Who uses the Notes app that comes native to the iPhone and iPad?
I do.
I keep shopping lists on it, jot down books I want to read later – all sorts of randomness. Clearly I find it incredibly useful, yet it’s bare bones as far as apps go.
7knowledge has developed an app called 7Notes that takes the premise of the Notes application and expands on it through improved technology and integration with more than just email. Certainly this is not the first app to add features to note taking (Sundry Notes is one that I’ve used to satisfy my GTD mentality.) Adding colored text, images, highlighting – these are fun features, for sure. 7Notes has all of this plus the ability to take notes in your own handwriting.
Typing anything of length on an Apple mobile device still proves to be a challenge to many, so the ability to save time by writing something in your own hand sounds like a great idea to me. Features of the app, which comes in a free and premium/paid version include the following:
- Note take now and modify later – enter your content first, then get creative by way of decoration features like multiple font selection, weight of stroke, font size, line colors, bold and underline.
- Convert handwriting to digital text now or later (Premium only) – a great feature for taking quick notes, or sharing your notes within your social network. (The premium version, $4.99/iPhone and $8.99/iPad, is also ad-free.)
- A “State-of-the-art” predictive engine that anticipates what you want to write. Using natural language technology, 7Notes displays word choices while handwriting or inputting through the predictive engine. An alternative display is generated to suggest the correct word; tap the desired word, or you can extend the search for alternatives.
- Add creativity to your note taking – Bring in images or links from other websites to enhance your notes.
- Sharing on Facebook and Twitter is built into the application – as well as adding your Notes to Evernote and Dropbox.
- “Social Doodling” – Finally, a solution to not getting caught passing written notes back and forth – 7notes HD (the iPad app) offers a “social writing experience” by providing “Edit it” server functions. One user creates a note through the app’s “7document format” and can post it to Facebook or Twitter for collaboration or re-editing. The “Edit it” server inherits the same privacy policy of the social network.
Writing with your finger takes some getting used to – for quick items like a list, it could work, but using a stylus would be ideal. The 7Notes website has a number of videos to illustrate the features. It took me a few tries to figure out under which menu the different options and features were located, but I felt confident shortly afterwards. I can see this being a very useful app in a meeting, at a conference, or in class. For longer note-taking efforts, I’d recommend using a stylus.
7Notes is available for free for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Definitely check out the free versions before you buy to get a feel for it. 7Notes provides support via Facebook, and it gives some insight from real users and provides a forum for feature requests (e.g. additional language support, voice recognition.,)
