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Saturday, October 06, 2007

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A Plea For Better Inking on Small Mobile Devices

Warnerc2 Yesterday was the first run-thru of the new show we are working on, Shadow of the Raven: Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. While I take notes all the time in rehearsal, a run-thru is a rehearsal where I sit still (more than I normally do), watch the rehearsal, take notes, and given them orally afterwards.

For almost a year now, I’ve been using the Asus R2H as my primary device in rehearsals both with XP and also with Vista. What I love about using that particular Ultra-Mobile PC is that I can take notes in OneNote without thinking about it as I get no registration or vectoring issues. I’ve experimented with this using the Samsung Q1P but the Inking experience is just not the same. I’ve also experimented with the OQO Model 02, and although I love that little device, it is just to small for the chores at hand in that circumstance.

So, here’s my plea to the OEMs (I mentioned this on our latest GBM Podcast as well): Don’t forget the Inkers out there. As we head into Mobile Internet Device land, and a newer wave of UMPCs as well, don’t forget the note takers out there. Use a digitizer that allows those of us who need to take notes on a regular basis a real opportunity to do so, in the same way we have been able to with Tablet PCs. I enjoy tremendously the touch navigation and what that offers, but I happen to believe that there are others out there, like me, who see tremendous value in picking up a small mobile device to take notes. Having to place your hand just so on a screen to take notes defeats that purpose and quickly leads to frustration.

The 7 inch screen size is almost perfect for this functionality. Smaller, in my opinion, doesn’t work. Yeah, I’m selfish. I want it all. I want the ease of the soft touch screen navigation, with a reliable method of note taking. I just don’t think that should be too hard to accomplish, (after all Asus did, and so did Fujitsu with the P1610) nor do I think the OEMs should miss or ignore the market that I’m sure is available for this kind of note taking device.

Tags: UMPC, MID, Asus+R2H

Editorials | Warner Crocker | Mobile Internet Devices | Tablet PC | Ultra Mobile PC

10/6/2007 6:34 AM MST

A Plea For Better Inking on Small Mobile Devices Comments [12] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Saturday, October 06, 2007 7:31:41 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

One of the tasks I want to buy a tablet/umpc for is to take notes at a church meeting where I'm secretary. An umpc with good inking capability would be ideal.

I loved the original idea of the umpc as a small tablet, but seems like I was in the minority and the focus now seems to be more on incorporating keyboards and using the touch sreen for navigation only making them more like mini laptops. Rather than using up weight & costs in keyboards, I would prefer the manufacturers to beef up the batteries.

Saturday, October 06, 2007 8:25:24 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Warner,

I could not agree with you more. I need a UMPC primarily to do inking (assuming it will also be adequate for other application - word processing, etc.). I have not yet pulled the trigger on any umpc, but am considering the fujitsu. You?

lark

Saturday, October 06, 2007 12:07:17 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I agree that vectoring seems to be a common issue with UMPCs. It's almost as if inking was a secondary consideration in the design of the Origami specification with touch being the key feature. I think tablet PC users assumed that the inking experience would be similar on a UMPC because it was running the same operating system (XP/Vista), while it's the digitizer (active vs passive) that is primary reason. One last thing. Those puny little pens that come with UMPCs are awful for writing. They're too small. Try taking the cartridge out of a ball point pen and writing with just the cartridge and you'll know what I'm talking about. The handwriting appears very jagged, which affects the handwriting recognition results.

Steve Hoffman
Active Ink Software
www.activeinksoftware.com

Steve Hoffman

Saturday, October 06, 2007 2:11:02 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Very interesting observations about note taking.

In meetings and in class I use my Garmin M5 pocket PC to take notes. Don't even worry about battery life. After a note I hit OK and power Off, then instant On when I need it for the next note. No problem. Nobody notices it. I can re-arrange notes very easily. I carry it in my pocket all the time. And when in the car I use the GPS. Awesome. It gets charged in the process.

Last week I received a Fujitsu P1610. It came with Vista Business and 1GB RAM. I am not too fond of Vista, too slow, too many gimmicks. I have ordered a new HD so I can install WinXP tablet, I'll keep Vista just in case, and comparison. I need to learn about all the gimmicks on Vista, so I can turn them off. Like the dimming down dialog boxes, eye kandy, who needs it, dimming is good for the lights in my car...may be.
I find the inking slow in comparison with the Toshiba M200, and the Garmin for that matter.
The size and weight of the P1610 is great. I do prefer the active digitizer of the M200. I need to get used to the extra force needed for the inking on the P1610, necessary to avoid the vectoring, there is none. Excellent. I need to learn to turn off all the un-necessary programs running on the background, takes too long to be ready for inking from 'standby'
Tried to use it as a GPS with Street and Trips, USELESS. The screen is too reflective, like a mirror, can't see maps in daylight.
I am trying to see how the P1610 will fit-in. Looking forward to see it with WinXP tablet.
I really like the 1280x768 display, it is AWESOME. Have two other old laptops with 800x600, and I don't see how anybody can use the 800x480 display of the UMPC without continous scrawling left and right. (Even GBM screen does not fit in the 'standard' 1024 width of most laptops).

Erich Koch

Saturday, October 06, 2007 2:47:04 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I would not only plea for the small mobile devices, but also the tablet pc's. Inking has vastly improved, but I believe more could be acchieved in better recognizing ink to text. Many common translation problems are still present, even in Vista. It would be nice to see this improvement. Common problems such as recognition between k's and h's, a's, o's, i's and u's, g's and 9's. In Europe the euro monetary sign isn't even recognized on a tablet pc!!

Medic

Saturday, October 06, 2007 2:48:01 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

The Fujitsu U810 may be a nice inking device. Although the screen is only 5.6", it has 1024x600 resolution and a hard touch screen. Probably similar to the P1610's for inking. It seems to have a nice grip in slate mode to make inking easier.

I'm used to the Samsung Q1's soft touch screen and I prefer it since I navigate the screen with my finger a lot. When it comes to inking, there's vectoring once in a while but learned to avoid it most of the time through practice.

I read something about Apple making a pressure sensitive touchscreen. Although it would most likely be used with a finger touch interface, that technology would definitely make inking look better on touch screens.

Rodfather

Saturday, October 06, 2007 2:55:44 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Let me add another thing. I'd love to have the multitouch technology in the Lenovo X61t and TabletKiosk Sahara i440D.. but on a 7-10" screen.
You get the best of both worlds. A light touch screen for finger navigation. Then when you want to do some serious inking, pull out the pen and it turns into an active digitizer.

Rodfather

Saturday, October 06, 2007 4:01:22 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

does ay one knows about the inking experience in the new u810?

Virgilio

Saturday, October 06, 2007 9:57:27 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I ordered the Samsung because of a great deal that I got online. It killed my inking as I spent my money on something that has been completely frustrating to use for note taking. I completely agree with this post and I wish I had purchased the Asus. Now I've got to wait a few years before I can spend some money on a replacement, and in the mean time I'm back to the old pen and paper. =(

Brad

Sunday, October 07, 2007 9:04:01 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I have been a professional note-taker for years. It's this that has me concerned about the lack of new mobile devices without keyboards. OEMs have no drive to provide good inking when they include keyboards. They firmly believe that keyboards are what people want, not inking, and no one in the industry is telling them otherwise.

BTW, to provide good inking like the P1610, palm rejection technology is required, and I don't see any UMPC maker including it.

James Kendrick

Monday, October 08, 2007 10:57:58 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

If you have problems with the small stylus that came with your UMPC, try Bic's
e.3 pen. It's around $6. It is a pen, pencil, and stylus in one. The pen and pencil parts are refillable. The stylus part works great with my P1610.

I write a lot. I wish they would create a small tablet for writing and reading ebooks kind of like the Nintendo DS or DS Lite. It would open up like a paper notebook for writing and reading. That would be great.

Monday, October 08, 2007 10:10:41 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I would like to see an active/passive adjustable 7"-9" tablet with a high resolution screen (minimum 1024 X 768 on a Toshiba U105 Libretto body.
That computer had about every connection you needed; PCMCIA, USB-2, SD slot, BT, Wireless, modem, network card, vga out, and so forth.... plus a detatchable DVD-RW drive powered by the computer.

SAM

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