Mobile Note-Taking Updates: PhatNotes for WinMo, WritePad for iPad

PhatWare, makers of a variety of note-taking applications for tablets, smartphones, and platforms in-between, has announced a couple of new releases: PhatNotes for Outlook 5.4.1 (Windows Mobile) and WritePad for iPad 4.0.

Naming on these products is a tad confusing. PhatNotes for Outlook is a note creation and organization tool for Windows Mobile that syncs with Outlook on your PC; it is not a plug-in for Outlook on a PC, like Tablet Enhancements for Outlook (TEO). The new version offers several new features including file attachments, hyperlinks between notes, and better integration and compatibility within itself and other software.

WritePad for iPad 4.0 would probably be better called “WritePad 4.0 for iPad” as it is the 4.0 version of the software in general, not just for the iPad. If Steve Jobs was dead, this app would make him spin in his grave: it offers note-taking and text entry via handwriting recognition, best entered using a stylus, of course. The entry system takes me back to the early days of the Tablet PC because you can choose between a write-anywhere mode and an input panel. Old-timers may recall write-anywhere was an option initially offered in Windows XP Tablet PC edition, but later dropped. (Still offered in ritePen for Tablet PCs.) The panel smacks of the Tablet Input Panel (TIP) still used today and is a new feature of 4.0.

As a side note, I would like to point out that in the notice from PhatWare, the subject line included “PhatNotes 5.6 for Windows” and went on to describe it as “PhatNotes for Outlook”. My initial reaction was joy at the great timing of something Windows-based, possibly Tablet PC-specific, to coincide with what Warner posted earlier. But then I dug into it and discovered the ironic and amusing truth. This is, in many ways, emblematic of the struggle Warner described. I really thought I had something Tablet PC-specific to share with you, but I just can’t share news that isn’t there.