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Boogie Board Sync 9.7 eWriter
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Posted by Dr Andus
Jun 20, 2014 at 11:28 PM
Has anyone here tried the Boogie Board Sync yet? This might be an interesting longhand alternative to the “Best note-taking setup with tablet and keyboard” that I was looking for here:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/5245/0/best-note-taking-setup-with-tablet-and-keyboard
Pros:
- use handwriting
- instant on
- legible in sunlight
- can save and sync handwritten notes and drawings (as individual PDFs or PNGs) with handhelds and desktops
- portable
- integrates with EverNote
- can use it as virtual whiteboard presentation device (to project your live writing/drawing on a device with a larger screen/projector) or to capture drawings straight on the PC
Cons:
- a bit expensive for what it does
- don’t know how perfect OCR might be with (my) handwriting, so possibly not searchable on the PC without some hassle
- can’t recall previous notes on the device, needs to be synced with handheld/PC to see them
- can’t erase mistaken strokes (it’s like real pen on paper, as opposed to pencil on paper)
Here’s a discussion on the EverNote forum (and there are some reviews on Youtube):
https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/50557-boogie-board-sync/
I could image BB Sync being useful for writing a diary in bed at the end of the day (no bright light to mess with your circadian rhythm), for capturing ad hoc notes and lists one usually uses paper for, or for drawing quick concept maps and tables (to be transferred to PC later on or to capture them while being connected via a live Bluetooth session).
Posted by Hugh
Jun 21, 2014 at 08:54 PM
Thanks for this, Dr A. I’d never heard of it (and perhaps if I had, its name would have confused or even deterred me, or suggested to me it was useful for my surfing hobby…). I’ve been looking for a long time for an easy way, other than scanning, to get handwritten material into my Mac.
Do you happen to know whether the files it produces can be turned into printed text on the Mac or PC, using Vision Objects’ MyScript Notes Studio? MyScript Notes Studio will import and convert vector PDF images of handwriting as far as I know, and the Boogie Board Sync’s predecessor the BB RIP exported such files - so one might expect the Sync to do the same, but there appears to be absolutely nothing on the BB Web site to suggest this.
Posted by Dr Andus
Jun 21, 2014 at 09:42 PM
Hugh wrote:
>Do you happen to know whether the files it produces can be turned into
>printed text on the Mac or PC, using Vision Objects’ MyScript Notes
>Studio?
According to their Facebook page the answer is no, but they seem to be working on it:
“Our Sync files are currently not integrated with MyScript. We are continuing to work on providing OCR functionality in future software updates.”
https://www.facebook.com/myboogieboard/posts/10152119121765827
Doesn’t Evernote offer handwriting recognition functionality?
Posted by Hugh
Jun 22, 2014 at 11:03 AM
Thanks Dr. Andus.
I’m sure that many users of Evernote wish that it did provide what many would regard as true hand-writing recognition. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. It provides hand-writing ‘search-ability’, a kind of ‘internal’ handwriting recognition, if you like. But as for the conversion of hand-writing to printed text, ‘external’ handwriting recognition - no. Few pieces of software seem to do this. One has to assume that all hand-writing recognition is a difficult thing for a machine to do, but that ‘internal’ recognition is useable with more errors than ‘external’. There are of course OCR applications, if your handwriting is clear enough, and there are the ‘ink’ applications that Windows and Apple attach to their platforms. But MyScript comprises one of the very few free-standing groups of applications that provide dedicated, trainable ‘external’ (i.e. conversion) functionality, perhaps the only one.
I read the other day that the hand-writing files that MyScript accepts are not simply graphics - they have a time element in them (is that what is meant by a ‘vector PDF’?). If that is true, it helps explain why simply OCR-ing hand-writing (mine,at least) is often ineffective. It’s trivially interesting that hand-writing recognition appears to have fallen slightly behind speech recognition in its development for consumer use, at least when judged by its error-rate. Perhaps the demand for the technology is lower, or it’s simply technically harder. Perhaps the recent academic interest in the relationship between hand-writing and brain activity will spur development, but I doubt it.
Posted by Hugh
Jun 22, 2014 at 11:22 AM
For completeness in the above post, I should have mentioned the iOS and other tablet apps, especially Samsung’s, that offer to recognise handwriting and convert it to printed text. I haven’t found the various iOS apps especially accurate (the best in my experience is made by MyScript); unfortunately the iOS screen isn’t ideally designed for accurate stylus work. Perhaps the Samsung devices and apps are better for this purpose; I’ve no experience of them.