NOTEPAD FOR KINDLE - by 7 DragonsSee Update4 - Received a report today in the comments area that a NON-US download was doable, at least in the UK. But, it may be explainable another way, alas.
This is the type of Kindle app I've been waiting for, a Kindle tool rather than yet another game (even if I enjoy some of those).
Kindle apps are probably still not available outside of the U.S., but I've seen several articles that indicate the Android AppStore will likely be available before the end of March and maybe Amazon will extend availability of apps soon after, then. We can hope.
Product Description
The 7 Dragons group created the Notepad for Kindle.
With Notepad, you can write and edit text notes on the Kindle-3, Kindle-2, and Kindle DX models. (The Kindle-1 model doesn't have direct user-access to the screen content.)
They mention that you can write meeting notes, grocery reminders, jot down quick ideas, phone numbers and addresses, etc. The sample screen images above give you an idea of what you can do. The Search function should definitely be very useful.
When creating or viewing a note, you can chose between two font types and from six font sizes.
"Your notes can be sorted by date or alphabetically by title.
Notepad also allows you to search for text in real-time within the body and title of your notes. Simply start typing in the word you are looking for, and Notepad instantly displays the notes that contain that word. This allows you to find anything you may have previously written, without having to browse through notes individually."
The app was released yesterday and already has a review involving an Amazon Verified Purchase (not always the case, since some get review copies). It's by Jose M Salas and is definitely helpful (to the extent I just bought the app), so I'll insert a copy here while bolding the item headings to make it easier to read in an already wordy blog article.
' Amazing! Fast,Simple and Easy to Use, March 17, 2011
I have been looking for a few ways to get my notes into the Kindle - since I have had it for about 8 months now - and this "meets" the needs that I had.
Needs:
o Quick - it must be quick
-- Did I mention that it has to be "Quick"? -- and this is the fastest I've seen on the Kindle - I have about 500MB free (yup - I like books,magazines, etc.) and my kindle is sluggish - but this app works really fast.
-- Disclaimer - I've only put in about 50 notes (so far)
o Easy to use - this is SUPER easy
-- All the key mappings you need are displayed in an intuitive manner - Alt+X (Save and Exit - I really like this)
o Copy Notes to my PC and Vise Versa
-- The video shows that this can be done - I've yet to try it - but it's a simple copy / paste operation
o Font Sizes:
-- I am a fan of small fonts and this allows me to use small fonts - to be able to add more notes
o Search by Note Title
-- This works as advertised - quickly locate notes by title
o Search Notes by Body keyword
-- Again, works as advertised - quickly and painlessly
o Saves work in progress (for the "all thumbs folks" (like me)
-- I have a tendency to hit the home button - and this saves my "unsaved" note - so I can go back to it - sweeeeet!
o Simple, Clean UI: [User Interface]
-- This UI reminds me of the Old Palm Days (think Palm Notepad) - but on steroids - so nice to KISS
In a nutshell, this is worth $0.99 many times over,.... BUT only if you are looking for a Quick, Easy and Intuitive UI that allows you to enter notes on your Kindle. '
UPDATE - I contacted Abhi of 7 Dragons and found out a bit more and will include here some notes:
' If your Kindle is shown as D: drive on your computer, the path/folder where your notes are stored will be:
D:\.active-content-data\8a5982e82ae68fb2012bc688405e0026\work\user
. The "e0026" at the end of the long folder name is an easy way to find the right folder.
. Fonts are not anti-aliased to preserve speed.
. Changing font size changes everything - buttons, labels, help, everything.
. There is a time/date stamp and you can sort by time or alphabetically.
. There are lots of other small things:
Press Home accidentally and a copy is saved with your changes.
Progress bars for main page and for a note.
Character count and "Page 1 of 2" for note.
Backup in the app itself.
There are also some caveats:
There's a size limit so the app can't be used for reading Gutenberg books.
For simplicity purposes they had to remove extensions so everything is saved as ".txt" although ".txt" isn't shown.
There are no folders.
The focus on speed means they don't use anti-aliased fonts or pretty backgrounds. '
He mentioned there will be Kindle Notepad Help Videos and a Help Page that will include downloadable help files.
UPDATE2b - The HELP when you press the app's Menu button and then "Help" is voluminous. I had originally used the 'Welcome' link in the default "All Notes" page and mistook the SHORTCUTS there for a help page. No, the Help page is 12 pages long. (Menu >Help).
These are some of the best Help notes I've seen on any app. I also like that the bottom screen reminds readers that the Kindle number keys on the Kindle 3's are always available using the alt key with the top row and displays which top-row key it is to get any number. Great way to remember the alternate way of getting numbers whenever you're using the Kindle 3.
The "About" page in the app (Menu >About) means that on your Kindle you'll have access to their website too. Enter the website link in your experimental web browser:
( Home >Menu >Experimental >Web Browser ) and then, when you arrive at the website, Save that page as a Kindle web bookmark.
When on your computer (but not on the Kindle) you will be able to view videos on their website.
UPDATE3 - (Original post, 3/17/11)
TIP: Because the fonts aren't "anti-aliased" - to keep speed - they won't be as smooth looking but I prefer the speed (typing and moving around are amazingly fast). I found that instead of using the default font-size '3' I use size '4' which I actually like anyway, and the 'SansSerif' family of fonts. That's done the usual Kindle way, via the "Aa" type/font key at the bottom of the Kindle.
UPDATE4 - 3/21/11. An anonymous commenter wrote today that "Notepad is now available from Amazon in the UK I downloaded it yesterday." I don't know if it applies to other countries yet (or whether the person did it as a resident of a non-US country or was a U.S. person downloading it while abroad, but it happened close to the date that the Android Apps Store is expected to open (Tuesday, 3/22) so it's a possibility they are working on it for the appstore opening.
KinWorm reported in from the UK and was NOT able to find the file in the UK Kindlestore nor download the file from Amazon-US.
UPDATE5 - TIP: The program manager of Notepad has this note on the Amazon Kindle forum thread about Notepad:
' Last edited by the author 15 hours ago
A. Singh says:
Debi, sometimes the encoding used is different.
The KDK supports text files in ANSI format. If you open a text file in Notepad and click Save As you will see the options in the bottom right - UTF-8, Unicode, ANSI, etc.
So if the characters used are ones not supported by ANSI then the KDK (on which the app is built) can not recognize them and it cuts the notes.
Another Kindle owner had a similar problem where note was getting cut at '-' and when she removed that it went away. Notes that are made in Notepad on Computer and saved using ANSI format should open up fine.
**** In particular, the ` and the ... in that note might not be the standard ones.
So if you just open up your note on your computer and replace it with typed out ones using your keyboard it should work fine. '
Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
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