People are realising they’re spending too much time glued to their smartphone, and want to cut down. That’s where dumbphones come in – offer a refreshing break from endless notifications and distractions. But there’s a new kid on the block: a dumb tablet. And I think this tiny writing device from BYOK is the perfect example.
BYOK has decided to take a leaf out of the dumbphone handbook, delivering a device so basic that it makes a Kindle look like it’s trying too hard. It’s a sort of dumb tablet, designed purely for writing without the usual parade of distractions.
This tiny writing device wants you to bring your own keyboard (hence the name). You can hook up whatever keyboard you fancy, as long as it’s USB-C, Bluetooth, or even a bog-standard USB keyboard with an adapter, and just type. The built-in magnet lets you plonk it on a stand at just the right height
BYOK has no fancy apps and no colour screens to melt your retinas like a regular tablet. There’s just a fast-refresh monochrome LCD. The interface is a throwback, with three tactile push-buttons that wouldn’t be out of place on a retro game console. And the screen? It gives you up to six lines of text at a time.
Depending on how much you’re blasting that backlight (which can be adjusted in three levels), you’ll get up to 20 hours on a charge. While 16MB of space doesn’t sound like much, you can store over a million words. For those who can’t go fully analogue, BYOK throws you a bone with Wi-Fi syncing to Google Drive. Or, if you’re a bit old school, a USB-C port for the data transfer purists.
I’m not sure if the BYOK will become everyone’s writing tool. But it is a delightfully dumb device in the best way possible, especially from someone that writes for a living. The dumb tablet is currently running a Kickstarter campaign, where you can pick it up for $190/£150.
