

Ask HN: Best note-taking device? - srkiranraj

Paper and Pen has always been the master pieces for note-taking. With digital age which do you consider as the best note taking device. Preferably I am taking about the handwriting notes. iPad with "Paper app" by fiftythree.com or evernote, Samsung galaxy note, Boogie board, Toshiba laptops. Which existing product do you like or do you have any new ideas for the same.
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Toph
TL;DR:

Nothing will ever be as good as paper and pen but if you are absolutely
adamant about going digital as I was, Noteshelf + my tools is the best
solution I've found after spending a lot of time testing things out. Obviously
I only tested what was listed below so take that with a grain of salt but I
researched and went over others not mentioned.

THE TOOLS:

iPad 3, Adonit Jot Flip Stylus

THE APPS:

Noteshelf, Ghostwriter Notes, Paper (by Fifty Three), Note+

THE BREAKDOWN:

After spending weeks researching, reading, watching youtube videos, etc... I
narrowed down my decision on the best note taking apps to Ghostwriter Notes
and Noteshelf of over a dozen other apps. Since Paper and Note+ were both
free, I downloaded them to try them out as well. Here are the results...

Note+ - Total garbage. Not even worth rating as this app would receive
negative points if I could issue such a thing.

Paper - Probably great for other purposes but totally not designed for note
taking in mind and thus would be rated incredibly low.

Ghostwriter Notes (paid app) - Sounded sooooo good in theory and in videos but
in practice, there were so many things wrong with this app. Regular note
taking was completely unresponsive unless you plan on writing in font size 80.
The only way around this problem was to use the zoom in writing feature but
that left very little writing space at a time and the text in the box were
often pixelated and there is still some lag time. The writing guard sucks as
it required constant adjustment, etc. In essence, don't bother.

Noteshelf (paid app) - This was THE best option I found. The flaws were few.
And while it lacked some options (such as PDF annotation), those are
unimportant in just plain note taking if that's what you're primarily
interested in. It does the job incredibly well (albeit not 5 stars). This app
does a good enough job that I'm sticking with it.

FINAL NOTES:

I own almost everything Apple so iPad has always been my tablet of choice
(I've owned all 3 versions). Yours may differ. In terms of picking stylus, I
spent a couple weeks researching this as well and going over more than half a
dozen kickstarter projects (new and old) as well. Jot Flip ended up being the
one I liked best. For awhile, I was debating between that and the Cregle iPen
until I saw a review video on YouTube showcasing the iPen (apparently the
response isn't base on the tip but a sensor on the side). I then decided Jot
Flip was the way to go. I wanted a stylus that resembled a pen tip and note
one of those thick rubber heads you often see which I'd imagine blows for
actual writing.

As a side note, if you just want a stylus without the pen, you can buy just
the Jot or Jot Pro. The difference is the Jot Flip includes an actual pen on
the opposite head. I wanted to keep the pen option available and was totally
not disappointed. Its a really nice pen.

~~~
bionkus
Thanks for the excellent run through. I have tried many solutions as well and
agree, of me, note shelf wins hands down. As far as stylus, I love the wacom
Bamboo

------
lowkey
One tool I am seriously considering for "quick and dirty" scratch paper-style
note taking is the Boogie Board tablet. It is a simple, low-cost LCD tablet
with a pressure sensitive stylus and costs about $40 for the 8.5in original.

I see it as more of an appliance than a tablet, serving one purpose really
well. It's like an etch-a-sketch for adults. I find that in programming I
often need to scratch paper to track variables or do simple state diagrams and
once I've solved the problem I no longer need the paper.

I haven't tried it IRL yet, but at that price, I think I will. Call it a
kindle meets etch-a-sketch.

[http://www.improvelectronics.com/us/en/boogie-board-LCD-
writ...](http://www.improvelectronics.com/us/en/boogie-board-LCD-writing-
tablet/boogie-board-8-LCD-writing-tablet.html)

~~~
rhomboss
It's a neat little device. I bought mine probably a year or so ago and it's
sat largely un-used. I think they were fairly new when I got mine, so these
issues might have been fixed, but...

1) small size (think mine's 7 inches or so?) 2) difficult/impossible to write
small enough to fit a good amount 3) no way to save pages (in any way). I
tried to hack my way around this by snapping pictures of full pages, but it
just became too much of a hassle.

------
jethrokuan
I'm currently using a HTC Flyer. Kinda regretted it... Only drawback was the
fact that the apps really kind of sucked.

There's this really good (currently beta) app called "Write" though. Not sure
if they'll be extending its consumer base anytime soon.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=58bN5ht-
MtU)

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.styluslabs...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.styluslabs.write&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5zdHlsdXNsYWJzLndyaXRlIl0).

its a fantastic app that works with my stylus so i'm pleased.

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alex_g
I downloaded this free app 'inkflow' a week or two ago when it was featured in
the app store. The interface could be better, but over all I love how
simplistic it is. I definitely recommend it. I think there's a version for
iPad as well.

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gw666
I have to put my vote in for Dan Bricklin's Note Taker HD (for iPad). I've
taken close to 100 pages of notes with it. It's great for packing lots of info
onto one page, and it's very versatile.

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gotrythis
I use the Echo Smartpen, which is hands-down the best note taking device ever.
When something works as well on the iPad, I'll be a happy camper. So far, no
luck.

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ulisesrmzroche
iPhone with Evernote. I actually don't miss paper at all. My handwriting was
always terrible, and I doodled a lot more than I should have when taking
notes.

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mrose
Curious to hear if anyone has experience taking notes via voice translation
software (Dragon comes to mind.) If the technology has advanced enough, it
seems like a great way to translate thoughts to text.

