First of all, Wizcom claims the pen can store up to 1000 pages of text in it's 2MB flash memory.  For us to test this, it would take quite a long time, so we're going to have to take their word for it.  In any case, 2MB = 2 million characters which is quite a lot of storage for just plain text.  You probably won't fill it up unless you are going on a year-long trip without access to a computer to download the information to.

The pen captures text between 6 and 22 point sizes.  Most printed text is in this range, with the exception of a few items like ad's or headlines in a newspaper.  Anything below 6 point is barely readable anyway, so if it's actually able to scan 6pt, that is quite respectable. 

The opticard is an interesting innovative barcode type of card that is pasted on the back of the pen's protective case.  Thankfully, Wizcom was smart enough to put the opticard in a place that we would not be likely to lose.  If the card was not stuck to the case, it would have no doubt been lost or ruined within a few days.  The opticard allows you to enter in text manually one character at a time using the bar codes.  To start using the opticard, you simply scan the barcode that says "opticard," then you can begin scanning the other barcodes to make up the characters of the text you want. By using the shift and Ctrl bar codes, each barcode can have up to 3 different character representations.  For example, a single barcode can have the value of "2", "@" and "^".  Obviously scanning each character at a time will take quite a while for a large amount of text, but it can be useful for short notes.  Especially when there is no paper or pen around, or you're afraid you'll lose a the piece of paper you wrote the note on.  I doubt you'll let a $190 pen out of your sight :)

Wizcom states that the pen has an average optical character recognition accuracy of 97%.  While 97% may sound pretty good, I have seen some software package that state 99% accuracy and still make quite a few errors.  However, 97% is extremely good considering that it's a handheld device and it has to take into account the widely varying speeds and motions of the human hand.  In any case, we'll see how accurate it is in the tests on the next page.

Besides being able to store data on the pen and then transfer it or synchronize it with your PC or laptop, the pen also has an option to scan directly to the PC or laptop.  You simply hook it up to the serial or infrared port, open up a program such as a word processor or spreadsheet and then go to the menu option which says "Scan To PC" and start scanning.  The text you scan gets processed and sent to the screen right away, without storing it in the pen.  It sure as hell beats typing! 

The pen can scan different types of data.  The general mode is scanning text and storing it in "notes."  The other forms of data this pen can store is a persons/company's address, internet sites (URL's) and Tables (spreadsheet style).

If there is any one thing I like best about this pen, it has to be it's lovely user interface and overall design.  The pen has a very nice design and shape to it.  The pen feels very comfortable when scanning and it looks stylish too.  It's a great way to show off to your friends!  The user interface is spectacular.  The LCD display is very large so you can see quite a bit of data on the screen and it's very clear and easy to read unlike some other LCD's I've seen.  The user interface is all graphical and you navigate it using the arrows, enter and escape buttons strategically positioned right below your thumb. 

When you power up the pen, it displays a short welcome screen and defaults to notes.  When you press enter, it then gives you the option to: edit the current file, create a new file, open a file, beam a file, delete a file or exit.  So it's very intuitive and easy to use.  All your notes can be named so they are easy to find later on.  The beaming function allows you to send/receive notes between your PC, or other device.

When you click on addresses, you have the same default options as notes and in addition to those, you have settings which allow you to control how you input addresses.  For example, there is an option called AutoAdvance which will advance to the next field after you finish a scanning pass. So you can scan a first name, then the pen will automatically move to the last name and you just continue scanning one field after another.  The nice thing about the address function is that it's completely compatible with Outlook/Windows address book.

With Internet Links (URL's), it's as simple as scanning in the URL and then scanning (or manually entering) a description for it.  The URLs are compatible with Internet Explorer favorites so you can later synchronize them with the favorites on your PC or laptop.

Tables is one of the most interesting functions of the pen.  When in table mode, you can scan a single cell at a time and maintain the cell integrity.  Later you can download it to your PC and open it up in excel with the exact same cell positions.

Besides, these features, the pen also has menu options for Scan to PC, PC-Controller Communications to link up to the QuickLink desktop software, QuickLink option to synchronize data between the pen and the PC, preferences and information.

When you go into the information menu, you can see how much battery power is left, how much memory you're using, the version of the QuickLink pen software and the serial number.  It also has an option to compact the memory for you, to make sure no space is wasted.

Next Page: Tests/PC Connection/Ratings/Conclusion