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Doxie Go Wi-Fi: Computer-free scanning goes wireless
TUAW has been following the story of Doxie, the mobile scanner, since day one. This year's iteration of the little scanner is the US$229 Doxie Go Wi-Fi, bringing more built-in storage, an iOS app, and Wi-Fi to a popular accessory. Check out the review, then enter to win a Doxie Go Wi-Fi courtesy of Apparent Corporation and TUAW. Specifications Dimensions: 10.5 x 1.7 x 2.2 inches (26.7 x 4.35 x 5.6 cm) Weight: 15.3 ounces (433 grams) Wi-Fi: 802.11n Pages scanned per charge: 300 @ 300 dpi Design The first Doxie scanner was kind of an oddball, seemingly designed as a scanner for 10-year-old girls as it had pink hearts all over it. That design was replaced with a much more businesslike plain white and black plastic design later, and the company has stuck with it. There's one button on the device to turn the power on and off, a tiny Wi-Fi pairing button on the back of the Doxie, and an SD card slot on the back as well. On one end you'll find a port to plug an AC adapter cable (included). There's also a mini-USB port for syncing - I thought this was a bizarre design choice, since most of the rest of the industry has already moved to micro-USB. About the power button: I found it way too easy to accidentally turn the Doxie Go Wi-Fi on when picking up the device by one end. A recessed button might make this less likely to happen. Passing through the center of the scanner is a paper slot. You'll be able to scan photos or documents (the primary use case for Doxie) with this slot, one page and one side at a time. Functionality I like Apparent's way of packaging the device. You open the box, and greeting you is a reference card covered with instructions. In the same plastic bag as the Doxie Go Wi-Fi is a calibration card that you need to pass through the device to complete the setup. First-time charging takes a while; I plugged in the Doxie Go Wi-Fi while working and after four hours it was still charging... Once the device is charged, you go through the calibration process. That takes about 15 seconds to accomplish, after which you can go crazy and start scanning everything in sight. Scans can go right into the device's onboard memory, onto an SD card, or imported and saved onto your iOS device, Mac or PC. Doxie can join your home or office Wi-Fi network, although the company says that that functionality is "in beta." When you're away from that network, Doxie creates its own network that you can connect to from your compatible device. In reality, I found the ability to connect Doxie to my office network to be fast and simple. To scan, you put the page face up and to the left side of the scanner. There's a small movable plastic "margin" on the right side that you can use to make sure that the paper is inserted straight. I found that I had some issues with plain copy-type paper being pulled into the scanner slot; thicker paper worked fine every time. Once the scans have been made, it's time to connect to the scanner from the Mac or PC Doxie app and import them. You can do this either by pulling out the SD card (if you've stored scans on one) and placing it into your Mac's reader, connecting to the Doxie via Wi-Fi, or connecting it with a USB - miniUSB cable. The scans were usually pretty good, but if the page is pulled in at even a slight angle, there's usually a black "wedge" at the top of the scan. Of course, that can be cleaned up in the app. The app also allows rotation and cropping of images, as well as colors adjustment and "stapling" files together. There's also a stitch function for "gluing" numerous scans together to form a larger image. This is also the first time that Doxie has had an iOS app. It's a universal app - about my only issue with it is that it works only in portrait mode. The app is free, checks the network for the scanner, and then allows importation of the scanned images. From the app, it's possible to save scans to your photo library or share them with others. For photo scanning, there's a plastic sleeve with a bar code at the top of it. Pop your photo under the sleeve, and it is immediately scanned. Images with a black border or a lot of dark shadows are sometimes scanned incorrectly, but for the most part the sleeve does a really good job of holding the photographs in alignment. In fact, I'd suggest using the sleeve for scanning things like receipts and business cards. Photo scans came out looking pretty good with decent color matching. I did notice that the black sleeve does pick up dust very quickly, so you may find dust spots showing up on your scans if you don't occasionally wipe the sleeve. Conclusion On the positive side, I have to give the Doxie Go Wi-Fi kudos for the iOS app (finally!), the ability to connect to your Mac, PC or iOS device wirelessly though 802.11n Wi-Fi, the small size, and the speed of scanning. One negative is that there are some issues with starting page feeds into the scanner with very thin paper. Probably the biggest issue I have is that the price tag for the Doxie Go Wi-Fi is a bit on the high side. Considering that there are a number of apps such as Scanbot (free with in-app purchases, read TUAW review) and Evernote's new Scannable (free, read TUAW review) that make scanning from a much more portable iPhone or iPad stupidly easy, is there really a need for an actual mobile scanner in this day and age? I'll answer my own question - no, if you're just scanning bills, receipts, and other such documents. Frankly, I've found the apps described in the previous paragraph to work remarkably well. If you have a lot of small photos to scan, the Doxie Flip ($149) is probably a much better choice, and if you have any larger documents to scan - or a large number of them - you'll probably want to get a dedicated scanner or all-in-one with a sheet feeder. Rating: 3 stars out of 4 stars possible Giveaway It's time to go paperless! Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before January 18, 2015 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing and will receive a Doxie Go Wi-Fi scanner valued at $229. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
You'll Flip over Doxie's newest scanner
Doxie's been around for a while, selling a series of very portable scanners that were battery powered and used a sheet feeder that you could feed one piece of paper or one photo at a time into. These were fairly nice scanners, but you couldn't use them to do something like scan a book -- at least not without doing something really counterproductive like copying the pages first, then feeding those into the scanner. That's why I think the new Doxie Flip (US$149) is going to be popular. It's a small, battery-powered flatbed scanner that can be used in a variety of ways to scan photos, books, sketches, you name it. Design Take your standard flatbed scanner, put it into your shrinkerizer -- you do have one of those, don't you? -- and then reduce the size of the scanner to about 6.5 x 10 x 1 inches. Take the bottom off and put a transparent window in, and add a tiny LCD for previews and for changing settings. That's what the Doxie Flip looks like. The top is an A6-sized (4 x 6 inches) glass surface with a removable plastic flip-up cover. It stores scanned images onto an SD card, which you can then pop into the SD card slot on your Mac or into a reader for an iPad. The entire thing is powered by a pair of AA batteries, and the Flip weighs in at 1 lb 7.3 oz. There are some great accessories for the Flip, including a $19 Flip Case with a hidden pocket that's a perfect size for Field Notes notebooks. You know those little memo books they have, that are 3-1/2" by 5-1/2" big? They're perfect for scanning with the Flip, and early buyers will get a limited edition Doxie Field Notes memo book with "a unique textured French Paper Speckletone 80# Cream Cordtone cover". Eat your heart out, Dave Caolo (he's a collector of all things Field Notes)! There's also a $29 SD Card reader available in either Lightning or 30-pin Dock Connector versions for use with your iPad, iPhone 5c, or iPhone 5s. A 4 GB SD card and a USB SD card reader are included with the Doxie Flip at no cost. Functionality The big question is how this little flatbed scanner works, and the answer is "very well!" The review device came with a box full of photos, postcards, and a swatch of material, all of which I scanned in a very short amount of time at 600 dpi (there's also a 300 dpi setting). To scan something, you just power on the Flip with a small thumb switch on the side, and then you're greeted with a prompt to set the time and date on the device. There's a small five-key pad that is used to move around the various prompts and make your selection, and I was able to do the setup, read the built-in manual, and even (after scanning) look at my scanned images on the color screen using that navigation pad. In the gallery below are eighteen scans of color and black & white photos and post cards. The scans are surprisingly accurate -- all of the images you see in the gallery are unretouched and the color accuracy is uncanny. But the big deal with the Flip is that you can take off the cover of the scanner, place it on any larger surface, and scan it as well. Have a large piece of art you want to scan? You can take off the cover, flip the scanner over, look through the back to line it up, and push the large green scan button on the side to capture your scans. Although it's not available now, Doxie promises an update to the software in the near future that will stitch together these smaller images automatically into one larger image. Just for the heck of it, I made some additional scans using the Flip feature, and also timed how long scans took. A 600 dpi scan took about 22.4 seconds (that's for the scan and for the scanning bar to return to its default position), while a 300 dpi scan took about 14.6 seconds. Those scans are included in the second gallery below. There are some other nice features of the Doxie Flip, like being able to set the device to automatically turn off after a certain duration of non-use. Once you're done with the scans, just move the images to your favorite device and import them. Doxie also has an app that provides an easy way to do cropping, rotation, color and contrast adjustment, and also to "staple" two or more images together. This last feature is quite fun -- if you want to send multiple images (like the front and back of a postcard, for example) to someone, you can staple them together and then send them to Preview as a PDF. I do wish that the Send button on the Doxie app had a button for sending images directly via Apple's Mail app. All in all, I'm VERY impressed with the Doxie Flip. I own an Epson WF-3540 All-In-One with a sheet feed and flatbed scanner, and I'm frustrated with how hard it is to make decent scans and get them over to my Mac sitting literally inches away. Not only is the Epson software less than usable, but third-party apps I've tried aren't very helpful either. And everything has to be carried to the scanner; I can't carry the scanner to the items I want to scan. That's the beauty of this scanner; if I want to grab it and take it to my parent's house to scan some old photos, the Flip is lightweight and fits into a backpack. If my wife wants to scan a box full of old photos while watching TV, that's easy to do with the Flip. This would be a perfect tool for a student doing research or working on art projects. That being said, is it the scanner for everyone? Well, if you have stacks of full-sized and two-sided paper documents that you need to scan into Evernote or Dropbox, then you probably still need to consider using a sheet-fed scanner. Making four or more scans of every page with the Doxie Flip and then using the soon-to-be-released stitch capability of the app to "glue" them together would be counterproductive. This thing just works, and I'd heartily recommend it to anyone. And one more thing... I tested the Doxie Flip with an Eye-Fi Connect X2 card and was able to send scanned items directly from the Flip to my Mac. How cool is that? Conclusion Doxie has created a winner in the Doxie Flip mini flatbed scanner. It's as portable as a paperback book, scans quickly and accurately, and is so simple to use that you could -- and should -- give it to your kids to let them get creatively crazy. I'm not the type to gush about something as commonplace as a scanner, but the Doxie Flip is an exception. Now you'll have to excuse me; I'm going to take this out to my back yard and scan some of the leaves that have fallen... Pros Book-sized and insanely portable for a flatbed scanner Doxie desktop software is impressive and will be even more so when the auto-stitch capability is enabled in an upcoming update Excellent color rendition in scans of up to 600 dpi Easy navigation of the onboard display, with very simple settings Works with Eye-Fi cards for direct-to-Mac/PC scanning from anywhere on your network Perfect size for scanning printed photos and postcards Cons Currently can't scan items larger than 4 x 6 inches, although that limitation will disappear with the auto-stitching software upgrade Who is it for? Anyone with a Mac, PC or recent iOS device who has a need or desire to be able to scan printed photos, postcards, small notebooks, or 2D art objects quickly and portably.
Doxie Flip is a battery-powered, flatbed-style portable scanner that costs $149
When it comes to portable scanners, Doxie already has a little something for most everyone. But there's nothing wrong with adding yet another one to its lineup, right? Today, the company is announcing the Doxie Flip, a wireless scanning device that bears a flatbed appearance and remains as easily transportable as the other members of the family. Unlike Doxie's Go and One, however, the Flip isn't designed to capture documents -- instead, the idea is to be able to scan artifacts of many different shapes and sizes, such as notebooks, photo albums, coins and other stuff your creative mind might think of. On the software side, Doxie is making folks who are invested in its ecosystem feel right at home, since the newly released Flip relies on the same software as previous models. The Doxie Flip is now available for $149, and you can get a better glimpse of it by checking out the gallery below.
IRL: Western Digital MyBook external hard drives, Doxie Go and Apple's Podcasts App
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Merry Almost-Christmas, folks. Time to find out if Engadget's editorial staff was naughty or nice this year. If our recent experiences with tech are any indication, we might be atoning for something: Billy's external hard drive is about to die a drawn-out death and Brian's still looking for an alternative to Apple's lousy Podcasts app. But at least Darren's enjoying his mobile scanner, so that 's good, right?
Doxie One scanner begins shipping, brings on-the-go scans for $149
It's been less than a month since Doxie introduced us to its newest portable scanner, the Doxie One, and today the company announced its on-the-go apparatus is ready to hit the masses. Available worldwide as of now, the Doxie One's an easily conveyable add-on that does scans mostly anywhere folks decide to take it, which is made easier by being compatible with both Mac and PCs as well as iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (must be running iOS 6). The Doxie One starts at a not-too-shabby $149, while Doxie also offers a slightly pricier unit in the WiFi-capable Doxie Go for $199. Interested in snagging one for yourself? Then be sure to hit the source link below, where you'll be able to pick from an array of colors and move on with the checkout process.
Doxie One portable scanner rolls in for $149, plays well alone and syncs with Mac, PC and iOS
Doxie has added another portable scanner to its heart-logo'd lineup, the Doxie One, which can digitize documents and images to an included SD-card with nary a computer in sight. Doxie says that'll let you travel light with the "paper-towel roll sized" device to scan and automatically generate Abbyy OCR-read PDFs, then sync up later with a Mac, PC, iPhone or iPad. From there, you can use the included app on a Mac or iDevice to transfer the scans to Dropbox, Evernote or iMessage. The device eschews the WiFi option of its recent Doxie Go sibling, but carries a lesser $149 sticker -- check the PR for the full dope.
Doxie's new DoxieGo + Wi-Fi: Demo video at Macworld iWorld 2012
Yesterday while I was on the show floor at Macworld | iWorld 2012, I came upon a 7-foot-tall scanner walking around. After I figured out that my cold medicine wasn't making me hallucinate, I knew that I was in the right place -- the Doxie booth. There I was able to interview Paul Scandariato of Doxie about their new DoxieGo + Wi-Fi mobile scanner and grab some video. The new scanner communicates with your Mac or iOS device over Wi-Fi, and allowing you to scan straight to the cloud if you wish. Paul noted that many users scan their documents straight to Dropbox, then open them for viewing or annotation on the iPad. The DoxieGo + Wi-Fi is priced at US$249, while the DoxieGo previously reviewed by TUAW remains at $199. For Macworld show-goers, you can the Doxie scanners for $50 off of list price through Saturday. Here's the DoxieGo + Wi-Fi in action:
Doxie Go portable scanner creates searchable PDFs without a PC, syncs to almost anything
As far as scanners go, Doxie makes some of the more interesting products on the market. There's one problem though... the bright trail of hot pint hearts splashed across the front. Thankfully, the upcoming Doxie Go dons a more conservative shell that will look just as at home in a CEO's office as it would in a 16-year-old girl's bedroom. The Go is a portable scanner with built-in memory for up to 6,000 pages, and you can even add on more storage through the USB port or SD slot. All scans are automatically fed through OCR software and turned into searchable PDFs. To get the scans on your PC you actually sync the Doxie Go to your Mac or Windows machine. You can also sync with your iPhone, iPad or send your documents straight to Dropbox, Evernote or Google Docs from the Doxie 2.0 desktop app. You can pre-order the Go now for $199 and it'll start shipping in late November. Check out the gallery below and PR after the break. %Gallery-136890%
Doxie Go cuts the wires, scans to Mac, iPad, and iPhone
Apparent Corporation today announced Doxie Go, a new member of their portable scanner family and the first to allow scanning without a computer. The US$199 scanner won't ship until late November, but there are plenty of reasons to get excited about Doxie Go. To start with, the scanner no longer requires a computer. If you're on the run somewhere and need a quick scan of a document, you can grab it and store it on the Doxie Go. The device has a 600-page memory, and you can use USB flash drives or SD cards for more storage. The scanner can grab a full color page in less than 8 seconds. Once you're returned to the vicinity of your Mac or PC, Doxie Go plugs into your computer and synchronizes the scans. Yeah, it's not "really" wireless, since you'll still need to connect it to something via USB to retrieve and use the scans. When you're ready to sync, Doxie Go launches the Doxie 2.0 software (included) and your documents, receipts, or photos are moved to your computer. In December, Apparent will release a $39 accessory for transferring scanned documents to your iPad or iPhone. If you use an SD card to store your Doxie scans, you can also use the Apple Camera Connection Kit to move those scans to your iOS devices. The Doxie 2.0 software can create searchable PDFs through the included ABBYY OCR capability, and sync to Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs, and other cloud services. Scanned items can be "stapled" together to combine them for a specific purpose. Check out the press release below for more information. Show full PR text Scan anywhere: Doxie Go unveiled Groundbreaking 'Post-PC' paper scanner scans anywhere – no computer required; sync scans direct to Mac, PC, iPhone, & iPad; all new Doxie 2.0 software creates searchable PDFs RALEIGH, NC, USA (October 18th, 2011) – Apparent today unveiled Doxie Go, the modern new mobile paper scanner that's tiny, cordless, and simple, so you can scan anywhere – no computer required. Doxie's app syncs scans – just like a digital camera – then organizes multi-page documents, creates searchable PDFs with ABBYY® OCR, and sends to the cloud – Evernote, Dropbox, and more. Scan anywhere – no computer required.For all your paper Doxie scans everything from bills and receipts to reports, recipes, ideas, cards, photos, and everything else.Tiny and fast Doxie's tiny size means you can scan anywhere, no computer required. Scan full color pages in just 8 seconds.Built-in battery and memory Scan up to 600 pages with built-in memory, or insert a USB flash drive or SD card for endless storage.Sync to Mac, PC, iPhone, & iPad Doxie Go syncs scans to your computer – just like a digital camera. Doxie even syncs direct to iPhone & iPad.1 Doxie 2.0 software included.Connect to sync Doxie Go syncs scans to Doxie 2.0 when you plug it in – just like a digital camera – and charges while you sync.Simplicity is key Doxie's intuitively designed companion app makes going paperless amazingly easy. Just sync, staple, and save.Create searchable PDFs Award-winning ABBYY® OCR technology recognizes the text on your scans and creates searchable PDF files.2Evernote & Dropbox ready Doxie works directly with Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs, and more – send PDFs and images to the cloud.Now Available For Pre-Order Doxie Go is the newest member of Apparent Corporation's award-winning Doxie® scanner family, and includes the cordless scanner, Doxie 2.0 software, and a carrying case. Now available for pre-order for $199. The first orders ship in late November. Complete product information and images available here. Doxie Go web site: http://www.getdoxie.com/product/doxie-go Resources for press and bloggers: http://www.getdoxie.com/press/ About Doxie® brand paper scanners Doxie delivers modern, award-winning scanners for digitizing and organizing paper, photos, and receipts. Doxie scans anywhere – no computer required, sends directly to the cloud, and syncs to Mac, PC, iPhone, & iPad. +1 800-550-5470, www.getdoxie.com. About Apparent Corporation Apparent makes smart devices and software that rocks. Apparent's award-winning products and brands include IntelliScanner home and small business barcode readers that organize everything; Barcode Producer, the industry standard barcode generation suite for graphic designers; and Doxie, the amazing scanner for documents. +1 919-468-0340, hello@itsapparent.com, www.itsapparent.com.
TUAW review and giveaway: Doxie portable scanner
The dictionary defines "doxy" as a lover or mistress, so it's not surprising that the new Doxie portable scanner from Apparent has pink hearts as a defining graphic feature. The hearts are in the dock when you have the Doxie software running, there's a pink heart over the "i" in Doxie, there's a string of eight progressively smaller pink hearts along the front of the device, and to scan, you push a big button with a pink heart on it. Apparent's product is a very capable product, despite the graphics which make it appear to be something designed for little girls. Fortunately, the company realizes that the pink hearts might not be acceptable to manly men, so the scanner comes with a choice of stick-on skins that provide it with more masculine zebra hide, wood grain, plain black, blue and white sky scape, Scottish tartan, and black-and-blue plaid appearances (see below). Read on as I give this new entry to the portable scanner market a full workout, and then enter our giveaway to get a chance to win a Doxie for yourself.
