Review: Shared Paper Lite

A new Pad app was released a few days ago that really makes the iPad a dazzling business tool. This new app is called Shared Paper Lite and is wonderful for making and sharing presentations. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that the iPad interface begs to be used in presentations. Steve Jobs knew that the iPad tablet would be in the classroom and the boardroom from the early design days. There are plenty of presentation style apps already on the app store but Shared Paper Lite really caught our eye for a number of reasons. One key difference is that this iPad app is more than a slide viewer presentation tool it is an editor also.

We think this app is going to have mass appeal because there is demand for an iPad app than can do some heavy lifting when making a presentation. I have a friend who is a big ticket corporate sales rep who loves his iPad and takes it on all the sales calls. However, he never fully integrates the iPad into his presentations because everything he needs is in multiple apps and on a legal pad. I showed Shared Paper Lite to him and he immediately saw the potential of using this app for a large part of his presentation. (screenshot and video demo after break) 

We really like the designers concept of a zoomable canvas to write and draw on during presentations and meetings. A scale at the top of your iPad screen shows where you are in the expandable canvas of this app. They’ve done a nice job of including all the basic drawing tools with an easy interface to navigate with. This iPad app also allows you to add text, change colors, brush sizes, select and move and rotate any object as needed and even import and embed images.

But what I think is the silver bullet of this top iPad app is the ability to easily collaborate on the drawing canvas. With the use of a wifi connection you can share your thoughts easily like a fully interactive whiteboard between connected iPads. This facilitates better communication and inspires creativity as others can express their ideas simultaneously on a different iPad tablet using the same canvas.

Easily convert your drawing canvas into a presentation with a few taps to select preset views of your canvas and display it as a slideshow. We really liked the transition options of the slideshow that can be clean fades, or fly-through zooms from one place on the canvas to the next. They’ve also integrated Airplay so you can beam this to a TV or large monitor.

At the end of your presentation you can export your work as a PDF document or as an image file. This is one of the best iPad app business tools we’ve seen lately. We think this developer is tracking down a golden road of opportunity as this iPad app expands.

Shared Paper Lite is Free and the full paid version of Shared Paper is on sale for $4.99 (regular $6.99) on the app store. In Shared Paper Lite, drawings are limited to 25 objects and 3 active documents. The free version is a great way to give it a test drive before jumping into the full version. Which we predict you will.

 


J. Ron Clendenin
 

Been an iPad user from day one of its release. Apple has been innovative from the beginning and now the rest of the world is getting on board. It's great to be able to spread the word about one of their mobile devices.

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