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battlaxx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
9
0
One of the biggest things i like about the ipod touch (among many) is the notes feature.

Right at this moment I have over 500 notes on my ipod. ( i know, its ridiculous)

I use my notes program for grocery lists, calorie counting, workout logs, journal logs, writing down random ideas that pop into my head, to do lists and whatever else you could possibly think of using it for.

I have a couple problems with it though..1. the default notes program is way too simple and lacks function. 2. it takes me a ridiculously long time to upload the notes onto my computer and then organize them into category folders.(I email them to myself(I havent jailbroken my ipod & got iphone pc suite because Id lose too much important info by restoring))

Now, youd think that without a doubt the release of the apps store would have solved my problem, but to my absolute surprise, no it hasn't.

The notes programs on the appstore are absolutely terrible. The people who made these notes programs have obviously never used the iphone or ipod touch for writing notes! Is it just me, or are all the appstore note programs unbelievably terrible?

the problems with these note programs are...

-that they all serve 1 individual purpose, whether it be calorie counting, audio notes or making to do lists etc.

-they have preset categories and do not allow you to make your own categories.

-some actually dropped some of the good features that the original notes program has(wtf)

In response to this outrageous BS I have thought of a notes program that would be perfect for any person. I originally intended to keep my idea secret and create it myself using sdk, publish it, and probably make a fairly good profit, but I do not have an apple computer and I am too busy of a person to go through the trouble of buying an apple computer or setting up leopard onto my pc, let alone learn sdk and build the software...

so the ideas for my notes program are as follows. I split up my ideas into 2 categories, "hard to program" & "easy to program"
(please note that I have never programed with sdk so I could be wrong about what is "hard" and what is "easy"". please correct me if you see something that is in the wrong category.)
(even with just the "easy to program" features, this notes program would still kick F****ing @$$.)


easy to program

-PPLEEAAASSEEE ---> search function (just like in the new contacts app, just type text into the field and it will find it)

-ability to create your own categories. (a category is like a directory, once you click on it, it shows you what is in that directory)

-ability to change the background color of specific notes & categories. (color coding)

-ability to permanently highlight text with different colors.

-ability to turn "auto correct" function off. (this function can be annoying sometimes)

-The ability to use a horizontal keyboard

-ability to turn off or turn down the keyboard button clicking sound.

-date and time remains included in note document when uploaded onto
computer.

-ability to email all notes at once with 1 button. (time saver)

-ability to arrange by modified, name, size & date.

-abilty to send a note shortcut to the desktop (so you can access it in 1 click)

-ability to save a note as the background(so that it is always there reminding you)


hard to program

-ability to easily upload the notes straight on to your computer, preferably using txt documents for different notes & using folders for different categories. (youd probably lose color coding & highlighting but that is no big deal, added to that fact that you could probably improvise your way around this)

-ability to simply talk into your iphone and your voice gets translated into text.


So here is my idea, tell me what you think and please, if you like what you see, go ahead and attempt to create it and publish it using SDK. As far as i am concerned, it is a very good program and should do an excellent job selling on the appstore.
 

detz

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2007
1,051
0
All though an app like that would be rather easy to create I'm no convinced that enough people would actually use it to make it worth creating. People actually use the iPhone/Touch as a note taking device?:eek:
 

fishkorp

macrumors 68030
Apr 10, 2006
2,536
650
Ellicott City, MD
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

Some of the stuff you're asking for cannot be done with the SDK, like saving to desktop or setting as the device background.
 

stevearm

macrumors 6502a
Nov 15, 2007
992
91
Moleskinery may be what you're looking for, it doesn't solve all your problems, but is a very good note taker.
 

battlaxx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
9
0
Oddly, I seem to have gotten the opposite reaction as you guys when I posted on the other 3 forums...

http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/i...notes-app-lucrative-potential-yours-make.html

http://www.iphonefanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=687

http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83835


All though an app like that would be rather easy to create I'm not convinced that enough people would actually use it to make it worth creating. People actually use the iPhone/Touch as a note taking device?

I disagree. I beleive the notes app market is huge. People are making big money off devices that print grocery lists(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882744001). Also, people are always putting themselves through the constant drudgery of the unorganized method of writing things on paper(clutter, pen doesnt work, filing system is time consuming etc etc). The only problem right now is that all the notes apps I have seen on appstore are completely useless.

The thing that sets my notes app apart is that it is customizable.. you can use it very effectively for anything you want.



Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

Some of the stuff you're asking for cannot be done with the SDK, like saving to desktop or setting as the device background.

the last 6 things I added were recent additions.. Like i said earlier, it doesnt have to have all those things to be the sweetest app available.
 

battlaxx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
9
0
500......... :eek:

Ha ha. Yeah you know what, This is gunna make you think I am crazy, but I made that post like 4 weeks ago. Since then I have uploaded and organized all 500 of those notes onto my computer by emailing them individually to myself(It honestly probably took me like 60 hours). After I uploaded them I deleted them off my ipod reseting my note count to zero. Right now my note count is a fresh 1000.... If a good note app doesn't come out soon, I am f***ing screwed!!!!
 

GfPQqmcRKUvP

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2005
3,273
514
Terminus
Ha ha. Yeah you know what, This is gunna make you think I am crazy, but I made that post like 3 months ago. Since then I have uploaded and organized all 500 of those notes onto my computer by emailing them individually to myself(It honestly probably took me like 60 hours). After I uploaded them I deleted them off my ipod reseting my note count to zero. Right now my note count is a fresh 1000.... If a good note app doesn't come out soon, I am f***ing screwed!!!!

But there's no sorting in the notes app. It doesn't let you search. You've spent 60 hours on this.

Have you ever thought there might be a better way of going about jotting down things you need to remember?
 

battlaxx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
9
0
But there's no sorting in the notes app. It doesn't let you search. You've spent 60 hours on this.

Have you ever thought there might be a better way of going about jotting down things you need to remember?

There isn't. Its not only about jotting things I need to remember, its about all kinds of things. paper & pen is way more of a nuisance. I dunno if I could get a special pda but I wouldnt want to. I have my ipod with me always, Im a fast ipod typer,other people dont know what the heck I am doing.. Its perfect!!

Now all I need is a half decent app.


OK, maybe it didn't take me 60 hours. Like lots of people I tend to exaggerate. But it did take me quite a few days. Im not sure how many hours I spent on it per day but it felt like 60 hours.
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,885
8,055
I get what you are saying about the perfect notes app not being available in the app store yet -- I haven't found the perfect match for me yet, either. However, surely one of the apps that offer syncing of notes (Evernotes is one that comes to mind, but I believe there were a few more apps that had that feature) is better than your current method, to tide you over until that perfect notes app is written and released?
 

Ntombi

macrumors 68040
Jul 1, 2008
3,822
1,636
Bostonian exiled in SoCal
I completely completely agree with your OP. I'm still in shock that there isn't a great (or even decent) notes app yet available. :( I too use notes/memos ALL THE TIME, and it's essential to my use of a smartphone. There is info that I have to have available, and I'm used to having them on the Treo that I moved from.


I ended up going for Things, and trying to use that as a note app, instead of the to-do app that it really is. That's been better than anything else I've tried, but next to that has been YouNote. But with YouNote, I lost all my notes twice in an update, even when I followed their instructions. :mad:

Things has a nice sync feature with the desktop app, but it's still a to do app, and not a real notes/memos app. I want total control of my info, and don't want it stored on an outside server, so I can't use EverNote.

I really just want a notes app that syncs with an accessible file on my iBook. It doesn't have to be fancy: it could even be a plain text file, but I just need to be able to move the info into the app on my iBook.

The search continues...
 

SFC Archer

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2007
1,742
0
Troy, MT
I am also like the OP and I use to use Notes alot. But would forget to email them and then the iPhone would crash...3 times now...and I would loose everything. Or if I did email them then I would have to re-copy back to my iPhone because I like to have "lists" of things such as, I see a good movie, app, cd or software that I want to get later so I create a list for it. Notes and the current 2.0 crashing software nightmare has forced me to seek alternatives.

I have been using Evernote successfully and really like it. It "syncs" with your computer and online so you can access your notes where and when ever you need them. Some of the things that the OP have requested are not there but I am able to edit on my laptop and do the color coding and build each note the way I want. You can add categories by creating new notebooks...check it out you may like it until something better comes along.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=281796108&mt=8

...and according to their Blog: "Databases are local

We learned that in some cases, users in corporate environments might inadvertently have their Evernote databases stored on the network. With the latest release, databases are, by default, stored on the local machine, improving speed and reliability."

http://blog.evernote.com/
 

lindsayanng

macrumors 68000
May 4, 2008
1,515
1
East Haven, CT
have you all tried iprocrastinate?? I know its SUPPOSED to be for school and such, but it works pretty well for a notes/memo application as well. I dont THINK it syncs yet.. but entirely cusomizable and all that fun stuff. its worth a shot - its free.
 
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