Customer Reviews

Notepad

5 star:		(125)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Just grabbed this notepad as my first Kindle App. I haven't felt the need to download any other apps because I basically just want my Kindle for reading. However, I've been somewhat wishing that Kindle came with some sort of notepad type application. Well, one dollar later and now it does! Totally worth it. If I'm really into a book and suddenly remember something that I need to pick up at the store, the likelihood of me getting up to write it on the fridge is not real high...however, I don't mind jumping over to my notepad to jot a quick note (and this is quick - as quick as I can move my thumbs). I've had my Kindle for about two months and about a week after I got it I was at the grocery store and saw a funny sign. I wanted to write down what it said to share with Guido when I got home, but had nothing good to write on. I tried to figure if there was a way to take a note in Kindle and came up empty. I got home that night and I forgot the details of the sign just enough to make it not funny to repeat. I was able to catch it again a couple weeks later, but still...if I had this app then - well, I would've just jotted it down. It seems to have some really good features such as restore points and searching within a search. I'm excited to have this little app around and look forward to using it.

I have been looking for a few ways to get my notes into the Kindle - since I have had it for about 8 months now - and this "meets" the needs that I had.

Needs:
o Quick - it must be quick
-- Did I mention that it has to be "Quick"? -- and this is the fastest I've seen on the Kindle - I have about 500MB free (yup - I like books,magazines, etc.) and my kindle is sluggish - but this app works really fast.
-- Disclaimer - I've only put in about 50 notes (so far)
o Easy to use - this is SUPER easy
-- All the key mappings you need are displayed in an intuitive manner - Alt+X (Save and Exit - I really like this)
o Copy Notes to my PC and Vise Versa
-- The video shows that this can be done - I've yet to try it - but it's a simple copy / paste operation
o Font Sizes:
-- I am a fan of small fonts and this allows me to use small fonts - to be able to add more notes
o Search by Note Title
-- This works as advertised - quickly locate notes by title
o Search Notes by Body keyword
-- Again, works as advertised - quickly and painlessly
o Saves work in progress (for the "all thumbs folks" (like me)
-- I have a tendency to hit the home button - and this saves my "unsaved" note - so I can go back to it - sweeeeet!
o Simple, Clean UI:
-- This UI reminds me of the Old Palm Days (think Palm Notepad) - but on steroids - so nice to KISS

In a nutshell, this is worth $0.99 many times over,.... BUT only if you are looking for a Quick, Easy and Intuitive UI that allows you to enter notes on your Kindle.

When I read a review of a book I might like, I download a sample. But sometimes I'm not in the mood for horror or history, so all those samples clogged up my K and when I went looking for that horror book I thought I would like, I couldn't find it. I ended up jotting notes which I promptly lost

Now I have notes to myself--horror, mystery, bio, history-- and my K is all cleaned up. I'll be able to find the book I want.

I also like the idea someone had about listing all the books in a series. I get tired of figuring out what comes next then forgetting.

What a neat app!!

Let's get the calendar and contact list next!!

For those looking for a sophisticated application for editing documents on your Kindle, this isn't it. Notepad is extremely basic in features and design, likely intentionally so in order to make the best use of the limits of the Kindle. There are no formatting options and no copy and paste functions.

Positives:

Notepad is very easy to use. You can download it, open it up, and start making notes without ever needing to read any help files. The layout, navigation, and menus are very intuitive.

There is a basic Help file included, accessed by pushing the Kindle Menu button. The Welcome Note that is included has keyboard shortcut tips.

There is a choice of two font styles and six font sizes for displaying, quickly accessed using the Kindle Aa button.

If you accidentally exit the program without saving first the app automatically saves the file for you. The next time you open the app you'll see a note titled something like "unsaved_1" on your list. You can open the note and rename it in the title bar.

For short notes, memos, and lists Notepad is very useful, especially if you're like me and take your Kindle with you almost anywhere.

You can move through the pages of a note by either using the Kindle page turn buttons or by scrolling up and down with the 5-way and cursor.

You can import text files you've created on your computer into the app. Finding the file storage folder on your Kindle is a bit tricky, but once you know where it is this is a great feature. (Instructions on how to find the folder are in the Help file.) You can also copy files you create on your Kindle with Notepad to your computer in order to back them up or in order to access for other uses.

Drawbacks:

Notepad does not have word wrap so it's easy to end up with words split between two lines. You have to learn to use the Kindle return button to force a line break to avoid this.

The size limit per note appears to be only 3099 characters. This isn't very much, especially since it includes spaces and hard returns as part of the count. Some of my series book lists that I imported were too big. When you try to open a file that is too large for the app you get a message that it's being truncated and loaded into a new file with the original file name followed by "copy" and a number.

Deleting only a few letters or words is relatively easy using the delete key. But if you need to delete several lines of text or a whole paragraph it's extremely cumbersome doing it one character at a time. There is no way to select a block of text to delete.

The app gives a confirmation message every time you save a note which requires you to click on an "okay" button before you can do anything else. This is annoying and, in my opinion, completely unnecessary.

Recommendation:

Even with the drawbacks listed I still highly recommend this app for anyone who owns a second generation or later Kindle. You never know when it will come in handy and for only a buck there's no reason not to get it.

LOVE THIS APP! My very first note is entitled " 'If found, look here " and has my name, phone and email address. I think if a lost Kindle was found, the app is intuitive enough that they could find that note more easily than finding the same info in my Kindle registration settings. I canNOT believe that Amazon didn't think of including this wonderful function from the start! Thank you so much!! (FYI, there is an apostrophe at the front of my 'If found note so that it always sorts to the top when I alphabetize my notes.)

I have to add my voice to the chorus saying how great this app is.

I bought a different Notepad for Kindle when I first got mine and it was awful - all your notes were superscripts that ended up in the My Clippings file.

This one is like a little mini-word processor. You can create a note, type directly into it, it automatically saves it, you can add symbols, and I haven't found a limit on the size of the note yet. I'm using it as a dream journal right now but might try to use it for a grocery list also. Since it's a little word processor you could use it for just about anything.

Word wrap doesn't work well on it, but I contacted the designers and they told me they will fix this on the next version. Capital letters can be done by holding down the shift key while typing the letter (as opposed to hitting shift, then the letter as you do in the rest of the Kindle).

It appears to be easy to navigate and easy to find your notes. Right now I only have 2 notes, but I can see there being a ton of them. The Help note that it comes with is extremely helpful. You can also backup your Notes to your computer which I will try to do down the road.

With all the awful Kindle apps out there it's practically a service to fellow Kindlers to point out when something is good. This one is really terrific. I hope these guys will work on a calendar or day planner after this!

I print a lot of PDF files to my Kindle (calendars, to do lists, reference materials) so I can have them with me wherever I go without carrying around a lot of paper. With things like my to do list it was annoying that I couldn't update the list using my Kindle so I was excited that "Notepad" was available. But so far it has been a disappointment. It keeps leaving orphaned copies of files that I was editing. When I attempt to edit the .txt files that are already on the Kindle on my PC (using Windows Notepad) the Kindle doesn't save the whole file. So basically I've learned not to trust Notepad. I've been burned too many times by spending time typing in information only to lose the data. It was less than a buck but I still feel a little ripped off.

I've only just purchased this product less than a half hour ago, and have added a few notes already. So simple to use! I can see myself using this Notepad everywhere, since my Kindle goes with me everywhere. And what a bargain, too. (At the time of my purchase, this Kindle Active Content Notepad was 99 cents)

Thank you, 7 Dragons, for providing such an essential, useful and easy to use product.

Editing to add: (April 2, 2011) I've had this app for a couple of weeks now and use it just about every day. It is just so simple to use and to find my notes. I've always been a note jotter, but now no more mindlessly searching in my purse for those tiny scraps of paper I jotted a note down on. Happy customer? You bet!

When I travel I always have my Kindle and my cell phone. Note taking on a cell phone can be a bit tricky so I am very happy I can now take my notes on my Kindle. I am giving this 5 stars as there hasn't been any downside to this little application. It's very easy to use.
The Welcome Note has the shortcuts available to you but you don't have to memorize them. I just use the 5 way controller or read the shortcut located at the bottom of the page.
When the program is open you can press menu and see all the actions available to you (new note, all notes, search notes, sort by date, sort by time, recent notes, backup notes, hide number legend, help, about, exit). You do have to remember to save the note though - those commands include save, save as, save and exit, cancel.

So many uses! I now have an address book, a reusable index card/to do list, a reading list, a reusable shopping list, and thought jotter downer all in one. I love the format of listing the notes by title rather than by excerpt as the kindle does with e-books. And the 3 options of searching: both title and text, title only, or text only, I find really thoughtful. So far the work done by these developers screams integrity, which I value even more than the quality. Keep it up guys, and congrats!

Two possibilities (Since they're interested in feed back.):
1. Password protection for notes.
2. Categorization of notes. This might subtract from the simplicity of the experience though.