[NTLK] [OT] HWR App

[Steven Frank]

Just wanted to add that, even though I'm not a fan of iPad styluses, the one I liked most was the Adonit Jot Pro which has the same plastic disc on the end as the one Greg describes.

It looks weird and fragile, but works much better because you can see through the transparent disc to your work underneath.  You can't do that with one of those chunky fat crayon/marker style stylus tips.  As with any iPad stylus though, you have to hover you hand up off the device because any skin contact will destroy your stroke.  A lot of apps and high-end styluses promise palm/wrist rejection -- don't believe the hype.  It generally works poorly if at all.

A downside to the Jot Pro (and most styluses) is that it is perfectly cylindrical and unweighted, so it will just roll right off an uneven desk onto the floor where the removable tip may pop off and get lost in your carpet forever.  Not that that actually happened to me or anything...

Steven


> On Jul 16, 2015, at 9:43 AM, Greg Hankins <greg at greghankins.com> wrote:
> 
> I have not found a useful HWR app for the iPad, though I’ll admit I quit looking a year ago, so perhaps something useful has been created since.
> 
> I am a newspaper reporter, and use the iPad mini as my primary note-taking device. I use a note-taking+recording app called Notability. Most of my input is done by typing on the iPad’s screen-based keyboard. But I do occasionally conduct brief post-meeting interviews, standing, using a stylus. Notability has a zoom window, much as Steven Frank described, that allows the inevitably super-sized handwriting to occupy less space.
> 
> I have not tested the bluetooth enabled styli, but have tested many others, and settled on the Musemee Notier. 
> 
> http://musemee.com/us/notier.php
> 
> It has an awkward-looking plastic disk on the business end. Not sure why, but that seems to help it work better than all others I tried.
> 
> The great advantage of Notability, for a reporter, is that it links the sound recording with the text that you type or write on the screen. In review, this allows you to quickly find a quote that you want to use verbatim in your story.
> 
> I should add that I do not attempt to do actual story writing on the iPad or in Notability. For that, I use a simple text editing program on my Mac.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Greg