E-Pens Mobile Notes

Anyone who has attempted to convert a series of handwritten notes to text on a computer knows that transcription can often be a painstaking and time-consuming process, so automating this with a device such as E-pens Mobile Notes could save a lot of hassle.

The package consists of a digital stylus that acts as a regular pen, a receiver unit and conversion software. It can either be used on the move or as a mouse for tablet PCs, or for handwritten text entry into various applications.

Setup is straightforward and, once charged, the receiver can be clipped to the top of a pad of paper, picking up pen strokes to store as one of up to 50 virtual pages.

Once connected to a computer, these can be imported using the supplied software and converted to digital text using optical character recognition, with a range of settings available to denote language, writing style and end-format.

In addition to this, switching to mouse mode means that pen movements control the pointer on screen, with a tap on the page or click of the control button on the pen, activating left and right click.

We were very impressed by the responsiveness of the stylus and receiver and, though you have to write quite neatly to achieve 100 per cent accuracy, it does an admirable job of converting scrawl into text.

If you are unable or unwilling to write neatly, there is a recognition trainer provided to help the software interpret your style of writing, although you will need to proofread and alter text after writing to correct inevitable mistakes.

A bigger issue is that the pen doesn’t feel solid or well-built and is prone to slipping in the hand slightly after extended use. For normal writing, a premium fountain or ballpoint pen is much more satisfying.

However, the Mobile Notes package is still an effective product for saving time when transferring handwritten notes onto a PC.