App-Off 1 - Best Note-taking app

[mjschmidt]

Which is the best app for note-taking?

So far I have installed "3 banana" and "Note Everything". Both of these are the free versions in the marketplace.

3 Banana - This is a database note app, like Evernote or MS One Note. Each note you create is added to the database, and it can be synced with your online account (free). The free version of 3 Banana (I don't know if there even is a paid ver) also allows for adding photos to your notes, but not voice. I like that I can sync it, and I like that I can add photos, but I don't like the way notes are organized. Even though you can use tags which are searchable (using a #), I like the Folder/Notebook/Binder style organization that you can truly get with Evernote or MS One Note. By default with 3 Banana you get only one "notebook" into which all your separate notes go.

Note Everything - I just installed this, so I need to play with it some more, but I like that I can create separate folders to save my individiual notes in to. The free version also appears to do voice notes, but you need the Pro version to add photos. Unless I've missed it, there does not appear to be any online syncing. The Pro version also allows you to backup/sync your notes to your SD card. It isn't quite clear where the notes are saved by default (if it's on the phone or the SD card), if someone knows, please share.

So... which note-taking app do you like best/use on a regular basis?

 

[dkaufman1]

I like AK Notepad.

It has sticky notes/quick desktop bookmarks basically and best of all it syncs with the sd card.

I guess a cloud sync is good too as you point out, for the same reason.

 

[mirko]

Hi,
I have been a happy Palm user for many years, but recently received a G1 and have been toying with the idea of swithing to Android. The G1 hardware is lightyears ahead of my Treo 680, but I am having trouble on the software front.
Take Palm's Memo application, for example. It's a very simple note-taking app - or so I thought, until I tried to find the equivalent on the Android Market! This is all I need:
- Auto-sort memos alphabetically by title
- Free-text search of memos (list titles of memos which contain the search string), then open memo on tap
- Simple categorization of memos (single-level is o.k., multilevel is great, tags even better - but I should be able to choose tags from a list, NOT RETYPE THEM every time...)
- Password protection for selected memos (single password for all memos).

Any recommendations? Or am I asking for too much? Palm OS has been around for over a decade, for a good reason - I wonder if any developers have cared to look at it, or is everyone reinventing the wheel?

 

[LeeYung]

GooMemo is working well for me. Easy to export to SDcard. Tags all my notes.

 

[Edamame Guy]

AK Notepad is really good because of the sticky notes. Those come in handy a lot of times for me and its quick.

 

[jimnyo]

Hi,
I have been a happy Palm user for many years, but recently received a G1 and have been toying with the idea of swithing to Android. The G1 hardware is lightyears ahead of my Treo 680, but I am having trouble on the software front.
Take Palm's Memo application, for example. It's a very simple note-taking app - or so I thought, until I tried to find the equivalent on the Android Market! This is all I need:
- Auto-sort memos alphabetically by title
- Free-text search of memos (list titles of memos which contain the search string), then open memo on tap
- Simple categorization of memos (single-level is o.k., multilevel is great, tags even better - but I should be able to choose tags from a list, NOT RETYPE THEM every time...)
- Password protection for selected memos (single password for all memos).

Any recommendations? Or am I asking for too much? Palm OS has been around for over a decade, for a good reason - I wonder if any developers have cared to look at it, or is everyone reinventing the wheel?

anyone else have any suggestions? i'd also like to sync it either to toodledoo, or at the very least, google docs.

 

[sugardaddy]

EverNote - is another good one that does photos, audio, and notes. Where it failed with me, though, is that you have to go into the menu (upon newly launching the app) to get to your list of notes. Since I go to my notes list (which I need sorted by most recently updated) often, this led me to look further.

3banana Notes - Trying it now, but it won't sort by modification date (Or so I thought... turns out it does). I love the tagging features. But what I don't like about Snaptic.com is that you can't see just a list of your notes' titles. So if you can't remember a keyword used (via the Find or Tagging functions), they it's hard to scan through all your notes.

AK Notepad - the first pass, I missed the fact that it also sorted by mod date. And both it and 3Banana Notes sync with Snaptic.com, so you could really use both.... hmmm. But note also my comment about Snaptic.com's listing "disability" in my 3Banana Notes comment.

DropBox - This is kinda a hacky way to do it, but I installed DropBox on the phone, then created a folder in my dropbox called "Notes". Then I put several text files in there that were each a note. It was searchable and not too shabby, but again... wouldn't sort by mod date.

Note Everything - does not sync with the cloud, from what I could tell.


My Needs:
- Notes synced with "cloud", which is accessible via web/desktop
- Notes sorted by modification date descending

 

[sugardaddy]

What I would really love is a basic memo pad app that could sort by date that would stay in sync with a folder on my website via FTP. Each memo would be a text file.

Then it wouldn't matter if some third party, like Google, changed their document interface.

I'm a programmer, but it will take a while to get to know the Droid code, and if it's not invented by someone, I'll tackle it myself.

 

[bluenova]

I didn't see SpringPad mentioned so I thought I'll throw it in. I quite like it.

 

[cheetah_android]

Springpad is really great, but since my #1 goal is web access from work, we can only use a later Explorer 7 version to access springpad and we have older Explorer at work.

 

[syrne]

Sticky memo widget is what I use, nothing fancy, doesn't sync anywhere but it puts a little sticky note widget on the screen. It works the best for me because you don't have to launch an app and then choose what type of note and then enter the note and then save. It's just click widget, type, then close. Also shows the note on the widget so I don't have to open it up to see what notes I took. It really functions like sticky notes, which I use constantly.

 

[mjschmidt]

The problem with Evernote is that you can't access your notes offline, which is, quite frankly, ******ed.

I use NoteEverything (and 3Banana) and I export it regularly. You could set up SugarSync or DropBox to sync your NoteEverything notes regularly to your online account and your PC. Since they are plain text notes, you can open them and edit them on a PC.

 

[michelob]

I am new to the Android phone as I've just switched from a Palm Pre. I have a fairly large collection of notes (over 600) that I do NOT want to have to input by hand ALL over again! I mainly use my memo/note app to keep info like url addresses or interesting web articles or atm/bank locations and hours. Basic stuff.

I have two questions:

1. What is the best memo/note app? One that will allow me to cut and paste to and from it as well as email notes. One that is relatively simple and straight forward.
2. How do I transfer my memos/notes from my Pre to my Evo?

Thanks,

 

[bjordan]

I've tried several and so far ColorNote is my favorite and it's free.

It's pretty simple but very well done in my opinion. It supports text notes and checklist notes so it works great for me considering most of my notes are To Do list, etc. It has a nice widget ability to add a quick icon/shortcut to a specific list for reading/editing.

ColorNote Notepad Notes - Android app on AppBrain

 

[BigD562]

The problem with Evernote is that you can't access your notes offline, which is, quite frankly, ******ed.

I use NoteEverything (and 3Banana) and I export it regularly. You could set up SugarSync or DropBox to sync your NoteEverything notes regularly to your online account and your PC. Since they are plain text notes, you can open them and edit them on a PC.

You can access your notes offline with Springpad. The widget for it works really well and its quick to add any type of note... whether it be picture voice or if you wanna scan a bar code.

 

[mjschmidt]

I am new to the Android phone as I've just switched from a Palm Pre. I have a fairly large collection of notes (over 600) that I do NOT want to have to input by hand ALL over again! I mainly use my memo/note app to keep info like url addresses or interesting web articles or atm/bank locations and hours. Basic stuff.

I have two questions:

1. What is the best memo/note app? One that will allow me to cut and paste to and from it as well as email notes. One that is relatively simple and straight forward.
2. How do I transfer my memos/notes from my Pre to my Evo?

Thanks,

I'm not sure about a Palm Pre, but NoteEverything can import notes from older Palm PDAs.

As long as you can _export_ your notes from the Pre in Text format (.txt for example) you can move them to your microSD card and import them in to NoteEverything.

SoftXPerience | Features

 

[Dwnshft]

Does anyone know of a note widget like the one that comes standard with the HTC Sense UI? Apparently it allows you to stack notes on the home screen and flip through them by flicking your finger up or down.

Thats what I need and would be perfect.

 

[LaTuFu]

3Banana is now Catch. You can use it with another app, Compass, to do location-aware notes.

I've been waffling between Catch and EverNote. Evernote is nice, but its frustrating that I can't make a new notebook on the phone. I have to go to the PC and create the notebook, then go to my device and sync it. It doesn't create multiple tags quite the way I want, either (then again, I may be doing the tags wrong).

On the plus side, Evernote syncs with a lot of other applications, such as Olive Tree Bible reader, and CamScanner, so the functionality keeps expanding. So far, I'm living with the notebook gaffe. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know.

 

[rchusid]

NoteEverything does sync with Google Docs, although it is not automatic. In some ways that might be for the better--I don't want all my notes on Google Docs on my Droid.

Evernote is better if the main goal is syncing with the cloud, but NoteEverything is far better as a stand alone note taker which gives the option of syncing with Google Docs. It was also quite handy for me that NoteEverything imported my memos from my Palm.

 

[dhbuckley]

Can Note Everything import Palm Memos from the Mac platform...i.e. Palm Desktop for Mac?

Thanks,

David

 

[mjschmidt]

Here is the web site for the Note Everything dev: SoftXPerience | Note Everything

Here are the directions for importing from Palm: SoftXPerience | Import Palm

Not sure how differently it would work on a Mac since i don't like them. ;-)

 

[Bravon]

This is a great thread, thanks to those who shared their experiences in detail. I am looking for a note taking app which has functions like Evernote (note, voice note, picture note) but stores all notes locally (on the SD card) and not online. Is there such an app?

 

[Harry2]

My favourite ... text typing, handwriting and drawing on every background ...
It' like PowerPoint but for much less money
DioMemo - Android

Harry

 

[RKBAGUY]

Interesting discussion.

I've been looking for a replacement for PhatNotes since they're not being forthcoming with a release date. I like the functionality of EverNote, but I'm not spending $45 per year, especially when I already have a SugarSync account. I resent paying to get access to my own data that can easily be stored on my SD card.

If the guys at EverNote had a pay-one-price product (like Documents To Go), I'd do it in a heartbeat, but their business model is a deal breaker for me.

 

[Usta]

I use Genial Writing for quick hand written notes. Much better than relying only on keyboard.