonsensical lockdown of the device etc (yes I know it’s less locked down than an iPad) and I just think about getting a boox device.
Edit: see https://youtu.be/QoVIpCSpaFs
Custom templates are possible without modifying the device at all, using free tools online. Bookmarks you can get using the DDVK hack (but they aren't anywhere as slick as the implementation on the Supernote).
I'm not sure what you mean about the lockdown of the device. There's a thriving third-party community, including a package manager (Toltec), you get a SSH password out of the box, and you can even install a full Linux desktop environment on it (Parabola-RM).
I'm pretty satisfied with mine. My biggest gripes are: (i) PDF searching is poorly implemented; (ii) no searching of handwritten notebooks apart from metadata; (iii) although you can get bookmarks with a hack, there's no way to bookmark notebooks like you would with paper notebooks, e.g., with several different style sticky notes that are easy to find and access. The built-in eBook reader functionality is poor, but since it's so easy to install KOReader, that's not an issue for me.
It's clear the developer intends for the device to be heavily restricted by default in an attempt to mimic a notebook as closely as possible. You are given a free escape hatch, but that's it.
Nothing's really locked off. The filesystem is fully accessible, the file format is not obfuscated in any way and was easily reverse-engineered (there are several libraries for reading/writing the format now), and it's possible to interact with the main "xochitl" UI by intercepting/simulating events and drawing to the framebuffer after the main UI draws.
It is true that they haven't opened the UI framework behind "xochitl", but I'd guess that it's probably pretty rudimentary and not particularly general given how simple "xochitl" is. Most third party apps for the device just use QT or draw directly to the framebuffer. (And why not use QT?)
>It's clear the developer intends for the device to be heavily restricted by default
They want the UI for average users to be fairly restricted, but IMHO they're intentionally leaving it open to people to hack on it. The CTO even has a crosswords app up on Github.
All it takes to side-load is ssh.
I would say this is radically not locked down. You can ssh it!
If they tried to accommodate custom “mods” it could crash their updates. I don’t want them spending dev cycles on such an accommodation.
Besides my desktop computer, this is the best technology purchase I’ve ever made. I continue to use it for practical things.
Ultimately the functionality didn't interfere with the built in reader software or OS because it was entirely orthogonal the extra functionality was more icons on the launch screen. It didn't need the developers to create much in the way of extension points save for the expectations that the launch screen wasn't hard coded but rather it would let you select from whatever apps were installed. Something pretty common in basically every OS.
If your work doesn't have some degree of natural separation between A and B I don't know how you can possibly have made it work in the first place.
I use it for some notes, and that's about it, so it's fine for what I use it for.