IOGEAR Digital Scribe (GPEN100C)

List Price: $64.99 Discount Price: $38.46

Features:

• Capture all your information in one place : Utilize Microsoft's OneNote to capture handwriten notes or typed text, draw diagrams and pictures
• Take advantage of enhancements and new features in OneNote 2007: OneNote 2007 offers improved ink performance, customizable pens, support for the scratch-out gesture and a better eraser, using ink is easier than ever
• Organize notes the way you prefer: Mix handwritten notes, typed text and graphics on the same page easily
• Work more naturally and comfortably: Easily handwrite notes or draw a diagram at the library, during a lecture, or while on the goae then search or convert those notes to text later
• Find the information you need quickly: You can quickly search across all of your handwritten notes or typed text in OneNote 2007

Customer Reviews:

beware software bait and switch [Posted on 2007-09-07]
the radio signaled pen never work well and also locked you to the PC.
included penscript software is a lite version with limited function--no correction option and very inaccurate recognition with 50% mistake in changing handwriting to text. Upgrade to full version costs around $30 which is 1/2 price of the cost of pen!!
the pen tip can easily get stuck.
Here is my main objection, why get a digital pen when it requires the users to tie to the PC?

Great addition to your computer [Posted on 2007-09-07]
This is from someone who owns the product unlike the other review...
From reading the other review, it doesn't seem like he has actually used the pen?? I don't understand why he would have given a bad review?
I have had my Digital Scribe for about a week or so and the unit actually works pretty well.
This picture is wrong though. It is actually a small base that clips onto your paper from the top or angled on the sides (pretty accurate). I have used the unit to write papers because we are required to have a hand written rough draft and then transfer it into word. I can do both at the same time where all my friends have to write their paper and then type it all back into word, saves me a bunch of time.
The software that comes with it is a lite version, but it serves its purpose very well, I can write and translate the text, which is what I bought it for. Its amazing how accurate the pen picks up my writing as well, I have chicken scratch for writing and it does my writing justice, and I don't mind having to correct a word here and there it beats having to type it all out again. So if you are considering this product, im giving it my stamp of approval. IT WORKS and it SAVES me a WHOLE BUNCH OF TIME.

p.s. I wrote thin with my pen, converted it into word and then copied it over into the review.

Not What You Might Expect [Posted on 2007-09-15]
For those who want the skinny up front, here's the deal:
- This device is _NOT_ capable of working without being attached to a PC
- Think of this like a poor-man's digital tablet without the features - but you get to keep the handwritten bit as ink on paper
- The version of the software provided doesn't do much... You need to upgrade or use other products if you want OCR
- If you want true portability from IOGEAR, the GPEN200N is supposed to work... but I've subsequently decided to purchase a tablet from Aiptek, which I _know_ will work

The full story below...
-----------------------

When I first purchased the IOGEAR digital scribe I was expecting to receive a portable, wireless, tablet-emulation device - something with which I could take notes on the go and upload to my computer later. I've owned a tablet device in the past and it was great, but a bit bulky - so I was happy to see a tiny, portable device which professed to deliver the same functionality.

HOWEVER... It was not to be... The device which was described and listed on this page was not what ended up getting shipped. The description was for the GPEN200N, the pictures for the older model of the GPEN100C (note: after submitting a comment to Amazon this has now been fixed...). What got shipped? The GPEN100C.

Basically you get two bits of hardware: a USB-connected receiver and a transmitter pen. The receiver (which looks a little like a tiny console game controller) must be connected to a PC to function using the retractable USB zip-cord cable (about 2' maximum extension). The main part of the unit is sat on the top of your pad of paper (or piece of paper) and will capture the information transmitted by the digital pen.

Included with the package is the drivers for the note taking function, and then MyScript Notes (2.1) Light...

Down to details. For what it is, the device is reasonable. In pen mode, the capture of the writing is reasonably accurate, though I do find if you set the device up for one-page mode it seems to record my writing on an angle instead of horizontally on the page. Seeing your writing pop-up on the monitor is pretty nifty too, and the export capability from the basic application are simple to use (e.g. for keeping digital images of your notes or pictures).

The mouse mode is kind-of fun in drawing applications, particularly for making quick diagrams, but otherwise largely useless. The device has no pressure sensitivity; for graphical work you really want a device which can handle multiple levels of pressure (this give a true brush-stroke capability). If you are anything other than the most casual user, don't bother with this for that purpose.

The pen itself is comfortable and quite light for my hands, using two watch-batteries. If you have smaller hands, this might not be quite so comfortable, however.

I personally found the My Script Notes LE software useless. I use Adobe products to do OCR, and the basic application which comes with the pen drivers are otherwise more than sufficient.

In terms of using the device, I have both a laptop and a desktop. With the laptop, it's ok, because everything sits on the table, but with my desktop the 2' USB cable is far too short to reach. If you want to use it with a desktop, be prepared to purchase a USB extension cable.

All in all, an ok piece of kit, but for the price, I'd recommend you do what I did in the end - go buy a real tablet from a company like Aiptek.

Doesn't work well [Posted on 2008-04-07]
How's that for a succinct title? It doesn't do a good job of capturing my handwriting. I attached pictures of what I wrote in ink vs. the digital copy it made, to the main product page. If you want to see a more detailed image see my review in the "external hardware" forum at bleepingcomputer dot com. The title of the review is "Review of Iogear Digital Scribe".
At the top of the page, near the receiver, it curved my writing around the receiver. At the bottom of the page, far from the receiver, it truly looks as if I was really drunk. The area of fairly-ok handwriting capture is only about 6" long on an 11" long page. But it doesn't capture my handwriting very well even in the middle of the page, there are problems like o's and a's not closing that make my handwriting look worse.
Some digital pens use special paper to capture handwriting. This pen only uses a receiver with ultrasound or something, which clearly doesn't work very well.
So you can decide if this is good enough handwriting capture for you, do you care if it degrades your handwriting a lot?
The software they give you, that you use to write the notes, has a lot of problems. Maybe it's still in development. This is a problem because you can't use the pen to write into a better program like Windows Journal or Paint, like I thought you could.
You can export notes in JPG format, but you can't import anything into their note taking program, to write on with the pen. Except if it's in their proprietary format, which is pretty limiting.
This pen is only for Windows.
Just writing in pencil on paper and scanning it in would work about as well. An eraser is a nice flexible editor. And it would make a better quality final image, too.
Laura

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