Soon after Remarkable 2 was released, a hacked version of Remarkable 1 was released that added pretty much all the feature upgrades. You needed to buy a new stylus (to use the new eraser end), but you could choose from dozens of brands since it's a widely used standard. The hardware looks slightly different and might have clock speed differences, but is essentially identical. And you don't have to deal with the silly subscription model of the 2. I use it to jot my thoughts down on PDFs in direct sunlight at the park. My macbook/ipad is pretty unusable in sunlight, unless you like squinting and straining. I also bought a smaller Mobiscribe (same thing but small), but I prefer the Remarkable still.
They release software updates for both devices at the same time. There was no hacked version with all the same feature upgrades, it was, and always has been the official software update. They to this day still release all the same features to both devices.
