It takes me about 2.5 hours of commute time to get to work and back everyday, I usually read during the commute to be somewhat productive. I recently purchased a textbook that I'm really interested in reading and applying, and the best way to learn is to actually do so I want to do all the excersises and problems the book gives.

Basically I thought why not purchase a somewhat small to medium size tablet with a good battery life and using a note taking app to work out the problems. As working with paper can get very messy (especially on a train) and I feel it might be worth a shot to try out a tablet for note taking.

Currently Im considering the google Nexus, but I wanted to hear from the community about what tablet they would recommend with a good battery life and a good touch display (I want to use a style to do my writing), and also what note taking app they would recommend if any. Thank you for your time.

Personally, I would wait a bit for some good Windows 8/Windows RT tablet with pen support, if note taking is important to you. It might not be the best option.

I love my tablet, but it's horrible for typing. You'd probably be better off with a bigger phone that had a pull down keyboard.

I haven't tried using my Nexus 7 tablet for note taking, so don't have any suggestions there, but the battery life on it is great. I have mine over-clocked from 1.2Ghz to 1.6Ghz and I still don't need to charge every day, unless I play a lot of some of the more resource intensive games like Dead Trigger. So for general use, the battery should be more than sufficient.

@Len,

There is no touch feedback when you hit anything, so you never feel like you are typing anything. Also the keyboard is just another app that is running, and is subject to all kinds of slowdowns and other nonsense. Also very easy to hit the wrong letter(s) if you hit on the border of 2 or more. So it takes forever to type anything. Moving the cursor, or copying and pasting is very slow to do.

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My Asus transformer has an optional keyboard dock that turns it into a netbook and extends the battery. Or there are bluetooth rubber roll-up keyboards.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/edc1/

Netbook is cheaper and has a keyboard. Probably better off.

Google Nexus 7 is what I would go with. I haven't bought it myself yet, but the price vs battery time alone are enticing enough to compel serious consideration.

I personally uses ipad. currently it depend on the software wheter its easy or not to do the note taking. however, there are two bluetooth pen coming out, but still not available here locally. So things might improve then.

but only for simple note taking (write ups). other than that i uses the screen keyboard.

I love using my Samsung galaxy tab 2 7.0" with stylus. One of the coolest applications I have found for taking notes is FreeNote. Freenote lets you write with your finger or stylus, but also gives keyboard if you want. The notes can be easily shared to places like Facebook and Twitter as images.

The only reason I bought this tablet is for taking notes at my lessons, because my netbooks battery is not long enough and typing some notes or drawing with the touchpad can be annoying. Why I usually opted to use paper for noting, but now I can write on the tablet and later print my notes if I want to.

I would not recommend a tablet for what you're planning. Seriously, and I say this as someone who has spent years developing tablet software. A tablet is intended as and designed as a consumption-only device. The user journeys are all designed around consumption, especially commercial consumption. You will find the user experience trying to use them for anything alse (except maybe stopping a door open) will be frustratingly poor.

If you really insist on using a tablet for computer-style interaction, I would recommend something like the Asus Transformer. You can at least stick a keyboard on it, and you can root it and install an alternative OS that allows more than passive reaction. Commercial distribution of the more useful converged phones are still a year or two away.

I would not recommend a tablet for what you're planning. Seriously, and I say this as someone who has spent years developing tablet software. A tablet is intended as and designed as a consumption-only device. The user journeys are all designed around consumption, especially commercial consumption. You will find the user experience trying to use them for anything alse (except maybe stopping a door open) will be frustratingly poor.

I do not see how tablets are meant only for consumption, because I am writing this post with my tablet. FreeNote app for example is not meant for consumption, but for note production and it allows moving the notes to other places where you can consume them. Of course there exists ton of applications for tablets which are for consumption, but also tools like FTP, text editors. I love how I can use Google drive to write documents on my tablet and discuss with my friends on skype.