Take note

By Adam Turner March 8, 2005

Pegasus' Mobile NotesTaker.

Try as it may, newfangled technology is a long way from killing off paper. Pens might leak, but at least you don't have to worry about driver conflicts and vendor support. Also, you're never stressed about battery life when writing on DTM (Dead Tree Medium).

The combination of paper and pen certainly has a lot going for it, except when it comes to archiving. The entire works of Shakespeare (apparently a standard unit of measurement when it comes to data storage) can take up an entire bookshelf or else fit on a flash memory card no bigger than your thumbnail. Finding a favourite sonnet is far easier when it is in electronic format.

Pegasus' Mobile NotesTaker offers the best of both worlds by capturing handwritten notes in real time, allowing you to transfer them to a PC and even convert them to text. The device captures every pen stroke you make on ordinary paper - up to A4 size - using the supplied pen. The unit takes two AA batteries, while the pen takes three SR41 watch batteries - making the pen a bit chunky but not too uncomfortable to hold. Any stiff surface will do.

When we clipped a sheet of paper to a magazine we found the unit coped if the magazine flexed slightly - but thankfully the unit beeps if it loses track of the pen. The pen's nib is finer than any stylus we've ever used with a tablet or hand-held PC, meaning the fine details of your sketches or messy handwriting aren't lost, and the pen takes standard ink refills. The 6 cm x 3 cm LCD shows what you're writing in real time and the pen tracking is accurate enough that you can go back to the top of the page to underline text or add to a sketch knowing it will appear in the right spot on the captured image.

The unit is light plastic, portable but with a cheap feel. Its memory holds 50 A4 pages, time stamping each note, and lets you view any note in the memory on the LCD. A USB device, the unit can connect to a PC running Windows 2000 or above, allowing you to transfer captured notes into the provided software, giving you the standard cut/copy/paste/print options.

When the unit is connected to a PC, using the pen opens a NotesTaker page on the desktop, which displays your handwriting in real time. You can also send notes via LAN, email or ICQ instant messaging or use it with Microsoft Office 2000 or above to insert handwriting into documents. Handwriting recognition is via the Pen2Text application, which requires Office XP or 2003. You also need to activate Windows' language bar and the Microsoft Handwriting Recognition Engine. Detailed instructions are included in the set-up document.

Pen2Text only works when the Mobile NotesTaker is connected to a PC, but handwritten notes captured on the device can be converted to text using supplied software. The Mobile NotesTaker is simple and convenient to use and doesn't require a fortune for special paper or ink, but the $370 price tag means you might have to justify the expense. Sure, you can pick up a cheap PDA for the same price, but it doesn't have an A4 writing surface, the nib won't be as fine and you won't have a hard copy back-up.

If you're desk bound, perhaps the PC NotesTaker for $190 will do the job. If you're regularly handwriting notes away from your PC, the time you save looking for that elusive fact could mean the Mobile NotesTaker will soon pay for itself.

ANYONE who has struggled to use flaky handwriting-recognition programs, and failed to enjoy the experience of writing with skinny, grip-resistant styluses, will appreciate the notion of a gadget that lets the user write with an ink pen, directly to paper, and have those words and images stored electronically for later use. A simple, compelling idea for students, graphic artists, or anyone who regularly attends conferences, a device such as the Pegasus Mobile NoteTaker should be a shoo-in.

But, despite its commendable ease of use, compact size and a pen that is easy to grip, the NoteTaker is let down by a high price tag.

Then there is the question of ink Lrefills. Although MNT's distributor advertises the cartridges online for a reasonable $13.10 for a pack of five, the $370 MNT pack does not contain any. A replacement pen costs 75, so don't lose or lend it too often.

These reservations aside, the NoteTaker proved accurate in its rendering of images downloaded to the PC, and as it can store at least 50 A4 pages, would be suitable for almost any length of writing. The base unit simply snaps onto the top of an A4 page in the manner of a regular clipboard, and the user's doodlings and scribblings are displayed instantaneously on a compact LCD screen.

Anyone needing to move rapidly between pages, though, might be frustrated by the need to remove the current page and click "OK" on the base unit before starting a fresh page.