This year, I've posted formal reviews of GoodNotes, PDF Expert, and GoodReader. I've also written numerous other times this year about all three apps, and because GoodNotes has been a sponsor of iPhone J.D. this year, I've mentioned that app even more. Yesterday, I received a question from a Philadelphia attorney that I have been asked and have answered numerous times when I have talked to other attorneys in person but that I don't remember addressing on iPhone J.D.: why should attorneys consider using both GoodNotes and an app such as PDF Expert or GoodReader that is made for working with PDF files? After all, any of these apps can be used to read and annotate a PDF file. It's a good question, but for me, the apps serve very different purposes.
GoodNotes is an app that I primarily use to replace a legal pad. I want a blank page with lines so that I can write pages of handwritten notes. Sometimes I will insert a PDF document into the notes, such as the agenda for a meeting, and I will annotate that document, but the document becomes part of a notebook. The emphasis is on the handwriting. When I get to the end of my notebook, I swipe from right to left to add another blank page to the notebook to do even more handwriting.
On the other hand, if my focus is on the document, I use an app like PDF Expert or GoodReader. I use folders and sub-folders to organize documents. I will often add some handwriting to annotate the document, and I will also highlight or underline text, but again the focus is on a document that already has words on it, such as a brief of my opponent. Sometimes I will split up a larger PDF file into smaller segments, and sometimes I will merge smaller PDF files into a single larger document, but I never add a blank page to a document.
Every once in a while, I find myself between those two paradigms. I am working with a document, which would normally mean that I want to use PDF Expert, but I know that I will be adding a lot of handwritten annotations to the document. In these circumstances, I will often open up a PDF file in GoodNotes instead of an app like PDF Expert or GoodReader. I do this because GoodNotes is a better app when I will be doing a lot of handwriting. For example, it is faster to switch between a pen tool and an eraser tool in GoodNotes. If I start writing and need more space, GoodNotes lets me select handwriting with the lasso tool and move it to a different location on the page. Everything about handwriting is just a little better in GoodNotes. Thus, for example, if an associate sends me a first draft of a document and I plan to make edits in handwriting instead of redline edits in Word, I will often open the draft of the document (in PDF format) in GoodNotes and make all of the edits in GoodNotes and then export the document to an email when I am finished.
On the other hand, even if I will be making lots of handwritten edits to a document, if that document is going to be stored and organized along with other documents, I will virtually always use PDF Expert. Now that GoodNotes has extensive support for folders, I suppose that one could organize documents into folders within GoodNotes, but the paradigm of GoodNotes is primarily focused on a notebook with lots of different pages in it, not working with a series of documents. Moreover, unlike GoodNotes, apps like PDF Expert and GoodReader can sync folders of documents to a cloud service like Dropbox, making it easy to share documents between your computer and your iPad.
As all of these apps have matured over time, there is enough crossover in features that I suppose it would be possible to just use one of these apps for all of your needs. However, I prefer to use the best tool available for each task. When my emphasis is going to be on writing, GoodNotes is the best tool for me. When my emphasis is going to be on working with one or more documents, PDF Expert (or GoodReader) is the app that I want to use.
Click here to get PDF Expert by Readdle (free): 
Click here to get GoodReader ($5.99):
Click here to get GoodNotes 5 ($7.99):
