Pen-Sized Color Scanner Reviewed

moto writes "ThinkComputers has a review up of a cool pen-sized scanner, the Planon RC800 Portable Color Scanner. From the article: 'I've noticed one major constant about most technology, as it changes it gets smaller. Take scanners for instance, I have a few of them, an older one that is pretty big, you could use it for a computer case if need be, if I lined them up in order of age you would find that they get smaller as they get newer. Today for review I have the smallest scanner yet, it's from Planon, and they actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.'"

Comments

This is old news.

[yagu]

While a handheld pen-sized scanner may intrigue, it's not very new, not even for this particular device. If you go to the amazon.com review of this device, and look and see the oldest review for this device is in October of 2004!

Additionally, while there are only fifteen reviews, the average is only 3.5/5 stars, enough of an indicator (to me at least) this isn't exciting or very interesting technology (for the record, a running theme at amazon seems to indicate a klunky package with difficult to use software and controls). Also fifteen reviews over a 15 month period would indicate a product that isn't moving. Perhaps this review is a nudge to try and get the product moving?

Re:This is old news.

[SteelV]

It is possible that it's just too new, so it isn't ready for market yet--that could by why the items aren't moving. Of course, I'm sure the first iterations of this product won't be amazing, but as time goes by, they'll probably improve.

Of course, the idea of having such a tiny scanner is amazing. It would be great to one day have a normal pen that you can just slide along a piece of paper anywhere and it will save the image. Later, you could upload it to your computer wirelessly. I would definitely pay a few hundred dollars for something like that, if not a thousand. It would be great in class to quickly scan in and then throw away every handout, so I don't need to keep them in a folder somewhere collecting dust.

Re:This is old news.

[dattaway]

It is possible that it's just too new, so it isn't ready for market yet-

or the dozen or so patents haven't expired yet for a community to develop and release an improved version without bugs.

Re:This is old news.

[kfg]

Perhaps this review is a nudge to try and get the product moving?

I RTFA. What review? It's pure, unadulterated online ad, exactly the sort of copy I would expect to see at a place that asked me to add it to my cart just to see the sale price.

The "reviewer" needs to wear a Tshirt that says "I'm a ho" on it.

KFG

Re:This is old news.

[slavemowgli]

The "reviewer" needs to wear a Tshirt that says "I'm a ho" on it.

That was over the top. Apologise to the hoes now. ;)

Re:This is old news.

[kfg]

Apologise to the hoes now.

You're right and I'm sorry. The hoes are professionals.

KFG

When size matters...

[eMartin]

"I've noticed one major constant about most technology, as it changes it gets smaller."

Hey baby..

I'm just more technologically advanced.

Re:When size matters...

[typical]

Actually, "small" and "futuristic" are not necessarily mentally intertwined as you might think.

I remember looking at old futuristic art from, oh, the 30s through the 50s. The future was big. Big buildings, bridges, ships, and later big airplanes and spaceships. Big cars, big roads. I suspect that for the typical person from that period, "futuristic" would be more closely associated with "big" than "small".

Is that a...

[cuteseal]

... scanner in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? :D

Are you SUURE this is a good idea?

[MrAnnoyanceToYou]

See, like, 'cause I just saw this movie Firewall where Harrison Ford transferred 10,000 bank account numbers from a screen into digital data in an iPod in, like, three minutes, and I think this could really cause a problem because, you know, people could totally scan all sorts of secure data virtually instantaneously and then use it to, say, steal a hundred miiillion dollars.

And he even did it with the scanner used in a Fax machine. Totally awesome techie feat, not to mention impossible. The greatest line ever, though: "Ten thousand songs, ten thousand account numbers. It can't tell the difference." I fell out of my chair.

Useful in class/workplace

[SteelV]

This is a great way to start moving even further from the paper world. Every one or two-page document you get in class/the office you can quickly scan with a pen, then upload wirelessly to your computer. The day this becomes effective and viable--and the software for converting scanned images to text/pdf/.doc files becomes more accurate--we'll start to see an even greater shift away from traditional documents.

Already, most handouts in class can be found online. This will just make it even easier to keep everything on your computer for easy retrieval--especially through SEARCH (spotlight, google DS, vista, etc.).

Can't wait till they technology is cheaper and more efficient.

Re:Useful in class/workplace

[Forbman]

People said the same thing about the old Logitech Scanman portable scanners (twas about the size of a trackball. With the software, it made it easy enough to join up scan strips into one whole). Then there is the Visioneer scanners, etc. Now would be a digital camera with a ring flash and a good high quality macro lens and good quality sensor. The flash would need to be bright enough yet diffuse enough to allow for hand-held picture taking, and if the optics are good enough so that simulating pixels (ala digital resolution) isn't a bad deal, either.

Re:Useful in class/workplace

[Planesdragon]

So while it is theoretically possible to move towards a paperless society, and devices like this would help, it is not exactly practical within the existing legal frameworks of many nations.

The computer works best when you think of it as a box that does wonderous things that you used to use many pieces of paper for.

The stream, for those that still get paper in, should be "recieve paper -> Scan document -> archive or discard paper -> Create product -> print product." You start having a paperless society by having a paperless office, which means that you care about the "original" only in an abstract way, and you never touch it again if you don't have to.

I'll wager that every accounting firm in the world uses computers to track and tabulate every single line of every thing they track. The paper product they produce is usually the form of a statement, which is in paper form mostly for the convenience of their client. (The government is starting to mandate electronic filing over here.)

Medical records in paper form--well, maybe for insurance reasons, but that's a backup and not the primary record. (Unless your doctor happens to ENJOY hiring two extra staff just to handle the shelves.)

Engineering documents and specs -- well, you're right, blueprints and draft materials are usually in paper form. Because that's the only high-resolution zero-power medium we've got. Come up with a cheap 36" x 48" 1200 dpi piece of electronic paper, and watch how fast blueprints adapt. (A dead tree version of buidling plans may very well be finally filed with the local jurisdiction for archival purposes, but that same office likely won't balk at a DVD of the same images that it can store alongside them. Big-budget offices will likely ask for this.)

Oh, and as for the rest of the world--the part that isn't engineering or government-bean-counting, including those insurance companies you mention--getting rid of paper as a permanent data source has either already happened or is going to happen in the next ten years, on pain of bankruptcy. There's just too many beneits for it not to make sense to do so.

That's an earler version of the product

[Reality Master 201]

The page you linked to is the R700. This article is a review of the R800.

I remember my first scanner

[Ralph Spoilsport]

300 dpi, 3 pass scanner, 8.5in x 11in, slow as mollasses and cost me $1500.

Now I have an 8.5 x 11 scanner that does 2400 dpi in a single pass and it only cost me $89 on sale at Best Buy.

Amazing what happens in a dozen years...

RS

Re:I remember my first scanner

[kfg]

Indeed, however, even though your older scanner is quite a bit larger I'll wager its form factor is still determined by the size of a piece of paper.

The worlds smallest playable violin is only 4 inches long, but you're not likely to see people lining up to buy it. There is an international standard now for the "correct" size of a violin, because:

For every technology there is a right size. A working automobile the size of a peanut would be a remarkable bit of manufacturing technology; and useless.

KFG

Re:I remember my first scanner

[morcheeba]

You're constraining the possible solutions to fit your notion of the technology.

It's like saying "the world's smallest boulder is so small that it fits in a hat box!"

I've got a motorcycle that runs circles around most cars -- it is bigger than a peanut, but accelerates faster than a supercar and still gets 40 mpg. (my other bike is faster than 85% of all cars, but gets 90 mpg and is 1/5th the cost of a stripped civic). The only reason you would think it's useless is because it isn't a car. But, it does everything I want it to. (I don't ask it to haul stuff or work in bad weather - I have a car for that).

I've got a camera that I use as a scanner - it's much smaller and totally portable. It scans notebooks and huge chaulk boards with equal ease. It operates on a totally different principle than most scanners (focus at infinity instead of near-field) but it's a viable alternative.

So, I don't think there is a right size for most technologies if you don't unnecessarily constrain them.

Who knows... a 4" mind-controlled violin could be a really cool instrument to play while jogging!

That's not the same unit.

[AllenChristopher]

You've linked to a review of the R700. The R700 is a monochrome unit.

This is the R800. The R800 is a colour unit with higher resolution. They also claim to have improved the tracking system and software so it isn't so fiddly.

The difference in utility is pretty major. I wouldn't bother with a monochrome pen scanner, but I would love to be able to quickly scan visual reference material out of art books quickly. They tend to be expensive and have low print runs, but photocopying for reference when doing a painting is fair use.

There's a reason scanners are big

[fm6]

While a handheld pen-sized scanner may intrigue, it's not very new...

Indeed, Slashdot's sibling site, ThinkGeek, used to sell little monochrome scanners meant for OCR work. I actually bought one, but found it too hard to hold it steady enough to work reliably. And come to think of it, the first scanner I ever bought was a little handheld thing. I didn't buy it (ten years ago, I think) because it was small, I bought it because it was cheap. But again, too hard to hold steady.

If you look carefully at a typical $100 scanner, you'll realize that the electronics contribute very little to its size. Most of the bulk is due to the mechnical stuff that holds the paper in place and moves the sensors across it.

That kind of mechanical engineering has clearly hit its fundamental limits in terms of size. To get a real breakthrough, you'd have to find a way to do without moving the sensor over the image. You can already image a piece of paper with a digital camera — and some digital cameras are very tiny indeed. But they don't include the ability to correct the image for the arbitrary positioning of the camera. Invent that, and you'd have a handheld scanner worth talking about.

Useful to genealogists

[brian0918]

This would be useful for those doing research in libraries' historical records. They rarely lend out their older collections, and in some cases won't let them be scanned either. This could be a useful covert way of doing just that.

WTFC?

[AlterTick]

and they actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Honestly, is there anyone over the age of 12 that's still impressed with anything in the Guiness Book of World Records? And even if so, why is a record of "Worlds Smallest Scanner" even worth recording? It'll be beaten as a matter of course when the R900 comes out.

usable with Linux?

[srk]

Does anybody know if it works with Linux or Mac? Manufacturer's web site has only Windows as a supported system.

Re:usable with Linux?

[markdavis]

Apparently not, since http://www.planon.com/drivers.php indicates that it is, indeed supported under MacOS 10:

"Please note that these files are drivers only and do not include any scanning software. They will allow you to use your DocuPen with your mac if your mac has OS 10 and a TWAIN compliant imaging software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Acrobat Writer among others."

Unfortunately, no mention of Linux, so it is not an interesting product, afterall.

Re:usable with Linux?

[srk]

There are lots of products for which manufacturers do not claim any Linux compatibility. However, such products are often perfectly usable with Linux either because there is a community support or a product is built to some standard. For example, I have not seen a USB key claiming compatibility with Linux but 99.99% of them work fine.

I wonder if somebody tried this scanner with Linux? Also this scanner can use microSD card to extend its memory. It may store the files on the card in some usable format.

Most consumer stuff is crap

[Jaime2]

I work with scanners regularly and all the destop scanners we recommend to our clients cost around $1000 or more. Dedicated 8hr-a-day scanners run close to $5000. We don't make a dime on hardware, so we're not trying to squeeze cash out of anyone. Just try a $1000 scanner like a Kodak i40 someday and you'll see why anyone who depends on a scanner for a business shouldn't consider anything inferior.

Now, if you show me a pen scanner that makes images good enough to ORC or recognize a bar code and I'll sell a million of them for you. But for now, I love to have an ultra-reliable, self-feeding, double-sided, 60+ ppm scanner whenever I need to scan anything worthwhile.

All I want from scanner manufacturers

[melted]

All I want from scanner manufacturers is come up with a model of scanner that can scan _multiple_ pages, from _both sides_, _automatically_, bundled with decent OCR software and archiving software. I'd just feed all the paperwork I receive in a week into it and have a searchable archive. Unfortunately, the industry is run by morons and it's not gonna happen.