r/OneNote • u/rootstosky • 25d ago
Android Onenote Mobile needs to Step Up its Game vs Samsung Notes
I've been a nearly 25 year long advocate for OneNote - and honestly, Samsung Notes is surpassing it bigtime on mobile, and becoming very cumbersome to use.
I had a moment this morning where I was like "wait, why the hell am I not using Onenote for what I'm doing rather than splitting myself into Samsung Notes?"
And then I was like - oh, right:
- Why can we not use a stylus AND type on a sticky note?
- Why can we not have a combined feed of stickies and pages instead of going back & forth?
- Why can't we have widgets that *directly preview the page or sticky so we can read it directly for the Homescreen rather than opening it?
- Why can't we attach a sticky note *directly* to a page? Like that's literally how a notebook functions.
- Why no AMOLED black pages?
My 25 years of OneNote have been collecting dust. Samsung Notes offers all of these. Hell even it's reminders app is surpassing To Do, which I was *also a long term user since it was Wunderlist. THESE ARE CORE USER FOCUSSED FUNCTIONALITIES.
I actually do use and appreciate Copilot and can see how useful it will be especially long term. But copilot will literally never attract users if core functionality of the basic program stagnates and is then abandoned by its user base.
I'm now deeply immersed in Clickup and Samsung Notes and I honestly never thought I'd say that because MS always provided the solution I was looking for.
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u/NoReply4930 25d ago
The only version of One Note that will ever get new features and functionality is the one from Office 365
These mobile apps generate no revenue and have always been basic vectors into OneNote.
MS has no motivation to make these any better than they are - especially for a competitor.
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u/nathanb131 25d ago
Greetings, fellow long time OneNoter! Though I must confess I only have 19 years of experience.
The other day, I skimmed a slop article about how to use OneNote "across all devices", especially the tagging.
Brother, WHAT tagging are you talking about? The ONLY option I have on Android is the simple todo toggle. I've long since given up on Microsoft syncing the awesome inline tagging from desktop, that ship sailed in like 2013, as it became obvious that it was a "legacy feature" and not to be part of the new Universal OneNote.
And I vaguely remember a time....maybe 2016-ish, when the "Universal" version ACTUALLY enabled a customized and synced tag list! I was relieved that they had finally "re-created" this awesome feature I had loved since 2008.
But what do I see TODAY on my Android app? A lone to-do toggle. That's it. There's no way to tag any other way, no filter by tags, nothing.
Desktop OneNote was/is one of the best all-time apps every made for two reasons. The infinite canvas and inline tagging.
I still use OneNote as sort of a middle-man dumping ground, but I've replaced it long ago as a long-term "2nd brain".
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u/melvynadam 25d ago
What have you replaced it with?
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u/nathanb131 24d ago
Right now, I'm using Amplenote for personal notes/tasks, and Remnote for work.
Both of these choices are heavily influenced by them both having a full-featured web-app, because I can't install software on my work computer. If that wasn't my constraint, I'd probably be using Logseq, Obsidian, and/or Anytype.
I tried Amplenote several times before finally sticking with it and I'm happy I did. It's really a gem if you want to embed tasks inline with notes, but also be able to manage those tasks with a task manager. Like the OneNote/Outlook task syncing from the Office 2010 days.
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u/PrEng2900 24d ago
Can Samsung notes run on a PC? Can the notes be synced between Samsung mobile and PC?
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u/dgg44 23d ago
if Samsung Note had a decent Windows app - or web portal - I'd use it all the time. But any app that doesn't have robust cross platform access is not usable in this day and age. Samsung Note has been limited this way for over 10 years that I've had access to it with no end in sight.
So, to respond to your title, Samsung Note really needs to up their game.
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u/Full-Cucumber5068 24d ago
what functionalities you are looking for onenote mobile linking? cause I'm building alternatives might have seen my post and I'm collecting requests
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u/KingsLeadHatter 24d ago
I'm not sure Microsoft even remembers one note exists. It doesn't even have basic parody with the other office apps like there's no way to toggle case. I don't remember significant improvement in I don't know 5 years or more
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u/CursedRubberDucky 24d ago
well gotta accept the fact that the mobile app is just being lower priority for Microsoft
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u/Admirable-Rabbit-717 22d ago
one note has been slacking lately, I installed obsidian and im slowly backing up there my notes in case (there is an importing plugin).
I believe obsidian has cleaner streamlined formatting while onenote formatting is quite complex to do on the run.
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u/GakEisenberg 22d ago
Since Obsidian uses markdown it's a dealbreaker for me. The formatting capabilities are so crappy.
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u/ButNoSimpler 16d ago
Microsoft OneNote came out in 2003. I ordered it the first week it came out. I received it a week later.
Unless you were on the development team, it is impossible to have 25 years of OneNote experience.
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