I recently purchased a capacitive stylus for my iPad, the Boxwave one and wanted to take full uses of the iPad and start using it to take notes. Does anyone have any recommendations on the what's the best stylus-based notetaking app? I've only tried 2, UPAD (free version) and Noteshelf, but it seems like all the apps are lacking in some key aspect that prevents me to from using it.
The problems I had with Noteshelf was the penstrokes weren't smooth and consistent enough and it didn't make me feel like I was actually taking notes. The line spacing was also too wide as I don't normally write that large on regular pieces of paper. You can't import PDFs or other documents to write on or makes notes on top of. It doesn't auto-advance as you write.
What I did like about Noteshelf was that it had a palm rest region, something that a majority of apps seem to not have, which is disappointing seeing as realistically you'll be resting your hand on the surface of what your writing on and not just hovering over it in fear that you'll "write" with your palm. Export to dropbox, I'd much rather like it to sync up, but it doesn't seem any apps support that write now.
What I liked about UPAD was that the penstrokes were super smooth and auto advancement as I was writing and it felt like I was actually taking notes.
So essentially what I want from a notetaking app:
-The ability to customize leading (line spacing) and notebook templating.
-The ability to import PDFs to pulling annotate them.
-Dropbox sync or export
-Palm rest area so you can lay your hand on the iPad
-The ability to insert graphs and possibly some other vector graphics
-Auto advance writing
-Zoomed in writing
-Smooth penstrokes
Does anyone know of any notetaking apps that have all these features?
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Best stylus-based notetaking app for the iPad?
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peterto's pick
Check out Notes Plus. notesplusapp.com/ I have it and I believe it fulfills all of your requirements except for the PDF annotation. I use GoodReader for that.
Check out the website linked above. There are videos that demonstrate how it works. I think it is $5 in the app store. I believe it is well worth the price. I was at a conference last week where I used it to take all of my notes.
While I'm not in the medical field (I work in IT), this was the article that turned me on to Notes Plus.
www.imedicalapps.com/2011/03/ipad-stylus-review-no...
It reviews several note taking applications and demonstrates how well they compare to writing on a regular sheet of paper.
Check out the website linked above. There are videos that demonstrate how it works. I think it is $5 in the app store. I believe it is well worth the price. I was at a conference last week where I used it to take all of my notes.
While I'm not in the medical field (I work in IT), this was the article that turned me on to Notes Plus.
www.imedicalapps.com/2011/03/ipad-stylus-review-no...
It reviews several note taking applications and demonstrates how well they compare to writing on a regular sheet of paper.
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Wacom has a new app called Bamboo Paper that works great, even with just a finger! itunes.apple.com/us/app/bamboo-paper-wacom-notes-f...
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Just want to add that another important feature (at least to me) is to also allow typing - sometimes typing is still faster.
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I haven't seen one that allows typing but I've tried several of the others. In terms of responsiveness, I'd echo Patgaik and go with Bamboo. It's much less feature rich, but what it does, it does well. I've tried Noteplus and Penultimate and there's just too much going on. The features get in the way.
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I, too, have been looking for the perfect all-in-one handwriting and typing note taking app, and it just doesn't exist. I really haven't been able to produce decent handwritten notes in any of the handwriting apps I've tried (and I've tried a whole bunch). Right now, I used Noteshelf for handwriting, and both Thinkbook and Notability for typed notes. Notability could soon be the best. They do have a means of handwriting (although it is based mostly on typed notes), but it's done almost like a memo that you can write and then insert - like a graph - into your main typed notes. If they could combine those two, they may have the best note taking app out there!
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Id recommend "noteshelf" it does everything you asked for except for the vector graphic feature. But you can import photos from the photo gallery or even take a new photo within the app.
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