eSIM Studios
The Micro Journal Rev.7 is a distraction-free writing device with a 4.76 inch E Ink display, a mechanical keyboard, and a design meant for typing and not much else.
It's the latest in a line of Micro Journal devices from developer Un Kyu Lee, but it's the first to feature a paper-like E Ink display and the first with a staggered keyboard rather than an ortholinear keyboard. The keyboard update should make the new model easier to use for folks who aren't used to an ortholinear layout, while the display means the device has a sunlight viewable display that emits no light and can be used with ambient light only.
Lee has posted software, hardware design files, and an explanation of the latest Micro Journal revision on GitHub, so anyone with the resources and know-how can build their own. But a limited number of units will also be available for purchase from Lee's Tindie shop on April 10th, 2025.
Note that the version available from Tindie will ship without a few key components: you'll need to bring your own 18650 LIPO battery. There's a ledge designed to clip a book light for typing in the dark, but the book lamp is not included. And the $339 starting price includes a Cherry MX profile keyboard PCB (printed circuit board), but does not include the mechanical key switches and keycaps – you'll have to either pay extra for a fully assembled unit or bring your own switches and keycaps.
In terms of software, the Micro Journal boots nearly instantly into a text editor with very limited functionality. Documents are saved to a removable microSD card, or you can sync your text documents to Google Drive over a WiFi connection.
Earlier versions of the Micro Journal had small LCD displays, but the Micro Journal Rev.7 uses a LilyGo T5 ePaper display with an ESP32-S3 drive board. The screen is a 4.7 inch, 960 x 540 pixel greyscale display with low power consumption… and a low screen refresh rate.
In order to speed things up so that you'd see characters as you type them, Lee enabled support for partial screen refreshing, so that characters show up on the screen around 1 or 2 tenths of a second after you press a key on the keyboard. It's not quite as responsive as an LCD or OLED display, but it's not as jarring as waiting a second or two for each character to appear. There is a little bit of ghosting (with some remnants of previous images remaining on the screen as you type), so there's also support for forcing a full screen refresh when you want to completely redraw the screen.
via MiniMachines
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