Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Reader. World's WORST Notebook
Reviewed in Canada on December 8, 2022
The hardware is glorious, but the note taking and internet browser software is a total joke. Seriously, in its current form, Scribe cannot be used for serious note taking. The pen and screen are awesome. If the following changes/features are added, the Scribe will become a note taking powerhouse.
1. The FLYOUT MENU needs to be free floating so that it can be dragged anywhere on the screen or, at the very least, up and down along the margins of the page.
2. The FLYOUT MENU should have an ‘intelligent avoidance’ setting that, when on, the menu moves out of the way as you draw (write, print, etc.) close to it. For example, if I'm writing on lined paper, as I fill up lines, the menu should drop further down on the page when my writing get’s within two lines or ½ inch of it.
3. The FLYOUT MENU needs an auto-close setting so that (if turned on) after a selection is made from the open menu, the menu closes.
4. Add a ‘scratch to delete’ feature so that a user can delete something just by scratching it out. This is a well-trained practice among people that take notes on paper with pen (which is most note takers) and so feels much more natural than flipping the pen over to use the eraser or else using the side button.
5. Add a touch gesture – two fingers on the page causes the pen tip to act as an eraser.
6. Add a touch gesture – two fingers double tapping the page causes UNDO - subsequent double taps keep 'undoing'.
7. Add a selection to the FLYOUT menu with three different grab types: oval, rectangle, and magic wand. This allows the user to select what is written on the page.
a. Once a selection is made, a new menu should appear that gives users the following tools to affect the selection. ADD TO SELECTION; DELETE; COPY; MOVE; SCALE; STRETCH; VERTICAL FLIP; HORIZONTAL FLIP; ROTATE CLOCKWISE; ROTATE COUNTER CLOCKWISE; SEND.
b. Creating a selection can be done through multiple grabs – when in selection mode, tapping the page with two fingers puts the selector tool in “add” mode (same as ADD TO SELECTION) so that whatever the user selects next is added to (instead of replacing) whatever is so far selected.
8. Add DELETE CURRENT PAGE to FLYOUT MENU
9. Add INSERT PAGE HERE to FLYOUT MENU – this adds a page to the notebook in front of the current page.
10. Add MOVE PAGE to FLYOUT MENU – this allows the user to move this page to any page position in the current notebook or any other notebook or using it to create a new notebook.
11. Add COPY PAGE to FLYOUT MENU – this allows user to keep the page on a clipboard and paste it in this or any other notebook
12. Add CLIPBOARD to FLYOUT MENU
13. Allow templates to be selected for each page, NOT merely for each notebook. This way, a notebook can have different templates from one page to the next. Creating a new page should default to the template used on the previous page.
14. Add ORIENTATION to FLYOUT MENU – Landscape and Portrait orientation needs to be available for each page so a notebook can have different orientations from one page to the next. Creating a new page should default to the orientation used on the previous page. Creating a new notebook should ask orientation for starting page. Changing orientation of an existing marked page should cause user to be asked the following question IF the change in orientation interferes with the existing markings: YOUR EXISTING WORK DOES NOT FIT THE NEW PAGE ORIENTATION. DO YOU WANT TO SCALE OR CUT OFF YOUR WORK?
15. Highlighter needs three shades – yellow, blue, pink – and map them onto the PDF standard so that the color is properly represented when exported to pdf and viewed on a color screen.
16. Allow audio clip insert.
17. Allow speech to text(dictation) insertion on page, into keywords, and on notes.
18. Allow direct text insertion anywhere on the page – this is not an object on a layer so, once added to the page, it is not editable as text – it becomes just another part of the markings on the page. But. When inserting the text, the text is typed, can be moved around, edited, font, size, kerning can be changed. It behaves as though on a layer until it is completed and pasted to the page.
19. Automatically generated Table of Contents (TOC) with hyperlinks:
a. Add TITLE and SUBTITLE pen-type to pen writing tool.
b. Text written with ‘title’ or ‘subtitle’ pen-type causes an automatic entry into a self-generating table of contents. The table of contents simply lists all lines of text written in title and subtitle weight, replicating the line (but scaled smaller), and acting as a hyperlink to the corresponding page of the notebook.
c. Tables of contents are automatically generated and cannot be edited directly. Any change to the notebook involving existing titles or subtitles (whether they are modified, deleted, moved on the page, moved to another page, or subject to page insertions or deletions) is propagated to the TOC automatically. Clicking on a TOC entry takes user to the corresponding page.
20. Add INSERT NOTE to FLYOUT MENU – it functions exactly as it does on books except that, to start creating a note within a notebook, you select the INSERT NOTE from the flyout menu then tap anywhere on the page where you want the NOTE to be bound. This then launches the note creation dialogue box which functions exactly like it does for books.
21. Add KEYWORDS – keywords can be added to any title, subtitle, or page. Keywords can be searched for within a notebook or across selected notebooks. Keywords remain bound to their particular objects. For example, is a keyword is bound to a title and the title is deleted. That keyword is also deleted. If the title is moved or copied to another page, that keyword is also moved or copied.
22. Add FIND button to FLYOUT MENU – this allows user to search all notes and/or keywords within a notebook or across selected notebooks and then jump to the desired instance.
23. Long pressing on the page number of a page brings up notebook navigation, allowing user to jump to a different page by selecting from a mosaic of pages or else entering page number.
24. When the FLYOUT MENU opens, also open whatever submenu was last accessed.
Give me these abilities, and I will be very happy indeed! But as it stands, the Scribe is not suitable as a replacement to pen and paper. Not even close.