Handy Scanner vs CamScanner

[Lefort1]

I never thought such a program would be so useful. Having now used them both briefly, I can't decide which actually provide better functionality. I was hoping someone who has used both of these longer than myself could shed some light on why they chose to purchase one over the other.

(Lite / Full $3.99) Handy Scanner: https://market.android.com/details?id=net.halfmobile.scannerfree

(Lite / Full $4.99) CamScanner: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.intsig.camscanner

It looks like CamScanner has been around the longest while Handy Scanner is the new kid on the block. I feel like my documents come out better with Handy Scanner. But then the next question is that of support. Who will continue providing updates? The last update for CamScanner was in January. Handy Scanner last updated in February.

Thoughts?

 

[UncleMike]

I purchased CamScanner almost 1 year ago and have been generally happy with it. In a quick test I did tonight, under poor lighting conditions, a page scanned with CamScanner came out much better than with Handy Scanner. Handy Scanner's page border recognition seemed to work a little better, and required less manual adjustment than CamScanner's. But this was with only one page, in poor lighting conditions.

I would say give it a little time and see if you can come to a conclusion on your own, but apparently Handy Scanner is currently at an "introductory" price, which I suppose could go up at any time. (Upon further review at appbrain.com, it appears that the introductory price may be gone already, as of last week).

I'll do some more tests in the daytime and see if that makes a difference.

The full version of CamScanner used to make the scanned image the size of the "printable area" of the page, resulting in the page image in the PDF being slightly smaller than the original page, but the current version allows for "marginless" PDFs. The free Handy Scanner has a footer at the bottom of the scanned page (which may not appear with the paid version), the the free CamScanner had this too.

One annoyance with CamScanner is that the paid app (a license only) appears in your app drawer alongside the free app. Since the paid app really does nothing on its own, the free version is what does all the work, so it must remain. If I had no way to hide apps in my app drawer, this would constantly annoy me.

The great support I received for the free version of CamScanner is part of the reason I bought it, but I think their support has waned since then.

 

[Runesai]

My wife and I both have Camscanner on our phones, mine is a Samsung Galaxy S II and her's is an HTC Sensation 4G. We get good results. I use Camscanner all the time. I use it for grabbing serial numbers from inventory in our warehouse. The lighting in there sucks, but I still get good scans. My wife also uses it for her work with an ipad 2. She prefers her phone because the ipad's output is terrible.
I'm going to try the Handyscan though, always nice to have a backup.

 

[UncleMike]

I tried both apps again this morning using a picture from the gallery to ensure that they both started with identical images. With the page on a contrasting background, Handy Scanner found the page borders exactly, but CamScanner mis-located 3 of the corners - requiring manual adjustment. The resulting PDF in Handy Scanner was about 1/2 the size of the PDF from CamScanner, and had equal (if not better) readability.

I'm now considering buying Handy Scanner to replace CamScanner.

 

[GrouchoM]

Have you tried ScanToPDF Free? I like it...especially at the price.

 

[Lefort1]

Have you tried ScanToPDF Free? I like it...especially at the price.

I didn't feel it provided the same quality and touchup tools as CamScanner/Handy Scanner.

I must say Handy Scanner's "Print Ready" filter is starting to grow on me. It makes printing documents come out so clean.

 

[UncleMike]

I didn't feel it provided the same quality and touchup tools as CamScanner/Handy Scanner.

I must say Handy Scanner's "Print Ready" filter is starting to grow on me. It makes printing documents come out so clean.

It sounds good, and looks good on screen, but I'm finding that CamScanner's "high enhance" mode gives me more contrast and better printed documents than either of Handy Scanner's "print ready" settings. Both are readable, but CamScanner's is a little better. Bear in mind though that I'm primarily dealing with a combination of typed and hand-written documents, and for all of these, black & white scans are fine.

I'm still testing though because CamScanner's page border identification usually misses the mark, while Handy Scanner has been spot on every time. Handy Scanner also blows away CamScanner in cropping speed. These two things combined can mean a lot less time spent scanning pages.

For Handy Scanner to be this close to the front runner (IMO) for this type of app so soon after its release is surprising. I look forward to seeing what it can do 6 months from now.

 

[Lefort1]

Okay I caved and purchased Handy Scanner. My own results show better outputs on Handy Scanner vs. CamScanner, but really they are both very close--much better than free options. I also really liked Handy Scanner's "zoom" while cropping margins manually.

 

[UncleMike]

Okay I caved and purchased Handy Scanner. My own results show better outputs on Handy Scanner vs. CamScanner, but really they are both very close--much better than free options. I also really liked Handy Scanner's "zoom" while cropping margins manually.

If you have the ability to export an embedded raster image from a PDF, can you scan a page with the quality set to "High Quality" under Scanning settings? That setting is not available on the free version and I'd like to see what the resolution is in the PDF.

For reference, the low and medium settings appear to be 50 ppi and 100ppi, repectively, and the image is grayscale (with either of the "print ready" options). On the other hand, CamScanner has no such setting, and the resulting resolution appears to be 132ppi, and the image is RGB. This explains the difference in the PDF file sizes between the two apps.

CamScanner's "High Enhance" mode seems to produce darker printed areas, resulting in a darker printed copy, but I expect the "High Quality" setting on Handy Scanner to be 150 or 200ppi, and am hoping this will compensate for the less-dark image resulting from the grayscale image.

I think Handy Scanner does better than CamScanner in every area except print quality, and since the purpose of my scanning is to send the PDF to someone so they can have their own printed copy, print quality is a deal breaker. If I could get the same print quality from Handy Scanner that I do from CamScanner, I would buy Handy Scanner and dump CamScanner in a flash.

 

[UncleMike]

For anyone interested, here are two raster images of a scanned receipt - one from CamScanner, and the other from Handy Scanner. These were obtained by extracting the raster image from the PDF produced by each app.

CamScanner (using High Enahnce):

Handy Scanner (using medium scan quality, and print-ready economy):

Please, no comments about my lunch choice.