Using a eReader for note taking

[hjay]

Hi Mirko,

Thanks for the positive feedback on that model, it's certainly of interest to me. I enquired of Asus UK (with great difficulty, had to use their technical repair centre!) whether this model was sold in the UK and eventually got the reply that it isn't. So I will have to look into your German source, thanks for the valuable reference. No problems with shipping, I have friends in Innsbruck who could bring it over

If you don't mind me asking, if you make doodles and notes on the Asus, what do you save them as? Not too fussed about wi-fi radio (lol) but it must have a USB plug for my old fashioned ways!

I'll take a look at that link now, thanks.

Hugh

hey, guess what....It's for sale in Germany and France and Holland, but they won't post outside their own country! There's no outlet in Austria

Talk about trying to make it difficult to buy a company's product....

[Jmirko]

Hi Hugh,
I have some info for you on both points:

Transfer of notes to pc: yes, you can do this via USB. The device comes with a sync software, which you can install on a Windows pc (not Mac or Linux, unfortunately). Getting your handwritten notes onto your pc in a readable format is as easy as
- connecting your Eee Note via the supplied usb cable,
- starting the sync
- selecting your note(s) on the pc
- clicking on export.
This will export your notes to the folder of your choice in .png format, a generic picture format which can be opened with any photo viewer. The note title becomes the file name. In case of multi-page notes, each page becomes a separate .png file, with the page number also in the title - a very usable solution.
If you prefer pdf-s, you can easily convert png to pdf using any number of free converters, although I don't think this is really necessary in most cases.
You mentioned that you're not keen on wifi, but it's easy to get hooked on the Evernote sync... It works like this: if you have a wifi connection, you can upload your notes to your free Evernote account (you need to create this beforehand, takes 1 minute). Notes need to be uploaded one-by-one, but it only takes two taps and 5-10 seconds per note. Note titles and keywords are retained, and multiple pages within a note get appended under one another into a single file. You can then save your notes as .gif (another popular picture format), send them by e-mail, and even provide other people online access to the folder where you keep them.
The third method is a bit crude, but it's handy for situations when you have neither wifi, nor the sync software. You can export your notes, page-by-page, to the microSD card of the Eee Note, as .gif files. (With this method, note titles and keywords are lost.) You can then connect the device to any computer with a usb cable, and access your .gif files.

2. Availability: sorry to hear that the ASUS webshops don't ship abroad... It almost seems like they lack the confidence to really try selling it. (I have my theory about this, but this post is getting way too long :-)) The punchline: I found a Hong Kong website which looks o.k. and who ship to most of Europe, including the U.K. The price is around USD 300, so the same as the German shop - you will need to check the shipping cost though. The link:
http://www.ownta.com/asus-eee-note-e...amera-4gb.html

I hope this helps - if you decide to go for it, let us know your experience!

[no.guru]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

No it's not. We need days of heavy use at a minimum.

The T1 delivers. It is an e-ink device, so I can do days of heavy use on a single charge. It's also extremely light.

[Rizla]

Consider how you'll get your notes on and off the reader. Your best bet is probably a rooted Sony T1 or a maybe a rooted Nook. I imagine they will offer the most functionality and flexibility. Tablets are a different affair.

[cms]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I'm not sure the ereader you want currently exists, but I think that it will soon,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b83dIs7S4Ug

The writing part is at about 3:30

Does E-ink sell under their own brand? What device is pictured there at 3:30?

[cms]

The one shown before at 1:00 is even better. 11" 300 dpi finally arrived :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b83dIs7S4Ug

How can I order?

[Jmirko]

I believe the 300dpi e-ink display is not in any commercially available device yet. The one that comes closest is the Hanvon WISEreader E920, at 200dpi (1600x1200 pixels in a 9.7-inch screen).

Back to the topic of handwriting on e-ink: several members mentioned the Sony T1. I have tried it, and I think it's a great touch-screen reader, but not a good solution for handwriting, for 2 reasons.
First, the T1 hardware doesn't support hand rejection. This means you must be careful not to touch the screen with your hand while writing, otherwise you will end up with unwanted marks. This results in an unnatural hand posture which may be fine for quick scribbles, but definitely not for serious note-taking.
Second, the software does not support muiti-page scribbles - again an indication that heavy-duty note-taking was not the intention.

What you need for a good handwriting experience is a digitiser layer behind the screen (Wacom, N-Trig or similar), which allows accurate stylus calibration as well as hand rejection. I know three companies who make e-ink devices which can do this: Onyx, PocketBook, and Hanvon. (Careful though, not all of their models support handwriting!) Hanvon seems to be the most advanced of the three, offering e-readers which can switch automatically between finger touch and stylus input (hand rejection is turned on automatically when the stylus is near the screen). Onyx and PocketBook are stylus only. Incidentally, the color Jetbook shown in the video above is also sold by Hanvon as the C920 - so they really are pioneers in applying the latest eInk technologies. Unfortunately Hanvon products are scarce and poorly supported in Europe, they seem to be focusing on the Chinese and Russian markets.

I bought an Onyx Boox M92 a few days ago. The note-taking experience was a bit disappointing out of the box, but with the latest firmware, both stylus calibration and other functions (rename, search) are fine. The e-ink screen has great contrast, but the Asus EeeNote EA-800 still offers better value in my opinion, due to more reliable and ergonomic software, audio recording, camera, and lower price (about half of the M92).
I have not tried PocketBook or Hanvon products yet, so I cannot comment on those.

[pbarrette]

Hi Jmirko,

There's also another way to get handwritten notes out of the EeeNote. Using TheTwo's "Free PDF Annotation Merger for Eee Note":
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/asus...-eee-note.html

You can create a multi-page PDF document that contains a number of blank pages and use it as a notebook instead of the built-in notebook app, since the EA-800 allows you to freehand draw and write on PDFs. Then use the Windows based merger application to export the annotated PDF with the markup intact. The merger application will also export user created bookmarks, and can export the EeeNote notebooks as PDF files as well.

There's also a fair number of open-source applications that have been created or ported to work on the EeeNote to increase the functionality.

That said, I do wish that the EA-800 had a faster processor, touch screen, and more open code base.

Lately, I've been looking at a number of Chinese made Android based tablets that have been showing up. One that looks very promising appears to have capacitive multi-touch and an active digitizer of some sort with a pressure sensitive stylus that requires a AAAA battery, isn't from Wacom and doesn't appear to be from N-Trig.

The names it appears to be going under are:
HKC S81 - http://www.szhk.com.cn/product_detail.asp?id=537
Inote A8 - http://www.ibnote.com/products_detai...051956894.html
CooPad A9 - http://www.coopad.net/product_detail-2.aspx
Aishuo T5 - http://www.aishuomid.com/product_det...186&topnav=177
(note that Google Translate is your friend)

The specifications are all very similar, but there are some claimed differences:
The HKC S81 claims to have Android 4.0 and 1GB ram, while the others claim Android 2.3 and 512MB ram. That said, I haven't seen a single screenshot that confirms the HKC claims. I suspect that all of the above are made by a single manufacturer and everyone is just re-branding them under their own name.

Also, there appear to be two different models that look exactly alike. One has stylus input only, while the other has both stylus and capacitive multi-touch and it seems to be impossible to tell which is which. This is especially true since I don't trust any of the vendors I've found to give me a straight answer or post accurate specs.

Prices also appear to range wildly between approximately $275 and $470. All differences and vendor lies aside, I think either model would probably be a better new purchase choice than the EA-800 at this point. Over a year ago, the EA-800 was the only game in town for a tablet with low-cost, long battery life, pressure sensitive active-digitizer input, and a portable, but not tiny, screen size. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore, and with WinRT coming out in the fall, the tablet market will probably have a few more players with good stylus input.

[UPDATE]
The HKC S81 has a firmware available for download here:
http://www.szhk.com.cn/download.asp

The firmware is listed on the site as being Android 4.0.3, but I have extracted the firmware and can confirm that it is actually 2.3.4 (Gingerbread). I can also validate that the kernel and drivers are the same between the iNote A8 and the HKC S81 firmwares, and that the HKC firmware appears to be a re-branded, older version of the iNote firmware.

pb

[HarryT]

I've always been curious about the desire for handwritten notes. Personally, I can type MUCH faster than I can write by hand (and the end result is rather more legible, too!). I can see its utility for such things as annotating documents, but is there really a market, do you think, for devices on which people would write whole pages in handwriting?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

...is there really a market, do you think, for devices on which people would write whole pages in handwriting?

Only if the device incorporates handwriting recognition that can turn what's been written into editable text. I can't see making notes that later have to be typewritten to be shared, but some folks may like it.

[pbarrette]

Hi HarryT,

I can generally type faster than I can write also; Provided I have a full size keyboard at my disposal, and provided that I have both hands free. I type slower on my laptop because the keyboard is more cramped. My typing gets even slower on a tablet touch screen keyboard, where I'm basically forced to use my thumbs. Then there's the original Kindle, whose keyboard is a nightmare for me. When I'm on the phone and need to record information, it's far easier to pick up a pen and use a steno pad or post-it note.

My need for handwritten notes in a tablet or multifunction reader is not as a replacement for my computer and full size keyboard. Instead, my intention was to use a tablet to replace the paper that I use. When I bought the EeeNote, I was able to replace the 3 steno pads that I carried every day between work and home, and reduce the number of sticky notes that I used at work to hold temporary information.

I generally use notebooks in meetings, where access to a full computer is impossible. The notebooks are also useful when I'm trying to record information about the computer I'm working on, since it would often be otherwise difficult to record the information on that same computer.

Another plus for traditional paper notebooks is that they are portable in their original form, without the need for significant efforts in data transfer between computers or conversion to other formats. If I were able to record all my notes on my work computer, I would have to transfer them to my home computer via email, then consolidate the various note files into a single "book" of some sort. When I need access to them outside of home and the office, I would then need to convert them into a PDF or other tablet friendly format, then load them onto the tablet. That would leave me with at least 3 different copies of the same notes. Start making changes or additions from various locations and you quickly end up with a synchronization nightmare. The paper notebook (or a suitable tablet with digitizer) is a single, portable, organizable repository for all that information.

Finally, I tend to think graphically. My brain organizes my thoughts and ideas into hierarchical pictures that allow me to organize concepts and ideas and show how things are interrelated. As the old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words", and sometimes an idea is best expressed by drawing it out for someone instead of trying to describe it verbally or through text. A traditional reader doesn't allow me to do that, and I've tried finger painting on a tablet with abysmal results. I suppose I could spend a half hour or more in PowerPoint or Paint trying to get the idea out of my head, but I usually find that a pen and paper (or my EeeNote) gets the job done in a matter of minutes or seconds.

pb

[Jmirko]

Hi pbarrette,

Thanks for the info about the annotation merger. I was aware of its existence, but have not used it because Evernote did the job so far. However, if I ever need to migrate from the EeeNote, it could be extremely useful.

HKC S81 and co.: well spotted! I have been looking for such devices on ebay and the web in general, but have not seen it so far. Looks promising indeed, especially as it's available on ebay already as the "Ordro P801W" (USD 399+shipping). The Chinese sources seem to say Android 2.3, the one on ebay says 4.0... That's a big difference. I asked the seller to confirm Android Market access and battery life.

I fully agree that the EeeNote is a very limited device compared to a digitiser-equipped Android tablet, let alone the MS RT tablets of the near future. However, at USD 240 and free shipping, the EeeNote is much cheaper than your next option, and the RT tablets will be even more expensive. Battery life is also important, especially for school use - I don't think backlit LCD tablets can last through a full day of heavy use. So at the moment, I still see a market for the EeeNote - but only with intense marketing and an even lower price (around USD 150-200), and this is obviously not happening.

It's good to see that not only obscure Far-East manufacturers, but Microsoft also sees a future for handwriting (again :-)) I was starting to think I was the weird one. I wonder if and when Apple will decide to add a digitiser to the ipad, now that Steve is gone...

Finally, here is a goodie for you:
http://www.casio.co.jp/release/2012/0727_V-N500_T500/
1.5 Ghz, Android 4.0, supports multi-touch, pen input, document scanning, IP54 compliant? Casio is back!

[HarryHutton]

Hi. You're not the only one who wants an e-reader like that, I am currently trying to design and build one!

http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/Proje...=19&Winindex=0

Thing is, someone is eventually going to manufacture this idea, and its going to be huge.

[Serena]

There's a HUGE market for it. I have the Pocket eDGe, which I use in meetings all the time. I work in an engineering company, and just about everyone in the company carries around a notebook for taking notes, while I am now paperless! We have to use drawings a lot to convey ideas, so typing just doesn't work. Everyone wants one of my eDGes, but since they're out of business, it's too hard to find a good source. And, the tablet side specs are not really up to par. I would love to have a paper-sized e-ink screen just to take notes.

I really think if they had marketed the eDGe correctly, there would have been a huge market for them.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by Jmirko

Finally, here is a goodie for you:
http://www.casio.co.jp/release/2012/0727_V-N500_T500/
1.5 Ghz, Android 4.0, supports multi-touch, pen input, document scanning, IP54 compliant? Casio is back!

Look interesting. I'll have to check it out the next time I'm in Tokyo.

I definitely like the idea of writing on a tablet with a pen.