DIGITIZE YOUR IDEAS with Smartpens or Smartpads!
There are still a lot of people who are not comfortable writing with a stylus on a tablet or other screen, and prefer to takes notes or jot down ideas with paper and pen, but who love the idea of digitizing their notes. There are any number of options for creating electronic versions of your notes (mobile notetaking apps, taking a photo and converting the notes to PDF, ...), but if your thought processes just function better with pen and paper, you may want to consider one of the smartpen options that are available out there.
What's a Smartpen?
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What's a Smartpad?
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A smartpen looks and acts like a ballpoint pen, but in fact it houses the technology to record audio and penstrokes, so that you end up with a digital version of not only the notes and ideas that you've written, but also any accompanying lecture or conversation. Livescribe is one of the better known brands out there, and you can load the Livescribe app on your computer, phone, or tablet so that you can sync your devices and have your digital notes wherever you go.
The Center for Teaching & Learning on the main campus has a Livescribe3 smartpen that you can test, before you decide which tool is the best for you. |
With a smartpad (in this case, I will be talking specifically about the Bamboo Slate), you can use any paper in conjunction with the Wacom pen and smartpad. By adding the Inkspace app to your mobile device, you can then store a digital version of your handwritten notes on your smartphone or tablet. The Center for Teaching & Learning on the main campus has a Bamboo Slate smartpad that you can test, before you decide which tool is the best for you. |
The Livescribe3 smartpen and the Bamboo Slate accomplish the same basic task - converting your pen and paper work to digital format - but they have a few key differences:
- Bamboo Slate is slightly less expensive at $130 for the small and $150 for the large on the Bamboo site and on Amazon, while the Livescribe3 is $180 on the Livescribe site ($140-$150 on Amazon)
- Both devices will require the purchase of ink cartridge replacements for the pen, but the Livescribe also requires the purchase of special dot paper, while the Bamboo Slate can be used with any paper.
- Bamboo Slate does not have the audio recording capability, while the the Livescribe pens do have the ability to capture audio.
If you'd like to know more about how these devices compare and which one is right for you, here are a couple of articles that may help:
- POPULAR SCIENCE (December 2017) , "How to Digitize Your Handwritten Notes."
- TOPTENREVIEWS (November 2017), "Best Smartpens 2018," rates the LiveScribe3 as the best overall digital pen for 2018, and the Bamboo Folio Smartpad as the best for artists for 2018.
Getting Started with Bamboo Slate: https://www.wacom.com/en-us/getting-started/bamboo-slate-folio-getting-started