I know Paul has no interest in this but I wonder what the community thinks about seeing material and reviews based on Inking, particularly note taking, that covers platforms, harware reviews and applications.
Conversation
13 comments
Robert-Hostetler
19 September, 2018 - 1:01 pm
<p>I would personally love to see this. </p><p><br></p><p>I tried getting into it years ago, when the tablets like the iPad didn't have official support (the third party ones I tried were not good at it) and the first generation intel chip Surface was too expensive for me to justify buying for just note taking. </p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">I think note taking would be a very common use case and should be the primary focus in the beginning. What I'd prefer to see in the long term is various use cases / markets for inking being covered.</span></p><p><br></p><p>For example – I've met a couple of artists over the years that own Surfaces and truly love having them. One was a MacBook Pro + iPad user and switched to doing all his real work on his Surface and only kept them around to show finished work with clients due to the perception amongst the masses that only Apple hardware can be used for professional design work.</p><p><br></p><p>Do you know if Brad ever expressed interest on this site or on his podcasts? I could see him doing a good job of summarizing feedback from the community + his own experiences.</p>
<blockquote><em><a href="#325427">In reply to Robert-Hostetler:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I think Brad has stated that, like Paul, he does not use inking much. So unfortunately, we may not have anyone on Thurrott.com to write the articles that the OP is looking for.</p>
<p>I take it from the lack of responses that we are in the minority. I would still like to see this kind of content because it is something I have been interested in for some time but would want to see an un-bias write up, not some fanboy praising one platform and criticizing the other.</p>
<blockquote><em><a href="#325430">In reply to skborders:</a></em></blockquote><p>Oh I'm down with that. I am always interested in what others do with their equipment and how. Learn a lot that way.</p>
<p>I personally have no interest in inking, but as it’s something that Microsoft and others seem to be pushing and adding to products (Surface, Note, even Apple), then I could understand it being covered here. </p><p><br></p><p>Hey, maybe the site could loan you a Surface Go, and get a subscriber to do an Inking based review? That’d be an interesting take.</p>
<blockquote><em><a href="#325542">In reply to StevenLayton:</a></em></blockquote><p>I am just getting started trying to use inking for notes, though I have thought about it for years. I Think readers would benefit from someone who has mastered it. Although it might be interesting to see someone go through the process of learning to take handwritten notes on different devices. </p>
<p>Here is a slight tangential issue I have noticed:</p><p>I recently have been interested in trying the inking experience for taking notes and drawings on the move, so I bought a second hand Surface Pro (2017). It did not come with a pen, so I went shopping for that from the usual suspects. (I do not mind buying used stuff just to experiment with.)</p><p>This is not a unique position as the new Surface Pro does not come with a pen, and the MS retail price is jacked up to $99 so many buyers skip out.</p><p><br></p><p>Anyway to get to the point, it turns out there are many legitimate alternatives which support N-Trig technology, as well as identical looking clones of the surface pen. This makes it hard to buy a genuine used Microsoft surface pen (well cheaply anyway). I have not seen anyone do a proper review or comparison of pens and the alternatives. </p>
<p>Real-world examples . . . Inking is a big deal to me. I am not a writer; I am not an artist. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">For my workflow, being able to hand write notes in OneNote is a game changer. It has replaced the hand scribbles that surrounded my desk and I now have years of notes, available to me anywhere in the world, on any device, at my disposal, whenever I need them.</span></p><p><br></p><p>Unfortunately, our computer lease return process requires a lot of manual worksheet printing and handwriting. After years of printing this information out on 11×17 paper and carrying that around everywhere I go, I now print the same report to OneNote and use my Surface Pro with pen to do the writing. Having these worksheets available and updated on any device via OneNote is amazing.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I have tried other surface clones and 2-1's, but find the Surface Pro and Surface pen superior to all of them. I don't have numbers or a review; this just going on "feel".</span></p><p><br></p>
<p>The go-to girl when it comes to inking is probably Lisa Gade at MobileTechReview. Her reviews are overall excellent, and being an artist, she takes a particular interest in digital pens. </p>
<blockquote><em><a href="#326611">In reply to christian.hvid:</a></em></blockquote><p>The site is a bit hard to navigate at first glance but I will take a look. I did watch her video on the surface Go and she seemed a bit iOS biased but I will look at some more.</p>
<p>So it seems I am going to have some down time coming up. I have to have surgery the end of November that is going to keep me "grounded" (no work travel) for about a month. I don't have the funds to go out and buy a Surface Go and a new iPad, so unless the site wants to loan me one of each, I can use what I have. I can probably get a hold of an iPad and apple pencil, and I own a Surface 3. I wouldn't mind giving it a go at documenting my experience trying to take notes . Then let Paul or Brad take a look and see if it is something they want to post or just put it in the forums.</p>