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15 SEPT 2004 |
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DocuPen by Planon System Solutions Inc. |
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Scanners are very
popular in the market. They are mainly used to obtain a quick
digital copy of some portion of a book, magazine, or other
documents. In order to use a scanner, you are usually bound to
a computer or some other large machine. How many of you wish
that you could just scan something right then and there without
the hassle of finding a copy machine that could be ways away?
Today, I will be reviewing a device that allows you to do just
that. It is called the DocuPen by Planon System Solutions.
Just as the name implies, you can scan a document with a device
that is nearly the size of a pen. This device is really a one
of a kind device since there aren’t any others like it.
In this
review, we will take a look at this scanner and see how well it
does in terms of scanning and its portability.
Click here for more.
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The package came in a rather small
box. Inside, you will find the scanner itself, the
software, the USB cable, and the instructions to help
you get started with the device. The software includes
the necessary drivers and the PaperPort software which
allows you to manage pages acquired from the scanner.
The USB cable has a standard-sized plug on one end, but
the other end looks like a small headphone plug. This
is the plug that will go into the scanner. The
instructions overall were very simple with the use of
graphics to make it easier to get started.
Now, we get to have a look at the
main device. The scanner is actually a little thicker
than a normal pen. The length just about covers the
width of an 81/2 by 11 sheet of paper. At the top of
the scanner, there is a single button right in the
middle of the device. This button is held down while
scanning. On one side, there is a display with a bunch
of small LED’s. The other side of the DocuPen is where
the USB cable is plugged in and where the batteries are
housed nearby. At the bottom is where you’ll find the
inner workings of the device. There are 3 thin rubber
rollers which is used to help you glide along a page
while scanning. The glass area is where the scanning
takes place.
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The DocuPen was rather easy to
install. All you need to do is install the included
batteries. The batteries provided are the Energizer
type 389. You probably don’t have these kind of
batteries lying around the house, so you’ll have to make
the effort to buy them when it’s time to change the
batteries. It uses 4 of these kinds of batteries to
function properly.
After the batteries are installed,
then it is time to install the software. You must
install the software and drivers first in order for the
DocuPen to be recognized by your computer. Once this is
done, the easy part is now over.
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Installing the drivers and
software was the easy part. Now you have train
yourself to use the DocuPen properly. The
included software includes some tutorials and
videos on how to use the DocuPen .
Reviewing a product such as this is sometimes
tough to do because the results solely depend on
the user using the product.
In my first attempt, I used
the provided page to help test the DocuPen. I
quickly checked the results by connecting the
DocuPen with my computer. The result turned out
to be poor in quality. The page was skewed and
the lines were not straight.
As I scanned more and more
pages as well as different documents, I started
to get used to the product. As mentioned
before, you have to hold down the button while
scanning. If you scan too fast, then the LED
will light red and you will have to start over
again.
Based on my experience with
the product, I found that you can neither scan
too fast or too slow. If you scan too slow,
then it will be difficult moving the DocuPen at
an even pace since you might feel some friction
from the rollers under the DocuPen. If you scan
too fast, then the device will light red
indicating that it could not catch up with your
pace.
Moving the DocuPen at the right speed is the
harder part to achieve. The other minor issue
of course is to not cause sudden movements,
twist, or tilt the device while scanning. If
you scan crooked, then the result will also look
crooked. If you tilt the device, then the lens
may not come in full contact with the page,
therefore, making some parts of the result page
look lighter.
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There’s not
much to say about the DocuPen’s scanning speed because
it actually is incredibly fast. The DocuPen claims that
you can scan a full page in 4-6 seconds. Most of the
pages I scanned took an average of 5-8 seconds. It is a
bit longer than the advertised scanning speed, but 4-6
seconds is definitely possible if you’ve mastered using
the DocuPen. |
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Before
scanning, you get to choose the resolution you would
like to scan in. If you push the button once, then it
will scan at 100dpi. Push it twice and you will scan at
200dpi. I found that 200dpi works better in situations
where there are many graphics or is recommended if you
are going to use a document for OCR purposes. |
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For such a
small device, how well does it scan? After using the
device for a while, I can definitely say that you
shouldn’t expect the full scan quality that a normal
sized scanner offers. At 100-200dpi, text and graphics
may look a bit different than the original but it still
very readable. With this type of scanning quality, this
product is ideal in situation when you want to grab
information fast off a page just so you don’t have to
remember something. If you’ve mastered using the
DocuPen, then this is where you will be able to use it
in very practical applications such as obtaining
information from a book or even as the company suggests
using in realty, legal or office applications.
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Even when I had 6-10 pages
of scanned documents stored in the DocuPen, it
still took around a minute to download the files
onto my computer. If you have more than 20
pages, it will take several minutes. Even when
erasing all the files on the DocuPen, it still
took nearly the same time as transferring the
files to it. Transferring files between the
DocuPen is just enough to make this device
usable, but it could be faster. By making it
faster, the DocuPen will be even more enjoyable
to use.
This product has 2MB of
built in memory. Some of you may be thinking
that it is very small, but this device is very
efficient in storing pages. Even with 10 pages
scanning, I still had 1.8MB remaining. I see no
problem in being able to scan 100 documents into
the device.
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The DocuPen
claims up to 200 pages on a single set of batteries. I
was only able to scan about 150 pages before the
batteries died. During the battery life, I scanned a
lot of text and images. The reason I probably got only
150 pages is because you have to consider the battery
life that is used when you are transferring files to
your computer. That’s because it still uses the battery
when transferring files, accessing, and clearing memory
from the DocuPen. Nevertheless, 150 pages is still not
bad. If you are an avid user and use the DocuPen
consistently in your work, you will probably get a good
month or two out of the product.
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This product
is great for those who want this ultra-portability in
scanning documents. Since this is a one-of-a-kind
device, you can be sure to turn some heads when using
this. At the retail price of $199.99, this is a bit
expensive since you can probably buy a high end scanner
for your computer. If the price fits the bill, this
product can be very useful to students, legalists, those
in realty, and much more. This product has shown that
there is truly potential in a device such as this. If
the DocuPen can have additional features such as a
Lithium-Ion battery and maybe improve the performance
with motion stabilization or an increase DPI, this will
surely become a bestseller! |
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Reviewed by
ronald@digitalreviews.net |
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