Take note, this diary has added some clever tricks
Have you ever written something down only to have to type it up again later?
Moleskine is hedging its bets that you no longer want to do that and that you wouldn’t mind having an audio recording to go with it.
That’s the newest perk of the long-revered Italian diary maker’s latest device, the Smart Writing Notebook + Pen set, which retails for $395.
This review actually began in the diary via Moleskine’s pen which has a built-in camera and records what you write in real-time.
Those words, ramblings or drawings appear in the Moleskine Notes app which can be edited, coloured and sent to an email address as a text document.
Had I chosen, I could have recorded the exact audio that occurred as I wrote in the diary and kept a copy for my reference. This update, effectively rendering your ePen into a dictaphone, comes in pretty handy when you’re on the road and need to take a call.
This is just a sample of the technology that’s coming out of the eReading and eWriting market, which counts the likes of Remarkable, Supernote and more recently Amazon and Kobo as competitors.
Inside Moleskine’s app is where things get really impressive.
While the average note taker may not want a real-time playback or time-lapse of their notes or drawings, content creators and artists might. And the option is there alongside the ability to clear out the drawings you don’t like.
Another small feature that surprised me was the app knew I was writing on page 3 and listed that in the app.
Moleskine’s Smart Writing set has evolved over the past few years and while I’m happy the brand has moved away from a micro-USB, I’m not so enthused by the magnetic charging cable included – USB-C would have made my life a little bit easier.
THE VERDICT?
When the price of a Moleskine’s smart planner and original planner are the same, why not opt for the smart version? From a buyer’s perspective, should you choose to pick up a smart pen later you’ll have double the choices.