Friday, February 17, 2012

App Review: Springpad

This week I am reviewing my third note taking application, Springpad.

Grade: A

Quick Pitch: Like other note taking applications, Springpad is a full-service application that makes taking diverse types of notes a breeze. It comes complete with ways to add text, pics, audio, and even locations to notes. Springpad also has a built in advertising feature that pushes discounts to your app based on content - an example they give is you adding a recipe for a calzone and receiving a discount offer for $1 off a Pillsbury product. It also has all the usual organizational features with multiple notebooks, a variety of theme options, and a customizable widget.

Full Story: Springpad is compelling application for anyone looking to organize different thoughts and notes into a cloud-based application for access across all devices (read everyone). The app is both simplistic and powerful. The delivery of the options will help novice note-takers find ways to instantly integrate the app into their daily lives. I haven't had the opportunity to experience the content-driven ads as of yet. I'm not sure if this would be an annoyance or convenient, but given the fact that none of my business-minded notes have incurred an ad yet, it doesn't seem to be a major component either way. I can tell after a short time with Springpad that there is a lot to this app I wouldn't be able to review without a much longer test period. That's not to say that it's confusing, just that it's very feature rich and allows you deeper and deeper organization tools as you add content.

Pros:

  • Customizable Widget - The widget is packed with a "wow" factor. There are 5 buttons on the widget, the first is to open the app, but the other five can be customized to the app features that you use most. This is a delivery that more developers should take note of.
  • Note Organization - Springpad takes organization to another level. There are built in features for everything from recipes, to wines, to TV shows, and products. There are built in search features to match your notes with items from the web. 
  • Clean interface - This is always important to me with apps because you want something that you can get in and get out with relative ease.
Cons:
  • Rich Text - Springpad lacks rich text features that might otherwise allow convenient things like bold or italics. It also lacks numbering and bullets.
You can download the app from the market here.

Note 1 - This is a review that I wrote after giving Springpad some extensive use for a short period of time, unlike my Evernote review I haven't tested the app outside of the Android application as I tested it for purposes of review.
Note 2 - I intentionally didn't compare the app to previous Catch or Evernote reviews in this post. I'll be putting together a comparison of the three apps for next week.

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