Oxford Papershow

Despite the advances in just about every other area of computing, nobody has come up with a good improvement on the keyboard and mouse.

There are still times when a pen and paper is the best way to take down some information, but that leaves you with the problem of getting the written information into the computer.

The Papershow is a combination of a special pen and paper pad that will record what you write or draw. The pen has a tiny scanner inside, which picks up a pattern of dots on the special paper, which allows it to track its position. It sends this information to the computer using a Bluetooth connection (a Bluetooth adapter is supplied, already paired with the pen for a minimum of fuss).

It’s a good system because the adapter doubles as a USB memory key storing both the Papershow software and the drawings and notes you create. This makes it portable between different computers, ideal if you’re on the move.

That’s certainly not the all there is. One pad of the special paper is included, as is, more usefully, a pack of printable paper. The idea is that you can print out a design or meeting agenda on the paper and then annotate it in real time with the pen. The final document can then be saved as a PDF or Powerpoint file including both the printed and written parts. It’s hard to beat for recording and sharing meeting notes.

There is no handwriting recognition, so don’t expect to be able to use Papershow to create emails or Word documents directly – your pages are saved as picture files. Still there are several controls on the paper so you can change the colour and thickness of the on-screen lines, create arrows from lines and undo marks.

This isn’t a cheap way to record your notes. The Oxford Papershow kit with the pen, case, USB dongle, pad, paper and a binder costs £100. We found a 200-sheet pack of the printing paper for around £16 and pads from around £10.

Scanning pens are still expensive but this is an excellent and comprehensive product that works well.