[Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) Themes and Apps] Blizzaa:
I was especially excited by the idea of syncing S Note and Evernote, because premium means you can share notebooks with clients, but it is not working as I would like. It syncs easily, but what you get in Evernote is just a jpeg of the page, so you can’t really edit any of it. So I have been searching and trying a lot of note taking apps and they all have weaknesses and strengths but I cannot think why someone hasn't combined them into one app to rule them all. I really can’t imagine it is just me that needs this, and that my user-case would be pretty normal for most people.

So here is a bit of a list of who is doing what, and what they have got right (I may make a video about this to better explain and illustrate these points).

1. Handy Note

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appbody.handyNote.note.free.google

This is simply the best for syncing to Evernote because it’s the only one that keeps the text editable after syncing. It gives you the raw text, so maybe not positioned on the page as it is in within the note app, however it also provides single images for the picture/drawing parts, and one big Jpeg of all the elements as you had them placed on the page.

So this is what i get after syncing/exporting a Handy Note to Evernote:

a) An image of the page as it is in Handy Note. (I have scaled the images down for this email).

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b) The image on the page.

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c: The text on the page, still able to edit from within Evernote.

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All of the other apps either make just a Jpeg, or a PDF which can’t be opened and edited within Evernote, or coped to editor of your choice.

I don’t really like the UI, they have a great idea with page templates (e.g. calendar, meeting minutes) but it’s not really working for me just yet, syncing seems to save all the pages as different notes, which is OK because I think you could export to a certain Note book in Evernote, combining them.

I’m not sure if they know they are syncing the best, because I may have just stumbled across that by chance rather than something they really promote. They are obviously quite creative with their ideas but it just needs refining.

2. S Note

Still a winner just for simple ease of use between apps. Taking things from gallery, scrapbook, adding dynamic elements like links are all pretty powerful and just feels like an all in one app. The UI is OK and the added widgets are useful. It really does Sync with Evernote, rather than export or share, but it’s just the way it does it that needs some work.

3. Notes Mobile

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.visionobjects.notesmobile&hl=en

This is great because you can handwrite anywhere on the page and it will transform your handwriting to text and place it where you wrote. This is super useful because it saves on space, and you can go back and edit. I think this added freedom of being able to write anywhere on the page is what most note apps are missing. This company have built their own handwriting recognition software, Stylus Beta, which is what i actually use for my handwriting input in all my apps. It’s amazing. So in a way this is more than a note-taking app but maybe they would like to cooperate on a project which pushes their note taking app to the next level. They aren’t the only ones making apps with their own handwriting recognition, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sevenknowledge.sevennotesproducten&hl=en, but this has terrible UI, they impose their crappy keyboard along with the handwriting input and it didn’t sync too well.

4. Awesome Note

http://www.bridworks.com/anote/eng/

These guys have really thought about the end user and are utilising everything that a note taking app has the potential to do and organises it well. As with Handy Note and a few others they are going for this page template style, e.g. todo lists, but here, rather than making it a page it acts a bit like an app within an app. Unfortunately Awesome Note isn’t really built for the Note 3 and it doesn’t display properly but I can tell that the UI, and how it’s organised is probably the best around.

5. Skitch

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote.skitch&hl=en

This isn’t really a note taking app, more for annotation but I add it because it has some simple but powerful tools. Nearly all the apps seem to focus on being mainly text, or mainly sketch, and a few with symbols/clip art. So this is definitely something that would make a good option to include i.e. some bold and clear common annotation tools/symbols.

6. Sketchbook

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adsk.sketchbookhd&hl=en

I’m adding this just to raise a point of where notebook and drawing app become separated. The ability to make a decent diagram (that’s done nicely in S Note, with a sort of auto-feature), or just to make a quick doodle of an OK standard is a must. I mean you can always open sketchbook or photoshop touch and make some art, save as an image and import but for on-the-fly sketches, in meetings etc., there is a need for a decent set of art tools. Nothing as fancy as other drawing apps (using layers etc) but pressure sensitive pencil, felt, brush, shapes and with a full spectrum of colours would be great. Some note apps are doing this where as others seem to have ignored it a bit too much.

7. Fit Tight Planner

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theBest&hl=en

A basic note taking app that overlays a calendar template. It doesn’t offer functions of a real calendar app but I can see a lot of people asking for this, and in real life I have worked with a few people that combine their diary and notes together on the fly like this. It’s just a nice way to keep notes organised.

8. S-Pen Voice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.welldonecom.android.spenvoice.free&hl=en

Again, another note taking app that seems to just focus on one way of taking notes - with recorded screen and sound. I can see this being really useful in meetings but again - it is single purpose meaning that you have to switch apps to do other things and they are all restrained by individual export options.

9. ezPDF Reader

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=udk.android.reader.trial&hl=en

Being able to open and edit PDFs. This may be going a bit too far with how powerful should a single app be, and poses the question of being able to open MS Docs too, but why not?

10. Lecture Notes

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acadoid.lecturenotestrial&hl=en

Great recognition of a market specific need, utilising the ability to open and edit pdfs but no way to transform handwritten notes to text.

So it’s just a big mix up at the moment. It seems that every developer has focused on one specific area, be it handwriting recognition, art tools, templates, combining file types, export options but none of them have settled and started to develop in other areas. For me I can still use the phone for note-taking but just like my pen and paper, anything I do has to be rewritten on a computer before it can be used or shared properly. All of these apps are winners in one way or another they just need to be combined.

Well I have struggled a bit to explain myself, and might be best of making a video and seeing which developers might take notice and possibly even collaborate. The technology and software is here, it just needs a bit of organising.

What do you think? Do you have any others you could add to the list? What about people’s requests or problems on the forums? I really don’t know how big the market is and how many companies work on these projects full-time but I would if I could, and I would hope there would be enough profit to make it appealing for others that can.

XDA - I have an Awesome Note apk, installed it but the resolution displays it badly. I have used Xposed App Settings to try and change it but no luck. That's how I stumbled across this thread. I am holding onto hope for awesome note (it says it syncs with evernote) because like I said above, the others are great but not quite what I need.