Livescribe has launched a new smartpen capable of automatically uploading written text to Evernote over Wi-Fi. The Sky WiFi Smartpen includes 2GB (on entry-level models) of on-board memory to store information in the event you don’t have wireless access as you are jotting down notes.
The pen works in conjunction with proprietary paper that features a fine grid of dots used to help capture and digitize written text or drawings. A 50-page notebook is included with the pen; users can purchase additional paper / notebooks from Livescribe or even print their own compatible paper using a color laser printer.
It’s worth noting that the pen doesn’t actually convert your handwriting into text. Instead, everything you’ve written or drawn is converted to Evernote as an interactive document called a pencast, exactly as it was penned.
There’s also a companion audio recorder that syncs as you write. When you’re done, you can even go back and tap the pen on a word or a drawing in your notebook to queue up audio that was recorded at that very moment.
The Sky WiFi Smartpen shares the same body as the company’s 2010 offering, the Livescribe Echo. The internals, however, are all new. The pen includes the same 12-character LED display, power button and USB / headphone jacks found on the previous model in what looks more like a marker than a pen.
As PCMag highlights, the actual pen is little more than a standard interchangeable ballpoint tip. Livescribe sells a pack of five tips for less than seven bucks. Ink is available in black, blue and red.
Livescribe offers the Sky WiFi Smartpen in capacities of 2GB, 4GB and 8GB priced at $169.96, $199.95 and $249.95, respectively. All pens include 500MB of Evernote storage although if you opt for the most expensive model, Livescribe will also throw in a free one-year subscription to Evernote Premium, normally priced at $45.
Products will begin shipping on November 1.