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Design, Products, Technology May 12, 2011

Note-Taking Apps for iOS and Android

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With so many note-taking apps on the market for iOS and Android, it’s hard to know which ones to choose. We share three of our favorites below.

1. Evernote (free, iOSAndroid) shows up in every list like this, but it’s for a reason — Evernote is one of the strongest and most flexible notes apps around.

Funnily we don’t find its interface especially useful when taking plain old quickie-type notes, but when it comes to dropping in items for reference and adding notes to those, it’s invaluable. Evernote has map and location info, shareable notebooks, and its notes allow you to easily drop in files of all types, including audio and images, which are then synced between the web, the desktop app and your smartphone app.

2. Simplenote is a basic notetaking app with an easy-to-use interface. It’s free for iPhone and iPad, and syncs with Android phones. Syncing with all of the above is also conveniently available through the web or desktop apps.

3. Audionote ($4.99, iOS) functions like those note-taking recorder pens you see as aisle endcaps in big box stores: it makes an audio recording as you take notes, then can play them back along with whatever you’ve written or drawn.

Did we miss your favorite note-taking apps for Android or OS? Share your favs in the comments below.
By Laura E. Hall

This story appears in partnership with Unplggd, a site for people who embrace technology and design in their home.

Comments (9)

I use Simplenote a lot but for meetings and such, I use NoteTaker HD on my iPad. It’s for freehand writing. I cannot touch-type on the iPad (no one can!) and it allows me to use templates for note paper and to label and categorize my notes. Later on, I can email PDFs of the notes.

Speaking of touch-typing on an iPad, there is an interesting project in Kickstarter, a thin and light polymer-based overlay for the bottom half of the iPad screen which facilitates touch-typing. In principle, the idea is great.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1030552097/ikeyboard-0

I’m also a huge fan of Simplenote – although I do like the idea of actually capturing drawings.

Evernote is indeed a great tool. StudyBlue recently integrated with Evernote to make it easy to convert Evernote notes into StudyBlue flashcards to facilitate studying. More info on Evernote’s blog: http://bit.ly/kUhc6A.

I’ve tried to get into digital note taking. Never for meetings – pen and pencil are still the fastest. Transfer later if necessary – taking a photo of your notes may be an answer….hmmmm

I’m the same. I still take notes in a notepad or notebook actually. Gives me an excuse to keep buying Moleskine notebooks which I love.

Using a combination of old-fashioned pen and paper and Evernote. Evernote has been invaluable as tool to photograph and insert handwritten notes, as scanned text can be searched!

You know I am a Simplenote girl myself but the more I hear about Evernote the more it seems worth exploring. I really like the idea of inserting handwritten notes.

If you take notes in a notepad, moleskin, etc. Try using Genius Scan to capture the notes and transfer them later. Converts them to PDF and will upload into iBooks as well. I use it frequently to share simple sketches or take a photo of book/mag page and keep for future reference.

\Never heard of Genius Note. Thanks for the tip – will definitely give it a try. I’m always shooting stuff with the iPhone and that may be a good way to capture that info. It’s all about placing it somewhere I can find it again!

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