The DigiMemo A402 is a digital notepad and pen. It digitally captures everything you write or draw with ink on ordinary paper, without the use of a computer or special paper. You can then transfer your written notes to your computer.
We’ve reviewed devices similar to this before, like the IOGear Digital Scribe, but these needed to be connected to a computer at all times. The DigiMemo A402 is a standalone solution that operates without the need to be connected to a computer at all times. You can use the DigiMemo at home or in the office and then connect to a computer at a later date when you’re ready to transfer your notes.
You can also write notes and draw diagrams when the DigiMemo is connected to a computer. In this “on-line” writing mode your notes are automatically transferred to your computer. It also acts as a USB tablet device in Windows allowing you to do things like control the mouse pointer and Windows applications using the pen.
What’s in the Box
This is what you get in the box.
- A4 Size portable digital notepad
- Digital ink pen
- Two replacement ink cartridges
- USB cable
- Four batteries (1.5 volt, size AAA)
- One 1.55v button cell battery
- User Guide
- DigiMemo Manager Software CD
DigiMemo Box Contents
Technical Specifications
- Size: 245mm (W) x 336mm (L)
- Thickness: 12mm
- Weight: approx 615g without batteries, 660g with batteries
- Writing Area: 210mm x 279mm
- Writing Thickness: 14mm (approx 140 sheets of paper)
- Memory Storage: 32Mb
- Secure Digital (SD) card slot
- Battery Life: approx 80 hours
- Operating System Required: Windows 2000, XP, Vista
First Thoughts
Out of the box the DigiMemo looked like it was going to be an easy device to use and we were looking forward to testing it out. At first glance it looks like any other notepad. It is only on closer inspection that you realise it is something different.
On the left hand side of the notepad are a set of discrete buttons for powering on and functioning the notepad. There is also a small LED display which shows you the current page number.
DigiMemo Notepad
At the top of the notepad is a USB port for connecting to your computer. On the right hand side is an SD card slot which you can use for additional storage space.
On the back of the notepad is the battery compartment. There is also a cartridge compartment which holds two replacement ink cartridges.
DigiMemo Back
DigiMemo Ink Cartridges
DigiMemo Battery Compartment
The notepad does not feel too heavy and is easy to handle. The digital pen looks like and operates like any other ordinary pen. The only difference is a small battery compartment at the top of the pen.
DigiMemo Pen
DigiMemo Pen Battery
Operation
Using the notepad clip you can attach any normal A4 sized paper. The writing thickness is about 14mm which is 140 sheets of paper. This is basically the maximum amount of paper you can clip onto the notepad at any one time. You can write or draw anywhere on the paper.
The notepad has 32Mb of memory, or if you prefer you can store your notes and drawing on an SD card instead.
Using the notepad is straightforward. You power on the notepad and then start writing on the paper using the digital pen. Your notes are stored starting at page 1. When you’re ready to move onto another sheet of paper you simply press the ‘Next Blank Page’ button and then carry on writing.
The small LED display on the notepad shows the current page number. There are up and down buttons on the notepad which you can use to move forward and backward through your handwritten notes. This allows you to go back to a previous page which already has content and add further notes or drawings as required.
The LED display also shows the current time and battery life indicator.
DigiMemo Controls
It is a good idea to write the page number at the bottom of each sheet of paper. This allows you to easily synchronise your paper notes with the digital notes stored on the notepad memory.
If you need to remove any of the pages stored on memory then you simply use the up and down arrows to move to the page required, then press the delete button. The notepad can hold up to a maximum of 999 pages.
The notepad also stores the current date and time so you can keep track of when each page was created and last modified.
We found the notepad very easy to use and had no problems at all to report in this department.
Organizing Notes in Windows
Using the USB cable and DigiMemo Manager software you can transfer your digital notes to a computer.
Once connected the notepad will appear as an extra device in Windows. Using the DigiMemo software you can then decide which pages to import onto your computer. Once complete your handwritten notes and drawing then appear on your computer screen. These notes can then be saved as an e-book file for easy access later.
If required you can email this file using Outlook to a friend. The recipient must have the DigiMemo software installed on their computer in order to read the file. This software can be downloaded from the AceCad website.
For our tests we used Windows Vista. We experienced no problems transferring notes to a computer.
There is also an option to save your notes as an image file. The file types supported are BMP, JPG, GIF and PNG. You can also export your notes as a PDF file. We were impressed with how well our notes looked on the computer screen.
Here is an example of some imported handwritten notes saved as a PDF file.
DigiMemo Example (click link to view file)
On-Line Writing Function
Next we tested the on-line writing function. With the notepad connected to a computer, you can write on the notepad and your notes and drawings immediately appear on the computer screen. So for example, if you write on the lower-left corner of the notepad then your notes will automatically appear on the lower-left of the current page in the software window. Again we had no problems to report in this area.
Tablet Device in Windows
When the notepad is connected to a computer you can use it as a tablet device. This allows you to move the mouse using the digital pen and control Windows applications. You could for example use the notepad with a drawing application. When used as a tablet device the lower-left corner of the notepad corresponds to the lower-left of your computer screen. We found the notepad easy to use as a tablet device and experienced no problems in this area.
Handwriting Recognition Software
The supplied CD-ROM includes a 30-day trial of the DigiMemo AceCad handwriting software. This software is designed to recognise your notes and convert them into digital text so it can be imported into an application like Microsoft Word or Lotus Notes. It is designed to recognise not only handwriting but also shapes and diagrams.
In our tests we found the handwriting recognition disappointing. In day to day writing the software had difficulty recognising our writing, even when we deliberately slowed down our writing to make it clearer. Our handwriting may not be the most elegant, but any decent handwriting software should be able to work with a variety of handwriting techniques.
Here is an example of how it performed out of the box with no configuration. As you can see, the digital text on the right hand side doesn’t match up well with our paper notes.
Handwriting Recognition (Click to enlarge)
The software does come with a tutorial where the software can “learn” your handwriting technique. This consists of a 20 minute exercise where you write several pages of specific letters, numbers, symbols and sentences. Once complete the software tries to recognise your handwriting and you have the opportunity to tell the software of any mistakes. Once complete your handwriting style is saved as a profile to allow greater accuracy in recognising your handwriting.
When we tried the 20 minute exercise the software apparently recognised everything we wrote without a single mistake. We then saved our handwriting profile.
Handwriting Recognition Training (Click to enlarge)
Once we went back to writing notes on the notepad we saw no noticeable improvement in recognising our handwriting, even using our new profile. It did a reasonable job, but it made too many mistakes for us to consider this a serious device to use. When it came to converting drawings and symbols into digital form it performed no better. This is a shame because the notepad otherwise is a great device.
Here is an example of it recognising our handwriting following the training course.
Handwriting Recognition (Click to enlarge)
Summary
The DigiMemo notepad is a nice looking device that is easy to use and operate. Transferring your handwritten notes and drawings to a computer is a simple and hassle-free process. We also like the ability to use the notepad as a USB tablet device for controlling Windows.
The handwriting recognition software was a disappointment though. The software needs to be more accurate before we would consider using one of these devices for real. If improvements can be made in this area then it has the potential to perform well, but until then, bear this in mind before buying one.
Where to buy
Buy the DigiMemo A402 Notepad from Amazon.
Buy the DigiMemo A402 Notepad from Selwyn Electronics.
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37 responses so far ↓
1 sampat // Aug 21, 2008 at 4:46 pm
it’s really nice. it will save my lot of time wile preparing presentations
2 Ben // Sep 24, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Funny ‘It will save my lot of time’…
If you didn’t already use it, how can you say this? If it doesn’t recognise handwriting too well, as I remember with ‘OCR’ scanner software it is often quicker simply to start typing from scratch. It’s a nice way to put in sketches, though, and notes.
I think that your typing skills must be pretty dire indeed if you can write by hand at a faster speed! I learned to type faster than I could write in around 3 weeks (at an hour per day).
Just one point I’m interested in – how does this work? why do you need ‘digital ink’? How much does the ‘digital ink’ cost?
I’m sad, I’d like to use pencils…
3 Dean // Sep 24, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Hi Ben,
I agree it is quicker to type. Handwriting recognition still has some improvements to make.
It’s a shame because I could see uses for this device, like in a meeting for making notes and then transferring the notes to a PC later.
I think digital ink is just a fancy name for the ink cartridge that the pen uses. It works like any normal ink cartridge. You can buy a pack of 5 refills for a fiver and spare pens costs around 15 quid.
I still jot notes on normal paper too
4 Dawn // Nov 4, 2008 at 6:39 pm
If you save your notes as an image file, then email it to someone, does the email recipient still need to have the DigiMemo software in order to read it?
5 Dean // Nov 4, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Dawn,
If you save your notes as a regular image file (BMP, JPG, GIF and PNG) then the recipient does not need any special software.
It is only when emailing e-books using Outlook that the recipient needs the DigiMemo software installed.
6 Ray // Dec 28, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I own a similar model and it is very useful, as it provides a backup for everything I write in uni (the OCR that came with mine is very good, 95% success rate so far).
7 Ruth // Jan 2, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Ray
I glad you are pleased with the note pad,
I’m thinking of buying one, what model did you purchase?
Ruth
8 Ray // Jan 2, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I got a cheap version from Medion via Aldi, it was a Medion MD 85925.
9 Ruth // Jan 3, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Thanks Ray – I can’t make my mind up – I’ve also looked at the Oxford Digital notebook . I want it to convert handwriting into text.
difficult when you can’t try it out !!
Cheers Ruth
10 Ray // Jan 3, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Ruth, the OCR software that came with mine was called MyScript Notes, which you may be able to get elsewhere.
11 Vlad // Jan 9, 2009 at 12:54 am
Hi Dean,
I am wondering if paper is slightly misplaced whilst on the pad, will it print PDF document with words on the lines like in your pdf-example? Is there an option of printing PDF document without these lines?
Vlad.
12 Dean // Jan 9, 2009 at 8:45 am
Hi Vlad,
Good question. I don’t know if there is an option to print PDF documents without the lines. My handwriting is not very good and that might partially explain why the lines go over the words
From what I remember, there is a slight indent on the pad which effectively holds the paper in place, so you shouldn’t get too many problems with the paper being misplaced.
13 Vlad // Jan 9, 2009 at 11:04 am
Yes, one of the advantages of this product is its biggest disadvantage – using different kinds of paper (like grid paper) may leave all of the writing on these line. Besides, different makes of paper have different margin gaps. Perhaps, the fact that i don’t like reading my squiggles
written on the lines themselves will deter me from buying this product.
Dean, thanks for test-driving DigiMemo, it was most helpful.
Vlad.
14 Andy // Jan 9, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I also bought a medion md 85925 but have had problems getting my pc to recognize the device. first time i connected it it worked great…95% handwriting recognition, very good quality images and very useful tool with adobe illustrator. but unfortunately my pc didn’t seem to recognize the USB connected device the second time i connected it. Since you (Vlad) own the same device i was wondering if you have any advice or have encountered a similar problem… cheers
15 Andy // Jan 9, 2009 at 5:23 pm
oh and btw…great job on the review Dean…thx
16 Vlad // Jan 9, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Dear Andy,
I am afraid you misunderstood me, I don’t actually own one. I was thinking of getting it, but i am not sure about the above issues.
Although, I understand that Medion was built for Windows 2000 / XP (if i am right). I guess you have Vista platform. Try to use Medion on XP machine and if that does not work, then get in touch with the company for a refund, as the device might be faulty.
Vlad.
17 Vlad // Jan 9, 2009 at 5:59 pm
oh, you can check for new drivers for Vista – Google it. hope it helps in some way
cheerio,
Vlad.
18 Ray // Jan 9, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Andy, I do own one though, and I forgot to say, my computers don’t recognise the device via usb, I have to use the SD card.
19 Andy // Jan 9, 2009 at 9:09 pm
ah…alright…
the annoying thing is that it initially worked perfectly fine the first time i connected it, but as soon as i unplugged it and reconnected, thats when my pc didn’t recognize it…i’ll have to buy an SD card huh…:) well as long as it works i don’t care…the downside is just that you can’t use it as a drawing board in conjunction with e.g. Adobe Illustrator right?
thx for your quick replies:)
20 Ray // Jan 9, 2009 at 9:21 pm
A 2GB will hold more pages than the device can create I think, which is a good thing sort of. As far as I know, if you connect the device to a computer, the drawing surface is disabled.
21 Andy // Jan 10, 2009 at 12:10 am
when i first used it, everything worked fine (including USB connection and tablet function) but for some reason upon reconnecting the device is completely idle. but yes, i was initially able to use it as a tablet for drawing with e.g. adobe illustrattor, MS paint or any other grraphic design application. u just have to turn the device 90° and u have a horizontal drawing board…i really hate to lose that function. I sent an email to medion support and i’ll keep u guys posted on their answer.
cheers
22 Joe Zingaro // Jan 10, 2009 at 5:44 am
Thanks for the review Dean.
Though I can’t really see these helping me very much as I take notes in school, I really want one just for the ‘cool’ factor. However they are still a bit pricey.
23 Andy // Jan 10, 2009 at 7:27 pm
well guys…i think i figured out the problem: the USB port on the device is not to well installed. You have to really push it in hard (don’t worry it won’t break
) until connectivity is achieved. I’m using mine now to its full extent, Tablet mode and everything…works great and was really worth the 130 bucks. hope this helps anyone in future…again thx to Dean for a great review. cheers
24 Joe Zingaro // Jan 10, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Hey Andy,
To add to what you just wrote, I have read in similar reviews that the USB port/cable on the device/included with the device are not of the best quality. So this might be a common occurence, and it seems like more of a nuisance than a problem.
25 Chris - LG Blog // Feb 23, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I love the idea of these things but the horrible reality is that I’ve almost completely lost my ability to hand-write effectively
26 Dean // Feb 23, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Chris,
I’m glad I’m not the only one with awful handwriting
27 Chris - LG Blog // Feb 23, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Honestly – I make your average doctor look like a master calligrapher. It’s shocking really.
28 Bonnie // Apr 24, 2009 at 2:30 am
I am looking to do pedigree drawing using a template and then transferring it to an image on my computer to later attach. Little cirlces and squares. Sounds like this gadget may do the trick.
29 Wonkie Cartoons // Apr 30, 2009 at 11:43 am
Hi.. I’m trying to use the notepad with Adobe Illustrator and not sure how to get it working! I’ve connected the pad with the USB port – the -U- is displayed on the notepad screen but nothing seems to be happening with the pen/ mouse when in Illustrator – is there an additional piece of software/ driver I should have installed for this? Thanks!
30 Dean // Apr 30, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I found this troubleshooting guide although there isn’t a lot of information about using it in tablet mode. It only mentions you need to use the notepad in landscape mode. You don’t need to install any drivers.
31 araik // Oct 9, 2009 at 8:47 pm
if i want to use this in persian or other non english – or half english hal persian in a page it will work correctly or not ?
32 Dean // Oct 9, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Araik,
I found this document which shows supported languages. Persian is not supported unfortunately.
33 Bill Nye // Dec 22, 2009 at 4:29 pm
There is interference when using wireless devices such as keyboard and mouse. May cause device(s) to function improperly. Currently, DigiMemo is not working AT ALL because of this.
34 Serena // Aug 6, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Hello,
I am looking for something to write and draw on and later be able to transfer to the computer.
Is this something for me?
I am using a pc with Windows XP.
And would be very thankful for any advice.
35 Dean // Aug 6, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Serena,
Yes you can use this device to write and draw on and later transfer to a computer. The handwriting recognition is not perfect though as mentioned in the review. Drawings work pretty well.
36 Serena // Aug 8, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Thank you Dean.
Now where can I buy it?
I live in Europe and so far I can not seem to find it anywhere….
37 Dean // Aug 8, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Serena,
It is available on the Amazon UK web site. The link is here.
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