Notes Plus – $6
I’ve used Noterize, Note Taker HD, GoodReader, Adobe Ideas, and Evernote for note-taking. I feel like each of these apps do their own thing well, whether its audio recording, intuitive zooming, handwriting autozoom, or file/important/export management, but none of them had the whole package. I have to say Notes Plus has combined all the best features of these apps into an outstanding experience that is well worth the $6. I generally use it to take free-form notes from scratch, not necessarily importing PDFs (a forthcoming feature).
The first thing you’ll notice is its polished, attractive, and intuitive UI that is consistent with Apple products (eg Pages). The problem with the iPad as a note-taking tool is it takes awhile to switch between different tools, it’s difficult to pan/zoom while writing, and a stylus or your finger will sometimes make ugly/awkward strokes. The features of this App have gone a long way to ameliorate these shortcomings – shape-auto-detect, circle to select (so you can move shapes you’re drawn!), voice recording that is linked to each page, zoom for closeup handwriting, cross out delete, stroke auto-smoothing. Check out the video in the link below. I like how the exported notes contain searchable text when loaded on your computer, rather then just becoming a static image.
Lastly, the developer is very responsive and open. He responded to an inquiry within 24 hours and has listed forthcoming features w/ ETA on his website.