MagicPad for the iPhone is everything the default Notes app should have been and much more. I am sure it has Apple developers screaming "Why didn't we think about that?" Now these are bold - very bold - statements for me to be making about a third party app, but after you try MagicPad, you too will be petitioning for a way to remove default apps from the Springboard!
Firstly, MagicPad has all the features included in the default Notes app but with tons of options. Eg. You know how the default Notes app automatically sorts your notes by date modified? Well, what about choosing to sort them by:
- Date Modified
- Date Created
- By Title
- Manually
MagicPad even gives you the option to display either the date the file was modified or its creation date. What about the font? Marker felt - it's cute for writing short notes, but no! MagicPad allows you to choose from:
- Serif
- Marker
- Mono
- Sans
- Cursive (Zapfino)
- Type
Now these features are great, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg! MagicPad brings true rich text editing to the iPhone. The highlighting feature is so well implemented and feels so natural that it's hard to imagine doing it any other way. (I wonder if they applied for a patent?) Simply 'double tap and hold' then drag to highlight text. Once text is highlighted, you can apply various formatting changes such as font type, color and size, strike-throughs, underlines, bold and italics. You know, it is really disappointing that Notes still lacks some of the most basic functions of any text application - cut, copy and paste! MagicPad has beaten Apple to the punch with what I believe is the most intuitive way of implementing copying and pasting on the iPhone. Due to restrictions however, the feature is limited to the app itself and cannot be used with other apps like Mobile Safari or Mail. Copying, cutting and pasting and works seamlessly! The developers are able to introduce all these features while just sacrificing a few millimeters of screen space.
Now these features are great, but MagicPad didn't stop there - you can also choose to email your notes as plain text or rich text. Plain text emails are sent through the built in Mail app while rich text are sent through MagicPad's client. The downside about using MagicPad's client is that it cannot dynamically search your address book as you type. You also don't see anything in the body of the email - which technically isn't a problem since if you need to edit, you just need to hit cancel. To make up for it however is the ability to send email from any email address and not just the ones you have synchronized with the built in Mail app.
Of course, MagicPad isn't without it's drawbacks. You will miss Apple's built in auto-correct, the double tap spacebar shortcut for "." and the automatic switch from special character keyboard back to regular keyboard after pressing the spacebar. Unlike Notes, Magicpad also doesn't tell you how many notes you currently have nor does it have the fancy page-flip eyecandy. You will find however, that the interface has a professional aesthetic to it and is not as casual as that of Notes.
MagicPad has undoubtedly made it to my iPhone's home screen. Now the only question is how I can get rid of the default Notes app! Hmm...or probably Apple can just use MagicPad as the default app - I mean it's fair game since they have other third party apps like YouTube and Google Maps.
We'd love to see MagicPad become a even more potent text editor. These are some features we'd include:
- auto-correct (The ability to toggle on and off this feature is in firmware 2.2)
- ability to sync and edit from desktop
- file system
- save as different file types.
- bullets and lists
MagicPad is available in the App Store for a reasonable $3.99. Be sure to check out our gallery of screenshots!
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