This App Represents Everything I Love About Apple.

Evernote’s redesigned mobile app aroused my curiosity and after a break of 2 years, I decided to give It another try.
48 hours later, my main conclusion is that the new Evernote reminded me, once again, why I love Apple so much.

For years I’ve been using digital tools as my notebook replacement.

It started with Microsoft’s OneNote, but when mobile started to take over, and Microsoft still had issues understanding this new world, I had to switch to a friendlier tool.

I found Evernote; a modern, mobile-first app that had everything I looked for: a simple design, speed, multiple device support, it was perfect for my humble needs.
As I was collecting notes, Evernote was collecting users, fans, API’s, apps, built on top of its’ ever-growing platform, and it became big.

Too big.

Overloaded with features, lists, views, I started to dislike the new Evernote… the cute little app evolved into a monster, while my original requirements remained exactly the same: a digital notebook replacement.

Here’s what I was looking for:

1. Text editor with simple formatting options: title, subtitle, bullets and numbers.
2. Checklists — so I can embed my todo’s inside my notes
3. Seamless sync while using multiple devices (so I can easily switch from my laptop to my iPhone and continue editing my notes)
4. Offline capabilities without getting too many sync conflicts (useful for flights)
5. A user friendly UI (spending so many hours on my notes — it has to be good).

Pretty basic needs, and yet, the stronger Evernote got, the harder it was for me to enjoy it. In addition, I couldn’t help but noticing that the synchronization that used to be one of Evernotes’ strongest capabilities — got worse. I started losing data, having to split my notes, manually sync them, etc.

I started looking for alternatives: Trello, OneNote, Wunderlist, Todoist, Any.do, all are great tools for tasks, but none of them could satisfy my notes taking needs.

But then Apple joined the game with a revamped Notes app

I gave it a try and discovered that Apple Notes had exactly what I needed: a simple and clean design, not many, but enough text formatting options and a delightful checklist functionality.

But the best part was the lightning fast, instant synchronization that almost never fails. I found myself modifying the same note from 3 devices simultaneously without any issues.

It just works, as they say…

So I made my choice. I switched from Evernote to Apple’s Notes.

Of course, using a Mac and an iPhone as my primary devices made this choice pretty easy, but I never deleted Evernote; I had a feeling I haven’t seen the last of it.

Few days ago Evernote released version 8.
I gave this version another try and came up with the following conclusions:

1. Evernote 8 is the best Evernote thus far.
2. The new UI is brilliant! The navigation bar is very convenient, the shortcuts are efficient. It’s good.
3. Evernote is significantly more advanced than Apple’s Notes, but most of the features are not in my top priority list.

But Evernote’s synchronization is still not immediate, which means editing the same note from multiple devices might result in a loss of data. To me that’s a deal breaker since it makes Evernote unreliable, and too risky to use.

I remember such issues from older versions but couldn’t believe they still happen in 2017 while all other modern productivity tools offer a seamless immediate sync.

So here I am, writing my thoughts on this… piece of note:

Evernote’s latest version made me thinking about the reasons I love Apple’s products so much.

They may not provide the WIDEST set of features, but they always provide the RIGHT set of features, packed with stability, reliability, and a pleasing user experience.

In software (and hardware) — this is not as trivial as it may sound.