Getting started with iPad note-taking app INKredible
For jotting down notes and nothing more, free iPad app INKredible provides a streamlined interface and a pen that feels like the real thing.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a simpler, more natural-feeling note-taking app for the iPad than INKredible. It feels like a stripped-down version of Paper; you don't get many of the sketching tools and instead receive a small selection of writing instruments that feel like the real thing. The app is free and provides a fountain pen, while three other instruments -- calligraphy pen, wet brush, and ballpoint pen -- are available as in-app purchases for 99 cents each. Developer Viet Tran has a more fully featured paid app, Notes Plus, and created INKredible to show off its vector-graphics inking technology and ability for puns.
INKredible lets you write with either your fingertip or a stylus, and it does an admirable job of keeping its menu streamlined and hidden. Swipe from either side to reveal the small menu panel where you can toggle between finger mode and stylus mode. Finger mode lets you pinch to zoom, while stylus mode lets you rest your palm on the display without it registering. The menu slides out of view when you start writing, and you can pin it to the screen for easy access.
For each type of writing instrument, you can select the size ("wetness" in INKredible's parlance) of the pen tip or brush as well as any of 14 default colors or a custom color from a color wheel. There is an outline setting that creates a double-lined, almost bubble-letter effect. There are also undo and redo buttons as well as an erase tool, and you can select lined, grid, or plain paper backgrounds. Lastly, there is a button that puts you in close-up writing mode. This mode lets you drag a highlighted selection to a spot on your page for finer writing control.
If you draw a loop around something on the page, you can then select it to be moved, copied to the clipboard, deleted, or duplicated right on the page, or you can change its style.
Drag your finger up or down the right edge of the page to scroll, and if you scroll all the way down to the bottom and release, a new page is created. If you tap and hold along the right edge, you can scroll through thumbnails of a multipage note to jump to a particular page.
There is no way to save your notes, but you can e-mail them as a PDF or PNG file.