MobileNoter & Apple iPad

Friday, 02/12/2010, 12:41 AM by Anton Molokoedov

Nearly everybody has heard about the recent announcement of the Apple iPad.

It made a huge wave of different opinions and no one can argue that this device wouldn't be left unnoticed.

For those, who still don't have an idea what I'm talking about: Apple iPad is a portable tablet device with iPhone OS on it. It has 9,7" display, it weighs 680 or 730g (in different specifications) and it can work for 10 hours on a single charge.

As you may suppose, we are going to make an iPad version of MobileNoter. For the first time it will be the same app as you've used to see on iPhone or iPod Touch.

The main benefit of iPad is the larger screen with higher resolution. And the large screen is more convenient for comfortable note-taking.

We are sure that this device has other possibilities, which can be useful for our app.

So, we would be glad to read your ideas and suggestions about how MobileNoter for iPad should look like.

I would love to see a system where I could make handwritten notes and have them displayed immediately on a projector.  That would require some sort of stylus.  There is simply no other practical way to show complex mathematics, graphs, etc. I know Steve Jobs thinks handwriting is passe, but for certain applications it is still required.  Basically, I need to see a clone of One Note.  Hand writing recognition is optional, perhaps useful, especially for searching.  Perhaps the hand-writing recognition could work in the background and not replace the displayed written text, but remain invisible.  That way one could search for words and text, and the accuracy of the recognition would be less important.  I would like robust Apple style organization of notes and documents.  Basically, I would like to be able to preserve my notes, in case a student would like to see them later.

This type of application would be a game changer for me, and I suspect as well for students.  The form factor of the iPad screams for a form of hand-written note taking.  I know that stylus handwriting wouldn't necessarily mesh with multi-touch, but perhaps exceptions could be made to the interface norms within an application window.

Please make this, and do a good job on it.  Make it look nice.  Make it simple.  Make it work with multi-touch.  I will buy an iPad just for this, and I will buy your software.

2/6/2010 4:10:22 AM #

Are you guys aware of the BTStack applications for jailbroken iPhones & iPod touches? They allow Apple devices to be paired with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

I've been using these apps in conjunction with MobileNoter for taking notes in class, and it's been pretty awesome. When y'all add outlining capability to MobileNoter(that's still coming, right?), I'll have the perfect mini-text-entry tool, easily synced with OneNote on my PC.

diligent geek |

2/6/2010 5:57:43 AM #

Ideally I'd like to see an handwriting feature included somehow,
if you could manage something to the likes of Tanzaku or something....

Keyboard input will always be faster and readable,
but handwriting allows me to take notes without looking, and
drawing figures easily is a feature unique to the iPad hardware
that I'd love to see in MobileNoter.

Please keep up the great work with MobileNoter!

Echo19 |

2/7/2010 1:55:52 PM #

When I get an iPad I think I'd like the ability to edit all notes to some extent but the most important thing to me would be to browse notes with an interface as close to OneNote as possible both in terms of the layout of tabs, notebooks, sections, etc and also the notes themselves, i.e. backgrounds and templates. The ability to collapse Notebook lists and page lists as in OneNote will probably be important given the iPad screen is still quite small compared to most laptops.

You know how on an iPod Touch you can do a screen capture by simultaneously pressing the home and power buttons? This is a very useful function and it would be nice for MobileNoter to be able to import the resulting image from the Photos folder in to a note.

Craig |

2/9/2010 7:06:38 AM #

Craig, this feauture (importing pictures into Quick Note) is already implemented in the MobileNoter Cloud Edition 1.2.

Anton Molokoedov |

2/9/2010 5:25:55 PM #

Excellent. Impressed with how you guys are supporting this product.

Microsoft are rumoured to be considering an iPad version of Office. Hope this doesn't deter you from developing MobileNoter for iPad - iPad Office would be slow, buggy, big and expensive. I think there would still be a market for MN. Another point to consider is that I'd still use MN on my Touch and would want it to be in sync with the iPad.

2/9/2010 5:42:45 PM #

do you seriously believe in this? What MS representative probably meant is that Office Web 2010 will be supported on iPad.

Jeff |

2/20/2010 5:43:26 AM #

No, I've also heard this news, but I have not heard of any plans for a onenote app to be included.  I think it is just in response to the iPad's Keynote/Numbers/Pages apps.  So likely word, ppt, and excel.

What I would like to see more than anything else in MN (2 things):
     1. Since you have a bigger screen now we can have the page layout just like in real onenote.  Meaning Tabs across the top and right side corresponding to (top) the sections and (side) the "pages".  This should be simple to implement but something that would win you many customers.
     2. Working links.  In the current version the links between pages do not work, in this state it is not much better than if I had exported to PDF.  If links between pages worked then I could overlook even the ability to edit (my already created notes) on the device, since I could do that on the main computer and, instead, could be contented that I could fully browse and search (believe you already have this feature: full text search is necessary) my notebooks fully from the iPad.  I could add small simple notes or picture-notes when the need arose.

Sven |

3/10/2010 8:02:20 PM #

I also would be an immediate customer for this. I don't need/want a full office suite on the iPad, but would like to be able to view/edit/sync my OneNote notebooks. Any form of input (soft keyboard, bluetooth, handwriting) would be fine, but WYSIWYG and sync are must-haves for me.

Please tell me you're already working on this.

Andrew |

3/11/2010 7:55:58 AM #

We're already working on this, Andrew.

3/12/2010 4:45:26 AM #

Cool! Thanks.

4/30/2010 3:07:44 PM #

Anon |

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MobileNoter & Apple iPad