Best note taking app for iPad

[akat]

I got my stylus today and now i'm looking for a good notes app that supports handwriting. I can't decide between Notes Taker HD, Notes Plus and Noteshelf, they are 5$ and have similar functions. Anyone here using either of them maybe?

Sorry I'm replying to you, I'm not using any of those apps but I use UPAD which is $5 also and it is a GREAT app for both handwriting and making annotations. It has the wrist protection and zoom for writing and it also allows you to make text notes. You can try the lite version which it exactly as the paid one, except that the lite version has a limited number of files. If you have any questions about it let me know.

No need to apologize, actually thanks for the great recommendation. I got Notes Plus and they are Ok, but the most important thing for me, handwriting recognition is not so good, sometimes some of my strokes didn't get recognized so I had to go back and fix them. Nothing serious but it's still a hassle. Then I tried the lite version of upad, and I love it, however there is one feature missing that would really improve it - ability to export notebook as a pdf, because right now when I have a lot of pages in a notebook I can only email them as photos. Does the upad dev have a web page like viet tran ( dev of note plus) has?

The purchased version of upad allows for export to PDF. I use it & think it's a great program.

 

[rjacobsen]

Well, I downloaded Evernote and IMMEDIATELY fell in love with it. The fact that it syncs automatically is a HUGE plus for me. Not to mention the fact that I can attach documents to it. True, I have to pay to attach word documents but $45 is really not that bad. I'm going to continue to play with it and see what all it can do. But for right now; I give it TWO thumbs up!

How does it synch "automatically"?

When I attach my iPad I have to tell the iPad to sync with Evernote; it doesn't sync when I go a general iPad sync.

Also, if I am working on my computer when I finish I do a sync which simply loads the changes into the Evernote server. Then, when I open my iPad the first thing I do is an Evernote sync to bring my notes on the iPad up to date from my computer changes.

What, if anything, am I doing wrong?

You have to wait 5 minutes, on the mac it's under preference>Sync I'm not sure on the iPad what the interval is.

 

[Kath]

Wrong quote. Sorry

 

[Kath]

No need to apologize, actually thanks for the great recommendation. I got Notes Plus and they are Ok, but the most important thing for me, handwriting recognition is not so good, sometimes some of my strokes didn't get recognized so I had to go back and fix them. Nothing serious but it's still a hassle. Then I tried the lite version of upad, and I love it, however there is one feature missing that would really improve it - ability to export notebook as a pdf, because right now when I have a lot of pages in a notebook I can only email them as photos. Does the upad dev have a web page like viet tran ( dev of note plus) has?

Yes, the purchased version of UPAD has this feature. You can export an entire notebook as PDF. But honestly, it only allows you to do at a max of 50 per export. Still enough for me. Ohh and you can select the range you want to export ( example: pg 27 to 55)

About the handwriting recognition, I use another app for text writing. Is called Underscore Notify. It costs $2 and with a $3 in-app purchase you get the handwriting recognition app from WritePad which I think is really great. It recognizes even cursive strokes! So I think you can really like it. The app itself is really good but for handwriting only and making annotations I still prefer UPAD and for text notes I use Underscore Notify. Since this app doesn't has a lite version to try it, if you have any questions let me know.

 

[madam_octa]

Thanks for all the help guys, upad it is

 

[Rzepkanut]

I got my stylus today and now i'm looking for a good notes app that supports handwriting. I can't decide between Notes Taker HD, Notes Plus and Noteshelf, they are 5$ and have similar functions. Anyone here using either of them maybe?

Note taker hd is the best of the best.... It's got the smoothest handwriting and fastest response time to my stylus. And I know the developer is legendary programmer dan bricklin, (google him and see what I am talking about) who is "always working on the next update" adding even more features to his already awesome app.

The others are okay no doubt, but if speed and detail are important in making your notes, use Note Taker HD!

 

[cshmech]

Note taker hd is the best of the best.... It's got the smoothest handwriting and fastest response time to my stylus. And I know the developer is legendary programmer dan bricklin, (google him and see what I am talking about) who is "always working on the next update" adding even more features to his already awesome app.

The others are okay no doubt, but if speed and detail are important in making your notes, use Note Taker HD!

Does it have wrist protection? I'm using sundry notes now, it also has good response, but no wrist guard is a let down.. How is the response of note taker HD when compared to sundry? I Tried note taker lite for iPhone and I liked it. I don't think there is any necessary for the shrinking feature for iPad.

P.S: sundry notes is free. I don't mind spending money if the app is really good!

 

[jollywa]

Does it have wrist protection? <snip>I don't mind spending money if the app is really good!

Notetaker HD does have a wristguard, as I recall. But it did not work very well for me and my style of writing. I no longer use it. It just sits there on my desktop. I prefer Penultimate, but I wanted an app for just the handwriting feature. If you want to be able to do other things in the app in addition to handwriting, then Notetaker HD might be a better choice. I bought at least 5 apps before settling in with Penultimate fairly comfortably.

None of the handwriting apps that I have tried for the iPad compare to the handwriting recognition that I experienced on my old tablet PC; however. it is not new and it is a bit bulky compared to the iPad. I consider Penultimate on the iPad a reasonably fair trade off compared to my tablet PC and its weight.

For me the ultimate tablet would have a feature that allows you to turn the 'touch' feature on and off; when in 'off' mode, it would function like a normal tablet and when 'on' it would function like an iPad. A girl can dream.....

 

[Rzepkanut]

Notetaker HD does have a wristguard, as I recall. But it did not work very well for me and my style of writing. I no longer use it. It just sits there on my desktop. I prefer Penultimate, but I wanted an app for just the handwriting feature. If you want to be able to do other things in the app in addition to handwriting, then Notetaker HD might be a better choice. I bought at least 5 apps before settling in with Penultimate fairly comfortably.

Penultimate is ok, it just has almost no features. It makes me feel like a preschool kid playing with crayons trying to write a big note on a small notepad... But using Note taker hd makes me wish we had iPads back when I was in college because it would have replaced all my notebooks!

 

[mach5k]

Only issue I have with penultimate is I wish there was a full screen option. Way too much real estate wasted making it look like a notebook. I need the full screen to draw diagrams, and I like having them saved in a notebook.

Then would love to see them offer searching of handwriting like Microsoft Onenote for tablets does.

WritePad seems to have OK handwriting recognition.

 

[jollywa]

Then would love to see them offer searching of handwriting like Microsoft Onenote for tablets does.QUOTE]

I have yet to find an app for iPad that comes anywhere near MS Onenote. With my old HP tablet, I could take notes in meetings, convert them to text and email the minutes to everyone right away. Not with the iPad, yet, unfortunately.

One day there will be a hybrid tablet, where you can have true tablet functioning one second and touch functioning the next.

In the meantime, I am happy to be able to write my notes in a meeting without having to use a stupid little pretend keyboard that you have tyo use a stupid little bubble to get back to a place to correct your typos on - or its typos on, since even with auto-finish turned off it is still finishes my words with nonsensical ones. I just realized that perhaps I should go check that setting and see if it might have been re-set to default following an update...

I agree the Notetaker HD has more features. Unfortunately it did not work very well for me. I got sick of having to go back and remove all the squiggles later, so I quit using it. The wrist guard just worked on such a small portion of the slate. I am not willing to learn a new style of writing just to satisfy an app. If I wanted to do that, I would just type.

 

[Jeffster]

Almost Happy...

Just thought I'd share my thoughts after reading previous threads and testing out a few apps. I was looking for an app like MSOneNote but one that I could share and edit my notes with others, plus be easy to manage a large number of them:

#1 Daily Notes – best notes app I have found so far that meets my needs.
Pros: It puts my notes into dates, so I can track against meetings, plus has search tool for when I have lots. Emailing notes works ok so I can collaborate after, as does attaching photos (useful for pics of white boards drawn in meetings) and it backs up to Dropbox in case I lose my ipad data.

Cons: The biggest drawbacks so far - you can’t draw on it (maybe important to others on this thread, but I don’t use a stylus – yet) plus you can’t edit in full screen in landscape mode, and it costs £2.99 but it seems you have to pay for anything good these days.

Others:
Evernote –
Pros: Okay at organising notes, and the online sync to the PC app is good
Cons: CRASHES when you try to email notes! (also doesn’t use the full screen in landscape mode) – so no good for me until they fix that.

uPad -
Pros: mostly good, virtually everything you could look for in terms of creating a note
Cons: it can ONLY export/email your notes out as pdf or image files, so no good if you want to share editable content

MobileNoter -
Pros: in theory would have been great, as I love OneNote
Cons: the onenote sync doesn’t work! At least not for me as it conflicts with my OneNote2010 and so is quite expensive for what it is, esp if you subscribe (plus it only uses part of the screen to edit notes)

OmniFocus -
Not tried yet but I'm listing as it looks like what I need in theory
but @£24 it’s a bit of a risk just to test out – unless someone else can vouch for it?

Good luck in your search!

 

[mmicro]

Just got iPad

Hello!

After a days of searching note taking app for my needs, I found Beleshka.

It supports keyboard and stylus input and have shape detection tool.

I tested lite version for few days and yesterday bought full version.

 

[Denrael]

Has anybody looked into the new Note Taker HD?

I have to admit I love NoteTaker HD. I've been using it with a stylus in meetings and it really just flows well. I originally thought to send the noted to Evernote for handwriting recognition, but I have found instead i can still find things easily in Notetaker. I think the UI could be better, but the actual note taking is superb.

 

[Hotwaffleman]

Note Taker HD is hands down the best for taking handwritten notes. When they updated it and added all the charts, graphs and table widgets, I did notice a little performance hit on the iPad 1. I'm sure it's no problem on the iPad 2. But still, it works so well. While I hardly use most of the new tools, for form maker is KEY. For copying tables of information, like German verb conjugations in class, it's a breeze to pull the form maker out of my favorites, quicky use the sliders to make a little table and then handwrite the info into the table.

on a side note, the new notebook app from Wacom has become my go to app for jotting down a quick note of drawing a quick sketch or diagram to show to someone. But with only one virtual notebook available within the app, it is too limiting for organizing notes. But as digital scrap paper, it's excellent.