Hi Carl! Great question and I can definitely help. So, by way of a little background, I wrote the Unofficial Guide to using Evernote and sold by Evernote in their Store and also the Official Springpad eBook, which I wrote with the help & guidance of the Springpad Team. Both books are focused in on how to use them from a productivity standpoint. I mention this simply to suggest that I can approach this from an objective standpoint! So, let me lay out for you basically what the purpose of each and the benefits.
First: Ask yourself this question: Why do I need an app like these? In other words, what void are one of these apps trying to fill for you? Is it just for web clipping or a read it later feature you're looking for? If so, you may not need a jack hammer to hang a picture on the wall! So help you figure this out a bit more, let me lay out what Evernote & Springpad's core offerings are for you and some benefits.
Evernote: At its core, it seems like just a note taking application; however, it is so much more. Evernote is available on every device and even has a desktop app. You can take notes, photos, audio, and store any file type as a "note". In essence, it can be your paperless app. Words in photos are even text searchable! You can create notes, notebooks, tags, stack notebooks, nest tags, share notes with the world, privately, and even collaborate with others with the content in your private notebooks. It has a web clipper for every browser to help you clip articles you see on the web you want to reference later. It has official 3rd party apps such as Hello (sort of like a CRM), Food (you can store recipes, take photos of food you at and its integrated with Foursquare and OpenTable), Penultimate (iPad writing app); and Skitch (a really awesome annotation tool for screenshots, PDF's, JPEG's, etc). It also has an open API so there are dozens of 3rd party apps you can find in the Trunk (the store) that integrate with Evernote. Everything ranging from regular scanner integrations to iPhone scanners, audio apps, video apps, Skype, conference calling apps, map apps, etc). There are also several Offline features & functionality as well). Oh, and it works with the famous Moleskine journal as well. I use it for every purpose just outlined above, including using it as a way to capture my kids' artwork and to manage my tasks and project related materials for work. It has a huge hook in both the business and the educational sectors. It's essentially gret for everything from note taking, project planning, going paperless, starting a business, and having your kid to their research assigment!
Springpad: For some time, its been often look to as being a competitor to Evernote, but I think it works great by itself or even complement's one use of the app. In essence, its also a note taking app that allows you to create notes, notebooks, and tags. However, there are some real big differentiators here. First, it's much more visual, and this appeals to the anti-spreadsheet folks of the world, like me. It's got a beautiful layout, showcasing images of your clippings or notes on the cover of each notebook. In addition, what differentiates Springpad is what the app does with your notes. What's cool about Springpad - and what makes it really shine - is what it does to your notes. Let me give you some examples:
- It's tag line is basically the same as my book: Smarter Notes. Smarter Sharing. A Smarter Way to Get Things Done. This envelopes a lot of the companies' strategy. Let's say I 'spring' a movie, book, or recipe. It's not just static. It's 3rd party partnerships serves up to you links in your notes such as buying movies through Fandango, reviews on Rotten Tomatos, watching on Netflix, buying on iTunes/Amazon, etc. Recipes are super cool because it'll not only generate a recipe shopping list for you, but tell if you if there's coupons at the grocery store. Oh, and if you love wine, you can the barcode and save it and then Snooth.com will offer up more info on the wine + reviews, etc.
- Even if none of that appeals to you, you can collaborate for free with clients and colleagues without a Premium charge. I'm working a fairly complex project right now that involves my work and the ability to use Springpad, collaborate, and get notifications of what's been done with my "sharee" is huge.
- What can you collaborate on? Notes, tasks, reminders, checklists, events, contacts, places, etc.
- The events integrate with Google Calendar.
- The tasks have an RSS feed and with a little help through IFTTT, I can get notifications of tasks.
- You can setup repeating reminders.It has a "Foursqure'esque" places locator and can save your favorite restaurants.
- All of your notes are private but you can easily share with just the people you trust or the whole world through FB/Twitter.
- You can upload documents, etc.
There's a good starting point for you. Once you've really analyzed what is most important to you, you can begin to make smart choices as to which tool is best for you. But once you decide - definitely stick with it!
Happy to help answer any other specifics as always.
PS: Pocket: Well, in essence, it is what it is - a read it now web clipper! 🙂
