QuickLink
OCR in the Palm of Your Hand
WizCom Technologies Ltd.
Reviewed by Bayle Emlein
Street price $159.00-179.00
Handheld scanners comprise a new class of personal productivity tool. They are billed as a way to take quick notes, gather data such as business cards, and make similar short entries for later synchronization with a desktop system. From there the user can export the “notes” to a word processor for elaboration and formatting; address books and internet links are self-explanatory as file types. OCR scanning directly into a word processor on a desktop system doesn’t need much explanation these days, but can you believe I do it with a device that is smaller than the tube of lotion in my purse, and one that weighs less (3 ounces versus 6)?
I’ve seen four different brands of this technology, one in 1998, and three more at the 1999 Fall COMDEX. They have some obvious, and not-so-obvious applications for folks with disabilities, so I’ve been very interested in seeing the development of these devices. Of the companies I made contact with, WizCom responded. They’ve also been responsive and fairly helpful with further questions. So, although I haven’t had a formal brush with Tech Support, I have found this company to be remarkably more supportive than its competitors.
If you missed the last general meeting or couldn’t see the itty bitty gizmo in my hand, these devices are all the size of a slightly inflated digital thermometer. The QuickLink is the only one I’ve had in my hand for more than a quick brush on a COMDEX show floor, but they all seem to be the same general size and shape, with little variation in the size of buttons and screen displays. The QuickLink can be directed to provide a readout convenient for a left-handed reader, a feature lacking in some brands. The RAM can be upgraded, capability to scan and recognize a variety of languages is available, as well as a variety of foreign language and technical specialty dictionaries. Batteries included. The QuickLink uses 2 AAA batteries. I’ve been using my QuickLink for about 6 weeks and haven’t had to change batteries. The display is about 10-point monochrome (green) but the contrast is good and I haven’t had any problem reading it in any environment. The manual is reasonably helpful, though the index could be better. The Review Guide provided clarity in some areas that I found a bit fuzzy in the manual; it is definitely a guide for using a QuickLink and not a sales pitch, one more point for customer support.
However, it is also claimed that all the operations are intuitive and simple, a phrase I seem to recall having seen once or twice before. I found some inconsistencies in navigation, and still haven’t gotten used to the idea that >Enter< erases an entry in some circumstances. I guess if everything were perfect on the first release, all those Y2K programmers wouldn’t be retraining to repair Win2K. The other area of concern I can’t let go of is the location of the Optiscan card, the cheat sheet on the case to use when your target is the wrong size, unclear, or lacking in contrast. It’s a wonderful tool to cope with many of the foreseeable hazards of trying to use a device like this. And it really works. But I wish they’d put it on the inside of the case, not the outside. It might survive in a blazer pocket, but I think its useful days in the bottom of my purse are numbered. Another quibble about the design of the case: The cap that covers the scanner tip has stayed put, so far, while being easy to remove. However, I put it down while using the QuickLink and then require an extensive retrieval search when I’m done. A leash, like the one that keeps the lens cap attached to my camera, would increase functionality.
The QuickLink is manufactured by Seiko. There is another device using the same hardware that is used as a standalone reading aide. My special education colleagues say that it is helpful for some folks with reading difficulties; Seiko also promotes it as an English learning tool. I want to hear how it copes with vagaries of American pronunciation and spelling such as “through a tough thought” and especially what it tries to call me, given that my name is an adventure in multicultural spelling. WizCom says they are working on adding screen reading (aloud) capabilities, and will let me know just as soon as I can spend money on them.
Back to current reality. I found the buttons a bit small, but got used to the size fairly quickly. They also trained my fingers in the amount of pressure and angle that they like best. The scanner also trains the user about the angle it likes and positioning on the line of text. Wisdom from the field also adds that it takes about 20 minutes to half an hour for a “typical” adult to become acclimated. This is in line with my experience even though my hand is smaller than standard and I find the device a bit big and awkward. This isn’t enough of a problem to prevent me from using it, but it seems like my hand gets tired sooner than the designers imagined it was going to. I wouldn’t want to try scanning a whole page, though the documentation claims that the QuickLink holds 1000 pages of standard text.
Everything was fine until the first time I tried to synchronize between the QuickLink and my desktop. The software installed without a hitch, booted with no problem, and was completely well-behaved, so I was totally unsuspecting until the QuickLink and my computer refused to communicate. It talked to my laptop, responded when my laptop addressed it. But with the system where I do most of my work? Not an electron of communication between the two. With a lot of PCC support in sorting out com port chaos, the two are now in harmony. I’ve gotten reports that I’m not the first person to suffer from device overload. It seems logical and obvious to me that anyone who would be interested in a gizmo like this would have tried out a lot of other peripherals, not all of which would have thoroughly uninstalled themselves.
The QuickLink does everything it claims it will do. If you are looking for a way to get field notes into your desktop system without hand copying text and then trying to decipher the handwritten notes on whatever scraps of paper you can still find so you can retype, give QuickLink a try.
Copyright © April, 2000 by Bayle Emlein