Do we need a better note taking app?

I don't believe there is an all in one solution that will do all you that you require in a single app.

But some basic suggestions.

I think Papyrus offers a lot of what your asking in the Note taking department, it's fast, vector based and has PDF import, I prefer 'Write' which is similar, but doesn't support .pdf. Perhaps you could send a message to some of the developers asking for some improvements, or features as they are often quite responsive.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.steadfastinnovation.android.projectpapyrus

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.styluslabs.write


You could also run two apps like Papyrus for notes and Ebookdroid or EzPDF for annotation in multiwindow mode as a workaround.

In terms of developing.

The new Android 'L' release apparently now has included a native PDF API function, so more apps will soon add PDF support I would imagine.

"New api class: PdfRenderer

This class enables rendering a PDF document. This class is not thread safe.
If you want to render a PDF, you create a renderer and for every page you want to render, you open the page, render it, and close the page. After you are done with rendering, you close the renderer. After the renderer is closed it should not be used anymore. Note that the pages are rendered one by one, i.e. you can have only a single page opened at any given time."

If you are serious about developing your own solution, perhaps check out the development of the open source Omni Notes, the code is already available, it's a simple but has a lot of potential the betas already have sketch mode implemented for notetaking with Spen, they could likely do with some other developer support for advanced functionality. Perhaps check with the dev in the Omni Notes thread.

Omni Notes:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php...tmctr=(not provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=38510752

Good Luck.

I think Papyrus would handle things like you want it!

It has PDF Import with noteability and Vektor based Drawing

But what I'm Missing are the Drawing features of LectureNotes like Diagrams, Arrows and so on... they are very basic in Papyrus!
Would be awesome if you decide to work on such a program!

I'm also a student who uses his Note 10.1 for notetaking!

If you want a tester, it would be cool if I can help you!
My Java is very basic, so in programming i wouldn't be a huge help. But studiyng the source code would be fun^^

Greets
Terrorhuhn

I have interest in a better note taking app!

I'm with you 100%. I use ezpdf but it isn't great. There is something wrong with every note taking app that makes it annoying.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

I'm all for a good note taking app and I'd pay good money for it. Papyrus is my go to app, but it has its flaws....main gripes being no easy way to navigate large PDF files and no stylus button support on Samsung ROMs

Terrorhuhn said:

what I'm Missing are the Drawing features of LectureNotes like Diagrams, Arrows and so on... they are very basic in Papyrus!
Would be awesome if you decide to work on such a program!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Currently I use also papyrus. But yes, I miss many other features, specially easy page navigation.
I am really interested with your idea!

I've been using the note 10.1 series for the past 1,5 years to study with and my conclusion while I was using the 2013 model has been that the only apps that were noteworthy were S-note and papyrus and lecturenotes.

On the 2014 model I eventually got bored of S-note and decided to look around:
-Papyrus's graphics were better then S-note on the 2013 model however with the 2014 model the graphics do not scale appropriately and well...it now looks pretty ugly.
-LectureNotes has the res. scaling, but not the beauty associated with the writing experience- although I've heard it provides nice functionality.
-Tried around 2 to 6 apps for writing, all with sucky writing experiences and expected functionality.
-INKredible: I recently stumbled across it (an iOS app port) in the playstore, it has the best writing experience that I've ever come across on android.
It has amazing graphics (vector based I assume) so you actually enjoy writing on a piece of glass. The app is free ,but provides in app purchases. You get the fountain pen for free.
The app itself is pretty barren when it comes to functionality (there are some bugs and you don't even get individual notebooks), but as the dev has stated they will include most of the missing functionality with their upcoming updates (they are focusing and the core necessities first). This app made me enjoy taking notes that much that I prep'd all of my exams on it in the past month (I manually managed my notebooks).

For me the common denominator for having a great note taking experience when I was still using my iPad was the writing experience, it didnt matter for me if an app was missing x,y,z functionality as long as I was stimulated to write more in the app for the sake of writing (cos of the awesome xp). INKredible seems to be very promising in that regard and with the promise of more functionality it'll put the current selection of available writing apps to shame. So support the dev's for more sweet development!

Regarding workflow:
I know its not on everyone's prioritylist/mind, but rooting will unlock the full potential of any device and this is no exception on the note 2014. Though you probably already know that.
The apps that i love, dont necessarily support splitscreen, so I tell them to.
The addition of GMD gestures, xposed modules (app settings, s-pen only, multiwindow plus, wanam) provide an overall enhancement of my workflow.
Coupled with Xluco's kernel Touchwiz feels more functional and it gives you the general impression that your device can keep up with your multitasking demands.

I've just finished finished with my exams so I thought I'd share my bottled-up experiences with this device, hence my long story
I hope some of my input helped you.

Also does anyone have little bubbles appearing underneath the glass (near the edges of the screen)?

{Diemex} said:

I tried out Inkredible, looks promising, not sure how long it will take to become stable/usable.

I guess everyone has very different requirements for a notetaking application. For me management of notebooks is important. Atm I already have 200 notebooks only from 2 semesters. If an app doesn't provide an ability to create folders I have a big problem. Also usually I need multiple documents to be open at the same time. When I practice for exams I need my formularies, the exam and my notes. So I have the exam on my laptop, the formularies on the 10.1 and write on the 12.2. Dunno if anyone has used linux and is used to the concept of workspaces. That is something that I would like to see. I open up my "electronics exams" and have all my pdfs and notes in one place. Changing workspaces should change the opened documents on all my devices. I have 3 tablets and a laptop, I would like to be able to use them in conjunction with the least hassle. Most people will have a tablet and at least a phone and laptop. So some kind of advanced multi device support would be pretty cool. Im babbling a bit, I have tons of ideas, that would be really cool.

What is also important to me is that that the file format that the notetaking app uses should be a format that I can open on my pc and modify with other programs. If I would to write an app I would probably use svg as a format for drawings. There are many tools to edit svgs and they can be viewed in a browser.

I need an app that is not just a notetaking app, I need an app that helps me work with lots of documents. I need to read, edit, take notes and understand the topics. I have noticed especially the past semester that writing on tablets has actually held me back. I didn't really want to read through the notes I took. A real book is still a lot easier and quicker to navigate than notes I have taken on my tab.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

3 screens at a time for prep'ing? In my eyes that seams like overkill, for my last semester I just combined Wolfram ,Mathlab, Dolphin, 2xeBook readers(one for the problems and one for my theory/solutions) and INKredible/s-Note on my note 2014 via 3 way splitscreen and it worked like a charm. The bottom half for notes, the upper 2 halfs for for the rest, when I need to (fully)use one of the upper half apps I can just minimize one to make room for the other or swap apps within a 1/3 screen. Heck I even split youtube for the occasional online crashcourse.
This setup has proven very productive and I'd only use my laptop to convert word documents containing formulas too an android friendly pdf format.
If the multi-windowplus xPosed module had been updated to fully work on Kitkat I would've been able to have an additional layer of functionally through popup/floating windows.

I guess my only negative for working this way was that I had the occasional stiff neck once in a while, I'd then just relocate too my bed to resume my number crunching.
11 hours, that was my last screen-on-time running this setup, that's just...well..damn impressive:victory:.

I can imagine that you need all that functionality within one note app, but to be honest I think that's asking for to much for the Android platform. We'd need a pretty big dev team to be able to cram all that goodness in one smooth and hiccup free package...which I don't see happening anytime soon (iPad's note apps are draining to many of the dev's attention I guess).

Seriously, why can't Notability be on Android as well. That was my go to on iOS.

Sent from my Note 3 via the Interwebs.

Don't you guys like Evernote?

{Diemex} said:

@Vasishtha I'm not someone that uses multiwindow, the screen is already so damn small. I don't have a single textbook or sheet of paper, so I need at least two screens, otherwise I go crazy because of the limited space.

As you seemed to have used notetaking apps on the iPad, how do they compare to the Android ones? How do they even deal with the lack of a stylus? I couldn't imagine writing with a clunky stylus that covers up what I write and is unprecise. I have tried capacitive styluses a few years back and the writing experience was poor.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

The screen resolution right now is high enough to make 4 way splitscreen a viable option for productivity purposes. Also the screen size for me is the perfect size, not to big for taking notes and not to small for reading. I also rely on no paper, even my graph-calc has been replaced.

Well the top 2-4 iOS apps are functionality wise on par with android apps (take for example : s-note vs notesplus/notability), but of course are more optimized.
1 app ,I believe, has a desktop variant for viewing/editing your notes.
However in the note taking experience department those top iOS apps blows away any android competition by large margins (not comparing styli here). And this has stayed the same since I switched over to android (bout 2 years ago) ,so imagine the margins now.
Writing with a cap stylus was surprisingly easy via an app's provided zoombox ,though it doesn't compare to the s-pen (later I was using the jot pro, but it wasn't perfect either).

This is why I know the iOS app port of notes plus (named INKredible on android) will achieve its full potential. And when it does, it'll put all the other apps to shame.

@dbeth Notes plus is already on android in the form of INKredible, the devs are hard at work in finalizing it and adding features to it. Stay tuned and support the devs in the meantime.
-Edit: My mistake, I thought you meant notes plus. Notability was also my favorite note taking app, but notes plus had it going on aswell

@lanwarrior Evernote's writing experience reminds me of s-note's ,stale and boring . There's no 'feel' to it.
But it does provide some nice functionality.

{Diemex} said:

@Vasishtha

I'm trying to understand what sets an ipad notetaking apps apart from the android equivalents. To me the ipad ones just look like 'another' note taking app. Obviously there has to be a difference. What do you mean with 'feel'? Feel of the app in overall, responsiveness of the UI, responsiveness of the writing or just the feel of the scribblings as such, how they look after applying all the filters. What would an android app have to do differently to 'feel' good?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Well basically the result of beautiful vector graphics (with maybe some pressure sensitivity) in combination with an accurate natural flow of digital ink, in which you're under the impression of the experience and are almost not able to distinct the interaction between the pen and the ink drawn as a result of your precise hand movements from the real deal. The reduction of friction between the pentip and the glass surface also brings about an unique experience ,which the note 2014 offers, over writing on normal paper.
To me that feel is the foundation on which any note apps should be build on. And this is exactly what all android apps are missing (except inkredible).
Functions come and go, but you cannot replace/supplement the beauty of writing by cramming in more functionality.

We have not noted any recent upsets of Inkcredible.

Via my Note 3

I'm using Stylus Write for my business notes. very fast and quick to start taking notes. It also has linux client to open its files. Not as fancy as others but doew the job.
There is also Note Anywhere. Try it as well. All use vector graphics.
I tried Lecture Notes but seems slow to open and start a new note, and to save documents. T also uses bitmap graphics if I remember right.

---------- Post added at 05:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:15 PM ----------

Btw I don't use Snote as it will mean locking into Samsung Firmware.

Vasishtha said:

@lanwarrior Evernote's writing experience reminds me of s-note's ,stale and boring . There's no 'feel' to it.
But it does provide some nice functionality.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I agree that Evernote is a little bit "bland" on the handwriting feature, but I like the ability to sync it throughout all my devices - Note 3, Note 10.1 and Macs.

I also use Evernote heavily for many stuff: clipping website, taking picture, checklist, etc. So I have one solution for everything.

One thing I do WISH Evernote have is the ability to put handwriting in the text area. Right now the handwriting is in its own area separate than the text, even in the same note.