[rleo25]

Preparing info on doctogo with images and text copyed from web pages...

[murnende]

I use my Playbook for lecture notes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, I carry my laptop.

For taking notes, I use the rapid charging stand, the Apple bluetooth keyboard (bought it on eBay all of 2 weeks before Logitech launched their clone, I'd have waited if I'd known), and Word To Go. I'm thinking about adding a bluetooth mouse, but it's not a necessity.

The reason I carry it on M/W/F is that I like the weight, I carry it all in the Waterfield Designs Keyboard Travel Case which makes for a convenient and compact setup, the battery life is also a huge plus, as my laptop is only good for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, so I'm having to plug it in to make it through the day.

Unfortunately, on Tuesday/Thursday, I have a class where I take notes via notations on the .ppts that the prof makes available prior to class, which the PlayBook can't do. I also have a computer class that makes use of a java-based program, so it's back to the laptop when I need to do homework for that.

One major pet peeve of mine regarding Docs To Go is that it doesn't do lists, numbered or unnumbered, but I finally stumbled on a workaround after noticing that D2G will properly update lists in documents from Word that already have them, which leads me to believe that the coding is in there, it's just not in the UI. So, I've created a blank document that I store on the PlayBook that has a list started in it that I use as a template.

Still, workarounds shouldn't be necessary, and I'm really hoping that OS 2.0 will bring significantly increased functionality. If not, I guess I'll look forward to Windows 8 for my ultraportable laptop replacement . . .

[sleepngbear]

I've tried using docs2go to take meeting notes at work, but I find this keyboard just sucks for any kind of serious text entry. People rip on the PB for missing all kinds of stuff, but really my biggest complaint is its virtual keyboard. I just can't find a good, comfortable position to type on it in any orientation. I've had this thing since its release, and I still spend more time fixing typos than actually entering text with it. And if I'm going to slap on a blue-tooth keyboard, I may as well just drag the laptop along. It's the only aspect of the PB that I'm really disappointed with.

[kill_9]

Indeed, Docs-to-Go should have been the centrepoint of this "professional-grade" tablet considering Research In Motion bought the damn company. Research In (Slow) Motion could hire me to develop that office suite into something closer to professional-grade for this tablet. On the smartphone the limited features were not nearly as noticeable but on a larger screen the deficiencies leap out.

I recently downloaded an note-taking application Skit since it offers the ability to do freehand sketches and writing. Unfortunately, I need a stylus capable of more closely approximately a traditional ink pen because my point-and-press stylus while great for swiping across the screen, opening/closing applications, and general navigation is not sufficiently precise as a writing/drawing instrument. Each day the BlackBerry PlayBook proves itself as a worthy purchase.

[kill_9]

Indeed, Docs-to-Go should have been the centrepoint of this "professional-grade" tablet considering Research In Motion bought the damn company. Research In (Slow) Motion could hire me to develop that office suite into something closer to professional-grade for this tablet. On the smartphone the limited features were not nearly as noticeable but on a larger screen the deficiencies leap out.

I recently downloaded a note-taking application Skit since it offers the ability to do freehand sketches and writing. Unfortunately, I need a stylus capable of more closely approximately a traditional ink pen because my point-and-press stylus while great for swiping across the screen, opening/closing applications, and general navigation is not sufficiently precise as a writing/drawing instrument. Each day the BlackBerry PlayBook proves itself as a worthy purchase.

[kill_9]

And if I'm going to slap on a blue-tooth keyboard, I may as well just drag the laptop along. It's the only aspect of the PB that I'm really disappointed with.

I wish we could leverage the built-in keyboard of our BlackBerry smartphones to enter text on the BlackBerry tablet via Bluetooth. At least with the smartphone keyboard thumb-typing would still be comfortable and efficient.

[sleepngbear]

I wish we could leverage the built-in keyboard of our BlackBerry smartphones to enter text on the BlackBerry tablet via Bluetooth. At least with the smartphone keyboard thumb-typing would still be comfortable and efficient.

I thought I saw somewhere recently that this might be coming.

[bounce007]

Sliderules were high tech when I attended!!!!

There goes my Grand Pa F2... just joking!!!

[FF22]

There goes my Grand Pa F2... just joking!!!

The birthday was a week ago. Great Grand is more like it. Actually, I never did get the hang of a slide rule. I would learn how to quickly use it for some final exam and then file the knowledge away. Maybe I anticipated calculators and computers. As a Bio major I did not need it often and then I became a cobol programmer. You've probably heard of cobol - we could use our leatherman to punch out holes in thin stone tablets. Now we are back to tablets!

[Taxi2base]

Evernote!..................................

[agentjucey]

im not gonna sugar coat it... go ipad, you dont have any stencil/pencil thingy to write with that is approved by blackberry, to download slides for WEBCT to the playbook is really difficult and to make notes along the slides is tougher than u imagine, sometimes you get weird symbols and stuff missing.
buy it and try it if you dont believe me.
I use mines for surfing the web and watching tvshows mainly.

[Litt3]

why cant there be a premium office sweet. it would seem important since rim courts the business community. still i like the playbook. i use it to show powerpoints to clients.

[Disparishun]

to download slides for WEBCT to the playbook is really difficult and to make notes along the slides is tougher than u imagine, sometimes you get weird symbols and stuff missing.

Annotation is big for me in general -- Powerpoint, PDFs.

Good point about WebCT. Imagine what PlayBook apps for WebCT, Moodle, and Blackboard would do for PB adoption.

[Sharma15]

I will be buying a Playbook soon myself. Lugging around my laptop just won't cut it for me. I need some space in my bag. I've seen pleanty of students who can't get internet access in classes (I work in tech so I always get these complaints). Where as my phone gets network, not the strongest but enough to let me message and browse. Bridge would be the ideal reason for me to get the PlayBook as I don't think I can connect my phone and use the phones data wirelessly with any other tablet.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jwn66]

I wish I had these technology when I was in University :3

yea, it's not fair! lol, ****, setup to record, take nap on desk in class, watch later, win

[Airdog_2000]

Yeah the best I've been able to do this year is use my playbook as a voice recorder for lectures, which it does extremely well by virtue of the stereo microphone. Evernote was out of the question since it requires an internet connection at all times and is still fairly glitchy, and I found Word to Go's lack of automated bulleting to be too irritating to use.

[anon(757282)]

Evernote, baby. I use this for notetaking in the business environment and it is very robust and flexible. You can take text notes but also import all sorts of media to store and have indexed.

Best of all (for me) is that it has a sync function that syncs all the copies on my various devices (BB, PB, laptop) so they all have the same information.

Oh yeah, it's free.

[padamssm]

I haven't seen any mention of using MS Office apps on Office 365. I upgraded to Office 2010 and for $6/month I signed up with a basic subscription to Office 365 that lets me upload docs to the cloud and work on them using my PlayBook from anywhere. I can edit or create 2010 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (which is excellent for note-taking), and can also download them to the PlayBook (don't know about downloading OneNote to PlayBook). There is also an app for SharePoint on the PlayBook called SharePlus. I haven't tried the EverNote app on the PlayBook but it gets decent reviews.

[murnende]

yea, it's not fair! lol, ****, setup to record, take nap on desk in class, watch later, win

Not sure where you go to school where the professors are cool with being recorded. Only way you can record lectures at the University I attend is as an official accommodation for a disability. The rest of us are stuck taking notes, one way or the other.

[patpatiar]

Not sure where you go to school where the professors are cool with being recorded. Only way you can record lectures at the University I attend is as an official accommodation for a disability. The rest of us are stuck taking notes, one way or the other.

I currently go to school in Canada at the University of Western Ontario. From my knowledge of Canadian schools, particularly the ones in Ontario they don't mind being recorded in class for listening later on. (audio).

[glassofpinot]

why cant there be a premium office sweet. it would seem important since rim courts the business community. still i like the playbook. i use it to show powerpoints to clients.

Did you load Powerpoint on the PB, or are you using a cloud version (or just the Powerpoint player)?

[anon(1049620)]

wow, that blows. I was thinking about hooking up a bluetooth keyboard & using it to take notes because we are given powerpoint files by profs, I wanted want to take notes beneath them in the little box that lets you write personal notes about slides.
I wish playbook could do more for students though, instead of only being a glorified voice recorder&notepad.

To repeat what others have said, get a laptop. The Playbook isn't meant for what you want to do. It doesn't blow, it just doesn't do it.

[jwn66]

Not sure where you go to school where the professors are cool with being recorded. Only way you can record lectures at the University I attend is as an official accommodation for a disability. The rest of us are stuck taking notes, one way or the other.

Who's gonna know, shifty eyes.

[aparsonsuk]

I use my PB at work im' a teacher and it works well enough for taking notes in meetings not tried linking it to my projector or anything but for note taking in meetings i just use the memo funtion via the bridge and that works really well. I've got evernote installed as well but i've not had call to use it since i put it on so i'll have to get back to you on that one, I agree that having the ability to annotate on a PDF would really good though.
What bluetooth keyboards work with the PB by the way cause i'm thinking of getting one when i've got some cash to spare any adivce on that?

[notfanboy]

To repeat what others have said, get a laptop. The Playbook isn't meant for what you want to do. It doesn't blow, it just doesn't do it.

Laptop isnt your only choice here. iPad and android tablets can do what the Op describes.
I use Goodreader for that very purpose.