Nokia Digital Pen SU-27W Review

Introduction:

The Finnish manufacturer Nokia brings on the market the interesting “Save your ideas in a pen” solution. We present to your attention the Nokia SU-27W Digital Pen, which comes 5 years after the first model - SU-1B, developing the concept of digital writing. The manufacturer has improved the memory and the battery time, coming up with a design very similar to a regular pen. Even though Nokia offers such type of accessory, the product is a rebrand model of Logitech’s io™2 Digital Pen.

The device targets the people who want to save their notes on paper and digitally at the same time, without losing time in copying.

You have to remember, that the pen recognizes only notes written on digital paper.

Package content:

Design:

At first, the device is not much different in style than a big stylish business pen – its weight - 1.32 oz. (37.5 g) and dimensions of 6.18 x 0.94 x 0.82 inches (157 x 24 x 21 mm), are a bit bigger, but still acceptable. It is entirely made of red quality plastic, pleasant to the touch. Removing the cap, we see, that the lower part is rubber coated for better grip, and it is skewed, where the nib is because of the IR (Infra Red) beam sensor, which records what has been written in the Pen memory. The battery and the page indicators are hidden behind a shiny strip in the upper part. On the other side of the rubber-coated part is located at the connector/charger module and over it is the reset button.




The cap and the pen holder are also black and are made of the materialused to make the entire device, so they fit the design. In the middlethere is a belt/neck/pocket clip, in the center area of which there isa small opening so you can refill.

Writing with the digital pen is pleasant and easy, as using a regular one, just take off the cap. The device fits very well in the palm of a hand and thanks to the rubber-coated part it doesn’t slip.

Functionality:

Overall, the Nokia Digital Pen SU-27W offers quite a lot of options and we'll check most of them out.

First, in order to be able to digitally record your notes, you have to be writing on digital paper. Digital (interactive) paper has a dot pattern printed on it, used by the pen to store handwriting digitally. The ink absorbs infra red light transmitted from the digital pen; the pen contains a receiver which interprets the pattern of light reflected from the paper and stores the data. The dot pattern is a kind of two dimensional barcode. The complete pattern space is divided into various domains. These domains can be used to define paper types, or to indicate the paper's purpose (for example, memo formatting, personal planners, notebook paper, Post-it notes, et cetera). Digital paper should not be confused with electronic paper (e-paper), which is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. (Reference: Wikipedia) When you have used up al the notepads from the set, you can buy new ones. You will not find such items on Nokia’s official site, so you will have to order them from other places. The larger online retailers, such as Amazon.com, usually offer sets of three Logitech notebooks (128 pages) size A4 between $13 and $19 .Unfortunately the A5 notepads are hard to find and and it can make you fret.

There are few interesting options offered by the Digital Pen. One of them lets you choose the font size and color from the Setting boxes section at the back of a supplied notepad, before you start writing. In order to change those, use the pen to tap the respective box, to confirm the selection the device vibrates briefly. Remember that the modifications made to the font, are not visible on the digital paper, but become visible, when uploaded to a mobile device or a PC.

Nokia recommends using the larger notepad for notes and the smaller one for messages.

After removing the cap, tap the new notepad box on the first page of the notepad and start writing or drawing. You should not be worried that the SU-27W is not connected to another device through the Bluetooth, because it records everything in its memory. It will get full some day and then the pen will start vibrating continuously.

To free up some space you will have to transfer and delete some information from the device. To do that you need to connect it to a computer, using the cradle or via Bluetooth. To use the second method the pen has to be in pairing mode, which is active for 2 minutes after removing the cap. In addition, you can activate it anytime you want by tapping on the Pairing box field, located on the last page of the notepad. You will still need to install the Logitech iO2 software, which is on the CD, included in the box. You will actually need the same program, in order to manage and edit your notes. The iO2 does a perfect job, recognizing even bad handwriting, so you shouldn’t worry if you write illegibly.

On the CD you will also find the software, necessary for your mobile device to accept and read data transferred from the pen. Unfortunately, the manufacturer only provides software supporting the Symbian S60 or S80 OS.

If the device stops working, even though fully charged, you will have to restart it. This is done, by removing the cap and pressing the reset button with a paper clip. You can continue your work afterwards. This action doesn’t clear the stored settings, including pairing information and the notes saved in the pen memory.

When the ink cartridge is empty you need to install a new one in place. To do that, you have to remove the cap and put the tip of the empty cartridge in the opening on the cap’s clip. After that tilt the cap slightly clockwise and pull the cap clip to take out the ink cartridge. Insert a new cartridge into the pen, and gently press its tip against the notepad supplied to secure it in place. The device comes with 3 extra cartridges, but if you need a refill you can buy one at a local office supply store or you can order some online,at the price of about 10$ per set of 3.

Performance:

The Nokia SU-27W has a 1.3 MB of memory, which is equal to approximately 100 full A5 pages. This should satisfy the needs of even the most capricious users. The battery is Li-Ion, 180mAh and according to official data you could leave the pen on standby for 20 hours or work with it for 3 hours. It takes 1.5 hours to fully charge it, which is enough to rest or to put your thoughts together.

Conclusion:

The Nokia Digital Pen SU-27W is an accessory, which anybody could use effectively. It will save you time on entering your notes in a computer and it will give you the opportunity to keep them in your own handwriting. At the same time, SU-27W offers you the convenience of a stylish business pen, which will make you appear unique to the rest.