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Using an iPad to take notes in lectures?

Hey, thanks for all the feedback. I'm off to America at the end of the month so I'll check it out first hand there. I'm getting more tempted everyday though :p

Thanks again
 
I used my IPad to take notes in a meeting this morning. I mailed them in Word format. Everything worked great.
 
jedivulcan said:
I use Pages in class and it's worked incredibly well thus far.
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What kind of class? Don't you have trouble with typing mistakes and falling behind in lectures? Maybe it's good enough for a class that moves slowly, but I'm finding the memos app is not quite up to the task for a grad level engineering course, and the main reason seems to be the keyboard. I keep touching extra keys with fingers that are used to "resting" on the keyboard for touch typing.

I'll give pages and evernote a try at our next lecture and see if its any better.
 
I currently work as a graphic designer for a University, but am also going to business school for my M.B.A in Marketing at the same University.

In the past when I was in class/meetings I would use my Lenovo X60 Tablet do write/draw out my notes. I live by Microsoft OneNote. My X60 tablet sat right on my desk and was used solely as a notebook while I got all of my real work done on my Mac Pro.

I've started taking my iPad to class/meetings to test out how I would like it as a note taking machine. While I do miss writing with a pen in OneNote, the iPad keyboard is not that bad for typing. I actually enjoyed using it during my 3 hr marketing class. However I will say that I miss the feel of handwriting into OneNote.

I do use Evernote on my desktop/ipad, but I've found the iPad app is too unstable to take notes with. It crashed numerous times on me. I stick to taking notes in Pages, and then if I want to sync them i just copy and paste into Evernote when I am done.

As someone mentioned earlier, I'd love to try a Pogo Stylus to take handwritten notes, but when I write I like to rest my hand on the book/tablet. You can't really do this with an iPad as it would recognize your hand as inputing something, and leave you with "ink" in places you don't want it.
 
It just seems to me that lugging an Apple wireless keyboard along with an iPad is like lugging around a laptop but in two parts. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my iPad.
 
Truz21 said:
I currently work as a graphic designer for a University, but am also going to business school for my M.B.A in Marketing at the same University.

In the past when I was in class/meetings I would use my Lenovo X60 Tablet do write/draw out my notes. I live by Microsoft OneNote. My X60 tablet sat right on my desk and was used solely as a notebook while I got all of my real work done on my Mac Pro.

I've started taking my iPad to class/meetings to test out how I would like it as a note taking machine. While I do miss writing with a pen in OneNote, the iPad keyboard is not that bad for typing. I actually enjoyed using it during my 3 hr marketing class. However I will say that I miss the feel of handwriting into OneNote.

I do use Evernote on my desktop/ipad, but I've found the iPad app is too unstable to take notes with. It crashed numerous times on me. I stick to taking notes in Pages, and then if I want to sync them i just copy and paste into Evernote when I am done.

As someone mentioned earlier, I'd love to try a Pogo Stylus to take handwritten notes, but when I write I like to rest my hand on the book/tablet. You can't really do this with an iPad as it would recognize your hand as inputing something, and leave you with "ink" in places you don't want it.
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You are one of rather few (I am guessing) people who has experience with using both convertible tablet and iPad for note taking. How would you compare the two for this type of action overall?
 
Could you provide a link to that Draw app that you use with Pages? I'm having some trouble finding it.
 
Taking Notes in Class

My list of things I would recommend

1. iPad Dock/ or an actual bookstand
2. Apple Bluetooth wireless Keyboard
3. Pages
4. iPad 3G (only if your school location has no WIFI), this is good if you need to e-mail someone notes real quick or if you want to keep copies.
 
BaronStein said:
It is very possible, I use pages for taking notes, plus "Draw" application for adding graphics. Here is an example of one of my notes:

3d926064.jpg
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Which app is this? Did you leave Pages, go into the other app and draw, and then copy and paste back into Pages on your iPad? How does this work?

Thanks!
 
I can type around 80% as fast using just the on screen keyboard as using my macbook, which is normally around 80wpm. Of course there are more errors, but it's perfectly usable for notes which i use everyday for. I just use simplenote and sync it to my mac using notational velocity.

Has anyone who has used the virtual keyboard for typing a significant amount noticed that it has improved their typing speed and accuracy on a normal keyboard? I can now type over 110wpm on my macbook and the only thing I've changed is the amount of time I spend typing with the ipad virtual keyboard.
 
LKeighty4 said:
Is it possible? Yes, with an external keyboard. Would I do it? No. First, you would have to bring around the iPad and an external keyboard with you. Typing isn't horrible with the virtual keyboard but there's no 'tab' key which I use a lot while taking notes in class. Also, sometimes apps crash, and I don't think there's an automatic save feature on Pages for iPad (like on Word) that periodically saves your work in case it suddenly crashes. I love my iPad, but another reason I would never use it to take notes in class is that I think I would look ridiculous. Right now, I think the iPad is just a laptop/computer supplement rather than a replacement so if you're between a Macbook and an iPad I'd go for the Macbook.
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I exclusively use my iPad to write my review articles for a website. There is an auto save feature for Pages. Every time the application closes, your work is saved. Since there is no multitasking for the iPad yet, I just hit the home button to check email real quick. It automagically saves your work, even with the application crashing because it has happened to me.

Since I type a lot on the iPad, I can type almost as quickly as I do with a dedicated keyboard. I make more "accidental" mistakes with the keyboard layout.
 
lilo777 said:
As just everybody here already agreed, typing on a laptop is much faster. Not to mention that one might want to multitask (either for searching additional content on the Internet or instant messaging or something else). It looks like the best bet is the laptop with a conventional keyboard (rather than a chiclet keyboard which is less suitable for blind typing). And if you are concerned about weight, you can get something like this Sony notebook which has the same weight as iPad.
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I type way faster with a chicklet style keyboard then I do with a (big key keyboard... I don't know what its call) It's all a matter of getting used to it
 
BaronStein said:
It is very possible, I use pages for taking notes, plus "Draw" application for adding graphics. Here is an example of one of my notes:
Click to expand...

Sorry but that is just ridiculous. It costs way too much time and it's way too inconvenient to use two separate apps for this purpose.

What is needed is an app that allows you to type and quickly switch to drawing mode so you can use both types of note-taking in a quick intuitive manner. Strangely I have found none that do this well. Most either focus only on just drawing or just typing, and those that do combine them don't do it well.

Does anyone know of an app that does do it well?
 
ShiftyGray said:
Sorry but that is just ridiculous. It costs way too much time and it's way too inconvenient to use two separate apps for this purpose.

What is needed is an app that allows you to type and quickly switch to drawing mode so you can use both types of note-taking in a quick intuitive manner. Strangely I have found none that do this well. Most either focus only on just drawing or just typing, and those that do combine them don't do it well.

Does anyone know of an app that does do it well?
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Draw them on paper or take pictures of the board. :p
 
I can't believe the strong emphasis on Pages in this thread.

Don't get me wrong. Pages is a lovely and handy word processor that has been developed by the makers of the iPad, but to use for taking notes in lectures... I don't know if I can completely recommend it.

Pages is something you can use for starting, doing, and finishing assignments due in sections/lectures, but isn't convenient to use for lectures itself.

I have plenty of experience with the iPad for notes, as I'm a student in Berkeley and got my iPad upon release (April 3rd) and took it to my very first lecture on day one (Monday, April 5th). Since then, I've been using it for school work and papers. I think that's what Pages is about and best for. Yet no app that I have tested (Wondershare iDraft, Memos, Evernote, SoundPaper HD to name a few) have the strong abilities that are BUILT for in-class/lecture note-taking as Noterize does.

Noterize incorporates the most amount of multitasking and ease.
First of all, in addition to note-taking, you don't have to quit the app and go to a drawing program since there are pen, pencil, sketch tools to add in drawings/diagrams right next to your text. Not to mention labeling, post-its, highlighting text you've typed, changing font size, uploading/adding pics from Photos app, etc.

It records the lecture (through the iPad microphone) and matches the notes typed at a moment with the professor/speaker's speech at the same moment and syncs it for you.

Then, just when you think that's all you need, the UI can flip over with a touch of a button and autosave your file, suddenly showing a Google.com with the address bar... it's a built-in Safari in the app! Surf the web freely... then press that button on the corner and get back to your notes, right where you left off, after you've completed your wikipedia research, in-Safari instant messaging, email check, etc. in the "built-in Safari".

So far, that's the most powerful, and packed note-taking experience I've gotten. Not advertising... just informing. ;)
 
ShiftyGray said:
Sorry but that is just ridiculous. It costs way too much time and it's way too inconvenient to use two separate apps for this purpose.

What is needed is an app that allows you to type and quickly switch to drawing mode so you can use both types of note-taking in a quick intuitive manner. Strangely I have found none that do this well. Most either focus only on just drawing or just typing, and those that do combine them don't do it well.

Does anyone know of an app that does do it well?
Click to expand...

Slingnote anyone?
 
r0k said:
I took mine to a lecture last night. I used the built in memos app. At the end, I emailed the notes to myself. I was not happy with the keyboard when trying to keep up with a lecture. I was not happy with the inability to draw quick diagrams and make them part of my notes. I don't have evernote on my iPad but I'll download it and give it a try at next week's lecture. When typing something like a forum or blog post, I find the keyboard on the iPad in landscape mode to be more than adequate. When trying to keep up with a fast paced lecture, I found it to be adequate but frustrating at times.

I really liked walking into the classroom with something that was no thicker than a notepad. I liked being able to get on the internet using the campus wide wifi. The only frustrating part was the inability to keep up with the lecture at times. I hope somebody offers a 3rd party app aimed at taking notes quickly including diagrams and equations. I'll be all over it.
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New (reasonably priced) MacBook Air is what you and many iPad owners need, imo.
 
entatlrg said:
New (reasonably priced) MacBook Air is what you and many iPad owners need, imo.
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Cheapest iPad + keyboard = $570
Cheapest MacBook Air = $1500

The Air needs to come down in price *a lot* before we can talk about getting one instead of an iPad.
 
ShiftyGray said:
Sorry but that is just ridiculous. It costs way too much time and it's way too inconvenient to use two separate apps for this purpose.

What is needed is an app that allows you to type and quickly switch to drawing mode so you can use both types of note-taking in a quick intuitive manner. Strangely I have found none that do this well. Most either focus only on just drawing or just typing, and those that do combine them don't do it well.

Does anyone know of an app that does do it well?
Click to expand...

I have an app that when you rotate the ipad it goes into drawing mode. I bet you want me to go figure out which one it was huh?

hmmm, i'm still looking. (OK, it is uWrite - which has some funky UI stuff and I haven't done much at all in it, the writing is wayyy not smooth in the version i have on there).

But i see that I can have a "full page text" page with SmartNote AND still draw on the page. I just sent the kid to bring me the BT keyboard to make sure it works (it is MINE, why does she keep stealing it???).

I like this app in that you can enter a page from a PDF if you want (doesn't have to do the whole thing), and it has some decent "widgits" which add graphs and such. It still has some clunky UI things, but i think i could make it work for me in a lecture (i'm not a student at the moment, so no chance to try it). It also records the audio.

OK, the BT works, and the other cool thing with the drawing stuff working on top of the text is that you can highlight something you just typed.

When it is in landscape, there is a "notes" box to the right. I'm not sure what the purpose of that would be in addition to what you are looking at - unless it is aimed at talking about a picture/pdf you stuck in there?

Also, you can paste a browser widgit in there so you can surf in app if wanted.

I bought the app for my daughter, so i'm just playing. She hasn't really used it yet that i know of....

There is YouTube demo of version 1.4 of SmartNote on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mysmartnote

No clue if that helps anyone or not!

ETA: So i had an update for SmartNote sitting there - and I appear to have lost the ability to type in the full page text fields. i'm going to unsync the BT keyboard and see if it comes back.

ETA2: it is a bug in the landscape rotation, I heard back from them in less than a minute after submitting a bug report and they are working on a fix for a few things that cropped up to be submitted tonight!
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
I thought I made that point clear. As weak as Pages on the Mac is, the iPad version has even LESS features, if that is possible.
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No - you said Pages on the Mac crashes on occasion and you have lost unsaved work. The paradigm of the iPad version does not even have a File -> Save command. That has nothing to do with "features", obviously :rolleyes:

In my experience, I have not lost work on the iOS app.
 
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