(Update: Synotes Slate is now available on the App Store)

Over the past months, the entire Syncode team has been busy re-developing Synotes for Apple’s brand new platform, the iPad. We have now submitted version 1.0 to Apple for approval.

Synotes for iPad is a whole new application and will be known in the App Store as “Synotes Slate”. Alongside this name the iPhone & iPod touch version of Synotes will soon be known as “Synotes Mobile”.

Synotes for iPad brings all the sophisticated features from Synotes for iPhone & iPod touch to the iPad. The iPad provides a fantastic note taking device surface that we felt was perfect for Synotes. Below are some screenshots from the new application:

We believe it is important to note why we made the decisions we have. We came to the decision to do a few controversial things, and here is our justification.

Brand new application

We felt, as many other developers have expressed, that a universal application was not for us. The new platform brings many new opportunities, and to fully utilize them with a changed user interface we have decided against a universal binary. It is important to note that the application has been written from scratch for the new platform. This means a better user experience for everyone involved.

UI choices

The biggest difference between designing for the iPad compared to the iPhone is the capacious screen we had to work with. Before even thinking about how Synotes Slate would be designed, we carefully studied and analysed Apple’s standard iPad applications and their design in both function and form. Like many iPad apps, Synotes Slate uses universal iPad UI elements such as a UISplitView and Pop-Over menus to both increase productivity and provide a continuous experience between multiple applications.

Day one release

Despite having no testing devices, we have come to the decision to submit what for the iPad. The reason is simple: we want to be around from day one, and we do not want our users being stuck with a double pixel application. Simply put, we feel this is the best possible way to bring the application to our customers, and we look forward to releasing updates to fix any issues that may arise.