Bear Notes App Professional JournalistI Filled

And one persons versatility can be another persons clutter can be another persons app overstuffed with features.

Bear Notes App Professional JournalistI Filled

For a couple of decadesfirst as a student, then as a professional journalistI filled notebook after notebook with notes, covering classes, press conferences, interviews, and more.

When I was done, Id have to find someplace to store them until (most likely) Id throw them out.

The result: A lot of personal and professional history gone to waste.

The process got better when laptop adoption became widespread and I could start typing my notes in real time as a speech or lecture was being delivered.

It improved yet again when Google Docs came along, and storage ceased to be a worry.

The productivity charts in the app stores are awash in great note-taking apps, ranging from the complicated Evernote would let you describe every part of your life with enough detail to satisfy three of the five sensesto the useful-but-relatively-one-dimensional (think of the naive Notes app on iOS ).

For the first time in decades, I dont have to carry pen and paper everywhere I go.

All I need is my smartphone, and Im ready to go to class, conduct an interview, or cover a fire as a breaking news story.

To determine that, TechHive picked a number of note-taking apps, popular either with the publicas determined by the iOS and Android app store chartsor which have received sterling notices in the tech press.

And to test them, I used each in my everyday lifefor reporting and writing news stories, as well as everyday tasks like making grocery lists, or to store away a great thought or quote.

I had three criteria for judging these note-taking apps: They had to be versatile.

And they had to be accessiblea note that will live on my iPhone and my iPhone only is not a note thats ultimately useful to me: I might take the notes on a mobile device, but I might write a paper or a story on a laptop or desktop so I want quick, easy access to the notes in both locations.

Oh, and while I used Apple gear in the testing of these apps, I didnt want to preclude the idea that someday soon I might switch to a Nexus tablet instead: The apps had to be available on both major mobile platforms, to give users maximum flexibility.

Theres a reason Evernote (free; iOS and Android ) is generally thought of as a best-in-class note-taker: Its the best in class, and it easily surpassed my desires in each of the three criteria I was judging by.

I typed in notes during the question-and-answer portion of the presser, used the app to take pictures of charts displayed during the event, and after it was over used the microphone to record a quick on-the-spot interview with one of the participants.

Shifting between functions was seamless: I just clicked the Add Attachment button in the upper right-hand corner, chose which medium to operate in, and moved on from there.

Plus, you can tag the notes, to further refine your searches and your overall ability to find your information later.

Evernote wins for its ease of use, awesomely organized notebooks, and accessibility across platforms.

If theres a drawback, its that the free account limits you to 60 MB of uploads per month: Power users beware.

But upgrading to a premium accountand up to 1 GB of data uploads per monthcosts just 45 a year.

Simplenote (free; iOS and Android )as the name impliesis simple.

Then again, the vast majority of the note taking I do is just writing stuff down.

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