In our continuing series on the Galaxy Note 10.1, today we look at alternative note taking apps. Overall, I really do like S Note and it has some really attractive features. I’ve started to use it exclusively to taking notes at work and home. But no app is perfect and there is always some features missing or needed. I decided to go on a search for an alternative app that could possibly replace S Note. After some research I landed on the Papyrus Beta app which I think provides the best alternative note taking app on the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.
The Papyrus Beta app is currently free due to its beta status and definitely has some needed features missing. But it definitely packs enough, even in its beta status, to make it a daily note taking app. Let’s start with some of the features that I love in this app and make it fantastic to use. The first is that it has an active pen setting which only registers writing by the pen. This is definitely a must for me using my S Pen and I won’t consider an app that doesn’t include this feature. But there is a use for your finger and it’s a useful one. You can set your finger touch to be used as the eraser tool which is amazing. No need to touch the menu tool, pick the eraser tool, erase, and then pick the pen tool again. Simply just swipe your finger on the screen to erase then immediately go back to using your pen. Exactly like using the back of a pencil eraser. This has to be my favorite feature and you even have the option of making your finger touch be the selection tool as well.
Another great feature in Papyrus that is missing in S Note is that you can set the page to have infinite scrolling. This extends both vertically and horizontally so you can write as much as you need in each direction. I would actually prefer the choice for infinite scrolling in only one direction. If you don’t want infinite scrolling then there is the option to set your paper size in varying options. This is another missing feature in S Note that is welcomed in the Papyrus app. You can also have multiple pages in each note as well.
Now the actually writing in the Papyrus app is just as good and fluent as in the S Note app. But let’s cover some of the missing features of the app. The app only offers a pen input without brushes, pencil, or other options you find in S Note. You also can’t past images and you don’t have the multiscreen option. The options for background paper is limited to ruled, graph, and blank only while in S Note you have a variety of other background options. Personally I don’t use many of those background so the college ruled works fine for me. The S Note also allows you to insert text boxes and other custom forms that is outside the scope of the Papyrus app. Cloud backup is also not yet available in Papyrus but you can export any note as a pdf to email or cloud drives. I also found that exporting gave better quality pdf in Papyrus then S Note.
I would say that for pure note taking the Papyrus app offers a viable and better option then the included S Note. For complex notes that includes images and graphs or custom artwork then S Note is still the best option. But hopefully both these apps will get improved in the future and make the Galaxy Note 10.1 a great tablet for note taking and creativity. Try out Papyrus and let us know what you think. What’s your favorite note taking app on the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.
Download: Papyrus Beta