Tablet for handwritten notes?

March 12, 2015 5:09 PM

I am considering getting a tablet computer mainly for two tasks: reading ebooks/magazines (with Nook/Kindle apps) and writing notes/sketching outlines for my personal projects. Reading I know would be pretty straight forward, but I'm having a hard time figuring out if tablets are the right thing for my note taking needs.

Specifically, I'd like to have some kind of handwritten note format that would be searchable. This doesn't necessarily mean translating handwritten notes into plaintext, but at least a good labeling system. A stylus would be nice since I am used to doing this with a pen/pencil and I find screen keyboards awkward at best. Today I use a bunch of paper notebooks for this task but I'm prone to losing them and they produce a lot of clutter, so technology to the rescue!

I'm not very familiar with the world of tablets, and I have a feeling I'm not a typical user. Is there an iPad/tablet best suited for what I'm describing? If it's relevant, I use a Mac at home and I would like to be able to sync these notes to a Dropbox/cloud storage system of some sort so that I could reference them. (In a perfect world, I would be able to sync them with a Scrivener project.. but that might be asking a lot.)

posted by deathpanels to Technology (8 answers total)

I think the best choice is a tablet with an active digitizer, like the MS Surface. I use a similar tablet for handwritten notes, and the ability to write in fine detail that is afforded by the active capability is unmatched.

I sync general files to Dropbox, but mostly use OneNote (that syncs across all my machines with OneDrive.) I wasn't used to Onenote until I got the tablet, but I find it to be a very good piece of software that has a lot of organization capabilities.

When shopping for my tablet, I found this link great for comparisons. The best thing might be to go to a store (Staples, Best Buy, etc) and get your hands on the device you like just to be sure.
posted by Wulfhere at 5:20 PM on March 12, 2015

I've tried iAnnotate and a couple others but found the writing tools too "deep" to be practical for my purposes. As suggested above, figure out a way to try a couple without buying because if you're like me, you'll be driven back to your notebooks and will hug them.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:17 PM on March 12, 2015

The Surface tablet, and other Windows tablets with active digitizers, were built with pen use in mind. iPads and Android tablets weren't. That doesn't mean you can't use them, but Windows tablets with active digitizers will work better for pen input.
posted by cnc at 9:21 PM on March 12, 2015

The Nvidia shield tablet has a stylus built in and has really good handwriting recognition if you want a smaller form factor tablet... I wrote this post with it and didht have to fix a thing. Except didnt ... didn't ... ok. Plus you can play portal.
posted by Huck500 at 10:09 PM on March 12, 2015

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 tablet and I love it. The screen resolution is ridiculously sharp and it's made specifically to work well with handwritten notes & sketches. You can either use your fingers like on any other tablet or the built in stylus for input. There are some pretty good deals out there: I went for the 32g refurb which cost about $369 on Woot last summer and occasionally they list more.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 6:22 AM on March 13, 2015

The Surface Pro, used with OneNote, is perfect for this. I take notes in OneNote, and they become searchable (pending how readable my handwriting is). (You may need to also have the desktop version installed). I even import pdfs and graphics, draw and write all over them, and then am able to search.

I've played around with Android and Apple notetaking options, but none have given the seamless feel of the Surface. It feels like writing in a notebook.
posted by troytroy at 7:31 AM on March 13, 2015

I also have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. I got it last August for taking notes in graduate school, and so far it's a star. I prefer notes by hand but wanted everything in one place, and it does exactly that. Plus, not only is there a ton of customised software for the stylus, the pen also tucks away right into the tablet, so I don't lose that either. I've been using the Papyrus app for my notes in class, because I can keep from-scratch notes and on-a-PDF notes in the same app that way. But there are lots of other app options for the Galaxy Note, including some that are drawing oriented. The stylus is pressure sensitive, and feels very natural to use.

Handwritten notes are searchable on it--you can either translate to plaintext as you go, or search the handwriting itself later. Labeling seems to depend on app. But keep in mind that for handwriting searchability to work in practice, your handwriting needs to be neat enough to be read by a digitizer. (Mine isn't, unless I take extra time over it.)

I paid full price for mine last summer, but honestly, I don't regret it at all--it's worth the steep pricetag.
posted by snorkmaiden at 7:31 AM on March 13, 2015

Another vote for the Galaxy Note + Papyrus app. I got one last summer and use it all the time for taking hand written notes and annotating PDFs. My handwriting is horrible so I haven't even tried to search my handwritten notes, but I hear it works well. I got the 12.2 which is great but a little large/unwieldy. If I were to do it again I'd take a closer look at a smaller version.
posted by nixxon at 8:53 AM on March 13, 2015