The developer of Notes Plus has submitted version 3.o to the app store for approval. The process takes about 7 days and the download may be ready around January 8, 2012.
The developer states the improvements include the following:
- Smoother handwriting. Better inking. Just a better handwriting experience overall. I put the below screenshot in hi-def so that you can see the inking:
- No more database! All flat files. Better yet, they are SVG so that you can view (and share) them in any web browser (I’ll put up an example soon).
- Full Dropbox sync-ing. That is, at anytime, the dedicated Dropbox folder for Notes Plus (currently predefined as Dropbox/NotesPlus/Data) mirrors exactly the file content of the app.
- PDF import (open-in) and annotation.
PDF Open-in Notes Plus
- Image support.
- Better typed text handling with full-page text canvas. Tap on text mode and start typing without worrying about text box size and location (text box is still supported).
Text Edit Mode
- Better close-up writing experience with more control and space, yet retaining the best feature of auto-advance in current Notes Plus.
Close-up box
- We will have the side navigation popover like before, no shelf (I found this too disruptive).
Navigation Panel
- PDF viewing on browser side while taking notes on notebook side:
Open PDF for viewing or for annotation
Viewing PDF on one screen while taking notes on the other
iPad Notebook 
can I purchase the current version and automatically get the newer version hen available?
According to the NotesPlus blog, the update will be free to those who previously purchased Notes Plus. However, there will be a new hand writing recognition feature available as an in app purchase.
That information is gleaned from this blog post:
Toan Nguyen
Dec 27, 2011 @ 02:10:14
Hi Mike,
Version 3.0 will be a free upgrade to existing users, except for handwriting recognition as an in-app purchase (which won’t cost much by the way). For a list of features, please check out http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3/ and http://notesplusapp.com/version/version-3-beta. Thank you for your support. Happy holidays!
Best regards,
Toan
I have updated to version3, and it is like a totally new and much improved product. Super smooth and very user-friendly. But for some reason I cannot find the Dropbox settings, and where to purchase the handwriting recognition