Evernote - App Review

You're looking at a website and find an interesting article but haven't got the time to read it at the moment.  You quickly mark and save it in 'Reader' in Safari. So far, so good, and then the problems start… you don’t have Internet access so you can’t access the page (Reader in Safari is no more than a bookmark) or you have Internet access but the page is no longer current. Does this strike any chords with you? All these issues, and very many more, are solved with Evernote.

This is, however, just the very beginning of what you can achieve with Evernote.

Evernote keeps this information in sync, whether it’s on your iPad, iPhone, PC, or any other device. It is very easy to use and enables you to save information from the Internet with extreme ease. This makes research, travel planning and just remembering things so much easier. You can also choose to share information with others (or not, of course).

You can also save information from other sources, including photos. So you could photograph an interesting article (or a recipe, or anything else) in a newspaper and then retrieve it for later reading. There is also the ability to email anything directly to your Evernote account. By being able to add tags, you can easily find information and also arrange it in folders. As far as finding your most recent clippings is concerned, the ability do display by ‘date updated’ makes it simplicity personified.

Evernote is an absolute lifesaver (I guess that my cards are on the table now).

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
The iPad Version of the App handles both landscape and portrait orientation beautifully. Clippings look like individual pages and can easily be moved around the screen or opened. If the clipping includes a photo or graphic, this is included in the thumbnail; beautiful. The PC App includes the ability to automatically synchronise at set intervals; unfortunately this feature is lacking in the iOS version.

Cost
The App is entirely free, whether for iOS, PC, or as an Internet page. The first 60 MB of uploads per month are also free. Let me assure you that this represents a lot of notes and clippings. The stored information stays in your account ‘forever’, so the total amount is unlimited. You can increase the monthly upload limit to 1 GB per month by purchasing a monthly or annual premium account

Indispensability
The fact that there is a version for just about every phone, tablet, or PC makes it indispensable, especially as the amount of storage is not really an issue.

Dependability
I have been using Dropbox since November 2008 (initially just as a Web App and gradually on many devices); it has never let me down. It's not possible to ask for more.


Security
Evernote state “As a consumer Internet service, we don't pursue enterprise certifications such as FISMA, HIPAA, etc. We manage our own servers at a Tier 3 data centre (Quality Tech) in Santa Clara, which is itself SAS70 certified. All software and data is managed by Evernote's internal IT/Operations staff”. I interpret this as data being secure to the casual observer but, a fairly determined effort could well lead to data being compromised. I personally use Evernote to share mainly clippings so, the information is freely available over the Internet anyway.


ACIDS Test Rating:

 You've just got to have it!

To find out how the ACIDS Test works, click here.

You can get Evernote here and the iPad App here.