Moleskine Smart Writing Set
As a true Moleskine and Evernote fan and fanatic I was always trying to find the ultimate integration between analogue and digital.
With the Moleskine Smart Writing set this has been bridged now, for me that is.
On line you can find all information (sales, sales), all kinds of tutorials, unboxing stuff and reviews. In this post I will try to capture the things you are looking for, you definitely need to know and the nice to know elements.
Hidden information
Moleskine is known for its paper quality (although they are getting sloppy but that's another topic) and respect for writing on it. A lot of Moleskine lovers search for the best pen and writing experience, from fountain pen to archive worthy and waterproof ink quality like these
But...the Moleskine Pen+, as they call it, uses a ballpoint D1 type of pen with a 0.7 size tip.
Why?
There's no more space. And to give us (you) a reasonable writing time, they start with ballpoint ink and a 0.7 size tip. Everything more would force you to carry spares with you, even for one day of writing notes.
Personally I don't like writing with a ballpoint, I press too hard, cramp my hand, ruin my handwriting
There is a gel alternative:
From zebra too
but these are about 5 to 10 times more expensive and last much shorter.
They write perfect though.
And that's what we -Moleskine lovers- want, don't we?
Hidden, that's what it is.
Need to know
The Neo pen uses an infra red sensor (camera they call it) that reads the code on the special paper. This code is printed on the paper with carbon (this gives the best contrast for the sensor)So, you have to know that when you want to sketch in the paper tablet (stupid name BTW) don't use a pencil first. Or, when you sharpen your pencils, keep the book away. The carbon dust confused the pen's sensor. Of course it doesnot influence the writing on the paper but the translation to the app may go wrong resulting in random like scribbles.
It is written in the fine print on the FAQ page
Nice to know
You can sync your notes from the app to Evernote, Google Drive, Adobe Creative Cloud and OneNote. But....not all at the same time.
But you can always automatically back up your notes to Google Drive.
So I use the Evernote sync and Drive backup.
And further:
The Neo pen is not a big cigar like the LiveScribe pen. It actually holds fine.Conclusion
If you can live with the above. Go on! I can say that I really like the concept and....the app, the install, the syncing is all a piece of cake, really web 4.0, ZEN, everybody can do that, it works, looks beautiful, notes go into my Evernote without any hassle,.......... never mind the price tag.
For now there's nothing that can beat this.
UPDATE 5/8/2017
The pens bettery live is based on just writing and do a separate sync to the app later. If you write with the app switched on and pen connected, looking at your wrinting on the screen too, the battery exhausts within 45 minutes.
And needs two hours to recharge.
So, just take notes, dont forget to switch the pen ON, and sync later (at home)
Tip: you can put the cap on the back of the pen in a way that you can still see the LED and touch the button.
