Nebo is a note-taking app that helps you save and arrange your concepts and different stuff you need to bear in mind and it comes with a few of the finest handwriting recognition we’ve seen. You may add images and sketches, clear up math equations, create diagrams, and way more. The hitch is its pricing. Nebo would not require a subscription, which is incredible, however you do should pay for every set up of the app. Plus, you aren’t getting syncing except you pay for the total variations. Contemplating you may get free note-taking and syncing from Microsoft OneNote, it stays our Editors’ Alternative winner. One other winner is Joplin, which is free in the event you deliver your individual storage and is finest in the event you want an open-source app.How A lot Does Nebo Price?Whereas downloading the Nebo app for Android and iOS/iPad is free, you must pay an up-front payment of $9.99 earlier than downloading the app for Home windows. The identical payment is utilized for Android customers who need to get entry to all of the options, whereas iOS customers should pay $14.99. So, if you wish to use Nebo on an iPhone, Android pill, and a Home windows laptop, you must pay a complete of $34.97, plus tax.
You may obtain the app totally free on cell gadgets and check out it out, however with main limitations. You get 5 expandable clean pages, which solely offers you a style of what the app provides.The associated fee is not too excessive if you find yourself counting on Nebo for years to come back, however a extra handy cost plan could be to allow you to obtain all of the apps totally free after which cost a one-time lifetime payment to make use of them. Plus, it is laborious to justify paying for a note-taking app when Microsoft OneNote is the most effective you could find, and it’s very free with 5GB storage included.
Platform Necessities and SyncingAs talked about, Nebo works on Home windows, Apple cell gadgets, and Android. For iPhones and iPads, Nebo requires a minimum of iOS or iPadOS 15 or later and greater than 4GB of RAM for iPhones. Additionally, the app works on M1 and M2 Macs. For Home windows, Nebo requires a minimum of Home windows 10. It additionally works on 32-bit ARM gadgets. There are some extra specs for Android gadgets. For an excellent expertise, you want a minimum of a 6-inch contact display screen, Android 6.0 or increased, and a minimum of 4GB of RAM, though the extra, the higher. E-Ink Onyx pill gadgets aren’t appropriate with Nebo, which is disappointing as a result of they’re superb for note-taking.Your notes sync throughout gadgets so long as you’ve got the paid variations of the apps put in and hook up with a cloud storage service. You may select from iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Different cloud companies are additionally allowed, however they require a handbook setup that entails exporting your pages or notebooks to your cloud service supplier after which exporting them once more from there to your Nebo app on the secondary system. Getting Began With NeboOnce you obtain, set up, and pay for Nebo, setting it up is straightforward. You select a language you need to write in so the app can acknowledge your handwriting. As soon as that’s performed, you possibly can join an account, referred to as MyScript, if you wish to allow syncing.
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Finest on a Pill With StylusNebo is a flexible app that may simply match into your life, whether or not you’re taking private notes, making buying lists, writing down necessary data throughout conferences, or doing anything. The entire app has a paper-like design, so it’s infinitely simpler to make use of it with a pill that has a stylus, like an iPad or a Samsung pill. Nebo works finest with an lively pen, but it surely additionally works in the event you use a common capacitive pen. When you want typing in your keyboard, that works high-quality, too. I examined the app on a Home windows laptop, Android smartphone, and Android pill. I misplaced my pill’s stylus, nevertheless, and was stunned to see that Nebo’s handwriting recognition was ok that it might simply make out what I used to be writing in cursive with my finger.
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Microsoft’s OneNote additionally comes with handwriting recognition that is nearly as good as Nebo’s, and that app is free to make use of.If Nebo would not convert your handwriting to textual content precisely proper, you possibly can simply make changes utilizing keyboard mode. On cell gadgets, you possibly can allow an on-screen keyboard in your comfort. Colourful Notebooks and DocumentsTo use Nebo, you create notebooks, superb for taking notes throughout conferences or lessons. That can assist you keep organized, you possibly can select a web page shade and a background sample. A number of patterns can be found, whether or not you’re fixing math issues, jotting down your ideas, journaling, and even beginning a scrapbook.A doc is analogous. You are able to do just about the identical factor as within the others, creating lists, reviews, or no matter else you want—together with math equations. You may add math blocks and have the app clear up equations for you, a lot the identical method Microsoft OneNote does.
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After getting the part in your doc, you possibly can write down your equations by hand. Double-tap to transform the calculations and show the outcomes routinely. One other straightforward factor you are able to do with Nebo is create multiple-level checklists. It’s additionally potential to create easy diagrams. You make them by hand after which edit and transfer components round as wanted, however you aren’t getting an array of templates and specialised diagramming instruments as you do with Lucidchart. When you’re proud of the outcome, you possibly can convert your diagram’s components to smoothed shapes and textual content in the event you embrace any handwriting—or you possibly can depart all the pieces as it’s.You may sketch proper in Nebo, too. Add a Sketch part to the file you’re engaged on, and have enjoyable. You may then resize the drawing nevertheless you need.Nebo BoardsSeparate from notebooks and paperwork are boards, which act extra like whiteboards you’d discover in different apps. They’re non-structured pages which might be nice for brainstorming, as they’ll maintain your writing, typing, drawing, and pictures you add.Nebo’s boards differ from extra superior whiteboard apps, like Miro and Mural, that are geared towards collaboration and thus have extra options. These apps are additionally dearer. With Nebo, the whiteboard is your individual playground. You may share any doc you create on Nebo, however there’s no solution to invite others to edit. Once you begin a brand new pocket book, board, or doc, you get a really fast tutorial about what you are able to do, and there are extra tutorials on Nebo’s help web page. Frankly, with out them I wouldn’t have discovered easy methods to use math blocks or that you could solely use math blocks in paperwork, not boards and notebooks.When you’ve got a PDF that you simply need to save together with your notes, you possibly can open the doc in Nebo and annotate it, highlighting necessary areas, including photos, and writing your feedback.
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When organising a pocket book, board, or doc on Nebo, you give it a reputation, choose a shade, and select a language. For Notebooks, you may also select the web page shade, sample, measurement (A4, A5, A7, or US Letter), and orientation (portrait or panorama). As soon as the file is created and also you’re prepared to write down, you’ll want to undergo the assorted instruments in a ribbon on the high of the interface. You may select between writing with a keyboard or by hand. The app offers you three pens to select from—felt, fountain, and brush—and a number of sizes for every. You may even take a look at them out in a customization window to see how they may look on the web page.On each your individual notes and PDFs that you simply add, you possibly can spotlight textual content or areas of the web page. The spotlight function additionally permits a number of sizes, and you’ll swap between Freehand and Good. The Good setting routinely aligns with textual content for a cleaner look (whereas Freehand is what it appears like).The ribbon additionally has an eraser and a lasso instrument that you should use to straighten completely different components in your file. Whereas remodeling handwriting to textual content may be performed in any sort of file, there’s a conversion preview out there in paperwork. In different kinds of information, you utilize the lasso to circle the textual content you wrote down and select Convert to alter it to typed textual content. If you wish to preserve it in handwriting mode, you possibly can reduce, copy, and resize it nevertheless you need.A shade choice palette helps you to select from preset colours and add your individual. It is slightly tough to make use of, as you must undergo a complete wheel of shades, however once you discover your favourite, you simply faucet on the plus signal so as to add it to the ribbon. If the ribbon will get too cluttered, you possibly can double-tap any shade to delete it.Nebo has an uncommon choice for working with textual content formatting. Particularly, you possibly can change the strike-through and underline choices in order that they do one thing aside from strike-through or underline your textual content. The setting takes place on the file sort degree. As an illustration, you can arrange the strike-through motion to erase textual content on boards however preserve it as a typical line by way of your textual content in paperwork. Equally, drawing a line below a phrase or sentence can both underline the phrases or apply daring, relying on what choice you select.
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Nebo is lacking just a few issues that you could find in another note-taking apps, although not everybody wants them. Optical character recognition (OCR) is one. OCR takes textual content that it finds in photographs, like pictures, and makes it searchable. So in the event you take a photograph of somebody’s enterprise card after which search your note-taking app for his or her identify, you will discover it. Nebo cannot try this. Nebo additionally doesn’t have geolocation tagging for notes, audio recording for voice memos, e-mail forwarding for sending emails into your note-taking app, or a built-in scanner for turning bodily papers into PDFs.Verdict: Nice Handwriting Recognition for a CostNebo is an efficient instrument for jotting down ideas and concepts and even buying lists, and it is particularly helpful for turning the hen scratch most of us name handwriting it into typed textual content. Whilst you by no means should pay a subscription payment to make use of Nebo, you do have to purchase all of the apps individually and produce your individual storage to sync your notes. Seeing as you get all the identical issues and extra from Microsoft OneNote without charge, it is our Editors’ Alternative winner amongst note-taking apps, alongside Joplin, which is best in the event you want an open-source app.
Execs
Implausible handwriting recognition
Customizable expertise mixing writing, sketching, math
Intuitive interface
No subscription required
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The Backside Line
Nebo is a superb instrument if you wish to preserve your notes organized and is incredible at recognizing handwriting, however not like many note-taking apps, it is not free.
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