The new handwriting app Plumbago launched by Microsoft seems to be the next competitor to OneNote. The major company advertised its newest app as transforming your normal handwriting into a stunning one by smoothing it.
The new handwriting app is set to make you write more easily on your Windows tablet equipped with Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, such as Microsoft Surface, but also help you achieve a pleasant result. Unfortunately, the smoothing feature seems be unusable for the moment. However, Plumbago also focuses on adding art and easy doodling.
In more details, the Microsoft app can be used to configure a virtual notebook with a maximum of 25 pages. Each page can have a custom background, including one with horizontal lines made to look like old notebooks for school. The only setting of Plumbago appears to be the smoothing scrollbar.
This feature is the same as OneNote on Microsoft Surface. Users only need to press the button from the stylus to start the app, even if the tablet is in sleep mode. However, many have complained that they sometimes get lost in the interface since numerous embeddable objects and notebooks are crammed together on the screen.
This is where Plumbago might truly come in handy. Its radial menu is very easy to use: you can select the type of pen and its color, but also import pictures from the files that are stored on your device. The app also has a nice touch with the behavior of graphite or ink once it reaches the paper like in real life.
Plumbago is an experimental project from Microsoft Garage and as a result does have some issues. First of all, if you attempt to write with ink in portrait mode, the text will stop being recognized from the middle of the paper. It seems the ink fails to adapt to the portrait mode. Secondly, the smoothing feature appears to be unusable since it does not make any noticeable differences to the notes.
Plumbago’s interface software engineer is Gavin Jancke, also the engineering general manager in Microsoft Research. According to him, the new app is currently in an experimental stage as the company wishes to understand how people want to use Plumbago. They expect loads of feedback from users in order to improve the app and change the features in order to make it useful for everyone.
While the handwriting app Plumbago launched by Microsoft still has room to improve, after a couple of updates it should be a valuable tool for all of us who like taking notes by hand.
Image Source: Microsoft Blogs
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