Logitech io Personal Digital Pen Review
The Poor Man's Tablet PC?November 21, 2002
By Eric Grevstad
The Poor Man's Tablet PC?
Usually we put our Pros and Cons summary or bullet points at the end of a review, and in that order. But with the Logitech io Personal Digital Pen, we're tempted to cut to the chase:
Cons:
- Expensive, and requires pricey special paper
- Pen is uncomfortably bulky
- Strictly for saving or sending notes or sketches as bitmaps; next to no handwriting recognition
Pros:
- It really works
What is the io? It's a $199 ballpoint pen that works like a cross between a scanner and an optical mouse -- an optical sensor below the tip stores your handwriting or doodling by capturing some 50 images per second, tracking the pen's motion across special paper printed with a pattern of tiny dots.
When you're through taking notes -- up to 25 pages on a battery charge -- you put the pen into its desktop holder, a USB cradle that both recharges the io's battery and downloads the handwritten pages to your PC. There, you can save them as bitmap images, import them into Microsoft Word documents, or send them as (attached or embedded graphics in) e-mail messages. A very limited handwriting-recognition function -- printed capitals only, and only in special fields or boxes within the special paper -- lets you specify an e-mail's addressee and subject or a Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes calendar or to-do item.
The idea is that instead of carrying a notebook computer, you need carry only a paper notebook and the io pen; scribble notes or draw diagrams or maps as you'd normally do; and then enjoy the ability to store and share your jottings when back at your PC -- whether adding your signature to a letter, or e-mailing notes from a meeting to a coworker who couldn't attend.
It's tempting to view the io as a much cheaper alternative to Microsoft and partners' just-shipped Tablet PCs, which let you save and sort through notes scrawled on a computer screen. Actually, it's better seen as a successor to the Cross pen company's 1998 CrossPad, which paired a regular legal pad with a radio-transmitter pen and -receiver clipboard, or a time-saving alternative to feeding handwritten pages into a scanner. It's quite limited, and a bit awkward, but also genuinely convenient.
Let's deal with the awkward parts first: The pen is heftier (1.9 ounces with cap) and much bigger than a regular pen or highlighter; it looms out of a shirt pocket, and feels at first like writing with a bratwurst or maybe a small flashlight. With a little practice, though, it becomes a bearable, average-quality medium blue ballpoint (five refills are in the box, though you may have to hunt for or special-order subsequent ones in its ISO 12757-1 size).
While you can use the pen as a pen on regular paper, it can't save your writing unless you stick with the special, fine-dot-printed "digital paper" invented by the io's creator, Sweden's Anovo AB. Logitech supplies a starter pack of a Mead/Cambridge 80-page (40-sheet) ruled notebook and 3M Post-It notes. But when they're used up, another 160-page notebook will set you back a sticker-shocking $10; a 50-pack of Post-Its is $6. (FranklinCovey has also pledged to offer io-compatible refills for its personal planners.)
| Next: Easy Import, Hazy Recognition » |
Skip To Page
|
|
Tools:
|
|
Add hardwarecentral.com to your favorites
Add hardwarecentral.com to your browser search box IE 7 |  Firefox 2.0 | Firefox 1.5.x
|
|
Promotional Pens - Custom Printed Professional Personalized Pens from Amsterdam Printing Fine Engraved and Personalized Pens - $50 And Up |
