As expected, Google has launched a cloud-based note-taking service called Google Keep. You can sign in with your Google Account using a web browse by visiting drive.google.com/keep, or you can grab the Android app from the Google Play Store.

Google Keep

Keep lets you create a text-based note, start a list, or upload a photo. If you’re using the mobile app you can also record an audio note by hitting the microphone icon — it will record an audio snippet and convert text to speech.

Notes are synchronized with your Google account, so if you take a note in your desktop web browser it will be available on your mobile device, and vice versa. Like most Google apps, everything is auto-saved every few seconds. You never have to hit a save button.

If you’re using the Android app, you can also share links to websites or other content by tapping the Share button in Android. And if you have a lot of notes you can color-code them to help tell them apart and use the search button to find the ones you’re looking for.

Google Keep

Overall, Google Keep seems like a decent service for jotting notes and finding them again later. But it’s kind of simplistic when compared with existing solutions such as Evernote or OneNote… although I guess simplicity could be a selling point.

The bigger question, though, is do you really want to spend the next few years storing notes in Google Keep without a promise that Google will keep the service up and running indefinitely? The company has made a habit of killing off side projects such as Google Reader over the past few years… including an earlier note-taking service called Google Notebook.

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7 replies on “Google Keep note-taking service goes live for web, Android”

  1. It’s free, and it’s not like Google has closed a service without warning. Just be ready to move on when Google closes up shop and it should be fine.

  2. What we really need is a fat client application similar to this that comes in Windows, Android, etc. flavors with a simple, open file format and a thin server of your choosing (WebDAV?) as the host. You can easily back things up or move to a new provider if one decides to shutter its doors. Google’s big problem is all these fat server/Web based “solutions” that let them push ads, track you, lock you in, and then eventually dump you naked by the side of the road.

  3. “… do you really want to spend the next few years storing notes in Google Keep without a promise that Google will keep the service up and running indefinitely?”

    There is no such thing as “indefinitely” in online computer services. If you aren’t backing up your notes locally then you are putting far too much trust in Google Keep, or Evernote or Dropbox.

    Do you have a contingency plan for what to do if your email provider (or RSS provider) fails permanently and completely some day with no advance notice? If not, then you’d better #BoycottEntropy

  4. I think we should all boycott Keep until Google defines proper shutdown policies. Reader was critical to many people, they should have give at least a year’s notice, not 3 months. #BoycottKeep

  5. Google Will not be able to keep my feeds. Why should I trust them when they say they will keep my notes ?

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