Comments on: IRISPen Executive Review

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:13:09 +0000

This thing is ugly! I know OCR can be very time saving, and time equals money, and this thing is expensive, but if I was going to spend that much money on something, I would like it to look better than that thing! You can’t just slap the word “Executive” on the end of a product name and expect it to be Professional. It looks very blue-collar, like scanner device for a POS at your local convienient store. Also it needs to be portable. Put some flash memory and a rechageable lithium ion on it. For $300, there should be Bluetooth on it as well. I would rather see it the size of a cell phone rather than have a wire hanging off of it, constantly in my way, like the pens at the bank.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 02:43:21 +0000

Thanks for this review. Will save me the trouble of placing a full-size scanner in my briefcase. Could have used one just this afternoon.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 21:22:42 +0000

I own one, and was equally excited at the prospect of organizing my printed journal articles. In practice, however, the bulky hardware, cumbersome proprietary software (and inadequate plug-in), as well as the fact that it requires a computer when scanning, made it very inconvenient for daily use.

For use in quotes, it also poses a peculiar situation: Using this device is cumbersome for quotes that stretch more than 3-4 lines. For any longer lines, it’s easier to either find a PDF file or use a scanned copy and OCR. And for quotes that are only 1-2 lines, typing it yourself will be much faster.

It may be interesting if it had an on-board memory to store images, but a phone cam can already store a legible copy of a document away from my computer. So adding this feature will not confer any advantage to the device.

All in all, selective OCR may sound like a good idea at first, but its use in real life is severely limited. Please be warned.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:47:33 +0000

I stand by the review, that for me, and others, it will prove to be a great timesaver, maybe not for everyone.

By: Nintapple

Nintapple — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:20:06 +0000

This kind of device has existed for years. I remember a classmate using this 6 years ago and being lectured by a teacher on how that was an inadequate way to take notes.

It’s nothing new and the one you reviewed is far too overpriced to have any kind of mass market appeal.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:50:30 +0000

Hello Rick, Thanks for the feedback. I did not test the non exec version, but on the accuracy front it should be the same. Installation was also straightforward with no hitches. Hope this helps. Dave.

By: rick

rick — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:45:26 +0000

Nice review, Thanks! I guess you did not have the chance to test the “non executive” version, but I would be interested to know if the accuracy is the same in both. And I guess installing and using the software in your mac went without any glitches?

For a future review, I would be interested in the Zoom H4 mobile digital recorder.