MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Considering buying a tablet - but only if it has good handwriting-to-text capability

sun surfer · 09-30-2011, 01:38 AM

I have no idea if tablets offer this capability, but it's a must if I'm going to splurge for one.

Specifically I'm looking for one that can be written on by hand with a stylus and then have that converted to text. I'd like to use that for annotating and, separate from books and reading, also for notes, lists and other writing.

My Sony 950 has handwriting abilities that are so slow that I never use them, and it does not convert to text. I'd hope a non-e-ink tablet would be much faster with this type of thing. I know that if there is such a thing, you probably have to write carefully and whatnot to get any kind of accurate transcription to text, but I'm OK with that, as long as it was at least good enough to be feasible for regular careful use.

Besides that, I'm only looking to spend around $200 or so.

Also, I think I'd like a smaller one like the nook color or the new Kindle Fire, and I know those are more in my price range anyway, but I'm open to another size.

If both nook color and Kindle Fire (and any others you might mention) have the handwriting-to-text capability, then try to sell me on which one is preferable. I know the Fire is brand new and hardly anyone has used one yet. I hear it is going to have more of a closed app system though with less choice - not sure if that will be a good or bad thing or if one will be able to get around that. I'm not very technical so any "rooting" or anything of any of them will be close to being over my head unless I decide to buckle down and try really hard to figure it out, which I'd preferably not have to bother with.

I don't really know how the nook color and Kindle Fire will differ besides that and their file support formats. I used to be anti-Kindle and still somewhat am, but I have many times seen while searching inkmesh how much cheaper the ebook I was buying would've been at Amazon (though not so much cheaper to make me want to buy it and bother to convert the file format), and now that it offers library integration and alternatives besides those ugly keyboard Kindles, I'd easily consider it.

Thanks for any advice!

09-30-2011, 01:38 AM	#1
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44637926 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	Considering buying a tablet - but only if it has good handwriting-to-text capability I have no idea if tablets offer this capability, but it's a must if I'm going to splurge for one. Specifically I'm looking for one that can be written on by hand with a stylus and then have that converted to text. I'd like to use that for annotating and, separate from books and reading, also for notes, lists and other writing. My Sony 950 has handwriting abilities that are so slow that I never use them, and it does not convert to text. I'd hope a non-e-ink tablet would be much faster with this type of thing. I know that if there is such a thing, you probably have to write carefully and whatnot to get any kind of accurate transcription to text, but I'm OK with that, as long as it was at least good enough to be feasible for regular careful use. Besides that, I'm only looking to spend around $200 or so. Also, I think I'd like a smaller one like the nook color or the new Kindle Fire, and I know those are more in my price range anyway, but I'm open to another size. If both nook color and Kindle Fire (and any others you might mention) have the handwriting-to-text capability, then try to sell me on which one is preferable. I know the Fire is brand new and hardly anyone has used one yet. I hear it is going to have more of a closed app system though with less choice - not sure if that will be a good or bad thing or if one will be able to get around that. I'm not very technical so any "rooting" or anything of any of them will be close to being over my head unless I decide to buckle down and try really hard to figure it out, which I'd preferably not have to bother with. I don't really know how the nook color and Kindle Fire will differ besides that and their file support formats. I used to be anti-Kindle and still somewhat am, but I have many times seen while searching inkmesh how much cheaper the ebook I was buying would've been at Amazon (though not so much cheaper to make me want to buy it and bother to convert the file format), and now that it offers library integration and alternatives besides those ugly keyboard Kindles, I'd easily consider it. Thanks for any advice! Last edited by sun surfer; 09-30-2011 at 01:50 AM.