Turn Your IPad Into a Notebook
The Capture Notes 2 app transforms the iPad into the ultimate note-taking resource, making it a valuable tool for students and professionals alike.
Taking notes on an iPad should be an intuitive process, but the task can be surprisingly laborious on the tablet. The “Capture Notes 2” app brings ease, convenience and customization to jotting down notes, making it a must-have for students, professionals or anyone else who needs to capture a lot of information and wants to use their iPad to do it.
What’s the App?
Capture Notes 2, developed by G8R Software, is a note-taking iPad app that let users capture information, manage and organize notes for maximum efficiency, and share them to major file management and organizing services like Dropbox and EverNote. Users capture notes by typing, but can also record audio notes to augment their work, a useful tool for lectures or meetings. They can also scrawl directly on the screen, particularly useful for quick sketches, diagrams and document markups.
The app also can import photos from the iPad’s camera roll to add images to notes, and users can take photos within the app as well. Importing PDF documents is also useful, and users can add, highlight and mark up text within the documents.
The app gets much of its power and functionality not just in how it captures info, but how it helps users organize, sort and manage their jottings. For example, users can add any number of pre-designed or custom flags wherever they want to make a special note, making it easier to cross-reference and review later. Notes can also be organized into notebooks, keeping information organized by topic, class or any customized category users need.
Capture Notes 2 packs a lot of functionality into one app, which often can present interface and navigational challenges for developers trying to pack a lot of features into a limited touchscreen space. The app features lots of icons, buttons and tabs, and it takes a bit of time to figure out how to use. But overall, the clean, utilitarian look-and-feel go a long way to make it easy to pick up the app’s features, and the flagging system adds color and dash beyond their basic usefulness.
The app, which has been around for about a year and has garnered solid customer reviews and a dedicated user base, is on sale for 80 percent off in the iTunes store, making it a steal at $1.
You’ll Want It If…
You’re a tech-savvy student who uses their iPad in a number of academic settings and need a powerful, robust app for subjects ranging from English to math. The variety of ways to capture information is flexible enough for any kind of subject, and the ability to record audio is particularly useful for college students in lecture classes, making studying a multimedia experience. Office workers, too, will gravitate towards Capture Notes 2, and will likely find the sharing capabilities with Dropbox and EverNote a plus. The PDF-import function is also a powerful feature, but the 5-megabyte limit might crimp workflows in certain industries. And for anyone working with sensitive information, the app also has a security feature that lets users lock down the app and set up PIN code access at the notebook and app level.
It’s Not My Thing — What Else Ya Got?
Capture Notes 2, especially at its current sale price, is a great app that helps maximize the iPad’s latent capabilities, bringing the power of multimedia to note taking. Some users, however, may not take to the interface or look-and-feel. Other types of workers may prefer more specialized apps geared for certain tasks and professions. Scrivener, for example, is a drafting and note taking app that aims for writers and their particular needs.
Others who find Capture Notes 2 too complicated or don’t need to flag, organize multiple notebooks or record audio notes — in other words, users who prefer simplicity and ease above all else — could prefer something like the Drafts app, which features a clean, elegant interface. Drafts also integrates with more file management services beyond Dropbox and Evernote, which may make it more flexible in a world where people rely on a suite of services to manage their information and productivity.