7notes HD Premium Review

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

7notes HD Premium Review

at 12:06 PM

7notes HD Premium Review

By Jennifer Allen on October 19th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: CONVENIENT
iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad

A powerful handwriting recognition engine makes this app great for notetakers.

Developer: 7knowledge
Price: $8.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPad 2

iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.92 out of 5 stars

If I was going to be unduly critical of the iPad, I’d refer to it as a glorified paper notebook. For the tiny luddite part of my brain, that’s what it is. I use it frequently to complete work while on the move or write ideas as they come to me. I can type pretty fast on the touch screen keyboard, forever intending to pick up a physical keyboard attachment for it, but sometimes it’s convenient to just be able to write. 7Notes HD Premium allows precisely that.

It’s an app that allows users to write either with their finger or a stylus, instead of typing out information. It’s a lofty ambition with far too many other similar tools struggling to keep up with the speed required of recognizing handwriting on the fly, but 7Notes HD Premium succeeds. I wrote about as fast as I could manage and give or take a few minor errors, the app kept up.

Minor errors aren’t that big a problem fortunately as using a predictive engine, 7Notes HD Premium comes up with suggestions of what the user could be aiming for. This means that it’s quite convenient to just write a few characters out then pick the resulting word from the options that 7Notes HD Premium gives out. There’s also the option to switch to the iPad keyboard and correct a few details if so required.

For the creative writer, or simply those in need of highlighting appropriate text, editing features are plentiful. Users can decorate the words, copy and paste, add indentations, embolden specific words, underline or adjust font size and weight. It’s the ideal collection of options for those writing out notes for a study session later on.

Sharing options are pretty varied with the choice to print, email or share with numerous services. Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox and Evernote functionality is all in there as well as the option to save to PDF.

7Notes HD Premium is an impressive app. I wasn’t sure how powerful the handwriting recognition engine would be but I was thoroughly impressed. It actually provides a great alternative to the keyboard. For the student, in particular, this is an ideal purchase.