Molenotes Is What The Official Moleskine App Should Be
Molenotes ($0.99) by Fabulously Retro is a retro style note-taking app for the iPhone that will have you waxing nostalgic immediately.
I really like the idea of this app as I have been an avid Moleskine user since I was a teenager. And, unfortunately, as I'm sure most of you know, the official Moleskine app is a total nightmare. On that note, allow me to preface this entire review with the fact that, yes, Molenotes supports landscape mode.
I love the idea of not only having different tabs, but different notebooks and writing styles as well. I would like to see a different font used for the handwritten font, however. Even though it may have that "real handwriting" feel, I find the current font a bit hard to read — like that of a doctor's signature. But you do have your choice of three font faces: handwriting, typeset, or typewriter.
There are different notebook covers to choose from as well as three writing types and custom tabs. You can edit the title and color of each tab in your notebooks, too.
The page length in the notebooks is not infinite. What I mean by this, is that if you've reached the end of a page while writing, you will move on to the next page. This really makes me feel like I'm writing in my Moleskine, along with the action of actually swiping, or flipping, to turn the pages.
In addition to the limited page length, each notebook has a page cap of 32 pages as well, just like the Moleskine cahier journal notebooks.
To me, the multiple notebooks and Dropbox sync make this app worthwhile. With Dropbox, you can backup all of your notebooks or even edit them as text files on your computer.
Now, there is an unfortunate bug that will prevent an immediate sync via Dropbox. The developer is aware of this and working hard to patch it, but, in the meantime, there is a fix. If you create a folder within your Dropbox called "Molenotes," and then press the sync button in the app, it will work.
What would make this a go-to app for me would be a desktop application (or widget) that syncs — even if only manually — with the iPhone app. Although Dropbox syncing allows me to edit and view my notes on my Mac, it's just not the same. And an iPad version would make it even better, as I am sure you would all agree.
If you're searching for a new note-taking app, and love the real notebook feel, you'll really enjoy Molenotes. It is well-designed and works nicely, despite the minor Dropbox bug. I have been using Notefile on my phone and Mac for quickly jotting things down, but Molenotes is a much cheaper alternative at only one dollar. For those of you looking for a quick and nostalgic note-taking app for the iPhone, and at a good price, I recommend it.
