Review: e-pens Mobile Note Pro

There are some occasions that you want to take notes on paper and be able to have them stored on a PC.  I was sent a digital pen for e-pens so I thought I would give it a try.

The pen enables you to capture hand written notes either as they are written directly into their app or can captured and downloaded later. It works by using a special pen and receiver combined with an application that handles the transfer and text recognition. You clip the receiver on to the top of your paper and then write using the pen as it transmits the pen strokes back to Windows. As well as using it for text input you can use it as a mouse pointer and Windows sees the pen as a tablet input device so you could use it with applications like OneNote, or add text to images. I managed to use it with Powerpoint and add annotations to the document.

As far as taking notes it works very well, you tap the power button the the receiver start taking a note and if your not connected to a PC it will store the note for downloading later. You can store 100 pages of notes before you have to download to the PC and then once they are in the PC you can convert it to text or store it as an image. The text recognition is pretty good and as you can see the example it even managed to convert my bad handwriting with only a couple of mistakes.  If you have a need to take a lot of handwritten note then this is a good tool, the recognition is good and the software while basic works well. The offline feature means you don’t have to have it permanently connected to a PC making it a flexible solution and it’s battery is changed via USB.

It costs around just over £60 and if you have specific need for taking handwritten note then it may be worth it.

This is the text I wrote using the pen:

the pen can be used as a pointer or it can be used to times take notes either offline or online. The animation is USB or blue tooth. You can convert handwritten notes in to text

As well as working with Windows (there is a separate Mac version) it works with Android and Blackberry but I haven’t been able to test that yet.

Details from e-pens:

• Remotely captures handwritten notes, signatures, maps & sketches
• Once captured, plug in and convert handwritten notes to typed text thanks to the FULL MyScript software included
• MyScript learns your handwriting
• Stores 100 full pages of A4 text
• Export or copy into MS Word® and other applications
• Annotate Microsoft Office documents
• Annotate personalised sketches or .jpg pictures then share on Facebook, Flickr etc.
• Small, portable and simple to use
• Use pen as a mouse/stylus
• Tablet PC and inking features with MS Vista™ and Windows 7™
• Use with ordinary paper and ink
• Create a backup of your notes
• Converts in 30 languages
• Email notes quickly
• MSN Messenger compatible, handwrite messages and sketches
• Recycle your used paper

Included in the box:

• 1 x e-pens base unit
• 1 x e-pens digital pen
• 1 x CD (software & manuals)
• 1 x Carry case
• 1 x USB cable
• 2 x Pen batteries
• 1 x Stylus
• 6 x Ink refill
• 1 x Refill extractor
• 1 x Quick start guide

Languages Supported:

• Arabic
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• English (Canada)
• English (UK)
• English (USA)
• Finnish
• French (Canada)
• French (France)
• German
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Hebrew
• Italian
• Japanese
• Kazakh
• Korean
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Portuguese (Portugal)
• Russian
• Spanish (Mexico)
• Spanish (Spain)
• Swedish
• Turkish
• Vietnamese