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I never got Paper the first time I reviewed it. During that review I said that Paper is not the app to improve your productivity on the iPad. It finally occurred to me that I was comparing Paper to the other notetaking apps I was using at that time; Penultimate, NotetakerHD, etc. The problem is that Paper is not meant to replace these high functioning note takers, it is meant to be a place to jot, doodle and annotate. Where NotetakerHD, Penultimate, MyScript and Remarks are meant for down and dirty notes; Paper is meant for drawing and quick thoughts. With this new perspective in mind I am taking another look at Paper.
In summary, Paper has a potentially HUGE place in my productivity arsenal. I have been searching and searching for a place to take quick notes, like when the phone rings or when you have a quick thought to capture during a meeting or maybe even during a lunch or dinner. For anything more involved than this I ALWAYS come back to typing directly in Evernote, FastEver and sometimes ByWord. And all of this leads me to a disclosure, I have written many, many reviews of note taking apps and a recent review on the Adonit Stylus; but I never use any of the apps I have reviewed during my day to day work. I guess this means means that my $40 Adonit Flip collects dust in my STM Jacket. Kind of strange really, but I just like having my type-written notes cleanly organized in Evernote. The convenience of the excellent text recognition of the MyScript Apps aren’t enough to make me give up my TouchFire or my Adonit Keyboard.
With this disclosure in mind and with the context that Paper is not meant to replace Penultimate, I take another look at Paper by 53. You see, I still take notes on small little pieces of paper at the office. We have these great recycled pads that our print shop guys created from discarded pages orphaned at our printers. I find these pads great for taking a quick note while I am on the phone or when I just need capture a thought at a meeting. Paper works, but I still wish I had an app that is quick enough for this use case as all of the other apps I have tried are just too complicated and require a few too many button clicks. And this is where Paper might fit for me!
In summary, Paper is FAST, really FAST. The whole application is designed to be utilized with gestures rather than button pushes. With about ten minutes of use you discover that this touch-based design is perfectly suited for the iPad, in fact the touch that you use to manipulate the app is eerily similar to the motions you use to manipulate real paper. From the swiping to quickly scan pages in a notebook to the grasp of a piece of paper while your other hand finds a new home in a folder; Paper mimics the physical world elegantly. With this new version Paper added the ability to move pages and notebooks with a two handed gesture that is both elegant and simple. Just press and hold a page or notebook and then navigate to the new home with your other finger. Stunning really, a sign of things to come from multi-touch honestly. Paper also improved the erase feature. What was somewhat awkward in the first version is now completely intuitive and seamless;just draw a two-fingered, counter-clockwise circle to rewind/erase the text/lines you want to erase. Seems complicated in words, but in practice it is amazingly fast, and VASTLY easier than clicking a button for an eraser; like the process for ALL other note-taking apps.
Another great feature that was added with this version is the Duplicate button. Just click on a page from the notebook preview mode and then click the “+” to duplicate a page. The use case for this is to create a template! I was able to create a meeting minute template and a phone message template in about 10 seconds. Again, use my Evernote template if you are the main meeting minute taker, but if you are a participant and need to take a few notes just create your own Paper minute template and duplicate it throughout a notebook! Do the same for your phone messages. Quick, easy, elegant.
In summary, I completely overlooked the power and elegance of Paper with my first review. After some time with Paper I have completely changed my tune. Paper is one of the best and most useful apps that I have run across for the iPad. Paper is a great app for taking quick notes wherever you are. It will not replace Penultimate, Remarks, NotetakerHD or Evernote; but it will provide a great place to take quick notes and make quick sketches. And if you are in a creative profession or regularly design stuff with pen and paper; Paper will provide a great way to capture your creations electronically! And, the price is right; FREE for the base app and one “pen” and then an additional $1.99 for each additional writing tool. If you are just taking notes, the standard Ink Pen will be sufficient…i.e. $1.99 for an amazing writing app! Still not sure, download the base app for free and try out the app with the included Fountain Pen.
Caveats
You may be wondering what Paper is missing. With the new version Paper can only share via Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Camera Roll and Email. In other words I would love to have built-in Evernote and Dropbox Support. Additionally Paper does not support zoomed-writing; makes sense given that Paper is not designed to replace your NotetakerHD.
Other Resources:
Paper vs. Penultimate on the Evernote Forum
Detailed info on the new update in September 2012
Cult of Mac Review from March
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