Junecloud's Notefile Makes Note Taking Ridiculously Fast and Easy
Notefile ($4.99) by Junecloud LLC Notefile is a beautiful note-taking application now available on your iPhone and iPad, originally being available as a Mac OS X Dashboard widget.
The developers over at Junecloud (who also make the great Delivery Status Touch app) have always been searching for a note app that allows you to make quick notes and view them as fast as you made them. Having these notes stored in the cloud and being able to be synced without fuss was also necessary. In addition to that, they wanted it to look good. So they created Notefile, and boy is it good.
Normally, I'm a Simplenote user. But I'd say that Junecloud has developed something that could give Simplenote a run for the money, as far as simple note-taking goes. First thing is first - you'll want to create an account at Junecloud's site so that you can sync all your data among their apps. It's free, and the syncing works between your iPhones, iPads, and Macs (via widget), and even on the web. There's no subscription fee to keep an account, so that's a big plus.
On the iPhone and iPad, Notefile will launch directly into a new note, so that you can start jotting down whatever it is you need right away. The interface is reminiscent of the Mac widget, and has a clean and polished interface.
There are no titles to notes - instead, the "title" will be the first line (or first few words) of your note. As you type, the bottom toolbar will always appear over your keyboard. This gives you access to the Settings, which is just syncing and a brief help guide. There aren't many features of Junecloud's Notefile, but that's what makes it great.
There will also be a button to hide the keyboard when you type. Doing this will automatically start the sync in the background, so your note is not lost. If you tap the bottom (on the iPhone) where it says "# Notes" to go back to the list of notes, Notefile will sync your changes. On the iPad, your screen will always be in two panes, with the list of notes on the left and the actual note on the right. On both versions, the interface is simple, light, efficient, and beautiful.
While I have been using Simplenote since it was a paid app, it has increasingly become more complicated over time, straying away from the "Simple" in it's name. Junecloud's Notefile is a breath of fresh air in simple, cloud-syncing note-taking. I believe that while I will still be using Simplenote for my heavier writing (because of the compatibility with Notational Velocity on my Mac), I will definitely be keeping Notefile on my home screen for the times I just need to quickly jot something down.
At $4.99, Notefile certainly isn't cheap. But it's fast, simple, and extremely straightforward. Plus, it has one of the best looking icons I've seen in a good while. But it's a one-time cost of $4.99, since there is no subscription service required, unlike Simplenote Premium, and the sync is extremely fast. Definitely one of the better options for note taking on the web, iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
A word of advice - since all notes will be stored on Junecloud's servers for syncing, it's probably not the best idea to store important information in Notefile, like your personal data. In the Help section of the app, there is a part on security. Junecloud states that, like other note taking apps, your notes are not stored encrypted on the device. The syncing service though, will use a secure https connection and encrypt and store your notes on their servers. However, with recent security issues from all over, you can't be too sure these days. So avoid storing extremely sensitive information on Notefile, or any other online note service, really.
