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iPad Pro Ios13 Notes app inking versus Notability and Goodnotes

M

Mobileadam

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2015
187
76
Hi,

I was a long term user of Notability then switched to Goodnotes but I’m finding since owning my iPad Pro 11 with Pencil v2 I prefer the inking / writing on Apple’s Notes app. It just seems that the writing experience is far more realistic and the ink flows as opposed to just appear in the other two apps. The difference is minor and slight and I’ve tried different pen sizes and options to try and replicate the Notes experience but with no joy. Obviously I detest the lack of organisation and other features in Notes.

Has anyone else found the same? I’m now writing more and more in Notes and then only using Goodnotes for bring stuff together or more formal minutes.

Thanks
 
10.5 Pro and then the iPad Air 3 --- I prefer the inking in Notability to Apple Notes (though I find the Pencil in Apple Notes mimics Notability more). I dislike the pen in Apple Notes. Good Notes is not bad, but I like it less than Apple Notes and Notability. One Note is terrible - I can't get a natural feeling.
 
I’ve been having a play with using all three apps and it seems that Notes has a more realistic pen stroke (for my writing) as the end of characters are fainter as the pressure changes I guess. Notability and Goodnotes when using the ball point pen option are just a constant line of ink which is why I guess it feels less realistic.

Notes now has folders which is similar to Notability but lacks the ability to easily annotate images and move them around like in the other two. Also a lack of paper choices !

I love Onenote’s tool bar. I want one touch access to other colour pens or pencils.
 
I really have come to like the writing experience in Notes and use it for tons of business notes during the day.
I also like that in Dark Mode I’m writing white on black which is a nice change.

Still use GoodNotes for journals and music notes etc but the latest version isn’t as snappy as it used to be and there was no Mac client for the longest time which I find good to have.
 
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ericwn said:
I really have come to like the writing experience in Notes and use it for tons of business notes during the day.
I also like that in Dark Mode I’m writing white on black which is a nice change.

Still use GoodNotes for journals and music notes etc but the latest version isn’t as snappy as it used to be and there was no Mac client for the longest time which I find good to have.
Click to expand...
Same here. Notes is deceptively more useful than the limited feature-set might imply. I also like that I can access them via the web version of iCloud. Pity that any drawings are "readonly" and cannot be modified via the web.

I'm still on GoodNotes 4 (iOS and macOS) and will continue to do so for as long as I use GoodNotes. Once I can't use GN4 anymore, I'll look to move on to something else. The GoodNotes team has lost its way IMO.
 
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In Notability there are two inking options - one that is a solid S curve, and the other is an S curve that lightens up at the end.

With the one that lightens up at the end = the best writing experience. Just fyi.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
In Notability there are two inking options - one that is a solid S curve, and the other is an S curve that lightens up at the end.

With the one that lightens up at the end = the best writing experience. Just fyi.
Click to expand...
Wow, I didn't know that! That's good to know and will keep Notability as a next-in-line when I need to bail on GN.
 
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sracer said:
Same here. Notes is deceptively more useful than the limited feature-set might imply. I also like that I can access them via the web version of iCloud. Pity that any drawings are "readonly" and cannot be modified via the web.

I'm still on GoodNotes 4 (iOS and macOS) and will continue to do so for as long as I use GoodNotes. Once I can't use GN4 anymore, I'll look to move on to something else. The GoodNotes team has lost its way IMO.
Click to expand...
Another notes fan! 💛
 
BigMcGuire said:
In Notability there are two inking options - one that is a solid S curve, and the other is an S curve that lightens up at the end.

With the one that lightens up at the end = the best writing experience. Just fyi.
Click to expand...
I did try that for a while but found it still didn’t have the same ‘flow’. I need to get all three apps merged together and then the toolbar of OneNote. None of them are perfect and I’m sticking for day to day notes and scrap with Notes.
 
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I am using Goodnotes 5 with a black background, it's pretty nice. I only write in 1 or 2 different line widths with the Ball pen though, sometimes i go a little fancy with the Fountain pen. I always write on the go during site surveys so i dont have time to make it fancy like the advertisement images in Google with the colored words, fancy photos with hand drawn outlines. I write fast and quick, using bullets to organise them and I find GN 5 to be good at this.

I love GN 5, the ability to import PDFs (i use them ALOT), photos, selection window, the Folders and ability to just organize everything according to a project is great.

More importantly, being able to export as a PDF after my markups is amazing. I didn't give Notability a go, the lack of a trial period sucks for the App store, there's so many apps out there that i would love to try first but i'm forced to buy them just to check them out, I'm afraid if i request for too many refunds i'll get blacklisted.

OneNotes suck. I don't know why, but the impression I have of it and the way I have to quickly take down notes etc., it just sucks. It's not "intuitive" ? I guess that's it? I tried it, i really wanted it to work because i use Windows, iPad and an android phone, having 1 app to tie them all together would be amazing but somehow, it doesn't gel together. I might give it another shot when i have more time...
 
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Arquet said:
I am using Goodnotes 5 with a black background, it's pretty nice. I only write in 1 or 2 different line widths with the Ball pen though, sometimes i go a little fancy with the Fountain pen. I always write on the go during site surveys so i dont have time to make it fancy like the advertisement images in Google with the colored words, fancy photos with hand drawn outlines. I write fast and quick, using bullets to organise them and I find GN 5 to be good at this.

I love GN 5, the ability to import PDFs (i use them ALOT), photos, selection window, the Folders and ability to just organize everything according to a project is great.

More importantly, being able to export as a PDF after my markups is amazing. I didn't give Notability a go, the lack of a trial period sucks for the App store, there's so many apps out there that i would love to try first but i'm forced to buy them just to check them out, I'm afraid if i request for too many refunds i'll get blacklisted.
Click to expand...
Have you had any experience with GN 4 before using 5? If so, I'd be curious to know how the latest GN 5 compares to 4. I've been keeping an eye on 5 and what I'm hearing from users who went from 4 to 5 is that 5 is buggier, slower, and more convoluted.


Arquet said:
OneNotes suck. I don't know why, but the impression I have of it and the way I have to quickly take down notes etc., it just sucks. It's not "intuitive" ? I guess that's it? I tried it, i really wanted it to work because i use Windows, iPad and an android phone, having 1 app to tie them all together would be amazing but somehow, it doesn't gel together. I might give it another shot when i have more time...
Click to expand...
OneNote seems to have an inconsistent UI that can indeed make it a bit awkward to use in a consistent manner. My biggest gripe with OneNote (on any platform) is the incessant syncing. Every keystroke, cursor movement, etc. are sync'ed as they happen. This results in a lot of network communication that drains battery life on my mobile devices. I have to resort to turning on airplane mode on my tablets (and temporarily disabling wifi on my notebooks) while I'm in meetings.

Another deficiency I see in OneNote is the inability to operate in "page" mode. ON refers to "notebooks" and "sections" but only provides for infinite sheets/pages.
 
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sracer said:
Same here. Notes is deceptively more useful than the limited feature-set might imply. I also like that I can access them via the web version of iCloud. Pity that any drawings are "readonly" and cannot be modified via the web.

I'm still on GoodNotes 4 (iOS and macOS) and will continue to do so for as long as I use GoodNotes. Once I can't use GN4 anymore, I'll look to move on to something else. The GoodNotes team has lost its way IMO.
Click to expand...
Hi. I'm sticking with GN4 as I don't like GN5 but I'm afraid to suffer issues upgrading on IOS 13. Did u try GN4 on IOS 13 ? Thx
 
I'll give Notes a shot. I've been using Notability forever and don't think I've ever written anything in the stock Notes app.
 
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