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I'm curious if anyone is using their tablet for note-taking (like a notepad). If so, what pen do you use and is there any digitizer software available that you'd recommend.
It sounds like I'm in the minority in actually wanting to use a tablet in this manner (even though I believe that was the original concept of the tablet), just curious if anyone has tried it.
AsSiMiLaTeD_77 said:
I'm curious if anyone is using their tablet for note-taking (like a notepad). If so, what pen do you use and is there any digitizer software available that you'd recommend.
It sounds like I'm in the minority in actually wanting to use a tablet in this manner (even though I believe that was the original concept of the tablet), just curious if anyone has tried it.
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I use SktechPad by Autodesk for drawing quick skteches..
And I use InkPad NotePad to make notes for shopping list, and jotting down some quick info.
I don't use a stylus for the sketchpad, and for notes I have swype installed so taking notes is really fast for me
I use my Gtab for class every day. Note everything lets me do typed notes, voice notes and drawn notes. My lectures are in PDF format so I will read along then hit the home button to access my note everything widget and select the type of note to make. Make note then hold home key to to bring up recent apps and select acrobat reader which takes me back to the exact spot I was at. I continue with home key long presses to switch between drawn notes, typed notes and my lecture notes.
It works perfect for my biology and chemestry classes where drawn and typed notes are made daily.
I Use the app Genial Writting, It's great and saves documents in your own handwritting, just as you've written it, it's a little slower then writing with an actual pen and paper, but you can save all your notes for different classes in individual "digital notebooks". I also bought the stylus from best buy for 19.99, not sure what brand but it's in the ipad section and it's the only one they carried at the time, it works great.
Hello, I got my TF101 yesterday from Bestbuy, I also purchased the dock because what use would it be without lol.
My questions is, is there a way to emulate Livescribe functionality on the Transformer? I have spent the better part of an hour researching and looking but nothing truly fits the bill. Here is what I used and have tested.
Docs To Go. I used this on my OG droid and used it last night in class on my Galaxy Tab 7" with keyboard dock. DTG works well and is my default app.
Kingsoft Office is free and will be what I plan on transitioning to due to its enhanced UI and better features not to mention its free.
Extensive Notes allows me to either record notes or draw, but not both. This is a let down because my Art Appreciation teacher is constantly requiring us to draw examples for our notes.
Handrite Notes is another great app that does gets pretty close to my goal. While typing I am able to draw an image and it will downsize it, place it next in line of text, and allow me to keep typing. The problem here is that I am unable to go back and edit the drawing. If I make a mistake or the teacher goes and changes something I have to redraw everything.
I am ultimately looking for something as close to Livescribe as possible. I don't care if it costs. I want to be able to type my notes, draw on screen for math, art, geography, and record my teacher's lecture. I know this is a mighty bill to fit; however. I have found nothing to fully replace my pen and paper except for a tablet PC.
Perhaps something like OneNote would work?
Write is a word processor for handwriting, available for Android 3.0 and later and Windows tablet PCs. Write provides a unique set of tools which ease the editing of handwritten text by grouping strokes into lines, much like typed text in a word processor.
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.styluslabs.write
Features:
* tools: draw, erase, select, insert space, and add bookmark
* configurable stylus button support in Android 4.0
* move strokes and insert space in multiples of the page's ruling
* reflow handwritten text with the insert space tool
* insert bookmarks and label them with handwriting
* cut, copy, paste selection
* unlimited undo/redo jog dial (volume keys can also be used for undo/redo)
* pan/zoom with two fingers
* customize and save pens
* user defined page size, color, and ruling
* pages can grow automatically as you write
* split screen with web browser to take notes from web pages or videos
* html/svg document format viewable in any modern web browser
* view thumbnails as a grid or list
* when viewed as list, arrange thumbnails by drag and drop
Comments, bug reports, and feature requests can be posted to this thread; I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
-- Matt
Update (Aug 31):
v1.5 adds ability to export all docs as a single zip file, more options for pen/touch input, and more
About to try it out I'll report back
Edit:
DUDE THIS IS AWESOME.
-UI is nice and clean, also very intuitive
-Hand writing experience is the best I've used.
Things to consider:
- fit to screen button as a shortcut if you've zoomed too far in and need to get out quick.
- page navigation could be located in the bottom right and left corners of the screen, makes it a bit more intuitive. Where the up and down arrows are Now for navigation could act as an area for stating what page your on.(e.g page 6/9)
Things I'm personally looking for:
- drop box integration and PDF annotation support
Keep up keep up the good work.
Sent from my ThinkPad Tablet using xda app-developers app
Why isn't there an option for zoom and pan only with touch input?
Sent from my ThinkPadTablet using xda app-developers app
Edit: I could have sworn touch input always drew lines. Installed again and now it works fine. My bad.
DeucesAx said:
Why isn't there an option for zoom and pan only with touch input?
Sent from my ThinkPadTablet using xda app-developers app
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Not sure I understand the question - the default behavior is to allow for zooming and panning with two fingers (if the fingers start very close together, zooming is disabled). This behavior can be configured so that you can pan with a single finger or disable touch input entirely, in which case the pen button can be configured to pan (and there are zoom options available in the application menu).
If the pen isn't being recognized, try setting Force Pen in the preferences.
-- Matt
As a long-time lurker, I registered an account just to talk about this app! I've been in love with my Thinkpad Tablet for almost a year now, but I never really "clicked" with any of the handwriting apps available for it, which really sort of frustrated me. I tried out your app, and so far I've been really enjoying it! I do have a question: is there an easy path to convert the handwritten text from the Write app on the tablet into a typed form on my PC?
Basically, I'm looking for a way to use the TPT to capture my handwriting when I'm out and about, as it's easy to carry the TPT and work in any environment. The ideal solution would be some function/process to then export the document from the Write app and have it convert it to .txt or something. If I had to e-mail it to myself, or use ES File Explorer to drop it onto my file-share at home where I could get at it from my desktop PC, that would be fine too.
Just looking for recommendations on the least-frustrating way possible to do what I want to do!
Thank you very much for this app!
darkwingduck13 said:
I do have a question: is there an easy path to convert the handwritten text from the Write app on the tablet into a typed form on my PC?
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If you have Evernote installed, you can use "Send Current Page" from the Document submenu and select Evernote, which will OCR the page and make it searchable. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to extract the converted text. In the future, I will look into exporting all pages at once to Evernote.
What are your main reasons for wanting to convert handwriting to text (especially since any conversion will introduce quite a lot of errors unless your handwriting is flawless)? To be consistent with the rest of your documents? For searching? For sending to others? Something else?
-- Matt
PBSurf said:
If you have Evernote installed, you can use "Send Current Page" from the Document submenu and select Evernote, which will OCR the page and make it searchable. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to extract the converted text. In the future, I will look into exporting all pages at once to Evernote.
What are your main reasons for wanting to convert handwriting to text (especially since any conversion will introduce quite a lot of errors unless your handwriting is flawless)? To be consistent with the rest of your documents? For searching? For sending to others? Something else?
-- Matt
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Wow, thanks for responding to my question Matt!
I don't have Evernote installed, but I'll install it just to try the feature you're talking about.
Basically, I would want to convert handwriting to text in order to be able to do a number of things:
1. Easily post things I've written to my blog.
2. Move chapters of my stories into an editable word-processor-compatible format.
3. Send to an editor.
4. Archive in an easily appendable format...in the case of my stories, each one would eventually go into a single larger file as it's polished/finished and saved on my network drive and backed up.
The writing application that came with the TPT was pretty decent at translating my writing to text, but I didn't like using it to write as much as yours, and on top of that, when I rooted the tablet and installed CM 8 (or whatever version this is), that handwriting app didn't come along for the ride. I didn't realize at the time that it wouldn't be part of the package, so I'd been looking for suitable replacements. Quill had been where I'd settled until I saw your post, and I just like the functionality of your app better so far when it comes to usability while doing my scribbling.
This is a great handwriting app. I have bee using Quill for almost a year since I couldn't find another app that can do what it can. However, this app does more than Quill and I am considering switching over to this app. There are a few things I would like to see added to this app before I do. I would like to be able to draw lines and geometric shapes. It would be great if you could add an auto save function, that way I dont have to worry about losing my notes. While using Write I found myself getting ticked off by the zoom levels. When I tried to zoom to lever .65, it would automatically got to .75. Instead of having the volume keys used to undo/redo it would be better to have the used for changing pages and adding pages. I also noticed that if you have many pages of notes you wont be able to quickly go to a specific page of notes, you have to go through all the pages. A way to get around that is by making thumbnails of the pages inside the document so you can easily browse through them. Overall this is a very good app, it just needs those few things to completely win me over.
sakobatoneko said:
This is a great handwriting app. I have bee using Quill for almost a year since I couldn't find another app that can do what it can. However, this app does more than Quill and I am considering switching over to this app. There are a few things I would like to see added to this app before I do. I would like to be able to draw lines and geometric shapes. It would be great if you could add an auto save function, that way I dont have to worry about losing my notes. While using Write I found myself getting ticked off by the zoom levels. When I tried to zoom to lever .65, it would automatically got to .75. Instead of having the volume keys used to undo/redo it would be better to have the used for changing pages and adding pages. I also noticed that if you have many pages of notes you wont be able to quickly go to a specific page of notes, you have to go through all the pages. A way to get around that is by making thumbnails of the pages inside the document so you can easily browse through them. Overall this is a very good app, it just needs those few things to completely win me over.
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The document is automatically saved whenever it loses focus or the screen turns off, so the only thing that could cause you to lose your notes would be Write crashing ... if you've experienced this, let me know! Or if by auto save, you meant backing up to a different location, you could try something like SugarSync, which allows you to sync folders on Android. You can also change the folder where documents are saved (in advanced preferences) for other sync applications that don't let you specify the folders to be synced.
I've been thinking about the best way to handle geometric shapes, so there might be something like this in a future release (but not the next release).
The zoom is intentionally limited to discrete steps. The idea is to usually work at zoom = 1 and adjust the page size and ruling (i.e. line spacing) as desired. So if you prefer the way the page looks at zoom = 0.65, you can change the default Y ruling from 40 to 40*0.65 = 26.
The next release of Write will allow the volume keys to be configured.
Document navigation could definitely be improved (e.g. thumbnails). There are a couple things you could try in the meantime. First, zooming out all the way (0.10) should make it possible to scroll through pages pretty quickly - double tap with two fingers to zoom to 100% on the desired page (or one finger, if you switched the preference to single finger panning). Second, for pages you frequently go to, add a bookmark on the page next to the title or some other identifying writing - you'll then see it in the bookmark list and can jump to it by tapping on it in the list.
-- Matt
PBSurf said:
The document is automatically saved whenever it loses focus or the screen turns off, so the only thing that could cause you to lose your notes would be Write crashing ... if you've experienced this, let me know! Or if by auto save, you meant backing up to a different location, you could try something like SugarSync, which allows you to sync folders on Android. You can also change the folder where documents are saved (in advanced preferences) for other sync applications that don't let you specify the folders to be synced.
I've been thinking about the best way to handle geometric shapes, so there might be something like this in a future release (but not the next release).
The zoom is intentionally limited to discrete steps. The idea is to usually work at zoom = 1 and adjust the page size and ruling (i.e. line spacing) as desired. So if you prefer the way the page looks at zoom = 0.65, you can change the default Y ruling from 40 to 40*0.65 = 26.
The next release of Write will allow the volume keys to be configured.
Document navigation could definitely be improved (e.g. thumbnails). There are a couple things you could try in the meantime. First, zooming out all the way (0.10) should make it possible to scroll through pages pretty quickly - double tap with two fingers to zoom to 100% on the desired page (or one finger, if you switched the preference to single finger panning). Second, for pages you frequently go to, add a bookmark on the page next to the title or some other identifying writing - you'll then see it in the bookmark list and can jump to it by tapping on it in the list.
-- Matt
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I was worried that the document didn't save by itself since there was an option under the document menu to "save now." I thought that meant that I would have to click on that every time I finished taking notes. Adjusting the page size has solved the problem I was having with the zoom. The more familiar I get with this app the more comfortable I am writing with it. Keep up the good work and thanks for the fast reply. Oh, when will the next release be, if you don't mind me asking?
sakobatoneko said:
Oh, when will the next release be, if you don't mind me asking?
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The next release will probably be early in January.
-- Matt
I love how responsive it is, best free/paid app I've tried. I would like to see a different background other than normal paper. I have always liked writing on graph/grid paper. Thanks for the app and keep up the good work.
daswahnsinn said:
I love how responsive it is, best free/paid app I've tried. I would like to see a different background other than normal paper. I have always liked writing on graph/grid paper. Thanks for the app and keep up the good work.
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You can configure the page color and background by selecting Page Setup from the application menu. To get grid paper, for example, select one of the "grid" options for "Ruling".
-- Matt
Been messing with some of the setting and found the grid/graph paper, that has tons on options, and I found pen only input which always is need or at least for me it is. The more I play around with this app the more I see what other apps needed.
Looking for a different note taking app than Super Note.
I like to hand write and then immediately stitch to scribbling something next to what I wrote.
Or the other way round.
Either I'm doing it wrong or have not found the way of doing it.
But I find super note not being able to do this.
Therefore looking for an app that can do it.
Any suggestions?
you want something that allows for Keeping your handwriting intact? Or something that allows both types text and handwriting side by side (it seems like you're asking for the second one, but you said write then scribble, indicating that it might be the first)
I like to hand write something (no recognition and transforming into computer text).
Then I would like to draw something next to the writing (small diagram or something).
Then go back to writing.
Super Note offers this but in two different kind of pages..
You either have the drawing or the writing pages.
So I would need to be able to switch between them in one page.
Also I don't like the auto insert and the fact that the page has a limit.
How about Quill?
Also, have you considered using a drawing app instead? If you don't want it to change into text, just use a painting app. Try Sketchbook Mobile (Express is free.)
I'll take a look at Quill, thanks!
I have considered drawing apps. But I find the handwriting aiding lines SuperNote and others offer very helpful for writing.
Also all drawing apps I tried had a limited space and were not very responsive when writing.
SuperNote also isn't the fastest but it is usable. The best is FreeNote so far which is very smooth while writing.
I guess drawing apps fetch the pen more often to be more precise and also add effects immediately to have a nice look which is not needed when handwriting.
As a college student I use mine to take note on lectures. Both on plank pages and in imported PDFs. I use qPDF with which I'm very happy. There is a trial version that you can try out, otherwise it costs a few $.
Have you tried LectureNotes? Or TabNotes? They both allow "freehand" writing anywhere on the given page as opposed to the line by line SuperNote way. They both have trials.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda premium
FWIW, LectureNotes is the only Android app I've found that does decent "palm detection". I used to use Penultimate extensively on my iPad - and it's fantastic about palm detection. It's the only app I haven't been able to properly replace on my move to Android.
check out 7Notes in the play store
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...dge.sevennotesproducten&feature=search_result
You can scribble then convert, it has amazing handwriting recognition and is only $0.99
I love it and it has rivaled anything else I have tried.
DarsVaeda said:
I like to hand write something (no recognition and transforming into computer text).
Then I would like to draw something next to the writing (small diagram or something).
Then go back to writing.
Super Note offers this but in two different kind of pages..
You either have the drawing or the writing pages.
So I would need to be able to switch between them in one page.
Also I don't like the auto insert and the fact that the page has a limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can easily do what you're wanting using the insert annotation option in SuperNote to do your drawings (or formulas or whatever else) next to what you've written. This is available in the notebook so no need to have both types of pages. Doing it this way is nice because you can use the selection tool to scale it up/down to your liking once finished drawing.
This is how I did all my note taking/homework up until a few days ago when I found out about LectureNotes which I highly recommend. I bought the full version after about an hour of using the trial because of how impressed I was with the palm detection (compared to all other apps I've tried) and how many features it has. One of the best things is when you append a page in LectureNotes it continues directly where the previous page left off so no need to press a button to go forward or back or anything like that, just a line and says the page number
I just got a Note 10.1 and was wondering if Papyrus or Quill was better.
They seem to be very similar, can somebody who has one or both tell me their opinion about using them to take notes for class?
I noticed Papyus is free but with add ons, how much do they cost?
Also are they multiscreen supported?
Or is there a better lecture taking app out there?
Lecture notes is my current go to choice for taking notes. Right now I don't think it can be beat.
Have hope for MyScript though. MyScript has one feature I really wish lecture notes had, the ability to convert handwritten notes to text based on the fly.
I use Papyrus all the time, I prefer Papyrus to Lecture Notes... mainly due to the UI I prefer a lot... but it is not perfect, some basic features are still missing.
Papyrus worth the price...4 $ I think with all features
Si Cotic said:
Lecture notes is my current go to choice for taking notes. Right now I don't think it can be beat.
Have hope for MyScript though. MyScript has one feature I really wish lecture notes had, the ability to convert handwritten notes to text based on the fly.
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That's mine to, but I've never really tried anyone else since I'm so happy with LectureNotes.
One can solve that by using a keyboard for that, Samsung standard keyboard had a handwriting mode and if you don't like that one I'm sure there are plenty others. If you're rooted you can use tasker to set default keyboard for any given application so you won't have to change manually every time.
Sent from my GT-N8010 using xda app-developers app
I use LectureNotes all the time at uni. But one thing, that Papyrus/Quill do better, is that they are vector based instead of pixel based.
If someday LectureNotes will have that feature too, it will be perfect for me!
Can you import lecture notes into papyrus?
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD
The Apostle said:
Can you import lecture notes into papyrus?
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD
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I've not used papyrus that much but the only way I can see is to export the notebook from LectureNotes to PDF and then import it to Papyrus somehow. Since LectureNotes are bitmap and papyrus are vector based I can't see any other way.
Sent from my GT-I9305 using xda app-developers app
Papyrus looks great but I have weeks worth of notes in Lnotes.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD
I should add the app Write to the list.
It has the following pros:
It's free
Uses vector graphics
Supports pressure sensitivity of the S-Pen. It's even possible to adjust the pressure sensitivity level.
It's possible to use pages of different sizes and the size of a page can grow automatically when you write close to the edge and do not want/can't start a new line.
It's possible to select part of the handwriting to copy/move/resize it or change its style (color-ink size)
The note file is saved in HTML/SVG format, that should be viewable using any web browser (also on the PC).
One of the "cons" is that it lacks the ability to import pdf or images in the note (but it can export the note to PDF). That is probably understandable as it uses vector graphics and not bitmaps.
However, it is an app simple and well made (with several customization options) and, in my opinion, it's slightly better than Papyrus (between the apps with vector graphics).
So, at the moment, my ranking is:
1) LectureNotes (bitmap based but unbeatable for the number of options)
2) Write (vector graphics based)
3) Papyrus (vector graphics based)
4) Quill (vector graphics based)
Write is the winner for me now
Write updated recently and now you can import images into it. It also had really neat features before that.
If you are writing a sentence and forget a word you can add space by doing a ruled space insert. And it will actually shift words across the line and then down to the next line, which is really cool. It keeps everything nice and organized in the lines.
The undo has a neat "wheel" feature where you can hold down when you click the undo button, if you hold it down then you can rotate in a circle around the wheel that appears to undo multiple things very quickly, but only undo what you want to. It's a little weird to explain, so if that didn't make any sense at all, I'm sorry.
You can also do normal things like select text and move it places.
They have also added in folders now, so you can organize for different classes.
I have tried Lecture Notes and Papyrus to take notes in the university. And my final result is Papyrus. I have pay the two app xpansions to sync with dropbox and be able to draw some forms. By the way, it supports multiwindow.
I tried Lecture Notes for handwriting but Papyrus was a winner due to vector based note manipulation. This is great when you move around and zoom objects and they do not get distorted.
The downside of Papyrus is you need to invest some money (in app) to be able to have your files synced and as its using some kind of proprietary db to save notes you can not locate them in storage or simply sync them via FolderSync.
Another extension would enable text typing and erasing parts of strokes.
I almost went for Papyrus extensions but just revently found even better handwriting app (and free by this time) - Write. It does not have mentioned limitations, has great select feature, picture import (perfect for scanned documents), PDF and HTML export.
If is definitely worth trying if you own LN or Papyrus.
I've used Write but as I use a 3rd party stylus with my N8010, there's a 1mm offset that is very annoying. I've switched back to Quill for the now until I can get the offset issue sorted out.
Written on my Galaxy Note 10.1
I see you have left Awesome Note and Evernote completely out of this discussion is that due to the fact that you cannot hand write your notes in either of these? Or at least I haven't found away to. I see some advantages to both of these Awesome Note the calendar sync ability. Evernote the cross platform so I don't have to worry which device I am using all my info is available. I also like the UI of Evernote it fits my organizational ideas. If it just had hand writing to text recognition and at a reasonable speed I would be so happy. Looking forward to your thoughts.
handwritten notes
GreenFuzzer said:
I see you have left Awesome Note and Evernote completely out of this discussion is that due to the fact that you cannot hand write your notes in either of these? Or at least I haven't found away to. I see some advantages to both of these Awesome Note the calendar sync ability. Evernote the cross platform so I don't have to worry which device I am using all my info is available. I also like the UI of Evernote it fits my organizational ideas. If it just had hand writing to text recognition and at a reasonable speed I would be so happy. Looking forward to your thoughts.
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I love evernote and also wish they would include handwrite note taking. All my notes available on all my devices. Awesome. Sigh! But for using handwriting instead of keyboard.
I bought LN, but am disappointed. Papyrus looks good, but I have some notes in LN which I want to copy to papyrus but haven't figured out how. Any help here?
I will try out quill and write.
Thanks
There has been no activity here for a while. Has there been any progress in these? Which apps are abandoned? which support current devices? Any new ones to consider?
All are still good. I've used Quill and Papyrus pretty much as long as I've owned my tablet and recently downloaded Write to try. Lecture Notes happens to be free today in the Amazon App store, so I've just downloaded that but haven't yet used it. Since I don't have tons of notes that need to be grouped or organized, my preferences are based on actually using the apps, not how well they function as a complete system. So take into account if you need this app to also be more like an Evernote or complete storage system, you might value the apps differently than I do.
Quill isn't actively being worked on, and has fewer features and pretty much non-existent organization of notes. But I find it the nicest to actually use if all I want to do is write from scratch. I just like how it's organized, how the menus work, the writing experience, the palm rejection, the eraser settings etc. Notes export just fine to Evernote, to a directory, or to several other Android app the same way the "share" button typically works, and so I export and organize pdfs outside of the app.
Papyrus is my go-to if I need to import a pdf (paid add-on to get this feature). It's also quite good, but I do find it just slightly clunkier to use than Quill. I'm often making little mistakes I need to correct because I'm expecting it to act like Quill, but it doesn't. If I could only have one app, it would have to be Papyrus just because I do need the ability to annotate pdfs in addition to writing notes from scratch. But it always seems *just* a tad more effort to use than Quill. Not enough to be a big deal, but enough to notice that I'm not using Quill. Papyrus was just updated a few days ago, so this is an entirely full-featured, current app that does everything I need it to do. It has some basic note organization which is certainly better than nothing and perfectly sufficient for my needs. I *like* it, I just wish it felt more like Quill while I was using it.
I've had Write for a few weeks and used it a bit. The web view is useful if you would use that (top part of your screen is a browser, then your document is beneath, for you to take notes while on a web page). The "insert space" feature is completely unintuitive, and I still can't figure out how to use it properly, but the "lasso mode" to circle and move text around works as expected, and is a welcome feature that I only recently learned Papyrus has and wish that Quill had! I think in general, I just don't find it the easiest thing to use. It has a lot of menu items, some of which don't intuitively make sense. I think I would have to use it a lot more to actually feel comfortable using it, although it does a lot of things. I've been using software like this since my old tablet PCs 10 years ago, and still I feel like there's a lot of "figuring out" how the developer meant this app to work required to use it. But, it's free! Zooming works well, and you can export to PDF but not import a PDF. It doesn't appear to have been updated since 2013, but then again, neither has Quill and I have no hesitation recommending that one, provided you're OK with a limited feature set and primarily want a smooth writing experience.
I've only just downloaded lecture notes today but I know this is a very popular app and was updated earlier this month. It felt like over kill to me when I tested the free trial version years ago. And even just launching it today, I'm finding all the various menu options and settings a little overwhelming. I didn't feel like I could just pick up and go with this one, although if I dedicated myself to learning and using it, I'd probably appreciate all the customization possible. I tried to find a few basic settings that I know I like (eg stroke erase) and the first hurdle seems to be that it doesn't support that. But, the "cutter" feature (like the "lasso" of Write) works very well and I can see myself using that. You can't initially import pdf files, but have to download their free PDFview app. Once I did that, the menu option to import PDF appeared, but it's kind of a weird PDF import. Instead of actually writing on the PDF (like other apps do), you import maybe a graphic of the pdf (?) because it shows up in the way an imported image would, in a smaller box with the ability to resize it. Trying to resize the PDF to a full page made the original pdf text a little fuzzy. So, I'm not exactly pleased with that compared to Papyrus, but I need to be a little pickier about having original-quality looking PDFs that I can then annotate. Also, that imported PDF doesn't become the background like it does in Papyrus, but rather I found that when I went to erase something, I erased the underlying PDF, too. I think LectureNotes supports multiple layers, so if you go to the trouble of figuring that out, then I would assume you could protect that layer, or only edit layers on top of it. Sorry if this all sounds negative, and certainly I have very little experience with this app so most of this really speaks to how user-friendly it initially seems coming from other apps, and not an indication of how someone well-versed in the app experiences it.
If you must restrict yourself to one app, and PDF import is important to you, I think it has to be Papyrus. Of course, since Write is free, you don't have to restrict yourself to just one. Try Write and maybe it's good enough for you. It's difficult to recommend Quill if you care about organizing the original notes because you do just get one mess of files. But things export nicely, and it's the one I'm happiest actually writing with, if all I'm doing is handwriting notes. My initial reaction opening Lecture Notes is that I don't like it compared to the others, and I don't immediately see what I get from it that I don't from Papyrus. But it's free today, so if you happen to see this then grab it for yourself from Amazon.