Moleskine’s innovative writing tool has changed the way I take notes

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Moleskine

Have you ever wished you could write something down without a second thought — a cursory addition to a to-do list in your morning meeting — and still be able to edit, share, or search for it on other platforms that you use heavily, like your smartphone or a tablet?

Well, Moleskine’s Smart Writing Set is designed to let you do just that.

With a smartpen and notebook filled with dotted paper that the infrared in the pen can detect, it will digitize your notes — be they sketches, graphs, handwriting, or anything else — to an app on your other devices in real time.

You can digitally edit your pen strokes by highlighting, coloring, and thickening the lines post-production, as well as transcribe your own handwriting into traditional text to more easily share it across platforms. But if you prefer to play it where it lays, you can sync the notes themselves to other apps — Google Drive, Evernote, Notability, Apple’s Notes app, email, and more. While you create freely and organically, you can also record audio in the app as you work — allowing you to revisit your note-taking and let visuals and audio work in tandem, especially if you like to doodle while you listen.

This seems like a gadget you’ll either use all the time, or not at all. And for myself as a student, I’ve been enjoying it about as much as a person could be.

Though repetition can help me memorize my notes better, it’s also usually a giant waste of time. For the classes or meetings where tech is either banned or cumbersome and unwelcome, the ability to transcribe my handwriting into text has been immensely helpful. And there's science to back up the instinctual feeling that writing things down really does help us remember them better. 

Past that, it's not uncommon for people to prefer to write with a pen when their work requires more thought, probably because the process is less immediate. For a creative or more intensely mental endeavor, I appreciate the slower process. For rapidity and versatility for sharing and editing, tech is obviously a better choice. Now, I'm just glad it's not necessarily always one or the other.

And though I have been consciously writing with the intent of making the letters legible, the transcription feature has exceeded my expectations. People have trouble deciphering my handwriting on birthday cards, but I noticed only minimal mistakes with the Moleskine. But with digitization like this, you’ll probably always want to double check before sending it to be engraved anywhere, which isn’t all too different from the iPhone autocorrect.

Moleskine

In terms of the process itself, it’s pretty much as easy as you can conceive of it being. The kit includes a classic Moleskine notebook with a hardcover and a smartpen with a USB port at the end. You just have to charge it up (mine took about an hour and a half) and, according to Moleskine, you won’t need to charge it again until after five hours of intense use or 125 days in standby mode. 

iOS users will have to download the free M+ Notes app and Android users will utilize the Neo Notes app. It's worth noting that you have to have the app open on your device for it to register you writing. The Moleskine will be able to differentiate between pages, which isn’t the case for all products like this, and Bluetooth will update everything in real-time. And just in case you ever need it, the pen has 90.6MB of onboard storage that will store what you write until you can sync it later with a phone or tablet. If you use it frequently enough to run out of ink, the pen uses standard pen refills to ease the replacement.

Some things to consider, though, are the initially high price tag of $199 and the fact that the notebook included in the kit will one day fill up. Replacements run about $29.95 , and depending on how much you use it, you could be buying quite a few replacements. However, that’s pretty much the same amount competitors are asking for.

If being able to sketch, write by hand, and create in a way that feels natural and easy while also getting to enjoy all the multi-platform compatibility of digital technology sounds great, then this is probably worth a look for you.

Buy Moleskine's Smart Writing Set for $180 on Amazon or Moleskine's website