Mobile software Monday: Evernote version 3.0 for Windows Mobile

One of my favorite all-time mobile software applications and services is Evernote since it allows me to capture thoughts, business cards, images, and more for future access. Their iPhone client is a top application in the Apple App Store and I actually read last week that the highest usage of Evernote is from Apple iPhone users at 57 percent. Other mobile clients, including Windows Mobile, are only at 8 percent.

I first started using Evernote's mobile application on a Windows Mobile device last year and admit it was a bit disheartening to see all the work on the iPhone while the WM client seemed to lag behind. I am now happy to say that the second generation of Evernote for Windows Mobile is now available and offers a much improved experience over the previous version. You can check out the Evernote blog for more info too.

The application has been completely redesigned to now match what you see on the iPhone and more since you can also add handwritten ink notes on Windows Mobile touch screen devices and upload files from your device. The older Windows Mobile version would go to the web interface at times and this now happens less as notes are cached in the native program with web access primarily being used for emailing notes and editing text notes.

When you now launch Evernote 3.0 on your Windows Mobile device (I am using it with my HTC Fuze) you will see the main display for new note creation after logging into your account that lets you create a text note, ink note, snapshot, voice note, or upload a file.

I know a phone is designed to always be connected and online, but sometimes you won't have a connection (while on a flight) and you may still want to create a note. You can do this with Evernote, with a couple of things that must occur first. You need to login and authenticate with the server and then you can go offline to create new notes. However, the application needs to keep running in the background and if it is closed and restarted you won't be able to do anything without a connection. You will also obviously not be able to search notes online either so keep that in mind. It may be easier to just create a note in Word Mobile and upload it in Evernote later. When you do get connected again, all notes created offline are synced up to the server automatically.

In addition to the major redesigned interface of Evernote for Windows Mobile, you can also view a thumbnail preview of your created notes and experience native note searching with cached results. The note viewer is also now embedded in the application. This was one particular area that bugged me about the previous version where you would be taken to the web browser for viewing your notes.

The new Windows Mobile version is much improved and it is very nice to see that not only iPhone users can have a great mobile experience with Evernote. I think more improvements can still be made with the Windows Mobile client and look forward to further developments.