An app never works for productivity stuff.

My issue is latency from _idea in head_ to adequately captured somewhere.

A book is usually open in front of me with a pen at the ready. An application.. well it depends, but best-case scenario is that it's in a easy-to-switch-to window and is natural to just get the idea down without jumping through hoops.

As an aside from a sufferer of ADHD, I think Augmented Reality tech would be a killer platform for an in-place TODO/Note/Reminder/assistant.

A small boost to that workflow is the ability to unlock and launch apps in one swipe but that still leaves the power button, optional pin, and never being quite sure what state the app will resume in. Edit: Forgot to include the animations that run slower than my hand can move.

It would be interesting to hear your experiences on this, such as what apps you've tried and had fail for you in terms of productivity?

I would agree with what you've said to a point, but this kind of statement needs expanding.

For my wife and I, we're using Wunderlist (bought my Microsoft in 2015) and we can assign things to each other, star them as important, comment on tasks, leaves notes, set reminders, and so on. It's a... wunderful (har! har!) app and so far it's UI doesn't get in the way. I'm just waiting for the moment we hit the limitations of the free version and have to spend nearly AUD$130/user/year (USD -> AUD) to maintain its place in our household.

I've tried OneNote, WorkFlowy and a few no name Android apps.

Platform issues and friction is far too high. Even just loading up the browser, or context switching to a different tab. Plus... if your work is of mathematical nature, it's an added headache.

I use the simple notes app on my Huawei phone. It's just notepad.exe basically but helps me a lot