Quote:
Originally Posted by niemba
Hi guys -
I do not currently own either an eEdge or iPad, but am looking for something to use as I parse the tomes of literature that are relevant to my dissertation project as I attempt to complete my PhD. The eEdge is certainly high on my list, but I have a few questions with respect to the eEdge / iPad "controversy."
First, my understanding is that annotations can only be exported in pdf format as images - and as a result, the pdf loses its searchability/etc. This would be a serious limitation for me, as I would like to use a tablet of some sort to annotate pdfs, but store and organize them on my desktop (in conjunction with the Personal Brain software), and would therefore want to retain all the original information in the pdf file, in addition to my subsequent annotations... In contrast, my understanding of the pdf annotators on the iPad are that at least some of them are able to export the annotations to the pdf in a format that is readable by Adobe / etc, and so does not result in loss of functionality. Are there any plans in the works to make the annotated pdfs compatible with Adobe or other pdf readers?
Second, from the videos I have seen on YouTube of the eEdge, it seems that there is a significant delay in annotation between application of the stylus and what appears on the screen... I have not attempted to use an annotator on the iPad yet, but wonder if the delay is comparable between the two?
Third, again from the videos on YouTube, the handwritten annotations were all very large - how sensitive is the eEdge screen? How small can you write using a stylus?
Fourth, can you be more specific about the limitations of the iPad as a pdf annotator? There seem to be a number of sophisticated apps out there for pdf annotation using the iPad, especially when combined with higher-end styli (e.g. the Wacom Bamboo stylus.)
Thank you very much!
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1)This is not a problem. You save the pdf from the Edge as an image, and email it or transfer it to your computer. Then, when you open the document within Adobe, you can convert it back to text using the OCR recognition function. It maintains your annotations, but you will have searchable text. Obviously you can't do this with just Adobe Reader and will need full Acrobat. Or some equivalent program that can do the OCR conversion. I do it all the time (also a PhD student).
2)The videos on YouTube reflect the product running the previous OS (Dingo) or even earlier. Froyo/Ermine has significantly sped up response time, particularly on the eink side. The delay between movement and appearance is literally split-second.
3)I don't know what counts as small or large for you, in terms of annotation and handwriting. You can't write teeny-tiny, but my handwriting on screen is pretty equivalent to what it is on paper. But I'm not sure why this matters so much: pages can be any size you want, and contain big or little margins, and have as much or as little content as you want on them. Scrolling through screens is free...
4)I can't speak to this.