Nebo has given us a couple of updates in the last couple of months, and we’ll be covering them from Nebo 5 and their latest version, Nebo 6, to see what we can do in the app now.
Nebo 6
User Interface
The homepage has dramatically changed, and this looks awesome. I love how our folders are looking, smaller, modern, and neatly packed. We can even change our notebook thumbnails to lists, and they look much better than thumbnails. This is awesome! Nebo 6 is exactly what you’d expect from a handwriting note-taking app in 2024. I never expected the app to have this kind of look because it is very different from other apps in this niche, but this looks amazing! It just makes you want to use the app. Well done, Nebo team!
Boards
We could create notebooks and documents before, but now we have a board option. I wonder what that’s about. Page colour and templates we’ve always had. So far, it doesn’t feel very different; it feels like they just moved some features we already had to a different part of the app. See what I mean? A board is an infinite canvas? Let’s see how that differs with a notebook. So, the infinite canvas is now called a board: a fitting name, I’d say!
Notebooks
Notebooks now look like what we have in every other handwriting note-taking app. You get a few page size options, which is much better than not having any. We still look forward to more size options in the future. You also get orientation and colours for your notebook cover. I would, obviously, want an option to turn it off. But, in due time, I suppose. You still have page colours and patterns, and of course, language.
I was expecting some line-spacing options, but we don’t have those. I was curious to see how that would work out. So, it seems we’re using the zooming feature to adjust our line spacing. It works for an infinite canvas. Not sure how well that would work for fixed pages. Just by looking at it, even before I counted the squares in a single line, it’s a huge A4 page. It’s unnatural, and just doesn’t feel right.
We’re limited to a single template, and you start seeing the problem with not having line spacing options. Firstly, without a zoom percentage display, I don’t know how zoomed in I was on the square paper. Secondly, the app itself has different spacing for the two templates. The line spacing is very different from the square one. At least dotted and square paper seem to be using the same scale.
The fixed page size is superimposed on an infinite canvas, and that probably contributes to the terrible page scrolling we currently have. I love that the toolbar remains consistent throughout the different modes in the app. It’s one of the best things about Nebo. So you can do pretty much everything you can do in Nebo. I wish we had the option to convert all the handwriting on the page to text. That is a feature that probably only Nebo can bring to the handwriting note-taking world. We do have the normal OCR engine that works with your lasso tool, and of course, it is very accurate. The notebook is a very basic one at this point, but we’re seeing Nebo’s steps towards becoming a full handwriting note-taking app with a lot more to offer than most apps on the market currently. Fun times, I say!
Study space
The other feature that caught my eye was the new study space we have in the app. Nebo can create a study set for you in seconds. From both handwritten and converted notes. It generated a few inaccurate responses, like this calcium question, and it’s here that we need some way to correct that, at least. This is only 13 questions, imagine if this was for longer content that you don’t really know. That is the challenge with AI, is it not? It would help if the app started supporting multiple instances. That could be a way to easily reference your notes on the side. It’s still work in progress.
But in some apps where you have to manually create study sets from your notes, Nebo 6 does it for you with any extra work on your part. That is very useful AI! You can create them from pretty much any type of notebook in the app, and that is just fantastic. If you’re using Nebo, let us know if you’ve found the study sets useful. With all the AI that is being thrown in our faces, occasionally we find some that is useful and Nebo, the MyScript company, has a history of creating useful AI tools. I am happy that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
NeboAI
Smart highlighting is still a hit and miss, though. One thing I love about the AI in Nebo is that it doesn’t cost us any extra. We don’t have to buy credits, and the developers haven’t switched to a subscription model. Yet, the app offers one of the most useful and functional AI tools you can use. You’ve got to love Nebo, right?
Nebo 5
PDF interactions
The updates in Nebo 5 are not nearly as exciting but they are some significant ones. When your PDF pages have loaded, and they seem to take a while, you can select the text in your PDF. At the moment, it is not selecting exactly what you want. But when you get it to work, you have AI at your fingertips to summarise, explain, chat, or quiz you about it. Nebo developers should bring support for multiple instances. It is the only feature that’s limiting the AI potential in the app. What do you guys think about that? And just when I was thinking the AI is brilliant it goes and asks me random questions that have nothing to do with my selected text.
Minor updates
We now have a recycle bin. It doesn’t say how long it keeps your documents for, so it’s probably safe to assume that it doesn’t delete them at all. That’s usually the case if you’re not warned about it. I had to try my luck with the improved highlighter for PDFs; it’s quite decent. I like it. Nebo has one of the best highlighters you can use in a note-taking app. Who else loves it?! Lastly, we now have a rectangular lasso tool. Which obviously doesn’t work on PDFs, but works on your notes in the app. It’ll also work on your annotations on the PDF, of course.
Verdict
I love that Nebo is making significant strides towards becoming a contender for our traditional handwriting note-taking apps. That will just open up a lot of possibilities for digital note-taking that we currently don’t have and can only dream of. I really can’t wait to see more updates from Nebo. Which of these updates do you like the most? Do tell.
