With the release of the developer SDK for iPhone/iPod touch and the upcoming release of an iPhone2 that is actually affordable (and a bit cheaper than Bill’s tablet mac ), I wonder if anyone else would be interested in a standalone Devonthink application.
Since I often work or read in the library or on trains, I frequently have to look up some piece of information from my database, or enter a note. Even with DTPO running as a server, I can only look up the contents of my database (not change it) when I have a network or wireless connection, which is usually absent or forbidden where I work.
It would be exiting to have a Devon app on my mobile device, with a more developed feature set, so that it would be possible to:
have a complete copy of my database on the mobile device
browse the contents of the database (in addition to searching)
“see also” for all notes (DTs killer feature for me)
add new notes to the database on the go (fast notes button)
change existing notes in the database
automatic synching/updating with the database version on the computer
The suggested iPhone app would have core features of DevonThink. Probably this is just science fiction, but still, some of yesterdays Star Trek gadgets have become todays iPhones.
Would this “portable” version of DT (for iPhone / iPodTouch ) be only useful for bibliophiles like me or would you use it as well?
I wouldn’t use it. Mostly because the iPhone/iTouch screen is too small. Secondarily because the iPhone/iTouch doesn’t have the computational horsepower to manipulate a chunk of data that big.
I would like to see a satellite application for capturing notes in a DT-friendly way. The iTouch’s native notes application is really lame.
I agree to the lame notetaking in the current firmware - this could be so easily mended, as several third-party applications have already demonstrated. Luckily, you can still use the notes field in adress book, which will be synced as well. After a few weeks with the iPod touch, I got used to the small screen, especially after turning off the nasty auto-completion via jailbreak.
I am no expert myself and I would love to hear an educated guess about the iPhones horsepowers. My idea was based on the gizmodo article, oops, I mean, of course, that one. (gizmodo is a bit weird sometimes ! )
There are so many graphic-intensive applications already scheduled to appear on this phone. It can store lots of mp3s and fast-forward a huge video file. Is text really so much different?
I agree that there will be some limit on the type and amount of information that can be transfered to the device. But with the upcoming support for multiple databases, it should be possible to have a small database with a number of essential files. (A more elegant solution could give the user some control over the file (types) to transfer - much like in iTunes…)
Besides, I just learned that there is already a database application scheduled for the iPhone:
…by the way: I am well aware that the DT folks are Uber-Busy with DT2.0. at the moment, and I am glad it is now officially announced.
This app is just so useful in my daily work: It just saved me a deadline because I was able to find a few footnotes that were hidden very well, but this is another story…
So this post is not intended as a “request”. I am just curious where DT might be heading and what kind of usage scenarios other users have in mind.
BTW, Eric started a poll about iPhone / smartphone usage in the feedback forum.
), I wonder if anyone else would be interested in a standalone Devonthink application.
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