22 replies to this topic

[Bud_T]

Folks-

I've been using EN on windows and Android for a few years now. I've used the web interface to a lesser extent. But I will be using Chromebooks this coming year with the students at my university, and therefore will spend some serious time using the web app.

Question: has a specific Chromebook (not just Chrome) EN app been discussed which might have some offline capabilities? I'm thinking of multiple note authoring and storage until online sync, and perhaps some local sync of select notes. Now that new Chromebooks do have some local file storage, I think limited offline capabilities would be attractive and quite useful. A quick search of these forums did not turn up much discussion of this. Thoughts?

[Owyn]

Welcome to the forums.

I have not seen anything on this topic and class it as even less likely than a native Linux client from Evernote.

[beholder121]

Hello everyone,

This is a discussion not just about Evernote - I also hope to reach out to "geeks" in general who have experience with computers and can tell me about living with a Chromebook.

I've been looking at Chromebook in the past, but always felt these computer are built cheap, and I even though I use web apps 80% of the time, I still have some local apps that I don't think I could leave without, one of which would be Evernote.

Now that the new Chromebook is out for about $250, I am starting having second thoughts. A macbook air, which I originally considered, is indeed an "overkill" for me. I am a person who writes and blogs a lot, and I am fine with Google Docs which is what I use all the time anyway. I have been using Scrivener here and there on my mac for my fiction writing, but I think I could live without it.

What about the Evernote app? Anyone here is using only the web version? I do like the desktop version but there's one thing that concerns me and that's security: if someone steals my computer, they have the whole database to their disposal; however, if someone steals my chromebook.. one change of password and that's it. On the other hand, I probably can't use evernote when I'm offline.

Another issue would be tethering: I use easytether, which is an Android app that allows me to use my Android phone as a modem. I doubt there's any version for chromebooks (since nothing can be installed on these computers), which means when I don't have wifi, I'm pretty much screwed. Other issues I might have with a Chromebook:

I think 11inch screen is too small. Too much room is wasted on the address bar, tabs etc. I had the EEE PC before and that has been an issue.
backlit keyboard - it's the thing that got me to use a mac in the first place, I write in coffee shops a lot.
the computer is pretty much "dead" without connection to the internet.

Anyone here can tell me more about the experience of using Chromebooks, and with Evernote specifically? How do you handle not having WiFi? Any tips would help. Thanks!

[GrumpyMonkey]

Hi. Interesting question. I have not used a Chromebook, but I have used the Web client, and even thouh it is fine as far as it goes, it pales in comparison to the desktop clients. One obvious example would be working offline. You can't. Evernote servers are down? You are out of luck.

As for security, password protect your computer and encrypt your drive. Nothing short of a government agency like the NSA could access your data. In addition, your desktop version functions as a kind of backup.

[redwater]

Hi

I wonder if there is any update on this now $250 Chromebooks are starting to appear.

I see there are only two Chromebook-related forum entries - but between them as of today they have had 818 views.

So it seems they may be some interest in these questions?

Pete

[gazumped]

Actually the main drawback in using a Chromebook would be the lack of storage space. If this is to be your main access to Evernote you wouldn't be able to set up an account because you can't 'install' Evernote and save your main database on a local drive. You'd have to have another machine - a standard lap or desktop - on which to create the account and store your local database, and then just use the Chromebook as mobile access when it had a net connection. Adequate for occasional reference purposes, but I'd suspect not practical for note taking or general database maintenance.

[redwater]

Google docs works fine offline on a Chromebook. So I can't see why Evernote could not?

[logandb]

...
Another issue would be tethering: I use easytether, which is an Android app that allows me to use my Android phone as a modem. I doubt there's any version for chromebooks (since nothing can be installed on these computers), which means when I don't have wifi, I'm pretty much screwed. Other issues I might have with a Chromebook:
...

Around Android v2.3, the ability to use the phone to host a wireless hotspot was introduced. It would depend upon the phone and OS you have, but it's certainly possible (and works very well). Some US carriers restrict this feature, however, although it works a treat here in Australia!

[hvelez]

Hello All

With the new cheap Chromebooks coming out, it will be really great to have a dedicated or at least offline capable Evernote.
I have tried the Evernote Web version on my Chromebook and it is really slow and cumbersome.

My 2 cents

Thanks

[gazumped]

Evernote is, by definition, an online service, unless it's downloaded and installed to a local hard drive or 'phone memory. Although Chromebooks are a cost-effective portable option for online activities they are as likely to make toast as they are to run Evernote offline.

[hvelez]

Just as the client for Android, IOS and other devices. It could have a feature that select only specific notebooks or notes for offline content. I have been use the Chromebook for awhile and it is very nice for online and offline work
Of course it could never compare with a full PC, but it gets the work done.

[gazumped]

It's interesting that you say the Chromebook is good for both online and offline work - I didn't realise there was any local storage. I'm probably displaying the depths of my ignorance here, but is it possible to 'install' anything on the machine and run it offline?

-Just to add to my previous comment, the CBs are also a different OS from anything else currently in play - even if it's technically feasible, it would be a huge investment for Evernote to spend money developing a new client for a brand new and so far (with all due respect to You Know Goo) untried market.

[hvelez]

Yes, there is Offline Apps for the Chromebook. There is local storage on the machines (SSD and regular hard drives) The investment is a good point, but it will be nice if a little be research will be conducted to see how feasible it could be. They are $250 bucks and some only $200. For a quick email, evernote note, etc. they are not a bad deal.

[jdmbaldwin]

My first-gen Chromebook runs Evernote web so slowly as to make it unusable. I can't advise as to the new one, but the old one frankly disappointed me all around. It gets the job done, but I kinda wish I'd saved my money a bit longer and gotten a regular Windows laptop. There's just too much you still can't quite do, and web apps rarely work as well as advertised.

[GrumpyMonkey]

The Chromebooks, for me at least, are unappealing.

I think you would have to use Evernote on the Web with no local storage (as Gazumped mentioned) and a significant lack of important features that I use on a regular basis. For example, there would be no way to export your notes using that computer. There would be no way to use Spotlight (on the Mac) to search your notes.

Chromebooks seem like a great concept that just won't work terribly well in the real world beyond a few very limited use cases. If you just surf the web, for example, or don't need to do a whole lot of work in Evernote, then it seems doable. But, with Windows machines going for roughly that amount, and tablets going for only a little more (pair an external keyboard and you have something even more powerful, in my opinion), I just don't "get it."

[Wern]

Chromebooks are not viable for serious work. There is no harddisk and therefore no local storage (as others have mentioned above). You are left with the WEB version of EN and that is slow.
There may be a bright future if we all had superfast Internet connections and big online storage capabilities. These conditions will not exist for the average user for years to come.

[redwater]

Hi @grumpymonkey and @wern.

Personally I think my work is serious, and I do think Chromebooks will work very well in my world, which is very real for me.

I am planning to stop using Evernote, and just use Google docs, and its offline capability.

But I am just me. The question for Evernote is perhaps less what I think and more what the market says ie how well Chromebooks sell.

I guess we will see over the next 6 months or so.

Best
Pete

[redwater]

This might be of interest to some:

http://www.zdnet.com...ine-7000006103/

I have been playing quickly with these features and can confirm that gmail works really well offline - reading and writing.

So does the gdrive - although have only checked gdocs so far and not the spreadsheet or presentation module. Again seems to sync automatically.


GCal is - as the article says, still limited - read only.

I am currently using the "scratchpad" app which is simple but seems to work well too. It is much simpler than Evernote but for what I need - capturing notes offline and syncing them automatically when I go back online - it is fine.

There is a list of offline apps for Chromebooks here. I can't see Evernote

My chromebook came with 16 Gbytes of local storage and 200 Gbytes on the cloud (although this is only completely free for the first two years).

Best
Pete

[BenChapman]

Hi - interesting discussion. I am a big fan of Chromebooks (and am writing this on the original CR-48). I also use Evernote extensively and use it as my primary to-do app. I'm willing to live with the limitations of the web app (after all, the Chromebook is my second computer). However, at least on the CR-48, it seems like Evernote web is too slow to be usable. Has anyone else experimented with Evernote Web using one of the new Samsung Chromebook 3's? Obviously, it should be much faster than the CR-48, but I wondered if it's fast enough to be usable?

I know that there are probably many variables that affect this. The goal for me is to be able to do a search by tags through a 1,000 item collection of Evernote notes split across 3 or 4 notebooks. Currently, when I do this on the CR-48, I get a timeout and "this page has become unresponsive" in Chrome.

Thanks for any insights, Ben

[tgb]

This conversation is getting/ has gotten silly. I use a Chromebook and do serious work. I don't need someone who doesn't know me, what I do, or how I do it, and doens't know the capabilites of a chromebook to determine what I can and can't do. The Chromebook has offline storage, witness gmail and gdrive being able to offer offline capability. It requires some work with html5, but offline apps do work. I also use an android phone, and with a premium evernote account I can get offline note storage on a phone. So, we know that evernote offers offline storage, and we know that chromebook apps can work with offline storage. Now it is just an engineering problem. I don't need to be able to store all my notes offline, just some by selecting which notebooks I want to sync, just like I do on my phone.. One of the reasons I choose going premium was being able to access notes on my phone while on a plane, or whatever. The evernote web app has to be more than just accessing the website, it has to take advantage of current web capabilities and make some or all of the notes available locally. My Chromebook has 8Gb of local storage, so I know that I can't sync all my notes, but workbooks that I choose just like on my phone.