Evernote
's mission
is to help individuals and groups remember everything, turn ideas into
action, and work effortlessly together. Their Android app gives people the tools
they need to get organized, take and save notes, and collaborate with others.
Whenever Evernote sees a major new platform on the horizon, they set a goal to
make sure Evernote is available from day one! Seeing the opportunity with Google
Play available on ChromeOS, they decided to bring their app to the platform.
What they did
Evernote focuses on making one app available on multiple platforms and form
factors, so they used ChromeOS as an opportunity to improve the development
processes for Evernote as a whole. They spent some time making their code more
modular to make the Evernote app not only great on mobile devices but also on
larger form factors. There were specific features that Evernote took advantage
of on ChromeOS.
Evernote translates handwriting into text, and were very excited to use the new
low latency stylus API
to quickly implement touchscreen handwriting.
Google's API renders strokes very quickly by allowing apps to bypass parts of
the OS and draw directly to the display. The user experiences no latency, so it
feels like they're actually drawing on paper. According to Evernote, people
can't stop drawing because it's so fast, natural and smooth. It even pushed the
Evernote team to level up on what their handwriting feature could be capable of
doing.
Since the keyboard experience on ChromeOS is different than a mobile keyboard
experience, the team added keyboard shortcuts so people could quickly make a
note. They also had to carefully consider how they wanted their toolbar to work
on both mobile form factors and the larger Chromebook form factor, so they made
some adjustments to make it more modular going forward. Additionally, they made
sure the navigation supported their app hierarchy without the presence of a Back
button.
Evernote also had fun thinking through the opportunity a touchscreen provided.
May Allen, product manager of Evernote, commented:
“This was such an interesting project because it wasn't just about optimizing
for the keyboard, it was optimizing for the touchscreen. That is what is so
awesome about Chromebook is it has both of those physical properties.”
Results
Evernote has received positive feedback from users about their ChromeOS
experience, and finds they're spending more time on the platform than the
average app user. The average Evernote user is spending 3x more time on large
screen devices' and 4x more time when using the Google Pixelbook.
Get started
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