Annotater – Review

Our rating:

By: jim brink

Version #: 1.0

Date Released: 2008-07-25

Developer:

Price: 4.99

User Rating:

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One of the things that continues to amaze and disappoint me is the continued lack of support for anything that resembles an office suite. Sure I can take notes (in a largely limited way) with the iPhone’s native notes app but it is anemic, at best. These days I tend to use Evernote to create new notes because they are automatically synced to the web server but Evernote currently does not support editing notes once they are saved.

Why, I continue to wonder, with a device as powerful as the iPhone or Touch and up to 32GB of memory (on the Touch) is there no serious way to use it to view and edit documents?

Annotater is at least one step in the right direction. Annotator makes quick work of transferring PDF files over to the iPhone or iPod Touch. Once there the PDFs can be annotated and sent back to the host Mac.

The application requires running software on a Mac in order to upload files to the handheld. contrary to some of the reviews on iTunes, I found the process to be highly intuitive, simple and quick. I created a folder on my desktop, moved the files I wanted to transfer into new folder and then selected the folder from within the free uploader software. Within moments the folder and included files were accessible on my iPhone.

Because Annotator syncs folders of files rather than just files one can easily keep a large number of files organized into a variety of different folders. A good thing if you plan to carry numerous files.

Documents can be viewed in either portrait or landscape and selection of pens can be used to annotate the text. Annotating a documents on a screen as small as the iPhone/Touch is, at best, slow and limited but it does actually work. More than anything, though, the application is useful as a convenient way to carry and view PDF files.

Once you are done viewing/using/annotating a file it can then be synced back to the host mac over a secure WiFi connection.
 

Unfortunately, once on the iPhone/Touch, the files take a few seconds to fully render. Moreover, when resizing the documents a noticeable and annoying lag often occurs. This seems to be an issue with the device itself rather than the software and, hopefully, a solution to this will be found.

Annotator has one additional trick up its sleeve and it is a pretty amazing one. During the import  and upload process files moved via annotator are apparently scanned. The result is the ability search any document for a word or phrase. It is incredibly powerful feature than makes carrying and searching a large number of files simple.

In all, Annotator works well, is highly stable and does what it says.

Quick Take

Value: High
Would I Buy Again: Absolutely
Learning Curve: Medium
Who is it for: Anyone who wants to carry, view and annotate pfd files
What I like: Works well, largely intuitive, search feature rocks
What I Don’t: Only works with files in PDF format
Similar Apps: FileMagnet
Recommended App: If your goal is to carry, view and annotate PDF files Annotator is the hands-down winner due to its stability, ability to handle large files and ability to annotate files. If you need to carry files in a variety of formats FileMagnet is the only choice due to Annotator only handling PDF files.

Final Statement: Great app, decent price. Worth every penny.