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After trying all sorts of pdf readers, I come close to the conclusion that reading pdf documents on a PDA is not practical at all and even irrealistic.
Due mainly to the fact that one cannot view an entire page with a readable font size without having to scroll sideways.
I end up converting pdf to lit.
Please, give opinion and eventually solutions.
Thanks all, and take care
Come on folks, just a few words about your experience with pdf...
donno i read a book as pdf once
on my pda
only had to scroll down not sideways
depend on the doc in question really i suppose
pref lit though because of bookmarks and cleartype
and not being as much a res hog as acrobat reader which i used at the time
VGA a requirement
I use an older version of Adobe reader on a VGA screen. My eyes are still good enough that I can zoom out, get a full page on the screen, and still read it. I have read an entire book this way. I am sure there are better ways to do it on a PDA. But my goal is to be able to grab a document off of the web and read it as I travel. If there is going to be conversion between formats, it would have to take place on the PDA.
That being said, it is still easier to read a word or text document than a PDF. But if you have the screen resolution and size to work with, PDF's are not impossible.
Thanks folks, that was my impression.
Answers
There are ways to improve PDF experiance. Using reflow when creating PDFs (available as an option when saving PDFs from OpenOffice, for example) greatly improves things.
Anothr good option is Repligo - you can print / convert PDFs to that format. It uses less space, documents open faster and look better (less jagged fonts).
Believe me, PDFs are annoying even in actual, desktop environments. >_>
That said, I'm using Foxit for the PPC. It loads 15MB++ files faster than Adobe, follows the original PDF format faithfully (doesn't try to rearrange like idiotic Clearvue), yet it is a standalone program that requires no installation.
That said, PDF reading is only for devices with a big screen. Definitely bigger than a Mini, let alone an Atom. Otherwise, at a big enough text to be legible, scrolling to the side is necessary - and that tends to lag a bit with bigger PDFs for devices with only 64MB of RAM or less.
I have train skeds and the Tokyo Metro Map plus a crap load more pdf files
that I use on my X01HT and yes you do have to scroll both ways but I mean
have you seen the detail of the Tokyo Metro Map?!?
It works for me. I actually like it.
Plus I get 'really cool' nods from Japanese when they see me looking
through the Tokyo Metro map on my X01HT because most of them
use the low tech pocket paper fold out.
Yes, I am a gaijin otaku and proud of it!!!
imexp then big pictures makes pdf useless on pda's as they can move the text to scale but in there is a picture in the middle they cant really handle scaling the picture down to match the width of the pda screen
I think converting to repligo is the most elegant solution since images are conserved...but it is not free
Otherwise, if pics are not important, converting to text then to lit and using microsoft reader is an acceptable free solution.
To "AquiEsta!": why don't you use the excellent "metro" freeware?
You can use the free xpdf (pocketpdf). It at least has better zoom functions then adobe and it has the option to read pdf as text files with associated functions. You lose pictures but pure textfiles are a breaze to read...
elio said:
I think converting to repligo is the most elegant solution since images are conserved...but it is not free
Otherwise, if pics are not important, converting to text then to lit and using microsoft reader is an acceptable free solution.
To "AquiEsta!": why don't you use the excellent "metro" freeware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know such a thing existed. Where would I find that? In English
would be great too!
Thanks
AquiEsta! said:
I didn't know such a thing existed. Where would I find that? In English
would be great too!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://nanika.net/Metro/
You will love it
elio said:
http://nanika.net/Metro/
You will love it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"more than 350 cities covered now"... I'm already in love with it because
I travel a lot and this hopefully will save me time and advils.
THANK YOU!!!
off I go to set it up...
Adobe Reader for PPC 2 works with my HTC Athena/Advantage VGA screen without legibility problems using its reflow function which wraps the text to your screen - no sideways scrolling needed.
Even if your documents were not prepared specifically for this Active Sync will do the necessary conversion when you transfer the docs from your PC (turn it on in file settings). If you bypass ActiveSync your reflow button gets greyed out.
For documents like maps you can switch to sideways scrolling whenever you want.
My only gripe is that the characters are a little fuzzy, so I'm looking for a fix for this.
UPDATE: fuzzy characters fixed:
Switch resolution to 95 dpi using RealVGA before opening Adobe Reader. Now works as it was meant to. Only downside is the the resolution switch involves a reset.
For reading articles and such offline I use ScrapBook (a Firefox extension) to capture the page/selection and delete ads/sidebars and then 'Save Page as...' and copy the html and corresponding images folder to my SD card. It's a pain but it's the best solution that I could find.
I use Mobipocket Reader to do the conversion and reading, it's free and works well for me www.mobipocket.com
For PDFs Picel Browser, and Foxit Reader for Windows Mobile are pretty good.
I second the picsel reader. http://www.picselpowered.com
Don't let the number of Cons over Pros put you off.
Even with these problems I still use it on a daily basis, and preferred to buy it over using free alternatives like Adobe.
Proof that mobile apps don't have to look like clunky old windows apps.
Pro
Excellent rendering of PDF files
Fine control over zoom, can use a gesture (tap & drag)
Cons
Out of memory errors with just a few other apps running
Remembers last document opened, but not page
No Search
No way of jumping to a page
pdemoore said:
I second the picsel reader. http://www.picselpowered.com
Don't let the number of Cons over Pros put you off.
Even with these problems I still use it on a daily basis, and preferred to buy it over using free alternatives like Adobe.
Proof that mobile apps don't have to look like clunky old windows apps.
Pro
Excellent rendering of PDF files
Fine control over zoom, can use a gesture (tap & drag)
Cons
Out of memory errors with just a few other apps running
Remembers last document opened, but not page
No Search
No way of jumping to a page
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I back this as well, it is bar far, THEE most impressive on a PDA.
It has no rendering lag, making it the fastest PDF reader on WM.
I would only recommend that VGA users view PDFs, QVGA isn't practical.
Hi guys!
I had decided to go for an iPad 2 with 3g when i saw the transformer.
Ive been searching the net like a maniac but havent found any info about how well it does when handwriting.
Im planning to use it for work and i need to be able to take some notes really fast from time to time. Maybee on top of a pdf file.
Is that possible? And how well is the tablet when inking?
Anyone tried stylus?
I came from the HP Slate 500. Let me just say that the keyboard dock for the Transformer blows away the inking capabilities of the slate. You may be used to inking on other tablets with windows, but I can take notes and write things much faster using the TF's keyboard. I guess all I'm saying is if you're getting the transformer for content creation, you need the keyboard.
And just as a reference: I have been making handwritten notes and it will go as fast as I can write, which is pretty fast...it doesn't lag.
I don't know about inking on top of a pdf though....
there is already this thread going which may be of help, searching before posting may help
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1079675&page=3
ezpdf gives handwritten annotation capabilities on PDF's
Also Repligo. Both are great for dealing with pdf.
For just taking notes like during a meeting or a lecture, there are a few options:
1. Genial writing, which is the best.
2. Handrite, not that much.
3. mNote, promising but works only in portrait mode. It FCs if in landscape mode.
4. Multi Memo, which I personally don't like but it also has voice memos.
Hope this helps...
i just came back from best buy trying out the galaxy note, it worked amazing in the s-note. But when i opened up the polaris i wasn't able to write like you can in s-note in pdf or powerpoint. so my main question is
Is there any other office apps configured for s-pen or for polaris is there a way to write or edit pdf, and power point files. I have to do this a lot for my classes and have to do alot of printouts for taking notes for classes. so just want to know if something like that is possible
Writing on pdfs is easy. I use EXPdf or Adobe PDF. Both work well with the s-pen. For powerpoints, just convert to pdf!
do you mean ezPDF Reader PDF Annotate Form app for android. and that's great if it does work sort of solves my printing problem and at the same time never have to go nuts looking for notes during finals.
use Soonr Scribble
Soonr Scribble turns your Samsung Galaxy Note into a state-of-the-art productivity tool for annotating and sharing any document when you're on the move.
With Soonr Scribble you can quickly capture your ideas and easily markup and share documents. It works with any type of file, on any mobile device or computer, across teams, across networks, and across the globe in real-time. Whether you’re working on spreadsheets, presentations, proposals, expense reports or just taking notes, Soonr Scribble on the Samsung Galaxy Note is the annotation solution you’ve been searching for.
Soonr Scribble is specifically designed to turn the Samsung Galaxy Note and other Samsung S Pen (Advanced Smart Pen) stylus enabled mobile devices into powerful productivity tools. Soonr Scribble lets you:
• View and annotate over 35 different types of files including MS Office Word (doc), PowerPoint (ppt), and Excel (xls) documents as well as traditional PDF files.
• Use the touch-sensitive S Pen technology built into the Galaxy Note to create high-resolution annotations.
• Create arrows and freehand drawn shapes, and add highlights to documents to fully illustrate your annotations.
• Create projects to categorize your documents, and create lists of people to share your documents and annotations, whether they're internal to your organization (members) or external partners (connections).
I use RepligoPDF - faster than ezPDF. (but not yet with Note 10.1 - I'm waiting for it to arrive)
rickyland said:
use Soonr Scribble
Soonr Scribble turns your Samsung Galaxy Note into a state-of-the-art productivity tool for annotating and sharing any document when you're on the move.
With Soonr Scribble you can quickly capture your ideas and easily markup and share documents. It works with any type of file, on any mobile device or computer, across teams, across networks, and across the globe in real-time. Whether you’re working on spreadsheets, presentations, proposals, expense reports or just taking notes, Soonr Scribble on the Samsung Galaxy Note is the annotation solution you’ve been searching for.
Soonr Scribble is specifically designed to turn the Samsung Galaxy Note and other Samsung S Pen (Advanced Smart Pen) stylus enabled mobile devices into powerful productivity tools. Soonr Scribble lets you:
• View and annotate over 35 different types of files including MS Office Word (doc), PowerPoint (ppt), and Excel (xls) documents as well as traditional PDF files.
• Use the touch-sensitive S Pen technology built into the Galaxy Note to create high-resolution annotations.
• Create arrows and freehand drawn shapes, and add highlights to documents to fully illustrate your annotations.
• Create projects to categorize your documents, and create lists of people to share your documents and annotations, whether they're internal to your organization (members) or external partners (connections).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like an ad.
Do they let you free draw in the pdf file or no because that is one of my main concerns at the moment i had some time to mess around with polaris and turns out i can do little bit of free drawing in the word and powerpoint so thats not bad and also tried the ezpdf its pretty nice sucks that you can undo the pen and change the size of the pencil but still its pretty awesome so far hopefully they come out with something better
toenail_flicker said:
Sounds like an ad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe but its a really amazing app. Super insanely difficult to figure out how to use. But brilliant once you get going.
rTek said:
i just came back from best buy trying out the galaxy note, it worked amazing in the s-note. But when i opened up the polaris i wasn't able to write like you can in s-note in pdf or powerpoint. so my main question is
Is there any other office apps configured for s-pen or for polaris is there a way to write or edit pdf, and power point files. I have to do this a lot for my classes and have to do alot of printouts for taking notes for classes. so just want to know if something like that is possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On S-note go to the menu on the top right and click import, the select PDF. It imports the PDF and lets you write on with full functionality and palm rejection. Soonr sucks. Laggiest pos app I have ever used
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
bobdude5 said:
On S-note go to the menu on the top right and click import, the select PDF. It imports the PDF and lets you write on with full functionality and palm rejection. Soonr sucks. Laggiest pos app I have ever used
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the time I can import pdf on S-note. But some pdf files show blank pages though they are visible in adobe reader. I dont know what to do with those files...
i use .ppt and .pdf files in S-note. for the .ppt files, i use the android converter by this company. They have other convert programs to pdf so it's not entirely limited. Then i use cloudprint or canon print to print the pdf out, which works pretty well. Be advised it does upload the .ppt or .pptx to their web server and then redownloads the .pdf to the directory of your choosing so you do need an internet connection.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.thinkti.android.powerpointtopdf
As for the blank pages, there seems to be a bug if you switch between writing mode and moving (or non editing mode, top button on left) while editing large pdfs. I'm still trying to figure it out but it seems if i switch to a page in non editing/drawing mode, and then click the pen, sometimes it switches to my previous page i edited on. If you go to the bottom of the page and press the arrow key going up or down in the pages, then it works. Its a little wonky sometimes
sledgie said:
i use .ppt and .pdf files in S-note. for the .ppt files, i use the android converter by this company. They have other convert programs to pdf so it's not entirely limited. Then i use cloudprint or canon print to print the pdf out, which works pretty well. Be advised it does upload the .ppt or .pptx to their web server and then redownloads the .pdf to the directory of your choosing so you do need an internet connection.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.thinkti.android.powerpointtopdf
As for the blank pages, there seems to be a bug if you switch between writing mode and moving (or non editing mode, top button on left) while editing large pdfs. I'm still trying to figure it out but it seems if i switch to a page in non editing/drawing mode, and then click the pen, sometimes it switches to my previous page i edited on. If you go to the bottom of the page and press the arrow key going up or down in the pages, then it works. Its a little wonky sometimes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't open any pda in the snote program. When I select a pda file it ask me to choose a program to complete action.. This list doesn't includes snote.
When it asks you that, hit the checkbox that says do this always and hit the back button. This was a problem i had originally on mine, after about 5 times it finally loaded.
It worked. Thanks. Now I am struggling to vary the pen pressures. Is there any menu for adjusting the pressure for one of 1024 values?
Not that I can see within S note. Also only some of them are pressure sensitive.
toenail_flicker said:
Sounds like an ad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but I tried it.. and didn't like it.. no pen annotations.. so worthless for this thread..
You can write on PowerPoint with the Polaris app that comes with the device. You can use the Kno app or snote to write on pdf's, although I don't know how to export from Kno after you write on it
Bought the Adonit Jot. It's pretty good (after adding some conductive grease), but wish the writing angle could go a little lower.
So I'm doing my Masters in Management and need to take notes. No math or science, so I just need a good simple handwriting app. I know there are some threads on this, and I've read them. I'm looking into seeing if there have been any recent updates in the handwriting app world recently.
My requirements:
1) Something to prevent accidental touches, either palm recognition or other.
2) Handwriting looks good (Not my writing, the way the program handles it)
3) I like the "input area" that then transfers to the page, the ones where you write all over the page just don't work so well.
I've tried:
ezPDF Reader - don't like the full page thing. If I was doing Chemistry, it'd be better
Handrite - Awesome, but glitchy. Sometimes writing doesn't get transferred, and one time it screwed up my note, but luckily the program saved a backup
Supernote - OK, but not anywhere as good as Handrite
Lecture Notes - don't like the full page thing, also palm recognition doesn't work to well. Also my writing looks terrible in this program.
Papyrus - Installed, but haven't tried it yet.
and some others I can't remember
Anyway, I'm looking to see if there have been any more improvements in handwriting apps lately.
Also, if anyone knows of a better stylus than the adonit jot let me know. The adonit jot is very good, almost great, not fantastic. Particularly I'd like a lower writing angle (Adonit's is 45) and something lighter. That thing is heavy.
+1
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.