MOLESKINE SMART TOOLS CONNECTED
A trendy notebook for effortless digitising of hand-written notes.
The Moleskine Smart Writing Set uses a Neo Smartpen which houses a tiny infrared camera that tracks movement on the page and transfers that data to the M+ Notes app on your phone or tablet.
There’s also a mic embedded in the shaft so you can record audio, which then syncs with your notes for playback later. There’s enough onboard memory to store 1,000 pages before needing a data dump, but we loved watching notes sync in real-time — it’s seamless.
There are other offerings out there that do essentially the same thing, but often the pen is clunky compared to the triangularly lithe Neo. The app also lets you control line-weights and colours.
Once you’re done taking notes, you can edit them via the app then share them via email (as an image, PDF, text or SVG) or just spread them around your favourite cloud services; Evernote, Dropbox, Slack, Telegram... the list goes on.
Replacement notebooks are readily available online for a little over $40 which gets you 176 hardbound leaves. It is worth noting that the notebook’s size is 130mm x 210mm, or slightly narrower than A5. While the Smart Writing Set is considerably more expensive than the Wacom Bamboo Spark, the improved functionality, editablity and document mangement easily sets it above the Wacom. It also feels easier and more natural to use, and its small form factor makes it easy to stash or lug around.
For artists, we found line reproduction much cleaner and more reliable than the Wacom — especially when it came to finer feathering, shadowing and detail.