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Microsocft MVP: Tablet PC
The Q1 Performance in Class
26 March 2007Posted By: TracyPosted in: Hardware
I gave the Samsung Q1 an honest shot in class for taking notes. I put OneNote and all my OneNote files on the UMPC and took notes for two days on the small touch screen. Interesting.
Benefits of a UMPC
- It has a smaller profile so you can blend in a little easier. If nothing else, you can easily hide it in one of those day planner cases or behind your backpack.
- I could use any pen I wanted. I have a favorite pen I’ve used for several semesters now (when I have to use a pen) that cost about a dollar but seems to stick around and has a nice grip. All I had to do was retract the pen tip and use the edge of the tip to write. That was nice. I tried my tablet pen, but it just wasn’t working for me.
- I could navigate with my finger if we were just going through slides.
- PowerPoints slides look pretty cool full screen on the UMPC.
- My backpack was very light on those two days.
And the drawbacks…
- I’m sorry, but resistive touch screens just don’t make the cut for full time note-taking devices. It works, yes. I can read my notes and my handwriting was fine. I could also generally keep up with the lecturer. But let me just say I felt like I was writing on a cloud when I went back to my Tablet PC with the active digitizer. The entire time I was focused on not letting my pinky touch the screen. The smoothness of the ink is also choppier than the Wacom digitizer. Not by a whole lot, but you do notice it after a while.
- The fan on this thing is a power horse. Good for cooling, but man, I was worried the guy in front of me was feeling it on his neck. I could feel it on my face if I held it on my lap with the fan pointing up. I ended up keeping my hand cupped in front of the fan to blow the hot air down instead of out.
- I could only see one slide at a time if I wanted to take notes on PowerPoints that I printed to OneNote. This is fine for the most part, but all the scrolling got tiresome. In general, I just missed seeing a whole page. Maybe I’m just spoiled by my LE1600 ^_^.
- One class we don’t have lefty desks and I usually use my lap instead. The UMPC was a little odd for using this way, when a tablet PC is big enough to act as a lap board of sorts.
I won’t be using a UMPC in class for a while, not until they have a better digitizer. I think even a 120 gram resistive digitizer would have been better, but the 80 gram is so dang sensitive. Some of the gripes I had with it could probably be fixed with a different model or usage tweaks, but the key is that I wouldn’t want to use that as my full time note-taking device.
As a student, if I don’t use it in class and it takes up space in my backpack, I don’t bring it with me. This limits the usage of a UMPC for a student, but it’s still a nice addition to a tablet. Still good for studying from.
I could see a set up where you have a digital note pad like the DigiMemo and then use the UMPC as your store-all personal computing device. Maybe I’ll give that a test run (for experimental purposes only). I am interested to see how the DigiMemo actually works. That could be a good solution for keeping things digital that you have to turn in on the spot, like quizzes and homework.
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March 26th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I was considering getting one of the Samsung Q1 until i read this. Now, I am not a student and have tablet that I use for work generally. But I have never been a fan of the pocketpc, but would like something i could get my email with and have all my documents handy.
But you seem to have put some real effort into the thing and it doesn’t appear that you are going one way or another. So, what is your thoughts if you are not using primarily to take nots.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Nice report Tracy. It affirms my general feelings on touch for inking. Now if they would put an active digitizer in the Q1, I’d be a happy camper personally!
I loved your description about “writing on a cloud”. I know that feeling when I return to an active digitizer!
March 26th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
[…] Amen, and amen Tracy. That says it so well for me also! Check out Tracy’s whole story on this experiment! She has lots of good info on what seemed to work, what did not seem to work. […]
March 26th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
[…] As a student with a 3-kilogram tablet PC “luggable”, this post by Tracy Hooten of theStudentTabletPC.com caught my attention and interest pretty quickly. At the MVP summit in Redmond, Seattle, all Tablet PC MVP’s were offered a Samsung Q1P UMPC as evaluation units (correct me if I’m wrong), And Tracy tried hers out in classes during 2 days. Her full article is up here, but I wanted to highlight some things she wrote. […]
March 26th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Very interesting. I have had a Fujitsu B142(Win-98SE)for about 6-7 yrs now, with pressure sensitive screen. Same size as the P1610. I keep it in the family room and use it while watching the news, etc. Great to do scrolling with a finger nail. I use PenOffice 2.6 to ink to text like a PDA on NotePad. Great for that, BUT the inking that fortunately goes away and converts to text, is not very smooth. I like the fact that I can write anywhere on the screen,just like my Garmin-M5 PDA. I am always concern about the NOT TOUCHING the screen with my hand. I have gotten pretty good at it, but I really like going back to my Toshiba M205. I like the pressure sensitive pen with the chisel effect. (I used to do caligraphy 30 yrs ago)
I am now eyeballing the LS1700, but I would get it only with the active digitizer.
Great comments Tracy.
March 26th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Great try Tracy, was your Q1 running Vista, and if not would you retry with Vista unit?
March 26th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Charlie - Yup, the Q1 was running Vista with the latest drivers.
Joe - I’m not sure what I’m going to use it for right now. So far, ebooks and music.
March 26th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
[…] Amen, and amen Tracy. That says it so well for me also! Check out Tracy’s whole story on this experiment! She has lots of good info on what seemed to work, what did not seem to work. […]
March 27th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Hi Tracy, Greta post! I read that the P1610 have an anti-vector system, which would make inking easier especially when combined to a light resistive digitizer. Did you ever try it? Would it be comparable to the Q1?
March 27th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Nikooo - I’ve only had a moment with the P1610 so I’m not an expert on your question, however I think it’s a 120 gram resistive digitizer and that really helps the palm from interfering. It is easier to write on, just from an initial impression.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Although pricey, would you consider the P1610 as a good alternative for heavy note taking, lectures, etc? Or would you still stick with a heavier but “real” tablet PC???
March 29th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Hi - I have also looked at the Samsung and had a problem not having a keyboard. The Medion http://www.medionusa.com/ looks interesting and has a built in keyboard. Do you plan on reviewing?
March 31st, 2007 at 9:22 pm
There’s a way to reduce the fan with a setting they call “etiquette” mode that seems to make it kick in less and less powerfully when it does kick in. I got used to the writing, but I agree the small screen makes reviewing not as adaptable. A lot of what I do I check over on an external monitor when I get home.
But it’s been a huge relief to me to stop carrying around a 4.5 pound Toshiba M400, and the six cell Q1 battery gives me an amazing amount of time before I have to plug in. The Q1 keyboard is feather light, so I don’t mind throwing it in the bag, either, though it’s not as compact as a Stowaway. But what a relief to shed three pounds of bulk, about half what an LE1600 weighs. Maybe if LE800 is the real compromise (though twice the price), but I don’t very often miss the active digitizer, which surprised me.
Most of my work is in OneNote 2007, and for me it’s only really frustrating when I need to have two or three windows open simultaneously when I’m writing.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Tracy, you should read this.
http://ultramobilepc-tips.blogspot.com/2007/04/samsungs-etiquette-mode.html
October 13th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Hey Tracy. I am givin my 2 cents and yeah resistive digitizer sucks but you should try it with a umpc which has an active digitizer since theres some more out there now theres the Koshinka(spell ?) and the HTC Shift - which i really think would be useful for students apart from the 2 hrs battery but then again it has Windows Mobile…sort of