Free-Form Awesome Note Brims Over With Style, Falls Short On Function [Review]

Awesome Note is a charming, flexible, free-form app that combines elements of both note-taking and todo apps. But like uncle Chuck at an all-you-can-eat Vegas-style buffet, trying to shoehorn too much good stuff into one thing can sometimes lead to messy results.

The good stuff about Awesome Note ($4) is easy to like. It’s eye-catching. It easily flips a note to a task and back again on the fly. It’ll let you drop notes and photos into bright, customizable folders. And I could use up hours playing with all the options to customize the appearance of notes; background, typeface, point size — it’s really very attractive.

It’ll also sync with Evernote and Google Docs. Since I’ve used Evernote in the past, I tested it with that desktop app, and it synced seamlessly.

But Awesome Note’s frills are a little too distracting, and the way it syncs with Evernote a little too disorganized for me, so it won’t replace my Simplenote/Notaional Velocity combo; the todo functions aren’t nearly powerful or complete enough —for instance, no ability to create lists or repeating tasks — so it’s not my idea of a perfect task app either. Luckily, there’s a try-before-you-buy version.

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Verdict: 3/5 – One of the best-looking productivity apps at the Store, Awesome Note will appeal to users who take a free-form approach to task- and info-management; those wanting detail, control and order should stay away.

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