Pine Announces 10.3" ePaper PineNote Tablet, Launching for Developers Later This Year at $399

Pine, best known for its PinePhone and Pinebook smartphone and laptop products respectively, has announced its latest as-open-as-possible creation: a 10.3" ePaper tablet dubbed the PineNote.

"The technology landscape and what is achievable using E Ink [ePaper] has significantly changed since 2017," Pine's Lukasz Erecinski explains of the PineNote's introduction. "Since the announcement of Rockchip’s RK3566 we knew our opportunity to create an open E Ink device had arrived. Early this year we made the decision to create the PineNote."

"The PineNote is one of, if not the, most powerful E Ink device available on the market. It shares in much of the Quartz64 [single-board computer]’s pedigree, sporting the same RK3566 quad-core A55 SoC paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB eMMC flash storage. The PineNote is also fitted with two microphones and two speakers, a USB-C port for fast charging and data, as well as 5Ghz AC Wi-Fi."

Externally, the device looks a lot like the Remarkable 2 E Ink tablet, down to the dark metal strip up the left-hand side and off-white bezel surrounding a 1,404x1x827 (227 DPI) 16-level grayscale ePaper display. Unlike the Remarkable, though, it includes a front light with cool and warm settings and considerably better hardware specifications behind the display — including the audio capabilities.

While the hardware is finished, including confirmed support for Wacom EMR-format pens, the software is not. "We will be making the PineNote available for early adopters later this year for $399," Erecinski writes. "The early adopter’s PineNote batch will ship with a magnetic cover (working with an on-board hall sensor, putting the device to sleep) as well as the EMR pen."

"Remember that we are a community of developers first and foremost. If you’re looking to buy a PineNote in the first batch, you must expect to write software for it, not to write notes on it. The software shipping from the factory for the first batch will not be suitable for taking notes, reading e-books, or writing your dissertation. It may not even boot to a graphical environment. However, we are excited for what you’ll create with this device and we’re ready to take the journey with you."

More details on the PineNote can be found on the company blog, with no word yet on exactly when orders for the developer's edition will open.