Customer Reviews

Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen (APA-00002)

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

My brother ordered two of these pens when they were first available from the manufacturer. His thinking apparently was that he would have a backup should he ever lose one. Quickly realizing that he might have over-ordered, he offered one to me to try.

There were a lot of reasons I was not enthusiastic about his offer. The first was that unlike my brother, I actually do lose pens from time to time, even expensive ones. So if I lost this thing I would owe my brother money. Second, I am a Mac enthusiast and the desktop software for a Mac platform will not be available until the end of 2008. Finally, the necessity of the product escaped me.

But being a toy lover I put aside my objections and accepted his loan. A few weeks later I was calling customer support on a desktop issue (I installed it on my only Windows computer, a Toshiba tablet). The problem was a software glitch, since in reality the pen was still in beta. The customer service rep solving the problem asked if it was registered in my name. I assured her it was. I then told her that my brother had bought the pen but that he was never getting it back. I could hear my statement relayed around the support department where it was greeted with shouts and laughter. They knew. I was a convert. I had drunk the Kool-aid and was forever theirs.

Okay so what do I use it for? I take it to hearings and depositions (I am a lawyer, remember?). These are public events under Florida law and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.This is important since the pen doesn't just record the strokes of the pen, it records everything being said. And it records it very well. Here is the cool part, touch a word in your notes and you will hear whatever was happening at that time. My favorite demonstration to date is to touch a word from a contested trial where I got to ask a witness if he had ever told people that he spoke to the dead and that they spoke back to him. The guy nearly came across the table at me, a point also recorded. Now an aside to lawyers, law students and pro se litigants-do not ever ask someone this question unless you have an email from the witness attesting to his ability to commune with the formerly alive.

The recording capacity of this pen is astonishing. The manufacturer suggests that the 2GB pen will hold 200 hours of audio. I have no reason to doubt it, since constant use has barely tapped its capacity.

When the pen is uploaded to the desktop software (currently Windows only) images of the notes and the audio are loaded into the computer. From there it can be uploaded to an online site where it is Mac accessible. For now this satisfies my Mac needs at least till the end of the year.

You need special paper to take advantage of the upload features. Fortunately, the supplies are reasonably priced and available online. However the notebook supplied with the pen is most generous.

There are lots of other features in the pen. It is possible to draw a keyboard and play notes (musical notes) on it. My daughter, a music ed major, particularly enjoys this. There is even a cute animation demo built in whose 3-D sound as heard through the earbuds is astonishing and mildly amusing.

So who could use this pen other than trial lawyers? Students seem to be a logical group. Perhaps physicians and nurses could use it. Did the patient really say he had a condition or did he say something else? Livescribe needs to produce industry specific paper for just such uses, or to allow outside vendors to create it.

This product will revolutionize the workplace in ways that we cannot now predict. All we can predict is that it will prove to be one of the most significant technologies of this decade in the same way the personal computer was in the 1980s. Click the"Buy" button now. You will not regret it.

BREAKING NEWS

The Mac Desktop (not the Beta) promised for the first quarter of 2009 will be available on 11/24/08 for download at [...]. It promises certain enhancements over the original windows software and the original beta released in November, 2008,

"The Mac version of Livescribe Desktop also offers two additional features not available in the Windows version. First, Mac users will have the ability to export their recordings into AAC audio files. Mac users can also export their notes as PDF files directly from the Desktop application. All current and new users of the Pulse smartpen can use Pulse with Mac computers for free. "

Addendum: As of February 2009 a full version of the Livescribe Desktop for Mac is available for download free to registered users. The Mac Desktop is fully functional and comparable but not identical to the Windows desktop. The Mac version lacks one major feature at this time-the ability to print the special paper found in the Windows version. Some users have reported that they are able to print paper using the Mac software and Adobe so this may not be that important an omission. Printing also does require a color laser printer at 600 dpi, the feature may be of limited utility in any event. On the plus side the Mac version allows the audio capture to be saved in AAC format which makes it playable on standard CDs. Third party software which converts handwriting to text is not currently offered for Mac.

This product was prematurely launched. It does not record lectures very well at all in typical lecture halls, regardless whether or not you wear the dorky earphones and regardless what setting you select for sound recording. Any ambient noise, no matter how quiet, will be picked up by the device. This noise will completely mask the speaker's voice, rendering the recording essentially useless.

Because the file formats are proprietary, you cannot load the noisy files into audio processing software to filter out the noise or amplify the speaker's voice. The need for the headphones (which serve as microphones) makes the pen obtrusive in a corporate environment, where one may want to save audio recordings of meetings while taking notes.

The pen has a built in microphone, but it is useless in a large room. It is often recommended that one use the headphones (wearing them around one's neck), but in normal environments with air conditioning or computers nearby, the only thing you'll record is noise.

The pen does faithfully record the notes you make if you use the company's special notebooks. These contain an array of dots that tell the pen where it's located on the page. This information is stored as you write. When you upload the pen's contents to your computer, an image of what you wrote is regenerated. This is of course a neat trick, but you have to use their file format and user interface, and I find it is not sufficiently flexible. Not being able to use standard file formats like mp3 and pdf is a real nuisance. Apparently you can upload your files to the company's web site and they'll convert them to pdf for you, but what if your notes contain private or proprietary information? And even if it's just your math notes, who wants the hassle?

This device may be suitable for some students if the lecture room and level of ambient noise are appropriate for the pen's limited ability to capture clean sound. This is not a trivial problem, because in its current state, unless you're recording in an ideal environment, the noise will make it impossible to hear the lecture when you play it back. You do not notice these faint background noises most of the time, but that's essentially all the pen will record.

I gave up on the pen and frankly don't even know where it is at the moment. Too bad, because I got the one with 2GB of memory along with about a dozen of their special notebooks. Now I just use them with an ordinary pen and record my lectures using a digital recorder I got from Ramsay Electronics. Its sound quality is perfect, regardless where I sit, and it can record in any format I choose.

I am disappointed in the unbalanced reviews I've read about this pen. One has to wonder if some of the more enthusiastic ones are from the company itself. Likewise, I found reviews online that were so slick, detailed, and positive that they had to have come from the pen maker. I have never written a review before but after reading reviews that gave this device unqualified praise, I felt it my duty to warn other potential purchasers--let the buyer beware.

The pen does what it says but if you have used the Leapfrog Fly Fusion pen - which is the company the founder came from - you expect that it will convert your writing to text - but it doesn't.

The company promises to do this but has not delivered on their promise and since the pen has been out since at least April - I feel it is long overdue. They could give one access to the digital audio which then would enable the user of the pen to use another text conversion program -- but they don't or won't.

The other problem is the tease of the apps like language translator - which the pen does but only as demo so far.

What the pen does do - it does it fantastically - so if you are a student of someone just wanting to have a verbal recording of something and the ability to take notes that associate the recording so that it is easy to find what you want right away - it does that very well.

The problem is that all digital recording devices do this too and also allow text conversion. So... if you don't need to take notes to find your recording places - then the pen will be less functional than a digital recording device and perhaps cheaper and more efficient.

I will hang onto mine for a bit longer but I need the text conversion or the pen is useless to me - if they don't get their act together on their promises I will just sell mine for whatever I can get and go back to using my cheaper fly fusion pen.

If they get the text conversion together and add real apps instead of teasers - then this product will be a real winner and useful for a wide range of people.

The basic idea: Use a Pulse pen to write on some special pre-printed paper. Optionally record the audio as you are writing. Connect the pen to a computer, and you can upload the "session." The session includes both a representation of what you wrote on the page(s) as well as the recorded audio.

The audio and your pen scribblings are linked, e.g. you can click on the image of your page and listen to the corresponding audio. For example, if you wrote "Q&A" somewhere on the page during the session, clicking on the phrase "Q&A" afterwards causes the audio to play at that point. Thus, your notes can stand alone as an artifact of your meeting, can be just an index of your meeting, or can be anywhere in between. For example, I prefer to focus on what's going on during a meeting and usually don't take detailed notes. With the Pulse pen, I just try and write a coarse outline of the meeting. Afterwards, I can use the outline to quickly navigate around the audio recording.

The user interface for the pen is kind of cool. Instead of cluttering the pen up with lots of little buttons, you just tap on buttons on the special paper. (Each sheet in the pad has record, stop and navigate buttons for example.) You can easily do what you need to do with limited fuss.

What's not to like? The windows software is a little limited. I'd really like to save the audio recording as a plain MP3 file, and the pages as PDFs. You can do the latter by using a Windows PDF printer driver, but that's 3rd party software and can be kind of clunky. Or you can upload your session to Livescribe's website and then download your session back as a PDF. That's both clunky and creepy; I really don't want my data on their website. And I can't figure out how to save my audio outside of the Livescribe desktop app, except with another 3rd party app. Hopefully these are all problems that will be addressed with software updates.

More hassles: a pen is tied to a particular computer (much like an iPod). If you have a desktop and a notebook, you'll have to go through some extra steps as you move back and forth. And if you're a Mac user, Livescribe promises to have an OS X version of their software at the end of 2008. I tried it under Vmware Fusion, and was able to get it to work -- except for firmware updates (this is as advertised by Livescribe). I've now moved it to a Vista notebook, which hasn't had a problem.

Livescribe promises to enable users to print their own "special" paper. What makes the paper special, by the way, is that there's a very fine pattern of dots that are read by a camera mounted inside the pen. Data encoded into the dot pattern is used to figure out what page you're writing on, where you are on the page, and whether you're tapping on a button ("Record," "Stop," etc.). Printing these dot patterns requires a laser printer (I believe) for proper registration, but time will tell. If any of this sounds familiar, it is because the underlying technology is common to the Leapfrog FLY.

And why is this a harbinger? Cameras, GPS units, pens and voice recorders should all be linked together. The Pulse pen takes care of the last two, but there's a "network effect" as more functions are linked in. GPS units can talk to some cameras these days, but how much more powerful would it be if video, stills, writing, audio and location information were all cross-linked?

Bottom line: the desktop software needs to be improved, but this is one great tool. If you sit through a lot of meetings, and dislike taking detailed notes, this device will make you a lot more productive and a lot happier as well.

For folks like me who spend a lot of time in meetings and take a lot of notes: get one of these things and fast. Day 1: I unpacked it, played wiht it a little, and that evening tried it in a small conference room taking notes on a speaker-phone conference call with someone in China. His english wasn't great, and I found that going back and being able to listen (over and over) to *exactly* the place I didn't understand was a huge help. Day 2: went to an "all hands" meeting in the cafeteria with 5 different speakers. I used the headphones around my neck (as recommended), set the microphone for auditorium, and took notes exactly as I ususally do. Afterwards, I was simply amazed at how much more information I was able to retrieve, and quickly. An hour later, I'm in a medium sized conference room with 2 other people, using just the mic on the pen--again, fabulous results. Next meeting: a one-on-one, and I'm totally digging this thing. (as I said, I attend a LOT of meetings.)

If you ever have used a voice recorder, or have wanted to use a voice recorder, this is the gizmo for you. The ability to "instantly" recall anything you heard is a huge productivity gain. Everyone I've showed it to at work wants one.

The USB cradle (with cool magnetic catch to hold the pen easily) works nicely to charge the device quickly. I'd give the software interface a "B"--it's not bad, but a little awkward. If you think iTunes is logical, you might like this; I'm not quite in that camp. But that's just the UI side. What the software DOES is pretty amazing: plug in your pen, and all your notes appear on the screen, just as you wrote them. You can click through them and hear the conversation, but you can also SEARCH for words you've written. This works amazingly well, even on crappy rushed-meeting-fast-note handwriting. wow.

Recommendations: buy the 2GB version, and get a few of the small black notebooks--they're nice. Note: watch the series numbers on the notebooks--if you buy several, make sure you buy them with different series numbers. This is probably the only "gotcha" with this product, but it is much less limiting than it sounds. Then, snoop around your collection of eye-glass boxes for one that can hold the pen, the earphones, adn the USB cradle. I found an old fountain pen box that works great, so I can throw everything in my pack and I'm ready to rock.

This is an outstanding product at a reasonable price, that will make you more productive from the first time you use it...

We at Hubbard Engineering love our new Smart Pen because it gives us a handwritten index to audio recordings of our meetings and classes.

You should know first of all that you have to use the special provided paper. We ordered extra notebooks along with our pen purchase.

Here are some nice features we appreciate:

1. Surprisingly enough, the size of the pen is satisfactory, on the verge of too big without quite being too big.

2. The docking cradle is magnetized, which draws the pen in and holds it like a tractor beam.

3. The software is online. No CD included. So we know we are getting the latest version.

Little quirks we feel should be addressed include the following:

1. The pen or the ink insert should have a cap. Ideally, there would be a small cap for the ink insert that would allow it to function as a non-writing stylus. There would also be a larger cap for the body of the pen. Livescribe may have decided a cap stored at the back end of the pen over the power button and the led screen would be seen as a design flaw, but that's not a good enough reason to omit a cap.

2. The removable/replaceable ink insert is interchangeable with a non-writing stylus. These inserts are too hard to remove by hand. There needs to be an easier way in the middle of a meeting or class or study session to quickly change inserts. Livescribe should either provide a release button or ease up the pressure of the internal retainer clip.

3. The docking, transfer, and session management software (as of October 2008) desperately needs session export, network deployment, and pen sharing capabilities. The software as it is designed works very smoothly as long as you don't own two computers, change computers, or need to share your pen with a project team. I should say that Livescribe does provide an online session sharing site. But unless you buy a subscription, the 1 GB storage is only half the capacity of the 2 GB Smartpen memory. We haven't tried the service yet because we don't envision it meets our needs. We want to make page-by-page exports (at least partial) to PDF, MP3, PNG, JPG, Flash, and image-mapped HTML. And we want to be able to open and save sessions from diverse network locations.

We will happily keep our Smartpen busy. And we will look forward to major software improvements.

I carry a paper notebook to meetings, and have always had difficulty finding stuff in it. Sometimes I record the meeting on a pocket recorder, but seldom go back and listen - it's too time-consuming. The Pulse enables me to take notes that are searchable - and index the sound recording simultaneously. So I can go right to the part of the recording that interests me. Plus, the sophisticated playback controls let me listen at high speed without changing the pitch of the voices.

Minor disappointment: The on-line site for my LiveScribe notes currently has a size limitation - unintended - of about 20 megs. I'm told that is soon to be fixed.

This pen, and the $50-cheaper 1-G version, are highly recommended.

Design suggestions: I wish it weren't cylindrical; it rolls off tables. It has no pocket clip. And it has no cap for the pen point.

But it feels good in my hand; the battery charge lasts a long time; the audio quality, both recording and playback is superb; and the thing just works. I love it!

The livescribe works flawlessly as advertised to capture sound and bookmark sound by written notes and the engineering deserves kudos.
But there are major flaws in the concept as executed that suggest this product is not going to be an everyday arrow in your arsenal.
Other reviewers have already noted that the pen is really too fat, but that's minor in the scheme of things.
The major problems are with the software; the product is an engineer's dream with real world defects:
1. You cannot manipulate or reorganize your notes on your computer.
A. So if you have two pages of notes and diagrams you can't put two points on different pages together on one page or do any other kind of shuffling. You can't move anything, period.
B. You can't rename a page, period. We have more than one project in my shop. I can't put pages 2, 7, and 12 in a folder marked "Smith Project Notes." True, I can turn the page into a pdf and then move the pdf to the Smith directory in my hard drive, or I can rename a "session" and then search for notes with that name all but this is cumbersome and turns me into a file clerk when what I really want is something that makes my work easier; not something that adds extra work. (Also -see point A- I can't turn PART of a page into a pdf, so the pdf I create may also contain notes of the "Jones" project unless I keep my notes for every project on separate pages)
THERE SHOULD BE A SIMPLE WAY TO COPY/CUT/PASTE PARTS OF A PAGE AND A WAY TO REORGANIZE PAGES INTO FOLDERS
2. There are situations -say behind closed door meetings- where I would prefer that the other party not know that he or she is being recorded. But the lit-up screen on the pen almost guaranties that party saying "What do you have there and what are you doing?" Unless you want to lie, you're going to have to day "I am recording this conversation with this device."
THERE SHOULD BE A FUNCTION THAT SHUTS OFF THE SCREEN ON THE PEN
3. In the real world you write a note AFTER you've heard something noteworthy. In this gadget, when I tapped on my written note I heard what was said AS I was writing the note. Since
I wrote the first drsaft of this review I learned that there IS a way to have it capture a 5-second period before I put pen to paper, but the pen wasn't set up that way when I got it and I learned about it from an engineer who responded to my first review, which complained about the time delay between what you hear and what you write. [...]

If there are answers to questions 1 and 2 I simply don't understand how to do these things, then the manual is not helpful and the software is not sufficiently intuitive. But I would like to know how to do these things if I can.

So I've had this for a couple months now, and my opinion of it hasn't changed since day 1 - it's awesome.

I'm a college students on the pre-med track, so my schedule is filled science classes. The pen is so useful especially when the professors going at a 100 mph and has diagrams/reactions to go with it. I use it all the time to just go through the main points of the lecture - I simply "star" sections that I know are important as I take notes. Later, when studying for my tests, I quickly go through the starred parts and re-hear them.

But the great thing about the pen is that anyone can find use for it, be it a student like me, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a financial analyst, an engineer, an artist, etc. etc. It really is a great tool for everyone.

And one more thing, besides the practical use of the pen itself, it's great just to show off! The calculator feature, or the translator feature, etc. are just so cool! For example, put the pen in "translation" mode, write a word in English and the pen will give you a Spanish translation.. how cool is that?!

So obviously, I'm sold, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

-Kal

This pen is simply amazing.

I am an undergraduate student in a research group at a popular university. Lab meetings have become a breeze now that I have this pen. I just simply tap record and then jot down small notes throughout the meeting, which allows me to pay more attention to what is being said. If I am having trouble at a later time understanding the notes from the meeting, then all I need to do is tap on the notes themselves, and I will hear the conversation taking place at the exact moment I took the notes.

Apart from lab meetings, I can use this pen to document results from some of the experiments I perform. These results can later be digitized simply by connecting my pen to my computer because the pen stores all of the notes on its internal memory. Thankfully, I never have to go through the trouble of scanning all of the notes page by page.

Livescribe, the company behind the Pulse, also has a very helpful customer support service. There were a few delays in shipping to early adopters when the product first launched, but with a call to customer service, my worries were completely resolved. The people you speak with make you feel as if you are the CEO. They are very nice and helpful.

Pros:
-Instantly digitize any notes
-Voice recording
-super-Voice playback (super because it is totally awesome, and you HAVE to try it to believe what I'm talking about)
-Good battery life
-Very adequate storage space inside pen for notes and audio recordings.
-Pen feels good in my hand (I'm a man with 3.25 in long middle finger, 2.8 in long pointer finger, and 2.6 in long thumb measuring to the top of my palm. So, I don't have a very large hand, which means this pen should fit mostly everyone.)
-Many more pros that go unlisted

Cons:
-Battery is not easily interchangeable (as far as I can tell).
-Memory inside the pen is not expandable.
-Pen may roll off of a table easily if you aren't careful where it is placed.