I have not posted in some time, and I'll try and keep this brief, otherwise I believe that you will start charging me for therapy. As time has passed, my use of Ecco and my Sony Clie have now been almost fully replaced for any routine use, although I still think Ecco was among the best pieces of software ever written. I briefly weaned off of the Clie to an iPod Touch during 2009, and now I've now had a Droid phone for the past four months. For better or for worse, it is now my PDA. While I use Diigo as my mobile bookmark service, Google as my calendar, and Toodledo as a task list, I am still spinning around with respect to managing small bits of information that do not relate well to anything else. I have been trying to catch up on paper filing, and find way too many scraps of paper with small bits of information. What I am hoping to incorporate is an online service with an Android app that will allow me to easily enter small bits of information for recall later. The program should sync between my Droid and the web so I can easily access my data from a PC. I would like a friendly, but comprehensive search feature (think G-Mail's search, but with the ability to do partial word searches) as I am not a big fan of tags, and the ability to easily back up my data off of the web in a common format. My first thoughts were Evernote or Google docs, but I am still too swamped in my paper filing to research this right now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Over the years I have looked at far too many programs (and registered for far too many online services) that come close, but I need to find something that is stable and easily works. Time for research is now at a premium, so I am not able to make a "quest" for the "perfect" program.

--Ken

Ken:

I'll just refer you to a thread that I started: http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1903/0/b-folders-2

Charles

CRC wrote:

Ken:

I'll just refer you to a thread that I started:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1903/0/b-folders-2

Charles

Thanks for the link, Charles. It is an interesting solution, but I was hoping for something that I could quickly access through my work PC when I am at my desk. Nonetheless, I will give it some consideration as I further refine my criteria.

--Ken

Ken,

A good alternative to Evernote is Simplenote. Its iOS client is most excellent, and is my preferred writing environment on my iPad. It syncs to Simplenote's website, and the client ResophNotes is very good as well. If there's a good Simplenote client for Android (I'd be surprised if there wasn't), I expect it'll meet your needs.

Regards,
Wes

Seems like an ideal candidate for Evernote. Why look any further?

-Rael
www.bauerapps.com

Rael Bauer wrote:

Seems like an ideal candidate for Evernote. Why look any
further?

-Rael
www.bauerapps.com

Hi Rael,

That what I initially thought as well. But, it seems there are a number of issues relating to the ability to export data from Evernote, and until I get a clearer answer on that, I am considering other options.

--Ken

P.S. Right Note seems like a nice app. Its a shame that smartphones cannot really support that type of application.

After a bit more searching, I am now more confused about Evernote. Does its current PC client software allow for export into a commonly recognized format?

--Ken

Yes, you can export notes in HTML format.

WSP wrote:

Yes, you can export notes in HTML format.

Thank you for the clarification. I am assuming that exporting is only possible with the PC client software, and is not available if you are just using the web interface.

--Ken

Ken,

Since a couple of weeks I also have an Android phone and I have seen the amount of software available is quite impressive. Coming from the Symbian world I find that Android apps are still quite simplistic, but the development rate is much faster.

One app I would consider is Memento http://luckydroid.com/ It is a simple database that can sync with Google Apps (spreadsheets). It has some ready templates for popular uses, but you can also customise fields as you like.

Re Evernote, even though the Android client was recently updated http://blog.evernote.com/2010/08/11/evernote-for-android-update/ it still doesn't work offline --though this is expected to change in the near future. Indeed, you won't be able to export via the web app, only from the desktop.

Yes, as far as I can see there is no way of exporting from the Web version. You can send individual notes by e-mail, and it's possible to "share" notebooks with individuals or create a public notebook.

Lately I've been thinking a great deal about the possibilities of the public notebooks -- as a way of publishing text databases on the Web with (in my case) only minimal expertise in creating a website. The public notebooks sound intriguing, but Evernote is unfortunately plagued by very poor formatting capabilities. In my experiments, I find it's difficult to make the material look attractive and readable in a Web browser, and sometimes it's a struggle just to maintain a consistent font and font size.

Bill

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Ken,

Since a couple of weeks I also have an Android phone and I have seen the amount of
software available is quite impressive. Coming from the Symbian world I find that
Android apps are still quite simplistic, but the development rate is much
faster.

One app I would consider is Memento http://luckydroid.com/ It is a simple
database that can sync with Google Apps (spreadsheets). It has some ready templates
for popular uses, but you can also customise fields as you like.

Re Evernote, even
though the Android client was recently updated
http://blog.evernote.com/2010/08/11/evernote-for-android-update/ it still
doesn't work offline --though this is expected to change in the near future. Indeed,
you won't be able to export via the web app, only from the desktop.

Thank you for the recommendation; I will look into it further. Coming from a Palm via an iPod Touch, I find that for productivity apps, the Android platform offers me about the same variety as the iPhone/iPod Touch. One program that I am considering, although it seems to not work with IE7, my browser at work, is Catch.com. They were previously known as Snaptic. Its a bit like Simplenote meets Evernote. You may want to have a look.

--Ken

Alexander,

Memento seems like quite a comprehensive program! Has it been stable, and has the sync function worked well for you?

--Ken

I can't say I've tried it much; for me B-folders is much more convenient due to the nature of my info

Ken wrote:

Alexander,

Memento seems like quite a comprehensive program! Has it been stable,
and has the sync function worked well for you?

--Ken

Well, I tried to spend a bit more time with Memento today. I tried to create several databases, but it was a bit too buggy to allow me to even create simple samples. Its a shame because it is a great concept. Sometimes I feel that programmers see smartphones as a training ground for their skills. Its a shame because there is an art to writing a simple, yet robust, piece of software. I think I will pass on using it for any critical work. Perhaps a later version will be more reliable?

--Ken