I bought this almost exactly 2 years ago. Due to health issues, I hadn't been using it much for the last 6 months. Kept it sealed in a case and taken care of. I went to charge it this morning and... it won't charge. Tried doing the "reset" of holding down Power button for 10+ seconds and still nothing. If anyone else is having this problem and finds a solution, I hope they post it.
Also, I had gotten the MyScript program to convert written notes to text and that was wonderful and very handy for a writer like myself. Went to update that this morning and it's no longer supported. The only way I could even find the download page was to search through old mails where I had contacted them before. Thankfully, I was able to download both that and the Echo Desktop but, once the pen battery is gone, I have no idea what to do.
This is my 1 year update. This pen is useful in so many ways. I save a lot of notes using cloud storage, but I like having notes saved to my pen. I keep 2 of these and they have been invaluable to me as a writer. I haven't had to replace anything but the ink cartridges (which I bought extra when I purchased the pens) and both pens still work perfectly. I have finally lost the nib covers that came with both pens. I don't use all the features that a student might - such as the "flagging" in the notebooks - but I do use the microphone occasionally. I write on most days for at least an hour and I've been happy that these pens are lasting. Not sorry for the investment.
First, let me say that I am using this as a tool with my creative (fiction) writing. I can see why students and other note-takers like the pen but, as a writer, I am blown away so far. I've always done my best writing by hand but I hated having to transcribe everything into a word processor. For the past several years, I have been working at the computer & I am sure my work has suffered. Actually, I've lost many good ideas because I've lost the scribbled notes, or something else happened to them. For me, writing is a fluid process that is done better in long sessions. Now that I have this pen, I can write for hours without losing my flow and I know that I will be able to get my work into a word processor for editing. I just received the pen yesterday at noon and I have been writing almost non-stop since then. I am suggesting that other writers give this a try. I don't think you will regret it at all.
About the pen itself - OUT OF THE BOX - While it was super simple to get this charged, set up and ready to use, I did have a moment when I thought I was missing an ink cartridge. The contents on the side of the box said that there would be 2 of them. They should have just said 1 extra. When I was inventorying the contents, I saw the one cartridge taped to the packaging, but looked for the 2nd one until I realized it was installed already. The instruction booklet was not clear/detailed enough about the pen's Menu items. I still haven't gotten to setting up "shortcut buttons" or "sound stickers". Most of the details can be found online, but... oh well. One other thing I just ran into & haven't figured out yet: there are some symbols at the bottoms of my college ruled paper that won't work. They look like they might be for bookmarking or flagging items, but when I tap them I get a "this feature not supported" message on the pen display. I don't know if the symbols can only be used with a different version of the pen or what, but it sure would be nice to be able to bookmark or flag my written notes. Maybe someone can help me out before I go do some internet sleuthing! lol
I love that the pen came with the Starter notepad. That is actually a great size for writers' notes & I will probably order more of the size later.
WRITING WITH PEN is better than I expected. I was worried that the pen would be too fat, but the grip is nice and comfortable (even for my smaller hands/fingers). I saw some reviews mention the horrible ink - leaking, staining, etc - I haven't had that problem. Keep in mind that I am writing for up to 3 hours at a time, Of course, with the first page of a notebook, you will need to pad with some other paper or else the writing is scratchy and weird. That's true of most ordinary pens. IMO, the pen writes smoothly, the ink has an even flow (I did blot the tip on a tissue after a couple of hours). I do worry about turning the pen to where the camera is not aimed at the paper. I'm training myself to just keep the pen angled to where the display is always skyward. Actually, because of the shape of the pen, you notice quickly when you've turned it the wrong way.
DESIGN - Make sure to read the review by "Oleksiy" It is SO informative & helpful even tho it's from 2012. That review mentioned gluing in the magnet so that it doesn't dislodge/fall out. I'm scared to do anything with glue though & I can't quite figure out what I'd be looking for to glue. I think I will wait til I have the problem before I do a glue fix. Maybe that's a design flaw that has been corrected since 2012. Like I mentioned, I love the way the pen fits in my grip & the casing feels very sturdy. Also. I'm going to be way more careful with this than I am with regular pens!
NOTE-TAKING - This does a wonderful job of capturing my notes exactly as seen on the paper. The MyScript trial I am using will be a keeper for me. The software for Windows is horrible! It's so NOT user-friendly. However, once you get the hang of it - or mostly so - it does a fantastic job of converting written notes to text. I did figure out a couple things that I want to point out - 1) The conversion is EXACT. I tend to write in caps & my text was converted to Word in all caps! LOL! I will have to go and clean that up. 2) The conversion works with what it sees *as you have rendered it*. I did my first page of notes spaced out all around the page (almost like little text boxes) instead of just left to right and down like normal. In Word, that page was crazy looking. The converter basically is looking down at the handwritten notes, and of course, it doesn't recognize that I was writing in text boxes. The Word result was a tangled mess of text. Once I did my handwritten notes correctly, they converted correctly. I am still so awed by how freaking accurate the conversion is. I don't have messy handwriting, but it is my personal style. I found very few errors in the converted text. When I showed a friend, she was like "What kind of voodoo is this?!" So, yes, if you are a writer, then MyScript is definitely worth the cost (about $19), but there is a 30-day trial if you just want to test it out first.
The Echo Desktop program is... Well, once you figure out that you HAVE to have your pen connected to the PC, it's all pretty decent to set up. It's not heavenly & I am still getting used to it, but it's not too bad for a newbie like me.
One thing that I hate about all the online info (and even the printed cheat sheets inside the large notebooks) is that info is mixed for the different types of pens. At least there should be color coding or something so that an Echo owner is not getting freaked out because a Livescribe 3 feature is not coming up. That might be nitpicking.
OVERALL - I don't see myself ever NOT having this or some similar tool. EVER. It is simply too valuable to me with my writing projects. I hope that it works problem-free for a long time, but I will keep my eye out for something similar if I have too many problems.The cost was up there for me, especially since I'm going to have to pay for MyScript, but I think it's worth it. Early days yet, but I will update as needed.
| Standing screen display size | 1.54 |
|---|---|
| RAM | 2 GB |
