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Boogie Board Sync 9.7 eWriter
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Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jun 22, 2014 at 09:16 PM
Hugh wrote:
>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.
Yes they are; that explains how Samsung can charge so much more for its Note line of products which include digitizer+stylus. I have an 8” Note II and the writing resolution is excellent with the stylus. Most other tablets have been built for resolution of the scale of a finger.
Note however that handwriting recognition is not a feature of the Samsung devices themselves. This is provided by independent software such as Mazec3 and Stylus Beta, mentioned here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/5245/5
My experience is that recognition is quite accurate (even with my terrible handwriting). However, it is also quite slow; I assume that it requires substantial processing power.
Posted by Dr Andus
Jun 25, 2014 at 10:45 PM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
Hugh wrote:
>>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.
>
>Yes they are; that explains how Samsung can charge so much more for its
>Note line of products which include digitizer+stylus. I have an 8” Note
>II and the writing resolution is excellent with the stylus.
Apart from handwriting recognition though, are Samsung devices with digitizer+stylus practical for taking handwritten notes on a regular and prolonged basis (just like with a hard copy notebook)? That’s a different question from whether they are capable of taking them. I only have an old iPad 1, and it can take handwritten notes, but it’s not practical to do so.
The USP of the Boogie Board Sync seems to be that it is much closer to the writing-on-paper experience than any other device. You can just pick up the pen and write on it, and there is no processing delay. No need to turn on the device (only if you want to save the note), unlock it, choose an app, wait for it to load, and wait for each stroke to be recognised (processing delay), as seems to be the case with tablets.
Nevertheless, I’m still not convinced that the BB Sync is entirely there yet. Given the screen size and the resolution, the space is rather limited for writing. It seems to be more suited for writing quick shopping lists than sentences and paragraphs.
It might be more useful for capturing hand-drawn concept maps that one wants to digitise by syncing them with the PC as PDFs or PNGs and drop into a notes database. It beats scanning them or photographing and uploading them (as far as I can tell from my research, as I couldn’t bring myself to shell out ... Oh, wait, the price had just dropped since yesterday. It’s GBP78.99 now. Still a lot of money, if this just turns into a paperweight…).
Posted by Dr Andus
Jul 2, 2014 at 11:59 PM
I couldn’t resist in the end and got myself a Boogie Board Sync. Two main uses/benefits have emerged so far:
1) Doing quick concept maps and flow charts by hand as part of brainstorming, outlining, and working things out. Then I’d import the PDF into the desktop, convert it into a .PNG image file (PDF-XChange Viewer’s export function has some nice tools for naming the files and saving them into a desired folder at the desired resolution), and insert it into the body of an application such as ConnectedText or VUE (drag-and-drop).
This capability is helping me track and document my brainstorming/outlining process better, as in the past I’d do this on paper, which tended to get lost or had to be redone in VUE or scanned/photographed, which would slow things down.
2) Because it is much lighter than an iPad and gets more legible with sunlight, it’s a great note-taking device when one is outdoors but doesn’t want to drag around anything heavy.
The main limitation is that saved notes cannot be recalled on the device. They can only be viewed once synced with the desktop. It’s a bit like taking analogue photos and developing the pictures later.
Also, all notes are saved as black and white PDFs on the device (which has around 2GB memory). The option to convert them to .PNG is only there if the notes are synced via the Evernote conduit in the desktop companion software. Otherwise one needs to convert them manually, as described above.
All in all I’m pretty happy with it, though I imagine that future versions will probably aim to have the ability to view the notes on the device too and to have an eraser (which it currently doesn’t have) to correct mistakes.
Posted by Hugh
Jul 3, 2014 at 08:17 AM
Thanks for your thoughts, Dr A. I too am tempted.
I agree with the enhancements you suggest - although of course they may push the price-point to a higher level.
I’ve been trying to find out from Improv Electronics whether compatibility with MyScript is likely to become a feature of the Sync’s software or that of a yet-to-be launched model (I note that they appear to have abandoned the “RIP” model whose output is compatible with MyScript - at least the RIP appears to be no longer listed on their website, although it’s still available through various retailers). No clarification yet.
Posted by Dr Andus
Jul 3, 2014 at 01:44 PM
Hugh wrote:
>Do you happen to know whether the files it produces can be turned into
>printed text on the Mac or PC?
The way I’m getting around this problem is by using Dragon to transcribe (by dictating) selected notes that turn out to be important.
Another emerging use of BB Sync for me is to do free writing away from my PC, desk and office, as a way of overcoming mental fatigue and writer’s block. Hopefully this is not just the novelty effect. But switching to handwriting once in awhile seems to be a refreshing change. Then I just use Dragon to transcribe it.
Another strength: I like the way the saving of files is handled. On the BB Sync there is a “save” and an “erase” button, but nothing is deleted, files just end up saved in different folders. The desktop software then can download the saved files into a destination folder of your choice, however these leave the files on the device untouched. So there are multiple safeguards in order not to lose stuff. One needs to open the device drive directly to manually delete files from both the “save” and “erase” folders.
And a final thought: BB Sync in combination with a Zettelkasten software that can display images (CT, for instance) could be used as a way of capturing notes using “index cards.” Each BB Sync note can be thought of as an individual index card, which can then be converted from PDF to PNG and dropped into the relevant software, where it can be tagged. Handwriting recognition of course would make this even better, so let’s hope that’s on the way.