Advice for a tablet to take notes

Posted 19th Feb 2023

Hello,

I have mainly used physical notebooks to take notes while reading books etc but but would like to move to a digital device for doing the same as the pile of the notebooks is getting heavier and retrieving the information is not particularly easy. I suppose an android tablet with stylus might be a good option to achieve this.

Though, I thought I would look for ideas on the forum about how to best achieve this.

Any recommendations, ideas would be highly appreciated.

10 Comments

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aLV426
20th Feb
I have used all sorts for devices - everything from an Apple Newton to the latest Samsung tablet, I had a Dell tablet that was so good it got stolen! I use a Samsung now, I can't remember the model, but it's responsive enough to even convert my scrawl to text on the fly. It's an old model too. I guess I've just highlighted the main problem I have - it's locating it when I need it!
tardytortoise
20th Feb
It may seem obvious to say this, and I suspect you have already considered it but "comfortable to use" is going to be an important consideration. Especially so, given you are reading at the same time.
You could turn the whole issue on its head and look for something where you can read all the content you are interested in on a digital device where the functionality also allows you to take notes. Do some Kindles allow this? There is something I'm sure that allows you to "scribble" your notes in the margins of the book.
Another angle to consider is using your voice to enter your notes - so a voice to text functionality. Clearly, note taking is one thing - but note retrieval is just as important. I'm sure with lots of research you will find the ideal device.
pied_piper Author
20th Feb
I agree thanks for your suggestion, I do most of my reading and work on my computer so I am inclined towards using my laptop for note taking along with using a physical note book etc and import snapshots of these notes with my phone.

Evernote and One note seem particularly promising to search for the information as they can search through text in the images using OCR. One note is completely free though so I might start with that on my laptop and mobile phone and will probably see how I feel.
Ferris
20th Feb
I desperately want a Remarkable tablet for this exact reason, but they're very expensive (even used).
bozo007
20th Feb
It is too expensive given the very narrow uses. I use my S8+ tablet and it works well.
t3r4
23rd Feb
What's your budget? I have a Surface Pro 8, the pen works very nicely, I do like Onenote as well personally. It was very expensive, especially once I added the keyboard and pen, but it's really an excellent and well speced computer.

The smaller Surface Go might be a nicer size and it's a bit cheaper. There's an offer on here for a Surface Go 2 at £329, which is a nice price. The Go is a bit smaller, probably better for notes actually, but the computer is less powerful.

A lot of people get on with iPads and Apple Pencils too. Again not that cheap. Android tablets these days seem a bit forgotten, I don't think anyone's really getting there with the tech so not sure of any that offer a good stylus, if Samsung do one though I suspect that'll be a decent enough bet. (edited)
morrig
23rd Feb
Also Xiaomi Pad 5 at £289...