All I need to write in peace is a cone of silence with an absolute absence of the woes that keep my words from materializing. I have a comfy pair of a good sausage, but no closer to finishing my work. I only saw one way out: Go old-school and try something like a typewriter.
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The Pomera DM250 looks like a laptop cut in half — think 1980s office computer rather than Hemingway’s desk — with a small black-and-white display and a full QWERTY keyboard. Its operating system is basically a glorified text editor. You can open and create new text files, view stats like character and word count (plus the time), find and replace text, build documents from templates, and perform a few other basic functions. You can’t update your calendar, check or reply to Slacks, or, crucially, jump over to Safari to browse the web. When you open the DM250, you’re there to write.
Because it’s about as small as a portable Bluetooth keyboard, the keys themselves are smaller and closer together than the ones you’d find on a laptop or desktop keyboard. This, plus the DM250’s small display, means it’s better to use this at a slightly elevated desk. When I went to a coffee shop to do some writing, I had to take breaks and move my head around to keep my neck from straining.
That said, the keys are spacious, clicky, and comfortable enough to get through a few hours of writing strain-free. There’s even a character palette that lets you choose and insert symbols that are typically hidden behind keyboard shortcuts. Moving the cursor to select or change text is tedious, though, as there isn’t room for a properly arranged directional pad. It does have four arrow keys, and I’m glad they’re there at all, but their arrangement isn’t natural at all, and it took me over a week to get accustomed to them. More frustratingly, the keyboard doesn’t have a backlight, so you’ll have to rely on muscle memory when writing in dimly lit settings.
Those gripes seem minor, but they’re what solidify the Pomera as a device strictly for writing, rather than one for editing. I wrote the entire first draft of this review on the DM250, but as I scrolled through and found typos and repetitive phrases, I had to keep reminding myself of where the arrow keys were and tapping around until I found the text I needed to alter. This is fine if you’re working on a 500-word blog or a short essay, but you won’t want to format a screenplay or write your dissertation. The device’s software does have the option to jump to a specific line in your document, but the interface doesn’t actually label those lines by default; you’ll have to enable that in the View settings if you’d find it beneficial. I immediately jumped over to my Mac Mini when it was time to start editing.
Thankfully, transferring your documents from the Pomera to another device is a breeze. All you have to do is connect a USB-C cable to your laptop or tablet (I tested it with a Mac and an iPad Pro), enable PC syncing in settings (which takes nine taps on the arrow keys), and transfer the files. If you have a full-size SD card, you can save your files to that and pop it into your computer. You can also enable a Wi-Fi sync mode, but that’s a bit more laborious than just plugging in a cable, so I stuck to that.
Its weaknesses as an editing device may come across as a knock — it partially is — but it’s also part of the Pomera’s greatest strength. Every time I opened it up, I could immediately shift into writing mode and start churning out words. It didn’t instantly cure me of writer’s block, but it removed my urge to edit in real time and focus on getting something written.
To that end, the Pomera has actually changed my writing workflow, and I’m sold on the idea of having a dedicated writing device. Whenever I need to start a new draft for work, I can change my Slack status, shut my laptop, and start crunching out words distraction-free. If I want to work on my newsletter from a brewery patio after work, I bring the Pomera so I’m not tempted to waste the evening digging into the behind-the-scenes drama of a ’90s Batman movie. Once I’ve spent a few hours typing away — I’ve managed to get through a week with several hours of daily writing on a single charge — and have words I’m happy with, I can sit at my desk and start editing away with a proper keyboard and mouse.
Of course, most of the Pomera’s utility could be replicated by turning Wi-Fi off on your iPad and deleting all distractions like TikTok and YouTube, but there’s always the looming risk of reinstalling them. So if you’ve got a few hundred bucks to spare and the only thing holding you back from writing that novel or launching that newsletter is a lack of focus, try taking the DM250 out with you to a coffee shop. You won’t be able to comb through the web and emerge an expert in the flora of your region, but you’ll probably come home with a higher word count than if you’d taken your laptop.
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