The DigiMemo A501 is Taiwan-based ACE CAD's first product designed specifically for mobile applications. The device provides a natural way to input handwritten data onto your computer without changing the way you work. The digital pad is small and light enough to go wherever you go and write down whatever you want, and allows you to digitally store everything you write on paper for editing or e-mailing to colleagues (requires a computer). The DigiMemo A501 has a few limitations (most notably its lack of wireless technology and use of proprietary formats), but is an excellent device fit for note-taking, form-filling and other markets where handwriting input is essential and a tablet PC isn't cost effective.

Pros: Low cost; built-in memory and CF slot; decent software
Cons: Uses proprietary file formats; Windows only


The DigiMemo A501 digitally captures and stores everything you write or draw on paper, without the use of computers and special papers. Utilising electromagnetic technology, the clever device lets you affix any ordinary A5-size paper or notepad (150x211mm writing area) on the digital pad and write with ink (special pen included). Without changing the way you write or draw, it then digitally records your notes and drawings in the pad's flash memory or optional CompactFlash card in real time, allowing you to transfer your work to your computer for tweaking, permanent storage or e-mailing.

The biggest attraction of the DigiMemo A501 is that it allows you to better manage your handwritten notes. In addition, you don't need to re-write all your notes when you get back to your desk. The included software, DigiMemo Manager, lets you edit and organise your digital notes on a Windows-based PC individually or save as a book file (e-Book) and share with others via e-mail.

The device is designed for mass market, so it's not really aimed a niche or vertical business markets. Instead, it's well suited for sales people, consultants, executives, receptionists, secretaries, journalists, designers, engineers, architects, students, and anyone who needs to take notes or keep their immediate ideas, sketches, thoughts and flowcharts wherever they go and whenever they want.

It's also particularly useful and convenient for mobile professionals to record minutes during meetings, lectures, conferences or anywhere they usually need to take a note, and can be used for form-filling applications. Using the supplied inking pen to write or select the checkbox on electronic form paper, digital data can be further processed by a form application on your PC - no retyping or re-scanning is needed.

Unlike working with a PDA, or even tablet PC, the DigiMemo integrates the familiarity of pen-on-paper. It's a digital notepad with an electronic inking pen that feels and works as well as a regular pen and paper. Indeed, even technophobes should have no problem using it, due to the fact that it lets you write naturally - just like a regular pen and paper.

The digital pad is operated by four AAA alkaline batteries, yet its total weight including the batteries is less than 0.55kg. About A4 in size (206x303x15.4mm), it's also small enough to hold in one hand or on your lap and can easily fit into a briefcase, portfolio and any standard laptop bag. In addition to the paper, the only consumable is the ink cartridge (67x2.3mm diameter), which can be purchased online or at most popular stationary stores. There's also a SR319 cell battery, which should power the device for about 120 hours thanks to the pad's automatic sleep function.

The DigiMemo A501 lets you manage and record up to 999 pages in memory, depending on which memory option you choose. For instance, its built-in 8MB of onboard flash memory can store up to 40 sheets of A5 paper completely filled. If you need more memory space, you can always attach a CompactFlash memory card (up to 512MB). The digital pad can manage up to 999 digital pages for each storage device, and the unit's display shows how full the storage memory is.

The DigiMemo Manager Software is surprisingly good. It allows you to edit and organise your digital notes on a PC individually, arbitrarily select specific pages of your digital notes stored in the DigiMemo's memory and edit them on your PC, as well as view your digital images as thumbnails. Additionally you can highlight, annotate, copy, paste, move or add texts or drawings to a digital page, adjust ink colour and line width, change colours on the selected strokes, save the digital pages as a book file (e-Book), and save the digital pages in JPEG, BMP or GIF formats.

The product itself is a snap to use. Every time you finish scribbling a page you simply turn over a new one and press the 'next page' button on the pad itself. This action then generates a new digital page in the DigiMemo's 8MB internal memory, so everything you write is kept separated to reflect the contents on the paper pages. The only thing is that you have to remember to change the page on the device when you change the page on the pad, or the electronic copy will be a mess.

If you want to go back to add or amend what you have written, simply toggle through the pages on the little digital display and then carry on writing on the page in question. Erasing a digital page is similar to tearing off a paper page. By using the function button to move the digital page number to the one which you want to erase, you then press the erase button on the pad. The display will show a message and you can then press the erase button again to erase all contents stored in the digital page. Once a digital page is erased, its original contents can not be recovered.

The DigiMemo software saves the written data in a proprietary digital page (DHW) or digital book (DHD) file, so whomever you send these files to will have to download the DigiMemo manager software. Thankfully, this software is available as a free download from ACE CAD's Web site. Also disappointing it that you can't export editable text into Microsoft's OneNote or a similar product, and the pen clip on the bottom of the pad could quite easily loose hold of the pen if you regularly travel with the device. [7]

BIOS, Sep 13, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Input device