What is a digital pen? Overview

For a student sitting at a lecture by an enthusiastic chemistry professor, or a sales person present at an important business presentation, the ability to record is an essential skill. Detailed notes will allow you to constantly return to important information in order to later extract useful information from it. The recording process evolved along with the development of technology to allow the user to control access, archive, distribute and edit important information. Digital handles allow you to take notes in situations where laptops and tablets are simply powerless.

Where is the electronic pen useful?

The digital pen is almost as inconspicuous as a conventional ballpoint pen. It uses real ink, and it is written on real paper. The only difference between a digital pen and a pen in a breast pocket is a recording of pen movements. Each word, sketch or scrawl is converted into a sequence of ones and zeros.

Many people for records prefer to use laptops and tablets, because the information on them can be easily edited, saved and shared. However, these devices greatly distract the user, so many enterprises and educational institutions prohibit them in meetings and lectures. The best digital pens, such as Livescribe 3 Smartpen, Sky WiFi Smartpen and Neo Smartpen N2, allow you to make exhaustive notes without distraction on the Internet or clicking the keyboard.

Digital pen: overview of the selection parameters

The electronic pen captures its own movements in several ways. The best models use technology developed by Anoto Group. To trace microdots printed on paper, a miniature camera is placed near the tip of the gadget. However, most digital pens use a positioning device that attaches to a sheet of paper and tracks the sensor on the tip of the pen while it is moving on paper, allowing you to write on any surface.

After creating a digital page and downloading it to your computer, you need an intuitive application that will allow you to manage archiving, searching, sharing and editing notes. The best electronic pens give the most complete reflection of what is written.

Below are some of the criteria that should be considered when choosing a digital pen.

Performance

The handle, whether it is digital or conventional, should be comfortable. Its size and weight can affect how long it will be possible to take notes without fatigue of the hands. Unfortunately, this means that gadgets with the largest number of functions simultaneously have large sizes, because the technologies are located inside. Many electronic pens are not much larger than conventional ballpoint pens, but they lack the functions that allow you to make the most comprehensive recordings.

After the comfort comes accuracy. It makes no sense to complicate the experience of writing with cameras and position sensors if the digital image of notes does not correspond to the physical image. The error in determining the position of most handles is in the range 0.3-0.7 mm of the spatial difference in comparison with the actual strokes. However, the accuracy of positioning devices can change as the gadget moves during writing, or when the finger interferes with the sensor.

After filling out the paper page and moving on to the next one, you also need to flip through the electronic one. A clever digital pen should ensure their smooth shifting, so as not to end up with one confused image consisting of several.

Also, the best models of electronic pens provide audio recording, synchronizing it with notes to create their digital version, which includes audio recording. In addition, you should evaluate battery life and simple synchronization tools, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. All this is important for the performance of the digital pen, because nobody will like it if its pen stops working in the middle of the note-taking process. Also, wireless synchronization allows you to exchange data with a wide range of devices in real time.

Feature set

The characteristics of these electronic devices can vary considerably. Some of them, in fact, are a computer built into the pen on which you can download applications, while others are nothing more than a fancy pen. In new models priority features are sensitivity to pressure, several layers of depth and ease of synchronization with programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

If the digital pen includes OCR software to convert handwriting to print, the conversion should be reasonably accurate. Most devices, in addition to their own PC software, are linked to MyScript Notes. This application supports the work with several dozens of languages.

Each digital pen has some kind of internal hard drive that stores data before it is downloaded to the computer. Its capacity varies from 50 to several thousand electronic pages. The best digital pens also count the remaining memory in the audio clock.

Ease of use

Increasing the technological saturation of electronic devices, in fact, makes them more difficult to use, so the increase in functionality should outweigh any complications associated with the new technology.

Also, do not choose a pen that will make the user feel the need to re-learn the skills mastered in the early years of primary school, or requiring long-term training to work effectively.

Installing and downloading the software should be simple. Manufacturers must provide detailed instructions so that you can quickly start using the device. In addition, the gadget should include accessories necessary to provide basic functionality. The best digital pens have a lot of add-ons, which can be purchased separately, if the user has become an expert who understands all the features of the device.

Help and Support

Manufacturers should provide such a level of assistance and support for the digital pen to make it as user friendly as possible. Required the availability of training materials, online forums, answers to frequently asked questions, technical support and contact information. In addition, the manufacturer must provide an opportunity to purchase ink for refilling cartridges, paper (if required) and other accessories.

A digital pen is a great tool for recording and sketching in situations where the use of a laptop or tablet is limited, because they are less attractive during class and business meetings. In addition, the compactness of such devices makes them an excellent tool for collecting information in situations that would be difficult or impossible for laptops or tablets.

Livescribe 3 Smartpen

This is a digital pen, the reviews about which are the most positive. It uses amazing technology. A tiny camera inside the device records the motion of the tip of the pen relative to a special paper with points on it. Notes via Bluetooth are broadcast to a nearby iPad or iPhone, which has a free Livescribd application installed. Handwritten notes are translated into text, sections of which are marked with keywords.

But that is not all. The digital pen Livescribe 3 Smartpen can also record conversations or lectures. And if you need to return to a specific section of audio, you can to check that the correct word is written, just touch the stylus at the opposite end of the pen in your notes of this word. Audio recording will be played from the specified point.

To listen to the recording, except for a special notebook, you have to bring an iPad or iPhone. But from other troubles that were encountered in earlier models, in the fourth version of the device it was finally possible to get rid of. The glossy black handle is well balanced and easy to use. Special paper is widely available, has the dimensions of a magazine, a notebook and even a sticker and is not much more expensive than usual.

The handle weighs 34 g, has 86 mm in length and 15 mm in diameter. The battery life is 14 hours. The capacity of the recorder is 20,000 pages. The price of the digital pen Livescribe 3 Smartpen - 189 US dollars.

Electronic pen Atary Digital Pen

The digital pen Atary Digital Pen allows you to store up to 100 pages of A4 text in the memory, runs on one battery charge up to 10 hours, does not require the use of special paper, providing an accuracy of 120 dpi. The pen can be used instead of a stylus, a PC mouse and a tablet for graphics applications.

The attached program MyScript Notes supports 85 languages, including Russian, recognizes isolated, handwritten printed and merged letters. It allows you to recognize schemes, tables and geometric shapes, export documents to word processors, graphic editors and to e-mail.

Digital pen 3Q DP103

This device is compatible with phones and tablets running on all popular platforms equipped with a Bluetooth module. With a weight of 18.6 g, 142 mm in length and 14 mm in diameter, the handle allows you to store up to 100 pages of text and provides up to 90 hours of continuous work. Works in conjunction with a receiver remote from the electronic pen for a distance of not more than 1 m. It is equipped with a base unit, a USB cable, a writing rod, a CD with software and a short user manual.