Never going to buy subscription based hardware.
Without Connect (~$4/month), only files used and synced online in the last 50 days will continue to be stored in the reMarkable cloud or updated in our mobile and desktop apps. It’s also possible to turn off the sync functionality if you don’t wish to use the cloud service.
Also, it was always advertised as “experimental”. They don’t officially support non-cloud use.
Edit: To clarify that last comment, I mean non-cloud use for the advertised primary benefits. I.e. getting your notes off (and onto) the device.
But as a user, my impression is that they don’t consider this feature to be existential enough to have a smoke test for. And I do.
And for a long time (I'm an early v1 user) what they did deliver was miniscule, ignoring a lot of the feedback from core users about basic issues. Some of the "new" features being released recently even existed in early v1 releases, e.g. the screen sharing which used to work fine locally, but now doesn't anymore because it "needs" to go via their cloud.
The break stuff unintentionally too though, so you're right there. For a few releases they even broke the core writing feature - lines and drawings would be drawn all jaggy - and the fix took forever.
The marketing worked and tricked me into buying one, but it's clear to me now that reMarkable is first and foremost a marketing company, tech and users come second. I won't be spending any more money with them.
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Using-reMarkable-wi...
Stop spreading FUD, they literally have a page that lists what you can do without cloud.
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Using-reMarkable-wi...
These are cloud services.
> Handwriting conversion
> You need to be connected to Wi-Fi and logged in to your reMarkable account.
> Read on reMarkable
> Once you’ve logged into your account and sent content to your reMarkable paper tablet, you can review, annotate, and focus on the task you’re working on without any distractions.
Almost every use-case requires some sort of connectivity to a cloud. No mention of USB.
That notwithstanding, looking at the page you link, let's look at each heading and what it says.
Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive integration
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Integrating-with-Go...
"Step 1: Log in to my.remarkable.com and click the menu in the top right-hand corner."
Handwriting conversion
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Convert-handwritten...
"You need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network and logged into a reMarkable account (my.remarkable.com) in order to use handwriting conversion."
Read on reMarkable
Chrome:
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Read-on-reMarkable-...
"You’ll also need a reMarkable account to use this feature."
Microsoft Office:
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Read-on-reMarkable-...
"8. Log in with your reMarkable account."
Screen Share
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Screen-Share
"Your reMarkable needs to be paired with the cloud"
Send by email
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Send-by-email
"Note: You must be connected to Wi-Fi to share files from your reMarkable. You won’t see an option to send a file if you’re not connected to Wi-Fi and signed into an account."
Tags
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Tags
You can tag pages without a cloud account. It's useful but at best an anciliary feature.
Limited cloud sync
https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Connect
You need an account.
> Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user [0]
i.e. "someone else's computer". I want the core advertised reMarkable features to be on my computer(s). Not half mine, half theirs.
If I read this correctly they offer an optional service called "Connect" where notes and sketches are stored in their cloud:
> Here’s what’s included with your reMarkable if you don't have a subscription: > > Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive integration > > Access the most popular cloud storage services from your digital notebook with Integrations. Browse stored files, copy them to your reMarkable, and upload notes and documents directly to your Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive accounts from your paper tablet.
The even have a guide showing you how to setup these other services.
Sure it is still not optimal, it should be more hackable and people should be able to add their own cloud/syncing solutions if tou ask me, but this is not "subscription based hardware" by my standards.
I got a couple of Rocketbook notebooks for when I want something that really feels like paper, plus an iPad for the large-screen computing bits. Pity, because I love the idea of the Remarkable and would strongly consider it were it not for the subscription.
Are you basing that just off the sentiment of their subreddit or some other data?