You might wonder why anyone would shell out for a digital notepad over the traditional pen and paper, well for starters your notes will be immediately backed up, unlike your scrawl on the back of an old envelope, it can also be edited, easily searched, shared and printed, however digital notepads can provide a clumsy writing experience. The RoWrite combines the practical features of a digital notepad with the familiarity of writing with a ballpoint pen on real paper; it works by clipping a single sheet of paper on top of the RoWrite sensor, you can then use the Refillable Ballpoint Pen that captures 2048 pressure levels to write and draw in a smooth and accurate way. The sensor underneath copies your notes like a carbon copy pad and reproduces them onto the app in the exact order you took them down. The pen is slim and comfortable to write and draw with, whilst the paper comes in either blank or lined A5 versions, the refills are pricey however the RoWrite can be used with regular paper, it’s just that their pads come with the holes needed to attach the paper securely to the device, but this could be easily replicated. There are two obvious draw backs, the first being the restriction in size, which might limit you when it comes to sketches and diagrams whilst the fact that you can only use one sheet at a time could mean you risk missing information whilst switching over the paper if you are taking notes during a lecture for example.
The free app is easy to use and lets you organise, edit and share your notes, and is compatible with Android"' 5.0 or later and iPhones and iPads with IOS 8 or later. The App also allows you to enhance your digital pages: simply sync to the app after using RoWrite or pair before writing on paper and you can add digital backgrounds, choose digital writing instruments, erase, change stroke thickness/opacity, add colour and watch a video of your creation in-app. It is here that you can also convert handwriting to editable text, but you need to write very clearly for this to be accurate, it had a very difficult time converting my scruffy handwriting and joined up writing, although it was rather entertaining to read its attempts I wouldn’t trust the feature for important tasks. The outer case is made from a protective textured cloth with a place to hold spare paper, business cards and a pen, all your notes can be exported as PDF, JPG, PNG, or TXT files and you can save things to the cloud. The RoWrite is easy to use, with up to 8 hours of battery life, it could use a few more features and tweaks to improve the converting to text feature but if you are looking to back up, share and digitally edit your notes this could be perfect for you. RRP £119.99
3 out of 5
Pros
Attractive device
Intuitive to use
Pressure-sensitive refillable pen with regular ink
Edit, share and back up your notes
Easy to use app
Pin point accuracy
Can be used with regular paper as well as Royole refills
Cons
Translate to text function not reliable
Limited functions
On/off button near charging lead so it can be accidentally turned off
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