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Squid is a handwriting note-taking app for Android developed by Steadfast Innovation, LLC, available for $1 per month or $10 per year. While it’s not the cheapest option, you can try it for free before deciding if it suits your needs. This review focuses on using Squid on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8.
Starting a new notebook in Squid is straightforward, but there’s a catch—the app doesn’t offer page-size options right at the start. You need to dig a bit to find them, which can be inconvenient. Once you do find them, though, there’s a decent selection, including A and B sizes. While the variety isn’t vast, it’s enough to find something that works for you. The app also lets you choose page orientation, covering all the basics for setting up a functional notebook.
One standout feature is the infinite page size, a popular option for those who prefer limitless writing space. Squid’s infinite canvas extends downwards and sideways but not upwards. After setting up your notebook, you can give it a name and start using it.
The user interface in Squid is very minimalist, which isn’t necessarily a plus. The developers could spread out the tools across the toolbar, especially considering the ample space on larger tablets. Even on smaller devices, adding a few more icons wouldn’t clutter the screen.
In view-only mode, the interface becomes even more minimal. While you can still see your battery level, it would be nice to also see the time. However, since this mode is mainly for reading, you might not use it frequently.
Squid offers only one pen tool, which might initially seem limiting. With pressure sensitivity turned off, the pen behaves like a ballpoint pen with thick, rounded edges. Turning on pressure sensitivity changes the pen’s behavior, making it more like a brush pen. If you’re not a fan of the ballpoint style, customizing the brush pen can be tricky. The brush pen’s thickness is highly responsive to pressure, which can be challenging for those who prefer a consistent line.
For users who enjoy fountain pens, Squid may disappoint. The S-pen doesn’t work well with Squid’s brush pen, so I’ve found the Onyx Boox Pen Plus to be a better alternative, especially on the Galaxy Tab S8. The pen thickness ranges from 0.1 to 5.0 mm, but adjusting for pressure sensitivity adds complexity. A favorites toolbar for frequently used pen settings would be a welcome addition to save time.
Squid’s color palette includes a range of intensities, but the default colors may not suit everyone. The app doesn’t include a black color, and while it tracks recently used colors, it lacks the option to add custom colors or modify existing ones. The color selection process isn’t user-friendly either, with sliders that are difficult to use and an RGB scale that’s less intuitive than hex codes. A color picker would greatly improve this feature.
The highlighter tool in Squid is similar to the ballpoint pen but with a wider thickness range, from 0.5 to 10 mm. Normally, highlighters are thicker than pens, but in Squid, the difference isn’t as pronounced. The main distinction between the highlighter and pen tools is the opacity setting. At 0%, the highlighter is invisible, while at 100%, it’s opaque, which means it can’t be used effectively as a highlighter at full opacity. The highlighter overlays your ink, which can dim your notes if layered, but overall, it works as expected.
The handwriting experience in Squid is fantastic, which is the app’s best feature. In a note-taking app, the handwriting experience is crucial, with other features being secondary.
The eraser tool offers stroke-based or pixel-based erasing, with a size range of 1 to 10 mm. However, it can’t selectively erase highlights, and there’s no visible setting to enable that feature.
Squid doesn’t have a dedicated zoom tool, but you can zoom directly on the page, with the zoom percentage displayed on-screen. We appreciate this feature, and more developers should consider adding it. Squid offers useful zoom presets to fit the width, height, or screen, and you can manually enter your zoom level up to 1000%. However, as you zoom in more, you may notice imperfections in the ink, and page loading times can slow down. Locking the zoom level is another handy feature, keeping your pages at the desired zoom even after closing the notebook.
You can add photos to your notes either by taking a picture or importing one from your tablet. However, once you start adding a photo, there’s no option to cancel the process, forcing you to select and delete a random image if you change your mind. This is a significant drawback for a seamless digital workflow.
You can crop images into rigid shapes, but freehand cropping would be a nice addition. The rotation feature is limited to 90-degree angles, which may not be ideal for everyone. The app also has face detection for images, though its usefulness is questionable.
Shapes in Squid are basic, limited to straight lines, rectangles, and circles. This selection isn’t enough for comprehensive digital note-taking, as it lacks many regular and irregular shapes, arrows, curves, and auto-fill options. We hope to see these features added in the future.
Text boxes are the best way to add typed text to your handwritten notes. In Squid, the text box disappears when you stop typing. You can change the color and font size of your text, but the app lacks basic formatting and font options, which are important for taking well-organized notes.
The lasso tool in Squid requires you to fully encircle an object to select it, and it must be selected to edit images or shapes. This process could be smoother, allowing selection without needing the lasso tool and enabling finger selection as well as stylus. While the lasso tool isn’t the most user-friendly, it does allow for precise selection, though it takes some getting used to.
When viewing all pages in a notebook, you can only scroll through them. Selecting multiple pages only allows you to delete them. Squid works best with single pages, offering options to duplicate, insert, or delete pages, as well as change page templates. However, you can’t rotate pages, which is essential for digital note-taking. The app also doesn’t recognize outlines or hyperlinks in PDFs, making document navigation difficult. There’s no search tool to find text within documents, which is another limitation.
Most note-taking apps offer at least two levels of organization, but Squid only has one. Combined with the lack of a search tool, finding anything in the app becomes challenging. You can mark notebooks as favorites for easier access, but this isn’t a long-term solution as you create more notes.
Squid shows promise, particularly with its sophisticated handwriting engine. However, for a subscription-based app, it needs more features than it currently offers. You’ll need to find workarounds and think creatively to fully appreciate Squid. As it stands, we wouldn’t recommend it to those who prefer simplicity. We do look forward to seeing how the developers will improve the app in the future.
