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The best (and mostly free) apps to help you keep up in class
By design, school is supposed to challenge you -- to push at the boundaries of your understanding of the world and make you a more well-rounded person. It's not supposed to be easy as much as it is fulfilling, but thankfully, there are ways to make your educational journey a little less difficult. Luckily for you, a lot has changed since most of the Engadget team went to school. To help out, we've gathered a few apps here that should prove especially useful as you gear up for more long days of learning. (Trust us, you'll probably miss them someday.) Oh, and don't worry: Every one of these handy apps is available for iOS and Android, so everyone gets to benefit.
Scan photos into Office 365 with Office Lens on Windows 10
Microsoft's Office Lens app has let folks upload photos from their iOS and Android devices since April 2015. But now your Windows 10-running phone, tablet, PC can snap photos — or even the Hololens, if that's your thing.
Office Lens for Android is ready to scan your documents
Need to quickly capture that taxi receipt, or the notes from a meeting? You can now pull out your Android phone to do it. After several weeks of testing, Microsoft has released the finished version of Office Lens for Google-powered devices. As a recap, Office Lens' party trick is its ability to scan all kinds of documents (even at less-than-ideal angles) and translate them into usable files on OneDrive and OneNote -- it'll even make text searchable. The complete Lens app should work on a wide range of devices, so you'll definitely want to swing by Google Play if you're eager to give this scanner a spin.
Office Lens for Android and iOS turns your phone into a scanner
You no longer have to carry a Windows Phone if you want to quickly copy receipts and meeting agendas for the sake of your notes. Microsoft has just released Office Lens in both finished form for iOS and a preview for Android, letting you use your device of choice to turn photos into usable documents. The experience is familiar if you've tried the app before -- all you have to do is get a good snapshot, and the app will convert the output into OneNote-friendly text and image formats. Both Office Lens releases are free, so don't hesitate to give them a spin if you'd rather take pictures than jot down memos.
Microsoft OneNote comes to Android Wear, gets updated for iOS 8
We'll say this about Microsoft's OneNote team: It's clear they want to be on every device, even ones you might not be buying. Earlier this year, the company came out with an Amazon application in the wake of some truly awful Fire phone reviews. Now, Microsoft is releasing OneNote for Android Wear, Google's still-nascent smartwatch platform. Starting today, if you happen to own a Moto 360, Samsung Gear Live or LG G Watch, you can capture a note by saying "OK Google, take a note."
OneNote updates let you start notebooks on iPhone, print on Mac
After lavishing much of its recent attention on Excel, PowerPoint and Word, Microsoft is ready to show OneNote some more love. The company has unveiled a big redesign of its iPhone app that brings simpler navigation and, at long last, the ability to create new notebooks and sections on OneDrive; you no longer have to start jotting down ideas on another device. Upgrading also brings Office Lens (already on the iPad) for digitizing real-world documents, and it's easier to start a quick note if you're in a hurry.
Windows Phone's Office Lens app wants to replace your scanner
Need a quick and dirty copy of a receipt, document or restaurant menu? Your smartphone's camera can make a rough facsimile -- but Microsoft thinks that it can do better. According to a Windows Phone Store landing page, Office Lens leverages Microsoft OneNote, optical character recognition and your smartphone's camera to put "a scanner in your pocket." The page seems to only be a placeholder for now, but the idea is pretty straightforward: snapshots are synced to the cloud, saved to your device and automatically adjusted for color and readability. Printed documents can be edited and searched, thanks to the aforementioned OCR technology and the app even has glare and shadow removal features to clean up pictures of your office whiteboard. Unfortunately, the demo page reveals very little about how well the program works, featuring only a single screenshot that reveals... the beta tester's tabletop. There's no word on when this app will be available to the public, but feel free to score a quick tease at the adjacent source link.
