
Evernote Peek, The First iPad Smart Cover App - bjonathan
http://blog.evernote.com/2011/06/08/introducing-evernote-peek-the-first-ipad-smart-cover-app/
======
nooneelse
It looks cute, but for a flash card app other interaction methods are just as
quick and easy, maybe more so. Now, if something like this could be used so
that a person could see, for example, their next appointment by peeking, but
fully opening the cover activated the iPad normally, that would be cool.

~~~
benwyrosdick
yeah, I agree. I tried it and it was very interesting but the interaction was
very bad. For instance, you can't peek then close and think ... once you peek
you have to open all the way or it will move to next question.

I appreciate the imaginativeness of it but it isn't really an enjoyable
interface for long term use.

------
lazerwalker
This is nifty enough, but Evernote has so many problems with its client UI
design that I hate to see them spending front-end engineer development time on
side diversions like this. I recently let my Evernote Premium subscription
lapse and migrated my notes to another system because I was so frustrated with
the painful user experience across their various clients, despite their core
product idea being so awesome and their syncing/OCR/backend services working
well.

~~~
forensic
I'd like to know what you switched to?

As a Premium subscriber to EverNote, this news about a very bad flash card app
indicates to me that they aren't serious about improving their core product
and instead want to capitalize on the brand with gimmicky spinoffs.

Basically I just lost a lot of confidence in the EverNote brand.

~~~
lazerwalker
I replaced most of my Evernote usage with Markdown-formatted text files in
Dropbox, using Elements as an iOS client. Dropbox gives me syncing,
versioning, and online (read-only) access, and Elements lets me store all the
notes locally on my iOS devices (as well as just being an otherwise fantastic
app). There's no support for tags, but for the way my notes are organized a
light folder structure works just as well.

I'm still using Evernote for collecting receipts, though. The combination of
some smart Gmail filters (Amazon/iTunes/Steam/etc receipts all auto-forward to
my Evernote email address) and the automatic PDF OCR (I've got a document
feeder scanner) still make it simpler than anything else for that. I reference
my receipts so rarely that I can put up with the painful UI once every few
months.

------
eggbrain
Very clever use of the smart cover, but in the end I don't feel many people
will use it.

Its cleverness relies on having an iPad 2 and a smart-cover, which segments
it. Then, from a usability standpoint, I feel it would be more annoying to
continue to lift up a cover than to tap the screen to reveal the answer.

~~~
Bud
It does not actually require Apple's Smart Cover; any of the third-party
covers which are using magnets would work the same way. And there are already
quite a few of those.

~~~
eggbrain
Even if we change it from "needing a smart cover" to "needing a magnetic
cover", the same general principal holds: You won't just need an iPad 2,
you'll also need a cover that takes advantage of this capability, which will
cut down your audience by a good amount.

~~~
guptaneil
I would be willing to bet that the intersection of users with iPad 2's and
users with iPad 2 + Smart Cover is very large.

~~~
r00fus
Not only that, but it's literally the cutting edge and folks with most
disposable income... ie, a great market even if it the covers aren't a large %
of iPad2 owners.

------
forensic
why is evernote diverging so far from their core product?

there are other flash card apps that already do this way better and i dont see
evernote catching up anytime soon

the peek thing looks cool but it's not a useful gimmick because

1\. you want the ability to use longer questions as well as images and video
in your flashcards

2\. you want to be able to move on to the next question quickly without the
carpel-tunnel implications of physically unfolding this cover

3\. proper flashcard learning requires more complex interaction than this.
Each time a card is finished one needs to indicate how well they learned the
card (among other things) In order to do this people would have to use 2 hands
here.

The evernote marketing team is at the top of their game, as are the UI
designers. But this is just brand cannibalization -- leveraging the evernote
brand to get sales in an unrelated market with an inferior product based on a
gimmick.

~~~
nhangen
Last I checked the app was free. Sounds to me like a product they thought
would be fun to make, so they made it. I dig it.

~~~
forensic
Sounds like you dig it because you're not a serious user of either flash card
apps or EverNote.

~~~
bryne
Today I learned there are people who consider themselves serious users of
flash card apps.

I use Evernote every day and it doesn't annoy me as a diversion from their
core product. The smart Smart Cover integration is cool, at least.

~~~
forensic
if your job involves any amount of memorization, you should be using a flash
card app with spaced repetition

------
dshep
Cute, but flipping the cover back and forth is kind of low-tech right? I think
this is a better product: <http://ankisrs.net/docs/AnkiMobile.html>

------
flurie
It's an interesting use of the Smart Cover, but can it be a serious competitor
to other flash card replacement apps since there's no easy way to report
success or failure by lifting/replacing the cover?

~~~
nateberkopec
Tapping the screen?

Also, is right/wrong reporting really that important? I don't have a way to do
it with paper flashcards...

~~~
steve_b
I find being able to report right/wrong answers makes flashcard programs much
more effective. Once you try a program like Mnemosyne or SuperMemo, you'll
never go back to paper flashcards.

<http://www.supermemo.com/english/ol/sm2.htm>

~~~
brianobush
or anki, the OSS version of supermemo:

<http://ankisrs.net/>

------
janesvilleseo
This is a very clever idea. This 'tactic' could be used with a lot of
different apps too, maybe even a notification bar?

~~~
jvdmeij
That includes your mail, facebook updates, twitter mentions, weather, etc. Had
that idea some time back. Could be cool!

------
kinkora
While the use of app + smart cover is ingenious, what I am more excited about
is that this opens to a possibility of a whole slew of "smart accessories" +
apps that utilises the magnets on the iPad screen.

Which got me thinking...what sort of really clever apps/accessories can one
make that utilises these magnets?

I.e. Perhaps a puzzle game that uses "magnetic chopsticks" to interact with
it. Or maybe an organizer app with "magnetic labels" where when you cover
different parts of the screen, it pulls up a different functionality.

------
daimyoyo
Very creative. I really like this. Well played, sirs.

------
togasystems
Curious, how do the capture the event of the cover lifting?

~~~
xuki
They don't. They capture the active/inactive event.

Try tap the home button and re-open the app.

~~~
jessriedel
Could you elaborate? Is the inactive event triggered when the screen is
completely covered, and any uncovering triggers the active event?

~~~
xuki
There are some cases where these events are triggered, open and close the
Smart Cover is one of them.

You can read the following API documentation for more info:

[http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UIKit/...](http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIApplicationDelegate_Protocol/Reference/Reference.html#//apple_ref/occ/intf/UIApplicationDelegate)

My guess is they do the switch of question when applicationWillResignActive is
being called. Simple as that.

------
pacifika
Please someone create a bluetooth poker app like this! It would be a very
expensive round of poker but imagine people sitting around peeking at their
cards via their ipad. Brilliant.

~~~
illumin8
The problem with a poker app that utilizes this is that you would be showing
your cards to other players. Poker players peek at their cards face down, not
face up like an iPad.

------
droz
This is such a great example of excess.

iPad 2: 500$+ Smart Cover: 40$ Evernote Peek: 0$.

vs.

Pack of index cards: 2$

~~~
qq66
Let me guess, you wear one of those giant trenchcoats in which you keep a film
camera, a TV, a travel Scrabble kit, a rolodex, a piano, a homing pigeon, an
encyclopedia, a barometer, a thermometer, a bubble level, a compass, a
paintbrush and paints, an ocarina, a walkie-talkie, and of course, a pack of
flashcards =)

~~~
corin_
An ocarina? Really?

~~~
jevinskie
There's an app for that.™ <http://ocarina.smule.com/>

~~~
benwyrosdick
now I find myself needing an ocarnia .... thanks

------
deltriggah
All the people bitching against it wished they thought it first. Its a clever
and simple idea. Good work.

------
poloiio
upwards of 50 million in venture capital for 500k in paid users. icloud killed
more than just a few yesterday.

------
AustinEnigmatic
Ingenious I think! A fun way to learn!

------
tealtan
Brilliant.

------
samyzee
awesome guys...really innovative!

