Capturx for OneNote is one of the few digital pens manufactured by Adapx that is designed for retail sale. Most of the company's sales are geared to businesses or government entities for whom they provide a customized product to support specific business processes. As such, this model is not designed to compete with consumer products that have similar features, so it does not include a microphone or digital recorder such as the Echo Smartpen, nor does it come with companion software. Despite this, the product has excellent performance and meets the needs of many consumers and is our TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award winner.
This product is the only one we reviewed that doesn't come with companion desktop software. This is because the product is designed to complement the existing business processes of an individual or business. Capturx for OneNote provides an add-on that makes the pen compatible with Microsoft's OneNote application, which comes in more recent MS Office packages. The company also offers additional add-ons to make their pen compatible with MS Excel, as well as Adobe Acrobat Professional—both programs in which business forms can be built. In addition, the product has an add-on for MS Sharepoint.
The product utilizes the specially coded paper pattern by Anoto. A unique version of the pattern can be added to the background of a form. When the form is printed and then filled out with the digital pen, the data can be synced to that specific form on your hard drive, transmitted either by mini-USB cable or by a Bluetooth connection through any cell phone.
In Excel, the data on the form can be automatically added in the columns of a spreadsheet with other comparable data. As a result, the time it takes for data entry as well as the associated room for error, is eliminated.
This technology is designed by Adapx to be as user-friendly as possible and to accommodate an individual's existing business processes. If you don't already use OneNote, the program is a great centralized place to put notes that you would have stuck on a Post-it note or written as a sidebar on other business notes. OneNote can be purchased from the Microsoft website for $79.99 or as part of the MS Office 2010 package for $499.99.
If you would rather hand-write than type your notes, you should look into getting a digital pen. It takes a little bit of an adjustment to comprehend power-packing such a rudimentary skill. The words you write will now have a broader purpose. Instead of random scribbles that will serve as a one-time reference, your hand-written notes can be saved as a digitized file and converted to text, which you can incorporate into emails or more formal memos. Once you get accustomed to the pen, its technology will save you time and money.
The pen comes with add-on software to make it compatible with OneNote, a pen docking station, five replacement ink cartridges, a mini-USB cord, and a tablet of Anoto's special paper. The add-on software also allows individuals to print out blank sheets of the paper on demand.
One of the product's most popular accessories is an all-weather waterproof tablet. Since the pen was developed for use in environments where a laptop cannot easily go, such as out in the elements, the waterproof tablet was designed for such use. For example, the U.S. military uses this tablet as a field journal. Each tablet includes what the company calls "widgets," which are icons that, when tapped with the pen, perform certain functions, such as beginning a new notebook.
This pen does not include a microphone or recording device as the Echo Smartpen does. This is because some of Adapx's business customers use the pen in meetings that cannot be recorded, such as court hearings or top secret meetings held by the U.S. Department of Defense.
This pen comes with optical character recognition (OCR) functionality which converts hand-written notes to text. However, the OneNote add-on includes the function to be able to search hand-written keywords throughout all your notes without having to convert them to text.
We found this digital pen to be very functional and durable. Because it uses Anoto paper technology, every word we wrote in a session was accurately recorded. And being able to upload notes into OneNote made it all the easier to send the notes by email through MS Outlook or for use in other MS Office applications.
This pen is fairly ergonomic, although somewhat bulky to write with. It also has an adequate battery life.
We experienced no problems setting up this pen and its accompanying add-on to OneNote. The pen came with easy-to-follow instructions, and we knew that if we had any problems our customer service agent was just a phone call away.
Capturx is not sold online or in retail stores. Instead the company sells its products through customer service agents. This is because they have found customers have so many questions about using the new technology that it was best to provide them with an agent who could answer initial as well as follow-up questions about the product. Expect to get pampered by Adapx if you purchase their product. Questions may be answered by phone or email.
Adapx's digital pens serve a broad range of businesses, including construction, military, healthcare and utilities, so the Capturx for OneNote is a tried-and-tested technology that meets many business needs. And we found many uses for the pen. Although the technology is very sophisticated, the pen is very user-friendly. Adapx customer service staff were also very helpful and cordial.
