I’ve been using tablet pcs from the very beginning for handwritten notes. Journal was my first go-to note-taking app, then Franklin Covey’s TabletPlanner, Agilix’s GoBinder, then finally OneNote. I don’t even bother taking handwritten notes in Evernote.
Even with my love of taking handwritten notes using a tablet pc, there are many times I still find myself taking notes using a paper-based notepad. In fact, I carry several notepads with me everywhere I go. There are many reasons:
1) With my tablet pc in front of me, I found it more useful to have a notepad ready to quickly jot down a note or scratch through a to-do
2) A paper-based notepad is easier and quicker to notate on at the last minute
3) I can picture the location of a particular note much easier than say it being located in a section within OneNote.
4) I love interacting with physical objects like real books and real notepads from time to time. I love the depth and touch.
5) I like how unobtrusive a real pen and real paper can be. They are quiet, don’t have glossy screens, and help keep the information-overload noise down.
So, my questions to everyone are: 1) Do you find yourself in similar situations – using a tablet pc and real paper? 2) What has to happen to the hardware and software tablet pc experience to improve upon the above use cases where ink note-taking would be my default rather than my secondary choice? 3) Does a tablet pc need to be my primary handwritten note-taking device, or can an intermediary solution like LiveScribe which would seamlessly sync to my notebook solve the problem?
Leave your thoughts below.
I sorta struggle with this too because my tablet these days is an iPad. As you well know, it’s useless for handwritten notes, even with a fancy capacitive stylus. That kind of digitizer is simply not optimized for pens.
Having said that, because the iPad gets so much else right, I’ve been willing to suffer in silence (well okay I bitch a lot on Twitter). But my disdain for paper prevents me from resorting back to analog note taking. So now I pretty much peck on the on-screen keyboard with a stylus into Evernote. It’s not pretty.
What I really want is for Steve Jobs to repent for his blasphemy against us ink-lovers and work on a better pen enabled solution and for Microsoft to port OneNote (real OneNote, not the watered down version) to iPad. Then we’ll be cooking.
Right on, Josh. I am with you 100%
I keep the sticky notes app open on my tablet PC while I’m teaching (it’s almost always in tablet mode while teaching), so I can handwrite stickies that way. At home in laptop mode, I will type them. But I find that even then, I don’t always remember to read my stickies later, so I will also sometimes send myself an email from my phone. I also hate paper, so I rarely have access to any when I want to take a quick note. I’m just in the habit of turning to the stickies or the smartphone to jot stuff down now.
I’m agree with Rob. I always have a moleskine paper based notepad with me. It’s more simple to take notes on real paper than a tablet now. One of the solution was a tablet pc onenote oriented 500 grams maximum, same size than a medium moleskine notepad and a software like Onenote integrated with a real pen.
HTC flyer is near this product but Microsoft Courier is certainly one of the solution.
It’s funny : Microsoft MVP Tablet PC are always OK from the best product to create
I’m with Josh. If iPad had better inking (and flash), game over. No paper required.
@Rob
I do almost everything for my studies on my tablet.Except I have to find some mistakes in my calculations or formulas then I print it out and then surprisingly I find the mistake quicker than on the tablet.
@Josh
Good and bad to hear that.
Good because I wanted to shift from a Lenovo tablet PC to an Ipad, mainly because of the longlasting great battery.And so I maybe will not have to make these bad experiences.
The videos on youtube even with DIY styluses seemed very good.
Bad because now I have to think again if I will shift.
[...] but Microsoft and their partners have an opportunity if they will recognize it and seize it. In my note-taking article from yesterday, several commenters made mention that if inking on the iPad were better, they [...]
Dennis and Josh – if the iPad supported inking as well as the tablet pc and OneNote existed as a full-fledged app on the iPad, I would be persuaded to give up paper. I’d might even give up the tablet pc…
You guys are definitely right…
I agree with Josh as well. I would love to have a viable alternative to paper. I’m so much better organized with electronic data vs. analog. I’m much more comfortable with OneNote than Evernote, and would also be ecstatic if the full functionality came to the iPad.
For me, it depends on the situation and what I want to do with the notes.
1. If its a quick note taken on the run to follow up later, I use a Moleskin notepad which is always with me. As much as I don’t like the double handling, that is the quickest way and the Moleskin products are great.
2. If I am at a meeting and recording comments on the discussions or action items, then I use the OneNote Side Notes tool on my convertible tablet, and link to Outlook and email later.
3. This could all change if there was a convenient slate (about 7″ for portability) with OneNote and sync to the cloud. I don’t use the iPad for creating notes at all because there really isn’t a convenient way to do that. A great reading tool but not for creating material.
PS. Nice to see you back, Rob. I value your discussions.