Simplenote, our favorite note-taking application for iPhone, iPad, Android, the web and PC or Mac, has just seen a rather important update. Simplenote version 3 adds a treasure trove of new features, but don’t worry about that: If you don’t want them, you won’t even notice them.
Simplenote’s strength is its, well, simplicity. It launches instantly, you type in your note, and it syncs to the web. Searching throughout notes is instantaneous, just like iTunes searching used to be, and the synchronization is rock-solid. Better, there are a range of applications which tie into Simplenote’s open APIs so you can sync with your desktop.
So what’s new? Here’s a quick rundown of new features, in order of how excited I am by them.
Tags. Tags act like Gmail’s labels, letting you file a note in multiple “folders” at once. Tags are assigned by tapping the pale-gray tag field at the top of the note (found by pulling down the screen on the iPhone version), and browsed by navigating up to a new master-level in the pop-over list of notes. Best of all, it is almost invisible if you don’t intend to use it.
Sharing. You can now choose to share a note. Do this and you are prompted to send its address by e-mail. Once the other Simplenote users click on the link included, they can share and edit the note, allowing for simple collaboration. You can also share a note on the web using the same mechanism, except that the mailed link leads to a read-only web-page. Once shared, the note gets a little RSS-like symbol on it to remind you, and it turns blue when somebody else has updated the note.
Versioning. This one is big. Simplenote now tracks the changes you make to a note and remembers its history. You can slide a button to go back in time and restore previous version of notes.
Word Count Hit the “i” button up in the toolbar, and Simplenote will tell you how many words and characters you have typed. Also in this box is the switch to pin a note.
Pins. You can now “pin” any number of notes to the top of the list, yet keep sorting all other notes by date created, date modified or in alphabetical order. Another addition is sorting in reverse, using any of these criteria.
This is more useful than it might seem. You could keep your flight details afloat temporarily, or permanently pin a note to the top, to use as scratchpad.
Trash. Along with versioning, you also get a trashcan that stores deleted notes. You can restore notes with one button, making this one more safety feature.
Full-screen mode. This one is iPhone-only, as the iPad’s screen is already big enough. Hit the button and all window-chrome disappears, showing just the words and a light-gray button for returning to normal.
On top of this is a lot of polish to the user interface, support for iOS4 and a brand-new web interface.
There are a few glitches, some possibly due to server stress caused by the new launch. Tags aren’t syncing properly for me yet, although notes are fine.
One real oddity is the positioning of the new Sign-Out button, which does just what it says. The button is top-left in the main settings pane, in the exact same place as the Back button when navigating other parts of the settings. It is way to easy to hit by mistake (I did it almost straight away during testing).
Despite these couple of quibbles, the new Simplenote is great, managing to keep its speed and simplicity while at the same getting a whole lot more powerful (but only if you want it to). It is also free, supported by ads. Or you can go pro, which costs $12 per year and lets you drop the ads, add notes by e-mail and get them out with RSS.
Go download it now.
Simplenote [iTunes]
Simplenote [Simplenote]
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