# I bought the new Pomera DM250

The Kingjim Pomera is a line of dedicated word processors mainly for the Japanese market. But the Pomera DM250 (and it‘s predecessor the DM200) can switch the UI and keyboard layout to English. (If you happen to enter underlined characters hit Alt+Space to turn off Japanese input. )

I've been intrigued by the Freewrite Traveler but found it too expensive and limited. The Pomera on the other hand allows for full editing of your drafts. Until now there was a total show stopper though, as it only supported Japanese and ASCII encodings. The DM250 finally supports Unicode (all text files are saved in UTF-8 with BOM). While the keyboard layout is English only you can enter your French accent marks and German umlauts with a character palette accessible by the hotkey combination Alt+F4.

With half the height of a typical notebook the Pomera looks a bit like the Psion and Windows CE palmtops of old. The keyboard is full-size and can also be used as a Bluetooth keyboard for your phone. It is very quiet to type on. The display is very readable and features 10 levels of brightness and an optional dark mode. I haven‘t tested this but the web site claims a battery life of 24 hours while in use. The official soft case also functions as a wrist wrest which is a nice touch.

You open up the Pomera or push the power button, and in exactly 4 seconds a blank page appears (faster if it was in sleep mode) and you simply start writing (or continue writing as it has auto-saved your last draft). This is about the same time it takes to launch iA Writer on my Windows computer. The software is as snappy as a command line based text editor but without the learning curve. In fact, there is no visible UI unless you press the menu key. All menu commands can also be executed with configurable shortcut keys. These mostly adhere to established standards, like Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V etc.

## The outliner

Pomera features a built-in two-pane outliner for longer documents. Any heading marked with one or more # characters up to 10 levels deep becomes part of your outline. To navigate or manipulate the outline press Ctrl+Tab. Outline items can then be expanded or collapsed with the cursor keys, moving up or down moves to different headings in your outline and the main text. To indent or outdent items choose Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Right, moving a heading up or down with Ctrl+Up or Ctrl+Down will move all subheadings as well as any text paragraphs belonging to that heading with it. The same logic applies when cutting / pasting headings in the Outline view. Finally, there are Collapse All and Expand All commands in the edit menu.

You can also split the display into a left and right pane either to compare two documents or to give you two views into a longer document. This is useful when referring to something in your text mentioned earlier or when copying and pasting between two sections. There is also a scenario mode for screenplays but this only works in Japanese.

There are other word processing basics covered, like search and replace across files. Within one document you can also search with regular expressions. You can also save text snippets or phrases. A unique feature is the calendar with a monthly or weekly view to use the Pomera for journaling. There are a couple of dictionaries installed as well. 

You can set up an email account for sending any text file via email with one button press. After sending the email the WiFi connection is automatically turned off to save battery. So technically and psychologically you are disconnected from the Web and it's distractions once again. This functionality also opens up the road to setting up workflows like printing if your printer has an email functionality or triggering the conversion of Markdown to PDF.

You can sync your files via WiFi (you connect TO the Pomera Wifi access point for this, no direct internet access), USB or swapping SD cards. Shorter texts can also be sent via QR code. 

Even without an internet connection a typical PC invites endless tinkering and needs maintenance. The Pomera on the other hand can be completely understood in one or two hours. After that you can simply focus on your writing.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this! Its e-ink predecessor also had the outliner mode, but few people knew it was there. This looks like a great little device.

Also, with the DM250, you can send files via email using a gmail account. There is a security setting in gmail that you have to change in order for this method to work. Here is a link to a (Japanese) website that takes you through how to change the setting. (The Japanese manual that comes with the DM250 does not explain this.):

https://letme5.net/?p=1369

Follow the 10 slides in the middle of the this blog. In summary, ensure that two-factor authentication is turned on in the gmail settings (Slide 5). Beneath the toggle for two-factor authentication is the "Application Password" (Slide 6). Select this and after you have signed in (Slide 7), select the final option the pull-down menu (Other: input name) (Slide 8) and type in a name, "Pomera" for example (Slide 9), and you get the final screen (Slide 10) which gives you a password. This is the password you use on the DM250 for the gmail account. (I am translating from Japanese, so some of the terminology may be different. But you should be able to follow the instructions.)

Hope this helps anyone who was having trouble trying to set up the email-file feature like I did.

Pixelpunker wrote:

# I bought the new Pomera DM250

You can sync your files via WiFi (you connect TO the Pomera Wifi access
point for this, no direct internet access), USB or swapping SD
cards. Shorter texts can also be sent via QR code. 

I'd like to add something I found out about the character palette for all those non-english speakers.

The first thing I did was change the shortcut for the character palette from Alt+F4 to F1. While the character palette is open you can simply type two or three hexadecimal digits and then return to enter a specific character. Most european languages only need two digits.

E.g: to enter the Trademark character ® : F1, A, D, Enter

I can do that blindly so I am almost as fast as if the keyboard layout included the letter. In case the same character is needed multiple times simply type F1, Enter.

I just want to say "thank you" to Pixelpunker for sharing that Pomera DM250 supports English UI and keyboard. I was always interested in Pomera but the Japanese UI scared me away.

After reading your post, I decided to get one. I have only been using it for 3 days but I can claim it's a dream device to me.

It's a nice device, and I've gazed covetously upon it, but have found a very acceptable and much cheaper alternative!

1) Buy yourself a cheap Android mobile, ideally running not less than Android 11.0 (for security reasons), and with a screen of 6+ inches (my Blackview A70 has a 6.54-inch screen). Ideally also find one (like the Blackview) with a large battery (ca. 5000+ mAh)

2) Buy yourself a cheap, ultralight bluetooth keyboard (my favourite is a folding, slightly "winged" keyboard like https://www.amazon.fr/MoKo-Rechargeable-Ultra-Mince-Compatible-Américaine/dp/B07BNB6R7G/ref=sr_1_28 There are many different kinds, but that particular type – which you'll find at all kinds of prices, under all kinds of brandnames – is unusually light, has a very nice keypress, and can be used with four different OSes.

3) Acquire either a case that supports your mobile in a semi-upright position, or a lightweight stand that does so (my favourite is a very lightweight plastic foldable one, like this: https://www.amazon.fr/Téléphone-Multi-Angle-Universel-Tonyhoney-Smartphone/dp/B06XYGQTV6/ref=sr_1_48

4) Install UpNote on your mobile so you can sync with UpNote on your desktop (Windows, Mac, or indeed iOS or iPadOS – UpNote runs on everything and is a very pleasant writing environment). You can also opt for Obsidian, of course! I use both.

Et voilà ! You'll find that without a SIM card, and especially if you only turn on the WiFi occasionally, your mobile will run for days (my Blackview, which I now use as a Kindle plus note-taking platform, lasts for 4-5 days and sometimes more). The total cost should be about half or even one third of what you'll pay for a Pomera DM250, and the machine will be much more flexible. It's also very light and easy to carry around with you. The keyboard can, of course, be used with other devices.

Just in case anyone is feeling Pomera Envy!

And a very happy and successful New Year to you all! xxx Bill

MadaboutDana wrote:

It's a nice device, and I've gazed covetously upon it, but have found a very acceptable and much cheaper alternative!

Speaking of alternatives, I still have a working specimen of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_NC100

Interestingly, it's almost 10 years since we had a similar conversation:
https://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/4687/10

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!

MadaboutDana wrote:

It's a nice device, and I've gazed covetously upon it, but have found a
very acceptable and much cheaper alternative!

I disagree. I used the combo of an iPad Mini and the Microsoft Foldable Bluetooth keyboard running iA Writer which should be comparable to any Android tablet setup. While you gain some benefits compared to a typical laptop (e.g. no bootup-time, lightweight) it's still not single purpose, involving lots of tinkering, setup, annoying updates and popups. The Pomera lasts me almost a single month, I open it up and start writing. Tablets are gearded toward media consumption and their glossy colorful HDR screens are too flashy for simple reading and writing.

About old tech: PSIONs, Netbooks of old, an TRS-80, Olivetti etc., Danas and Alphasmarts. It is such a hassle to connect it to todays computing environment if at all possible. Ancient encodings and protocols. Barely readable screens. Unreliable serial to USB converters. Do you really want to worry about a backup battery failing in 2023?

Well, I agree with you about tablets (I use a very elderly iPad Pro myself), but my solution doesn't involve tablets, it involves cheap smartphones with big batteries.

So yes, a little time required to set up properly (although in my case, I only actually install three applications: UpNote, Obsidian and Kindle).

I rarely update the system because it's offline almost all the time (I switch off wifi, BlueTooth etc. to conserve battery life). As specified, I also leave out the SIM card. I only connect to wifi when I want to sync what I've written.

The upshot of the above (especially the disconnection part, but also the lack of power-sucking apps) is that the battery lasts several days (not a month, granted, but much, much longer than a tablet).

Finally, while reasonably hi-res, screens on cheap smartphones are not what I'd describe as "flashy"! I've chosen as large a screen as possible (ca. 6.5 inches, so about the same as most dedicated word processor-type keyboard devices, including my AlphaSmart Dana, which I dug out for old time's sake but now find much too bulky to be practical). But flashy it certainly isn't! It is, however, easy to see and usable in direct sunlight (thanks to a matt screen protector).

Works for me, anyway.


Pixelpunker wrote:

I disagree. I used the combo of an iPad Mini and the Microsoft Foldable
Bluetooth keyboard running iA Writer which should be comparable to any
Android tablet setup. While you gain some benefits compared to a typical
laptop (e.g. no bootup-time, lightweight) it's still not single purpose,
involving lots of tinkering, setup, annoying updates and popups. The
Pomera lasts me almost a single month, I open it up and start writing.
Tablets are gearded toward media consumption and their glossy colorful
HDR screens are too flashy for simple reading and writing.

Is the screen on the DM250 transreflective (i.e., does it work with the backlight completely off)?

Chris Thompson wrote:

Is the screen on the DM250 transreflective (i.e., does it work with the
backlight completely off)?

No. I read somewhere on the Internet that it would be transreflective, but it is not. You cannot turn off the backlight completely. HOWEVER it has ten levels of brightness and I used it outside on a sunny day with the brightness turned up to 10 and it was perfectly readable in direct sunlight.

I am trying to find out if it is possible to sync text files TO the Japanese version of Pomera DM250 via Wifi. Also, how to get English spell check running on the device.

The (Japanese) manual describes the process to send files FROM the Pomera to an email, but I have not been able to find anyway that explains how to get files TO the Pomera.
I have already confirmed it is possible to "sync" files both ways by taking out the SD card and using a SD reader on my computer. But I was wanting a way to have syncing via Wifi BOTH ways.
Any clues?

Also, the Japanese version of the Pomera DM250 does not have spell check like the US version has.
According a blog post by novelist Spencer Spalding "... (the) device has autocorrect and spell check, but it lacks an English dictionary, which I need to use these features. I’ve been trying to figure out how to add my own dictionary, but I haven’t succeeded yet". (https://www.sfwordsmith.com/pomera-dm250-a-distraction-free-writing-device/
I am trying to find out the exact same thing. Any clues here too?

Pixelpunker wrote:

You can sync your files via WiFi (you connect TO the Pomera Wifi access
point for this, no direct internet access), USB or swapping SD
cards. Shorter texts can also be sent via QR code.