Moleskine for iPad: Write at your own risk

Writing is what I do for a living, but also for enjoyment. So I was intrigued when Moleskine for iPad popped up in Apple's App Store on April 15, 2011 (It's available for iPhone, too). The Moleskine notebook is the legendary journal of great writers.

Moleskine uses Ernest Hemingway in its marketing. He's not around to complain or dispute the pocket journal's value to him as a writer. During 1920s, Hemingway frequented several Paris cafés where other artists also used the journal to jot down thoughts, stories and sketches. Of course, this mystique is all marketing now. Use Moleskine, too, and you can be a great writer -- or at least feel part of the select community of artists.

I occasionally carry a Moleskine, not for feeling like Hemingway, but for convenience. The size is just right for my pocket. I rarely put pen to paper, but when I do it's to this journal. So, again, I was intrigued by the idea of a Moleskine app that might offer the allure of the book with digital benefits. My journal entry below captures the essence of my experience assessing Moleskine for iPad's potential.

The app provides a "myThoughts" area for, well, your thoughts. Moleskine journals are sold with lined, graphed or plain paper -- all of which are adjustable in the iPad app. Writers can assign categories to their thoughts, which I see as archaic. Tags are more appropriate today and open up more possibilities for exporting, sharing or syncing content. Writers can map their thoughts and also share them by email, Facebook and Twitter. That's as much social networking as anyone should really need.

In a nice, but not necessary, touch also mimicking the physical product, Moleskine for iPad presents a choice of covers. Text is somewhat customizable, and images can be inserted into thoughts.

The app offers several writing conveniences that fall short of pen and paper or PC journal apps like Microsoft's OneNote. Moleskine for iPad is kind of the worst of both worlds. The writer can input using iPad's keyboard or sketch, which I easily did with my finger. I found sketching to be easier than typing, partly for the reason stated in my journal entry. But I don't see these capabilities as being better than using other journal software. Given the portrait orientation, pen and paper beats the touch keyboard.

But that's not to say I dislike Moleskine for iPad, nor would I pan the app. Two problems I see: It's clearly a version 1 app, and writers like me need to adjust their workflow to accommodate a digital journal. Simple habitual changes could mean everything. Something else: the Moleskine app taps into one of iPad's best benefits. As I explained in June 2010, "iPad offers fresh functionality: Immersion." I described then and reaffirm now that "Immersion is a powerful intoxicant." I found writing to be surprisingly immersive, a quality inherited from the iPad platform but also from the portrait keyboard orientation I gripe about. I had to focus more while writing, and that's good.

Still, using Moleskine for iPad had me wanting more. Typing and sketching are useful, but what about voice? I'd like to be able to record voice memos for when inspiration comes but there's no time or place to type or sketch.

Moleskine for iPad received early mixed reviews at the App Store -- average three stars. "I do like this but there are some changes that need to be made for it to be a really effective app," writes Yisrael Spinoza. "The first is landscape writing: what a curious thing that so many of these would-be journaling apps leave this out in their first iteration." He adds: "Dropbox or equivalent."

Dropbox? How about syncing between Moleskine for iPad and iPhone apps. That seems like a no-brainer to me. I don't want my thoughts spread out here and there but consolidated, like they might be inside a physical Moleskine.

"I'm a real fan of moleskins," writes kaipix, who gave the iPad app three stars. "Own a dozen of them. The concept is there but the UI and speed of the app needs to be greatly improved. It's gotta be made simpler to use and involve less keystrokes."

I didn't find the app to be sluggish, but it was confusing at first. Something else: There are too many clicks required to simply write a new note. Once there, I found writing easy enough and, as stated previously, quite immersive. But the experience is nothing quite like picking up a Moleskine book, popping the cover and beginning to write. The average three-star review is just about right, as the app is. What would Hemingway say if he lived today?