With well over 100,000 apps in the iPhone App Store now, it ‘s pretty rare to find that ‘there ‘s not an app for that ‘ when you think of things you need to do on the iPhone, or even in life in general. It is common though to find many apps that offer to do the same thing, and to struggle to find the one or ones that work best for you and your own habits and preferences.
Note-taking is an area where I think there are a number of good apps around “ but it ‘s also one where I have several that I have used but where I still haven ‘t found a good ‘groove ‘, a routine workflow that feels like an ideal way to do things.
Three of the apps that I ‘ve spent quite a lot of time with are shown in the icons at the top of this post “ Evernote, Simplenote, and Dragon Dictation. I ‘ve also used Notes Pro, PhatNotes and various other text note apps, as well as SpeakEasy, QuickVoice, iProRecorder and many other voice note apps.
Here are some extremely condensed thoughts on a few of these apps I ‘ve used a lot and that each might offer a strong solution for all my iPhone note taking needs:
Sinplenote “ as the name suggests, simple and minimalist UI, much like the built-in Notes app. Now has a good and expanding range of sync options, including a dashboard widget and a free desktop sync partner app for Mac.
Dragon Dictation “ the new and super cool voice recognition app. Once I really get to know my way around the commands that can be used in this app, it may become the go-to app for new notes input.
iProRecorder: The best of all the voice note apps I ‘ve tried “ not least because it ‘s the only one I ‘ve found that lets you add to existing voice notes even after exiting the app, closing / saving an individual recording etc.
Notes Pro “ Another simple, elegant UI modeled on the built-in Notes app. Sends notes to Google Docs “ ha promised two-way sync was coming for quite a while, but not delivered so far.
PhatNotes “ Very full-featured for a text-entry notes app. Expensive and Windows-only desktop sync partner ($19.95).
Evernote “ My ever-present. Because of its range “ across mobile, the desktop, web browsers “ this is the main repository I want all my notes to end up in.
OK “ but here ‘s the rub for me right now. I ‘ve tried out many notes apps, and found several I rate highly and like using “ but what I haven ‘t been able to find is a good workflow, a nice routine to rely on when taking notes for app reviews, random ideas, and whatever other subjects.
And here are a few ‘ideal world ‘ scenarios I ‘d like to see, that I think might get me very close to finding a routine to stick to:
— Evernote comes up with a much nicer and more effective interface for working with text notes
— Evernote allows for adding to existing voice notes
— Simplenote “ or others “ add a ‘Send to Evernote ‘ function.
— I become a Dragon Dictation master and pair it with Evernote to form the perfect one-two punch
What are your iPhone note taking habits and tips? Which is your go-to app, or apps?
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TAGS: Evernote, iphone apps, iPhone note taking apps, Notes Pro, Simplenote
