Pocket PC vs Pen and Paper: Fight! [Archive]

View Full Version : Pocket PC vs Pen and Paper: Fight!

Tim Allen

01-23-2004, 06:00 PM

As you may already know, I recently <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,22248">reviewed PhatPad</a>, and writing the review really got me thinking about the Pocket PC as a replacement for pen and paper. So this time I'm going to take a closer look to see if our favourite gadget, teamed up with an application such as PhatPad, really stacks up as a credible alternative to pen and paper. Now I'm not talking about all the stuff we've already replaced with our Pocket PC: the diaries, phone books, calculators, handheld games consoles, mp3 players, etc. I'm talking about going back to basics: can the Pocket PC fundamentally replace that simple plain piece of paper that I bet many of us still have to hand to fulfill a myriad of miscellaneous tasks? So in the blue corner we have the Pocket PC running PhatPad; in the red corner, the undefeated champion: a piece of paper and its tag team partner, a pen. Who's your money on? <!> I've already <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,22248">looked at PhatPad in some detail</a>, so in this follow-up I'm just using it as an example of state-of-the art note-taking software on the Pocket PC, rather than picking on it particularly. After all this article is really about the Pocket PC itself, but clearly the hardware's no good without some decent software. The Challenge To even enter this contest the Pocket PC solution must provide standard pen and paper features such as easy editing, the ability to use different colours and line thicknesses and support for sketches and diagrams. To stand a chance of winning, it must overcome paper and pen's key strengths, namely fast start-up time and speed and fluidity of writing. The new kid on the block (new as compared to how long paper's been around) may try to distract us with advanced features such as handwriting recognition and text searching. However, the old dog still has some killer blows up its sleeve, such as near-zero thickness and persistence; can these still outweigh the bells and whistles of technology? Seconds out... Round One: Flat or Phat A single piece of paper may have near-zero thickness, but a pad of several hundred pages certainly doesn't. Clearly this isn't a problem on the Pocket PC, as the number of notes or pages you can have is only limited by your storage memory, and the only physical space taken up is the Pocket PC itself. This is fine unless you only want to make a few short notes, which is after all the focus of this comparison, and in this case the Pocket PC is bloated to say the least. So Round one goes to pen and paper. Pocket PC: 0, Pen and Paper: 1. Round Two: Size Isn't Everything Paper comes in many sizes, but unfortunately Pocket PC screens don't. However, applications such as PhatPad allow you to create notes in a variety of virtual sizes with enough zoom options to make the most of them, and in any case the Pocket PC isn't competing with Letter or A4 size paper - that's a job for the Tablet PC. Round two goes to the Pocket PC. Pocket PC: 1, Pen and Paper: 1. Round Three: Time to Write In a straight race against the clock, I can be ready to write with pen and paper in a second or two (assuming of course that I can actually find a pen). With the Pocket PC it's at least two or three times slower: fetch Pocket PC, open case, turn it on, launch PhatPad, extract stylus, select 'New' menu option; by this time I may have forgotten what I was going to write. So Round three goes to pen and paper. Pocket PC: 1, Pen and Paper: 2. Round Four: Speed and Fluidity of Writing With paper you can choose your favourite writing device, be it cheap ballpoint or gold fountain pen - pick the right one according to your taste and writing with it can be as smooth as silk. Advanced digital ink technology in applications like PhatPad makes handwriting on the Pocket PC screen almost as smooth and quick as writing on paper. As an aside, the only fly in the ointment here for me is the less-than-substantial stylus that came with my Axim X5 - the device's only Achilles heel in my opinion. Round four is close enough to be a draw. Pocket PC: 2, Pen and Paper: 3. <PAGEBREAK> Round Five: Editing Unless you're using a pencil or special ink, a key limitation of paper is that you can't easily and neatly change or erase what you've written, so there's an opportunity here for technology to come to the fore. And it doesn't disappoint, as PhatPad's 'Erase' mode allows quick and easy rubbing-out, much quicker and easier, in fact, than with paper writing. Round five is an easy win for the Pocket PC. Pocket PC: 3, Pen and Paper: 3. Round Six: Diagrams Now writing is all well and good, but you also need to make the odd sketch, map, diagram, etc. Of course this is easy enough on paper, but the results aren't going to look too good if you can't draw a straight line or a smooth curve. PhatPad has a neat shape auto-correction feature which makes your lines straight and your circles, well, circular. You can also change pen colours and line thicknesses with a simple toolbar button click. Round six is also a win for the Pocket PC. Pocket PC: 4, Pen and Paper: 3. Round Seven: Persistence Paper writing is always visible; you don't have to switch anything on to see it, it's just there, staring up at you, all the time. Paper writing is persistent, there are no batteries to run out, memory to fail, data to become corrupted - unless of course you spill your coffee over it or your dog eats it. Round seven is a win for pen and paper. Pocket PC: 4, Pen and Paper: 4. Round Eight: Extras To use an analogy, if we were talking DVDs then on the extras front pen and paper would just give you scene selection and maybe a theatrical trailer if you're lucky - i.e. there aren't any of note. The Pocket PC solution, on the other hand, is more akin to the 4-disc extended version of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, what with handwriting recognition, text searching, built-in lighting, etc. Round eight is an easy win for the Pocket PC. Pocket PC: 5, Pen and Paper: 4. The Final Bell - And The Winner Is... Ok so in this slightly lighthearted competition the Pocket PC seems to be the winner, although it's by no means a walkover. Obviously in reality, whether you prefer one or the other depends on your specific subjective needs as both have major pros and cons which are difficult to weigh objectively, making it fairly easy to twist the results whichever way you want. For me, to really replace pen and paper, Pocket PCs need to be flatter, have bigger screens and have stylii that are as nice to hold as a pen. PhatPad on the Pocket PC comes pretty close, but computers have a long way to go to replace the simple perfection of paper. Ultimately they will need to be always on, foldable and have no real value, so you can pass them around like you would, er, a piece of paper. But we're going to need to wait for true electronic paper - and maybe a moneyless society - for that.

Traveller

01-23-2004, 06:07 PM

"Pocket PCs need to be flatter, have bigger screens and have stylii that are as nice to hold as a pen."

Hmmm, I think the description fits the Tablet PC...

TBone

01-23-2004, 06:07 PM

Good article. It reminds me of a point I made a while back to a friend: no matter how good our technology is, we'll probably never replace paper. It's just too simple, reliable, and cheap to do away with. Not to say that I would want to live without my PocketPC, but paper rocks.

GoldKey

01-23-2004, 06:11 PM

Hard to explain, but with pad and paper, each note can be a singular item. IE, you can rip the note from the pad and give it to someone else, you can stick the note in the appropriate place for it to get action. When reviewing workpapers, I leave sticky notes throughout the workpapers, a PPC can't do this. I can leave a note on someones door. Plus, I can crumble up a note and throw it in the garbage (office basketball). :D

Tim Allen

01-23-2004, 06:13 PM

"Pocket PCs need to be flatter, have bigger screens and have stylii that are as nice to hold as a pen."

Hmmm, I think the description fits the Tablet PC...

Yes, it could - perhaps what I really should have said was slightly bigger screens.

GoldKey

01-23-2004, 06:14 PM

I wonder if we are attached to paper simply because it is the first thing we used and are accustomed to it. For example, I could not imagine writing anything of any great lenght on paper, but that is because I have had a computer to do it on for most of my life. If a child had a PPC and got in the habit from the getgo of writing all notes electronically, their opinion might differ.

Jacob

01-23-2004, 06:25 PM

Very good article!

You're right on the dot that both solutions suit different people. I usually use paper just because I can write faster on paper - although I have to live with the 25% chance I won't be able to read my writing later. :oops:

The main reason I don't use my pocketpc for this purpose is start-up time though.

Perry Reed

01-23-2004, 06:32 PM

Good article! I'm afraid I would have to disagree with your conclusion, though.

As much as I love my Pocket PC, I still mostly take notes on paper. It's faster and easier. The one advantage I think Pocket PCs could bring would be storing the notes in a format I could search on later. But generally I've found that current handwriting recognition technology is not up to the task.

Ekkie Tepsupornchai

01-23-2004, 06:33 PM

Funny you write this article... I'm actually trialing Phatpad now with the sole purpose of trying to find something to replace my need to scribble notes from time to time.

While I do have HPCNotes, I've been using the standard Notepad for the impromptu scribbles, but Notepad is gawdy to work with.

I'll see if I draw the same conclusion...

Air

01-23-2004, 06:39 PM

Excuse me I demand recount.

paper can be made into paper airlane and other vairous origami object.
So that should also give paper extra point. :mrgreen:

zoltix

01-23-2004, 07:03 PM

If you leave Phatpad on top when you switch off, it's there ready for notes when you switch on. Although, if only the launch buttons switched on and launched this wouldn't be necessary.

But, you can't screw up your PPC and throw it across the room into a bin. In fact it's quite longwinded to delete a note.

Also, has anybody tried doing a supermarket shop using a PPC as a shopping list and controlling a basket or trolley. This is one of the most common uses of a list/notes and I went back to a scrap of paper after one trip with a PPC - it just can't be done effectively.

Tim Allen

01-23-2004, 07:15 PM

thanos255

01-23-2004, 07:16 PM

The only problem I hasve with replacing paper with my Ipaq is the assurance that the Ipaq will still have the information when I go to check for it later on!!!

That is the only thing I can say.

Plus I have never found a note prorgam to do exactly what I want.

Thanks
Thanos

Robb Bates

01-23-2004, 07:16 PM

Also, has anybody tried doing a supermarket shop using a PPC as a shopping list and controlling a basket or trolley. This is one of the most common uses of a list/notes and I went back to a scrap of paper after one trip with a PPC - it just can't be done effectively.

Too true. I've never been worried about someone stealing my shopping list paper if I have to walk away for a sec and leave it in the cart.

I can't wait for e-paper (http://www.universaldisplay.com./foled.php)to come along and be cheap enough. Then regular paper will get a run for it's money.

Robb

Tim Allen

01-23-2004, 07:18 PM

Excuse me I demand recount.

paper can be made into paper airlane and other vairous origami object.
So that should also give paper extra point. :mrgreen:

True, but I find that a PPC makes a good enough airplane if you throw it hard enough. :lol:

mgd

01-23-2004, 07:35 PM

The biggest thing paper has going for it is that it is everywhere. As long as you have access to pen or pencil, you can pick up any scrap of paper to scribble a note on--even toilet paper. If you don't have a pen or pencil on you, you borrow one. You'd have to have your PDA glued to you in order to get that kind of flexibility.

thanos255

01-23-2004, 07:36 PM

True, but I find that a PPC makes a good enough airplane if you throw it hard enough.

Yeah but ever try skipping a Ipaq 5555 on the water?!?! Sinks like a rock...the 1900 and 4000 series skip TONS beter!!!!

Thanks
Thanos

mgd

01-23-2004, 07:37 PM

Paul Martin

01-23-2004, 07:49 PM

Excuse me I demand recount.

One advantage of a PPC - no hanging chads! :lol:

JustinGTP

01-23-2004, 08:15 PM

But the pocket pc has that cool factor in which pen and paper can never have.

I like your article, I agree with most of it. It is kind of funny how you mention the pad and the paper, I get ridiculed at school because I have a Pocket PC, they all say "use your palm or a piece of paper". I think its jealousy really.

I like my pocket pc, and while yes, note taking on paper can be easier, the pocket pc is great for having a lot of stuff on one item. I will never regret buying it, it's so portable for what it has on it and what it is capable of.

-Justin.

slothdog

01-23-2004, 08:40 PM

Reminds me of the time I was walking through the mall and noticed someone scirbbling on something in his hand, "Wow," I thought, "that guy's PDA is really thin!" A second later I realized it was just a folded up piece of paper. Doh.

powder2000

01-23-2004, 08:51 PM

I was just wondering, is there a simple note taking app. that can have a hardware button mapped to a new note? that would be very helpful in that I could hit the button, write my note and go on.

egads

01-23-2004, 08:53 PM

Wiggin

01-23-2004, 09:36 PM

Fun article, good for some grins, but the results are a bit challenging for me :lol:
Paper vs PPC is all about speed and ease while in use out in the real world, say at a business meeting.

Paper size vs PPC screen size... PPC is KO'd at the opening bell in the first round
Flexibility to write anywhere on the page (paper or virtual)... PPC is KO'd after 2 rounds
Freedom to write anything, no matter how garbled... Draw after 3 rounds

My results lean towards paper & trusty pen. The PPC is a worthy contender, and is getting better every year, but is still trailing. :mrgreen:

jvetterli

01-23-2004, 10:02 PM

Hi there

I always wanted to use my pocketpc to scribble down all the different notes and task's during a phone conversation or meeting with a customer. one of my goals was that i could always get back to my notes and see what i promised at this time, a thing that's very difficult and time consuming with paper notes. the pocketpc fullfills the task of saving all the notes without any further action, but to search for what i scribbled down a while ago, it doesn't give any advantage to paper notes.

i recently saw on a website a review of TablettPlaner from FranklinCovey (http://www.franklincovey.com/tabletplanner/index.html) and decided to give it a try. i had a compaq tabletpc now for quite some time, but didn't use it much because most of the app's around are not made to use with a tablettpc. after a week of testing, i knew this is what i've been looking for! i can scribble my notes, enter some tasks and even enter appointments all in handwriting. but the best is still to come: when i want to search for a note or something else, i can do that without a problem since it does translate my handwriting into letters in the background to make a text search possible, wow :D if some of you allready have a tablettpc, i recommend give it a try, if you don't, i sure hope something like this will ever be developed for pocketpc's. but anyway, i prefer the bigger size of the tablettpc's screen for taking notes, the pocketpc is okay to save some notes while on the run.

bye

jan

famousdavis

01-23-2004, 10:06 PM

Fun article! ;-) Thanks!

The whole comparison between paper and PPC has an underlining premise that is, I think, false: PPCs ought to replace paper-n-pen. The analagous premise, when applied to something else, is patently absurd: Automobiles ought to replace walking.

Well, yeah, there are times when using an auto makes perfect sense and is infinitely a better decision than walking. But there will always be a need and use for walking on your own two feet, and automobiles will never completely replace the need for walking -- nor should they.

Similarly, PPCs are infinitely better than paper-n-pen to solve some problems, but the notion that PPCs ought to replace (if not now, then one day) paper-n-pen is impracticable. It's not a worthy goal. I think it's ludicrous to tote a PPC into the grocery store -- risking having it get lost, dropped, stolen, forgotten, etc. -- if I'm doing that because I put my grocery list on that device.

David Prahl

01-23-2004, 11:05 PM

Just over 60 minutes ago I was writing down the assignment for my AP Psychology class in school. Used "The Dog Ate It", and was feeling pretty good about my Pocket PC.

Until he started adding notes. And lists. And diagrams. :cry:

For me, I need a Tablet PC with OneNote (sweet MS app) OR paper to take down that kind of information quickly. Since I lack the two grand needed for the former, I was forced to scribble down notes on a sheet of notebook paper.

thanos255

01-24-2004, 12:38 AM

mmidgley

01-24-2004, 12:42 AM

One way that paper seems to win over my iPAQ 5555 is that every employer I've ever had will gladly buy employees new paper planner refills, but not one has ever offered to buy me a new battery! :evil:

m.

Tracy Daubenspeck

01-24-2004, 02:26 AM

What we need is a Onenote version for PPC. I use it with a tablet and find it to be great at meetings. I have considered using it at my desk as a place to jot down things while using my PC. The problem is that tablets are not as easily carried or as accessible as a PPC. I carry my PPC everywhere, I take notes on it all the time. However, it is not as fast as paper nor is the handwriting recognition as good as the tablet version (which isn't all that good either).

I like the ability to organize your notes in Onenote and the fact that you can mix data types. If those features where ported to the PPC it would be very cool. Not perfect, but cool.

BTS

01-24-2004, 03:41 AM

OneNote for the PPC would be a great addition. I used it on my laptop today and really appreciated it for quick jotnotes. While the PPC screen is smaller I still think that it may work.

jmarkevich

01-24-2004, 01:47 PM

To pick at nits: I think you left a few "i"s off "Styliiiii" if you really REALLY wanted to make it plural... :wink:

I just don't trust PDAs enough. If I ever drew a complex driving map to some destination, I would struggle to find a way to print it out before I left.

As far as shopping lists; my wife uses the incredible HandyShopper on her palm for absolutely everything. It still makes me disappointed there's nothing comparable on PPC.

eric linsley

01-25-2004, 10:33 PM

Round Three: Time to Write
In a straight race against the clock, I can be ready to write with pen and paper in a second or two (assuming of course that I can actually find a pen). With the Pocket PC it's at least two or three times slower: fetch Pocket PC, open case, turn it on, launch PhatPad, extract stylus, select 'New' menu option; by this time I may have forgotten what I was going to write.

So Round three goes to pen and paper. Pocket PC: 1, Pen and Paper: 2.

im sorry ive seen palm use this debate time and again.

paper has the same issues.... fetch paper pad, open.... hunt down pin.. hunt down one that works.... i mean ive spent several minuetes going from one pen or another... and god forbid the lead breaks or the ink runs out.. ive never had a stylus fail on me and if i didnt have one i can us emy finger.....
i say round 3 goes to pocket pc..

>:)

eric linsley

01-25-2004, 10:41 PM

You'd have to have your PDA glued to you in order to get that kind of flexibility.

um i think most of us in this forum do keep a pda glued to us...
...

:twisted:

ctmagnus

01-26-2004, 04:13 AM

ive never had a stylus fail on me

I have! I managed to melt the tip off of one once, exposing the wire that runs the length of the stylus (presumbly to aid in manufacturing).

ctmagnus

01-26-2004, 04:15 AM

You'd have to have your PDA glued to you in order to get that kind of flexibility.

um i think most of us in this forum do keep a pda glued to us...
...

:twisted:

Maybe I'll create something like Leila's (sp?) wristband on Futurama. I'd just need pervasive landscape mode for that to happen. ;)

Flavinha

01-28-2004, 03:24 AM

I thought your article was great!!!

And I agree with most of what you wrote specially when you said that it takes so long to just write a simple note ( you gotta get the ppc, open the case, turn it on....) that by the time you are ready to write, you forgot what you were supposed to write.. :D

That happens to me a lot and so I fixed my problem with paper. I write it down very quickly and later on I write it on my ppc....It works fine for me!

Flavinha*

Aerestis

02-02-2004, 06:05 AM

Hmm, handhelds aren't that slow when it comes time for writing. I pull mine out of my pocket, hold down my note button, and it turns on ready to take notes... Then again, that is my palm. To be honest, I've only used my axim for music and documents. I haven't speed tested it yet... It doesn't fit in my pocket in a comfy enough way. I suppose it could be relatively fast too, though.

I vote pocketpc's over paper : )

Paul Martin

02-02-2004, 02:25 PM

I was just wondering, is there a simple note taking app. that can have a hardware button mapped to a new note? that would be very helpful in that I could hit the button, write my note and go on.

Couldn't you just map one of your current buttons to a note? One option is to try AutoNote (http://www.mindspring.com/~wayne.orwig/utils.html). It's a small free app that will automatically name your note to the current date...actually it's very customizable to that you can change the name format in several ways.

Since there's really no information on his site, you might check out this thread on PocketPCPassion (http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=72f38b150a06795e45a0cc119cce416e&threadid=5541).

The PocketTV Team

02-04-2004, 01:44 PM

Excuse me I demand recount.

paper can be made into paper airlane and other vairous origami object.
So that should also give paper extra point. :mrgreen:
And unlike Pocket PC, paper does not go blank when left unatended (and unplugged) for one week!