Livescribe Aegir Smartpen, Black Professional Edition with Executive Notebook - Compatible with Windows, iOS or Android Devices like Smartphones, Tablets and Computers

16/02/2020REVIEW OF AEGIR BLACK DOLPHIN PROFESSIONAL EDITION PENI have been using this for 2 days and so far, it has been excellent. I was a little anxious, as reviews for most smart pens seem to be split evenly between 5 stars and 1 star, but this has been a really good experience so far.It was very simple to pair the Aegir pen with my Android phone using the Livescribe App downloaded from Google Play store. As soon as you press the ballpoint refill onto any surface, the pen comes on, with the small LED indicator showing green. To activate Bluetooth in the pen, press and hold the pen onto a surface for 3 seconds and the LED indicator flashes blue. Once you have paired the pen and phone, the LED shows solid blue.You are prompted to upgrade the pen firmware as soon as the pen is paired with your phone app - do this. It took a few seconds only.I also installed the Livescribe + desktop application for Win 10, downloaded from the Livescribe website.I have connected the pen to my PC with both the micro-USB cable which is the easiest, and also paired it with my PC via Bluetooth, just to see if this worked - it did.In the phone app Settings, I selected the Quick-Send options in the app to bea) export as text file - the handwritten notes are converted very accurately to editable text (other options include PDF and PNG, which give you an exact replica of your handwritten notes - less useful for me)b) upload to my Google drive (other cloud storage destination options include OneNote, Evernote and Dropbox.)When a page of notes has been completed in the Livescribe journal that came with the pen, you just touch on the Quick-send icon at top right of the page when the pen is paired with your phone and your phone is connected to Internet via wifi, and the entire page is exported instantly in very accurate editable text format to my Google drive.I believe that on other Livescribe notebooks that have 3 icons/circles at top right labelled 1 2 3 , instead of the Quick-send icon, if you touch the pen on the 1 icon this activates the same Quick-send function.You can also convert the handwritten notes, which appear real-time on your phone screen as you write on the journal paper, to editable text in the phone app by selecting the Feeds screen and swiping right. Individual segments of notes are called Snippets. If you pause during note taking, and then start a new paragraph or line, this will appear as a discreet Snippet. If you highlight all the Snippets from a single notebook or journal page, you are prompted to merge these into one file, and then this can also be exported using the Share icon eg via Mail, text messenger, WhatsApp etc on your phone, or again direct to your chosen cloud storage (eg Google Drive).When the pen is connected to your PC via the USB cable, which plugs in to the end of the pen, the notes you have written load up page by page onto the screen. You can select the page or pages you want to export, and then select the format for export eg PDF copy of handwritten notes, or more usefully as editable Text. You are then prompted to save the file to a folder of your choice on your PC. I found the handwriting recognition ie accuracy of converting my handwritten notes to text, was not as good using the desktop software as it was via the phone app and via Quick-send, which was excellent - not perfect, but very good - I experimented with writing with both printing and cursive, and it seemed equally good.There are a number of reviewers who say the cap does not stay posted on the pen when writing. At first I agreed, but then I pushed the cap down firmly, and then there is a “click” and it engages well and is completely secure.Refills are available on Amazon, eg Zebra, Neo, etc - you need 67mm x 2.3 mm. When the refill needs changing, the little hole in the clip of the cap acts as a refill extractor - put the tip of the refill into this small hole, angle the cap slightly and gently pull out the refill. The new one just slides in and you push it gently to engage it in the barrel.So, I would say very good, easy to use, highly functional.

Smaller and more comfortable to use than my (now broken) Echo Pen. It works very well converting handwriting to text, battery lasts ages. It writes well as a pen and the D1 type ink refills are available from plenty of HQ suppliers. It is important that it has the firmware is updated as soon as you get it; it readily 'pairs' with my phones and PCs!

So far so good.I have been using this for a few months now and I’m happy with it.I have also discovered that it will work happily with a load of the older pads that I bought years ago - which is great as I have loads of them!Accuracy is good, recognition and conversion of my written text is reasonable - but I do write pretty scrappily!I can even transfer my sketches into Procreate to work up into finished drawings. Example attached.Overall it is so much better than the earlier versions. Looks and feels like a normal pen and you just need to check that it is talking to your pad to make sure you don’t lose your text.

I original bought this for my daughter to go to college. I bought a Livescribe pen because I've been a keen user of the Echo pen for quite a few years, but wanted something that looked more appropriate for a teenager at college, and the Aegir looked the part. She tried desperately to use the pen for the first few weeks, and then gave up. Not wanting to believe it was about the pen, I then started using it at work for business meetings/notes. I gave it a month and now I've given up. There are a number of issues;1) The cap will just not lock securely onto the pen to close it. As a consequence it is always popping off. Sometimes I would have it clipped inside my suit pocket only to find that the cap is still there, but the pen has slipped out. Strangely, if you clip the cap onto the opposite end it is very secure and comes with a comforting click to let you know.2) Battery life is poor. The pen doesn't seem to understand when it's not in use so the light is constantly on. I had imagined that placing the cap on the pen would have told it to switch off but it doesn't. It seems to have a timeout. As a consequence, there were many times when the pen was fully charged, not used for a few days, go to make some notes and the battery is empty. It's almost like having a smartwatch where you have to make sure you charge it everyday. Additionally, I had one meeting that was several hours long and it went from full to empty in that meeting, even though i made few notes (I guess because it kept waking up).3) The app/phone integration is poor. I think.. every time I used the app to sync the pen I had to go through the pairing routine every time. It just doesn't seem to remember. I have an iPhone 6S if that makes any difference. There also didn't seem to be a way of getting the pen to talk to the app without first writing in the book, so consequently have lots of 'dots' just to get it to pair. Additionally, when I wanted to record sound along with my notes, you have to have the app awake on the phone. It was a bit hit and miss for me (more miss than anything). I just imagined I would be able to hit the record 'button' on the notebook page and it would just work.. but it doesn't.I love the looks and ergonomics of the pen, but it's just not ready for prime/serious time.

Really impressed with this pen! Connected straight away without any issues and I like the fact it can convert hand written notes to text. This will come in handy if you have to take notes at a meeting, or if you're a student doing coursework

Pen would not connect to phone or laptop. Support helpful, but ultimately this is being sent out as a flawed product.