Features:
- Fully portable handheld pen scanner
- Scans full lines of text in 8 languages
- Stores up to 1,000 pages of text
- Transfers text to PC, laptop, PDA, or cellular phone
- Supports memory upgrades
Description:
Handheld scanners are a convenient way to get printed text into an editable format on your computer, but the best devices are prohibitively expensive. Wizcom has bucked this trend with its aggressively priced QL-1000, which has more features than some products that sell for twice as much. In our tests, we found the interface tough to learn and navigate, and editing text that's stored in the pen was a chore. However, with practice, we were able to scan pages of text with great accuracy. An attractive feature of the QuickLink is that you don't need to hold down a button while you scan text. The device can "see" text and automatically activate the scanner when text comes into its field of view. Then, you only have to roll the pen smoothly over the line you want to capture and lift it off the page at the end of the text line. The optical character recognition (OCR) engine then translates the scanned images into editable text. The QuickLink was as accurate as any similar device we've tested, but still far from perfect. The OCR process also took longer than it did with other products we've tested in this category. Still, these minor deficiencies are more than offset by the device's useful software tools, which, for example, let us send scanned Internet links directly to our PC's Web browser and quickly create an address book by scanning business cards. The QuickLink is less expensive than many of the products it competes against directly, making it a great buy if you need a handheld scanner. --T. Byrl Baker Pros:
- Great accuracy with a little practice
- No need to hold a button while scanning
- Comes with great software and built-in tools
Cons:
- Cumbersome interface
- Editing text is a frustrating process
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