Android app: hovernote


Bottom line: hovernote is an app that has changed the way I used my android tablet, the Nexus 7, for the better.

What does this app do? It is mostly a simple text editor that (and this is major) "floats" over any other android app that you have open.

Why would that change the way that I use my tablet? Well, it solves one of the primary issues that I have with trying to use my Nexus 7 with a bluetooth keyboard as a laptop replacement. Tablets are typically a one-app-at-a-time experience. This is not much of a problem if you are only using it for consumption (music, videos, games, reading), but if you are trying to use it for content creation things get difficult. A good example of this is that I also use my Nexus 7 for reading ebooks. It's difficult to go back through a chapter I just read and take detailed notes when I constantly have to switch apps back and forth. If I only did this casually it may not be that big of a deal, but for in depth note taking it is difficult enough that I often avoid doing it all together. This app solves that kind of problem.

Formal reviews are great, and I read them quite often (probably more often than I should), but I think it will probably just more helpful for me to go through a bunch of scenarios where this app has proven to be really helpful.




Google Reader

Since this window hovers over my Google Reader app (Press -- a great app) it makes it really easy to take notes without switching back and forth.
It's also very easy to interact with the Press app even though the hovernote window is open on top of it. I can scroll, go back, open a new article, all while the hovernote window stays in place. If the window is in the way it's easy to move it out of the way by dragging it around the screen with a finger on the title bar.


Reading ebooks
This app works well for taking notes with ebook apps, like Kindle. When the tablet is in landscape mode the Kindle (or Nook, or Google Books) app goes into dual-page mode. This makes it really easy to position the hovernote window in one half of the screen while taking notes from the ebook on the other side. If I want to take notes on the other side of the page, I simply drag the window over to the opposite side of the window. When I decide to keep reading I can either minimize the note window to the small button on the side, or put it back in the taskbar.

Moving content created in hovernote to other apps

It's also really easy to transfer the text from this window to pretty much any installed app with which content can typically be shared. I can do the normal process of copy and paste, using shortcut keys on a bluetooth keyboard (like I'm using to type this), or I can open the edit toolbar that has nifty text editing buttons. I'm writing this in order to transfer it to Evernote, then I will probably finish editing it on my computer, so I can finish editing it (however limited my ability at such a task is). To do this, I just tap the menu button, and share this with a new Evernote entry.
If you haven't noticed from the screenshots yet, the shape and size of the window can be changed with a simple press-and-drag of the bottom corner.


Organizing thoughts

It's really nice to have one common space where I can take notes from several different sources. Often I'm simply using it to compile notes taken in other mediums. I tend to gather information through a number of formats, whether it's jotting something down and emailing it to myself, creating a quick Evernote entry, adding something to my task list as a reminder, marking a tweet as a favorite, or taking a picture of a quote that I don't have time to write down. With hovernote I can sit down when I get a few minutes and go through those different apps and pull together a large group of relevant notes.
If I'm not done with my note I can save it to my tablet's storage. I usually do this anyway, since it allows the app to auto-save every time you tap out of  it. This is done by tapping the menu button, and then "save as..."


Watching videos

In the same way that I can take notes while reading books I can take notes while watching videos. It's simple to minimize hovernote to the small button on the side of the screen while simply watching and then bring it back up to jot down a few notes.

Super short summary

Like I said at the beginning, this app really has changed the way that I use my tablet. If this is true on the small screen of my Nexus 7, I can only imagine how useful this is on a larger 10" tablet.

If you do a lot of writing with your tablet (specifically with bluetooth keyboard) then this app is definitely worth taking a look at.

Check out hovernote on Google Play.

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