The Astrohaus Freewrite Alpha - First Impressions

Behold the Freewrite Alpha – a distraction-free writing experience, reminiscent of the AlphaSmart Neo 2, its spiritual predecessor, which was discontinued in 2013. Now, in 2024, Astrohaus, the team behind the Freewrite series of writing devices, hopes to continue the legacy of the Neo line with its new portable writing device.

In this blog post, I will give an in-depth look at my initial impressions of the Freewrite Alpha as someone with a background in writing fiction of lengths from novels all the way to short stories and flash fiction, as well as blog posts, poetry, and song lyrics. 

My experience is also bolstered by my fondness for trying out new writing software, devices, keyboards, typewriters, and the like. I have used many laptops of various qualities, multiple mechanical keyboards and keyswitch types, bluetooth keyboards, a Royal Deluxe Typewriter, and an AlphaSmart Neo 2. Basically any input device I can get my hands on. I feel I am uniquely qualified in this manner to give a thorough review of how the Freewrite Alpha stacks up in the eyes of an educated consumer in the space. 

With that said, I am not going to get into an overly technical explanation of the hardware or the Postbox software, and purely focus on the user experience, and my own personal takeaways after 5 days with the device. This review is going to be a bit of a first-person initial dive into the physical device itself, my experience using it, interacting with Astrohaus customer service, as well as my thoughts on where devices like this should be aiming for in future generations. 

Just for clarity’s sake, I will state now that this is not a sponsored post and any of the products I mention here are in no way incentivizing me. I purchased my own Freewrite Alpha through the pre-order program in May 2023. It cost me $299 before tax or shipping. The Freewrite Alpha is now listed for $349 before tax and shipping, and when I  went to check the price right now, the Honey browser extension filled in the promo code FREEWRITE5 giving $17.45 off that price. No guarantee that’s still available at the time you read this article. Anyway, I hope that can perhaps frame your perspective on value.

Let’s start it off by breaking down the Alpha and what it’s comprised of.

Build Details:

• 6.5” wide x 1.2” high Reflective LCD Screen
• QWERTY style keyboard
• Choc V2 low-profile brown color key switches
• Integrated palm rest
• Kickstand for adjustable typing angle
• 1.6 lbs total weight
• Claimed battery life of 100 hours
• Wi-fi connectivity
• Cloud syncing to Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Evernote
• USB-C Charging and direct file management via a computer

 

So let’s dive in, and start where it really matters.

The Build Quality

It is a beauty. I purchased the Raven Black edition. The red, black, and white color scheme suits my tastes. The plastic is well molded, and overall it feels like a high-quality product.

One gripe I have is that the finish on this thing gets scratched so easily. I barely ran the flat side of my fingernail down it and it scuffed. I drive a black car so this is something I am used to in pursuit of my dark aesthetic. I think for some, you’ll get used to minor scuffs and dings and won’t pay it much attention. If showing it to people, most eyes giving it a cursory glance in relatively normal light won’t ever notice them and so it may or may not be a big deal for you. But they are there. I wear a metal watch band, and it’s obvious which wrist I use it on from the scratches. Oh well, maybe it’ll develop its own unique patina. Who knows? Only time can tell. All I know is that if you are the type of person bothered by small scuffs and scratches, maybe you should go for the speckled-white version they sell instead. I don’t have one to test, but I imagine it might show minor cosmetic abrasions less.

With that said, I am suspect of this thing’s repairability but I’m not going to risk the warranty on this product to tear it open just yet. There are no visible screws to unleash on the bottom of this thing, and I fear that whatever is holding it together is likely to be under the adhesive feet in each corner. Anybody who has ever modded small electronics with those stupid blobs on them, they never quite go back on the same way do they? Makes me think that Astrohaus, the company that makes the Freewrite isn’t really capable of seeing eye to eye with a section of their user base that probably has a mind to the right to repair movement. But I’ll speak on Astrohaus in more detail later in this post.

The Keys

 My first thought was wow. This is a typist’s dream keyboard. The white keycaps with the black font gives off a high-end look, and while some people may not be fond of the flat key profile, I myself haven’t had any issues with it. With that said, I have fairly average size fingers and I am a great touch typer so your mileage may vary on that one.

 It’s got Choc V2 low-profile key switches, the brown variant, and there are plenty of other creators who can tell you loads more than I can about how those switches perform. This isn’t the article for that. 

 

All I know is the keys have a nice thoccy sound and some differing pitches on the non-alpha keys. It’s easy to get into a rhythm on this thing. My only complaint is the horrible out-of-box spacebar sound. It is hollow and rattly and is the loudest part of typing with this thing stock. I added three small O-rings to it and it sounds a lot better. I imagine with some thicker O-rings I could make this a non-issue for the most part.  

Side note: Yes, I am aware that the creator of Freewrite seems to dislike O-ring use, but I think that essentially comes down to a personal choice. I am at least going to try them out and figure out what I like for myself.  Some keyboards really do wonders with it and from my limited supply on hand it made the sounds of the spacebar improve already. Personally, I’m waiting on a new O-ring set to deck the whole keyboard out to silence it a bit. Tune it to your own preference.  Objectively this keyboard is a loud keyboard, and for a portable device such as this, how loud it is could lead to you being annoying if you bring it out in public. If you care about such things.

One other point about the keys. I’ve read reports of people who have been having issues with the keys on this thing and mistyping or not having keys register. I’ve had no such issue once I really get into a typing session. At first, I had some non-registers on certain keys at wakeup or when syncing, but after you start drafting it either stops lagging the input or just catches up to speed. From my understanding Astrohaus is planning a firmware update to resolve this. I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker at this point.

 

The Screen

The Alpha has a 6.5” wide x 1.2” high reflective LCD screen. There is no powered light on this screen. That is an aspect of the type of screen Astrohaus chose to use in this build and knowing that going in is an important part of setting your expectations with this device.

I’m not going to go into the argument of backlit LCD vs reflective LCD. I feel like I understand why Astrohaus did what they did, and I am okay with it. It saves on battery drain and makes it incredibly readable in decent light. I don’t think it needs a full-blown backlit LCD personally, but to each their own. I read a great post by Andrewbp677 on Reddit about reflective LCDs on the Alpha, and I’m just going to link that here. You should read it.  https://www.reddit.com/r/Astrohaus//or_those_disappointed_by_the_alphas_screen_its/ 

I will, however, give you a rundown on using it in different lighting conditions. In normal daytime light, you’re going to be fine. If you are viewing it with no light against it at all you may be in a bit of trouble. I have 20/15 vision after LASIK and can make out the contrast of the words ever so slightly with no light at all. It definitely needs light or for you to be an absolutely phenomenal touch typer who doesn’t look at the screen at all.

When I think of typing at night with the Alpha, I am 100% adding some light shining on the reflective LCD screen this thing has with my Gritin clamp-on light that I bought for like $15 on Amazon. It clips on perfectly to the upper right-hand corner of the device and does the job with its variable amounts of light and color temperature. If you have an Alpha, just get it. Consider it a vital accessory. 

As for the text in general, it seems relatively easy to read on the medium setting, which gives a good amount of drafting space at its size and only gets really hard to read if you tilt it super far off-axis. When I’m sitting on a couch, kinda slumped back, but holding it basically like how I would a laptop on my lap, I can see it just fine with some lamp light reflecting against it. 

A complaint I’ve read online is that people were having issues with the legibility of the font on the smallest size. It is important to note that I am writing this on version 1.12.3 so when you are reading this article may come into play. In this version, they changed the font away from what they shipped with the original release firmware. 

It is this version of the font that everyone was originally complaining about, and while I would like it to be a slightly thicker font, I think it is not an issue that dramatically affects its usability. With light, it appears readable enough to me. With that said, the font does seem blurry depending on the angle of your light. There is a bit of text shadowing though that makes the text annoying to look at – which may honestly be what Astrohaus wanted in the first place. From what I can tell about their design ethos, you aren’t really supposed to be staring at this screen as you write.  Just think and type. Learn to touch type on this thing and you can probably get some serious words out.

My Personal User Experience

Anyway, enough about how the Freewrite Alpha looks, sounds, and what it’s made of. Let’s talk about using it. 

I am sure the keyboard won’t be for everyone but oh wow does it make this thing fun to use. It’s bouncy like a typewriter but has just the perfect distance stroke so that you can bottom out with these beautifully done keycaps (black on white keys on my Raven Black version). Its LCD screen is snappy and responsive and makes this thing very easy to draft on. I find that it is easy to type on this at a speed in which I am getting the words onto the Alpha in just about the instant that I am hearing them in my head. Obviously, if you compare it to a computer – that’s what you would expect. However, if you think of this thing as what it really is – a typewriter or word processor that syncs automatically to the web, its absolutely awesome. As a writing hardware nerd, they knew their audience and delivered. Well done Astrohaus.

Having to manually connect to different wifis anytime you change locations is a bit of a pain for mobile writers. What I ended up doing is just connecting to my phone’s mobile hotspot and using that to sync myself from time to time when not at home. I hope they figure out an easier way to do this in the future.

I will note that there are some instances of lag from time to time though and I believe it’s when it is syncing to the cloud or establishing a wifi connection.  However, my understanding as of the date this was posted is that Astrohaus will be updating their firmware to correct these issues. I hope so. I am certainly interested to see how they make changes as they get more feedback from testers.

That’s really what you are buying when you go after a first-generation product like this – a bit of hardware and the ability to essentially become a beta tester. Even though they have put out a few other typewriters and know what they are doing in that arena, this is the first of its own kind in their arsenal, eschewing their standard fare for a new form altogether. I think that with some fine-tuning, and if they listen to their community’s feedback, they will be able to improve upon it in the future.

This leads me to my next point.

The maker of the Alpha: AstroHaus

I wouldn’t speak on the company and its reputation itself if it wasn’t a necessary point of note. However, with a unique product like this, and with it being one of a limited number of options for purchasing a device such as this, I feel that it is important to describe what owning one of these things is like, and part of that is interacting with the company that creates and services it.

This is where I get into the customer service side of things from Astrohaus, and I’m not going to turn this into a rant about what clearly is a passionate small group that is working on a very niche product for our community of writer folks. However, I think there are some things that need to be addressed if I am reviewing my initial experience with the first of their products I’ve received.

I want to be upfront. I was one of the first run Alpha’s that were hit with a bug that could cause you to potentially lose words. Mid-connecting to wifi I was force booted from my Postbox account on the Alpha and asked to log in again, only upon doing so to find that all of my drafts on the device had been wiped clean like I was starting from scratch – I even got the opening “press new+new to start your first draft” message that happens upon first use. It had nothing in it. It ended up in me losing an entire document, which, luckily was just me having a friend try out the typing and nothing of any real importance. If it was important to me, I would’ve gotten rid of this thing immediately. Losing words is an absolute NO for me as a professional author and communications professional and will make me immediately discontinue the use of a product.

So let’s talk about that bug that I had. Data loss aside, (which is a big aside), this was entirely preventable. Astrohaus informed Alpha buyers that there was a firmware update that needed to be done to prevent any issues, however, in the email documentation that I received they said that you only needed to factory reset before updating the firmware IF you were already experiencing issues. Now, I am fairly tech-savvy, so I knew this was super risky to not just factory reset it out of the box, but I wanted to show that Astrohaus did not instruct everyone to Factory Reset and what the ramifications of that could be.

Alpha Email about initial firmware change needed

So, instead of instructing everyone to do that to prevent any issues, they opted to have the potential of data loss be the driving force behind you needing to do a factory reset. By the way, the factory reset took maybe 15 seconds total to do. The longest part was waiting for the new firmware update to populate. To me, the best way to serve your customers would have been to ask them to force the reset so that there would be no issues moving forward, not waiting for there to be issues and then having your customers lose data and then have to do the reset anyway. I just don’t see the logic behind that there. Set your customer support team up for success.

I had other issues with their customer relations, specifically delays in shipment, no emails to confirm my address when apparently that’s what was delaying my shipment, and not having my updated address when I eventually got them to tell me that I needed to confirm my address, and oh by the way, I had already updated my address with them three months prior via email. I don’t want to harp on this too much, because like I said, they are a small team, and bugs and mishaps happen in all industries. Also, I do want to note that their customer support agent is very prompt with their email responses, and I had no issue with any actual communications from them. My issue is more with just how they have chosen to engage with their user base.

And how is that you may ask? Well, it seems that they aren’t quite communicating with their base in the way that they should. Again, small team, don’t want to harp on them too hard, but what they produce is a very niche product with a very small potential user base. Their success as a company entirely relies on making good products and keeping this user base happy. Best way to do that? Listen to what it is that they want and maybe realize that there are ways to keep your vision of a distraction-free device without having an adversarial relationship with your users.

For example, the arrow keys, or lack thereof, is what I almost would call “hostile architecture“. I understand they want to keep people drafting and don’t want them editing on the device. That’s why they make the screen so small and they don’t allow you to load drafts onto the device itself. But to make it so that to move the cursor back one space you need to hit three keys in unison is simply ridiculous. You also cannot hold the keys down to move multiple spaces at once. Asrohaus, do not hamstring your own device because you think you know better than your users. Those same users are just going to be frustrated with your decision when they inevitably do need to move the cursor and are going to have it in the back of their mind every time that happens that it’s Astrohaus’ fault that they chose to have it this way. 

That’s not the type of relationship you want to have with the people who are the driving force behind your sales. If you go on community-driven websites like Reddit for example, and the r/Astrohaus section, you’ll find that the predominate consensus is that their devices are good, but that the software is iffy and the company itself isn’t one that people should support because they do not make decisions that are in line with what their customers are looking for. That sort of sentiment is why I did not buy any of their first three products. I could see the issues, see the complaints from their community members, and see that there was almost no attempt to fix these issues because… well… Astrohaus knows best? I can guarantee that they have lost sales because of this strategy. The only reason that I even bought an Alpha is because they copied one of the best writing devices of all time, the Alphasmart Neo 2, and added modern touches to it such as cloud syncing and a mechanical keyboard with a relatively modest price to boot. (If $350 is modest. I am glad I got the early bird pricing, otherwise, I may still have thought it too pricey and just bought some more Alphasmart Neo 2s.)

So where does that leave us? Well, despite Astrohaus’ attempts at irking us all, the Freewrite Alpha is a solid writing device. It does everything I need it to do and helps you really knock out words. Is it for everyone? No. Is it for some people? Definitely yes, and those are the people Astrohaus needs to be looking to for guidance in how they should revise these products in future generations, otherwise they will lose the support they do have and writers around the world won’t be better off because of it.

Missed Opportunities & Feature Requests for Alpha V2

I do find there to be a couple of missed opportunities for some unique features.

1. I’m surprised it doesn’t utilize its USB-C port more. If the keyboard could be plugged into your phone to be used as a genuine keyboard, that would be an interesting take for writers. For me personally, if I had some table space to set up, I could see myself plugging into Scrivener on an iPhone and getting some concept work done directly into where I inevitably dump all my drafts into anyway. Allowing the physical hardware to do this adds to the utility of the device even more. I could sit down at my desk, or really any table, prop up my phone in landscape mode, and voila, you have a highly portable mechanical keyboard + mini computer. That’s the goal anyway, right? For me to carry the Alpha around all the time? It also doesn’t seem like an improbable ask… Hell, the Alphasmart Neo 2 lets you do it and that came out in 2007. (If you have a neo 2, get a usb-b to usb-c dongle and plug it in. Super easy to use.)
2. Another missed opportunity for this device, and I’m sure a lot of people would agree that this is a small gripe, is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to access the files by connecting directly to a phone via USB-C. At least, not on my iPhone 15 Pro Max I can’t. You can, however, access it on a computer. This seems like a very closed-minded way to think about how people might use your device. I like to be able to draft anywhere that I possibly am, and anytime that an idea strikes me. I was hoping that Astrohaus would consider that more. As many devices as I can possibly connect to would be a win for me and mobility with this device in general. What if I had no service, no wifi, and only my phone and my Alpha and needed to transfer a file to someone? It would be impossible to do so currently from what I can tell. A simple change like allowing manual connectivity in that way would help.
3. Improved Wifi. Like even just allow a list of saved networks, please. This is simple stuff.
4. If I could ask for anything for a V2, not counting non-hostile arrow keys, it would be to have hot-swap switches. They did well to include a mechanical keyboard with this, but one of the major aspects of mechanical keyboards is the ability to customize it to your own preferences. Having the ability to swap out the key switches to your taste would be a luxury worth paying extra for, at least for me. This would also add to its officeability, as some of your co-workers may not be fond of the clickity-clack of this keyboard. (Luckily I’ve conditioned my office mates to the sound of my tactile switch-laden ZSA Moonlander. Or at least, I hope they don’t hate me for it.)
5. I think some sort of adjustment or relocation of the power button would be nice as well. I am constantly triggering this thing accidentally, so much so that I want to password-protect this to stop my work from having stray characters inputted on the regular. (Apparently, there’s an option to do so on the Freewrite’s Postbox website, but when I enabled it, nothing ever happened. Not sure why.)
6. An adjustable screen would also be nice. This is likely a pipe dream but if you could lift the screen just slightly to adjust for light, I feel that would knock off a lot of the complaints about lighting issues or the shadowing effect you sometimes get based on the viewing angle of the text.
7. And I know this is damn near an impossibility but the first of these sorts of devices to add seamless integration into Scrivener will have me gladly throw down money to pre-order again right now.

In Conclusion

If you are a writer who is serious about getting more words down on a daily basis, and you think a distraction free writing device with cloud syncing is for you, then you should buy the Alpha. It is the pinnacle of this type of device released so far. My advice, if you do buy a Freewrite Alpha, is just have fun with it. That’s what writing is supposed to be. Sometimes it feels like work, trust me, I understand, but in the end, it should be fun. And boy do I have fun with this thing. This freaking article comes out over 4400+ words and it’s been 5 days for me and this is not the only thing I’ve written so far. I can not wait to see what level of productivity this device propels me toward. Thank you Astrohaus for being a champion of distracted writers everywhere. As someone who struggles with his own attention disorder, I am deeply appreciative of this product.

With that said, if you are one of the people who get an Alpha, make sure you factory reset it first, get a clamp-on light, and if you have a phone, just use your portable hotspot to sync anytime you are writing on this thing. It works better than having to connect to a different wifi network everywhere you go. Not to mention, it gives you the ultimate flexibility to go and write wherever your heart desires with the peace of mind of having your data backed up. That’s truly what the Freewrite Alpha is, a typewriter that you can take anywhere and everywhere, forever by your side, your partner in candid observations about the Universe. 

Until next time.

-Spencer Spalding

 

P.S. I wrote this article entirely on my Freewrite Alpha and then edited it on Scrivener for MacOS. If there’s some other input device or writing software you would like me to test out in the future, please reach out to me.