Kickstarter AU Focus: N2 Neo Smartpen

Since the introduction of Kickstarter into Australia last year, we’ve seen a number of projects and there’s a new one on the block that’s been launched by Sydney based company NeoLAB. Their Kickstarter is for the N2 Neo Smartpen, a digital pen which can sync your handwritten notes to a digital device – your smartphone or computer.

With a thickness the same as a standard pen, and with the ability to use it as a pen (including using standard D1, pen ink cartridge refills), the N2 Smartpen is a device that bridges both the digital and analogue world. The N2 Smartpen can take up to 1,000 pages of notes by itself, but will sync to your device when you connect to a compatible device.

The Smartpen will automatically turn on when you begin typing and gives you up to 5 Hours constant usage on a 2 hour charge. The N2 uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE to sync to your phone to upload your notes, which can also include voice notes recorded at the time of writing. The Smartpen contains a camera which records at up to 120fps and records up to 256 steps of pressure recognition in your handwriting.

There’s a downside with the N2 Smarpen in that it will only work with the special N2 notepads which you can print yourself from a template on their site, or purchase from their website or soon from Amazon and eBay. NeoLAB have advised that the N2 notebooks are not expensive, but we’ll wait and see.

There’s a host of software integration including the NeoNote Android app, with the N2 Smartpen, able to share to Evernote, or you can export notes in inkML or SVG files to Adobe illustrator. Using MyScript, you can even transcribe your handwritten notes into searchable digital text. NeoLAB have also produced a PDF editor – NeoPDF – to support editing of PDF documents, where you can Add, delete, and replace pages in a PDF file.

If you’re into the N2 Neo Smartpen concept, you can head over to the Kickstarter page and check it out. The project has already met its $20,000 goal and is set to be classed as ‘Funded’, with 18 days still on the clock. For an N2 Smartpen, you can get in now for as low as $112, which includes an N2 Smartpen and Spring note notepad, which is expected to ship next month in October.

As usual with all projects of this type, we are here to inform not advocate backing the project. All projects on Kickstarter have no guarantee that they’ll end up being produced even if their goal is reached, so please ensure you are aware of all the terms and conditions before you back a project.