Done with smartphones, the market is busy with smart-devices and out comes in this series, smartpens. When the need is to get handwritten notes or drawings captured and be digitized on to smartphones or tablets screen, definitely smartpens become a useful tool. There are many smartpens available in the market and the latest to add to the list is NeoLAB Convergence’s Neo Smartpen N2.
About eight months ago the NeoLab Neo N2 smartpen debuted on Kickstarter and raised about $360,000 smashing its funding goal of $20,000. Though backers got their pieces already, the official sales of the N2 started earlier this week.
A brief of Neo N2 smartpen:
With the Neo N2 smartpen users can write on a special pad of paper and then the handwritten words or drawings can be captured with the pen via its supporting app. The words and drawings made are simultaneously displayed on the associated smartphone or tablet screen. The supporting app for both Android and iOS allow users to select on a transcription function in any one of 15 different languages available and the handwritten text instantly gets converted into text that can be then used in a text document. For doing corrections to any transcription errors, Android users can edit the saved text file while iOS users have the option to do the corrections on their device’s screen itself. Neo’s Smartpen N2 is now available on Amazon.com for a price of about $169.
Neo’s Smartpen N2 Features:
Bringing handwriting to any smartphone screen, Neo’s Smartpen N2 possess the below features.
- SLEEK in design: The N2 smartpen made of plastic and aluminum components measures 6.16 inches long with a thickness of 0.46 inches and the weight being 0.84 ounces. There is an “on-off” button on its left, a power-on indicator light in the center and a protective cap on the right side of the pen.
- Requires no INK: Looking sleek the Neo Smartpen N2 tracks unique markings on special paper allowing it to capture and perfectly remake the drawings and handwriting done by the user. Thus the written information can be stored and saved on the user’s smartphones or tablets or could also be emailed.
- Specifications of N2: A 1GHz ARM 9 dual-core processor powers the N2 that also has 90MB of storage capacity. The N2 using Bluetooth 4.0 can be connected to any recent Android and iOS smartphones.
- “Writing” is tracked by a Special Camera Pen Tip: There is a tiny high-speed camera in the pen’s tip capturing the handwriting and drawings made by the users. This camera can capture data at 1,100 dots per inch and 120 frames per second. The memory of the smartpen is so much enough that it can store up to 1,000 pages of data.
- Two-Hour Recharge Time: Powering the pen is a lithium-polymer 3.7V 300mA battery capable of getting fully charged in two hours. With fully charged battery, the pen can be used sporadically for two days or can be constantly used for about five hours.
- Special Replaceable Pads of Paper Required: The Neo Smartpen N2 works with its specially designed replaceable pads of paper. When a user creates drawings or writes on the species app. The Neo Notes app is available for downloaded on all Android and iOS devices. Even these replacement pads of paper can be got for nominal price from Amazon.
Why Neo N2 requires special paper?
Yes, Neo N2 can work only with its special paper. However it is not the first smartpen to do away with these requirements. Livescribe is yet another smartpen that works with a special graph-like paper. The only source of N2 is NeoLab. But the hassle over here is that of its ongoing expense. A 5-pack of spiral-bound notebooks with each 152 pages costs about $20 while 5-pack of pocket-size memo pads costs about $15.
- Text and Drawings captured can be Saved and Archived: Now the Neo N2 can archive automatically its collected notes and drawings using its Neo Notes app and that too by date, page and location. The Neo Notes app is compatible with all tablets and smartphones running Android 4.4.2 or higher and iOS 7.1 or higher.
- Third-Party Apps connection: With the Neo N2, even third-party apps can be connected. For instance, users can organize, upload and share their documents and also email them to their friends and colleagues using third party apps like Dropbox, Evernote and Illustrator.
- Audio Recording Capabilities: Users with the N2 can record audio content while employing the pen to make notes and drawings relatively. Later the audio tracks can be played accompanying the text and drawings. The captured audio recordings cannot be transcribed by the app.
Neo N2 Smartpen Comparision with the other Smartpens:
The market already has two other most popular smartpens, the Equil Smartpen 2and Livescribe 3.
Smartpen’s working ideology is very simple: It is like Ink notes that are scribbled on paper get captured in digital form simultaneously. They are then transferred to either a PC or a mobile device for easy organizing, storing, sharing and many more kinds.
Now the smartpens to work, like considering the Livescribe 3, it relies on special paper. The Equil Smartpen 2 on the other hand, employs a sensor that has to be clipped to the top of whatever is being written on – which can be anything like even a cocktail napkin, legal pad or whatever it is. The N2 also requires a special paper to be written on.
The N2, when compared with the other two is physically the smallest. It is not as sharply triangular as the Equil and also not as luxurious-looking as the Livescribe which is hefty otherwise. This Neo N2 smartpen looking attractively sleek comes with a cap and not with a retractable tip.
On comparing their pricing, the differences between all the three are not much as they fall within a few dollars. Livescribe 3 can be got for $150 while the Neo N2 and Equil Smartpen 2 can be got for $170 while the later can work even on plain paper. The Neo N2 also includes ongoing consumable costs.
The Pen’s Syncronisation:
The Neo N2 can work very well with all Android and iOS devices. Also it is not required to use a device at the same time while writing but the written notes can appear automatically inside the device immediately after the two get connected. Also the pen can even tell the user as to which page the writing is being done.
To Conclude:
The Neo N2 though looks sleek and good in design, it needing a special paper may undoubtedly limit its appeal, if not all at least to some scribblers. It feels same like the Livescribe 3 but just a little thinner and the ability to work with Android being its plus. But would this alone be a justification for its $20 higher price tag? That too when Livescribe 3 gives its users the option of printing their own pen-compatible graph paper, but according to Neo N2’s makers, this option is also to be available with their pen shortly.
Something that needs to be recalled over here is that Neo N2 was a Kickstarter darling (a bit surprising fact). On considering its cost and its need for a special paper to write on, anyone would probably not opt for this smartpen and would rather go in for a smartpen that works well on plain paper yet being cheap. So, feel like Neo N2 needs to definitely work on its price.
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