AXIOO Wireless Digital Pen and USB Flash

Axioo Wireless Digital Pen and USB Flash § Standard USB Port (1.1 or 2.0) § 1GB storage § Built-in software for viewing notes § Handwriting recognition support Axioo’s Wireless Digitalpen and USB Flash is a note-taking tool that offers users a digital copy of their handwritten notes and diagrams. It comprises a pen and a receiver unit. The pen works like a regular ballpoint pen. Just clip the receiver to the bottom of a notebook or piece of paper, turn it on and write. I was surprised by how well the device captured my squiggly and hurriedly written notes, as well as diagrams and simple drawings. But with no pressure sensitivity capabilities, the digital pen will not do well when it comes to fully expressing the different pen strokes in a hand-drawn sketch. All written notes are stored in the receiver, which doubles as a standard USB drive. The unit also contains pre-installed viewing software that works on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Users need only to run the software from the drive to view, print, save and e-mail their notes. No other downloads or installation is required. The product includes the MyScript Notes 2.2 handwriting recognition software that converts your scribbles into typed text. This is especially handy when you want a clean, word processor-ready version of your notes that you can print or edit. Like most other handwriting recognition software, it works well as long as your handwriting is neat and clear. It was able to recognise about 90 per cent of my writing on lined paper, even though I was not making a conscious effort to be neat. But once your writing turns into a scrawled jumble of letters, the results can be poor. While there are options for users to train the software into recognising their unique writing style, there is a limit to this. For example, it is able to learn if you have a unique way of joining the letters ‘l’ and ‘e’ together, but it still will not perform well if you have naturally cursive handwriting. The receiver offers 1GB of storage space, which should be sufficient for ‘thousands of pages’, according to Axioo, but it may not be enough if you plan to use it to store other files like photos. I would have preferred the receiver to be a little smaller, but it is still pretty handy to carry around. Having a clip or slot that one can use to attach the pen to the receiver would have been a nice touch. For those who prefer to write their notes by hand, but would like an instant digital version, this is a good gadget to have.