Logitech's ill-conceived digital pen gets Bluetooth

So when Logitech didn't revolutionize the world of writing the first nor the second time around, they must have thought "hey, third time's a charm — let's add Bluetooth!" The io2 still works as ever — capturing and digitizing writings and sketches made on special paper — but now it connects wirelessly to your smartphone, PDA, or Blackberry. Gone is the USB cradle, but still remains the fact that pen input to a handheld device is cumbersome no matter which way you slice it. Perhaps no one has clued them in on the existence of Bluetooth keyboards?

[Boxrobber @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I see no use for this pen. I have a perfectly good scanner.

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

When Ericsson, the real creator, first showed this pen (called Anoto ) it was bluetooth enabled, not some USB cradle thing.

I saw it demo'ed at CTIA in 2002 and it was pretty impressive. It needed the special paper, but the guy could pull out what looked like a pad of post-its, jot out a note and email address, draw a sketch, then tick the "send" box on the pad. The resulting message and sketch would go out via BT and GPRS to show up in an email box.

A demo of an order form was even more impressive, the paper form a mimic of web page form that was easier to use than the same content on a tiny cell phone screen.

Maybe now the product will live up to it's original promised potential

[SFguy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I guess it still uses Anoto paper technology...so its next to worthless. I'm not gonna pay $20 for a flippin' notebook.
There are better digital pens out there.

[Edh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

You guys (Engadget) are missing the point of this - it is a vertical market tool, and works quite well. Though Logitech does a poor job of marketing it that way...

Think of it this way - a $200 pen for meter maids (service people, delivery folks, etc..) so they can write a ticket, order etc.. leave a carbon with the customer if needed, and now sync the data at the end of the day to a PC or backend system. Beats a $4000 rugged tablet PC and portable printer.

No, I don't work for logitech, but I have done some large deployments (software side) with this and similar products - and it works well.

[Gillian White @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Does this actually work with Blackberry handsets? RIM has not released their BlueTooth API for hardware developers and on the Blackberry site it says Bluetooth is for voice only-handsfree use only. That's why no one has built a BlueTooth keyboard for the Blackberry yet, even though there's a high demand for it.

[Frank @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

As probably one of the few people who have actually seen this product in action, I can say that this ostensibly ridiculous device has a worthwhile purpose. I work in the IT deptartment of a company who happens to employ several lawyers and, comically, a few of these very items. Most of them are aware of the fact that even a bad typist can capture more WPM than someone who can write really really fast. However, one particular member of the counsel has yet to realize this and insists that being able to digitize her own shitty handwriting is somehow better than just learning how to type a little faster. For the last [God knows how many] years, this woman has taken notes on a yellow legal pad with an overpriced ink pen that probably costs more than the entire wireless pen rig. What I don't think the readers of this blog realize is that people like this actually exist. This person is comfortable with holding a pen and jotting down whatever the speaker she happens to be listening to is saying. Anyone with even the slightest technological inclination will find these devices a complete and utter waste of time (as do I) but rest assured, there is an audience for this product.

That said, I don't know what the hell good Bluetooth is going to do, seeing as the typical user has never heard of it.

[Lucio @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

This device is good for two reasons:

Low learning time respect PDA for work force in the field (everyone know how to write a X)

BlueTooth enabled for transmission to EDGE GPRS cellular phones that store information when it is not possible to transmit to central server.

[randomwalk @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

in 3-4 years, at $20/pen, would you want of these or prefer your pic and a scrap of paper? rather than $20/notebook, there given away for free b/c of the services the notebooks support. its shortsighted that "technologists" all seem to think that digital input should be at the mercy of a keyboard (or worse, a thumbboard for you blackberry slaves). would love to see apple come out with an iPen between now and leapfrog's fly pen launch.

[ZapWizard @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

As far as I know the pen use's optical mouse technology for tracking the surface.

I wonder if they can apply any of their new Laser technology to make it work on any surface?

[gopi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I have the Nokia version of this - the SU-1B. It's something that is searching for a real market outside of vertical applications. Hospitals, for example, use them a lot.

The technology is quite interesting. Every page of an Anoto notebook is different - so the pen knows precisely where on the page it is. In fact, the size of the "virtual page" is larger than Europe and Asia. Yes, that is correct. You could have a sheet of paper as big as two continents, and the pen would, the moment you touched it to the paper, know where it was...

ZapWizard is incorrect in his belief that it works based on standard optical mouse tracking. It's _similiar_, _slightly_, in that it has an optical sensor, but it detects the special dots on the paper and nothing more.

People previously complained about the cost of the notebooks. Yup, they're overpriced. That's just because there aren't that many buyers. It's a chicken and egg problem. However, I am willing to pay $10 to $15/notebook since I honestly don't go through that many and I think it's worth it.

Scanning? Hah. Tedious. Slow. I can touch the pen to the "send" rectangle and get a GIF of the page on my cellphone in 2 or 3 seconds.

[Sam @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I love my IO2 pen... I use it every day to take notes (which often includes many graphs/diagrams) in class. I then am left with my hard copy and a typed copy (with proper figures) that act as my backup.

As for the product...I like Pilots' Dr. Grip pens/pencils so I'm used to larger pens. The battery life is a little short. I've never been left without power (830am-10pm) but I've had it down to 20% by the time I got around to plugging it into the base.

Bluetooth doesn't really interest me as the pen has to be charged no matter what you do. So removing the dock doesn't change that much. I would have preferred to see the removal of the dock by putting a USB connection under a second cap on the back end of the pen. Also, since most of the pen is empty (I cracked open my old, broken one), a USB key built in would be nice too.


Sam