iPhone by Steve

I have been a happy PogoNotes user since switching to the iPhone. In fact, PogoNotes has all of the features I had gotten used to on my Windows Mobile Treo 700wx, and PogoNotes does all of them better, I think. Overall, PogoNotes has been a great organizational tool for me. So, why, then, would I even consider looking at another program?

Because another worthy note taker exists. It’s called Evernote.

Like PogoNotes, the innovative Evernote covers all the basics with ease and style. Composing and saving a basic note is super easy with both apps. But Evernote is more than a basic web app for the iPhone. There is also a Mac version and a Windows version of the software as well as a web version, and all of them keep your notes synchronized with the iPhone version.

The web version of the Evernote software works great in Firefox on my MacBook Pro, and works very well on the Windows machine I use at work running Internet Explorer 7. Personally, I’m not sure why I would ever need to use the dedicated client software unless I knew for sure I was going to be away from Internet access for a long period of time. Based on my use, I’m pretty sure the web version of the software has most of the features that the desktop versions have, and the web version zips along with decent speed if you have a broadband connection.

The iPhone version of Evernote has a nice, simple interface that looks good in Safari. It’s very easy to compose a new note and to find a note using the search function, but one feature that seems to be missing on the iPhone is the ability to edit an existing note. That’s easy to do in PogoNotes, so if you envision editing existing notes on a frequent basis on your iPhone, then Evernote might not be for you.

PogoNotes seems to be tops in speed, as well. On the AT&T Edge network, it seems to load faster for me than Evernote will. Not that Evernote is unacceptably slow, it’s just that PogoNotes seems to be a little faster. Moreover, when I’m on a Wi-Fi network, the speed is comparable with both.

The iPhone version of Evernote is scaled down from the client versions and the web version, but is still quite good. With PogoNotes, both the web and the phone versions work about the same in my estimation.

I think it’s pretty certain though, that with the recent introduction of the iPhone SDK, Evernote will probably address these minor issues with an iPhone native version. That’s the great thing about the SDK. All bets are off—anything you thought you knew about the iPhone and its software could change (for the better) in a heartbeat! And keep in mind that you really can’t go wrong with either of these programs, because they are both free.

While PogoNotes offers simplicity and ease of use, Evernote flat out rocks in several areas. With Evernote, you can take a snapshot of any web page you happen to visit, or file a photo. This makes it really quick to file something away that you want to remember, without having to jot down actual text notes. You can browse through thumbnails of your notes as well, which makes it a little easier to spot the page you are looking for.

Finally, and this is a pretty cool feature all by itself, Evernote has text recognition capabilities for any signs or text that might be in your photo notes. What good is that, you might ask? Well, maybe you’re not James Bond taking microfilm snapshots of top secret documents, but you might be an executive at a seminar and maybe you want to remember everything that the presenter has written on the big dry-erase board at the front of the room. A couple of sharply focused cell phone photos of the board, coupled with Evernote, and you should be all set. This is just one of the possibilities, but the fact is, text recognition is an advanced Evernote feature that is nowhere to be found in other note takers such as Microsoft Outlook or Pogonotes.

So, which program should you choose?

Personally, I’d make a decision based on need. If you are perfectly happy with your text note taking system and don’t see yourself using a lot of advanced features, then PogoNotes is clearly a great choice. But, if you are a cutting edge type who can make use of the extra stuff in Evernote, then you just might have found a new, innovative way to be more organized than ever before.