Crowd funding of gadgets is great for meeting niche needs. For example, most people never buy a 99 599 Wi-Fi-capable typewriter. In 2016, however, a Detroit-based startup called Astrohouse proved that not only did something like this exist, but it could be a pleasurable and surprisingly satisfying device. Now, Astrohouse is trying to capture the same experience in smaller and more convenient packages – but unfortunately, its hardware can’t live up to that promise.

Astrohouse is the creator of Free Wright, a modern mechanical keyboard, wireless syncing option and a chunk word processor with an e-ink screen. Today, the company begins shipping to the free Right Traveler, an alternative to light laptops. The Traveler is temporarily redeemed at $ 429, but it will eventually retail at a price equal to retail 599, Free Right. For this price, you’ll get a উদ্দেশ্যে 1.6 notebook for a single purpose: allowing you to type words and send them to a Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote or Dedicated Free Right Cloud Storage account.

If the real freewriter is a high-tech typewriter, then the Traveler is an updated Alpha Smart or Potion Series 5. That’s right Small enough to fit in a medium-sized purse – its full-size skiser-switch keyboard and low-power screen, large enough to accommodate about half the width and weight of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The hardware looks light but not brittle, a black plastic top that sticks firmly to a magnetic but bright white interior for fingerprints. Its seamless design feels more like a netbook of the late ‘2000s than modern laptops, and it’s a welcome change from the fragile glass and metal slabs I actually use to carry it.

A few years ago I got a real free right for Christmas. Although it has been billed as an embarrassment-free experience for all types of writing, I mostly enjoy using it to write fiction without the temptation of self-editing. (Full disclosure: I did not write this review on this Fruiter Or A traveler)) Above all, I am returning to the solid and unique design of the Astrohouse. It’s far from a necessity, but it’s a clever and well-crafted splurge for people who really care about words.

Traveler has two main advantages over freewright: it is easier to carry and you can use it in public without criminal conviction. Otherwise, the workflow of its writing is quite similar. Documents are divided into three folders, so you can swap between three drafts at once. If you have the device’s Wi-Fi turned on, it periodically syncs them to a cloud storage inbox that you can access from a normal computer. You can press a “send” key to email the currently active draft to yourself as a rich text file. It’s almost seamless and infinitely easier than a transfer Original Vintage word processor files on a modern computer.

Traveler has added a number of new software features – initially the option to delete errors with the user’s backspace key or move your cursor around the document without forcing it to do so directly on the traditional typewriter. It’s still inconvenient enough to discourage heavy editing, and you can’t copy and cast text, just insert or delete words. However it is helpful to go back to fixing the types or adding a thought to the previous paragraph.

The interface doesn’t feel as elegantly simple as before. The cursor is controlled by hitting W, A, S, or D on one of the “new” keys, which is a somewhat odd combination when the keyboard includes the more intuitively labeled “Special” and “Alt” keys. (I read the correct combination in the manual and it Still Feels wrong.) The original Free Writer used a satisfactory physical toggle to switch between folders, but Traveler uses three small buttons that do not indicate which draft is currently active.

Traveler doesn’t have the luxurious heft of the original free right. Its scissor-switch keys feel perfectly fine for laptops – especially if you use Apple’s Shallow Butterfly keyboard – they’re not as fun to hit as the free-cherry mechanical switches. Meanwhile, its light design is great to carry but it doesn’t sit firmly on your lap.

The overall traveler experience feels more like a 90’s word processor rather than a typewriter. It’s a bit more complex and a bit more charming. But its appeal will still be clear, if not for one thing: the screen.

Free Wright’s e-ink display was always a trade-off. It has low contrast and has a much slower refresh rate than an LCD panel. (Imagine typing its memory on a desktop computer with extra pressure to realize the delay.) However, this allows the device to last for weeks on a single charge, and if you’re a skilled touch-typewriter – basically the exact goal of the Astrohouse.) Demographic You may not need to look at the screen while doing so.

Even according to that standard, though the traveler is particularly compromising. Astrohouse removed a backlight that was built into the original Free Wright screen, and in low light you’re stuck peering into a pale gray on-gray window. In the meantime, the original matte finish has been replaced with a highly reflective plastic blade, so it’s almost bad to use in bright directional light

Astrohouse says it has cut backlights to keep the screen narrow and lower the price, which makes sense, as already 99 is already pushing the upper limit of the rationale. But the limited screen will promise its new design anywhere. Traveler does his specific job, but doesn’t feel it often Good – And for such an expensive, specialized device, which removes a large part of its applications.

With better screens and permanently lower prices, the Free Right Traveler will be a great test in single-purpose electronics. As it stands, it is a Funny The test, however, is that Astrohouse simply cannot overcome its current technical limitations. Free Right Traveler may have retrospective appeal but desperately it seems more deadly than its time.

Photography by Adi Robertson