Penultimate
By Cocoa Box Design LLC
Open iTunes to buy and download apps.
Description
** The original, easiest-to-use, best-selling handwriting app for iPad. On sale. **
Penultimate gives you the fast, tactile gratification of writing on paper, with digital power and flexibility. Take notes, keep sketches, or share your next breakthrough idea -- in the office, on the go, or home on the sofa.
ESSENTIAL, EASY TO USE, BEAUTIFUL
Penultimate stands with the core productivity apps on your iPad. Every detail of the user interface has been designed and refined to be simple and intuitive - no complicated or cluttered settings.
UP AND RUNNING
When you first open your new copy of Penultimate, you'll find a "welcome" notebook that will walk you through all of the major features. You'll be scribbling and whizzing through your pages and notebooks in no time.
AMAZING INK AND PAPER
Your handwriting and drawing looks spectacular in bold gel ink. Our writing technology is second to none. Use colors or stick with classic inky black. Three different photorealistic paper styles are included, along with a magically effective eraser tool that's always the right size. Want a special paper style? Import any image to create and share your own attractive template, or visit The Paper Shop in the app to see the latest convenient collections available for download.
KEEP IT TOGETHER
Store your thoughts in named notebooks for each topic, project, or category. Penultimate can manage as many notebooks as you can create, each with an infinite number of pages. View your list in a notebook carousel -- or sort and scroll in a fast grid view. When your notebooks get large, you can browse quickly through all pages, or insert, delete, duplicate, and reorganize pages within and between notebooks.
SERIOUS SOFTWARE
Beneath its graceful exterior Penultimate is a powerful application. Our superior inking technology produces pen strokes that look better-than-real. The pioneering automatic Wrist Protection mode prevents most stray marks from appearing on a page for writers of all grips. Image import allows photo annotation, cataloging, and design work. Powerful ink selection and copy/paste is a touch away.
PENULTIMATE MEANS BUSINESS
Send single page images or full notebooks in PDF format to anyone. Dropbox and Evernote integration bring the best cloud services for files, backup, and notes organization right into the app. Collaborate with your colleagues by exporting and importing Penultimate Notebook and Paper files directly via email, iTunes File Sharing, or Dropbox. Whether you're in a conference room or classroom, you can use the iPad VGA Adapter to share your notes on a screen or projector, as your audience follows along with your work in real time. Print directly from your iPad with ePrint printers.
WE'RE HERE FOR YOU
Follow us on Twitter for updates, contests, and info at: http://www.twitter.com/cocoabox
The latest tips and news are on our blog at: http://blog.cocoabox.com
"Penultimate" and the Penultimate icon are trademarks of Cocoa Box Design LLC. All Rights Reserved.
What's New in Version 3.3.1
** SPECIAL UPDATE FOR THE NEW HIGH-RESOLUTION IPAD **
This is a special update to Penultimate, optimized for the new iPad and its beautiful high-resolution display.
iPad Screenshots
Customer Reviews
Good but Lacking Must-Have Features
Scroll down for my Pros and Cons list.
Penultimate is the first note taking software I purchased for my shiny new iPad. I love the idea of keeping my notes in notebooks (you'd think all note taking programs would do it this way, but very few do). The inks are vivid and look great. I even purchased most of the add-on page templates as I knew they would come in handy. I really wanted this to be my go-to app for all of my note taking needs. Sadly, it dropped the ball in ways that ultimately led me to another note-taking app.
Probably the biggest problem I have with Penultimate is the fact that it doesn't have a "zoom" feature. In case you aren't familiar with this extremely helpful feature, zoom (in similar apps) allows you to write in a field outside of the actual document (often below it). Instead of struggling to have legible handwriting that is small enough to reasonably work for most notes and forms, zoom allows you write large letters. It then shrinks whatever you write, giving you small AND legible handwriting.
Without zoom, I find it extremely difficult to take legible notes that aren't ridiculously oversized. Once I found other apps that work well and DO offer a zoom feature (Notability is what I use), I found that I rarely used Penultimate for taking notes. I really feel like this is a game-breaking omission and am a bit confused as to why the developer hasn't made it a priority.
The other main feature that Notability has that Penultimate doesn't have is a devoted "figure" feature that makes it easy to create everything from mind maps to cute stick men. This feature has basic shapes as well as a straight line tool and a smoothing tool that makes most lines look better. I actually use the feature more than I ever thought I would, so I'm pretty sure it would be well-received in Penultimate as well.
Although I don't use Penultimate nearly as often as I'd originally planned, I have found a great use for it... simple sketches and my photo editing journal. The notebook style works perfectly for this. I was even able to purchase paper that works well with photos (like a scrapbook).
Overall, I am disappointed that Penultimate falls so short of its competitors (Notability and Note Taker HD). I believe it has great potential, but that doesn't add up to much in terms of meeting my actual day-to-day needs. If the developers ever DO add these or other major features, I will update my review.
Bottom line... For note taking, choose Notability or Note Taker HD instead. For basic sketch journalling or scrapbooking, this will work (though check out new kid on the block, Pencilicious ... I like it better).
Pros
- Organizing notes with notebooks
- Crisp, vivid ink... a handful of colors
- Optional add-on papers
- Ability to export as PDF
- Can easily add photos to notes
- Easy to use in general
- Cheaper initial cost than major competitors (add-on paper can be acquired through in-app purchase)
Cons
- No zoom feature
- No figure drawing tool
- Not as many pen and ink options as competitors
Not just the display
With the new retina display, the lines look considerable crisper (though still not perfect, but good enough). The main reason behind my 5 stars is the (seemingly) enhanced touch detection. I normally write very briskly and often, penultimate and my stylus get into disagreements. After the update, it seems the app is considerably more sensitive and accurate with regards to quick strokes. MUCH better for natural handwriting, and while this may just be a placebo, I still have to hand it to the developers for a great app.
Phenomenal with retina update!
After this update this app blows all the others away. Much easier to write, especially with a good stylus (they are not all created equal!).
I write music with this app and before you could never write in small spaces. Now you can with ease!
This app is one of the very best for the iPad. Must have!
- $0.99
- Category: Productivity
- Updated: May 02, 2012
- Version: 3.3.1
- Size: 37.6 MB
- Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
- Seller: Cocoa Box Design LLC
- © 2010-2012 Cocoa Box Design LLC.
Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later
Top In-App Purchases
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