Evernote + Social Android apps

Evernote
FREE
         

Evernote is a comprehensive note-taking application that integrates hardware, software and other apps. It captures text notes, voice notes, photos or files and stores them online for easy retrieval.

On Android, setup involves creating an account - your Google email is the default, but you can specify another - and deciding between creating a new note or snapshot or viewing existing ones. Once you've got a few notes, the Search and Tag options begin to come into their own.

One of the most useful elements of Evernote's Premium and desktop versions is its built-in Web Clipper. The clips can be viewed on your Android device and sorted according to tag. The developers suggest recipe clips, for example.

LIMITED CLIP

Within the free version of Evernote for Android, however, your actions are limited to viewing and organising what you've saved. For many tasks, you either need to go Premium ($5 per month or $45 per year) or revert to using the free desktop version. An Android tablet edition might provide the best of both worlds.

There's a lot to be said for the simplicity of the concept. The home page features a search bar and four buttons, each for a different type of data capture. To access your Notes, Pending Notes and Settings or log out, you hit the Menu key. You can label your Notes with custom tags or GPS geotags and search by either, and organise Notes into folder-like Notebooks. The search function is a bit fussy if you don't have the note tagged correctly.

Optical character recognition (OCR) is one of Evernote's best features. It can recognise, index and search printed and handwritten text within photos - useful for capturing business cards, organising contacts or taking notes at meetings.

However, Evernote can't store notes on your device, only in the cloud, so if you have no web access you're stuck Photos and voice notes need to be downloaded every time you want them. This is a versatile app, but it's limited by the need to use it online and in conjunction with the desktop app and browser add-on.