How do you use mobile devices to write?

[Rizla]

How do you use your phone, tablet or other device in the writing process? Also what software do you use on said devices. I suppose the issue of how you sync files between mobile devices and a computer factor into it too, though I admit to being pretty low-tech in this regard. I tend to use mobile devices as temporary storage areas that I then send to a laptop.

I personally use an android phone to take short notes and ideas, and sometimes longer texts on. I write in the stock Android note taker. To back up the notes, I copy and past the text in a text editor like Jota or Text Warrior, save the file and upload it to dropbox. Really, if I had a note taker that allowed me to upload directly to dropbox in txt format, that would save me a bit of time. But the stock app is so convenient.

I also use a rooted Nook ST. This is actually pretty good to write longer texts on, and is a nice way to work when I need to get away from the computer. Plus the e-ink screen can be a welcome relief to LCD. I generally use Jota or Text Warrior to write texts. I also use it to review plot outlines.

Again, I use dropbox to transfer files to the laptop.

I don't edit text on my e-reader or phone. I use it primarily to write fresh texts.

I recently got a 9 inch tablet. I've yet to work out how to use it in writing, if I will at all. But I plan some long trips in the future where I expect to use it. I plan to view, edit and sort files. I'm not sure what software will be useful. I tend to work in .rtf, which is poorly supported on Android software. Also I would prefer to work with software that includes a night mode. i.e. that inverts the screen from white to black. This is limiting my choices.

Anyway, what hardware and software combination do you use, and for what tasks? I'm particularly interested in how you use a tablet as I am currently looking for uses and software for my tablet.

[gmw]

I've got it solved: I don't move, so I have no need for mobile devices.

This is actually semi-serious. After years of being on the bleeding edge of things - anyone else here have an early Apple Newton? - these days I don't get out much, and when I do, a pen and paper usually suffices. I need quiet and time to concentrate to write, the most that comes at other times are ideas that I might explore when I have the time.

I have a notebook computer for extended periods away, and I'm thinking of updating that to something like an Asus Transformer - whatever I get has to support a proper keyboard, I think through my fingers.

[kennyc]

The only use I make of my ereaders. phone and xoom are to check formatting of my completed books. I also sometimes proofread them there but I typically write down the problems on a small notebook I carry in my back pocket (see my poem -
The Poet of Utah Park - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...postcount=1231).

I suppose proofreading might be where I could use annotation (which I never use).

I jot down ideas, thoughts, sentences, poems, fragments in my small notebook and transfer or write them in my spiral notebook/journal. Often a piece of writing will start in my journal which I will then transfer/type in to my desktop which is where I do all the writing. Like GMW I work from home exclusively but should there be need to travel I have a laptop for that reason.

[cromag]

I use my netbook to write with occasionally. If the netbook is too big to be convenient I use a small notebook. Both scenarios involve me knowing in advance that I'm going to be out somewhere, like bringing my daughter to a class and waiting for her.

For quick note-taking, I don't write -- I use a voice recorder, a recent upgrade form my cassette recorder.

[mncowboy]

I use a Livescribe digital pen for all my business notes. At the end of each notebook I keep my writing notes and journal. MyScript OCR and all my notes end up in MS Word.
There is just something about putting pen to paper.
Bob

[Jessica Lares]

I have Microsoft Office on my phone. I use this app called Notes+ too.

On Android I was using JotterPad HD and Drafts.

And then right now on my iPad I'm using Write 2. But I'm waiting for Scrivener to finally show up.

[dickloraine]

For Android Textmaker is the only office app I found, which does all I need and is compatible with Word. It supports styles and footnotes and has the word revision system build in. So anything I can do in word (and isn't to fancy) I can do it in there. The only downside is the GUI, as it is not the best possible for a mobile app, but workable. Kingsoft Office has a nicer GUI and is nearly as feature rich, but doesn't support footnotes, which is unfortunately a must have for me.

Syncing the files with dropbox is easy and the word compatability lets me work with the same file mobile and on the desktop.

[Lazer]

I use Evernote. The free version I've got it on my Mac, my iPhone and my Android tablet. I only use it for when an idea hits me. A scene I need to add, a sentence that I know fits, or some other story issue that hits me when I'm not cranking away. It syncs across the three platforms.

When I have a novel on the assembly line, even though I'm not continuously sitting at my desk, I think my mind has a darkened corner where it's cranking away and it'll share an idea with my consciousness when it's got it worked out. And I need to be ready to make a note before it disappears

[VydorScope]

I don't much... but if I do it is either with Office Pro 7 (on my Android Tablet) or EverNote on my phone. Mobile devices are primarily consumption devices for me, my Mac Book Pro is what I create content with.

[ApK]

I use my smart phone to call my project manager and tell her the documentation is going to be late.

Then I use it to watch Netflix.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by ApK

I use my smart phone to call my project manager and tell her the documentation is going to be late.

Then I use it to watch Netflix.

HA!! Best answer in thread!

[kennyc]

Daddy always said, ya gotta use the right tool for the job....

[exscentric]

Apple Newton - well for ages I used a mobilepro 880 and at times a jornada 540 I think it was with a folding keyboard. Got lots done with both. Now I do most on a netbook with office 2010 then transfer to my desktop for editing with office 2013.

[James_Wilde]

I'd rather wait till I get home and use something with a proper keyboard. The idea of writing sizeable amounts of a 150+ page novel with one finger or even thumb is just ridiculous.

However, I have just loaded an app onto my iPhone which will allow me to speak in a good idea I have. Haven't used it yet, but maybe I will. Save me from all those brilliant ideas I have in the time between sleep and wakefulness, which have evaporated like dew in the sun by the time I get to a piece of paper.

[Marseille]

My very recently retired Touch Pro2 was wonderful beyond words. A five line tilting landscape keyboard with offset, spaced keys and good tactile feedback that was always handy. I mostly used it for putting down ideas but got down some text as well, frequently after I'd already turned in for the night, but it also came in handy on walks and in lines.

Software was iffy, that was an oooold phone and ran a hacked version of android, so my software choices were limited. I often input snippets into gmail and saved it as a draft, accessed it from a browser later. It was actually a surprisingly tolerable software solution. I kept that thing around for years after it was obsolete because the keyboard was irreplaceable. I still think of it very fondly. I'd have paid double to get a phone half as nice as the one I have with that qwerty.

I rarely use my current phone for input at all, though I occasionally experiment with voice transcription. I hate using paper, but I have been doing that more and more of late, and I still have a stack of 5x8s from when before my TP2. I have an Asus transformer I work on some, and have recently started using onenote on it (the android version has only recently become mature enough for me to use). I don't add directly to any project from it, I have a mobile skydrive notebook that I write in and then import various snippets to the project later. I find tech behaves better if you don't trust it.