Awhile back we blogged about the Livescribe, a smartpen that married pen and paper to the digital world while making audio recordings of meetings. The biggest drawback to using the Livescribe was you had to use a special dotted paper for it to work properly. If you ran out of paper or wanted to use a favorite notebook, you were out of luck. The Equil Smartpen solves this problem by letting you write down your notes on any type of paper and saving them straight to your iPod, iPhone or computer. Offering two complimentary apps, Equil Note for writing and Equil Sketch for drawing, both record your work effortlessly to the cloud so you can access it and digitize it anywhere.
The system comprises two components, a bluetooth receiver and a pen; both housed in a magnetic carrying case. Using a combination of infrared rays and ultrasonic waves, the receiver triangulates the pen’s position as long as it stays in the receiver’s line of sight. To begin using the pen, detach the receiver from the case, turn it on and pair it to the pen. Connect with your iPad, iPod or computer and launch the app. The default paper size the receiver records is A4 but you can easily calibrate it to other sizes of writing surfaces. Once you place the receiver at the top of your page, you are ready to start writing or sketching. The receiver can perform 80 transmissions per second so your text is synced with your smart device in more or less real time. The lightweight pen has an LED light on the top that indicates power status and flows well across the paper’s surface. If you don’t want to carry around the case and receiver, the pen can be used like a regular writing utensil. Both apps auto save files to iCloud folders and can be synced to Dropbox as well as shared via email, Facebook or Twitter.
Currently the Equil Smartpen is available for $149.99 from their website, and will be available from retailers in coming weeks.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.