Whether you need to jot down ideas for your next project or items you want to pick up at the store, it's always good to have something ready for taking notes. Many people carry around a pen and paper in addition to their smartphones -- a pen and paper is just faster than many note-taking solutions. We'll try to beat a physical notepad by looking at the fastest way to take notes on Android.

We're not looking for the most full-featured apps here -- just the quickest ways to whip your phone out of your pocket, write a note, and put the phone away so you can get back to your life.

These apps all offer online sync features, since you'll probably want to access these notes from your computer. An app that only allows you to access them on your phone just isn't convenient enough.

What We're Looking to Beat: The Pen and Paper

Just to get an idea of how fast a note-taking app needs to be to replace the trusty pen and paper in your pocket, we timed writing a note with a simple pen and scrap of paper.

Method: Fumble in pocket for a pen and paper, pull them out, uncap the pen, place the piece of paper against a wall, write "Buy milk later," then cap the pen and return everything to the pocket

Time: 13-16 seconds

Of course, if you had a pen you could click to open and were more accustomed to taking quick notes, this could be faster. We're just trying to get some idea of the relative speed of these methods.

Google Keep Lock-Screen Widget

One of the problems with using your phone for note-taking is the lock screen. Having to pull your phone out of the pocket and key in a passcode adds time and makes the process feel like a drag when you just want to take a quick note. Of course, you can disable the lock screen on Android and go right to your home screen or previous app when you press the power button, if you like.

However, if you use Android 4.2 or later, you can use custom lock-screen widgets instead. Google offers its own note-taking app, Google Keep, which includes a lock-screen widget. This allows you to take notes without even unlocking your phone. For this test, we placed the Google Keep lock-screen widget on the main lock screen.

Process: Take phone out of pocket, press the power button, tap the Google Keep widget, swipe in "Buy milk later" with the Android 4.2 keyboard, and put phone back in pocket.

Time: 7-8 seconds

Your notes can be accessed from your computer via the Google Keep website or Google Keep Chrome app.

handwriting notes on android

Evernote

Okay, we know that more people use Evernote than Google Keep -- Evernote is better if you have a lot of complicated notes you want to keep track of, while Google Keep is better at reducing the friction when taking notes and allowing you to quickly jot down notes.

Still, we wanted to look at just how fast you can take notes with Evernote. Evernote doesn't offer a lock-screen widget, so we installed the Evernote home-screen widget instead.

Process: Take phone out of pocket, press the power button, unlock the phone, tap the Evernote widget, give the note a quick title, swipe in "Buy milk later" with the Android 4.2 keyboard, and put phone back in pocket.

Time: 13-14 seconds

The problem with Evernote is that it can't be on your lock screen, so you have to unlock your phone first. You also have to give each note a separate title, while Google Keep allows you to take a quick note without requiring the title.

If you love Evernote and can live with the few extra seconds or want to set up your phone to skip its lock screen, Evernote is still a good option.

notes on android

Catch Notes

Catch Notes is designed for capturing ideas, so it should be ideal for this type of quick note-taking. Unfortunately, Catch Notes doesn't offer a lock-screen widget, either. Catch does include a home-screen widget, so we used that. We performed the same process we did with Evernote.

Process: Take phone out of pocket, press the power button, unlock the phone, tap the Catch widget, swipe in "Buy milk later" with the Android 4.2 keyboard, and put phone back in pocket.

Time: 9-10 seconds.

Catch performs better than Evernote because the application starts up more quickly, focusing a single text field and not requiring a note title -- it's a much faster way to jot down quick notes. However, no lock-screen widget means it's slower than Google Keep.

You can access your notes from your computer via the Catch website.

notes on android

The Fastest Keyboards

Everyone has their own opinion on which keyboard is the best Android keyboard. How fast you can take notes will depend on how fast you can type with your phone's keyboard. Some of the best keyboards include:

  • Android 4.2 Keyboard: Android 4.2's keyboard now allows you to swipe from letter to letter to type words, and it's quite fast.
  • SwiftKey: SwiftKey's excellent word recognition features allow you to tap in words very quickly without stopping to worry if you're making typos -- SwiftKey is great at noticing and fixing mistakes. The latest version also includes a feature that allows you to swipe over letters to type them.  It's an Android app worth paying for.

You can also dictate notes with Google's voice typing if you have your hands full -- this even works offline if you have Android 4.2 and download the appropriate language support.

Feel free to try them all and decide which one you're most comfortable with.

handwriting notes on android

The Winner

Google Keep wins the competition by far, simply because it lets you quickly take notes without unlocking your phone. If you have your lock screen disabled (or if Evernote, Catch Notes, and other apps start offering lock-screen widgets), the competition will be much more even -- any app with a home-screen widget is pretty quick.

Unfortunately, Evernote will always be a bit behind the others. Evernote just has more options and, by requiring a note title, slows things down. Evernote is better at managing a large number of notes; it's not designed for the quickest idea-capturing possible.

If you go out of your way to set your Android device up for quick note-taking, it can be faster than taking notes with a paper and pen. If you don't set up your phone properly and have to unlock it and fumble through the app drawer each time you want to take a note, it will definitely be slower.

What handwriting notes on Android do you use on your phone? Do you have a faster alternative? Or have you stuck with the trusty old notebook?

Image Credit: Man using phone via Shutterstock