Member-only story
QuirkLogic Papyr — An E-brick? Part 1: What Papyr e-reader used to be, what still works and what makes it somehow still unique
The company is bankrupt and the device seems to be a perfect example of an e-brick… so I bought it.
One of my weaknesses, inherited from my father, is curiosity about strange devices. So when I saw an unfamiliar e-ink device for too good price on the local second-hand site, I was intrigued. Only 90 € for a 13 inch e-reader was exceptional.
The seller was honest: The company behind the device had gone under, and its main selling point — a shared online canvas — was no longer working. But, he assured me, it was still connecting to Dropbox and Google Drive. At the time, I didn’t fully comprehend what it meant and how bad and good the device was at the same time.
The seller was kind and even offered me to take the device back if I had issues. I had them immediately: Logging in to Dropbox and Google Drive did not work. No problem, I thought and wanted to upload documents using USB…
And then I found out that Dropbox and Google Drive were the “only” ways to get anything to and from the device… No USB transfer, no email, no nerdy WEBdav or FTP. Nothing. I started to panic and wrote to the seller. He…