Simple Android Apps – simple notes

Welcome to the last and concluding post in the simple Android apps series.
There is a popular saying that whatever has a beginning must always have an ending. Taking human lives, animal lives and even trees, for example, you will notice that they all obey this saying. No wonder people always believe that no condition is permanent because there must always be an end to it.

The journey started last month when I bumped into a nice gallery application on google play store. After using for a few days, I couldn’t help but fall in love with the application. My new found love pushed me into making research about the application and I was excited to know it was completely open-source. I checked the repo on GitHub and discovered five other applications by the same team of developers. It was then I knew that I had to start a series on these simple applications.

It’s been an awesome series and I have learned a lot during the course of this series.
As the last post of the series, I think it will be in place for me to make a short recap of all the previous application in this series before finally talking about the last one.
The five previous application that I featured in this series are:

• Simple gallery.
• Simple file manager.
• Simple calendar.
• Simple camera.
• Simple music player.

One thing that is common to all these applications is the word ‘simple’.
The links to a detailed post about each of them are located in the link section of this post.

From inception, Man has always tried to find better means to save information. Some of this information might be useful in the future, while some are saved for the purpose of passing information to the next generation.
Fast forward to this present age, Man has evolved and developed several methods that help Him better store information.

As writers, an idea can flash at any time and it’s always too risky to leave it to the human brain alone. There is always a little possibility of forgetting the idea over time unless you had it written down somewhere. This issue is not just for writers, almost everyone at one point or the other during the day gets in contact with important information. This information, if not written down or saved somewhere can be forgotten before the end of the day due to the numerous activities and stress we encounter on a daily basis.

Before technology came to our rescue, Information like this was written down in personal jotters, diaries or some specific books. The main issue with that method was basically the fact that humans couldn’t always move around with these writing materials (book and pen).
When technology brought us the smartphone, our whole perception changed. It became part of us and we took it everywhere we went. The smartphone now gave us the opportunity to have a virtual assistant that helped us achieved our day to day goals.

The simple note android application is one of those applications that always comes in handy whenever you need to quickly scribble down something for later use.

Definition of simple notes

The simple notes application may be defined as an android application that gives its users a writing space to enable them to add and save quick notes.

Features of the simple notes

Every application category has its main function and the notes category is not left out.
The main aim of any Note taking application is to enable the user to take notes. Once an application is able to deliver on this expectation, it is qualified to be called a note application.

Simple note android application is no exception due to the fact that it fulfils the aim of the category. However, the application has some added features that make it stand out from the crowd.
Below are some features that I discovered during my usage period so far.

User interface

The user interface of this application is good enough for its purpose. It takes just a few clicks to get everything running. The navigation is easy enough for anyone to understand and use.
Like the previous applications, the developers made it possible for the user to enhance and tweak the appearance colours and theme.

Colour and theme customization

The colour and theme customization of this application did not disappoint. The developers have really been consistent all through the six applications in this series. I was able to change between the four inbuilt themes and also able to design my personal theme with the help of the ‘custom’ theme option. This gave me the privilege to make the application truly mine.
Apart from the theme customization, I was able to decide what colour the text will carry. Other things like the background colour, the primary colour and the application icon colour could also be changed to suit my desired need.

One other thing I discovered recently in all the application in this series is the ability to apply all the settings in this application to all the applications in the series. What this means is that whatever colour combinations you choose in this application can be applied to all the previous application in this series.
This alone eliminates the stress of having to set the colours individually.

However, to enjoy this feature, you’ll need to purchase a thank you package as a means of supporting the development team.

Checklist

One other feature that I enjoyed while using this application is the ability to make a checklist. This comes handy whenever I have a list of things to do. All I need to do is to write all of them in the checklist section and tick it whenever I’m done with the task. It also helps me when I need to get food ingredients in the market. The application helps me remember everything I need and its super easy to cross out items that I’ve bought. With just a single tap, the item in question will be crossed out immediately.

To use this feature, simply select ‘checklist’ instead of the default ‘text note’ when you are adding a new note.

Performance

The performance of the application is good. It works well without lagging or crashing on my device. The button responds well and timely.
I’ll give it a pass mark base on the application performance on my device.

Basic customization

There are other basic customizations that make this application outstanding and easy to use.
Some of these customizations include:

• The availability of the autosave feature: This feature when enabled guarantees that you don’t lose any work in cases of interruption or unintentional phone shut down.

• The startup section makes it possible for the user to determine if the keyboard should be launched on startup and also if the cursor should be placed at the end of the note.

• The availability of settings that enables the user to view word count during typing, make links and emails clickable, change font size and choose the text alignment.

Conclusion and suggestions

The application is good and serves its purpose well.
However, this application would have been better if they had a good editor. The lack of the ability to perform simple things such as bolding a text, underlining a text and other actions is a serious setback to the application.

Another feature that I would appreciate is making it possible for users to synchronize their notes to an online platform. This will keep users on a safe side in cases of device loss or theft. This also makes a user to easily access the notes from any device as long as the login details are correct.
Despite my suggestions, I still believe the application is good for anyone.
Thank you for following this series.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article is entirely my own personal view and does not reflect the mind or view of anyone else.

Links

Project repository
https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Notes

Github profile
https://github.com/dongentle2

Android download link
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.notes.pro

Resources

This post and all its contents were written by me based on my Experience, Research, Knowledge and personal use of Simple notes Android application.
Most Images are from my usage screenshots and all other ones are properly referenced.

Series backlinks

Below is the link to the first Post of this series.
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@dongentle2/simple-android-apps-simple-gallery

Below is the link to the second post of the series.
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@dongentle2/simple-android-apps-simple-gallery

Below is the link to the third post of the series.
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@dongentle2/simple-android-apps-simple-calendar

Below is the link to the fourth post of the series
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@dongentle2/simple-android-apps-simple-camera

Below is the link to the fifth post of the series .
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@dongentle2/simple-android-apps-simple-music-player