SmartPad2 - Feb/Mar '02

SmartPad2

The emergence of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) in recent years has been great, but they have not completely replaced pencil and paper. In spite of the technological advances of PDAs, notes on paper are still a fact of life. One product that is trying to bridge the gap between technology and paper is SmartPad2 from Seiko Instruments.

At first glance the SmartPad2 appears to be a nice leather portfolio with places to hold your PDA (on the left side) and a pad of paper (on the right side). But nice looks are not all this product offers. The magic of SmartPad2 is when you write on the pad of paper, an exact image of your writing appears on your PDA. You can save the image (in .BMP, .GIF or .EDF image file formats) as an attachment to an event in your Calendar or an item in your To-Do list. You can download the image to your desktop computer when you do a Hot Sync. And with the right connection to a cellular phone (there is a holder for a cell phone in SmartPad2) and some third-party software, you can send the image via wireless e-mail or messaging.

SmartPad2 can do all of this because of an ingenious electronic SmartPad ink pen and stylus that sends electronic signals through the pad of paper as you write. The signals are picked up by a screen below the pad of paper and transferred by wire to an infrared transceiver lying next to the PDA. The transceiver sends infrared signals to the infrared port on your PDA. The SmartPad2 screen under the pad of paper also contains a full QWERTY keypad on which you can use the SmartPad pen to “tap-type” text directly into various Palm applications.

After experimenting with SmartPad2 for about two weeks, I asked myself the question, “How do I use this product in my law practice?” I decided that in planning and brainstorming with clients, the ability to record notes electronically (and send them to clients) could be a very valuable tool.

SmartPad2 only works with Palm III Series or later, Sony CLIÉ, Handspring Visor, HandEra and IBM Workpad C3. The SmartPad for Pocket PC is compatible with the Compaq iPAQ and Jornada Pocket PC.

Seiko Instruments USA Inc.
(800) 688-0817
www.seikosmart.com

Price: $199.99; SmartPad for Pocket PC is $169

Palm Operating System for Palm III Series or later, Sony CLIÉ, Handspring Visor, HandEra and IBM Workpad C3; SmartPad for Pocket PC is compatible with the Compaq iPAQ and Jornada Pocket PCs

Reviewed by Arlin P. Neser, attorney at Gibson, Haglund & Paulsen in Irvine, Calif.

Feb/Mar '02 Issue

PROS
Easy to set up and use.

CONS
It takes some practice to do such things as attach a drawing to an appointment or send e-mail.

VERDICT
The concept is a good one, and the product functions as advertised.