[NTLK] Questions from an apostate
Ken Ho
ken59215 at live.com
Thu Nov 1 22:52:59 EDT 2012
My platform path was Newton to Palm (size *does* matter) to iOS. That may mean that in some ways my expectations were different (you may say lower, but I prefer "different") when I arrived at iOS. I have been mostly thrilled with the iOS Notespark app, which was a great transition from Palm Memos, and which I blogged about on:
http://kenamored.blogspot.com/2011/03/converting-palm-memos-to-ipod-using.html.
Okay, Sonny (Hung), I'm your anonymous follower whom you inspired, if you recall our comment exchange on your blog.
:-)
I am perfectly happy using only plain text in my notes (you may not be), particularly when I can enter it from the app on iPod/iPad, or from any web browser, all three methods of which I use quite regularly. The only additional feature I wish it had was search *within* a note (you can only find *which* notes have your search string, then it's swipe and look carefully to find the search string).
Unlike EverNote, Notespark was a one-time $4.99 fee, so it's easier on the wallet. I *imagined* that the developers could even have created it primarily as a tool for themselves, but understood it could be sufficiently useful to others that they could quite reasonably also sell it.
Anyway, I think Notespark cover these points of yours:
> - Filing/organization that is (a) chronological but (b) also offers
> categories/folders
> - Scrolling of notes both within a note and chronologically ordered,
> like the Newton
but not the others. Still, I realize you may have tried Notespark and decided it wasn't for you.
-Ken Ho (still using my Newton rarely, but continuously since the late 90's)
On Nov 1, 2012, at 12:59 AM, "Aron Hsiao" <leapdragon at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>
> I hope this post doesn't rankle, but I'm in need of help.
>
> I was a dedicated Newton user from the late '90s through the early '00s
> and am now an iPhone 4/iPad 2 user.
>
> The problem is that I'm not satisfied with the software, despite being
> thrilled with the hardware.
>
> I've still got my last Newton 2x00 hanging around and have been looking
> back through some of the data on it (it hasn't really been touched in
> half a decade) over the last few days. And I'm really frustrated as I do
> so by the current state of mobile software. At the same time, I can't
> realistically see myself bringing the Newton out of mothballs and really
> using it again. The hardware is just too old/heavy/monochrome/difficult
> to replace and expand, especially when I recall that I stopped using the
> Newton because I couldn't finish a backup any longer with NCU.
>
> But there must be others out there like me that see the Newton as a high
> point in early mobile tech and that finds that the Newton did some
> things really well that have yet to be duplicated today. So without
> further ado, I'm posting to ask whether anyone has:
>
> - Found an iPad Notes app that is similar in operation to the Newton app
> (esp. HyperNewt)
> - Found any device with any form of handwriting recognition that compares
> - Managed to get Einstein working in a way that is plausible for
> everyday real-world use
> - Decided they've stumbled onto an honest-to-god "Newton replacement"
>
> I've tried about a dozen notes apps on iPad, from the PhatWare offerings
> to Notability to Notes Plus. They mostly seem to think it's a good idea
> to try to ape a paper notebook in one way or another. But if I wanted my
> own handwriting in a setting whose only organizing principle is "pages
> in books" then I'd just take a cap off an ink pen and start writing on
> paper again. And if I wanted HWR just to behave like a plain text editor
> (think PhatWare) I'd just use a text editor and a keyboard. Anyone find
> anything that can do:
>
> - Nested, collapsible bullets
> - Content drag/drop on the page
> - Handwriting recognition easily mixed with "simulated ink" for
> sketches, etc.
> - Filing/organization that is (a) chronological but (b) also offers
> categories/folders
> - Scrolling of notes both within a note and chronologically ordered,
> like the Newton
>
> I'm imagining a marriage of MomoNote (for organization/ordering),
> Notability, and the PhatWare HWR apps, but with the addition of the
> Newton formatting features (nestable, collapsible bullets, checkboxes,
> and so on). Maybe it's out there and I've just missed it.
>
>
> From another direction, Einstein looks promising, but everything that I
> can find about it suggests that it is slow and incompatible with some of
> the major fixes that are necessary for a real working Newton (basic
> stuff like 2010 fix), and that it can't be backed up. True? If so, it's
> a non-starter for me―I'm really looking for a device that I can use for
> day-to-day stuff that Just Works[TM].
>
> The Samsung Galaxy Note looks interesting, but I suspect that it lacks
> the organizational paradigm of the Newton (which in many ways was
> similar to that of the Palm devices later on), especially since it's
> Android-based.
>
> For anyone here that's lurking but has moved on from Newton, what did
> you end up switching to? Has it worked out?
>
>
> For various reasons (not least of which are simple hardware
> replacability and the ability to sync) I don't think I can revert back
> to using a Newton 2x00 again. I do want all that the iPhone/iPad have to
> offer. But I'll be damned if I'm not missing some of the basic PIM and
> note-taking functionality of the Newton devices, even if I can't bring
> myself to imagine carrying around a Newton *and* an iPad *and* an iPhone
> all the time.
>
>
> Aron Hsiao
>
>
>
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