Ashley Norris replies: Mention scanner pens to some PC users and they will turn their eyes skywards. Most people who have used one seem to be able to recount a tale of how they scanned a sentence of the Queen's English and turned it into gibberish.
Yet writing handheld scanners off is a little unfair. Since the turn of the century, the models have become simpler to use and their OCR (optical character recognition) systems more efficient. They are significantly cheaper, too, with budget models retailing for less than £100.
So how do they work? Scanner pens are handheld devices designed to read lines of text from documents or books and then convert the text into files, which can be transferred to a PC. Most are a great deal bulkier than actual pens, but they are in effect mini-PCs with a real operating system. They also have storage facilities and come with a screen to display what has been scanned.
Who is buying them? According to Mark Needham, managing director of Widget.co.uk, most of the sales are to students for cribbing from reference books. Anyone involved in research, especially those in the legal and medical professions, is likely to have a scanner pen.
Are today's pens more accurate than their predecessors? If the manufacturers are to be believed, the scanning horror stories of yore are now distant memories. Most claim their pens to be around 95-99% accurate. However, much depends on how they are used. Holding the pen at the right angle, between 75 and 80 is important, as is ensuring you have a finger leaning against the paper to provide stability. First-time users tend to make the mistake of trying to scan too quickly, so go slowly and keep the scanning head firmly on the page.
How do I get the text on to my PC? Most scanning pens have built-in memory - from between 1MB to 6MB (a large book uses about 1MB) so you could use them all day in a library and then transfer the information to your PC on your return home. The easiest way to transfer the data to a PC is by using a USB connection, although some older scanners only feature serial connectors. Users can however scan directly to a PC, or in many instances a PDA, via an infrared connection. Once stored on the PC, the data is compatible with Microsoft applications such as Word and Outlook.
Are there any new features that have emerged in the past few years? More expensive scanner pens feature an integrated dictionary to help out if the scanner finds a word it isn't sure of. Many scanner pens also offer a language translation service, with foreign words turned into English. This is often via additional software transferred from a PC to the pen. Specialist translation scanners will display the foreign words in English or speak them out loud.
So which are the best models? A good, all-round budget pen scanner is the Wizcom Quicklink (£90). For a top-end model, try the C-Pen 800C (£220). If you want a scanner pen for your laptop (PC or Mac), the IrisPen Express (£100) uses a USB connection. For scanning whole pages at a time, consider the Docuport Docupen (£140).
Where to buy? www.widget.co.uk, www.datamind.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk
