I recently reviewed a few recording and note-taking apps, but none have tried to be so all inclusive as YouNote. This little app lets you take note of the world around you in five different ways, which, if you ask me, is pretty impressive. Especially for a free app.

You can take standard notes, first of all. Just type in the information you want to save. Then, you can add tags to it to help keep your notes organized. You can also change the font color and add contacts to the note. 

This same structure applies to all of the note-taking functions. You can take a picture of something and file it away as a note and you can record an audio clip to save for later. However, when I attempted to record audio nothing happened. I could not hear a thing during playback. 

There’s also a freehand tool that lets you scribble and jot notes with your finger tip. There’s a straight-line tool, a shape tool and an eraser. Think Microsoft Paint but with touch. This is a fun feature but I don’t know how practical it is. Perhaps when you want to demonstrate to friends that you really can draw the Prince symbol? I don’t know. 

Lastly, there’s a feature that lets you bookmark a website and add notes to it for future reference. All in all, this is a pretty good way to keep track of information from many different sources. It’s pretty easy to navigate and you can adjust how the notes are organized (alphabetically, by date or none) for easier access.

I was pretty impressed by this app, I have to say. But the lack of audio on the audio recording feature is no doubt a bug. Plus, the app crashed quite a bit, requiring a phone reboot. Is YouNote perfect? Not hardly. But is it a solid start? You bet.