All Entries Tagged With: "DocuPen"

Planon’s Universal Mobile Charger - Contest!

It is great to have all of these neat little devices like iPods, phones, cameras, etc. As most of you have experienced while traveling, keeping those things charged can get a little unwieldy with all those AC adapters. Well, Planon hopes to change that for you with the their Universal Mobile Charger ( UMC ). The UMC weighs only 3.8 oz and is pretty small. It comes with an assortment of tips to charge a number of devices: mini USB 4 pin and 5 pin, USB female, Sony Ericsson phones, Nokia phone, Canon, Olympus, Casio, Minolta, Panasonic, Kyocera, and Fuji cameras. The UMC sells for $69.99, and I understand they are coming out with more tips.

In the below video, I mention a review we did on Planon’s DocuPen scanner. Here is that review.

We are giving away this evaluation Universal Mobile Charger - leave a comment on this post telling us about all the stuff you have to bring when you travel. We’ll pick a winner and announce it on Monday. This contest ends at 9:00 pm tonight and is only open to U.S. residents.

Check out the video below for more information on the Universal Mobile Charger:

DocuPen Executive Kit contest winner announced

Two weeks ago, we launched a contest revolving around mobility and the DocuPen Executive Kit. We asked forum members to submit their answers to the following question: How would a pen based scanner like the DocuPen RC800 Executive Kit impact your mobile lifestyle?

We were hoping to receive at least 50 entries, but the 30 entries we did receive were quite good, and somebody in that 30 deserved to win.

Congratulations to GBM reader Robphy on his winning entry. He is now the recipient of a $399 DocuPen Executive Kit.  Robphy, we expect to hear great things from you on use of the DocuPen.

Robphy’s entry:

As a student, I am often rummaging through  the library reserve stacks, chasing down references to numerous journal articles. Up to this point, I usually have to take a stack of thick now-hard-bound journals down several flights and over to the copier in order to copy relevant portions of  these articles. Having a compact scanner would certainly help me collect and organize these references. No more folders full of papers… I could read and mark them up on my TabletPC.

As an educator, I find that students appreciate examples and discussions taken from their textbook. With a flatbed scanner, I have often scanned in sections of the textbook, which I display and markup using my TabletPC. Having this compact scanner would certainly make this task a little easier, as well as probably prolong the binding of my heavy textbook [which doesn't like to getting pressed down onto the flatbed]. In addition, I wouldn’t always have to carry that heavy textbook around.

As a physicist, while I now try to do all of my handwritten calculations on  a TabletPC, there are some instances when it’s inconvenient to do  so… like on a crowded city bus.  So, I use another wireless device: a pad of paper. Thus, at the end of each ride, I have a scribbled calculation that will probably get lost in a pile of papers if I don’t scan it in or else transcribe it. So, here again the compact scanner would be useful.

As a physicist traveling to conferences, a compact scanner like this would be useful in (after being granted permission) scanning in abstracts, references, and contact-information from poster presentations. The scanner would also be useful in helping to keep track of receipts and business cards.

As an amateur wine enthusiast, I shop for wine with a small paper notebook with wine-labels taped onto pages, with comments written below. Since it is been rather time-consuming to peel off the wine-labels, a compact scanner with the unique features of the DocuPen RC800 Scanner would make it easier to get the image of the wine-label. Admittedly, one could take a digital photo of the wine label still on the bottle… but it  might not be as legible as a scan. Along these lines, one could scan in labels of food products or medications, which could be used for logging in special diets or one’s medication history.

As an amateur technology-evangelist, I would probably sing the praises of the DocuPen RC800 Scanner, as I have done for the TabletPC. (Over the years, I think I’ve done a much better job than the computer-store salesperson in showing off the TabletPC… to the point where a handful of friends and folks in my department and at some conferences have later asked for my  advice in helping them purchase the right TabletPC for them.)

And, finally, as a gadget-lover, it would just be cool to have a scanner like this.

GottaBeMobile.com contest - Win a DocuPen Scanner Executive Kit

While at CES, I stopped by the PlanOn booth to speak to them about the RC800 scanner that I purchased last year . While visiting with them, they showed me their new DocuPen Executive Kit and offered to send me one to give away on GottaBeMobile.com. You can read my review on of the RC800 here.

After returning from CES, it slipped my mind and didn’t think much more about it until FedEx showed up with this $399 Executive Kit! So, again, we are passing along the mobile goodness and some lucky GBM reader will be the beneficiary and find FedEx delivering their own RC800 scanner and kit. We are going to run this contest similar to the way I ran last year’s.

Answer this question: How would a pen based scanner like the DocuPen RC800 Executive Kit impact your mobile lifestyle? Post your answer here in the contest forum ( forum membership required ).

Here are the guidelines:

Details on the DocuPen RC800 Executive Kit:

Value $399.99

DocuPen RC800 Color Scanner

• the world’s smallest and lightest document scanner: 1.75 ounces
• runs completely independent of a computer
• scans in multiple modes: Black & White, Grayscale, and 24 Bit Color
• scanning resolution: 100 dpi to 400 dpi
• has a built in CPU
• comes standard with 8MB internal memory, upgradeable to 1GB
• scans a full page from 4 to 8 seconds
• runs on rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries
• Dual Roller Guiding System which translates into a smoother and a more accurate scan

Additional Memory

• Allows you to store more documents
• Removable to increase download speed (using the included UMR)

PaperPort SE Software

• handle all your Document management
• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) converting image into editable text
• Ability to edit and manipulate scanned images

Universal Mobile Charger (UMC)

• Lithium Ion portable battery for recharging when alternative power is not available
• recharges the DocuPen up to 55 times on a full charge
• can be used to power other portable devices, such as: digital cameras, cell phones, PDA’s etc.

Universal Memory Reader (UMR)

• Faster way of transferring data from memory cards to your PC
• Supports up to 9 different types of memory cards
• For use with memory card from: DocuPen, cell phones, digital cameras, PDA’s, etc.

Retractable USB Cable
Executive Leather Case

GottaBeMobile.com is helping to spread the mobile goodness

Last year, on my old website ( CutMeLoose.com ), I ran a contest giving away a DocuPen RC800 scanner. It was quite successful and generated some awesome entries. I awarded Aaron Bernstein the $299 scanner based upon his entry. Well, Aaron followed me over from CutMeLoose.com to GottaBeMobile.com and has remained a loyal reader ever since. Yesterday, he caught Matt’s post yesterday about the Vista giveaway. Aaron entered, and wouldn’t you know it - he won! It is awesome knowing we can help spread a little of the mobile goodness around!

If you are interested in learning more about the RC800 scanner, check out my review here and the Planon site here. By the way, we have an awesome contest coming up where we will be giving away an RC800 scanner, along with the executive kit, valued at $399.99. Big thanks to the folks at PlanOn for sending this our way. Stay tuned.

Aaron gave me permission to share his email on how the RC800 scanner has been used in the year since winning it.

A little over a year ago, Rob on his previous website created a contest to win a DocuPen.   Lucky then, I won the contest as I told Rob of my story as a special education teacher who would be able to to use the pen both as a way to organize my own mobile life, and as a tool to teach and help my students who have their own issues with organization and typically benefit from the inherent ways technology helps them organize their own lives.  (Rob, at this point I apologize, but I could never get permission to send you pictures as it would have gone against our school policies.)  However, I can tell you that many students loved the DocuPen this and last year as a tool and those who saw themselves as college bound felt like it was something that would be high on their “to buy” list when they went off to school.  As for myself, I’m still not the most organized person, but having the DocuPen has definitely helped.

But, onto more current news.  Yesterday, Matt posted a link to win a free copy of Windows Vista.  And while this one was apparently random, and not purpose based, guess who won?  :) 

So, to the GottaBeMobile team, I say thank you.  You have now once again (literally) enriched my mobile life from something I got from information on your website. 

Admittedly, I only read your posts and don’t contribute to message boards or things like that.  However, I do value the information you all provide and appreciate the contributions you all have made.  I know that clearly, it has made a big difference to me.

Thanks again.

Aaron M. Bernstein

Review of the DocuPen RC800 Pen Scanner

I’ve been using the PLANOn DocuPen RC800 for about a month now, so I thought it would be a good time to post my final review. If you have any questions after reading the review, please post them back as a comment.

I’ve organized my review into Pro / Cons, two sample workflows, and then provide some links at the bottom for you to view some sample scans.

Pros

• Storage Card – I purchased my scanner with a 256mb card and I have yet to fill up even half of it. A 200 dpi color scan takes up about 1mb of space. A 400 dpi color scan takes up about 2.5mb of space. Based on my usage, I could have gotten away with the 128mb card, but I love having the flexability.

• Battery life – I can’t exactly tell you how long a charge lasts, but I’ve used the scanner about 2 – 3 times a week for the past month and I’ve only had the battery go dead on me once. The USB cable for transfering images acts as a charging cable as well, but I’ve primarily only used the cable for transfering pictures and not for charging the scanner. All of that to say – I’ve been very pleased with the battery performance.
• Weight – The scanner is very, very light. I was very surprised at how light it was. I keep it with the usb cable in my bag.
• Mode Switching – Switching between scanning modes (b/w, color, photo) and resolutions (low / high) is very simple. Once the scanner is on, the left button rotates among modes, the right / on / off button rotates between resolutions.

• I found their support to be very responsive. One phone call and I was speaking to someone who knew the product backwards and forwards.

• When scanning, there is a red X that flashes if you are scanning too fast. That is a very nice cue to slow down so the scan is the best result possible
• The software based DocuPen Profile Manager allows you to set the low / hi resolution settings per mode (see image to the right). For example, for b/w mode, I can set the low resolution to 100 dpi and high res to 200 dpi. Then set the color low res to 200 dpi, high res to 400 dpi. I really like that customization. For my purposes, I have them all set to low: 200 dpi, high: 400 dpi.

Cons

• Scanning something small, like a business card or a receipt is very difficult, because there is nothing to grab a hold of at the top of the document and then hold on to as you scan with the other hand. I found the scanner to work better with full / half pages. Anything smaller than a half page is almost to difficult to do. I’ve experimented with laying a business card on a table and then scanning it without holding the card, but then the rollers move the card. You really need to hold your document from the top or side to scan it well.

  In addition, I’ve found it difficult to get the top of a page scanned. I’ve found that I’ve had to start the scan almost off of the paper in order to include the top in the scan.

• I can scan a page in about 5 – 10 seconds (depending on mode); however, it takes another 20 – 30 seconds for the scan to get saved to the storage card (200 and 400 dpi settings) .  The sales verbage on the PLANOn website is just not accurate – they need to include the time it takes to actually save the image to the storage card - so you can can pretty much count on 30 – 45 seconds per scan – not 5 – 10 seconds.

  After saving, the scanner turns off. To scan another page, you have to press the power button to turn it back on – it is pretty quick, but kind of bothersome. I would prefer to have 30 second time out for the scanner to auto-turn off. The time it takes to save the image to the storage card and then having the scanner turn the scanner back on after saving is just a bit frustrating if you are scanning multiple pages.

• This is not a good solution for scanning books. It works best for scanning items that are flat, like letters, magazine articles, etc. It won’t handle the crease in a book very well.
• Not really a con, but the overall message on the PLANOn website is that you can store it in your shirt pocket. It is just not the case. The scanner is too tall to fit in a shirt pocket, the ideal storage place is in a small bag or compartment.
• The standard color scans are not the greatest, but they work to get what you need. I’d suggest using the 24 bit color if you want color and using B/W for the rest.
• Since the scanning is done with your hand, you have to be very careful not to scan at an angle. I have found that I have a tendency to pull the sanner to my right.
• It took about 5 minutes to transfer 30mb of scanned images to my computer using the USB cable.
• The Control Panel is a bit cumbsersome and could use some definite UI improvements (see image to the right). To delete images that you have transfered, you have to open the Control Panel again and press the Trash Can button. There is also no way to select the individual images that you want to delete from the scanner. It is either all or nothing.

WorkFlow

A majority of the scans that I do are in black and white mode and I’m primarily using OneNote for my storage. If I scan something that needs to be in PDF, I’ll use PaperPort to import it.

Here is the work flow using the built-in software (PaperPort and Control Panel)

• Scan documents during the day
• Connect to computer with usb cable when ready to import
• Start up PaperPort and press scan.
• The Control Panel opens up.
• Turn on the scanner and press the Connect button
• Wait for the images to come be transfered from the pen to a hold area.
• Select all or just the images you want to import and press Transfer.
• All the selected images get transfered to PaperPort in the method you want: PDF, JPG, etc
• Now, to erase the images from the scanner, you have to press Scan again, then Press the Trash Can button to erase the images from the scanner.

Here is the workflow using OneNote 2007 and the Control Panel

• Scan documents during the day
• Connect to computer with usb cable when ready to import
• Within OneNote 2007, go to the Note page that you want to import them, then go to Insert / Picture / from Scanner.
• Choose Print Quality (for optimal OCR results) and Custom Insert
• The Control Panel opens up.
• Turn on the scanner and press the Connect button
• Wait for the images to be transfered from the pen to a holding area.
• Select all or just the images you want to import and press Transfer.
• All the selected images get transfered to the Note page in OneNote 2007 that you were on.
• Now, to erase the images from the scanner, you have to go to Insert / Picture / from Scanner, Custom, then press the Trash can.

Conclusion

Overall, I have to say that I’m very pleased with the scanner and I’m still happy that I purchased it. I’m finding it to be an indispensible tool, especially as I use it in conjunction with OneNote 2007. Being able to scan, import, store, search these documents is a huge productivity boost. Never underestimate the power of having all of your documents with you in one place. Being able to scan these documents while on site, and then using my tablet pc to work with the document, take notes on it and then have that available to me later is a mobile professionals dream. I wish it were faster at saving the images, that I found better success with smaller documents, and that the UI were better designed, but overall, I’m very pleased. I’m finding it to be a good tool to have on the road and I’d highly recommend it.

Scan Samples

• Black and White scan – 200 dpi (944kb)
• Black and White scan – 400 dpi (1.7mb)
• Standard Color scan – 200 dpi (894kb)
• Standard Color scan – 400 dpi (2.68mb)
• 24 Bit Color scan – 400 dpi (1.4mb)

Pricing and Availability

The DocuPen RC800 by PLANOn is available for $299 and available in various colors. It comes with PaperPort for importing the scans into PDF, JPG, BMP, and Tiff. It also comes with 8mb of internal storage. 128mb storage cards are $34.99. 256mb storage cards are $44.99.

Initial thoughts on the DocuPen RC800

I’m putting the DocuPen RC800 scanner to good use this week, as I meet with clients, scanning  things on the go.

I plan on posting a more detailed entry about the entire workflow from scanning, importing, etc. For right now, I just wanted to let you know some of my initial findings:

1) scanning small items like business cards is a real pain because there is nothing to grab a hold of in order to scan the top part of the business card.

2) my wife absolutely loves this scanner. Kathi is all about removing clutter from a home. I think I might end up having to purchase of these for her.

3) The paperport software that comes with the scanner is pretty cool. I can import all / select images from the scanner have them go into a single PDF or create separate pdf pages.

4) Using the b / w mode, saving a scan to the memory card takes about 4 – 5 seconds

5) I have not tried scanning books, but I’m suspecting that the RC800 will not be the “best” solution for that, simply due to the binding issue.

6) Importing directly to OneNote is a breeze. Enough said on that due to blogging restrictions.

7) Had I not goofed up the installation, the out of box experience would have been great. I couldn’t get the drivers to install properly because I couldn’t find them. Tech support was fantastic and very quick to respond via phone and email.

8) The scanner is very, very light. However, it is a bit too tall for a shirt pocket. I keep mine in my bag.

9) I’ve found the color scans to be quite acceptable for my purposes.

10) The docupen control screen, which is used for selecting the images to import, needs an option to delete the images after importing. currently, the only option is format the disk

11) I’d highly recommend ordering either the 128 or 256 mb expansion card. The internal 8mb flash storage won’t last long.