Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen Review
Welcome to the Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen review. As of this writing, this pen is skyrocketing up the Amazon sales charts. It’s certainly not the first “smart” pen ever either, but it’s clearly the best from the 119+ reviews.
The market has spoken. It’s a bestseller for the world’s largest online retailer, which puts it at serious risk for selling out. So you may want to grab yours before they are all gone. Pulling your hair out waiting weeks for something you want to be restocked can be super-frustrating, can’t it?
Check out this video review for more info:
Buy the Livescribe Pulse 2GB Smartpen here (cheapest price).
In any case, let’s get down to the details…
In a New World gone digital, it’s hard for some to even imagine writing with good old-fashioned pen and paper anymore. Yet it still has its place in meetings, classrooms and wherever you just plain don’t want to lug your laptop around. Or maybe you’re just one of the old-school classicists who’d never want to give up the feeling putting pen to paper, yet you wish the ideas you scribble down could be instantly captured in your computer too.
Enter the Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen. It works just like any pen you’ve ever used. It’s got real ink that flows smoothly and can be refilled. But it’s way smarter than that. It can record a mind-boggling 200 hours of audio, so you can spill your guts for more than 8 straight days before it ever runs out.
Even more amazing, the Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen can replay exactly what was happening in the room when you were writing any given word (or even doodling!). Imagine how useful that’d be for remembering specific points from meetings or lectures. Perhaps this little pen could be the ticket to your next promotion!
Okay okay, maybe not, but hopefully you’re starting to get a feel for why having this pen would be so handy. And while it does require using the special “dot paper” to capture the capture the text and audio, you can print your own directly with the Livescribe software! That proves that the company isn’t selling you the pen just to milk you dry later buying the paper. After being gouged on every color of printer cartridge replacements for an old cheapo inkjet, that’s a real relief.
It’s no wonder the Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen is winning so many fans. It’s got double the memory of the previous 1GB version and the software lets you search, share, and save your notes with ease.
Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen Review Technical Specs:
- 2GB memory storage for ~200 hours of audio recording
- Weighs only 1.3 oz
- Constructed from anodized aluminum
- Connects to your computer via USB
- Built-in lithium ion battery lasts up to 12 hours (rechargeable by plugging it into your computer’s USB port or via the cradle that plugs into the wall.)
Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen Review Pros:
- Works just like any other pen, with real ink on paper
- No need to lug your laptop around. Easily upload your data when you get home via the USB connector
- Lets you record audio while you are writing
- Livescribe software works with both PC and Mac
- Audio is stored in AAC-standard format, playable in major audio software (iTunes, Quicktime, etc.). The Livescribe software also allows exporting in both MP4 and WAV format for flexibility
- Search your notes for specific words (users report good character recognition, even with messy handwriting)
- Share your interactive notes–with fully playable audio linked to your text– with your friends online
- Print your own special “dot paper” to save money
- Comes with one bound notebook, and buying additional notebooks is affordable (unlike when printer companies sell you a dirt-cheap printer to make you captive to buying pricey ink refills later)
- Customer support via live chat on the website, email and phone (1-877-SCRIBE9)
Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen Review Cons:
- It’ll cost you upfront. It’s a one-time investment, but it’s certainly much more than the plastic Bics many of us grew up with.
- The warranty is only 90 days from your purchase date. We’d like to see at least 3 months, though there really isn’t much that can malfunction in a device without internal moving parts like this. (It’s very much like an optical computer mouse: built to last, even with daily use.)
- The software can’t currently transcribe your audio to text, but it’s very likely that someone will create the feature in the near future since LiveScribe has opened their platform to 3rd-party development. That means you can also look forward to all sorts of other cool apps for your Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen going forward.
Conclusion
With the list of Pros far outweighing the list of potential Cons in our Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen review, it’s hard not to crave a Pulse Smartpen. It’s a beautiful blend of classic comfort with technorati geekdom to make your life genuinely better.
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