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Dec 8, 2011

Samsung Series 7 Slate - Microsoft OneNote


Gear: Series 7 Slate, MS OneNote.

What is MS OneNote?
This is a note taking program that allows you to use finger touch and pen input.


Note Organization
Each Page is thrown into a Section, and each Section into a Notebook. With this hierarchy you can organize your notes and find them quickly.

Input Stuff

MS OneNote can use a mouse and keyboard, but because I'm covering a tablet I will focus on finger touch and pen input.
  • Touch
    • Single touch - Pan up/down, left/right
    • Pinch - Zoom in and out 
  • Pen
    • Press - Draw notes and sketches
    • Right click selection - Manipulate notes
    • Eraser - Delete notes (it uses a stroke erase method)

Palm Rejection
MS OneNote has the best palm rejection technology that I have seen on a program. It acknowledges that finger touch and pen are different. With this in mind they have done a great job at stopping those "accidental palm clicks". On programs like Windows Journal accidental palm clicks can be annoying because they will smudge up your notes. Ms OneNote does an excellent job.

Customization

There are many things you can change with MS OneNote. Two things you may want to customize if you are a tablet user are Quick Access Toolbar and Ribbons.

Quick Access Toolbar
This is a small toolbar that can be placed at the top of the MS OneNote Window, or right next to the Sections area. With the possibility of customization you can add commonly used shortcuts. If you hide the Ribbons you will have a much leaner looking MS OneNote.

Custom Ribbon
If the Quick Access Toolbar is a too small for your liking you can create a brand new Ribbon. Ribbons have the benefit of displaying bigger icons.

Once you have customized your MS OneNote the experience will be very pleasant because you won't have to be switching between Ribbons (more clicking = more work = unpleasant experience).

Web Sync

One neat feature about Evernote has been the ability to sync with the web and any machine, MS OneNote can do the same. I used to be an Evernote fan until I lost tons of my precious notes, and ever since that situation I ditched that program. With MS OneNote notes that I wrote back when I had the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet are now synched with the Samsung Series 7 Slate (great stuff)

Conclusion

If you have a tablet with finger touch and pen input and don't have MS OneNote then you are missing out on a great piece of software. Download a free trial and try it out.

15 comments:

  1. Hi Jesse,

    Can you show us a video with onenote in portrait mode?

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  2. The Series 7 Slate's resolution isn't great for portrait mode. Personally I like portrait for doing lists, but for anything else it's pretty much useless. This system was made for landscape mode.

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  3. Hi Jesse,

    Same guy again. If you have tried OneNote 2007, does it have the same palm rejection as 2010?

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  4. I'm not sure if 2007 has the same palm rejection as in 2010 version. I don't think I tested 2007 with a tablet.

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  5. Thanks in any case!

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  6. Hi Jesse,
    Thank you for your very helpful videos,
    I need a tablet for heavy note-taking (education & business)
    The question is x220 OR Samsung Slate PC?
    Lack of lags and delays and responsibility of pen input is very important for me.
    Can your experiences, help me?
    Thanks a lot

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  7. I thought the Dell XT3 has N-trig digitizer and not a Wacom digitizer... please corect me if I am wrong.

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    Replies
    1. I made a mistake on that, so I corrected the comment. Thanks for noticing! BTW the more proper way to confirm what pen technology they use is by checking out the accessories, or the drivers page. Again thanks!

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  8. Lenovo X220T, Series 7 Slate, Fujitsu T901 all have Wacom based pen input. All digital note taking found in tablets is not going to be perfect. Tablet PC pen input is still better than that found with capacitive pens like the iPad and most Android tablets.

    The slate form factor has its benefits, and so does the convertible. This is really up to your needs.

    If you really wanted the most powerful tablet you would have to get the Fujitsu T901 with Nvidia graphics. This is also quite expensive.

    For details:
    Samsung Series 7 Slate (Wacom) - http://www.jessebandersen.com/2011/11/samsung-series-7-slate-touch-and-pen.html
    Lenovo ThinkPad X220T (Wacom) - http://www.jessebandersen.com/2011/06/lenovo-thinkpad-x220-tablet-pen-input.html
    Fujitsu Lifebook T580 (N-Trig) - http://www.jessebandersen.com/2011/08/fujitsu-lifebook-t580-n-trig-duosense.html
    Lenovo ThinkPad X201T (Wacom) - http://www.lenovox201.com/2010/10/writing-notes-and-palm-rejection-with.html
    HTC Flyer (N-Trig) - http://www.jessebandersen.com/2011/06/htc-flyer-pen-input.html
    Asus Eee Note EA-800 (Wacom) - http://www.jessebandersen.com/2011/01/asus-eee-note-ea-800-digitzer-stylus.html

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  9. Hi Jesse,
    How would you rate this against the Samsung Series 7 Slate in terms of handwriting and note-taking capabilities only?

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Oops I meant the Samsung Against the ASUS Eee B121. Sorry.

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    Replies
    1. I considered getting the Eee B121, but after researching the internals I decided that the Samsung Series 7 Slate was the system. Check the technical specifications and you will see why.

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