This product comes in a professional looking box and includes a pen, a USB device to attach to your paper and two pieces of software to install. You also get spare ink (yes, the pen actually writes like a real pen!) and the whole piece of kit weighs hardly anything at all.

The pen itself looks like a normal pen, except it also has a mouse button on the side to turn it into a mouse and it is battery operated (it takes 2 watch batteries which last up to 50 hours). The paper attachment is like a bulldog clip for a clipboard. It attaches directly to the computer via a USB lead, which although quite long, means you can’t be more than 4 feet from the computer you’re plugged into (the computer powers the device). I found this a bit restrictive, and due to the weight of the device on your paper (it is actually very light) it needs to be on a flat surface, so you have to work alongside your computer at a desk which I found rather disappointing as I was looking forward to putting the PC down for a moment.

Overall, it has a very slick feel to it, and is quite user friendly with extremely straightforward installation instructions provided, the detailed instructions are installed with the software in PDF format, rather than a paper manual as is becoming the norm these days. I should note that all the instructions are for using the pen with NoteManager (the default software included), and there are no instructions for using the pen with Serif Draw+ which is the second software provided in the box.

The software for the pen installs fairly easily, although frustratingly it is set to run NoteManager and the pen upon start up, which is plain annoying as you don’t always use this product. I quickly disabled this function. Once I went about trying it out, I found there are two modes, which you change by simply tapping the pen against the paper immediately in front of the device. Mouse mode turns the pen into a mouse, and writing mode means whatever you write gets transcribed onto the page in real time.

In the writing mode, you get quite an accurate representation on screen in terms of translating what you draw or write on paper. However it took a bit of time getting used to the mouse mode as you can either draw all over a piece of paper using it flat, or float it in the air (certainly entertaining for anyone else in the room whilst you get used to up, down, left and right with a pen in the air!)

The default transcription/drawing goes into the NoteManager software provided and automatically saves. All documents appear as thumbnails on the main window, so are easy-to-find (although it’s not as obvious where the files are actually saved…time to go off and do a search).

You can also choose to open a Word document and start writing in there, although I didn’t find a lot of benefit to this, as it is quicker to type (but then I touch type)…perhaps this is suitable for someone who has never typed before or is unable to type for sustained periods of time – could be a useful alternative to having to type if this is a difficulty for someone. There is a great function called “start inking” in Word which certainly has its uses. You can open a word document and mark it up like you are writing on the original document. If it didn’t write on the paper I’d say it was good for the environment.

The pen has been designed to work along with Serif Draw+ software to amend photographs with the pen. It has been designed to allow you to quickly edit images using the pen rather than your mouse to allow for finer editing. There are no instructions so if you’ve never used Serif Draw+ before you’d need to get your head around the normal usage, however once mastered, you simply use the pen instead of a mouse to edit your photograph. It is better in terms of accuracy, however if you’re editing it is a bit distracting that the pen is writing on the paper.

Given where the world is at with technology, I’d have thought that the paper device should be available wirelessly which would enable greater flexibility, additionally adding a small internal memory card to enable you to use it offline would make it a much greater piece of kit in terms of note-taking. If you’re writing notes on the paper, attached to the computer, one might say it is just as quick (if not quicker if you can touch type) to just type the text directly onto your computer, after all you’ve had to switch it on and plug in the device, or scan in the document after finishing writing.

Therefore the writing benefits are limited, however the drawing and document editing benefits are much higher. It can only take a page up to A4 so it perhaps isn’t suitable for large-scale drawings, but it is certainly good for up to A4 and for precise image editing.

For a designer who creates their own logos, for getting drawings from paper to PC, this device would be great.
For students transcribing notes, until it works offline and without a cable, you’re better off with a computer and typing directly, although the marking up feature could be useful.

I certainly had fun with this, and I can see some benefits, but I would want a wireless one for drawing and writing facilities and I’d like to see an option without ink!

SRP: £59.99 for Create only and £89.99 for Create with Mobile Notes. See www.e-pens.com for more details.
Available online from Amazon and a number of other retailers.

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