Tons of people still prefer paper. Moleskine is living proof of this as a successful journal company whose revenue still chiefly comes from its paper products. But we live in a world where digital rules, and Moleskine knows it needs to participate. The Smart Writing Set ($200) caters to that segment of the population who still like jotting down ideas in an honest-to-goodness journal, but also want the convenience of automatically digitized notes. Pen, paper, and an app technically make up the writing set, but your smartphone provides much of the operating power needed to make the system work. Yes, there are other products that bridge the gap between analog and digital, letting you draw sketches or take notes then creating a shareable, editable version. (So many of them.) But how many can claim to be from a legendary brand?
Moleskine has waded into digital products before, but it leveraged partnerships with other companies who already own a piece of that world (Evernote, Livescribe). The Smart Writing Set represents the company's first effort to brand an entire pen-paper-and-app set by itself, and it’s clearly picked up a few smart things from experience. The black aluminum pen (a Neo smartpen) feels solid and sleek compared to Livescribe’s bulkier versions, and it incorporates some cool tech: a hidden camera that traces and digitizes your every stroke of the pen. The notebook itself—which Moleskine calls a Paper Tablet—is a big part of the offering, too, and it’s every bit a pleasure to write in as the company’s other journals. The app, meanwhile, lets you liven up your notes and sketches with colors or even erase portions of your notes. (It’s iOS only for now, with Android coming soon.) You can tag, search, or export each page, and sharing is compatible with a plethora of applications and devices, including iCloud, Google Drive, Evernote and Adobe. Oh, and the thing digitizes everything—and can even capture audio—as you write. There’s still something oddly hypnotizing about watching your pen strokes appear instantly on your mobile device, as if by magic.
As a longtime Livescribe user, my biggest beef with Moleskine’s Smart Writing Set is that its recording capabilities are limited. There’s no way to hook up microphone earbuds, so I couldn’t use the paper tablet and pen to record phone calls—a crucial part of my job as a reporter. The system actually outsources much of its functionality to the smartphone. It relies on your smartphone’s mic to record audio, for one, and digitized notes take up smartphone memory—which is clever, since it allowed Moleskine to keep the pen’s design slim and sleek. But for $200, there isn’t a lot of tech on the pen itself. That also means constant fussing with the app to make sure your notes are being digitized properly. (Personally, I ran into problems with my notes going accidentally unrecorded when I forgot to power on the pen.) The pen’s battery lasts for five hours of continuous writing, which is pretty good—but it may have you running out of juice unexpectedly after a full day of note-taking. Basically, if you’re the kind of person who just wants to have fun occasionally digitizing or sharing your notes or drawings (a student, an artist), Moleskine’s Smart Writing Set will work just fine. But if your profession relies on your ability to take down highly accurate notes, you'll be better off exploring other options.
7/10 - Will make you look like a serious design nerd—but the emphasis is on creative fun, not meticulous function.
