Christina Warren2013-03-25 20:55:34 UTCNow that Google Keep is officially out in the wild, how does Google's note-taking and syncing service compare with longtime favorite Evernote?
From the moment Google Keep was accidentally leaked, it looked like Google was building an Evernote clone. In the wake of the official release, its name, announcement video and aspects of the user interface all evoke a certain Evernote-like quality.
I spent some time over the past few days comparing the latest Evernote mobile app and web app with Google Keep on the web and on Android.
Here's what we found:
Evernote and Google Keep are both services that let users create and store audio notes or voice-to-text dictated notes, memos, checklists and images. Both offer up a way to seamlessly sync this data with the web — and in the case of Evernote — other clients.
The biggest difference is that, at least right now, Evernote is a much, much more mature app.
One of Evernote's hallmark features is the concept of notebooks. Users can put documents, photos, snippets, lists and audio clips in assorted notebooks for access later. Users can also extensively tag any item for easy search later on.
With Google Keep, you can either archive a note or keep it on your home screen, but you can't organize notes into their own categories or separate work spaces.
Moreover, Google Keep does not have a tagging system, so search is limited to what text is contained in the note itself.
Verdict: Evernote is more robust and has more options for organization and tagging.
Google Keep and Evernote each offer a number of different note types. With Evernote, you can create a text note, an audio note (or a speech-to-text message), a photo or an attachment.
Within text notes, users can intersperse other data — including checklists and photos. You can also add audio notes directly to a text note.
With Google Keep, Notes and checklists are different. A checklist is its own type of note, and each new line is another item that can be marked checked or unchecked.
You cannot add checklists to regular notes or vice versa. Images can be added to any other note type.
Verdict: Evernote offers more flexibility for note types.
The Android version's of Google Keep and Evernote both offer widgets that can be configured on the home screen. For users running Android 4.2 "Jelly Bean" or later, the Google Keep widget can also be configured on the lock screen.
The widgets allow easy access to new text notes, new photos and new voice memos. The Evernote widget also allows users to search documents and the Google Keep widget contains a separate "checklist" item.
Both widgets also offer the ability to see recent notes directly on the widget screen. Tapping the note will open it up in a respective app. The Google Keep widget also allows users to scroll through more notes to get a good overview of what is currently not archived.
Verdict: Both Google Keep and Evernote for Android have the same functionality when it comes to creating quick notes.
Evernote for Android includes the option to create either audio notes or speech-to-text notes. With speech to text notes, you simply dictate what you want your note to say and Android's built-in speech-to-text software converts it to text. By default, the audio version of the file is stored alongside the converted text.
Users can also create pure audio notes that can be tagged with other data.
With Google Keep — audio notes work differently depending on what version of Android you're running. If you're running Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," notes are simply converted from speech to text. No audio version of the note is stored on the Google Keep servers.
If you're using Jelly Bean (we only tested this with Android 4.2, but we assume it will also work on Android 4.1), the audio file associated with the voice note is also stored.
What's interesting is that on ICS versions of Google Keep, those audio files are still playable within the Keep app.
Audio files do not play inline on the web version of Google Keep. Instead, you need to download the file (which is stored in the .3Gpp format) first.
Evernote audio files play back within the app, on the web or on the desktop apps for Windows or Mac.
Verdict: The audio experience is slightly better on Evernote but if you are running Android Jelly Bean, the speech-to-text dictation experience is nearly identical.
Both Google Keep and Evernote allow users to create notes based on a photo. Both apps also allow users to add text to that note for more context.
Photo notes are where Evernote really shines. The desktop apps include OCR functionality to turn handwritten notes into searchable text and now the Android app now supports a feature called "page camera" that is designed to help users take notes directly from a notebook. When paired with a special Moleskine with smart stickers, the experience is even better.
Google hasn't integrated any OCR or page-specific capture options for Google Keep. Instead, the camera interface is the same for whatever option is installed by that phone maker. That means that on a Nexus device, you see the stock Google camera interface, and on a phone running a skin, you see whatever interface the phone maker has designated for the camera.
We will say that Google Keep does have a better interface for browsing multiple photos associated with a note, both on its desktop and online.
Verdict: Evernote has better options for taking photos and OCR, but Google Keep has a better browsing interface.
Unless you simply want a way to easily sync basic text and photos with Google Drive, Evernote is a superior service in nearly every way.
Having said that, the fact that Google Keep does integrate with Google Drive is something that heavy Google users may find worthwhile. Furthermore, we can imagine a time when Keep may find it's way into Gmail or other Google apps in a more seamless way.
When it comes to Google Keep versus Evernote, where do you stand? Let us know in the comments.
Homepage image courtesy of Christina Warren, Mashable. Screenshots courtesy of Google and Evernote.
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