Keynote

CNET Editors' review

by: Jason Parker on March 09, 2012

Keynote for iOS lets you create presentations using only a touch screen, your content, and a huge number of ways to present your ideas. Like the other iWork for iOS apps, Apple has made it easy to get started using Keynote with a Getting Started presentation that shows you how to use each of the program's features.

The touch-screen interface is very intuitive with slide navigation on the left side of the interface, and close-ups of the slides in your main working area. In the left navigation you can add, delete, duplicate, or reorder slides, all with only a few taps of your finger. While the iPhone's screen size is somewhat limiting, you can use all the same features as the iPad version.

Working with objects is very easy, with several ways to tweak the style of objects. You start by tapping the insert button, select a shape, image, video, or chart, make your edits, then place the object exactly where you want. Keynote offers onscreen guides to help you line up your content for the best possible look. Once your object is placed, you can easily move it around by dragging your finger, resize it by dragging handles at the corners, or rotate the object using two fingers and turning it on the touch screen. You also can change the style of each object to suit your specific needs by tapping on it and selecting the "i" button at the top. We were immediately impressed with the ability to change object styles easily, making it much less of a struggle to match up good-looking content for our presentations.

Many business presentations involve charts and animations, and with Keynote, they are easy to create and change, with the program doing most of the work. You can add a chart by using the insert button and selecting between bar graphs, pie charts, tables, and many more. Once your chart is onscreen, you can double tap it to edit the data and create headings for your information.

Creating animations in Keynote is a snap, mostly because the program does all the heavy lifting for you with more than 40 slide transitions and build animations. Where other programs require that you use timelines and other complicated tools, Keynote makes it easy with only a couple of actions. Just choose the object you want to animate, hit the animate button in the top toolbar, and Keynote lets you choose from a number of effects to bring more pop to your presentation. From there, you can view your full presentation to see the animation or just hit play to see it in the current slide.

In the latest version released alongside the the new iPad, you now have the ability to add 3D graphs and charts that can be rotated once they're placed in your presentation. The new version also includes several new animation and transition options to add pizazz to your presentations.

When your presentation is finished, you can share your work on iWork.com, send it through e-mail, print using AirPrint, or export to PDF or the Keynote format. Overall, Keynote is a fun and easy way to create presentations on the go. With several themed templates to choose from, easy ordering of slides, newly added Keynote Remote support, and dead-simple animations, just about anyone can pick up Keynote and make a slick-looking presentation.