Last 12 months, I attempted the Freewrite Smart Typewriter — an costly, single-purpose E Ink typewriter that does one factor very properly. It allows you to draft textual content with a wonderful keyboard and nil distractions. If you are a critical author, there’s lots to love about it, however it’s most positively not low cost; Astrohaus, the corporate behind the Freewrite, even raised the costs of its merchandise, together with the full-size mannequin and the transportable laptop-style Freewrite Traveler, earlier this 12 months. 

Today, although Astrohaus is unveiling a 3rd gadget that they have been teasing for just a few weeks now, the Freewrite Alpha. The most essential factor to know is that the Alpha shall be priced at $349, or $249 if you buy through the Indiegogo crowdfunding marketing campaign that starts today. That’s nonetheless not low cost, however it’s half the worth of the Freewrite Traveler whereas nonetheless providing the identical core options as the opposite merchandise within the lineup.

The Freewrite Alpha is a small two-pound slate with a pop-out kickstand that in all probability is not fairly as transportable because the Traveler, however ought to nonetheless be fairly simple to hold with you nearly anyplace. Despite the small dimension, it nonetheless has a full-size mechanical keyboard with Kailh Choc V2 low-profile switches. My guess is that they’re going to have much more journey than the laptop-style keyboard on the Traveler, although they in all probability will not be fairly as satisfying a typing expertise as you may get with the Kailh Box Brown keyboard on the full-size Smart Typewriter. 

It’s additionally the primary Freewrite to make use of an LCD show moderately than the E Ink screens on the opposite fashions. It’s a smaller display screen than the already-small shows on different Freewrite fashions; it may possibly show between two and 6 traces of textual content, relying on the font dimension you employ. Given that Freewrite units are meant particularly for drafting moderately than enhancing, this should not be an excessive amount of of a priority, however you will see much less copy on this gadget than different ones. You can scroll again up and see what you’ve got written and used the WASD keys to maneuver your cursor round, however I’ve discovered that, for essentially the most half, I simply plow forward and write. 

Astrohaus says that the LCD show is reflective and makes use of ambient gentle, so it is not fairly the identical as taking a look at a glowing rectangle like your cellphone or iPad. But it possible will not be fairly as simple on the eyes because the E Ink display screen on different Freewrites. But however, the refresh charge must be a lot faster. As for battery life the Alpha ought to final about 100 hours. Past Freewrites have not had particular battery estimates; Astrohaus simply say they final weeks between expenses. 

There are a whole lot of issues the Alpha has in widespread with different Freewrite fashions. Everything you write is routinely saved to the gadget regionally, and — assuming you join it to WiFi — the whole lot can also be backed as much as the cloud and accessible within the Freewrite Postbox internet app. You additionally haven’t got to make use of this proprietary service, because the Alpha can even again as much as Evernote, Dropbox or Google Drive. For the old fashioned amongst us, you can even join the Alpha to a pc and pull the native information off through its USB-C port (that is additionally used for charging). 

If you are , the aforementioned Indiegogo marketing campaign is stay now, however units aren’t anticipated to ship till July of 2023. That’s an extended look forward to this product, however the present $249 worth level is much more reasonably priced than any earlier Freewrite — so if this gadget catches your eye, it could be price testing on Indiegogo. While Freewrite units are costly, I can say from expertise that they actually can assist you deal with writing, offered you may avoid your cellphone, in fact.