Livescribe Echo Smartpen Review

“Overview ”

Written on: 19/12/2010 by danieljackson (1 review written)

Overview



The Livescribe Echo smartpen is a creative and easy way to record everything you write and say at the same time. The pen features an almost invisible sensor near the nib that can sense the place of the pen on the paper and it works with just paper, no hidden electronics or tablet behind the page, its simply paper with microscopic dots on it.



The pen also features a microphone and records everything you say (when its activated) and then cleverly links it to the note or picture that is being made so you can just flick back to your notes one day and easily play an audio reminder that you made. This makes it a lot simpler then using a standard audio recorder. It's also good to know that your probably never going to run out of space to store notes as the one I tried had 8gb.



Software



The Livescribe desktop software for the pen allows you to manage everything that your pen has saved. It has a comfortable and familiar user interface that allows you to manage the notebooks your pen has worked on; the sessions of audio and the countless apps stored on (and available for) your pen. You can also export the audio and jottings to PDF and AAC formats or if you have Evernote it can be exported to work with that. A good feature is the ability to print more Dot Paper if you run out.



Appearance and Battery



For a smart pen, the design of the Livescibe Echo is sleek and comfortable and looks stunning because of its shape, choice of colour and feel. This pen can easily be used everyday without anyone knowing it ' s a smartpen.



The battery is a rather good rechargeable lithium battery. I was using the pens many apps such as Games and the Piano feature for over 5 hours and the battery seem to only drop 2 bars which is approximately 20% of the battery, so you can keep working and using the apps for hours on end and it will last. Great!



Speed, Improvements and Price



The pen starts working from the moment it is switched on and records everything you write on Dot Paper for you to easily check later and the only real speed cap is the speed you write at! If you ' re switching from an app to an app already on the paper, there is a slight delay whilst the pen loads but this may be sped up in a future update. Another improvement would be to allow for easier menu navigation and a more detailed screen but on the whole these are pretty decent anyway.



The Pen is an expensive $149.95 but for the features, the productivity and overall enjoyment definitely is worth the money. I ' ve already fell in love with the pen and it is easily the best product I have reviewed in a long time.