A year with the Supernote A5X - reflections, tips and hopes

[@mcguiremkm]

I'm late to the party on this, but I truly appreciate your use of the A5x as a reading device. I just this evening purchased the device and primarily imagined it as a journaling device. However, you've opened my eyes to it as a reading tool. I'm a writer as well as engineer, and I'm looking forward to annotating both literature and technical works using the SuperNote. Thank you for the excellent summary.

[@cfischer691]

Thanks for your videos! I have an iPad that I use for Bible Journaling today. I'm considering an eink device to replace it. My work flow is: open my bible app, find a passage I want to write about, copy the text, paste it to a new page in my journal notebook, write (or sometimes type) my response to that. I know I can't install any apps on the supernote. But is it possible to copy text out of a Kindle bible (or one converted to epub) or a pdf file, and paste it into a note?

[@blmjr]

I'm wondering if you are able to access Google Drive from your Supernote? I have 100's of pdfs for my work there and currently must use a laptop to view / edit. I would love to only have to carry the A5X around w me, but haven't been able to find a Google Drive sync option.

[@CTilling]

Hey Billy, only Dropbox and the Supernote cloud are allowed at the mo. I too have dozens of GB of pdfs but most of them are simply on the SN.

[@blmjr]

@@CTilling Thank you for the clarification. I have a Boox Note2 and keep my prayer list there as well, a wonderful application of the technology. It is easy to carry anywhere and the e-ink screen is easy on the eyes. I've enjoyed reading all the comments here, hope you're not tired of all the questions. but... What function do the two grey blocks on either side of the SN? I prop up my Note with books to get a better writing angle. Something like that?

[@CTilling]

@@blmjr They are lead weights to keep books open - I used them simply to keep me in frame in this video!

[@blmjr]

@@CTilling Thanks!

[@stokrotnie7]

Thank you for sharing. I'm considering buying the device and I love your content. Very thoughtful.Thank you! :)

[@CTilling]

Thanks so much for your kind comment! Hope you are happy with whatever choice you end up making. I still love my A5X!!

[@stokrotnie7]

@@CTilling Thank you :)

[@hussainmahmoud7881]

Thank you for this video and previous ones in your channel. I am selling my supernote as no support for Rt to Lt language ePub (arabic) in both Font alignment and Digest feature. I liked the English epubs on it, also kindle experience was really nice. I might get it in future if they add the arabic support plus feature you have mentioned above. At least having the digest feature in the cloud would be nice. One of issues, is inability to change the font of ePub once you annotated it (unlike Boox), Also if there is an option for a default universal font setting for epub, as if I start reading and writing without changing it, I can not change it later on, unless I delete all my annotations. I will keep using my other eink for now and I hope for next gen Supernote to deal with these issues.

[@rowdyblakley8669]

I always appreciate your thoughtful observations. My experience is with Boox devices, Max3 is my current favourite but I like to keep abreast of alternatives. The Supernote A5X looks to be a very attractive practical device.

[@quasithoughts1040]

I think you can export PDFs annotated. At least I’ve been able to do so. I had to export the PDF and then print it again to PDF selecting to print the annotations. Then save that new file, and I had a shareable marked up PDF. I’m using Chauvet 1.0.1(368). Hope that helps. Love your videos and I quite agree with all your points. I would be interested in learning how to converting kindle books to ePub. Thanks!!

[@CTilling]

Thanks for your kind comment! Yes, you can export PDFs, but not annotated epubs. Yet. As for the conversion of kindle books, try "Any ebook converter" (free) and let me know if you get it to work or not!

[@quasithoughts1040]

Aha! Gotcha. Fingers crossed that is a future update. Thank you, I’ll check that software out.

[@lesleyharrington]

Thank you for this update. I found your earlier videos helpful when I was new to the device, and now that I have used it for months I am similarly finding it to be a most useful daily 'companion'. In my discipline I read a lot of pdfs in two-column format, and your comments about the short-comings of the zoom are spot-on. I will look into whether I can make use of epubs as well based on your enthusiastic comments about converting books. Cheers.

[@CTilling]

Thanks for your kind comment! Try "Any ebook converter" to convert kindle to epub.

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

i just got to the part where you said you can't export your annotations! so there's no way to back it up in ratta proprietary file format either? i would be so nervous...

[@CTilling]

It is all backedup on the cloud - files and annotation files are separated. But yeah, I really want to be able to view the epub annotations on my PC

[@cooner85]

I’ve seen a number of your videos on the SN, and have taken in many great tips. Thank you so much. One question on removing DRM from Kindle books. I’ve tried this using Calibre with no success. It keeps giving me an error on the convert step. Any advice? Thanks again.

[@CTilling]

Yes, you need to use an older version of kindle (on the PC), version 1.17.1 or older. Then use "any ebook converter", which is freeware. Be careful where you download these, though, and do a virus check!

[@trentgilliam5192]

Great video. Fast question, is it possible to search for a note or PDF by name or is it only by starred or un-stared?

[@garrettw5143]

You can add keywords to search by

[@bradd5961]

Great vid. Can you view your notes on the cloud somehow? Let's pretend you have left your supernote at work etc?

[@CTilling]

Yes I can, on the cloud server!

[@michaelcampbell8815]

Minister here…I have a Papyr device. Thinking of switching to a5x…advice or thoughts?

[@CTilling]

Hey, great to hear from a brother! I do not know the papyr beyond what other youtube channels say. I would not necessary recommend another eink device if you already have one. The SN is lovely to read from - pdfs and epubs are a delight to mark up and read. Not sure how much more it would offer over the Papyr though. Sorry I cannot help more

[@nbpf6275]

Thanks for the review! I am a long time user of a reMarkable and I am quite disappointed by the device. As a consequence I use the reMarkable almost only for travelling. At home, I much prefer traditional printed books and papers. This is mainly because of 3 missing features and I'm wandering whether these are available on the A5X. The first feature is the possibility to toggle between, say, 3-6 pages, either of the same document of of different documents. In my daily work (taking notes, preparing talks) I typically have two or three open documents and need to jump back an forth between them. With real papers and books, browser tabs or windows, this is not a problem. But with the remarkable it is a real pain. If you are on, say, page 34 of a book, jumping to page 342 of the same book or to page 7 of a related paper is painful and very distracting. This makes the device hardly usable for real work for me. Perhaps the A5X is better in this respect? How easily can you jump from a page in document A to one in document B and back? What I would like to see on the reMarkable is a menu with 3-6 links to pages that can be easily set and accesed. Perhaps the A5X has a similar feature? The second feature I am really missing on the reMarkable is the ability to store the same document under different folders. All my books and papers on my computers are organized according to different criteria: by subject, by author, chronologically, etc. This means that I can access a document (not copies of it) from different folders. The reMarkable metadata only support a single parent folder. This sucks and I was wandering whether the A5X is better in this respect. Can you organize your books and documents in different categories? Can you have A in folder "Advanced" and A in folder "Reference works" refer to the same document? The third major limitation of the reMarkable is the impossibility to rotate a document and read it in landscape mode. This is extremely annoying and makes the reMarkable for me unusable as a reader for A4, multi-columns technical papers. From your review I have the impression that the A5X is not much better in this respect but perhaps I am wrong? The pinch zoom on the reMarkable is hardly usable and very distracting, unfortunately.

[@CTilling]

Fascinating stuff, this, and yes I understand the struggle with flipping back and forth in books. The SN is OK on this front, but it's not near iPad speed.

[@glitterkoe]

I'd say quick switching could be handled with starred pages and your desired multi folder structure sounds like it could be handled with keywords instead of folders on the Supernote

[@NEOFoodWeb]

Thanks for your on-going reviews.Very helpful! I'm curious to know - can the supernote convert annotations on scanned documents to text? I have a lot of books that I have marked up with extensive margin notes and it would be convenient if I could highlight some of those notes to convert to text or add to ToC.

[@dayeah765caoni3]

Im sure a computer can more likely accomplish rhat

[@CTilling]

Not that I know of, sadly. At least not yet. Check out their update list on reddit if they plan this?

[@dannydelgado8711]

How well does this sync with your Microsoft account? OneNote, outlook, tasks, OneDrive, etc? Thanks for the tips

[@CTilling]

Hi Danny, it the A5X does not sync with OneDrive yet, though I believe that is in the pipline for a future software update. Outlook emails are easy enough to access, though I don't recommend the A5X for email work if you have other options. OneNote also does not link with the A5X. Hope this helps!

[@dannydelgado8711]

@@CTilling Thank you for the reply!

[@drchilapastrosodrlasmacas438]

I'm wondering if I should get the A5x or A6x, I travel a lot so the 6 sounds best though the 5 is larger, for drawings?

[@Dreambigbig]

Personally, I prefer A5x as my handwriting is pretty ugly. Lol.

[@darinhouston1009]

Great review - I am a Theo-nerd and an "older adult" beginning greek student - would love some ideas about Supernote friendly greek resources and how to use them with the Supernote - even greek New Testaments seem quite unwieldy and heavy-weight pdfs with long loading times and cumbersome to navigate - anything with useful links or the like ?

[@diannemartz5127]

where might I find the 2022 Daily Organizer that you showed?

[@CTilling]

www.mydeepguide.com/product-page/my-daily-organizer-2022

[@antonio_cpj]

Thank you for the review. Would I regret if I purchase the smaller A6 size?

[@HarshNerf]

Not really its a tradeoff a6x is more portable but obviously less screen. Depends on what you value.

[@ryancoatney6926]

Thanks for the helpful video. Is there any sort of screen sharing functionality?

[@CTilling]

Not yet, but it is high on their update priorities, I believe. Check out the Reddit group for dates

[@ryancoatney6926]

@@CTilling nice. Also, does the handwriting conversion recognize Greek & Hebrew/Aramaic? 😬😳 that would be wild (and really helpful).

[@TruthspeakOfficial]

This is very helpful. God bless

[@rossmcwey6614]

Thank you for the video! I have a couple questions as a new user; 1. Do you get an audible sticky sound when resting your hand in the lower right of the screen? It sounds as though it is sticking to something underneath the screen. 2. Do you ever get it to where it thinks you are trying to erase when you are not? Like, when I am writing sometimes it just changes to erase without me pressing anything. Sometimes the erase effect stays on the screen and I have to manually delete that too. Much appreciated! I think my device is defective, but I wanted to make sure before I go through that process.

[@CTilling]

Hi Ross, 1. Yes! 2. Yes, though less after a recent update. So I am not sure your device is defective - it may need an update, though. Has it got better or worse?

[@niconico6229]

Thanks for the great review. Possible to synch the files with a cloud system like Onedrive or Dropbox?

[@DubTheFiend]

I'm pretty sure you can, although I don't own one

[@janbalsamo]

I enjoy your videos. Did you scan that book into a pdf one page at a time? Can you do a video detailing how you do do it if not one page at a time? One page at a time would take forever. I got my Supernote this weekend and I LOVE it already. It says my software is up to date (368) and yet I don't have the two finger erase function or the fast page flip you talked about. Trying to get to the New Testament in Matt Henry Concise takes forever (Epub)!!! A question for Ratta I guess. Bless you!

[@rowdyblakley8669]

For speed I used a Fujitsu iX500 sheet feed scanner, the downside is that it is destructive as the spine of the book needs to be chopped off in a guillotine. For a non destructive method when I want to preserve the book I use a Czur scanner (see KZbin for demos). This is a much slower method but still faster, easier and better than using a flat bed scanner.

[@janbalsamo]

@@rowdyblakley8669 Thank you! I'm going to check it out.

[@rowdyblakley8669]

@@janbalsamo I keep trying to link you to the paper guillotine that I use but my posts are instantly deleted. Let's see if this one stays up

[@janbalsamo]

@@rowdyblakley8669 What is the name of it? I can just google it. Thanks!

[@CTilling]

Thanks for your comment. I purchased this one: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08M9CN4Q9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@barajas27ka]

How much is the battery life? Remarkable 2 can go two weeks with a single charge just Curious which one to get

[@CTilling]

I'd say similar since the latest update

[@nemlol]

Now that you've had the device for a year I would be curious to know how the screen and top membrane layer has held up?

[@CTilling]

Exceptionally well - there are no issues at all. I have cleaned my screen almost every day and kept it protected, and I would say that it is as new still

[@vinoto]

What do you clean the screen with?

[@scottbaker6043]

Any chance to get a link to that new 2022 daily planner you showed?

[@CTilling]

Here you go: www.mydeepguide.com/product-page/my-daily-organizer-2022

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

can you invert the colors of the pdf/epubs? meaning white text on black background (for night reading)

[@CTilling]

No, and there is no need as it is does not have a front light.

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

how are annotations compared to the onyx boox air? are the annotations exportable with the pdf?

[@CTilling]

Yes, in PDF they are all exportable - on both devices.

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

you have to read a lot of foreign language books. do you feel the lack of a dictionary to be a severe handicap? according to the latest reply from their representative (1 month ago) on reddit, it's been pushed forward again and there doesn't seem to be a any clear roadmap. they're saying it's a "non-essential" so i would imagine that would mean it's taken the backburner. pity as I find the dictionary to be indispensible on my paperwhite. also, are you able to somehow read web articles? like does it have a pocket app for example that will allow you to read articles you've saved elsewhere? it's not android based so i image that would be impossible?

[@CTilling]

Personally, I do not find the lack of a dictionary important. There is one within the Kindle app, of course. The Max Lumi one is a bit rubbish, so this isn't something these devices excel at. As for web articles, I either save them as PDFs using "simple print" and sync, or read on different devices. There is a plan for a more developed browser, I believe, but I doubt that it will have that much by way of annotation capabilities. Would be great if it did, and Ratta do tend to surprise us!

[@justinx8935]

Make sure to share the recs to the reddit

[@johnmanley4528]

Nice video. What is the name of the stand?

[@CTilling]

I use the Lamicall Tablet Stand and the Nulaxy Tablet Stand (which has the advantage of being foldable and is therefore more portable)

[@johnmanley4528]

@@CTilling Ah. Thanks!

[@thatchanguy]

Two finger delete?! Is that a standard or beta feature? This is a game changer.

[@CTilling]

It's a beta feature, yes, but coming to everyone soon!

[@senolmos]

Does the supernote recognize Ancient Greek script?

[@CTilling]

When writing into Word, do you mean? If so, I can confirm it cannot - I just tried!

[@chrishamilton1189]

Really wish they would build one that was backlit

[@kirstenalbino1320]

What stylus are you using?

[@CTilling]

With the SN I use the HoM one, which is super.

[@mrman5066]

Lol got remarkable 2 ad for this

[@aartiroyan]

One of the main reasons I bought this was to replace my million prayer and my Bible study journals . I cannot seem to make this work for that purpose , maybe just a case of old dog learning new tricks ☹️