This is one of those reviews that has been a long time coming. I'm not new to Evernote. It was actually one of the first Apps I tried once when the App Store opened and it became available. My friends and readers of this site are always telling me about how good it is and how much they love it. Yep, Evernote is very popular! However, there was just one thing that has always kept me from getting excited about this app and that is "offline viewing." I remember that the first version had no facility to view your notes if you weren't connected to the internet and for me that was a deal breaker. Sure I'm online most of the time, but there are those times (like when I'm above the cloud) that I need to look something up and don't have internet access. So I followed the progress of Evernote from afar.
Access your notes everywhere
I decided that it was time to have another look at Evernote. It was probably around the time that they introduced the update for iPad. Also I continue to grow more frustrated that Apple still doesn't allow wireless syncing of the built-in notes app with the notes in Mail. This still only works via USB/iTunes. So it was time to check out Evernote again. I installed it on my iPad and setup the Free account. I created a note and like magic it worked. I could instantly view that note either on my Mac via a web browser or via the Evernote App for Mac. I could also of course see the note on my iPad. Next I installed Evernote on my iPhone 3GS and again all my notes were there. Now for the big question. What happens if I turn on Airplane Mode and disconnect from the internet. Can I still see my notes? The answer is yes and no. It depends on a couple of different things. First off Evernote allows you to create different kinds of notes. So you could create a simple text note, you could grab a web page, you could take a screen shot or use another photo (snapshot) and you could make a voice recording. My text notes were still viewable when I went into Airplane mode. However, "some" of my web notes were not available and that kinda makes sense. My snapshot and audio recordings were also still available. While there is definitely some "caching" going on, you don't always have access to everything offline with the FREE account.
You can get Evernote here from the App Store: 
Going Premium
Like I said, Evernote is FREE and everything I've described up until this point is FREE. However, Evernote also offers a Premium Account ($4.99/month OR $44.99/year). If you upgrade to the Premium account you get Local notebook storage on your iPhone and iPod Touch (and I assume iPad although they don't specify iPad), 500MB monthly uploads (vs. 25MB for FREE), Priority image recognition, Search within PDFs, Sync any type of file, no ads, and stronger SSL encryption for note syncing. See the full comparison here. I am considering a Premium account, however $44.99/year seems like a lot. Especially when it's half the cost of MobileMe, which provides many other features. The only thing I would be really interested in the premium account for is the full support of Offline Notebooks.
The Bottom Line
Evernote is GREAT! I can see why so many people like it. While I certainly don't mind paying for something of value, I do wish the Premium accounts were a little more cost effective (or perhaps a second tier between free and premium) since all I really want is more "offline" abilities. When you think about it, you're paying not only to have more space on their servers (which makes sense), but to store YOUR content on YOUR device.
Evernote
Evernote allows you to sync notes, recordings and snapshots with multiple devices/computers via the cloud.
- Evernote
- Get on App Store
- Free
All info was collected on 21st May, 2010 when the app was reviewed.
About Terry White
Terry is the co-author of The Best Selling "The iPhone Book" 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years and is the founder and president of MacGroup-Detroit, Inc., Michigan's largest Macintosh Users Group, host of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and a technology writer - Terry White Tech Blog.
Love this app and have been using it since it was in beta. I send articles from Twitter to my Evernote account to read later. Works brilliant with iPhone/ipad/mac. Evernote do a monthly podcast which is very good too.
Thanks
I was hooked on Evernote even before I owned an iPhone, but now that I can have it in my pocket, it’s become indispensable. Totally agree with you on the need for a 2nd tier paid option. I would happily pay a couple bucks a month for offline access and an additional 50 or 60 megs of storage. But based on my usage, I can’t justify springing for a premium account.
Those who simply need notetaking might also want to check out these applications:
WriteRoom for Macs and the iPhone/iPad. Syncs easily through a website that can also be used for online notetaking.
TaskPaper for Macs and the iPhone (soon the iPad). An brilliantly designed outliner from the same developer as WriteRoom that syncs through the same website. For jotting down ideas, I like the way it places separate notes as bulleted items. That makes them easier to read on a small screen. For writers who use Scrivener, it can import documents directly from the WriteRoom/TaskPaper website. That makes them great for drafting on the go and polishing up back at the office.
Simplenote on the iPhone with Notational Velocity or JustNotes on Macs (choose the UI you like best). Also syncs through a website where you can also edit text.
I use all three, dividing tasks between them: WriteRoom for actual writing, TaskPaper for book ideas (one document for each book in progress), and Simplenote for to-do lists and other on-the-go notetaking. (I even use the iPhone Notes app for notes that change rarely, such as lists of clothing sizes. For that, the clumsiness of its synching matters little.)
All three sync automatically via WiFi or a cellular connection and, because they’re dealing with small text files, always synch everything to all platforms. Because Dropbox also handles pictures and the like, it doesn’t dare synch everything to an iPhone. I find the necessity of individually tagging files for synching a nuisance. What if I forget and I’m on a flight, unable to get that document I planned on looking at because it wasn’t tagged on my Mac as a download “favorite”?
As you say, you don’t always have access to your Evernote stuff, and you also have to be careful of what you mean by “access”. For example, I took a photo on my iPhone and put it in Evernote. Fired up Evernote on my iPad and I could see the photo… but could not save or copy it, so when I went to my boss’ office (out of WiFi range), no photo. In that case, Dropbox worked much better.
Even with a free account, if you set an EverNote note as favorite on the iPhone, it will be available off-line.
@Dan, Thanks and nice tip but unfortunately I don’t see that option on the iPad version.
Why does EverNote 3.3.2 free version displays images at full size when first opened (which takes some time to display on a iPhone 3G) over a 3G network versus a default “Fit to window” option?
If only more than 44 people could hear this..
If you’d like a tool for managing your time and projects, and that syncs with Evernote, you can use this web-application inspired by David Allen’s GTD:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage and prioritize your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
Comes with a mobile version too, and with an Android app.
I recently started using Evernote and its “free” storage space is severely limited. I have over 4000 pics on my iphone and have used only half the iphone capacity. I uploaded 166 pics from the iphone to Evernote, used 99% of Evernote upload capacity and recieved a warning notice that Evernote utilization would be restricted until the next cycle. From a practical standpoint Evernotes data restriction allows only 2% utilization of my iphones capacity per month. With this strict data limitation, it is more functional to use my iphone, ipad, and laptops and “Forget Evernote”.