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Overview
Forget about your boring old on screen Post-it Notes, add some functionality and even pictures or images to your thoughts! PpcPad is a new application for recording on the fly notes. You don’t have to worry about your typing ability just write directly on the screen, and record your thoughts as they happen. Who is PpcPad for?
PpcPad is aimed at anybody who may need to view record quick notes, if you find yourself leaving scraps of paper everywhere or are fed up lugging notebooks around with you then why not record your thoughts on the PocketPC. Need to scan through your notes quickly, record and name them in a logical manner with PpcPad, even include reminders or images e.g. maps and directions. Then PpcPad is for you. PpcPad in use
Personally I’ve been looking for a method of taking notes for quite a while now and I’ve found very few applications that I’ve been able to use for more than a few hours or more, as they just didn’t serve my purpose. E.g. a means of rapidly recording my thoughts along with the editing and saving of images along with my notes. So I was most intrigued at the release of PpcPad by PpcSoft.com.
PpcPad boasts of whole set of features I was looking for (detailed below) but how does it live up to the promise? Well in this reviewers opinion it’s pretty good. PpcPad has a tiny footprint at under 900kb, is incredibly fast at starting up (especially when mapped to a hardware key). Getting a new note up is as simple as tapping File/New and you can scribble away, need another page just tap the direction arrow next to the page number (top, middle).
What more could you possibly want? Now I know that PpcPad is a scratch pad of sorts, but yours truly doesn’t have the knack of using tiny writing on a Ppc Screen, so my first whinge is that the option to use the keyboard in stead of only free writing would be a great benefit, especially as it is a requirement to use the keyboard when you want to name/categorise your notes!
After a couple of days use, as you can imagine I had a few notes recorded in PpcPad. Well sorting through them is a dream, I can sort by Category (as long as I remembered to enter one, in the top right of the screen). I can even sort them by date, which was found to be really useful when recording notes from a conversation. (I’ve won a few arguments with that function). If I choose to I can even display my notes/image four at a time on screen.
PpcPad lets you to use up to ten different categories to keep track of your notes. The categories may be called whatever helps you want make them more useful for viewing later. The notes can be viewed from the overview window, which can show all your notes, or only the notes in a given category. This makes it much easier to find your scribbles.
If you want to insert a background image It’s as simple as File/insert/ browse to the image. The image can then be drawn over with what ever is in your mind. The image and your notes can then be saved as a .BMP file and be beamed or e-mailed to a recipient. (Whinge number two) It would have been a really nice touch to be able to beam or e-mail images/notes from within PpcPad rather than having to browse to the saved image from another application.
If you do choose to insert an image, then the image can be saved as a template by tapping on the folder icon (in the top left corner) and selecting a number (the number can be edited by tapping on modify and entering a name for the template). With the templates saved they can be utilised by just tapping on the template file (indicated as such in the overview/main view window), the template is copied in to a blank note file, available for your thoughts to be recorded.
If you need help with PpcPad, No problem just tap Start (main Pocketpc window) scroll down to the bottom for Help and there you are. Features
PpcPad boasts a whole range of great features including:
- Create notes using your own handwriting, no more struggling with the tiny on screen keyboards.
- Virtually unlimited number of notes (depending on available memory).
- Record up to 99 pages for each note.
- Categorise your notes for easier viewing/filing.
- Install reminders on your notes.
- A zoom feature allow you to view 4 pages at a time for quick overview of notes.
- Templates allow you to create powerful notes quickly.
- Import or export bitmap images.
- Speed, PpcPad can be assigned to a hardware key, as well as providing a short cut in the start menu. So accessing the ppcpad is breeze with it starting almost instantaneously.
- An intuitive interface.
Templates
The following templates are also available free to download from the PpcPad website:
Options
The following options are available for your tweaking within PpcPad:
- Specify a default colour from over 20 choices.
- Select an eraser size from S/M/L.
- Set cleartype fonts on/off.
- Browse and select a skin.
- Set zoom order
Pros
- Very intuitive
- Good versatility
- Good range of features
- Small installation footprint
- Incredibly speedy at displaying images
- The use of templates is an superb feature
- Comprehensive help file available for beginners
Cons
- The lack of transferring images from within PpcPad is an oversight
- The on-screen keyboard functionality could and should be an available option.
Test equipment
PpcPad was tested on an Ipaq 3970 running PocketPC 2002 v2.10 and was ran (alternately) from the main memory, an SD card and a CF card, all without error. Installation
PpcPad is installed by clicking on the downloaded "ppcpadsetup2002_eng.exe or ppcpadsetup2003_eng.exe". Installation only takes a minute as PpcPad has a very small footprint and is performed via the normal Activesync method. Overall
Overall PpcPad is a great application with some really interesting and inspired features. PpcPad is more than just a scratch pad, it’s a potential means of sharing ideas and thoughts, which is an application sorely missing in the repertoire of Pocketpc applications. It’s this reviewers opinion that the inclusion of a means for transferring files directly to another user either with Bluetooth, Wifi, or e-mail would take this application to the level it deserves and provide a true means of communication for the pocketpc users thoughts and ideas. As it stands PpcPad is a great note taking application. Overall rating 9/10 Basic Facts
- PpcPad Homepage
- Tested version: 1.0
- Author: PpcSoft
- Demo version available
- Download here: Dowload
- Pocket PC 900kb - ARM
- Price $14.95
Addic,
Great review.
I'm curious, are the notes integrated with Outlook? I currently use Pocket Informant Alarm Notes and I like the fact that when I sync up and open Outlook...Voila! there's my notes ready to email off...Does this sync right in?
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Doh!
Nope I omitted to mention that the notes do NOT sync with outlook. It also is NOT possible to record voice notes via PpcPad.
However I have received an e-mail from the developer 'PpcSoft.com' and they've mentioned that they are looking in to including such ideas in to a future version 8) . So fingers crossed (Incorporating such functions would certainly put this app head and shoulder above all other note apps, IMHO ).
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