Freewrite Smart Typewriter is a hipster’s dream device

As someone who spends a good portion of their day writing, I can attest to how easy it is to get distracted. I’ve been writing for the last 8 years, and the wonders of technology and social media have made life far more distracting than it was when I started out. I’ve already tweeted once, and spent a good three minutes scrolling through Facebook since I started on this piece. So how do you disconnect and write without any distractions? Well, one company thinks that they have the answer.

The Freewrite Smart Typewriter is a small device that is essentially an electronic typewriter. It’s similar to word processors that hung around in the 90’s, disappointing kids on Christmas. It’s much smaller than those old clunky devices, and has a few features that weren’t possible way back then.

Dubbed as “the world’s first smart typewriter,” this device has very little to it. It has a keyboard that uses Cherry MX Brown mechanical switches, to give you that clacky typewriter feel. It also has an e-ink display that’s a mere 5.5 inches. It weighs around 4 pounds, and has a WiFi adapter inside. This ability to connect to WiFi is what makes it “smart.” Whenever you’re connected to a network, it automatically backs up all of your work to the cloud. Their service works with Google Drive, Dropbox and Evernote.

Okay, so it’s a neat device that hipsters can take to Starbucks, so that everyone can wonder what they’re typing on. So how much will one of these run you? The retail price is $549, though at the time of writing, they’re having a 24-hour sale that knocks $100 off.

That’s right, you can pick up a device that does nothing more than allow you to type, for the price of a mid-range laptop. Sure, you can get distracted easily on a laptop, but this thing is a single-purpose device that costs way more than it should. You could just get a cheap Chromebook, and go sit somewhere without WiFi access. You’ll have the same amount of distractions, and you’ll still have a useful device when you’re not writing.

Source: Freewrite