B
Brendan R. Wehrung
Since the topic comes up once in a while, I thought I'd post a review
printed this week in the Detroit Free Press. Note that he doesn't say
that the device fails, only that it's a pain to set up.
Brendan
MIKE WENDLAND
Nothing magic about this wand
Setting up portable scanner from DocuPen was an exercise in frustration
March 26, 2007
BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
This started out to be a product review. Instead, it's a poster-child
example of why so many people get frustrated with computers and the
devices that are supposed to enhance our experiences with them.
It doesn't take long to realize that with personal technology, nothing is
as easy as the pitches that entice us to buy the latest gizmo would have
us believe.
So it is with an overpriced gizmo called the DocuPen RC-800 Portable
Scanner, a wand-like device small enough to slip into a computer bag that
does full color document scanning and word recognition right to your PC.
The unit I have came as part of what is a $399 Executive Kit, containing
not just the scanner but also a universal mobile charger that will charge
cell phones, iPods and the scanner. A universal memory reader for
transferring pictures and the like to your PC is included in the kit.
Just the DocuPen itself costs $299.
In my case, the first glitch came when I opened the metal box containing
the executive kit. The kit shipped with only one of two CDs needed to
install the gizmo, but I had no idea that there were supposed to be two CDs.
When I tried to follow the instructions to install the driver for the
scanner, I realized there was no driver on the CD, only a program that
helps recognize scanned words and convert them to text. I called a support
number and talked to a pleasant enough guy named Sammy.
"Ah, you only have one CD," he noted. "You must call sales and have them
send you the second." But until that arrived, Sammy e-mailed me a link to
the drivers so I could use the device without waiting.
I downloaded and installed them and, following instructions, connected the
DocuPen.
Nothing.
I rebooted. Nothing again. I mean there was really nothing.
My computer locked up. Froze. Even the fabled three fingered salute --
pushing the control-alt-delete buttons at the same time to reset --
wouldn't work. I powered down the computer by holding the on-off button.
And restarted,
Again I plugged the DocuPen into the USB port of my laptop. Aha! This time
it found the device. But how does it work? There is no manual included in
the box, just a single card offering bare-bones instruction. I went back
to the download page that Sammy sent me to. There, I find a link to a manual.
From it, I learned how to install an included memory card for the scanner.
It also told me where to find the on-off button. Talk about
user-unfriendly. The device has no markings for it. You wouldn't even know
it's a button, for crying out loud, if you didn't consult the manual.
Anyway, I turned it on.
Voila! It worked. I captured a page of the news release they sent me with
the device. It was inexplicably for an earlier model, not the RC-800 model
I have. It worked, though putting the wand on a piece of paper and then
slowly and steadily dragging it down across the type was not as easy as it
sounds. Some of the type showed up a bit squiggily. The picture was kind
of blurry, too.
But it worked. I had a copy of the document. Granted, it was not as clean
and crisp as if I had run the original through an office copy machine, but
it was mostly legible. I wondered how the Optical Character Recognition
software would work. I opened the DocuPen control panel, found the
OCR-to-text function and sent the resulting file to my word processing
software.
It did great, word for word. For the first paragraph. The squiggly lines
on my scanned copy resulted in garbled text. But, with a little practice
and a steadier hand, I saw enough to know that this probably does work.
But by now, I had blown a couple of hours. It had not been worth the
hassle If you buy this kit, you'll probably be OK. But because the manual
is electronic -- not printable -- it's hard to consult. And the DocuPen is
far from intuitive.
Besides, how many people really need this? I can't think of a single time
when I've needed to scan a document. Maybe really high-powered business
folks have such a need. Spies would, for sure. The rest of us? I think we
can do without.
printed this week in the Detroit Free Press. Note that he doesn't say
that the device fails, only that it's a pain to set up.
Brendan
MIKE WENDLAND
Nothing magic about this wand
Setting up portable scanner from DocuPen was an exercise in frustration
March 26, 2007
BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
This started out to be a product review. Instead, it's a poster-child
example of why so many people get frustrated with computers and the
devices that are supposed to enhance our experiences with them.
It doesn't take long to realize that with personal technology, nothing is
as easy as the pitches that entice us to buy the latest gizmo would have
us believe.
So it is with an overpriced gizmo called the DocuPen RC-800 Portable
Scanner, a wand-like device small enough to slip into a computer bag that
does full color document scanning and word recognition right to your PC.
The unit I have came as part of what is a $399 Executive Kit, containing
not just the scanner but also a universal mobile charger that will charge
cell phones, iPods and the scanner. A universal memory reader for
transferring pictures and the like to your PC is included in the kit.
Just the DocuPen itself costs $299.
In my case, the first glitch came when I opened the metal box containing
the executive kit. The kit shipped with only one of two CDs needed to
install the gizmo, but I had no idea that there were supposed to be two CDs.
When I tried to follow the instructions to install the driver for the
scanner, I realized there was no driver on the CD, only a program that
helps recognize scanned words and convert them to text. I called a support
number and talked to a pleasant enough guy named Sammy.
"Ah, you only have one CD," he noted. "You must call sales and have them
send you the second." But until that arrived, Sammy e-mailed me a link to
the drivers so I could use the device without waiting.
I downloaded and installed them and, following instructions, connected the
DocuPen.
Nothing.
I rebooted. Nothing again. I mean there was really nothing.
My computer locked up. Froze. Even the fabled three fingered salute --
pushing the control-alt-delete buttons at the same time to reset --
wouldn't work. I powered down the computer by holding the on-off button.
And restarted,
Again I plugged the DocuPen into the USB port of my laptop. Aha! This time
it found the device. But how does it work? There is no manual included in
the box, just a single card offering bare-bones instruction. I went back
to the download page that Sammy sent me to. There, I find a link to a manual.
From it, I learned how to install an included memory card for the scanner.
It also told me where to find the on-off button. Talk about
user-unfriendly. The device has no markings for it. You wouldn't even know
it's a button, for crying out loud, if you didn't consult the manual.
Anyway, I turned it on.
Voila! It worked. I captured a page of the news release they sent me with
the device. It was inexplicably for an earlier model, not the RC-800 model
I have. It worked, though putting the wand on a piece of paper and then
slowly and steadily dragging it down across the type was not as easy as it
sounds. Some of the type showed up a bit squiggily. The picture was kind
of blurry, too.
But it worked. I had a copy of the document. Granted, it was not as clean
and crisp as if I had run the original through an office copy machine, but
it was mostly legible. I wondered how the Optical Character Recognition
software would work. I opened the DocuPen control panel, found the
OCR-to-text function and sent the resulting file to my word processing
software.
It did great, word for word. For the first paragraph. The squiggly lines
on my scanned copy resulted in garbled text. But, with a little practice
and a steadier hand, I saw enough to know that this probably does work.
But by now, I had blown a couple of hours. It had not been worth the
hassle If you buy this kit, you'll probably be OK. But because the manual
is electronic -- not printable -- it's hard to consult. And the DocuPen is
far from intuitive.
Besides, how many people really need this? I can't think of a single time
when I've needed to scan a document. Maybe really high-powered business
folks have such a need. Spies would, for sure. The rest of us? I think we
can do without.