Whether sitting in a meeting, writing notes in class or just surfing the web on your phone - the go-to mobile app for several years has been Evernote (News - Alert). Evernote has been allowing users to jot quick categorized notes, alongside saving websites and photos, over a cloud based system -since its beta release in 2008. But the company has also been growing over the years and just recently released its newest update, in which handwritten notes within Evernote has become an option.

This latest option means Evernote can be vastly more efficient. Having to type everything using an on-screen keyboard can be time consuming - and when taking notes every second counts. Being given the option to use handwritten notes can increase the speed of note taking as well and will also create a lot more freedom in how one writes their notes.

In class or during presentations, there can often be visuals that also come alongside notes and now they too can be quickly drawn alongside the notes.

Then there are also note takers who do not use traditional formats - for example some use thought webs for their notes. A traditional line by line format would not work well for those who use alternative note formats so now Evernote allows users to tailor their notes however they wish with the handwritten notes option.

In retrospect, Evernote’s decision to add handwriting to their app is not much of a surprise. This handwriting update is preceded by a May 2012 purchase of the extremely popular handwriting app for the iPad, Penultimate. Evernote, with Penultimate at its side, has also been working with top stylus producer, Adonit, to produce the Jot Script Evernote Edition Stylus. The Jot Script features a 1.9mm tip, and is marketed as being an excellent tool for handwriting on tablets. The investment in handwriting software and hardware makes it little surprise that Evernote has made this latest move.