Is the S Pen anything more than just a novelty to anyone? - Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion

I think it's cool to play around with... But Push comes to shove when doing work related things I never go to it.

I use it for writing down lists for groceries and for grabbing screen shots etc

I use mine to draw and sketch a lot.
It's the main reason I've only had the note series for years.

I use it for work all the time. Being able to jot down notes and thoughts quickly is the best!

Pen? This thing has a pen?

rockky said:
I think it's cool to play around with... But Push comes to shove when doing work related things I never go to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i first got a Note device ,
way back ....Note 2 and then Note 3 and Note 4 ,
i hardly used the S pen .
Started seeing the value /ease, to do something on my Note 5 .
Really missed my Spen on my S8 + .
Yes, i use S pen a lot now .
Apart from notes etc .
I use Spen for my Klwp theming ,where i found that the navbar gets in my way,
when doing precise value selections etc .
(Navbar either visible or hidden ).
I also sometimes uses it to preview a link or general scrolling .
Also sometimes when using keyboard .
It's just faster than i can type ,with my "dumb" fingers .!

I'm an artist and the pen is specifically why I buy the note phones. While I do all my major work on an ipad pro and desktop, the notes are my go everywhere sketch pad, pretty much everything I draw starts as a rough sketch on the note.

I use the pen to make quick notes at the meetings, shopping lists at home, any time I need to make quick note. I used to use pieces of paper, which usually would get misplaced, then had to look for it, no more. My kids love to draw on my phone as well. Probably use my phone more often with pen, than without it. It's like a mouse on my computer. I feel like dedicated iphone user, only couple models to choose from and high prize to pay. I tried other (without spen) phones, but it doesn't work for me at all.

The pen is very useful, other than the taking quick notes (much faster than virtual keyboard) the most useful thing about it is signing PDF documents, i can pretty much fill out a PDF, sign it and then print to PDF (so no one messes with the signature) without the need to print and scan and much faster. Can do the same for paper forms using Office Lens or Scanbot. Also Microsoft's Remote Desktop client beta version works wonderfully with the s-Pen if you want the portability of a smartphone but the full power of a desktop that's a great go to.
Edit: also anyone looking for a spare s-Pen should look at the s-Pen that came with the galaxy tablet S3, it's a more robust pen, bigger, feels better in the hand and the button works better. Only downsides are it does not store inside the phone and it's not waterproof.

I use my Spen everyday. It's nice to use it to go through your phone. Then not to mention the best part copy and paste anything.

I'm new to the Note universe so I have not used the S Pen much....yet.

I use my S-Pen a good bit - as in at least a few times a day
Notes for both work and home.
Sometimes to mark up a photo to send someone.
I set up to have S-Notes back - so I can make a quick note and have a reminder
Used my trusty old Note 4 for a good while - it is still going strong!

I have the Tab S3 so i sync notes between devices. I make notes every day. I make a note on my Note8 to make sure i don't forget ideas and plans. Very important in business. Writing notes helps me remember information. I use OneNote and Samsung Notes.

jah said:
I have the Tab S3 so i sync notes between devices. I make notes every day. I make a note on my Note8 to make sure i don't forget ideas and plans. Very important in business. Writing notes helps me remember information. I use OneNote and Samsung Notes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OneNote is indispensable, the ability to sync notes between the Tab S3, Note 8 and PC (laptop and desktop) makes it essential, and that's not bringing in the ability to share your notebooks with others. The fact that the desktop app is free and has OCR ability makes it a no brainer. Also Office Lens will scan direct to your OneNote too.

rockky said:
I think it's cool to play around with... But Push comes to shove when doing work related things I never go to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The S Pen is far from essential- but in addition to its "unique" capabilities- I just like using it instead of touch when I can. It seems more precise and if I daresay hygenic.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

I would not pay 1,020.00€ for a "Novelty". I already spent near that when the SGS8+ came out.
For me the Note S-pen is the reason I buy......'the Note'..... Its more than a pen its a mouse. I like the hover part when placed over an email or document and it gives you information about the content without opening the mail or document. I can wizz through my emails only opening ones I need to reply to in a hurry. There is so much more to the S-pen.
Ryland

It's the only reason I bought it.

When I had my Note 5 I would use it to jot down random ideas. Also it's really great for meetings. I can write down and organize my notes. Plus it's convenient when used with certain apps. You can hover to see additional content. I've used Evernote and the Galaxy Memo app in place of it but it's not the same

mikeandlara said:
I use it for work all the time. Being able to jot down notes and thoughts quickly is the best!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ditto, i use it to sign contracts and other documents in my line of work. also use it to draw on screenshots of software/hardware diagrams prepared using PowerPoint. i'm always writing on pictures shared with friends and i use it for SNote Action Memos, too.

For Mouse Over Actions...that just one...it's awesome. Plus, no fingerprints on the screen. Once you get used to it...you'll find that you may prefer to use it to navigate through the phone with it.

Related

[Q] Using the Nook Color for College Classes?

Hey All,
I have used these forums as my main resource for android for a while now, and this is my first time having to post a question because everything is usually so well documented.
I bought a nook color a while ago, and have love it. I take college classes at night, and obviously would love to use it during said classes. Getting books, and PDF's for it are easy enough, but i am looking for an app to take notes with. I am not a huge fan of using a touchscreen keyboard to take notes which i have done in the past. Does anyone know of a solid handwriting recognition app that would be useful for class? or any other applications that would be useful for class in general?
Thanks You.
I don't think it may work fine for that purpose at least you have a stylus and a handwriting app cause its kinda annoying to take fast notes in this keyboard wether you use portrait or landscape mode because of the size
Sent from my Nook Color using XDA App
There has to be something a little more intuitive to take notes with than having to type everything... right?
So far, the best I have seen for handwriting recognition on android works like so:
Write a word
Wait
Omfg, it guessed wrong, rewrite word
Rinse, repeat until it gets one word right
Class is over
Do yourself a favor and buy a pen and paper
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
You will be good as gold if bluetooth every gets working... A nice mini keyboard would solve your problem
I hear ya man... that would make my life so much easier the day BT gets up and running.
brandsdragon.com/products/product_26269.htm
Nice cheap little mini keyboard like this one would fix my problem.
I did see an handwriting recognition app that is similar to how the old palm pilots used to do hwr, but i hated using in on the palm, and still hate it on android.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/genial-writing/com.zenpie.genialwriting
This is the best app I've found so far. My biggest problem has actually been the NC's screen. There don't seem to be enough contact points or something to make for accurate enough writing.
Can't wait for the BT day either.
I mostly use my Nook Color as a supplement to my desktop at home in college. We are a big Google Apps school so we share everything over Google Docs. I use quickoffice to access my google docs from my nook and view my presentations and notes no there. I do everything except take notes on there, because its just not possible. Wait for bluetooth and then we might have progress.
Here is a decent, admittedly roundabout set up i've come up with: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10689802#post10689802
Also, I did see (but didn't buy) a stylus made for ipad and other capacitative touch screens (such as nook color screen). It was $14.99 at microcenter in the ipad accessories section. Could work well in combination with a sketchpad type app... not handwriting recognition, but just handwriting.
Thanks for all the input guys, sadly it seems that i will have to wait until we get BT working. I have been paying attention to the progress of some of the people working on enabling BT. Does anyone know if there is a particular BT initiative that has been making more progress over the others?
At the moment there is only one person that I see working on it in the bluetooth thread.
My plan (I will start using my NC for classes tomorrow) is to use an app called blackink. You can have different notebooks for class and either draw notes or type notes. You can also sync to evernote and dropbox. At the very least I will be using evernote, dropbox and a scanner to minimize the files I keep from classes. But yes, if a working BT happens note taking in class will be much easier!
Seriously, what happened to taking notes, then transcribing them later, adding details, revising? For me it helps solidify the information in my WET data storage.
I teach first year English, am a grad student, and I use this thing with taking notes, reading pdfs, etc. The best setup I've gotten really fast with is using Evernote (which syncs between my ios devices and my Macbook) with the SlideIT keyboard. Certainly faster than trying to use handwriting recognition or the few times I've played with the ipad on screen keyboard. I usually ignore errors and clean up the notes later when I'm at my macbook. Almost as fast as writing by hand, for me at least.
Nb I also really push for my students to use Evernote. The Mac version is slightly more full featured than the windows one, but both are good and the android and ios versions are great.
Sent from my Nook Color
I tried a targus stylus made for the ipad and it didn't work out too well at all. I tried it in magic doodle and it can't even draw a straight line or circle consistently. Something about the nc touch screen just don't make a stylus conducive for sketching or note taking, cuz apparently reviewers thought the stylus worked great on the ipad. Can't wait until a tab with integrated wacom is released.
this is an offbeat solution, but in my classes, i have a macbook air (11 inch). i use the tab only when i surf and use it to stay low profile.
I've been using my Nook Color in class for about a week now. I'll share my thoughts.
1. Note-taking is a pain, and you'll only complicate your life by trying to use handwriting recognition or drawing software. I work at our campus computer store, and people have tried for a year or more to use styluses for handwritten data entry on capacitive touch screens. The mushy point on the iPad stylus that allows it to work is much closer to Sharpie thickness than a typical pen or pencil. Unless you want to have hundreds of notes that look like they were written by a kindergarten student, you should go a different route.
2. Evernote is not as useful as I had hoped. I'm used to having the ability to record audio notes with my Droid, and that's impossible with the nook at this point because it doesn't have a microphone. I've seen audio minijack add-ons for the iPod Touch that would record audio despite the lack of native support, but it will be a while before we see that on the Nook, if ever. That said, I've also tried typing on both the default keyboard and SlideIT, the latter of which cannot hold a candle to Swype. My solution? I carry a small notepad and record the audio to Evernote using my phone.
3. eBooks are extremely frustrating at times. I had to pay ~$4 for a copy of the novel My Antonia on Amazon because the free/cheap versions often lack effective ways to navigate. You can flip through a paper book, but, in the Kindle app, trying to navigate to a certain chapter without a Table of Contents is a huge pain. I'm definitely spending less than on print books, but you can't count on finding free options.
4. The native note-taking abilities in the Kindle app are beautiful. I've noticed probably a 300% increase in how much I interact with text when I can touch the text to highlight it rather than having to get a highlighter or sticky note. Being able to see all notes and highlights is also great. Yes, that's more of a Kindle-specific thing, but it looks gorgeous on the screen, and I like that the display is true to the size of a book.
5. Productivity use will remind you how far Android has to come. I've yet to find a clean, simple, and easy-to-use to-do list that can sync to Google Tasks and not look terrible on the screen. Similarly, until moments ago when I saw another post here, I was frustrated that the Calendar didn't work. There have been times in the past week that I've been close to soliciting a developer to create an app that fills the gaps I see.
6. I'm an English major, so a lot of my professors are against having technology in the classroom. I've found that they've all been accepting of ereaders because they assume people won't be using them for Facebook/Twitter/whatever. That's a pretty awesome side, but I'd prefer to use my MBP and MS Office to record my lectures along with markers in the text for going to specific parts of the recording.
I look forward to the day that Bluetooth works on the Nook or when someone creates an iPad/XOOM-style keyboard dock. I know a girl who takes her iPad to class, docks it, and loves the whole experience. I want that, but for half the price and without the walled garden. Still, though, I think the Nook experience would improve dramatically if some skilled developers were given enough motivation/compensation for their efforts.
again, no ipad. macbook air 11. trust me on this u just open and type.
agarber1 said:
5. Productivity use will remind you how far Android has to come. I've yet to find a clean, simple, and easy-to-use to-do list that can sync to Google Tasks and not look terrible on the screen. Similarly, until moments ago when I saw another post here, I was frustrated that the Calendar didn't work. There have been times in the past week that I've been close to soliciting a developer to create an app that fills the gaps I see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jorte looks good and works great for me. Give it a try if you haven't already.
Not too useful for school right now, mostly using it as a document viewer in class. Beats a smartphone for simple note-taking in a pinch. Laptops are much popular in my current school than my old one in the US, so the 'less disruptive' tablet issue doesn't apply.

Best use of notes

Could users list their creative and best uses for the Notes application. Emailing, notes, websites etc.
websitess
Oh well I definately use it like some sort of print screen application.. things I try not to forget I write over it and save it as my note..also I can find it as jpeg in gallery so its good for that type of use. When Im bored I draw but since lately my screen got scratched I avoid it..
Know this is more digital pen answer but what is notes without pen
anabosk said:
Oh well I definately use it like some sort of print screen application.. things I try not to forget I write over it and save it as my note..also I can find it as jpeg in gallery so its good for that type of use. When Im bored I draw but since lately my screen got scratched I avoid it..
Know this is more digital pen answer but what is notes without pen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought this thread would be inunaudated with great uses...........
To be honest, I simply use the notes application with Evernote on the PC to record all of my customer meetings. The audio integration works excellently and has reduced the volume of notes per meeting. No longer do I have to carry multiple paper note books with me nor flip through pages to find prior notes. Very happy!
My wife and I recently went shopping for a new dishwasher. It was cool to be able to snap a picture of the floor units and take notes (including wriiting down the model numbers to look up online reviews). In case you haven't tried it, pictures you take while the notes app is open are embedded into your note.
screenshots to small
hello,
one question concerning the screenshots made by notes. Is there a way to make them bigger? I'm not able to read the text in the screenshots because of too small and I canot zoom in or find the parameters to save in another size. The screenshot size is ok when working on it (just after creating the shot) but when I safe the note and open it again the size is too small.
thanks a lot
thomas
Use the Evermore app in parallel. Images in notes are able to be manipulated.
A bit of a pain, but i have the two apps set up different ways which works well.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
colonel_elwood said:
Use the Evermore app in parallel. Images in notes are able to be manipulated.
A bit of a pain, but i have the two apps set up different ways which works well.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try this, thanks a lot
They say that the Honeycomb upgrade will expand the use of the Pen and the notes application, Hopefully................
I have actually been using it in class to record the lecture while taking my notes on it. I use it in landscape mode. It takes a bit to get used to and find what pen settings work best, but after the initial curve it works fairly well. I will switch between it and my etextbook and blackboard all at the same time. I have to keep an eye on the back button but have been satisfied with being able to see my notes appear a they were written when the lecture was going on. I bought a transformer this weekend to use for my textbooks and blackboard to take the load off my view. yes I will be using two tablets in class at once but it still beats a huge laptop or a bunch of books and spirals.
I'm a graphic designer for a clothing company. I use it take snap shots of clothes we have made protos of and make comments of changes that are required. Some meetings I'm taking notes while listening and recording comments from merchandisers on what styles sells best. Also while I commute to work in NYC metro, I would usually see few designs I get inspired by and usually sketch the concepts. Its a general good source of data, since I carry it with me everywhere I have access of my thoughts and inspirations on the go. But after making these comments, I really hope HC makes better use of the Tablet and pen. It is lacking in some areas and it is not always the most enjoyable experience. Sketching is okay at best and the longer files tend to be a little laggy. Hoping for a better sketching integration of notes and evernote.

School Notes App?

Hi guys,
Me being a student, I was wondering if there was any apps that allow for the import of pdf files to write over them with a stylus to take notes?
I've been trying to use my Prime to take notes in class and my professor puts out pdfs every lecture, it'd be great to be able to take notes on the pdf as he talks about it.
I've been using LectureNotes and recently Papyrus (love it) to take notes, but it doesn't feel as integrated with my classes add id like to.
I saw somewhere that there was an app that converts the pdf file into jpgs to allow the user to write on them. has any one heard of this?
Thanks
Stock App
UltraVicious said:
Hi guys,
Me being a student, I was wondering if there was any apps that allow for the import of pdf files to write over them with a stylus to take notes?
I've been trying to use my Prime to take notes in class and my professor puts out pdfs every lecture, it'd be great to be able to take notes on the pdf as he talks about it.
I've been using LectureNotes and recently Papyrus (love it) to take notes, but it doesn't feel as integrated with my classes add id like to.
I saw somewhere that there was an app that converts the pdf file into jpgs to allow the user to write on them. has any one heard of this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Asus stock MyReader app allows you to take notes on top of PDF files.
Best apps i have used to take notes are already included in your prime. Super note is amazing! No more physical notebooks for me! And MyReader works wonderful too.
Both apps paired with a Stylus and TouchScreen Tune = awesome
The Asus stock MyReader app allows you to take notes on top of PDF files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MyReader? I have MyLibrary is it the same? i had not bothered with it before cause i thought it was just an ebook reader.
I messed with it and it did let me edit a pdf that it already had on the library but it wont pick up the pdfs i loaded in the Prime from class.
I was thinking the same thing of finding out an app for note taking. Then I thought why not just take a screen cap of the full pdf page lol
Zephyrot said:
Best apps i have used to take notes are already included in your prime. Super note is amazing! No more physical notebooks for me! And MyReader works wonderful too.
Both apps paired with a Stylus and TouchScreen Tune = awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay out of curiosity, which stylus are you using? Thank you =]
Ziocomposite said:
Okay out of curiosity, which stylus are you using? Thank you =]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sir, I REALLY wanna know too! I am dieing to find a stylus with which I can take notes on my Tablet just as well as I do with a real notebook.
Please answer the following:
1) What stylus do you use?
2) What app do you use to write handwritten notes?
3) Does it really feel just as natural to write with that stylus and app combo as a real life paper and pen/pencil?
Thanks!
litetaker said:
Sir, I REALLY wanna know too! I am dieing to find a stylus with which I can take notes on my Tablet just as well as I do with a real notebook.
Please answer the following:
1) What stylus do you use?
2) What app do you use to write handwritten notes?
3) Does it really feel just as natural to write with that stylus and app combo as a real life paper and pen/pencil?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought I'd add my 2 cents.
I'm a first year University student so I need to take a lot of notes.
1) I personally use a wacom bamboo stylus and I like it alot.
2) I use Supernote pretty much exclusively for hand written notes.
3) It feels pretty natural after a while, however it's never going to feel like writing with pen/pencil and paper as it is just a different experience.
Doktaphex said:
Thought I'd add my 2 cents.
I'm a first year University student so I need to take a lot of notes.
1) I personally use a wacom bamboo stylus and I like it alot.
2) I use Supernote pretty much exclusively for hand written notes.
3) It feels pretty natural after a while, however it's never going to feel like writing with pen/pencil and paper as it is just a different experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lols my 2 cents
at first i really liked superNote aswell but when trying to catch with some of my professors it felt slow and it bothered me that everything is in line.
that's why i moved to Lecture Notes, i really like how its like a notebook with pages and me being able to write anywhere on the page. then from this i moved to Papyrus, i really like how its like an infinite white board so i can write anywhere. its beta so missing some things but still awesome.
But anyhow are there really no apps that do what i need with pdfs? i don't gave that My Reader app

Best note taking app for Yoga Book

I used Samsung note stuff for a while but I was never happy with how the pages were handled, and also the speed of drawing on the page was not impressive. The worst issue was that I was not able to sync between my devices because I do not use samsung account etc So I looked around and I tried bunch of apps and I settled with LectureNotes mostly because its indepth settings and it is no bull**** database approach which makes it syncable. A notebookis basically a folder with bunch of files in it in LectureNotes then I use Sycnthing to sync to other devices.
I highly recommend it to YB owners because I feel like it is a great fit and also the speed of drawing in it is much faster than my Samsun 10.1 it feels good. I also use it with real pen tip/notebook to make sketches that works great as well.
LectureNotes offer shortcuts to documents so you can just click an icon and open any document from the desktop.
Anyway I am not affiliated with the dev at all, but he has xda pages and he seems to be super responsive guy. And it is under active development. Check it out, give it a try. My biggest complaint about it is that it does not offer hand writing recognition like the Samsung app does. also no windows app. However it offers PDF exports.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acadoid.lecturenotes
https://www.acadoid.com/
Fow the windows version there is an app called Write which has Android/Win/Mac support as far as I can tell not as feature rich as LectureNotes but seems good as a cross platform note taker. This one uses folders as well so you cna sync between devices.
hajkan said:
I used Samsung note stuff for a while but I was never happy with how the pages were handled, and also the speed of drawing on the page was not impressive. The worst issue was that I was not able to sync between my devices because I do not use samsung account etc So I looked around and I tried bunch of apps and I settled with LectureNotes mostly because its indepth settings and it is no bull**** database approach which makes it syncable. A notebookis basically a folder with bunch of files in it in LectureNotes then I use Sycnthing to sync to other devices.
I highly recommend it to YB owners because I feel like it is a great fit and also the speed of drawing in it is much faster than my Samsun 10.1 it feels good. I also use it with real pen tip/notebook to make sketches that works great as well.
LectureNotes offer shortcuts to documents so you can just click an icon and open any document from the desktop.
Anyway I am not affiliated with the dev at all, but he has xda pages and he seems to be super responsive guy. And it is under active development. Check it out, give it a try. My biggest complaint about it is that it does not offer hand writing recognition like the Samsung app does. also no windows app. However it offers PDF exports.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acadoid.lecturenotes
https://www.acadoid.com/
Fow the windows version there is an app called Write which has Android/Win/Mac support as far as I can tell not as feature rich as LectureNotes but seems good as a cross platform note taker. This one uses folders as well so you cna sync between devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For android I would recommend fiinote. Works pretty well.
carepack said:
For android I would recommend fiinote. Works pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry man, fiinote is slow as hell when it comes to drawing. I still recommend LectureNotes.
hajkan said:
Sorry man, fiinote is slow as hell when it comes to drawing. I still recommend LectureNotes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For drawings = artrage
carepack said:
For drawings = artrage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Artrage is like 5 times slower than any other Android art app really. I recomend Ravioli, LayerPaint, Sketchbook, Infinite Painter if you want more natural drawing experience. I have no idea what the hell Lenovo was thinking when they thought that Artrage would be a good choice to put as a default art app on this tablet.
is there any chance to replace the hot button note taking app? I identified the default app to export wrongly and would like to replace it
I have a Win10 Yoga Book - great tool, I just wish I could take simple handwritten notes on screen, even if it means picking up a compatible Bluetooth pen, such as the recently released Wacom Bamboo Tip. Has anyone had any luck with taking notes directly on the screen?
tcarole said:
I have a Win10 Yoga Book - great tool, I just wish I could take simple handwritten notes on screen, even if it means picking up a compatible Bluetooth pen, such as the recently released Wacom Bamboo Tip. Has anyone had any luck with taking notes directly on the screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Bamboo Tip is not pressure sensitive (neither does it use Bluetooth - I might be wrong). If you don't need pressure sensitivity you can actually use your normal Lenovo Pen with WriteIt straight on the screen... No palm rejection though, but I use it frequently and it works quite smooth once you get used to it...
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/es/en/...t-series/thinkpad-tablet-2/downloads/ds106113
jamespmi, what is your setup? I have worked with it for several days on my Win10 Yoga Book using the Real Pen stylus and the results have been a bit less than satisfactory. Perhaps I need to tweak the memory. What works best for you?
tcarole said:
jamespmi, what is your setup? I have worked with it for several days on my Win10 Yoga Book using the Real Pen stylus and the results have been a bit less than satisfactory. Perhaps I need to tweak the memory. What works best for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I use to do on all PC's first: Flushing the preinstalled OS and setting it up by hand. Debloating it to the max. The difference is more than surprising.
If you don't want to go through the Driver-Headache maybe "Sandman45654"'s Guide would be helpful for you:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/yoga-book/how-to/windows-guide-creating-windows-10-t3718823

Galaxy Tab S6 lecture note taking

Trying to find a good app for lecture note taking with my Galaxy Tab S6 (which is on its way). I seen literally hundreds of reviews, videos etc. I've made a short list of (possibly) the best available apps for android, but I'd like to have the opinion of experts on this matter. Why am I being proactive with this? Well my tablet was received damaged and a replacement on its way, but I'm really running late with my notes and workload piling up.
I don't mind paying for a good app, as long as it does the job it was intended for. I take engineering notes with lots of math formulas. Handwriting OCR is a must. My humble shortlist after doing my research is:
- Nebo
- Squid
- OneNote
- MS Word
Most of these apps were exhaustively reviewed with an iPad, so I'm not sure which one of these, or any other I missed can do the job on the Tab S6.
Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I can only speak to Nebo. I bought it for it's excellent 'written text to .txt' function; aslo does Word (.docx), PDF or HTML. It is in continual development, and they've added some new features just in the last few weeks. Works very well at deciphering even my scribbles that I can hardly make out.
Something to check out is FiiNote; I'm just now starting to evaluate it, (as a replacement for Joplin, not a note-taking app, but good for information consolidation).
FYI, my work-flow using Nebo and Joplin us to scribble notes in Nebo—>convert to plain text—>paste in to Joplin.
TiTiB said:
I can only speak to Nebo. I bought it for it's excellent 'written text to .txt' function; aslo does Word (.docx), PDF or HTML. It is in continual development, and they've added some new features just in the last few weeks. Works very well at deciphering even my scribbles that I can hardly make out.
Something to check out is FiiNote; I'm just now starting to evaluate it, (as a replacement for Joplin, not a note-taking app, but good for information consolidation).
FYI, my work-flow using Nebo and Joplin us to scribble notes in Nebo—>convert to plain text—>paste in to Joplin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks TiTiB for your input. I've purchased and tested Nebo with the Tab S6. Handwriting is indeed faster than OneNote. Math formula writing is again much better. The downside, you cannot import something from pdf, like a graph or a photo from your notes into Nebo. Export to Word works well. I try to do some formatting and inserting graphs using Word on Windows, which takes some time. Dark theme is also not available, which should save some battery. Have you noticed that any of these features can work somehow?
Other than that, Nebo is a very good app.
euclid444 said:
Thanks TiTiB for your input. I've purchased and tested Nebo with the Tab S6. Handwriting is indeed faster than OneNote. Math formula writing is again much better. The downside, you cannot import something from pdf, like a graph or a photo from your notes into Nebo. Export to Word works well. I try to do some formatting and inserting graphs using Word on Windows, which takes some time. Dark theme is also not available, which should save some battery. Have you noticed that any of these features can work somehow?
Other than that, Nebo is a very good app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not used any Word functions (nor even Word, for that matter). I don't use Nebo fo anything other than 'scribbles-to-text' ability. I use Joplin for 'consolidation' of text and image/pdf files; tho, like I said, I have FiiNotes installed and am evaluating that app.
Noteledge maybe?
RedMist said:
Noteledge maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I've tried more than a dozen apps and none of them seem to be able to do what I'm trying to achieve!
Currently trying to test Joblin. I'll try Noteledge then and see how it goes.
I'm afraid that buying the Tab S6 for becoming more productive in note taking was a waste of money and time!
euclid444 said:
So far I've tried more than a dozen apps and none of them seem to be able to do what I'm trying to achieve!
Currently trying to test Joblin. I'll try Noteledge then and see how it goes.
I'm afraid that buying the Tab S6 for becoming more productive in note taking was a waste of money and time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please elaborate on why it's a waste of money and time? I'm considering buying a Tab S6 (or iPad 10.2 + Pencil), also for lecture note taking and would really appreciate your opinion.
Jacko2410 said:
Can you please elaborate on why it's a waste of money and time? I'm considering buying a Tab S6 (or iPad 10.2 + Pencil), also for lecture note taking and would really appreciate your opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I extensively tested the Tab S6 for note taking only, nothing else, since I have a lot of homework piling up. I spent more than 2 weeks with that. I could name over 20 note taking apps that I have tried in the process.
The ones I worked with the most since I found more suitable than the others were OneNote, Nebo, Notion, Evernote, Joplin. Every single one of them has something missing which is covered by the other. It is not my purpose to mention pros and cons of each of those. Bottom line, I straggled trying to figure out a way to work more efficiently than taking notes either on paper or using MS Word on the laptop. In the end I realized I was much faster with the laptop!
Tab S6 appears to be an excellent machine, very fast and handy if you are on the go. It's probably the best android tablet out there at this point. However, the android apps are not as good. I've purchased paid versions of some of them above, but still I wasn't efficient enough.
Most of professional apps out there for tablets are demonstrated using either iPad Pro or Surface (YouTube videos). So I was misguided to buy the Tab S6 since I thought that it could cover all these. Big mistake! If you want to make a shopping list or a to-do list on the tablet fine, but that's about it. Besides I don't know why should anyone bother with that anyway, just use the phone.
Don't get me wrong, the Tab S6 was an excellent machine, but cannot compete with the power or multitasking of a laptop. I'm saying "was" because I gave up 2 days ago and I'm back to the old fashion way. Currently, I'm looking for a WACOM or using Notion on laptop to evaluate and see if any of those can to the job efficiently.
I almost mainly use OneNote for note-taking for work, works great for me... And I now noticed OneNote introduced dark mode which is great for oled screens. Every now and then I use Samsung NOtes for a quick random note.
But give some concrete examples of what would be missing because right now it just feels like your greatly exeggarating here. The very general 'every app was missing something' doesn't help either.
I use mainly written notes btw, bought the tabs6 as a replacement for my paper-note-taking primarily.
dagrim1 said:
I almost mainly use OneNote for note-taking for work, works great for me... And I now noticed OneNote introduced dark mode which is great for oled screens. Every now and then I use Samsung NOtes for a quick random note.
But give some concrete examples of what would be missing because right now it just feels like your greatly exeggarating here. The very general 'every app was missing something' doesn't help either.
I use mainly written notes btw, bought the tabs6 as a replacement for my paper-note-taking primarily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want details, I'll try to be brief:
-OneNote: probably the best of all I've tried, but, I had to use 3 different versions of OneNote to complete my notes, plus MS Word in the end. OneNote on android for taking handwrtitten notes, which by the way cannot recognize math formulas, and I have a lot. Fortunately auto sync on all devices, so used OneNote on W10 to insert graphs and tables. This one has a dark mode as well, but many features are missing. The fully loaded OneNote 2016, which unfortunately is being phased out, has everything, no dark mode, but that's not a problem. Then export to docx, which needs some further formatting and corrections. One problem there, math formulas are extracted as images, not formulas! But overall, OneNote was the best I used. Finally realized, I was faster typing everything on my laptop using Word!
-Nebo: very good with math formulas and all these are transferred as actual formulas when exporting to Word. Dark mode as well. Cannot import tables or graphs, so I had to do this in Word with laptop. Still faster with the laptop!
-Joplin: Excellent app, but still more complete on the Windows version rather than the android app. Didn't practice much with this, still much to learn.
-Notion: excellent app, many possibilities, like Joplin, more powerful on the Windows version rather than the android app. Still much to learn from this.
The handwriting recognition on the Tab S6 is excellent, but I have the impression that everything is done from the tablet itself, not by the different apps. So all the credit for the text recognition goes to the tablet not to the apps, which all use the same input method. I could go on and on, but I have homework to do. I'm stating my honest opinion here, nothing to do with manufacturers or anything else. Unlike many videos posted on YouTube and others, which present things in such an incredible way, giving wrong impressions at times, especially for apps.
euclid444 said:
If you want details, I'll try to be brief:
-OneNote: probably the best of all I've tried, but, I had to use 3 different versions of OneNote to complete my notes, plus MS Word in the end. OneNote on android for taking handwrtitten notes, which by the way cannot recognize math formulas, and I have a lot. Fortunately auto sync on all devices, so used OneNote on W10 to insert graphs and tables. This one has a dark mode as well, but many features are missing. The fully loaded OneNote 2016, which unfortunately is being phased out, has everything, no dark mode, but that's not a problem. Then export to docx, which needs some further formatting and corrections. One problem there, math formulas are extracted as images, not formulas! But overall, OneNote was the best I used. Finally realized, I was faster typing everything on my laptop using Word!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OneNote 2016 for Windows is some kind of a Swiss army knife to me... especially with Addons
Because of the downgrades in the 2019 version, I bought OneNote 2016 (Office Home & Student 2016) several months ago.
And the Onetastic-Addon :good:
Good news regarding OneNote 2016?
@euclid444: for math formulas, did you try
- Microsoft Mathematics-Add-In for OneNote (for windows)
- MyScript Calculator 2 (android)
I want to add Lecture Notes to the list.

Categories

Resources