Tablet + stylus

zoobaby

zoobaby

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 7, 2004
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Need some help...my gf who is fairly tech savvy wants a tablet with a stylus and good hand writing recognition. She doesn't want an iPad (kind of surprised as she is a mac user), and doesn't want a windows based.

So that leaves HP WebOS and Android based tablets. Anyone have any recommendations? Even something that hasn't been released? She doesn't need it for a few months. August time frame is a target buy date, though would buy sooner if something excellent is available.
 
Android isn't designed to work with a stylus, and albeit you can use a capacitive stylus with Android (it just becomes an emulated fingertip, basically), the OS isn't stylus-oriented. As for WebOS, there's nothing out yet with that OS so, it'll be a few months and even when it's available, it too isn't designed for actual stylus operation but will more than likely be controllable with a capacitive stylus just the same.

I'm pretty sure heatless and I will agree without any doubt on one thing: if you want the best handwriting recognition out there, it's going to be Windows 7, period. Like it, hate it, whatever, that's just how it goes... ;)

In that respect, the tablet I'd recommend would more than likely be the Archos 9 - it has the "classic" resistive touch screen which is perfect for stylus operation (and it comes with one, stored in the back) and nothing can touch it (pun not intended but funny just the same) in terms of handwriting recognition anywhere in the price range ($400-450 if you look around, maybe less).

The HP Slate would be the next step up - and yes I know the OP mentioned his GF doesn't want a Windows-based tablet but, there's no real choice in terms of handwriting recognition. The issue with the Slate is that the price is effectively double over the Archos 9 and yet it's very similar in most hardware respects save for the Archos having the resistive touch screen and the Slate having a full capacitive touch but also comes with the stylus, the dock, and other aspects that make it a pretty damned good product overall. But you pay for it... considerably.

The one device that might (and I stressed that word for a reason) be capable of decent handwriting recognition on the Android platform that's coming out in the near future could be the HTC Flyer - here's a video of it in action with a lot of emphasis on the stylus operation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dx8l1yl88Q

While I have yet to see anything from HP that's WebOS-centric, I'm sure at some point they'll do something with actual handwriting recognition, but I think Android is going to get the jump on them with Honeycomb as shown in that Flyer video.

Things are changing rapidly so, who knows... maybe WebOS will surprise me/us. ;)
 
Joe Average said:
I'm pretty sure heatless and I will agree without any doubt on one thing: if you want the best handwriting recognition out there, it's going to be Windows 7, period. Like it, hate it, whatever, that's just how it goes... ;)
Click to expand...

I, as an owner of a HP tm2t, strongly agree with this statement. I haven't encountered any OS that had better handwriting recognition than Windows 7 (with Windows Vista and XP tablet edition following, respectively).
 
if window is out of the question.......ubuntu 10.10 is a great alternative on a tablet
 
Do any of those OS's even offer handwriting recognition?

If it doesn't your choice is going to be rather limited.
 
Thanks guys, I basically told her the same as what Joe put down. I just wanted to double check as tablets are not something I have followed too closely.
 
Whats your budget?

If you want a tablet, ie the tm2, it will cost more than a slate, ie the HP slate, the tablets/convertibles will be a hell of alot more usefull as a great portable machine (since it will have a keyboard as well)
 
I have a windows 7 tablet/convertible (Dell Latitude XT) that does handwriting recognition. Frankly, I don't see the bother. It's too slow and iffy for my tastes. I wonder if you GF has really evaluated her wants vs what can actually be had these days.
 
AQ_OC said:
I wonder if you GF has really evaluated her wants vs what can actually be had these days.
Click to expand...

Ugh...don't get me started on that....She is pretty tech savvy and knows what she wants and can envision how she would use. She is a marketing-persons/developers nightmare, a market of 1!


W.Feather said:
Whats your budget?

If you want a tablet, ie the tm2, it will cost more than a slate, ie the HP slate, the tablets/convertibles will be a hell of alot more usefull as a great portable machine (since it will have a keyboard as well)
Click to expand...
Budget is open for now, though I suspect under $1k. I don't think she wants a convertible, she specifically said no keyboard a few times, she has a laptop for doing work that needs a keyboard.

She wants to be be able to scribe notes and the device needs to be a useful tool for email, some light but frequent document updates. Example, she was at a conference recently and was having an informal informational session and couldn't take notes via her laptop, so she used her phone, which is clunky.

And I should have said this earlier, she sees the iPad as a toy, not as something you can do work on.
 
Then the Archos 9 on the low end - under $500, or the HP Slate on the high end - over $500, about $799 retail iirc but it's a business class product from HP so it can only be ordered online. It comes with so much capability that it's tough not to recommend it even in spite of the increased cost.

It's a Windows 7 device, it's capacitive, it's "expandable," it has a dock, it has other aspects that make it quite appealing, it's fully functional, and of course because it's running Windows 7 and comes with a stylus ready to go, it's unmatched for slates at this point save for perhaps the Asus Eee but that's larger and $999+.

If heatless pops in (any second now... any second...) he'll probably chime in on both the HP Slate and the Asus Eee slate since he owns both. Of the two, I personally would take the HP Slate since I prefer a somewhat smaller device in general, but talk with the GF and find out precisely what size/form factor she's looking for.

With that info and her specific likes/dislikes, making recommendations is much easier... and of course, these are Windows 7 devices... :p

Really wish there were other options sometimes but, I'm pretty sure you're starting to realize if you (or more accurately the GF) wants handwriting recognition that actually works it's not going to happen on anything but a Windows 7 device. :D
 
At the ~1k range you want to look at:

Asus EEE Slate
HP Tm2
HP Slate
or a sale on the 2740p (great fucking device, love mine, just costs a shitload)


As for the post saying that hand writing recognition sucks, its because either your hand writing is worse than chicken scratch, your CPU is dead slow (slower than an atom).......or your doign it wrong..... i've been able to use hand writing recognition to do whole IRC conversations (a few annoying bugs here and there, but nothing that it did not get right ~95% of the time, and my handwriting sucks).......


if you have something against going windows 7, there are ways of putting windows hand writing recognition into a linux (ubuntu is the main one i've found), however a note - i had a heck of a time getting inking to work, touch as a whole was awsome but there are no decent/easy to find apps for note taking similar to One Note ( which is one of the best IMHO )



*note*- I'm no fan of windows, especially on the touch side (ask heatless when he finally chimes in.....he is pretty late to the party here), however for your needs(notes, same as mine) i've tried a few other options (Android x86, Ubuntu, OSX), none of them even held a candle to Windows 7 and its ability for note taking...
 
Thanks guys, I will wait for heatless to chime in, I know he will at some point, though I suspect he will basically confirm what you guys said. Then I will copy and paste the information and send to the gf. I'll post back with her response...
 
And yes, there's always the potential to wipe Windows 7 from the devices mentioned and install some Linux distro that potentially could be used for handwriting recognition purposes, most likely Ubuntu since it's so well supported by most uses. That's the beauty of the hardware already mentioned: they're actually PCs in tablet form, they're not proprietary devices that can't do Windows 7 or whatever.

I'm actually buying an entire Palm TX package today for - get this - $20 cash and it's got the Palm TX (retailed for $399 when new), the Palm Bluetooth fold-up keyboard (that retailed for $149 when it was new), a nice leather case (probably $30 or more), docking cradle, adapter and USB cables, original box, packing, etc, from some guy on craigslist here in my town. Now, this ain't a tablet but, the Graffiti handwriting recognition on Palm devices is pretty damned awesome stuff indeed. Hopefully at some point HP will leverage the background, knowledge, and experience that all those Palm developers put into those devices over the past decade or so and make WebOS devices truly awesome - and with handwriting recognition as well that's up to snuff.

But that won't happen for probably another year... :(

It's not written in stone (or should I have said on a tablet, DOH!) that you have to use Windows 7 on the devices already brought into the discussion, just that it's the only OS that matters if handwriting is a key or a primary function required, which it seems to be.

DOH again! One correction: the HTC Flyer is a proprietary device, for Android only, so... no it won't do Windows 7.
 
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Even though she doesn't want Windows - they are the only game in town that ships on devices with active digitizers. There are some android devices with digitizers in the works and apple has said they will never ship a mobile device with a stylus. Who knows what palm and RIM will do, probably nothing in the near future.

However, since these are all windows devices it's relatively easy to install other OS's on the hardware. So here are the top options with active digitizers now:

Asus EEE Slate EP121 - It's definitely not a toy and is basically a mid range laptop without a keyboard. Note taking is phenomenal, but battery life is weak (3 - 4 hours of constant use). It has a desktop OS, so you have a lot of flexibility with it. It's $999 - $1099. People have already installed other OS's (including android) on it.

HP Slate - baby sister to the EP121. Smaller and lighter with a longer battery life, it is very portable. However the CPU is only an Atom and the screen isn't that great. Good device for portability.

Then there are the convertibles - the TM2, 2740, etc... Much heavier and bigger, they aren't slates and battery life is only marginally better than the EP121. Again, you can install other OS's on them.

There is also the Asus EEE Note (not windows based). It's basically an eReader with a stylus. Great for taking notes and syncing to another device.

BTW - the Archos 9 appears to have a capacitive screen with a stylus (no active digitizer). If that's true it will not be a good note-taker.
 
#1 on your requirements should be ActivePen/ActiveDigitizer.

Capacitive = Lacks precision, it's like trying to write with jumbo crayons.

Resistive = Very precise and can be used for handwriting even with characters half a centimeter high, but by nature is very maleable and will tend to warp over time.
 
Virtus said:
BTW - the Archos 9 appears to have a capacitive screen with a stylus (no active digitizer). If that's true it will not be a good note-taker.
Click to expand...



I've used many Archos devices and the 9 itself several times in the past year on some jobs, it's resistive. The only products Archos makes (and it tooks years to get there) that have capacitive touch screens are the Archos 70 and 101 Android tablets and a few other items they're bringing out this year - everything else they sell is resistive, hence the much lower costs for their products.

Even so, the 70 and 101 are insanely low priced Android tablets that are actually not bad, but the complaints almost always center around the displays: Archos is cheap there too and uses TN panels that have bad viewing angles and just can't compare to anything like the NOOKColor's or the iPad's IPS screens.

Anyway, the Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet is most assuredly a resistive screen.
 
A passive Wacom digitizer like that on the Asus EE Slate or most Tablet PC's is going to be the best in terms of stylus input. Most responsive and pressure sensitive. I always used a tablet PC in college as a design major since it's the only real option for any kind of precision sketching/drawing.

I've purchased about every capacitive stylus made for the Ipad and I still find sketching with almost any of the options currently out there to be very clumsy - especially the sponge tip pens
 
I think the HTC View 4G tablet is promising and will be coming from Spint around June-ish. Comes with a stylus for note taking. I would pick one up but I'm already planning on buying the EVO 3D and I have nook color rooted as my tablet.

Here's a review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVK-OTnxnp0
 
HTC Flyer (Best Buy will have it soon) or its Sprint equivalent, the Evo View 4G. Pen + finger touch + fairly well customized Android interface. Syncs your work with Evernote.
 
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