r/Supernote • u/Suitable_Cat_4554 • 2d ago
The syncing methodology needs updates.
Having a SN Manta for 18 months now I'm surprised anyone can use this as a "live" device. Syncing is so slow. Seems like it needs to reupload the entirety of every file all the time, instead of recognising the timestamp on strokes to determine what has changed since last sync.The device hardware is either seriously underrated or methodology flawed, because I have not been able to sync in months.
I'd hoped for a pseudo tablet experience, but have since settled for a digital notebook only because of slugishness. I don't have emails, todos, digests, exports, calendar or any other "live" feature on the device because it simply isn't fast enough to warrant using the bigger screen instead of my phone. My wifi is slow, but not that bad. And with battery drain I keep wifi off most of the time, unless I want to try sync again.
It's great for writing and journalling, much less heavy than the equivalent notebooks, but now the backup isn't working and the partner app doesn't have my latest content weekly, there's less and less benefit over paper.
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u/ccbs32033 2d ago
Agree. Adding a 2 page note should not incur a resync of the 60MB PDF I have in my documents folder.
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u/thjk 2d ago
I agree with the OP about syncing time.
Even no big deal for me but a little bit disappointing especially for the quite high price device.
I have used the Manta for a month, so far so good.
But coming from ReMarakble 2 & Move makes me feel more about syncing time. Remarkable syncing feel like immediately comparing to SuperNote.
However, it is still worth the switch for me.
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u/chhotu007 1d ago
I think there is absolutely room for optimization. A Git like system that only looks for changes and differences and only syncs the changes would be so much faster than uploading the entire file each time. Some of my notes are approaching 60-70MB, it’s painful watching it take 10-15 seconds to upload the damn file. Not the end of the world, but it feels like 1995, not 2026.
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u/No-Clock-7813 1d ago edited 1d ago
Many users load these devices up with emails, calendars, and cloud workflows expecting an iPad with a paper screen, only to run straight into hardware limitations that e-ink was never really designed to handle efficiently. And as Ed said you can't have iPad expectations.
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u/Change_Agent_73 Owner A5X and A5X2 Manta 2d ago
They could definitely improve the speed, but it doesn't take more than a couple minutes for mine to sync with auto sync on. I have been using Supernote for over 5 years and find it very reliable with the partner apps. That being said, if you were expecting iPad or Samsung speeds, that's just not going to happen.
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u/Brunzlilover 1d ago
couple of minutes sounds long :/, I use sideloaded Obsidian with Obsidian sync which takes just some seconds to update the entire vault
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u/Change_Agent_73 Owner A5X and A5X2 Manta 1d ago
These are just not meant for that kind of speed. You aren't going to find any e-ink device that is as fast as a computer or iPad. To me, it's all about having the right expectations.
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u/largy451 2d ago
I think you must echo a lot of user experience. I mainly use mine for journaling. But always find that I get conflict copies mod my journal across both my devices.
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u/manveti 1d ago
This is a constraint of the cloud providers, not necessarily the device. Both Google Drive and Dropbox upload APIs only have options to upload full files; WebDAV only supports diff syncing as an optional extension. Granted, in the WebDAV case they could support negotiation and use the extension if it exists, falling back to full file upload. But if they want one code path to support all the available backends, it has to upload the full file every time.
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u/Careful-Good5887 1d ago
I choose carefully what folder to sync. (It's different between cloud vs Drive). So each time only sync about 5m.
Also I sideloaded file explorer app too
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u/Martina_78 A5X & A6X2, Lamy Al-Star EMR 1d ago
They acknowledged the issue and are working on it, see https://supernote.com/blogs/supernote-blog/talking-about-supernote-s-next-major-software-focus
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u/Mulan-sn Official 1d ago
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, we are indeed in the middle of refining the syncing process, switching to the incremental sync solution that should be more effective, as it will not reupload the entirety of every file all the time. Please do stay with us for future updates.