Tegra Note - Evernote

I am still searching for a good Android app that is comparable to the iOS-exclusive Notability. I would love to have such an app to use with the Tegra Note, a low cost Android tablet with a well implemented stylus.

Evernote is an extremely popular note-taking platform, with clients available for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. In a recent update for the Android client, Evernote added handwriting support, including the ability to search handwritten text in documents. The following is taken from the Evernote blog entry.

"Our realization was that a fluid handwriting experience would be one that lets you easily move from writing to typing to taking photos and back all within a single note."

This description sounded like Evernote would be able to work much like Notability. I eagerly updated Evernote on the Tegra Note, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

In Notability, pages are very much like actual blank pages. I can add images, text, and written notes anywhere on a page. Once added, I can select and move any of those objects anywhere within the note. In Evernote, I can indeed add handwriting, but it is placed in vertical order with other "objects". So, I can type some text, then write notes beneath that text (not next to it, or over top of it). Once I had completed the handwriting, I could not find a way to move the writing "object" to another location in the note.

As for the handwriting itself, the Tegra Note worked well, but Evernote did not support the variable widths of the stylus. The pen thickness had to be manually selected from a menu. I was impressed with the text searching. It seemed to find my printed text easily, but did not find results in my cursive writing. That isn't much of a surprise. My cursive writing is quite bad, even on real paper.

Evernote is a platform and service. You can use some of the service for free, and your notes are synchronized to the Evernote cloud service. To get additional storage and features, Evernote is $5 per month or $45 per year. While not terribly expensive, it is not a cheap service, especially in light of Google's recent price changes for Drive ($2 per month for 100GB of storage). Notability is a one-time $3 purchase, and will sync with Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and even WebDAV.

My search for a good alternative to Notability continues...

Tegra Note - iAnnotate PDF

A general note on stylus accuracy

While using various apps on the Tegra Note 7, I would try simple drawings (like a 3D box). I found it easy enough to place the pen tip at intended points while drawing. I am not an artist, but I at least know that a proper drawing app that lets you zoom in and out for fine detail is still going to be essential. When writing text, I had no trouble "dotting my 'i's and crossing my 't's". In both drawing and writing, I had far more success than I ever do when using a stylus with Notability on the iPad. I just wish Notability was available for Android.

iAnnotate PDF

If you work with PDF files regularly, iAnnotate PDF is a great app for marking up, highlighting, commenting, and bookmarking. The controls are very simple. Two pull-tab interfaces can be hidden and revealed from the left and right as needed. The left pull-tab exposes page controls, including PDF chapters/headings, user annotations, and searching.

The right pull-tab exposes the various annotation tools.

There is a pencil for free-hand marking up of the document. Unfortunately this tool does not support the stylus-width control of the Tegra Note. To be fair to the Note, iAnnotate doesn't seem to support pencil widths at all, so I doubt a tablet with an active stylus would have an advantage.

Next is the annotation button. Touch the button, then touch a point on the PDF document and you can type in an annotation. These are the annotations that can be navigated through using the tool in the left pull-tab.

There is a highlighter for highlighting text. Note that this will only highlight text and cannot be used freehand like the pencil tool. The advantage to this is it is very easy to accurately highlight text. The disadvantage is that some PDF files are scanned without the use of OCR, so the PDF is actually just a "picture" of text.

There are a couple of buttons for scroll-lock and fit-width, and the last button on the toolbar is a toolbox button. The toolbox button exposes even more tools. In the toolbox you will find strikeout and underline tools that operate much like the highlighter. There are tools for adding, and navigating through, bookmarks. It also has buttons for emailing the PDF, the PDF with annotations, or just the annotations.

If you regularly work with non-PDF documents, iAnnotate PDF won't be of much use. Also, you cannot use iAnnotate to add or remove pages within a PDF. The interface does require some accurate touches, so in this regard the Tegra Note was tremendously useful. The fine tip of the stylus made highlighting, drawing, and placing bookmarks and annotations much easier than depending on finger touches or constantly zooming in and out.

iAnnotate will stay installed on the Tegra Note for now, but I will keep looking for a good Notability alternative.

Wireless Display Testing - New Hope for Miracast

Well, I received my Nexus 5 this week and thought I would see if the supposed Miracast changes in Android 4.4 would help the Miracast situation at all.

I was running firmware 2.4.19 on the Netgear PTV3000 and my first connection attempt did not work any better than previous attempts. I checked the Netgear support site and noticed they had a newer firmware version (2.4.26). With little hope, I downloaded and installed the new firmware and tried connecting again.

It took a while to establish the connection, but to my complete surprise it worked! The video frame rate is quite smooth and the audio was clear. There was one audio stutter during my testing, but it was very brief.

With the Nexus 5 working, I decided to try the Nexus 7 (2013) again. It's working too! So it doesn't appear to be the Android 4.4 update that addressed the issues, but rather the firmware update to the Netgear PTV3000.

There is another Android tablet that I have been using for a couple of weeks that is running Android 4.2 and it works as well. That makes 4 separate devices, running Windows 8.1, Android 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4, that can all connect to the PTV3000 using Miracast.

I had not tested the ScreenBeam Kit in a while so I checked the support site and found new firmware for it (version 1.1.1.0 from November 4). Sure enough, it works! The Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Android 4.2 tablet, and Windows 8.1 laptop were all able to connect to the ScreenBeam just fine.

I will try to post some video in the near future showing how well the various combinations work, but it finally looks like Miracast is a usable technology. With Google locking down Chromecast, one of these adapters might actually be the best choice for wirelessly displaying your media.

ScreenBeam Kit - Firmware 1.1.1.0

Netgear PTV3000 - Firmware 2.4.26

Update: Here is some video of the various devices connecting to the Netgear PTV3000.

Update 2: I wanted to repeat the testing with the ScreenBeam, but there were scheduling issues in the room I used before (I wanted to use the same projector to ensure there weren't latency differences from another HDMI device), and then my Nexus 7 stopped responding to touch.

Subjectively, the ScreenBeam performs just as well as the PTV3000. Also, there isn't a noticeable latency difference when I used my TV at home with either device. I would definitely recommend the PTV3000 over the ScreenBeam because it performs just as well, it's smaller, and it uses a standard mini-USB connector for power. I have no problem powering it from the USB port on my television. The ScreenBeam gets warmer during operation and will be more of a hassle if you lose its power adapter.

Two months with the Nexus 7

I have been using my Nexus 7 for two months now. That line alone almost sums up my thoughts and experience with the 7. I didn't say that I received my Nexus 7 two months ago. Rather, I have been using it quite regularly over the last two months.

My iPad (3rd gen) has barely been used. Virtually all my casual at-home web browsing has been done on the 7. Watching videos, reading, e-mail, Flipboard, Google+. If I used the iPad in the past, I'm pretty much just using the 7 now.

The iPad isn't the only victim. Most of my game time is now on the 7. The PS3, Wii, XBox 360, PSP and my well-spec'd PC have seen almost no game play time from me in the last two months. This has undoubtably been assisted by the wonderful Humble Bundles for Android, but the Nexus 7 is without a doubt a great platform for games.

App-wise, it hasn't been difficult finding what I need or want. I've installed a lot of games, Skype, a couple of e-readers, Pocket, an app for wireless printing to my HP printer (like AirPrint), a DLNA browser, SplashTop Whiteboard, SketchBook, and more. While I do believe there are far more web sites out there curating, describing, and reviewing iOS apps for many different categories, it doesn't mean good apps don't exist in the Google Play store.

I am definitely not trying to say the Nexus 7 is the perfect device. The back camera and AirPlay mirroring on the iPad enable some classroom activities that just can't be done with the 7. It is unfortunate because the Nexus 7 would be so much easier to carry around the classroom. Mirroring, combined with the existing Bluetooth and USB game controller support, would also go a long way toward making the 7 an even better gaming system. The lack of Google Play gift cards is also an annoyance. Apparently gift cards are available in the US now, but no word on when they'll come to Canada. I have never liked associating a credit card with an online account.

From a hardware standpoint, I don't think I need to go into much detail. There are many, many reviews out there. I think the only hardware-related comments I will make are about the screen. Many users have reported issues with the screen (build quality issues mostly). It does make me concerned because occasionally I think I see a screen glitch, but it's always just a split second, and I am never able to forcibly cause the glitch. The other comment about the screen is actually in response to one review with a bizarre complaint about the PPI of the screen. Granted, the PPI of the 7 isn't as high as the iPad 3rd gen, but it is significantly higher than the first or second gen iPad, and is definitely high enough that you won't "notice it".

In terms of the overall experience, the OS is smooth and easy to use. Once again, I don't think it's necessary to go into much detail because there are many reviews out there, and they are mostly favourable.

If the folks from Apple aren't working on an iPad Mini, then they really have made a serious mistake. The Nexus 7 has me hooked, while the iPad has become nothing more than a supplementary device that fills in a very small number of gaps. With a potential mirroring solution for the Nexus 7 that could arrive before the end of the year, the iPad may just become a device that I used to use.

Why Google shouldn't sell hardware

Don't be evil. That's the informal motto of Google. Unfortunately, they can't seem to keep themselves from doing wrong, even if it's not intentional.

The Nexus 7 tablet is one of the most anticipated gadgets of the year. Google has been tight-lipped about how many were pre-ordered when the tablet was officially announced on June 27, but I was among those who decided to bite.

A couple of weeks passed and rumours of shipping dates started to pop up. Then pictures started popping up of retail stores with boxes of the tablets that apparently couldn't be sold until some unknown date.

"Surely Google won't let those get sold unless they've already shipped my pre-order, right?"

The first rumblings began as those who pre-ordered did not get any update on their order, even as it became more and more clear that retail stores really did have stock ready to sell.

Then, last Friday, the retail stores were clearly given the green light by Google, and anyone was able to walk into several retail chains (including GameStop!) and just buy a Nexus 7 right off the shelf. Those who had pre-ordered still hadn't been given any update on their order. No credit card charge. No tracking number. Nothing. To add insult to injury, Google levied a hefty shipping charge for those that pre-ordered ($20 CDN, $15 US, and £10 in the UK). Essentially, if you pre-ordered through Google Play, you were paying extra to wait until others already had the device.

Some contacted Google to cancel their order and were told their only recourse was to refuse the delivery, and after a few weeks would get their money refunded (no word on if that includes getting the shipping charge refunded).

Needless to say, Google screwed up. Throughout this entire process they have not said a word, outside of the not-so-cute tweet/post, "Locked and loaded, ready to play: we’ve started shipping +Nexus 7 pre-orders today!" I think it's safe to say that many, myself included, will not be pre-ordering anything from Google until they have demonstrated that they know how to handle it properly.

As for my own order, I do have a tracking number now. Sadly, I won't have it until a week after I could have just walked into a GameStop and bought one.