A tablet for a Philosopher

[ἀκρατής]

I am planning to buy a tablet. The following are the important functions it should be able to handle well. If you have experience with any or all of these functions with a specific tablet, let me know! If you have general recommendations, let me know! If I forgot something that is potentially important, let me know! In other words: let me know what you know about tablets. Especially helpful would be answers that say: "Given your 12 points here, this is the best tablet you can get, because..."

 

I hope this also contributes to the distraction away from the admissions process for all those of you who are in the waiting-it-out hell...

 

1. for taking notes (not by typing, but the doodling kind of notes)
2. for reading papers and books (including highlighting and annotating text)
3. maybe also for taking notes by typing – if there’s a good way to combine the two ways of taking notes, it would be perfect
4. The tablet should be able to stand upright, so that reading is more comfortable.
5. I already have a netbook and a laptop, so I don't need to use it for writing papers.

6. One that comes with a stylus that works well would be nice.

7. I just read that there is such a thing as handwriting recognition - that would be awesome!  Am I right to suppose that this would translate my stylus-handwritten notes into digital words?

8. I just read that Android doesn't support polytonic Greek letters, is that right?

9. Other things being equal, I would prefer to be able to handle files directly, i.e. without iTunes.

10. How much memory is recommended for academic use? I have an external HD for storing the bulk of the data.

11. I am still in the search of the right program in order to sync the data of my laptop (windows), external HD, and the potential new tablet with each other.

12. Other things being equal, I would prefer one that can handle LaTex-files, but that’s not very important. Everything’s fine as long as I can transfer everything from my tablet to my windows-driven laptop.

[ianfaircloud]

I am planning to buy a tablet. The following are the important functions it should be able to handle well. If you have experience with any or all of these functions with a specific tablet, let me know! If you have general recommendations, let me know! If I forgot something that is potentially important, let me know! In other words: let me know what you know about tablets. Especially helpful would be answers that say: "Given your 12 points here, this is the best tablet you can get, because..."

 

I hope this also contributes to the distraction away from the admissions process for all those of you who are in the waiting-it-out hell...

 

1. for taking notes (not by typing, but the doodling kind of notes)

2. for reading papers and books (including highlighting and annotating text)

3. maybe also for taking notes by typing – if there’s a good way to combine the two ways of taking notes, it would be perfect

4. The tablet should be able to stand upright, so that reading is more comfortable.

5. I already have a netbook and a laptop, so I don't need to use it for writing papers.

6. One that comes with a stylus that works well would be nice.

7. I just read that there is such a thing as handwriting recognition - that would be awesome!  Am I right to suppose that this would translate my stylus-handwritten notes into digital words?

8. I just read that Android doesn't support polytonic Greek letters, is that right?

9. Other things being equal, I would prefer to be able to handle files directly, i.e. without iTunes.

10. How much memory is recommended for academic use? I have an external HD for storing the bulk of the data.

11. I am still in the search of the right program in order to sync the data of my laptop (windows), external HD, and the potential new tablet with each other.

12. Other things being equal, I would prefer one that can handle LaTex-files, but that’s not very important. Everything’s fine as long as I can transfer everything from my tablet to my windows-driven laptop.

 

I love the user name.  ah-krah-TACE.  How did you use Greek characters in your user name?  And do you know Greek, or do you know just some of the basic philosophical vocabulary?  Having a Greek language background is a commodity in philosophy these days.

 

OK, now back to your questions.  I'm not competent to answer them.  But good luck!!!

[ἀκρατής]

I love the user name.  ah-krah-TACE.  How did you use Greek characters in your user name?  And do you know Greek, or do you know just some of the basic philosophical vocabulary?  Having a Greek language background is a commodity in philosophy these days.

 

OK, now back to your questions.  I'm not competent to answer them.  But good luck!!!

 

Thanks! Yes, I know Greek (only Attic), and I also should, because I do a lot of Aristotle. In fact, I should know it much better than I do, so I'm still practicing. I would recommend anyone who wants to do philosophy to learn Attic Greek! It was possible to just copy-paste the Greek letters into the user-name field...

[ianfaircloud]

Thanks! Yes, I know Greek (only Attic), and I also should, because I do a lot of Aristotle. In fact, I should know it much better than I do, so I'm still practicing. I would recommend anyone who wants to do philosophy to learn Attic Greek! It was possible to just copy-paste the Greek letters into the user-name field...

 

Sorry, I really messed up your thread here.  I heard from a friend that though it's difficult to find jobs in philosophy, the demand is a bit higher for those who include ancient as an AOS.  So while there's no "shortage" of philosophers even in this area, perhaps it's somewhat easier to get a job in ancient than it would be in, say, metaphysics.

 

But yeah, as for tablets: I, too, want to switch to a tablet.  In seriousness, I've been lugging around this heavy laptop for six years.  I'm too old for this.

 

edit: Oh, by the way, I have a reading knowledge of Greek, though it's atrophied a bit.  I'm not interested in ancient philosophy, but I admire those who are.

Edited February 13, 2014 by ianfaircloud

[bar_scene_gambler]

I am planning to buy a tablet. The following are the important functions it should be able to handle well. If you have experience with any or all of these functions with a specific tablet, let me know! If you have general recommendations, let me know! If I forgot something that is potentially important, let me know! In other words: let me know what you know about tablets. Especially helpful would be answers that say: "Given your 12 points here, this is the best tablet you can get, because..."

 

I hope this also contributes to the distraction away from the admissions process for all those of you who are in the waiting-it-out hell...

 

1. for taking notes (not by typing, but the doodling kind of notes)

2. for reading papers and books (including highlighting and annotating text)

3. maybe also for taking notes by typing – if there’s a good way to combine the two ways of taking notes, it would be perfect

4. The tablet should be able to stand upright, so that reading is more comfortable.

5. I already have a netbook and a laptop, so I don't need to use it for writing papers.

6. One that comes with a stylus that works well would be nice.

7. I just read that there is such a thing as handwriting recognition - that would be awesome!  Am I right to suppose that this would translate my stylus-handwritten notes into digital words?

8. I just read that Android doesn't support polytonic Greek letters, is that right?

9. Other things being equal, I would prefer to be able to handle files directly, i.e. without iTunes.

10. How much memory is recommended for academic use? I have an external HD for storing the bulk of the data.

11. I am still in the search of the right program in order to sync the data of my laptop (windows), external HD, and the potential new tablet with each other.

12. Other things being equal, I would prefer one that can handle LaTex-files, but that’s not very important. Everything’s fine as long as I can transfer everything from my tablet to my windows-driven laptop.

Okay, so I've been using a Kindle Fire for a little while now (my gf got it for me for Christmas), and I'm kind of growing accustomed to it. I'll just go through your list.

1. Haven't done it, but I'm aware of several apps which allow you to do this kind of thing. The nice thing is that the more recent Kindle's have more responsive screens than the first gens, so using a stylus or something to take notes would probably be relatively similar to writing by hand. 

2. I love it for my light reading. It has a few little extras that I quite like, such as a predicative function to let you know approximately when you're going to be done with the book. It allows you to bookmark, highlight, and add notes, and has a function which allows you to jump straight to your bookmarked/highlighted pages. It's pretty nice, though I haven't tried to do anything extensive with it yet. 

3. I haven't tried this because I have a smaller screen, but if you get the HDX with the 8.9 in. screen, you should be more than capable of typing notes, especially if you've already done it on another kind of tablet or something.

4. I got a case with my kindle which allows me to use the case itself to stand the screen up. It's the origami case or something like that. I quite like it, and it makes reading much more comfortable while laying down. 

5. Great

6. Mine didn't come with a stylus, but they aren't that expensive.

7. I have no clue. Sorry dude/ette

8. Apparently Kindle supports polytonic letters, but only sort of. I found this for you: http://ntresources.com/blog/?p=754

9. You can totally do that with the Kindle. Also, there's this great thing called Calibre which allows you to handle a digital "library" and which converts many kinds of digital files into Kindle-ready files. It also allows you to send the files directly to your Kindle from there. It's great if you are downloading books from "Russian libraries". 

10. I can't imagine you'd use up a ton of memory unless you're downloading ass-tonnes of scanned books onto the thing. But I suppose you could always just keep the overflow on your external HDD until you need it for the Kindle. File transfers are incredibly easy. 

11. Can't help you there.

12. There is some support out there for LaTex files, but I've never had personal experience with them. But like I said, transfer is incredibly easy. It's like attaching an external harddrive to your computer. You can go into the Kindle's harddrive and pull out/put in anything you want/need. It's pretty simple. 

All in all, the Kindle has been pretty great for me so far. I'd certainly recommend it over, say, and iPad, but if you're going for a less book-oriented tablet, then I'd look into those. I think, despite what Amazon has tried to do with it, the Kindle is still mainly meant for books. But then again, aren't we, for the most part, reading and writing all the time anyways? 

[ἠφανισμένος]

In my experience, iOS is vastly superior to Android for polytonic Greek. It displays perfectly on my iPad, though I can't type it. On my Android phone, only the characters needed for modern Greek display: no breathings, circumflexes, or graves. Those characters drop out entirely. I believe there's a workaround, but I haven't tried it. I've had my iPad for about a year now and love it. It doesn't meet all your requirements (6 and 9, maybe 12), but I would recommend it. You could buy a stylus for it if you wanted. Goodreader is a fantastic app for reading and annotating PDFs. As for memory, I end up having a lot of nineteenth-century scanned books on it, which chew up some space. Even so, if you're not putting movies and music on it, I've found 16GB to be enough. YMMV.

[shelbyelisha]

I have nothing to contribute to this thread about tablets, but I came here to tell Akrates that I love his username, and I now really regret not registering my username in Greek.

[Table]

I use an iPad and a kindle paperwhite, and I'm really happy with them. I use the iPad for reading and annotating pdfs, and the kindle for books. (I really prefer looking at the eink screen, but the eink kindles are a disaster at pdfs) The pdf app I used is synced via dropbox, which works really well for me.

 

As for how much memory is recommended for academic use, I would say not very much. For some reason I have a 64 GB iPad... I'm using about 10. Of that, my pdf app is taking up about 1 GB, and ebook apps about 300 MB. (i have most of my kindle books synced with the iPad, and 2 textbook apps for publishers that insist on using their own)  I could easily cut down on the space the pdfs are taking up; I store most of them locally because I have plenty of extra space, but I could be keeping at least 80% of them just in my dropbox without much extra hassle. The rest of that 10 GB is basically random apps… Again, I could easily be using less if I was thinking about it. I have almost no music, videos, photos, etc. on it. For me, the 14 GB iPad would definitely have been more than enough. Like Petros points out, though, if you need to use scanned books that will suck up some memory. I also don't use it for note taking. I have no idea how much memory regular doodle-style notes would require. 

 

I sometimes use doodle apps, and I handwrite on my pdfs, but I can't imagine taking class notes via handwriting. Unless I'm zoomed in, my handwriting on the iPad is pretty large. I tried a friend's handwriting-recognition app, but typing is much faster for me. I always type faster than I can handwrite, but handwriting on the iPad is especially slow for me. 

[Hypatience]

iPad + Dropbox + GoodReader = perfect PDF reading/annotating set-up. You can sync GoodReader with your Dropbox and it runs like a dream. For note-taking, there are apps and stuff -- I've seen students using iPads for this purpose -- but I can mostly just attest to how great it is for reading books and papers, since that's all that I use it for. 

[ἀκρατής]

Thanks for all the helpful answers so far! I'll just let the information roll in for a little longer before I respond to specific suggestions.
And thanks for the second compliment on my user name, I really didn't expect that people would even notice...

After having gotten some questions on another forum to make some points of my original list clearer, here's the updated version (same points, just less ambiguous language, I hope):

1. for taking notes during lecture (not by typing, but the doodling kind of notes)
2. for reading papers and books, including highlighting and annotating text (in the doodling kind of annotating)
3. maybe also for taking notes by typing – if there’s a good way to combine the two ways of taking notes, it would be perfect
4. The tablet should be able to stand upright.
5. I already have a netbook and a laptop, so I don't need it for writing papers, but instead it should be great for use in lectures and seminars (and in public transport, if possible).
6. The stylus should work well (very well, if possible).
7. handwriting recognition - that would be awesome!
8. I just read that Android doesn't support polytonic Greek letters. I only need it to be able to DISPLAY polytonic Greek letters, not to write them. And I guess in pdf it is not a problem because it is an image file, but when downloading books through an app, maybe?
9. Other things being equal, I would prefer to be able to handle files directly (i.e. without a program like iTunes), for example through USB.
10. I DON'T need much memory space.
11. I am still in the search of the right system in order to sync the data of my laptop (windows), external HD, and the potential new tablet with each other.
12. Other things being equal, I would prefer one that can handle LaTex-files, but that’s not very important. Everything’s fine as long as I can transfer everything from my tablet to my windows-driven laptop.

[ἀκρατής]

 

I sometimes use doodle apps, and I handwrite on my pdfs, but I can't imagine taking class notes via handwriting. Unless I'm zoomed in, my handwriting on the iPad is pretty large. I tried a friend's handwriting-recognition app, but typing is much faster for me. I always type faster than I can handwrite, but handwriting on the iPad is especially slow for me. 

 

 

That is one reason why I am hesitant about an iPad, because I really want to stop taking notes on physical paper, but I don't want to switch to typing, because I need the opportunity to draw things, together with the words I write. That's why a good stylus+ a good doodling-note-taking-app +handwriting recognition would be absolutely amazing. Together with being able to use the same on pdfs and downloaded books, of course. Could you tell me more about how the handwriting recognition on your friend's tablet worked? Does s/he use it regularly in lectures and seminars?

[ἠφανισμένος]

Thanks for all the helpful answers so far! I'll just let the information roll in for a little longer before I respond to specific suggestions.

And thanks for the second compliment on my user name, I really didn't expect that people would even notice...

After having gotten some questions on another forum to make some points of my original list clearer, here's the updated version (same points, just less ambiguous language, I hope):

1. for taking notes during lecture (not by typing, but the doodling kind of notes)

2. for reading papers and books, including highlighting and annotating text (in the doodling kind of annotating)

3. maybe also for taking notes by typing – if there’s a good way to combine the two ways of taking notes, it would be perfect

4. The tablet should be able to stand upright.

5. I already have a netbook and a laptop, so I don't need it for writing papers, but instead it should be great for use in lectures and seminars (and in public transport, if possible).

6. The stylus should work well (very well, if possible).

7. handwriting recognition - that would be awesome!

8. I just read that Android doesn't support polytonic Greek letters. I only need it to be able to DISPLAY polytonic Greek letters, not to write them. And I guess in pdf it is not a problem because it is an image file, but when downloading books through an app, maybe?

9. Other things being equal, I would prefer to be able to handle files directly (i.e. without a program like iTunes), for example through USB.

10. I DON'T need much memory space.

11. I am still in the search of the right system in order to sync the data of my laptop (windows), external HD, and the potential new tablet with each other.

12. Other things being equal, I would prefer one that can handle LaTex-files, but that’s not very important. Everything’s fine as long as I can transfer everything from my tablet to my windows-driven laptop.

 

I'll respond in a bit more detail now that I'm on my computer rather than my iPad.  Regarding which:

 

1. Evernote has an app called Penultimate, I think, that lets you doodle. I'm sure there are many others.

2. As I and others have mentioned, GoodReader (plus Dropbox) is fantastic. Works like a charm.

3. For me, the iPad in landscape orientation is sufficient for typing on the screen.  A bit annoying, but doable.

4. There are plenty of cases and stands you can get for the iPad and for probably any other tablet.

6. I've never used a stylus on the iPad, but you can get one.

7. No experience here.

8. As I mentioned, Android does not natively display polytonic Greek. I recommend not using Android if polytonic Greek is crucial for you, as it is for me.  You're right, image files are fine, but any online text, emails, text files . . . you'll get boxes instead of ἑ or ὦ or ἅ.  Ἄχρηστον τοῦτο.  Like I said, there's supposedly a workaround, but it seems to meet with varying success.

9. Yeah, the iPad kind of fails here, but you can still do a lot of things without iTunes via Dropbox, Goodreader, and other programs that access the cloud.

[idol.chatter]

I second that recommendation for a Kindle Fire. I got one for Christmas and have been very pleasantly surprised by it. I bought an inexpensive Bluetooth keyboard ($30) to go with it, and I can take notes during class, read pdfs and documents just fine, and am very pleased with the abilities to take notes/search within books. I don't think it does anything related to handwriting recognition, though. :/ 

 

Oops. I just read the conversation above more closely, and it looks like doodling notes in class is very important for you. I did a brief google search, and it seems there are some apps for that which people are very pleased with, but I don't personally have any experience there regarding the Fire. 

Edited February 13, 2014 by idol.chatter

[ἀκρατής]

Hey everyone, after having spent almost all day reading about your experiences and discussing it with some tech-guys on another forum, I think I found the perfect tablet for me: ASUS VivoTab Note 8. It does everything I wished for and is not even expensive. The only thing: it sold out within the first days of its release, so I have to wait until the stocks are refilled.

 

It works with Windows - are there any people in this forum who have experience with polytonic Greek letters with a Windows-driven tablet?

Or is the following a valid inference:
- My windows-driven laptop does not have any problems with polytonic Greek letters.

- Therefore a windows-driven tablet won't have any problems with it either.

 

And if it's not valid, why not? (I.e. I don't know exactly what part of a tablet messes up with the letters...)

[Monadology]

Hey everyone, after having spent almost all day reading about your experiences and discussing it with some tech-guys on another forum, I think I found the perfect tablet for me: ASUS VivoTab Note 8. It does everything I wished for and is not even expensive. The only thing: it sold out within the first days of its release, so I have to wait until the stocks are refilled.

 

It works with Windows - are there any people in this forum who have experience with polytonic Greek letters with a Windows-driven tablet?

Or is the following a valid inference:

- My windows-driven laptop does not have any problems with polytonic Greek letters.

- Therefore a windows-driven tablet won't have any problems with it either.

 

And if it's not valid, why not? (I.e. I don't know exactly what part of a tablet messes up with the letters...)

 

Does your laptop use Windows 8? The iteration of Windows may make a difference. The tablet will have Windows 8, which is very recent. Most laptops probably don't have Windows 8 installed.

 

EDIT: This page has instructions for Windows 8, so it looks like it should be able to handle it:

http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/greek-fonts.asp?pg=3

 

But there are also differences between Windows 8 for computers and Windows 8 for mobile devices and tablets. Some tablets have the same Windows 8 a computer would use, others don't. So the answer isn't definitive.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Monadology

[Table]

That is one reason why I am hesitant about an iPad, because I really want to stop taking notes on physical paper, but I don't want to switch to typing, because I need the opportunity to draw things, together with the words I write. That's why a good stylus+ a good doodling-note-taking-app +handwriting recognition would be absolutely amazing. Together with being able to use the same on pdfs and downloaded books, of course. Could you tell me more about how the handwriting recognition on your friend's tablet worked? Does s/he use it regularly in lectures and seminars?

 

She was using write pad, which converts your writing straight to text. She used it for class notes for a bit, but I think stopped. It did a fine job recognizing my handwriting, but was just much slower than typing. (It looks like some people might have problems with getting it to recognize their handwriting) There are other apps that keep your handwriting as handwriting but have some text recognition to make it searchable, etc. I've never used one. 

If your primary concern is being able to draw things but would be fine typing the text, I think an iPad + stylus would work for you (assuming these aren't really fine grained drawings). There are apps that let you switch between typing and drawing in a single document. If being able to handwrite the actual text is important to you, though, I think you'd need an actual note taking tablet that comes with a stylus. Some people have mentioned that you can buy styluses for the iPad and kindle, which is true, but it's not the same. The capacitive styluses that work with iPads (and all tablets) can feel more natural to write with than a finger, but they're just never going to be significantly more precise. You won't be able to get the kind of detail that you'd need for college (or probably even wide) ruled normal writing. The tablets that come with styluses like the sPen work differently. They have hardware that does electromagnetic pen magic stuff (i don't know)… the pen is smart, and is telling the tablet where it is relative to the screen, how hard you're pressing, etc., it's not just the screen detecting the presence of a finger (or whatever). I've never used one, but the technology is very different from an iPad stylus (and supposed to be significantly more precise). I think you probably need to go try one out in-store to compare. 

[ἀκρατής]

Does your laptop use Windows 8? The iteration of Windows may make a difference. The tablet will have Windows 8, which is very recent. Most laptops probably don't have Windows 8 installed.

 

EDIT: This page has instructions for Windows 8, so it looks like it should be able to handle it:

http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/greek-fonts.asp?pg=3

 

But there are also differences between Windows 8 for computers and Windows 8 for mobile devices and tablets. Some tablets have the same Windows 8 a computer would use, others don't. So the answer isn't definitive.

 

My laptop uses Windows 7, the ASUS VivoTab Note 8 would use Windows 8.1 (which I hear is better than 8, but who knows in terms of Greek letters...)

And yes, it could still be a problem on a tablet while it is no problem on a laptop with the same OS. It seems that Apple has figured it out though, then Windows 8.1 should be able to do it too (another unwarranted inference).

Thanks for the link!

 

[ἀκρατής]

She was using write pad, which converts your writing straight to text. She used it for class notes for a bit, but I think stopped. It did a fine job recognizing my handwriting, but was just much slower than typing. (It looks like some people might have problems with getting it to recognize their handwriting) There are other apps that keep your handwriting as handwriting but have some text recognition to make it searchable, etc. I've never used one. 

If your primary concern is being able to draw things but would be fine typing the text, I think an iPad + stylus would work for you (assuming these aren't really fine grained drawings). There are apps that let you switch between typing and drawing in a single document. If being able to handwrite the actual text is important to you, though, I think you'd need an actual note taking tablet that comes with a stylus. Some people have mentioned that you can buy styluses for the iPad and kindle, which is true, but it's not the same. The capacitive styluses that work with iPads (and all tablets) can feel more natural to write with than a finger, but they're just never going to be significantly more precise. You won't be able to get the kind of detail that you'd need for college (or probably even wide) ruled normal writing. The tablets that come with styluses like the sPen work differently. They have hardware that does electromagnetic pen magic stuff (i don't know)… the pen is smart, and is telling the tablet where it is relative to the screen, how hard you're pressing, etc., it's not just the screen detecting the presence of a finger (or whatever). I've never used one, but the technology is very different from an iPad stylus (and supposed to be significantly more precise). I think you probably need to go try one out in-store to compare. 

 

Thanks for the detailed description! The one tablet I currently think would be the best option for me, ASUS VivoTab Note 8, has handwriting recognition that does not convert the text right away. Instead you write as long as you want, and then you click something to convert the text. I like that a lot, as it won't slow down the process of writing itself. I just wonder what the conversion into digital text will do to my drawings?

And: yes, that's a great distinction you make between tablets for which you can additionally buy a stylus, and tablets that are made for note-taking. ASUS VivoTab Note 8 is one with a precision stylus, made by WACOM, which has this cool feature of being recognized by the tablet even if you don't touch it etc...