Jump to content

My review of Clever - third party Evernote client for iPhone


May

Recommended Posts

Clever is a third party Evernote client for iPhone and it blows me away how well developed and full featured this app is. It has more features than official Evernote clients on ios, you can copy note links, copy notes, use browsing history, use URL schemes to integrate this app with other app and so on.

I'm newbie at making video reviews and English isn't my native language but hopefully it's easy to understand.

what do you think about the app? Have you tried it?

I find it really awesome, would love to see an iPad version. I really like to see more great stuff like this to come out.

Link to comment

BTW, you did great on the video.

My initial impression is that this app ROCKS!!! I only occasionally use EN on my iPhone or iPad b/c it's so darned slow. But this app is VERY snappy & I think I will use it a LOT on my iPad. Alas, I will need to see if iOS 5.1 has been untetherd Jailbroken, since Clever requires that OS. There is one Cydia app that I really need, so I need to have my iPhone JB. BUT...this app is amazing enough that I'm going to put this on my list of priorities.

Thanks again, for the info on this.

Link to comment

Glad you found the vid helpful :)

I recorded/edited the vid on the iPad too btw. I'm using iPad as my main computer for pretty much 90% of the time.

I'd use Clever app on iPad too but I just don't like to use apps in the portrait mode.

Alas, I will need to see if iOS 5.1 has been untetherd Jailbroken, since Clever requires that OS. There is one Cydia app that I really need, so I need to have my iPhone JB.

Yeah, there is a jailbreak. I'm using a jailbroken iPad, iOS 5.1.1

If you're using iPad2 (I do) then I also recommend to install Retinapad, this will make iPhone apps run in Retina display and they'll look MUCH better in 2x mode.

Link to comment

Great video, May.

I have been using Clever for about a week and am very impressed. Both Clever and Everlog are the 2 go-to apps for Evernote on the iphone (as well as ipad though neither have a dedicated ipad app). I use Clever primarily for viewing and quick editing. Everlog is for quick and clear input of regular entries (incredible template options kind of like KustomNotes but on steroids and for the iphone).

By the way, Clever can run in landscape mode though there is bug which doesn't allow you to copy the note link in landscape mode.

Link to comment
By the way, Clever can run in landscape mode though there is bug which doesn't allow you to copy the note link in landscape mode.

I've seen it switch to landscape only in the edit note mode, AFAIK it doesn't switch to landscape when you browse notes and etc.

Link to comment

I've seen it switch to landscape only in the edit note mode, AFAIK it doesn't switch to landscape when you browse notes and etc.

Strange. On both the ipad and iphone, I can browse the notes as well as edit in landscape.

Link to comment

Thanks! doesn't work for me though on either iPhone or iPad and I'd really like to use it in landscape :)

I'll contact the developer, I was going to ask about URL schemes anyway since they also don't seem to work for me.

Link to comment

Thanks! doesn't work for me though on either iPhone or iPad and I'd really like to use it in landscape :)

I'll contact the developer, I was going to ask about URL schemes anyway since they also don't seem to work for me.

No problem.

I haven't tried the url schemes. When I do, I will let you know if they work or not.

By the way, May, have you tried Everlog? I am curious to what others think of it. You can try out the lite/free version before purchasing.

Link to comment

In the < 24 hours I've had this app, I've used it several times. It now resides on my iPad dock. I agree with May in that I hope they make a true iPad version. Now...I just have to figure out if I can upgrade my iPhone from iOS 5.0 to 5.1 (rather than 6), since 5.1 is untethered JB. THEN...I can use this on my iPhone!

(Repping May again for such a great find.)

Link to comment
In the < 24 hours I've had this app, I've used it several times. It now resides on my iPad dock. I agree with May in that I hope they make a true iPad version. Now...I just have to figure out if I can upgrade my iPhone from iOS 5.0 to 5.1 (rather than 6), since 5.1 is untethered JB. THEN...I can use this on my iPhone!

(Repping May again for such a great find.)

Yeah, I also appreciate how snappy the app works.

I use iPad all the time, and on the iPad my Evernote app is slow but still kind of OK because whenever I launch it - it usually doesn't download/sync (many) new notes since everything is pretty much constantly up to date all the time.

However I use iPhone infrequently and so my Evernote app on the iPhone is usually very out of date, and so whenever I launch it to quickly look something up - it starts downloading a huge amount of notes and lags all the time. It's really a pain to use.

With Clever this isn't a problem though, it's always fast.

Link to comment

Holy friggin' smokes!!! I used Fastever Snap in my home to send a photo of something to Evernote. THEN..., I called up that note in Clever. When I tap the I for the info about the note, Clever shows my exact home address!!! And when I tap on the address, it invokes the (standard?) map app & shows me the EXACT location!!! I find this equally cool & creepy weird. ;-)

This is DEFINITELY cool for shopping & finding out where I saw that thing I regret not buying, so I can return & see if it's still available!

Link to comment

Just wanted to share some amazing news that I found out from the developer:

Clever app for the iPad is already developed and is submitted to the App Store!

If all goes well then it'll be available in about 1 week.

I'm pretty sure it is going to replace the official Evernote client for me. Clever already has most of the features that I requested from Evernote on iOS!

As for the landscape mode, it's not supported on iOS5 but it works and will be supported since iOS6+.

I also resolved the problem with URL schemes, it was an error on my part, removing the "<" and ">" bracket symbols solved it.

Link to comment

Okay, first impressions of Clever:

Nice UI - I like it.

It crashed once when I first started using it (just like ye olde original Evernote!). It did this when I selected Notebooks from the side menu. It's only done it once, though (unlike ye olde original Evernote).

It's pretty laggy, especially when trying to scroll that slide out menu.

If I have, say, the Inbox displayed, then I change the Notebook for a specific Note, it stays in the Inbox until I do a manual refresh.

Okay, the above are all negative (apart from the first item!). However, on the positive, it generally works, which is a lot more than can be said for the official app! I really do like the UI. I already feel like I'm actually going to use this app, rather than actively avoiding the official one and I'm sure any bugs/foibles will be sorted out by the devs in due course.

Thanks for pointing this one out. It's definitely a keeper and I'm looking forward to seeing how it improves with time. And +1 for the iPad version :)

Link to comment

[

It's pretty laggy, especially when trying to scroll that slide out menu.

If I have, say, the Inbox displayed, then I change the Notebook for a specific Note, it stays in the Inbox until I do a manual refresh.

I am not sure if it is the same bug but when I scroll quickly using and flick and then stop the scroll before it reaches one end or another, then the menu freezes until I refresh it (via "edit" or "contact"). I mentioned this to the developer and he said he would try to fix this.

By the way, the developer is very responsive to feedback (bug reports and enhancements).

On a last note, along with the ipad update I believe (at least according to a recent email from the developer) we should be able to copy note links outside the app. Presently you can only copy links within the app but the copy/paste function disappears once you go outside the app (unless you paste it to a note and then copy it from the note). So more good things to come.

I believe that both Everlog and Clever are developed in Japan. Both developers have been very very responsive to any feedback that I have given. To say the least I am impressed not only with the quality of product but the customer service they provide.

Link to comment

Evernote app on iPad crashes a lot and on top of that - sometimes it starts crashing all the time on every startup, so I have to remove it and reinstall it.

On the other hand I've seen Clever crash just once when I was messing with URL schemes.

It's pretty laggy, especially when trying to scroll that slide out menu.

I've seen some laggines when scrolling the slide out menu in previous versions but then it resolved for me. Maybe try a reinstall?

Another thing that I've noticed is that whenever I rename a Tag on any Evernote client and then look at this Tag in Evernote on iPad - it doesn't display any notes, so I actually have to unassign-reassign this renamed Tag to be able to see its notes in Evernote on the iPad.

Now, in Clever there's no such problem, I wouldn't be surprised if Clever "lacks":) some other search bugs I have in Evernote on iPad.

Link to comment

Just got the iPad app! The app is still kinda rough around the edges, noticed some bugs, especially with the note editor, it seems to have much of the same problems official Evernote client had in the past.

But other than that, Clever is a godsend. Finally I can search for Tags, use note links, even use URL schemes to link to Tags(!) from other apps. This is going to help so much with Evernote and OmniFocus integration and mind mapping.

Link to comment

Just got the iPad app! The app is still kinda rough around the edges, noticed some bugs, especially with the note editor, it seems to have much of the same problems official Evernote client had in the past.

But other than that, Clever is a godsend. Finally I can search for Tags, use note links, even use URL schemes to link to Tags(!) from other apps. This is going to help so much with Evernote and OmniFocus integration and mind mapping.

I agree that this (and other iOS apps) are godsends. I was even able to create an EN today by taking screen caps on my iPad, annotating with Skitch, saving the Skitch images to the camera roll & then using Clever to create a note with both (Skitch modified) images & applying the right title & tags & putting it in the right notebook. Still kind of a PITA. But given this exact scenario w/o Clever, I would upload the Skitch modified images to Dropbox & then (at a later date) reviewed my Dropbox images & have to put the note together & hope I remembered why they were there.

I've not had much time to spend with the Clever iPad version, but the ~3 minutes I used it this a.m., yah, it didn't look much different from the iPhone version on the iPad. But I'll play with it more later.

Link to comment

Yep, got the iPad version yesterday, too.

As you say, it has some issues. On first run, it actually rebooted my iPad! Only app I've ever tried that managed to achieve that!

What is it with Evernote and iOS? :)

Still, at least I've got a better chance of accessing my notes than with the official client for now.

Link to comment

The difference between finding notes in Clever vs finding notes in Evernote iPad app is like a day and night for me.

On iPad Evernote app you can't filter tags or notebooks, all you get are pretty but unhelpful stacks of paper which you can only manually browse by scrolling.

I posted a suggestion to improve Tag view in Evernote iPad almost a year ago:

In the meanwhile a completely new client for Evernote gets developed, I.e. Clever, and those stacks of paper are finally gone and you can actually filter tags/notebooks, similar to desktop Evernote client, besides other things. :)

The only thing that the official Evernote client does better than Clever is Note Editor. However there's a feature in Clever to open any note in Evernote app so you can still use Evernote note editor alongside with Clever to edit notes, so you don't have to compromise for now.

Link to comment

I've been trying Clever on my iPad 2. So far it's crashed twice in fifteen minutes . . . pretty good considering the Evernote app will crash fifteen times in two minutes. I really appreciate the ability to pre-pend or append text to an existing note, this is very convenient in many cases. The button to enter a timestamp is also very useful.

I also very much like the search, which as mentioned above allows for more targeted searching and doesn't insist on returning all results immediately. However it does seem like it does not search within PDFs as the standard clients do.

Link to comment
However it does seem like it does not search within PDFs as the standard clients do.

it should search within PDFs and images, etc., the search results should be the same as Evernote web app since Clever uses online API for search, as do standard clients.

Link to comment

Interesting. And I agree that since it should be using the Evernote API, I don't see how the results could be different.

My test was different . . . I searched for the word "Drugstore", expecting it to match a receipt for drugstore.com that I had scanned. Clever matched 4 documents, but not the one I wanted. Everywhere else I search (Evernote web client, windows client, iOS Evernote app) returns 6 documents.

The two extra notes were both nothing but PDFs discussing CVS, a (chain of drugstores in the US). When I view those PDFs in the Windows client, it highlights the places where the word "drugstore" appears, as you would expect. But the Clever search does not find them.

Aha! I think I just figured it out. If you search for

drugstore

in Clever, what it really searches for is

"drugstore"

The word that matched in my PDF was actually "drusgtores", plural. Clever does not match to that from this query. It must use some different escaping and/or wildcarding than the main apps do. I believe the default evernote behavior is to match words *starting with* the string you search for.

If I search in clever for

drugstore*

then it finds all the notes I expect. Interesting! To be honest I think I prefer this behavior, but it could be confusing for some users.

Link to comment

The new Clever update for the iphone is flawless (at least in my limited experience). All problems that I had before are cleared up.

However, the Ipad edition (Clever HD) is buggy. My "Saved Searches" in Clever's iphone app work well but don't seem to work in Clever HD. Hmmmm....

Link to comment

I've been trying Clever on my iPad 2. So far it's crashed twice in fifteen minutes . . . pretty good considering the Evernote app will crash fifteen times in two minutes. I really appreciate the ability to pre-pend or append text to an existing note, this is very convenient in many cases. The button to enter a timestamp is also very useful.

I also very much like the search, which as mentioned above allows for more targeted searching and doesn't insist on returning all results immediately. However it does seem like it does not search within PDFs as the standard clients do.

LMAO! Great, isn't it, that an app that crashes twice in 15 minutes is considered better! Don't get me wrong, I'm with you - Clever actually rebooted my iPad and I still consider it better than the official app :)

Link to comment

A crash every once in awhile isn't too bad considering Clever HD just came out...

Evernote iPad app however was around for a couple of years but I had to reinstall it 3 times today because it kept getting into crashing on startup "mode" over and over... Now that's just plain... **evil** (I'm kidding... Sort of)

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

May,

Where is this feature:

'there's a feature in Clever to open any note in Evernote app'

Thanx

The only thing that the official Evernote client does better than Clever is Note Editor. However there's a feature in Clever to open any note in Evernote app so you can still use Evernote note editor alongside with Clever to edit notes, so you don't have to compromise for now.

Link to comment

May,

Where is this feature:

'there's a feature in Clever to open any note in Evernote app'

Thanx

The only thing that the official Evernote client does better than Clever is Note Editor. However there's a feature in Clever to open any note in Evernote app so you can still use Evernote note editor alongside with Clever to edit notes, so you don't have to compromise for now.

The feature is there but It doesn't work anymore at this point, since Evernote got updated to v5 and changed everything. Maybe it'll be fixed in an update.

8190862285_a1e4c4cec8_b.jpg

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting - I wasn't aware of this client.

Can someone share whether Clever for iPAD2 is able to support tag searching using multiple tags?

Yes, but it auto suggest only a single (the first) Tag, so to search for multiple Tags you'll have to type them manually, for example tag:"a" tag:"b" .

Link to comment

Thanks May!

Not really what I am looking for. I would want the app to give my list of tags, I select one and the list get immediately filtered with the ones that have the selected tag attached. Then I can select a second, immediate filter again, etc.

There is an ipad file browser that does this type of immediate filtering of tags: hayabusa.

Maybe.....one day either clever or Evernote will implement......;)

Link to comment

Thanks May!

Not really what I am looking for. I would want the app to give my list of tags, I select one and the list get immediately filtered with the ones that have the selected tag attached. Then I can select a second, immediate filter again, etc.

There is an ipad file browser that does this type of immediate filtering of tags: hayabusa.

Maybe.....one day either clever or Evernote will implement......;)

Yeah, I'd like to see exactly the same thing

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

How is the audio quality in Clever? I noticed that in the most recent update that Clever adding recorded audio to a note (back in mid November). I'm guessing that this feature works just like it does in the iOS client? As the audio recording quality is notably poor in all EN clients that I've used (due to EN's unfortunate choice of a limited codec), I would gladly purchase Clever if the built-in audio recorder does it's job with a higher level of quality. Thanks!

Link to comment

Audio quality in Clever is a lot better but it takes longer to save it.

Here is an example of audio in Clever:

https://www.evernote...ff6b1309e920605

Thanks for the speedy reply and the helpful example! I'm a bit shocked at the quality this seems to allow as it looks to be significantly better than even Apple's Voice Memo app. Here's what I've noticed in file size/quality from real world use:

  • EN audio files = about 100k per minute
  • Apple's Voice Memos = about 500k per minute
  • your audio clip from Clever = almost 3mb per minute!

No wonder it takes significantly longer to save/upload! Some might see this difference in file size as a reason not to use Clever to record audio notes (due to using a higher portion of the monthly EN data allowance). For me it is the exact opposite. For me, this dramatic increase in quality is the reason to purchase Clever, and the increased audio file sizes will also be the reason for me to finally upgrade to EN Premium (which I am more than happy to do now that I finally have a good excuse!).

Link to comment

Purchased Clever. Some cool things going on here, but I quickly ran across an interesting quirk that I think needs to be looked at regarding Clever's audio note feature: it cuts off the recording when the screen goes to sleep or auto-locks. After having it happen to me the first time, I tested it out my changing my auto-lock setting to 2 minutes and doing another audio note. Clever cut off the recording each time at the moment that the screen locked.

I get why they probably did this: at 3mb of audio per minute you don't want to forget that you're still recording and end up with a maxed out note-size on accident. On the other hand, when recording an impromptu song demo, concept, etc. it's a bit of a shame to have to change the settings on auto-lock so that it doesn't get cut off after 1 minute. One subtle feature of Apple's Voice Memo app that is really smart on this subject is that after certain increments of time the screen will turn back on during a recording to remind you that it's still recording, as well as give you a brief idea of how long it has been recording. Maybe something similar could be incorporated into Clever (I write this assuming that one of their devs might be following this thread)? As another option, maybe code could be written into Clever that would override auto-lock while recording an audio note?

I will say though - much better audio :)

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Level 5*

Wow! I just installed Clever HD on my iPhone 5 and IMMEDIATELY I like it sooooooo much better than the actual Evernote iOS Ver 5!

The UI is so clean, yet so intuitive and easy to use. AND it provides lots of options.

Frankly, in a design contest between Evernote iOS and Clever HD for Evernote, Clever would win hands down, IMO!

Link to comment

Yeah, I end up using Clever (HD) probably about 95% of time, it's just a lot faster to find/browse notes there which is what matters the most in most cases.

My main use for official Evernote app is to browse image/photo notes (card view works better for this) and that's pretty much it.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Because of this thread I also bought Clever HD. First impression is rather disappointing for me. I have frequent crashes. With 2 minutes three of which one made my iPad reboot. So I won't be using it and wait for more stable versions. Anyone else experiencing these kind of crashes with Clever?

 

Update 23/02/2013

It turns out the crashes are related to a specific sequence of actions. If I avoid this sequence no problem at all. Am using it more and more now. 
Link to comment
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

In the iPad Clever just crashes. Yet design is simple logical an it has the features. Evernote on iPad is deeply flawed in its design philosophy but it crashes less than Clever. That is the summary of my experience

Link to comment
  • Level 5*

In the iPad Clever just crashes. Yet design is simple logical an it has the features. Evernote on iPad is deeply flawed in its design philosophy but it crashes less than Clever. That is the summary of my experience

 

Has Clever been updated for iOS 8?

Link to comment
  • Evernote Expert

More than a year, after EN implemented Reminder integration, Clever is yet to do so.. and its supposed to be a EN alternative app, so big ###Fail... 

 

More over, no response from Clever Support Team as well.. Think developers have abandoned the project.. and it isnt even free.. so for users who pay.. big disappointment.. 

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...