/review

Fed up of typing up notes? Inspect-A-Gadget may well hold the answer….

Review of Logitech io2 Digital Pen

If like me you are always looking out for ways of improving your own personal productivity then you may use some kind of time management system. I switched a couple of years ago to using a PDA which synchronised automatically with office and PC diaries. The downside of the switch was I lost the ability to write daily notes in the diary, adding in extra pages for drawings and additional items. Yes, you could use the notes facility on the PDA, but writing on the small screen was not easy, and diagrams were next to impossible. I also missed having the ability to write quick notes to myself that I would see later. I decided to try the Logitech digital writing system, which consists of a special pen that stores everything you write digitally, so it can be saved on your PC. It will even recognise your handwriting and convert it to text, cool!

What you get when you open the box is a smart looking pen, about the size of a board marker, bit bulky but ok to write with. You also get a desk cradle/charger and a pad of special paper that you use to write on. The pen is easy to set up, just install the software and hook up the cradle. The pen sits nicely in the hand, bit like an upmarket fountain pen. Writing is smooth and easy on anypaper, you need to use the special paper though if you want the data to download to your PC. The pen flashes a tiny green light as you write, adding to the cool factor. When you have written on the special paper hook the pen up to the cradle and the download starts automatically, it takes a few seconds. You then have a perfect image of your writing in a digital file on your PC! You can set the software to automatically recognise text if you like but I just have a sheet for each day stored.

Print outs of stored data are almost as good as the originals.

Text recognition on my teenage sons writing was amazingly accurate, but not quite so good on my own scrawl. Drawings are stored accurately, with none of the reformatting problems found on the PDA.

Other items I also considered were a tablet PC (too expensive, can't just quickly write a note, but reduces the number of items to carry round), and a scanner device that scans what you write (no special paper, bit bulky, not so cool looking). Nokia also do a digital pen that may be worth a look also.

If you need to make notes and want to have the security of a digital back up, or need to send copies of what you write back to the office, then a Logitech io2 could well be the answer. It is even possible to design forms that capture written data and automatically send them via a mobile phone to a company database, perfect for that redesigned sales order process.

8/10 overall score

The Logitech IO2 digital writing system costs around £110, an A4 pad is around £4. Not cheap, but not too bad if you compare it to some normal high end writing pens. I'm half way through my second A4 pad, have not had to refill the pen yet, and have never run over the pen battery life or filled up the memory.

Chris Rees – Sigma Pro