I'm looking for an app with the following requirements:
- make photos of documents
- automatic OCR (output preferably a PDF, but image and txt would be OK, too)
- no cloud
- batch photographing multiple pages
- touch to focus for half-empty pages where the cam refuses to focus in the center.
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So far I have found nothing good among the 13(!) apps I tested.
Cloud infested: Abby FineScanner (even though they sell a mobile sdk for ocr, their app doesn't use it), Adobe Scan, the Google thing, Ms Office Lense
And the rest has various faults:
- Bad OCR (only letter by letter, not language assisted, so loads of typos, especially for german (ß/B, u/ü)). Sadly within this bunch while otherwise my best candidate: Scanbot.
- weird focusing or flash
- auto capturing out of focus
- a manual straightening step (I'd even build a shoe-box rig for scanning if I have to)
- no flash vignette removal (can't be that hard and would improve the OCR a lot, though here again a shoe-box rig with led strips could work )
I hate the inability to copy rich text or images to clipboard inside android, otherwise Tab S3 is good to go as a slate.
If you are thinking of buying an android tablet, make sure you get a good stylus for yourself, otherwise your transition to paperless will be painful. for example you can check the features like palm rejection, pressure sensitivity, battery life, tilt support etc.. Surface devices are hailed for surface pen, but when I use them I find the pen bit heavy and big.
You can use office lense to take photos of your previous notes.
That is all ,there is to android.