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The best app for note taking in iPad is:

  • Notebooks for iPad

    Votes: 17 4.6%
  • UPAD

    Votes: 28 7.5%
  • neu.Notes

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Penultimate

    Votes: 65 17.5%
  • FastFinga

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Noterize

    Votes: 7 1.9%
  • Noteshelf

    Votes: 49 13.2%
  • Note Taker HD

    Votes: 43 11.6%
  • CourseNotes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • PhatPad

    Votes: 2 0.5%
  • Notebooks for iPad

    Votes: 8 2.2%
  • WritePad for iPad

    Votes: 4 1.1%
  • Other (Please mention)

    Votes: 147 39.5%

  • Total voters
    372
You might want to check out Remarks. It has very very fluid handwriting on there. It lets you simply make notebooks for notetaking, plus you can edit PDF files. One feature I do like with Remarks is that you can autosync a folder full of files with DropBox.

I also do really like Notes Plus, however the handwriting isn't as fluid on it unless I close every app in my tray. But it is a very very nice app.

My other app on my iPad is DocAS, which I find to be about the same in quality as the other two.

Thanks for sharing, sk1wbw ... I'll certainly check out Remarks. :)
 
So Upad ain't all that bad. Much more fluid handwriting on my first gen iPad than Notes Plus, but really lacking the features that Notes Plus has. Not a bad app, but nothing really special.
 
I am using GoodNotes. I really like, simple with great features. I tried the free version for a few days and likes it so I bought the full version. Been using it for my courses at DeVry for a few now. It feels weird when I don't have it, like being naked. only 2-3$ I think.

* palm rest, folders, notebooks, many different templates, colors, text input option, import export, colors, highlighter, autosaves, and some other features I haven't even messed with yet
 
So Upad ain't all that bad. Much more fluid handwriting on my first gen iPad than Notes Plus, but really lacking the features that Notes Plus has. Not a bad app, but nothing really special.

If notes plus can get rid of their numerous bugs and add just a few improvement it would be the go to app, sadly it's not gonna happen soon. Although I bought both, ATM I'd stick with notability and only recommend it.

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So far Remarks takes the checkered flag here, especially on my first gen iPad. Works great.

Notes Plus is a close second. Just got that the other day to see what the well deserved hoopla was all about.

Everytime I open remarks annotated PDF in goodreader it says the file's damaged, does it happen to you? Works fine on computer though.
 
If notes plus can get rid of their numerous bugs and add just a few improvement it would be the go to app, sadly it's not gonna happen soon. Although I bought both, ATM I'd stick with notability and only recommend it.

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Everytime I open remarks annotated PDF in goodreader it says the file's damaged, does it happen to you? Works fine on computer though.

Yes, I get that quite often with GoodReader, which is why I don't use or recommend it. Half of the files that I've done can't be opened by it.
 
Yep ... That's the way I felt. If you really use the app for handwriting all the time ... Then few bells and whistles, but quite a usable app. I have an iPad 2 ... Notes plus does fine there. Notes Plus is the app I now use, didn't know that it lagged on the original iPad.

Btw ...read your profile, I served in the Navy as a sonar operator on fast attack subs. :)
 
Yep ... That's the way I felt. If you really use the app for handwriting all the time ... Then few bells and whistles, but quite a usable app. I have an iPad 2 ... Notes plus does fine there. Notes Plus is the app I now use, didn't know that it lagged on the original iPad.

Btw ...read your profile, I served in the Navy as a sonar operator on fast attack subs. :)

Conn, sonar report all contacts!!

I was a spook on 3 688s and a 637. I miss the smell of amine! :) I used to be a CTT1...

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I am using GoodNotes. I really like, simple with great features. I tried the free version for a few days and likes it so I bought the full version. Been using it for my courses at DeVry for a few now. It feels weird when I don't have it, like being naked. only 2-3$ I think.

* palm rest, folders, notebooks, many different templates, colors, text input option, import export, colors, highlighter, autosaves, and some other features I haven't even messed with yet

GoodNotes is one that I haven't played with yet. How does it compare to others, or have you any others to compare it with?

Just bought and it seems pretty nice. My initial impression is that the handwriting is very smooth and fluid. I'll play around some.
 
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Re: Best iPad Note Taking app !!

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Started working with Remarks only recently, it didn't keep me from carefully reading this interesting topic. Upon which I purchased Notes Plus and downloaded UPad light.
Upad lacks quite a lot of functions (I miss Dropbox sync p.e.), while Notes Plus is kinda overwhelming, seeming I've got quite some reading to do before getting the work methods of the app. I would go through the effort of figuring it all out - if only the interface was a whole lot nicer (I know, personal taste).
So it's back to the solid good, simple, clean Remarks for me!
 
I'm in training for a new job and I'm testing out Notes Plus, Remarks, Upad, GoodNotes, and DocAS. So far, each of these apps except Notes Plus has excellent handwriting recognition on my first gen iPad.

Remarks has some of the best features as it relates to both PDF annotations and handwriting, ease of use, and it is very intuitive regarding adding pages and navigating back and forth in handwritten notebooks. Remarks also has the best handwriting on my iPad; simply wonderful and smooth. I barely have to press on the screen to register. The UI is wonderful and not too cluttered and selecting inks and adding pages is very easy and intuitive.

For some reason, Notes Plus on my iPad doesn't have that great handwriting recognition. It's kinda choppy and not very fluid. I have to press slightly harder to register the stylus on the screen. It might just be my stylus which is a Wacom Bamboo stylus, but then again it may not be. As far as features, UI, and ease of use, Notes Plus is the best, imho. The add on text recognition feature is wonderful, and not that expensive at $1.99. I bought it yesterday and tried it out and it works very well, even with my chicken scratch writing. Notes Plus has a fantastic selection ability; you just circle what you want to edit, resize it and move it, what have you. Or you can draw a square around your written chicken scratch and you can convert it to text, fill in the whole square with a highlighted color, resize, move, whatever. It's a fantastic app.

The others have great handwriting recognition, but don't offer the features or ease of use or a nice looking UI. I can recommend them, but not as much as either Remarks or Notes Plus.

I probably give Notes Plus 4.5 out 5 stars.
I give Remarks 4 out of 5 stars simply because I wish it had the features of Notes Plus.
 
I'm in training for a new job and I'm testing out Notes Plus, Remarks, Upad, GoodNotes, and DocAS. So far, each of these apps except Notes Plus has excellent handwriting recognition on my first gen iPad.

Remarks has some of the best features as it relates to both PDF annotations and handwriting, ease of use, and it is very intuitive regarding adding pages and navigating back and forth in handwritten notebooks. Remarks also has the best handwriting on my iPad; simply wonderful and smooth. I barely have to press on the screen to register. The UI is wonderful and not too cluttered and selecting inks and adding pages is very easy and intuitive.

For some reason, Notes Plus on my iPad doesn't have that great handwriting recognition. It's kinda choppy and not very fluid. I have to press slightly harder to register the stylus on the screen. It might just be my stylus which is a Wacom Bamboo stylus, but then again it may not be. As far as features, UI, and ease of use, Notes Plus is the best, imho. The add on text recognition feature is wonderful, and not that expensive at $1.99. I bought it yesterday and tried it out and it works very well, even with my chicken scratch writing. Notes Plus has a fantastic selection ability; you just circle what you want to edit, resize it and move it, what have you. Or you can draw a square around your written chicken scratch and you can convert it to text, fill in the whole square with a highlighted color, resize, move, whatever. It's a fantastic app.

The others have great handwriting recognition, but don't offer the features or ease of use or a nice looking UI. I can recommend them, but not as much as either Remarks or Notes Plus.

I probably give Notes Plus 4.5 out 5 stars.
I give Remarks 4 out of 5 stars simply because I wish it had the features of Notes Plus.

Earlier you recommended Remarks and now you're recommending Notes Plus. So which is the one you'll use in your new job?
 
Earlier you recommended Remarks and now you're recommending Notes Plus. So which is the one you'll use in your new job?

Well, it's a tough call, but I'm recommending Notes Plus. Has so many sweet features that I can't not recommend it. If I need the great PDF annotations, Remarks is it, but I'm mainly doing note taking. Now I need a new iPad, of course.
 
Conn, sonar report all contacts!!

I was a spook on 3 688s and a 637. I miss the smell of amine! :) I used to be a CTT1...

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LOL ... cool. I served on a 637 class out of Norfolk, VA.

It would have been very cool if I had access to an iPad on a sub ... bet things are much different than when I reported to my boat in 1989. LOL
 
For some reason, Notes Plus on my iPad doesn't have that great handwriting recognition. It's kinda choppy and not very fluid. I have to press slightly harder to register the stylus on the screen. It might just be my stylus which is a Wacom Bamboo stylus, but then again it may not be. As far as features, UI, and ease of use, Notes Plus is the best, imho. The add on text recognition feature is wonderful, and not that expensive at $1.99. I bought it yesterday and tried it out and it works very well, even with my chicken scratch writing. Notes Plus has a fantastic selection ability; you just circle what you want to edit, resize it and move it, what have you. Or you can draw a square around your written chicken scratch and you can convert it to text, fill in the whole square with a highlighted color, resize, move, whatever. It's a fantastic app. Notes Plus.


I have seen this comment a few times now ... For the record, I feel this MUST be a PERFORMANCE issue, as I do not experience this on an iPad 2.

(BTW ... I'm curious if someone sees performance issues on an iPad 3. I know the new iPad has faster processor and all, but it does drive 4 x more pixel display area ... so just wondering if perhaps an iPad 2 has better or worse performance than the new iPad. )

I've seen enough positive remarks for Remarks (pun intended) that I'm going to give that a try. Will report back, but before I do so, currently I like Notes Plus to all the ones I have tried.
 
I have not tried Remarks but for 10 minutes or so.

First Impression:

Pros:
====
Clean and easy to understand.
GUI is very easy to understand, Nice. (I have not read the getting started stuff!)
DropBox -> Nice!
Simple and Responsive

Cons
====
The zoom window's advance function is not as nice as Notes Plus. Still, it does seem to pause long enough that you are not dotting your I's and crossing you T's after the window has advanced. (Something I noted in Note Taker HD and UPad). There's not really the control I want to go upto where I WISH TO STOP at the end of a line. Still, it is nice that it advances to the next line.

I miss the ability to select some handwriting ... and then modify the selection by vector enlarging, vector shrinking, (or even just replacing the selection elsewhere on the page) for a better layout!

To see what I mean, this is very effectively demonstrated in NOTESHELF in the following YouTube video. Take special note at time 1:25 thru 1:35. This guy does this for almost everything he writes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZ99K7hRK4&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLpfy5bdu6h6sPI41Qxb2yUQ

This is even easier to do with Notes Plus' circle-select functionality!

(btw ... this guys does a great job of showing off Noteshelf the that YouTube video ... and he's really good at laying out a page !!! This is a great video to watch no matter what handwriting app you decide to go with!! )

~~~~~~~~~~~

But these are FIRST IMPRESSION for REMARKS against my currently used app ... I'll give REMARKS more use before drawing final conclusions. :)
 
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Poll needs to breaout "Other" so we can see what those items are.

Yeah ... I think the poll needs to be updated (i.e. redone) ... that was done such a long time ago ... my vote has changed ... and besides that, there are a lot of new apps that were not around when that poll was done!

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So far GoodNotes isn't very user friendly in regards to adding pages or going back and forth in a document.

Agreed ... reminds me of Note Taker HD a little.
 
Is there an app that can combine typed notes and handwritten notes/drawings on the same page?

Sometimes I want to type down notes and at the same time write down equations or draw molecule structures.
 
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