Bamboo Paper follows the excellent Penultimate in its simple approach. You get little more than a sheet of virtual paper on which to scrawl your doodles and letters. Ink choice is limited to six colors, nib thicknesses to just three. You also get an eraser, undo and redo and a bookmark function. This last appears to do little more than put a marker in the corner of the page.
And that's about it. You only get one notebook, and–compared to Penultimate– the range of paper styles is very limited. But Bamboo Paper has it where it counts: the handwriting engine.
Few apps come close to Penultimate's ink engine (NoteShelf is one notable exception). But Wacom's might actually be better. The feel of the “ink” appearing under your stylus tip as you write is very natural, and if you flick the tip (or your finger) quickly, the line feathers to nothing, just as it would with a felt-tip pen or a brush.
Wacom also seems to have cracked the problem of the wayward wrist. The iPad's multi-touch screen is great until it mistakes your wrist, or at least the meat of your little finger and hand, as a writing device.
The usual way around this is for an app to provide a “wrist-guard” which you pull up to electronically mask off an area of the screen. Bamboo Paper doesn't do this, but it doesn't get confused, either. This is particularly ironic as my actual Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch tablet fails so completely in this regard that I can't use it.
Two other features that Penultimate lacks are pinch-to-zoom (and the related drag with two fingers to pan), and a long press to bring up the pen controls under your finger.
You'll have to decide which is best for you. I have moved onto NoteShelf for its close-up abilities, but Bamboo Paper might be a candidate to replace it.
Bamboo Paper [iTunes]
