Must have note taking apps for iOS iPad

The hunt for good use-able apps to sync and take notes.

Luckily I've had an iPhone for over the last 2 years so I know some of the apps.  But it can take some time, and quite of lot of money spent to find out what will work for you and what not.

First of all the apps on the iPad for me are awesome, well at least the ones that I use.  I find that most of them are far better and easier to use on the iPad than on the iPhone for obvious reasons.  All the more reason to actually own an iPad.  Most of the apps I use are on Android as well so I guess they will be the same, and from what I saw while I messed around with a Galaxy Tab it is pretty much the same.

Lets look at the various apps that you could find very useful.  I am always on the hunt for free services so most of my apps are in that line.  I do not mind paying for an app, but I don't like paying for the rest of  my life to use it, you know what I mean.

Apps for note taking:

I am still researching this but I think I have pretty much found what I am looking for.  The best app that I can find, and is used by millions is Evernote. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/evernote/id281796108?mt=8 to go to the apple store on the web.

Evernote recently bought out Penultimate which is a great tool for handwritten notes.  Get yourself a stylus and there you go.  Here is the link to it:http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/penultimate/id354098826?mt=8

In the same league although with many more features you have Notability.  I've only recently bought it but find it very useful and extremely friendly to use, even without a stylus.  Yes I am without a stylus at the moment.  I like the fact that you can draw on the screen.  I like to be able to note something like that sometimes.  Now that I can I will be doing it way more than before.  Here is the link to file in iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/za/app/notability-take-notes-annotate/id360593530?mt=8

iAnnotate PDF is a really awesome tool for working with PDF's if you have any use for that.  It is full of features and might be to tech, for me it is great. http://itunes.apple.com/app/iannotate-pdf/id363998953?mt=8

I am still trying out notes that record audio while you are taking notes, for now audionote looks good.

I almost forgot about Springpad which is quite a nice app.  It has a bit of different thinking behind it than the other note taking devices.  I've personally been using it for over 2 years now.  I enjoy it although I recently had to bring things together in one place rather than having it spread over 3 or 4 apps.  So sadly although I love Springpad I am not using it that much anymore.  You have to try it out though, it is great.http://itunes.apple.com/za/app/springpad/id360116898?mt=8

You will need a cloud service to sync your files automatically to your devices.  By this I mean you must find a  way to easily sync Word documents, Spreadsheets, PDF's etc to your iPad.  You don't want to have to drag information manually from one device to the other, trying to update everything yourself.  It will not work.  As soon as the workload gets heavy you will loose track of what you are doing.  So keeping this in mind, these apps will help you with a work around for it.

Box.net is the service I use mainly because I scored 50gigs online when they had their introductory offer.http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/box-for-iphone-and-ipad/id290853822?mt=8

There are many other apps that work with Box.net

Dropbox is another very strong contender but they only give 1 or 2 Gig's for free. DropBox is widely used and well known. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8

I've written about Google drive before, and how to use it.  But if you want to keep your files in Microsoft format I suggest to go with Box or DropBox or one of those as Google Drive is more aimed at their own file format. http://itunes.apple.com/za/app/google-drive/id507874739?mt=8

I will be writing more in the future about this.

There are many other great apps like Pocket,Skype,Linkedin,Dictionary,Flipboard,iMindMap HD,Facebook,G+ I will write about them sometime in the future.