Elements ($4.99) is a relatively new text editor, but it’s one of the first ones to feature two-way note syncing through Dropbox. Sync your notes, but maybe not all your notes I’ve used a beta version of Elements 1.1 (the current version as of this review) for the last few weeks, although I have, admittedly, […]
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Review: Elements 1.1 for iPhone

Sep 29th 2010 by

Elements ($4.99) is a relatively new text editor, but it’s one of the first ones to feature two-way note syncing through Dropbox.



Sync your notes, but maybe not all your notes

I’ve used a beta version of Elements 1.1 (the current version as of this review) for the last few weeks, although I have, admittedly, had some trouble taking it on as a full-time note app. The main problem I’ve had is that Elements just doesn’t seem up to handling all of the notes I want to store in Dropbox (~550 notes). I’m not sure how other people take notes, but I like to stick almost anything I can think of — random thoughts, school notes, article drafts — right into my note apps.  This means that some notes can be as small as 10 just words, while others are comprised of 2500 words or more. Actually editing and scrolling through my list of notes is alright, but searching for words slows everything to a crawl.

For the purposes of this review I reduced the number of synced documents to about 200, which made the app a lot easier to use (although even then it wasn’t quite as fast as other similar apps, such as Simplenote).

Notes.app +

At its core, Elements feels a lot like a Plus version of the default Notes app, but with Dropbox syncing. The syncing happens automatically as you edit notes or load up the app, and most changes make it back to my computer within a minute or so.

Elements also features little extras like built-in word counts, e-mailing notes as attachments, customizable fonts and backgrounds, but ultimately, the app feels very familiar. That’s a good thing because you’ll probably already know how to use it, but it might also make you wonder why you bought it if you already own an app that works just as well.

Scratchpad

If I sound skeptical, that probably has a lot to do with the fact that the utility of the Scratchpad, arguably one of Elements’ major features, escapes me. Now I must note that this is probably only the case with the iPhone version of Elements, but the Scratchpad, which works like a unversal clipboard for text, just doesn’t feel all that convenient to use. Since I actually end up leaving my current screen to view what’s on the Scratchpad, I simply don’t see much of a difference between using the Scratchpad or creating a new note.

The other minor problem is that Scratchpad notes aren’t all that easy to view, since the keyboard blocks half the screen at all times. I’d imagine that the iPad version of the app (Elements is a universal, by the way) makes much better use of the idea, but the Scratchpad just doesn’t work for me on the iPhone’s screen. If the Scratchpad had worked out differently, I may well have thought very differently of Elements, since I often find it’s the little features that are the difference between my liking or loving a given app.

Conclusion

In closing, I’d say that Elements is a decent text editor, but it doesn’t feel all that different than other good iPhone writing apps you may already be using. So if you’re already hooked on and happy with another app, I doubt you’ll feel tempted to abandon it for this newcomer. However, if you’re starting out fresh and looking for a writing app with reliable Dropbox storage and syncing, then Elements is definitely worth a try.

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Elements was provided by Justin Williams for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.

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