Best apps

[jessalee]

Alright so I am looking for a couple different apps.
First does anyone know of the best app for recording lectures? I am using my iPad at college next year and wanted to use it to record important lectures. A few things that I am looking for/want/would be cool are: first I need to be able to take notes on another app and move around I.e. Search safari check other apps so on and so forth. Then what would be really cool would be if it took notes for me, like the app dictation but that app sucks but anywho if there are any good ones that would be really cool. it would also need to record long enough to last through a whole class lecture. Does anyone know any or have any ideas?
Second I am looking for a planner app. All through high school I was glued to me planner, it had everything in it and kept me completely organized. I've been trying to find a good replacement app for my iPad so I only have to carry it around. I would love one that I can use my own handwriting on. Also if it could communicate back and forth with iCal that would be really nice. Anyone got any ideas for this one? Hope I'm not being too picky.
Thank you to everyone who replies for your assistance!

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Notes Plus has handwriting, typed, drawing and audio recording. It's a great app...

For organisation, I use Pocket Informant HD...


I looked at several apps for this and, in the end, chose Pocket Informant HD.

I read that Pocket Informant was buggy but, in my (admittedly) limited experience, I’ve found no problems at all. It has a very nice user interface that's almost infinitely configurable - a complaint that many Forum members make about the iPad’s native ‘Calendar’ app. So you can choose how tasks, events, projects, appointments are colour coded and there is a wide choice of notifications and alarms - so, for example, you can have different alarm sounds for different categories of notifications.

Pocket Informant ‘sits on top’ of the iPad's native ‘Calendar’ app and (optionally) imports all entries that it finds there. They can be colour coded so they can be distinguished from entries made in Pocket Informant itself.

This is important because many other iPad apps use the native ‘Calendar’ app as the default place to put events, invitations etc. So, for example, if you are invited to a meeting by email and you receive that invitation in the iPad’s native ‘Mail’ app, that app can automatically (and quite cleverly) insert that invitation into the default calendar app. Without that integration between the native app and Pocket Informant, you'd have to enter those invitations all over again.

Pocket Informant has lots of ‘hidden’ features too. One of the reviewers remarked that part of the ‘fun’ of using Pocket Informant was discovering them!! The display is infinitely configurable - day, week, month, year at a time. Tasks, events, overdue tasks, projects, projects in progress etc etc all can be optionally displayed on the main calendar. Projects and tasks can have infinitely nested sub-tasks and projects - these can cleverly be integrated with GPS - so, say you needed to purchase some goods from the hardware store. Put that in a To-Do list and link it to the location of the hardware store using the iPad’s native ‘Maps’ app. Next time you’re driving past the hardware store, up pops the notification (‘Remember to purchase some 2â€x4†timber’).

Repeating events are very flexible too, with the ‘custom’ mode being infinitely (I keep using that word!) configurable. So, meetings that occur on the last Thursday and first Monday of every other month - no problem.

It can sync with external calendars - Google for example - and back-up is cool, it creates a backup file that you can email to yourself for safe keeping. If you lose your iPad or all your data is corrupted, that backup can be imported back into Pocket Informant with a single click.

You can create multiple diaries within Pocket Informant - say ‘Work’, ‘Family’, ‘Golf Club’ etc and have their entries optionally displayed on the main screen or restricted to the display of the individual diary. So it’s easy to check if there’s a clash between the golf tournament and your wife's birthday - and hide it if there is......

If you surf to the developer’s web-site, you can download for free a very comprehensive User Manual that will show you in detail what Pocket Informant can do.

The developers are constantly updating the program - always a good sign in my view.

As I said at the beginning, perhaps I'm not a particularly demanding user, but I’ve had no stability problems at all. I should add the usual disclaimer that I have no contact or other relationship with the developers of Pocket Informant other than being a very satisfied customer.

Tim
Scotland

 

[jessalee]

I looked at the pocket informant and I like it it does a lot and seems relatively simple. It is however a little pricey but overall may be worth it.
With the dictation question. I already have upad which i love so I just need something to record lectures with. And like I said if it could possibly change the recording into text that would be really cool. Like the app dragon dictation does. Thanks again, especially for the planner help!