In the high tech world, everything keeps getting smaller and smaller. The DocuPen is a perfect example. It weighs in at just 2 ounces. It is only 8 inches long and less than an inch in height and width. It is the tiniest scanner that I’ve ever seen. It looks like some other pen scanners that scan a few lines at a time, but the DocuPen can scan an entire page at once.
If portability is your goal, the DocuPen is for you. Since it is battery-operated, you can use it on the go. Whether you are in an airplane, at a library, or sitting on a park bench you can scan any document. The DocuPen stores the scan until you download it to your computer.
To scan a document, you start at the top of the page and drag the pen down across the page. There is a red light that alerts you if you are going too fast. You need to keep the scanner straight and to assert and maintain a light, steady pressure. It took me about a half an hour of practicing to be able to get the speed and pressure correct. Scanning books took a little more practice, but once you have the technique mastered you can scan just about any document.
Installation of the software and hooking the scanner up to the computer, with the included USB cable, was easy, but the instructions were not always clear. For example, the instructions would say things like “At this point you can run the OCR”, but doesn’t tell you how.
The scanner is fast. Planon System Solutions claims that the device will scan an entire page of text and graphics in only four seconds. My scans took only a few seconds longer. Once the scanned page has been transferred to your computer, the included PaperPort software allows you to easily print, fax, e-mail, or export the scanned pages. PaperPort includes OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that will turn your scan into a document that is editable in any word processing program. You will want to scan the document at 200 dpi for the OCR software to be accurate.
The DocuPen isn’t perfect. You can choose to scan either in 100 dpi or 200 dpi by pressing a button either once or twice. While both of these are readable, you won’t get the clarity that you may be used to in a desktop scanner. The 2MB of flash memory is enough to store about 100 pages of text, but the number of pages will be reduced considerably if you scan in a lot of graphics or if you consistently scan in at the higher resolution. The scanner works only with PCs and only in black and white. The two cell type batteries allow for complete portability, but they are quickly consumed and somewhat expensive to replace. Planon says that you will get an approximated 200 pages from a set of batteries, but in my testing the batteries expired after about 135 scans.
I can think of a lot of people who might benefit from the DocuPen including any mobile professionals like real estate agents, insurance adjustors and salesmen. It is a bit pricey, but obviously, it will also be useful to students and researchers. Information junkies of all types will be enamored of this device. It could be a lifesaver for anyone needing immediate copies without having a large scanner or copy machine available. Yet the true value of this device will be in future renditions. If Planon can incorporate more memory, better resolution, and longer battery life into future DocuPens, they will be spectacular.
