Smart Pen system (a bit OT)

Posted by Jeffery Smith
Apr 27, 2018 at 10:23 PM

Thanks Hugh. It looks like a Wacom Slate (or something like that) system that I looked at a while back. The SmartPens seem to be tiny video cameras that can find a place on a grid of special paper with markings that are not noticeable. None of the SmartPen systems that I have seen in recent searches looks like something well-refined. Some users of the NEO system complain that it works briefly and then just creates marks that resemble a skipping ballpoint pen. Everything seems to have the same issues (at least one or the other). Either the paper is no longer sold, the software interface is no longer updated (Canson PaperShow had BOTH of those issues), or the pen craps out quickly and there is no decent customer support.

Just an update…I did find some examples of people using an Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro, with Notability being the software. That seems to solve all of my issues. Apple will still be around in 5 years, so hardware is not an issue, and I don’t need much convincing to upgrade my 5-year-old iPad to something made in 2017.

Jeffery