Yesterday i spent the whole evening on testing DocAS and here are some of my impressions:
★ File Manager ★
✔ Import/Export documents with many different sources: Box.net, Dropbox, iDisk, Google_Docs , WebDav, FTP Server, Email, Embedded browser, URL download, iTunes File Sharing, Photo Library, Open-in with other Apps
tested google docs and dropbox and it worked just fine - great!
✔ Drag and Move supporting to move/organize the files between folders (Thumbnail view mode only)
the overall ui design is very sleek but still functional. you dont need much time to get used to it and the workflow is very simple.
✔ Drag to merge 2 documents(PDF and notebook only)
maybe this is a bit too easy? i'd prefer a checkbox that asks me how i want to get my document merged: - document a in front of document b
- document b in front of document a
thats mainly because i am used that i can "push" the icon aways when i float with another one over it (e.g. the homescreen of iOS)
it works quite well, but if the pdf files are big it takes like forever and/or crashes... but its ok as it wont happen quite often to merge 2 400 pages pdf files
✔ Clone document
✔ Advanced search for document or folder
✔ Sorting document by name, date, favorite
worked quite well
★Document reader ★
✔ Support most popular file types
PDF
MS Office (PPT, Word, Excel
)
iWork (Pages, Keynote document)
Text/RTF
HTML
Jpeg, PNG, BMP
images
i just have the lite version, so i just tested the pdf functionality (it supports just a limited amount of documents)
the app is still not retina ready and thats why the documents look horrible! but im pretty sure that this will be fixed with the next update!
✔ Text search in PDF document
✔ Thumbnail view is supported
the text search works quite well, but im not pleased with the thumbnail view!
as the thumbnail view is the only option to scroll fast through your documents it is just too small! it would be great if there where two sizes of this thumbnail view!
i dont really like the animation of the swiping... somehow its too slow...
i prefer when you can swipe to the next page to the right and it slides in
★ Close-up Handwriting with smooth ink engine ★
✔ Equipped with the best handwriting engine for smooth, efficient drawing with great pen strokes and amazing ink, it will show surprised writing experience to you as actual pen and paper writing
if you compare it with the handwriting engine of paper by 53 youll see that its not really the best
✔ Simple and clean close-up handwriting panel
this is it! thats exactly how it has to be done! a clean close-up handwriting panel!!!
BUT!
i guess that there are many more people that write with their right hand, so it would be better to put the handwriting box on the right side, because then your palm could rest outside the touchscreen!
and the edges of the box are a bit annoying... if you are writing and you come too close to the right edge, the box will move entirely to the right...
but again, if you put the box to the right side this wouldnt be a problem... (the most of us write from left to right
✔ Resizable zoom ratio
✔ Smart scroll and line-switch
thats nice, too!
✔ New smooth Handwriting engine to make beautiful writing
as i said, there are better handwriting engines!
i use a pen for writing and the zoom box for close-up writing makes perfect sense for smaller annotations, but the linewidth of the pen is too damn thick!
i didnt find an option for changing the pen-thickness and thats why my written words are just too bulky!
with the close-up feature i can write with smaller letters, but i cant see anything because they are too thick
if you write quite slowly the lines get a bit sloppy.... but if your strokes are fast the lines get beautiful... so there is a bit of space for optimising the engine
✔ Swipe to turn page conveniently when handwriting
✔ Wrist Guard(Palm rest)
the wrist guard is something that didnt work with me... but thats not a big problem if the close up box would be on the right side
★Advanced Text note is supported
✔ Bold, Italic and alignment support
✔ Unique and convenient Text panel design
✔ Resizable Text input panel
this works very well - good job!
✔ Handwriting & Typing
✔ Shapes with line, rectangle, circle/oval
didnt find the option for the line, rectangle and circle... will have to take a better look tonight
overall conclusion:
im very pleased so far! there is a bit space for improvement in speed of the workflow (fast scrolling with bigger thumbnails and faster swiping though pages without animations), but i like the overall performance quite well...
i have many pdf files and its great that i can make handwritten annotations!
the best feature is the close-up box for handwriting! this is an absolute killer feature in my opinion!
after the update for the retina screen and the thickness of the handwritten lines this thing gets quite well
i'd definetly give it 4 of 5 stars (where 5 stars would mean a totally flawless and bugless experience... practically not reachable)
(after some improvements it would have the potential for 4,5 stars out of 5 - which would be excellent!)
im definetly looking for the new update
