Hello Notes Plus 3.0, Goodbye Samsung Slate?
Hello Notes Plus 3.0, Goodbye Samsung Slate?
Ok, this may be a little premature, but I am
seriously considering ditching my Samsung Series
7
Slate & going back to the iPod. And here's my rationale:
Original reason for dissatisfaction with iPod:
-Inking / stylus experience was poor (using Tagus
stylus)
-Handwriting recognition post-writing was substandard (Phat pad).
-Unavailability of OneNote (with true thing on the
Dad...
As a result, I was dissatisfied with i Pad as a
handwriting solution, and picked up the first decent
Windows Slate on the market. The Slate had the following advantages and disadvantages:
° Full One Note available on Windows
. True digitiser 1 pen experience with fine
level of control.
• Excellent handwriting to text conversion, during
and after time of actual handwriting input.
Disadvantages
° fess intuitive tablet experience
° Larger, heavier device
° Not fully solid-state (fan, heat, noise).
So, the Slate addressed the issues I found with
the Dad, but also introduced some new frustrations.
Once I started facing issues with the Slate, I decided to
borow back my iPod (which my eldest daughter had
happily adopted for awhile. I also decided to try
a different stylus, as I had begun to suspect that
at least some of my issues were related to the stylus
itself.
The first thing I noticed, was that the new (Geho
brand) combo pen-stylus was much more effective
on the i Pad Much less pressure required, and much
fewer strokes missed, While still less accurate than
an active digitiser + pen, this does make the i Pad
much more useable,
The real (& unexpected) improvement though,
came in the form of a major version upgrade to my
favourite note-taking app, Notes Plus. Most
importantly, Notes Plus has now added (via
an in-app purchase) a VERY effective handwriting
to text conversion. What amazed me is just how
effective and accurate it is-even with my cursive
scrawl. Compare with the un-edited conversion
below here to judge for yourself.
The final improvement which has occurred since my
last attempt with the Dad, is that there is now a
Microsoft OneNote app for the iPod. While I wish it
did real inking, I think a combination of Notes Plus
for authoring, and OneNote for filing, could be
very effective-Time will tell-Ill let you know.
Samsung Win 7 Slate + OneNote
Just thought I'd let the Blogosphere, Twitterverse and Facebook-whatever know that my new Samsung Series 7 Slate Video is currently uploading. (I'll post the link when it's available - > link is now available here: http://youtu.be/IhprcxfGAso)
One complaint to @Samsung - "iPad" has 2 syllables in one word, and everyone knows what it is and who makes it. Even the GalaxyTab manages 4 syllables, and good brand recognition. "Samsung Series 7 Slate" - seven (hard to say) syllables, and almost no one recognizes the product... Hard work needed Samsung to refine the image, the message (and perhaps the product name?).
Thanks to some constructive feedback both online and at home, this new video is shorter, with greater focus on the device and the software (OneNote).
I hope you like it, and keep the feedback / requests coming. David.
Missing OneNote…
I dropped by JB Hi Fi today in the hope of spotting an Asus eee PC 121 Windows Slate - a largish tablet at 12" but with a real active digitizer screen.
Instead what I found was this nifty 10" Acer Iconia W501, with capacitive touch. Especially nifty as it comes with it's own dock-keyboard.
Both do something my iPad doesn't - run OneNote! An all in one productivity app I have really come to miss.
The ASUS has the precision control of a true active digitizer and stylus, but the size really makes it on the 'luggable' size. I think a 10" model with about AU $400 shaved off the price, would make it a dream machine.
The ACER Iconia will run OneNote fine, and the handwriting recognition seemed excellent today when trying it out. The price point is good. I think the capacitive-only input would continue to frustrate me though...
I really like my iPad. The form factor, battery life and responsiveness can't be faulted. For my money though, it needs true digitizer stylus input as an option, it needs a real OneNote implementation, it needs a Bluetooth mouse... Ok, I think I'm describing the ASUS eee 121... Sigh.
2 Weeks Paperless (with some minor exceptions)
I'm now two weeks into my paperless experiment. On the work front it's going great - just today I attended a three hour workshop where I viewed a multiple-page excel spreadsheet (via DocsToGo), and a large PowerPoint deck (via Keynote) on my iPad, instead of the multiple-page paper print outs used by the other attendees.
With multi-tasking I was able to quickly, switch over to Notes Plus for taking handwritten notes with a stylus. I'll file the notes later in AwesomeNote for easy retrieval when required.
All in all, I am finding the experiment to be very successful. While I've had to break the habit of reaching for the print button, I now feel a little like a recovering addict who has kicked his paper addiction... And it feels good.
Confessions? Ok, I forgot and pulled out a pen to scribble a note on a napkin yesterday (I then remembered and typed the note into my iPad). I also printed something for a colleague, on request (which sort of fits within my guidelines - I don't want to be a pedantic Pratt).
At home, shopping lists are on the iPhone, planning is on the iPad. All pretty good.
@Home confessions:
1. I am not planning to use any Apple device to replace toilet paper, yet.
2. Wrapping paper, birthday cards... Still use them
3. Ok, I still get snail mail of various varieties... I may switch bank statements to electronic form, but some people just want to send me paper... Sigh.
Still, I think I'm becoming living proof that the paperless offices notasfar fetched as it might seem, when a device as useful and accessible as the iPad (with the all important 10 hours battery life) is available.
Till next time ... 
Good Looking Paperless Organising with AwesomeNote
The Main AwesomeNote Page
AwesomeNote Note with Text and an Embedded Image
MobileNoter – OneNote on iPad
The good folk over at MobileNoter have responded to a query of mine to advise me that inking is on it's way to a version of MobileNoter in the near future.
MobileNoter is the iPhone (and now iPad) app which allows you to sync (via WiFi or cloud) and view OneNote Notebooks on your iPhone/iPad. Up until now you have also been able to create a Quicknote on your Apple device for syncing back to your PC, but no inking.
Handwriting has been available in various forms through other apps, mostly with ability to export as an image, which can then be stored in OneNote.
True inking in MobileNoter would bring the product much closer to the level of functionality available in the desktop product. It'll fill the niche nicely until Microsoft come to the party. Roll on MobileNoter v2.0!
Tablets, iPads, Couriers etc etc
Like a lot of (Geekish) people, I was keenly awaiting the launch of the i-[insert favourite name fo the latest slate-like Apple device]. Then the iPad (strike one just for the name) was announced and demonstrated. While many media pundits seemed to be happy to re-hash the Apple press-release material (category-defining, magical, game-changing), many actual users of precursor devices seeemed to breathe a collective sigh of disappointment at the Apple offering.
Does the world need a 10" iPod touch? Quite possibly not. No, no even with the 3G option. My 3G iPad-mini (aka iPhone 3Gs) seems to fill most of that niche quite nicely.
What is my personal ideal device in this area? Well, I'd have to say I believe I have seen a demo video of it, and it is called the Microsoft Courier - a twin 7" screen "Booklet" form factor device with custom user interface (possibly sitting on top of a version of Windows 7). The "demo video" may be pure animation - the product may yest prove to be vapourware, but Microsoft claims otherwise.
The reason I think the Courier is revolutionary, and on-the-money - at least from my perspective, is that it works the way people do - something Apple usually excels in, but seems to have under-delivered on this time around.
I have been a long time user of the Franklin Covey planning system in paper form. I keep my notes, schedule, to-do, calendar and many other things (photos, misssion statement etc) in that binder.
A year or two ago, however, I experimented with using a Fujitsu p1610 Lifebook touchscreen tablet PC as an alternative. The thing that made this even slightly feasible - Microsoft OneNote. For those that use OneNote, they will tell you there literally is no other comparable product on the market. It is the closest product I have seen to a "works the way people do" product in electronic form.
If Microsoft have taken the lessons learned from OneNote, and created an integrated hardware and software device around those lessons, then that is a product I would be interested in checking out.
My hope is that it would not be too heavily locked down and specialised. I would want it to also be able to edit Office documents, and run Freemind mindmapping software (and other useful Windows utilities) without a complete rewrite of the applications.
And the price point? Well, I would find it hard to believe it achievable, but I think this was one place where Apple did get it right. A US$500 starting price seems about right if the device is to usurp the ubiquitous Netbook, and keep the iPad at bay.
Now, I wonder if Mr Balmer might like to send me a demo model to check out? I'd be only too happy to provide constructive feedback 
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