At a glance
Expert note
Pros
- Very readable e-ink screen
- Light and portable
- Good keyboard
Disadvantages
- Too expensive
- No backlight
- Limited functionality
Our verdict
The free traveler is far too expensive and lacks basic features such as backlight or spelling verification, but its targeted interface and its solid keyboard mean that it is better than other similar devices.
Price during the examination
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Best prices today: free traveler
I really like the free traveler. And I hate a little that I love him.
As I said in a review for a similar device, the Kingjim Pomera DM250, I was looking for a little devoted and friendly writing gadget for travel (a “writer game”, if you want) for a long time. And I have been aware of free astrohaus devices for a long time, and considered the traveler as an ideal form factor for this niche category. But various aspects of this rubbed me in the wrong direction.
Michael Crider / Foundry
Free marketing has always unleashed me “hipster”. It is the same kind of tone of rascal and condescending that seems to imbuice Moleskine notebooks. Although I can understand its hyper concentrated approach – that is in a way all that is – its deliberate lack of utility took place against my instinct as a technological nerd. And given these limits, Astrohaus’ prices for its various devices seem ridiculous to me. The traveler, for example, has specifications that would shame a chromebook or entry -level Kindle, but costs $ 550, and has not seen an update for years.
(Regarding the price: I bought this used particular model, hence the various plastic rods, and with my own money. My editor Brad could slap me if I was trying to spend something like that.)
Free traveler: Look at me! I write!
Even the aesthetics of the device is smart. While the Pomera DM250 went with a discreet plastic with flexible touch without external logos, the free writing traveler has a solid metal logo and engraved on its shiny cover, the brand type that would even make apple dents. The interior is a white attracting attention with red and chrome accents. It is strong, which is almost ironic for something that is supposed to be small and dedicated to writing.
Michael Crider / Foundry
He uses a keyboard with unprecedented membrane. Its small e-enK screen also has no backlight, which has a serious obstacle if you want to use the device in something other than a well-lit room (or add to a book light as in 1995). Between the processing power which would be beaten by an old graphic calculator and the 5.5 inch e-ink screen, the refresh rate is so slow that I am constantly two or three words in advance because I type this review.
The free traveler is too expensive, undefined and constantly satisfied with himself. And damn it, I have to admit that it’s damn good.
The free traveler is too expensive, undefined and constantly satisfied with himself. And damn it, I have to admit that it’s damn good.
Free traveler: minimalism to the maximum
For the writing purist without distraction, most of these drawbacks are in fact positive, with the possible exception of the price. The absence of advanced capacities, including any type of serious publishing of chops or spelling verification, means that there is nothing else to do than produce words. (And many spelling errors.) Astrohaus software even lacks the basic copy functionality and stick, so there is nothing to do but write, write, write in a sort of flow of consciousness. You get several documents to work and three different files, that’s all.
Michael Crider / Foundry
When it’s time to put your words on something with more electronics punch That a palm driver, the easiest way to do so is the sending button. This automatically synchronizes via Wi-Fi with the Cloud Astrohaus Postbox platform, which can also automatically send text documents to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Evernote via connected accounts. This is characteristic clumsy-when I connected the service to Google, I started to obtain alerts by e-mail, because it simply sent me an email with the relevant text. But it’s incredibly fast and easy, literally a button.
Alternatively, you can adorn any type of wireless connection, connect the thing directly to a PC, tablet or phone, and simply copy your words in the form of text files in a simple storage device.
The web interface of the postal box is also the place where you can adjust a few settings. You can choose between three, three Sizes of whole fonts and zero real fonts, and add a locking screen for a little privacy in case your traveler is lost or stolen. You can also change between keyboard arrangements (although physical arrangement is available in whatever you want, as long as you want Ansi focused on the United States). You can choose between extremely pretentious e-ink screen saving from famous literary characters (again, the shades of Moleskine) or even more a slightly boring free rewriting brand. Aaaaaand… that’s all.
Michael Crider / Foundry
The device itself barely offers anything else in terms of personalization or tools. The tiny superfluous strip of a screen under the 5.5 -inch primary display can display a clock or a date, a number of words, a timer or simply be left empty. You can move or delete drafts in the three folders. You can connect to new Wi-Fi networks. And that’s about it. We take minimalism to the extreme here – even the obsessively targeted Pomera DM250 had at least as much function as, say, a digital organizer from the 1990s.
As limiting as I find the traveler free, I love him much more than the Pomera. The first reason is the one that embittered me on the latter without any hope of forgiveness: the keyboard. The traveler’s keyboard is not incredible, but that East solid. About the same as a quality laptop keyboard, but not up to high standards, say, a ThinkPad laptop. Just blow up the cramped and non -standard keyboard of the Pomera out of the water.
The keyboard of free writing is a standard arrangement of 60%, and much more comfortable than that cramped and inexpensive on the Pomera.
Michael Crider / Foundry
The shot experience of this device was almost the same as a cheap tablet keyboard, while free writing looks like something that is designed to type in mind. Perhaps the fact that Freewrite’s Flagship Smart Typewriter / Hemingwrite Device (UGH) uses a mechanical keyboard of standard size should have integrated me into the way this company is much more focused on the entry experience, and not only on the functional input of the text. And as I mention, I will say that those who have smaller hands (I am a CIS of 5’10 ”, for reference) could find the smaller keyboard of the more forgiving Pomera.
(Light aside: Freewrite Alpha is also worth mentioning as a portable design, with a better and fully mechanical keyboard, a lower price … and unfortunately an even smaller screen, although it could be a more functional LCD. It could not do with a single Bluetooth keyboard and a telephone or a tablet.).
Michael Crider / Foundry
You can see this philosophy in another contrast between the devices. The Pomera allows you to connect to a phone or a tablet on Bluetooth, to effectively transform this gadget into a Bluetooth keyboard. Which is something I never wanted to do because of the poor quality of the aforementioned keyboard. The free traveler has not at all Bluetooth, and in fact he goes in the opposite direction. You can connect any USB keyboard to the traveler’s USB-C port, in case you want to use a better Keyboard in this stripped and targeted interface.
The traveler has roughly the same width as my 13 -inch ultraportable laptop, but considerably shorter, which facilitates the jet in a bag.
Michael Crider / Foundry
Other conception decisions show this commitment to writing or pure writing. There are no dedicated cursor keys, you can move the cursor with the “new” keys and Wasd red. It seems a little embarrassing at the beginning, but after a few hundred words, it becomes second nature to navigate through words, lines and paragraphs, thanks to the intelligent choices made in the way the system manages directions and entries.
Michael Crider / Foundry
After a week with the traveler, I already used it much more than the Pomera, mainly because it is more comfortable. But I have to admit that, despite the appreciation of the much more capable and even reasonable operating system of the Japanese Kingjim design, the configuration of free writing is simply more conducive to the reduction of words. Even the synchronization system, although much less flexible and powerful, is more satisfactory – I press on a button and my draft appears in Gmail.
The Pomera DM250 has a better backlit screen, many more visual options, and it is less pretentious. But between the keyboard and the singular focus, the traveler is the best device, at least for me. My technician spent hacked a soul at a price of $ 550 (thank you, Trump prices!) For something so threadbar in terms of real material. But my Soul writer says “Shut up and use it, you reach 5000 words today and you don’t feel tired at all.”
The screen is in e-enk with a matt finish, extremely readable, but without backlighting for work in darkness.
Michael Crider / Foundry
The free traveler does everything I wanted the Pomera to do, even if it is much less. It is much smaller and more portable than a laptop, it lasts much longer on a load, it refuses to offer distractions, and it is actually committing to use as a writing device. It is an expensive tool, even if it makes me feel like an expensive tool to love it.
Michael Crider / Foundry
I would like to be able to tear the keyboard of the free traveler and graft it on the Pomera DM250, and bring its instant Wi-Fi synchronization with it. But until a designer gets this, I will have to hang with hipsters. And in the meantime, I will sell the Pomera … because none of these things is close to good value for money.
