Rating: 
Summary: Is it worth it?
Review: I've used the C-pen 800 for the past week using several different reading media. I usually read technical material. Here is how it went:- using a soft cover book, the pen had trouble reading text on the left page, especially toward the binding side. I had to break the binding to get the book as flat as possible.
- using a xeroxed article - it does well. It seems to have trouble with more technical words. Even using a very slow deliberate pace, mistakes are often made which will require some editing
- using a somewhat poorly reproduced article (light tones), the cpen was useless. Having said that, I think there still is a place in my life for the c pen. I download notes I've taken with c pen to either my laptop with the included serial port or my desktop using an infrared to serial accessory (sold separately for 50 bucks). After downloading, it is not too much trouble to edit and store on my hard drive. I find it convenient to read something, scan it for later note taking. This saves me the step of outlining the text in yellow, going back and typing the notes. So in that regard it does save time. If you can live with the limitations of the cpen, I would give it a try. If you want to scan perfect text and store it on the cpen I wouldn't buy it. Editing on the C pen itself is next to impossible. Also forget about the other features (which I think are useless if you own a pda) such as addresses and dictionary.
Rating: 
Summary: It is a tool to learn English, too.
Review: In addition to the features highlighted elsewhere on this page, the "thesaurus" function is extremely useful for those who are not proficient in English. You just scan roughly the stretch of text you're reading that contains a word you don't know, then select the unknown word on the screen, and the Pen gives you an instant word description. For those who want to improve their English this feature alone more than justifies the C-800's purchase. Finally, it would be nice if future C-Pens allow users to push "useless icons" (agenda, calendar etc) to the end so that users need not cycle anymore through all of them.
Rating:
Summary: Confused with Complaints?
Review: Just recieved my CPEN 800C here is my 2 cents.
This one of the most well thought out techie products I have yet to buy. I am a bit confused with comments regarding its poor accuracy. Within 30 minutes out of the box I scanned a whole page with two minor errors. Better than my typing and took me about 3 minutes. I guess if you are looking for perfection you will need to wait. The pen is well made and elegantly designed. Durable plastic, some comments wished for a metal case. I would not want a pen that is heavier, dents, smudges, ect. The OS is intuitive. Storage is huge. Someone comments that you cannot edit text beamed to a palm. The documents and addresses beamed flawlessly to my Handhelds Palm OS the first time and I was able to edit just as you would any memo doc.
Rating:
Summary: C-Pen : A proof of true goodwill towards the consumers
Review: My primary reason to buy the CPEN is to use its dictionary function because English is not my mother-tongue. Before that, I used the Quicktionary pen scanner for the dictionary. The Quicktionary pen scanner takes up to five seconds for translation, with three lines display, and it uses three AAA batteries. The Cpen translates within one second, with seven lines display, and it has the built-in rechargeable battery. Although Cpen and Quicktionary sells their products at the same prices, the Quicktionary pen provides only the dictionary feature, the Cpen gives a lot of features for the consumers. Besides its dictionary function, it can scan and store (printed text)up to 3000 pages. The Optical Character Recognition(OCR) is highly accurate. Because it uses 8 MB flash memory, 4 RAM and Intel 73 MHz processor chip (in C-Pen 800c), its memory capacity is pretty capable and the scanning speed is incredibly fast (one second for five inches). There is also the address book (up to 1,000 addresses) and calendar programs (for schedule). The fax and SMS can even sent attached with the mobile phone. It can be connected through infrared (or with cables in its latest models)to the computer or other PDAs for transferring files and backing up etc. One feature it attracts me much is its C-Write feature. This feature enables to use the C-Pen like an ordinary pen. (To input the character a, b, c, 1,2,3, !, @, (, ), _, etc.) There are the C-Write prototypes that everyone can be able to learn in one or two days.
I am not sure whether the Cpen should be defined as a dictionary( for people like me), or as a portable compact scanner, or a PDA. Until now there are only four companies : C TECHNOLOGIES, WIZCOM TECHNOLOGIES, SIEMENS and IRIS which produce such kind of scanner pens. Among them, The Cpen has the most excellent technology and concept (according to most experts and critics).
For the above reasons, in my judgment, the C-Pen is the truly sophisticated, user-friendly, highly invented PDA, which generously gives the consumers a lot of functions with a relatively reasonable price. It is easy to carry, convenient to use, and because of its ample features, it is worth spending. For me, the dictionary function alone is worth buying.(There are many foreign dictionaries available at their websites) Please make sure to check their website (...) for more technical information. In my opinion, the Cpen is not only a breakthrough product in technology, it is also obvious that they have the true goodwill and honesty towards the consumers. For those like me, who wants to improve and learn the second language effectively, the Cpen is a very useful learning equipment and I have not seen any other dictionary pens (except Quicktionary) by other manufacturers and thus it is very invaluable for me. Thank you for your time for this subjective opinion.
Rating:
Summary: The best pen-scanner gets even better.
Review: The C-Pen 800C can scan text at over five inches per second, which alone is more than enough reason to rate it so highly. It fares better than its competitors because of the rechargable batteries, and its single toggle switch. This toggle option gives excellent control of the menus displayed on the LCD screen. Rotating the switch left and right navigates through menu items, which you can then select, giving access to sub-menus. New features on the C-Pen 800C include improved OCR and the ability to communicate with your PC either by using IR or a serial cable connection.
Rating: 
Summary: Customer Service
Review: The CPen byself is a good thing but the software and the technical support is not working. Nobody can help you, there should be a registration code in the Pen, to get it later you have to call Sweden an so long. I think the product is not ready for the market. It work's only with a couple PC's. I have tryed 3 different Laptop PC's with Windows ME, not one worked correctly with the Pen.
Rating:
Summary: not as fast as it is made out to be
Review: The product scanned in the text accurately and it probably does scan 5 inches a second, but that was still too slow for the scanner to be worthwhile for scanning in whole pages at a time. After a line is scanned it takes another second to process it, and meanwhile you can’t use it to scan anything else.
Rating:
Summary: The people at C-Pen do not exagerate!
Review: When the people at C-Pen say their product is "a stroke of genius" they do not exagerate. Since I bought my C-Pen 800C a couple of months ago, it has become a permanent companion in my academic activity. Two of its functions are particularly impressive, namely "Notes" (the scanner) and "C-Dictionary". Once you get the hang of it, "C-Write" is also very good (though I would have preferred it if they had adopted the Palm graffiti alphabet, so as not to make palm users like myself spend extra time learning the new alphabet). Of special interest for academic use is the possibility of storing the notes you have taken in different files and folders, thereby helping you organize the information gathered. The precision of C-Pen 800C's OCR is excellent, not only when reading texts written in English, but also in other languages (though I must concede that my experience has been reduced to texts in Spanish, German and French). Synchronization with the PC is very easy and the use of C-Direct, by means of which we can scan a text directly into the computer, is easy and precise. As for the remaining utilities (address book, calender, etc.) I have nothing to say, since I have not tried to use them. To wrap up, I simply want to say that this is a great instrument for academic use. Once you've learned to use it you won't understand how in the world you could ever have done research without it in the past!
Rating:
Summary: The people at C-Pen do not exagerate!
Review: When the people at C-Pen say their product is "a stroke of genius" they do not exagerate. Since I bought my C-Pen 800C a couple of months ago, it has become a permanent companion in my academic activity. Two of its functions are particularly impressive, namely "Notes" (the scanner) and "C-Dictionary". Once you get the hang of it, "C-Write" is also very good (though I would have preferred it if they had adopted the Palm graffiti alphabet, so as not to make palm users like myself spend extra time learning the new alphabet). Of special interest for academic use is the possibility of storing the notes you have taken in different files and folders, thereby helping you organize the information gathered. The precision of C-Pen 800C's OCR is excellent, not only when reading texts written in English, but also in other languages (though I must concede that my experience has been reduced to texts in Spanish, German and French). Synchronization with the PC is very easy and the use of C-Direct, by means of which we can scan a text directly into the computer, is easy and precise. As for the remaining utilities (address book, calender, etc.) I have nothing to say, since I have not tried to use them. To wrap up, I simply want to say that this is a great instrument for academic use. Once you've learned to use it you won't understand how in the world you could ever have done research without it in the past!
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