I received a newsletter this morning from Evernote, that I have been using for several years, which prompted me to wrote a blog about the comparison between the popular note management app and a relatively new app from Zoho called Zoho Notebook.
In truth, I think Evernote is great. Clean and easy to use, great functions, ample free storage/usage, desktop and mobile app... I must admit I did dabble with Zoho's note management app for a while when it was first released but found it too basic in comparison and as I had been using Evernote for years, I opted to stay with it.
That was until this morning.
As a Basic (free) version user I have just been informed by Evernote of changes to their Basic version, which states in 30 days time they will be limiting the number of devices you can use the app on, to just two devices.
This can mean two PCs, one laptop & one PC, one laptop & one phone, two tablets... it doesn't matter what the devices are, but the limit will mean just two of them.
In my case I have one PC, one laptop, one phone and one tablet, plus a phone I use for overseas travel and another backup laptop for travel and presentations!
All of them have Evernote running on them, and the whole point and advantage of course was that my notes are always in synch across all devices, no matter which one I use. But not for much longer.
Of course, if I upgrade and pay, I can use Evernote on as many devices as I like but if I do not pay, in 30 days I will need to uninstall Evernote from all but two devices.
Whilst I admit I have been using the free version of Evernote for years and therefore Evernote have not got any money from me directly up to now, I have recommended it to countless of my friends and colleagues over the years, because of its flexibility in usage across so many devices; it is also used as standard in Mangoho and by other business owners I know in their offices as the staff note management app.
For me, this major and rather restrictive change by Evernote is problematic in the long term, and forces me to pay, or use something else. In steps Zoho Notebook...
Zoho Notebook
So, on to Zoho Notebook... How does it compare to Evernote?
You can see more here in the basic but clever little website: https://www.zoho.com/notebook/
OK, I will be the first to admit it is not yet in Evernote's league!
Note the word "yet", because if we do know something it is that Zoho do take on board customer comments very openly and rapidly increase the features of their apps once first released. Plus it is free and there are no ads.
There are all of the basic functions such as text, audio, check lists, images etc. Plus I have heard handwriting is on the agenda for future release. The interface is clean and attractive and it is very easy to use. You can also organise your notes into categories or 'books', the usual stuff.
The one main drawback at this stage is there appears to be no desktop version yet. So, it is truly a mobile note taking app and not much more, with none of the cool browser 'clipper' functions you get in Evernote, for example. Nor would you be able to type notes on your laptop such was drafts for meetings or draft emails etc. Personally we think this needs to be addressed as this is one of the key advantages of Evernote, so we will communicate to Zoho on this and try to get some input on their long term plans for this promising little app..
Also, unfortunately, Zoho Notebook currently does not integrate to Zoho CRM notes, or Zoho Projects or any other Zoho app, but something tells me that as it is a Zoho app, one of a very large family of Zoho apps, this will come in the future, as most of their other apps have ended up being integrated in some way or other.
So for now, Zoho Notebook is a very basic mobile note management app, but as with all of Zoho's other apps I think this one will be developed and user comments and suggestions taken on board. And in time it will hopefully result in a serious 'player' in the note management software arena, with the aim (for me) of replacing Evernote at some stage.
Evernote is still the best in my opinion, it takes some beating, but I don't like this kind of surprise and am not yet ready to pay for a simple note management app. License models change and Evernote have made a change. It's fair enough. Luckily there are plenty of alternatives of this type of app.
As Zoho have over 25 business apps in their suite, it is logical they would look to integrate their new note management app to one or more of them in the long term though. For me, a note management solution that seamlessly integrates to Zoho CRM, or Zoho Projects would be great.
Watch this space for further developments...