I have all kinds of notebook apps on my iPad. Some are brilliant handwriting emulators, while others are slick and skeuomorphic with carefully crafted UIs; some do a few things really well, and others do a bunch of things solidly enough. But I certainly didn't think I needed another one.
Scrapnote has made a strong case for sticking around, though. It might look plain -- launching the app simply presents a library of staple-bound notebooks -- but its tools are powerful and versatile enough to handle most anything I threw at it. For starters, the handwriting is top-notch. There are three pens (highlighter, quill, and marker) that each feel as smooth as writing with the real thing. Paper was the first app that made me want a stylus, but Scrapnote might be the one to push me over the edge.
Text options are neat, with a variety of fonts and papers, and a few extra elements -- such as tape and paper clips -- to personalize it a bit more. But the killer feature is "scrapping," which lets you pull data from a variety of sources, including websites (via a built-in browser or Safari bookmarklet), YouTube, and Evernote. Photos and clips are imported onto squares of paper that can be resized and rotated, and elements can also be dropped on top of each other to create data bundles, which can be flipped through.
The most frustrating part of Scrapnote is the inability to swipe through pages. Where notebooks can be scanned with a two-finger swipe, opened pages can only be turned by tapping an arrow at the bottom of the screen. My tendency to swipe led to a lot of errant lines, but thankfully the undo function works well. I also would have liked to resize text clips and rotate images at an angle other than 90 degrees.
The bottom line. Even if you don't think you need another notebook emulator on your iPad, give Scrapnote a try for its powerful and unique tools.
iPad 2 or new iPad running iOS 5.1 or later
Excellent interface. Good scrapping elements. Robust personalization.
No page swiping. Can't resize text clips or rotate arbitrarily.
