Ipad Pro & note taking (and the winner is Evernote)

I have wanted to capture my handwriting in a digital way for many years. There are moments, chiefly meetings and ethnographic interviews, where typing just seems wrong. (For some reason, typing creates a distance. For some reason, writing breaks it down.)

So I was thrilled to when I discovered the Ipad Pro would come with an Apple Pencil and I have now had a chance to use both.

The Pencil is close to perfect. There is almost no delay. It will never “bite” into the page as my Precise V5 Rolling Ball pen does. But the advantages overwhelm this disadvantage.

So I am good to go. The remaining question: the best program to capture notes. In a thoroughly unsystematic, unscientific process, I have tried a number of apps.

And the winner is: Evernote. And the reason is: search. The alternatives don’t search or they don’t search well. And honestly, how often have you looked at a stack of notebooks (pictured) and thought, “hmm, I wonder which one…”

I expect we will soon be inundated with note-taking apps, as programmers respond to the Apple Pencil opportunity. But for the moment, Evernote looks like our best bet.

Post script: for those waiting for their Apple Pencil to arrive, you can buy one on eBay. I bought one Saturday and got it Monday. Yes, there is a surcharge. But it’s worth it.