Hello all! Over the last few weeks I have been dealing with the some flooding at my home, since our big rainstorm here in SoCal. When it all started, I needed something to easily and digitally manage things as it was all happening very quickly. From several contractors, water extraction and dryout experts, insurance companies, property and land surveyors, you name it – they’ve been in and out of my house non stop for 12+ days now. There is so much data to capture, both digitally (pictures, scanning, etc) to writing and recording conversations and other documentation.
It’s a terrible amount of data to not only gather, but organize and make sense of too. My HTC EVO4G came to temporary rescue. With Evernote, organizing everything was really easy, but entering info on the screen keyboard was too time consuming, I was falling behind, so I started writing things on the good old yellow pad!
OK – so the yellow pad works, of course, but I have to re-type everything into a computer or other device to keep everything put in its place and easily accessible. The problem I had with that, was that my writing, with pictures, etc. was what I really needed, in its native format. The easiest thing – just scan the paper right? Sure, but then I can’t edit the info, only put post-it notes and comments on places, I can’t change or augment pictures or drawings…it just wasn’t cutting the mustard!
You can imagine that the next month or so was going to very probelmatic. In comes the Samsung Galaxy Tab to the Rescue! (queue the Underdog theme!)
I had ordered the Galaxy Tab the week before the water intrusion and it showed up on Day 2! I completely forgot about it. That night, I started getting it setup…took about 20 minutes with WiFi and it was ready to go. I had a stylus already for it, so I planned on testing it pretty heavily for the next several hours, that night.
I loaded my usual apps, but added Handrite and Write Pad. Handrite gives me the free-form ability to have that yellow pad in my hand, with everything I was missing. You can write something, adjust it, remove it, change it, draw it, save it, email it and just about ‘anything it’. It is basically a drawing app, with editing capabilities – there is no OCR engine in the app though.
Then there is Write Pad – this adds a new input method to your choices from onscreen ketboad and Swipe. This make the entire unit work via handwriting and OCR. All points of data entry can be done with natural handwriting and it is immediately OCR’d into text. I have been using it with Evernote – the combination truly rocks!
So with the handwriting and yellow pad and digitizing and organization aspects handled, the camera makes all the difference by not neededing to scan anything – i truly mean ANYTHING! The ability in Evernote to tag pictures into notes and then write around them and comment, makes post-it’s a thing of the past. The whole documentation and project management capabilites have proven to be awesome.
More stuff – as much as I love the unit, I wish it has Android 3 – why? I don’t know, it’s already perfect as far as I’m concerned. Just having the latest and greatest may make me even more proud to have it. I’m sure I’ll get one of the newer HTC or Samsung Droid 3 units in a few months, maybe the Blackberry unit or Xoom, but I like several other capabilities the unit has:
- With Documents To Go you get the basic Microsoft office applications, less Outlook. I can easily make Word Docs, Excel sheets and workbooks, PowerPoint presentations – I can even edit existing ones.
- With a Bluetooth keyboard (mini, foldup, full size, whatever) and even a mouse, the unit really becomes a computer. With Remote Desktop, I can easily connect to a remote machine and use the full versions of every app I use every day – can you say ‘great cloud companion!’
- With Write Pad, I can make and edit all of those documents in my own handwriting – versus the screen or external keyboard. Using a stylus, fingertip stylus, or just your finger – works perfectly. I have been impressed so far with the iPad stylus and it’s accuracy, compared to lesser quality units. There are others just like the iPad one though, I was just in a hurry to get going, so I wasn’t shopping all that much.
- I get all of my email from several locations and several Exchange services, Activesync, Pop and IMAP – just love it. It handles all the voice memo’s and directions better than my EVO4G….I think. Touchdown for Exchange – a must have!
- Navigation, especially with street level maps – AWESOME on the big screen! It was great on the EVO, but BEST on the 7″ of screen real estate. Then again, my 7″ NAV screen in my car is something I’m already used to, minus the satelite imaging.
- The battery life is great – WiFi or 3G – with everything going on, I get a good 16 hours of time. I don’t use it for text or voice calls, so I have used this primarily ‘as intended’.
Things I wish it had:
- 4G – though the next version will have it, the current one is not upgradeable.
- It should come with a headset and maybe a case – it costs enough to warrant the $30 of extras at no cost to the consumer.
- A longer charging/usb sync cable – 3 feet just barely gets from the socket to the hand – and I don’t see any alternatives that are longer anywhere out there, yet.
- Android 3x – the latest would be cool, but I seriously am not sure what I’ll gain in functionality, versus cooler effects – for business, I don’t need effects, really.
Compared to the iPAD I had for a VERY short while:
- I like the larger screen of the iPAD. The 7″ screen is really good. The future 8.9″ and 10.3″ versions from HTC and Samsung are sure to level the ground a bit more.
- THIS is NOT a consumable appliance. You can do more than just GET info from the internet. You have adjustable storage via memory cards. You can load and edit and take your documents, spreadsheets and presentations with you, and use the unit as a presentation vehicle with the media dock.
- You don’t HAVE TO HAVE internet connectivity to access your documents – like DropBox and others – store data on the memory card and sync at the office, or wirelessly. When you’re out on your boat, or on a cruise, and maybe have no internet at some point, you can at least write something, store it, and even edit something else – WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS.
- You can plug things into it, and it into other things – for example – you can tether the unit to your laptop and give yourself internet access, or vice-versa!
With all this already here, and in line, and the ability to add a keybaod, mouse and larger screen – can you say the tablet that acts like desktop that has the skin of a tablet that you could swear was a laptop?
My bottom line – whether for business or play – you just need one!
Well, there ya go! I’m looking forward to testing the new Motorolla Atrix, the BlackBerry and Android 3 units when they come out. But if you are looking for a solid unit, that really does it all,including syncing your iTunes, this unit rocks! Prices are sure to fall as well, as the newer products come out, but I’ve ‘heard’ you can get them from Sprint for under $200 with a 2 year contract – and only $30 per month with unlimitted access.
Rick
