Taking handwritten notes on an e-ink device

[semioticwafture]

Are there any readers around that satisfy all of the following?

1. Hardware capable of taking handwritten notes
2. e-ink (or otherwise battery life better than a week)
3. Small enough to fit in my pocket

Ideally I'd like to use a stylus. Built-in software that allows taking notes is a major plus. Hackability is a plus. Recognizing handwriting is a minus. Taking handwritten notes on pages of books is a minor minus -- I'm only interested in writing notes that don't relate to any book.

I had hoped that the kindle touch would fit the bill, but it sounds like there's no software for that built in, and the hardware is not quite up to the job?

[SmokeAndMirrors]

As far as I'm aware, there is no e-ink device that will do what you're looking for.

I'd suggest you look into something like the Galaxy Note. I think that's about as close to what you're looking for as you're going to get.

[monkeyluis]

I think you can do this with the Sony.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/sto...ST1BC#overview

Or I would suggest the Galaxy Player

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/mp3...Y/XAA-features

The Galaxy note as far as I know has thephone functionality which will cost more & get you into the contracting.

[obsessed2]

Originally Posted by semioticwafture

Are there any readers around that satisfy all of the following?

1. Hardware capable of taking handwritten notes
2. e-ink (or otherwise battery life better than a week)
3. Small enough to fit in my pocket

Ideally I'd like to use a stylus. Built-in software that allows taking notes is a major plus. Hackability is a plus. Recognizing handwriting is a minus. Taking handwritten notes on pages of books is a minor minus -- I'm only interested in writing notes that don't relate to any book.

I had hoped that the kindle touch would fit the bill, but it sounds like there's no software for that built in, and the hardware is not quite up to the job?

With the exception of battery life better than a week the Pocket eDGe might meet your needs. Be forewarned that Entourage is out of business but there is still plenty of home brewed support on Mobileread.

Head on over to the eDGe forum and check out the Stickys. Also, here's some official Entourage videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDbL...ure=plpp_video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMSUZ...ure=plpp_video



BTW, the Sony linked to in the previous post looks pretty nice as well.

[vxf]

Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors

As far as I'm aware, there is no e-ink device that will do what you're looking for.

I'd suggest you look into something like the Galaxy Note. I think that's about as close to what you're looking for as you're going to get.

Sony!

[no.guru]

I'm not sure the Sony T1 meets your needs. I love mine, but I wouldn't say it's small enough to fit in my pocket. In fact, I bought the Sony 350 for just that reason. It fits in my back jeans pocket, and is easily usable with only one hand. I wanted a device to replace my smartphone and the 350 works great for this.

I love the T1 and it's by far the best reader I have, but when I'm leaving home I reach for the 350.

[semioticwafture]

Originally Posted by no.guru

I'm not sure the Sony T1 meets your needs. I love mine, but I wouldn't say it's small enough to fit in my pocket. In fact, I bought the Sony 350 for just that reason. It fits in my back jeans pocket, and is easily usable with only one hand. I wanted a device to replace my smartphone and the 350 works great for this.

I love the T1 and it's by far the best reader I have, but when I'm leaving home I reach for the 350.

Thanks to everybody who suggested the T1. I think it just about fits what I asked for - though why they made it even longer than both the kindle 4 and their own previous model I don't know (as far as I'm concerned anything more than 5 mm bigger than the screen is just an annoyance).

One thing that puts me off is that there have been reports of freezing up and other instability.

[LuvReadin]

According to other posters, those problems seem to have been sorted out. My T1 is a relatively early one, and I have had occasional problems with freezing, but TBH, I don't find it such a big deal - a message pops up, I close the book, open it again, it opens at the same page, continue reading, job done. I can imagine it being really annoying if it happened on a regular basis, but as it is, it's about a 5-second interruption that occurs very infrequently.

[jojoba]

I had freezing problems in the beginning but haven't had any for months now after they fixed it with one of the software updates, so I wouldn't worry about that.

[lambdadork]

I own a Hanvon Wisereader N800(8") and tried an N618(6") Both have a Wacom style stylus and handwritten note apps. I *could* stuff the N618 in the sidepockets of my cargo pants but it would be a stretch to describe it as "pocketable".
I ended up going for the 800 because the 618 was not available in WiFi, and I read a lot of (technical) pdf's. it turns out that the larger screen is also really nice for taking notes, making doodles and sketching diagrams.
I really like the hardware. It feels much sturdier then my kindle, I have no qualms carrying it with me everywhere I go, reading while being pushed around the Beijing subway system.
The firmware feels a little unfinished, it all works well enough and you get used to it but it doesn't feel very integrated.
I have no idea about its hackability, the stock firmware is based on wince, which I know nothing about. I would love to be able to run xournal on it so maybe one day i will try to boot a linux kernel on it

Originally Posted by semioticwafture

Are there any readers around that satisfy all of the following?

1. Hardware capable of taking handwritten notes
2. e-ink (or otherwise battery life better than a week)
3. Small enough to fit in my pocket

Ideally I'd like to use a stylus. Built-in software that allows taking notes is a major plus. Hackability is a plus. Recognizing handwriting is a minus. Taking handwritten notes on pages of books is a minor minus -- I'm only interested in writing notes that don't relate to any book.

I had hoped that the kindle touch would fit the bill, but it sounds like there's no software for that built in, and the hardware is not quite up to the job?

[cms]

Any idea when the Hanvon e920 will be available in Europe?

[JimMcLaren]

I saw some discussions on the Onyx Boox board that opens up note taking for a lot of readers. On the Boox Wiki you can download a blank 50 page pdf. If your reader can annotate books you can annotate this "Book" all you want. So a lot more readers than you think can do note taking. I use this trick in my Pocketbook 302 although the notes can't really be exported.

[crossi]

Have you considered the Boogie Board?
http://www.improvelectronics.com/us/...ng-tablet.html

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by crossi

Have you considered the Boogie Board?
http://www.improvelectronics.com/us/...ng-tablet.html

That's a heck of a price. They're under $40 on Amazon.

EDIT: Now that I look more closely, the cheap ones have no way to save your files.

[crossi]

Looking at some of the reviews I'd hold off on the BB. There seems to be no way to recall saved notes for editing or adding to them. And there seems to be a problem that what is saved isn't what shows on the board. It needs a little more work.