Google Keep Gets Frosty Reception

Google Keep, the tech giant’s note-taking application, has officially launched hoping to take on dominant players like Evernote, but the initial reception has been less than positive from some corners.

Keep was released initially on 17 March, before being quickly pulled by Google. The service is hooked up to the cloud-based Google Drive, and comes as an app for Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, and above. There was no word on whether Google would attempt to get the app on iOS or other major mobile operating systems.

“With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what’s important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand,” Google wrote in a blog post.

Google Keep criticism

But the functionality, or lack thereof, compared to competitors has stuck out for Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg.

“Evernote is so far ahead of Keep in terms of… Everything. It’s like saying MSFT Paint is a threat to Photoshop,” Gartenberg tweeted. “Google Keep is a delete for me.”

Other critics have said they would not move to Keep in protest at the way Reader was unceremoniously dumped last week without any user discussion. Users of the Reader RSS feed application have been told it will be withdrawn in July – and they they fear Google will similarly ditch Keep if it does not fall in line with the company strategy.

Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud storage company Box, tweeted: “Google Keep: Save what’s on your mind. Until we shut it down.”

Let us probe your knowledge of Google. Try our quiz!