Reviews related to : Scanners

While I have previously looked at many scanners, I think this is my first A3 scanner. I have looked at several A3 units that were ‘All In One’. So while any A3 unit is somewhat larger than an A4 unit this seems not to be that much larger. So if you have need to scan items of A3 size rather than using A4 and joining the two images together this is for you.

While these days the vast majority of images are taken on peoples phones it’s not that many years ago that they were taken on cameras and only a little longer ago they were taken on film with a negative that gave a printed image. So there are still a great number of irreplaceable images that exist only as a printed photograph and each time they are taken from an album the chance of damage happening is increased so get an image now while you still can.

Over the years I have reviewed a lot of scanners, all previous units required installation not so here, just open the box plug the USB lead into your PC or Notebook, plug the other end into the rear of the unit. Open the lid that forms part of input tray add a sheet of paper and press the button. You now have a .PDF copy of that sheet of paper on your Desktop.

Do you know where you are going or what you are planning to do? I only ask because somebody else might be privy to this information.

While the scanning element of a multifunction device works fine for many tasks. Sometimes you need the greater functionality provided by s standalone product.

At the start of December I told you about a portable page scanner from IRIS and mentioned there were other such devices that could read information from a book or magazine without the need for it to be torn out. Here is such a device.

For a very long time people have talked about a paperless office, and yes we all still seem to be drowning in paper. Utility companies and banks want you to go paperless but there is not normally a great incentive to do so.

While standalone flatbed and All-in-One devices can cope with many scanning tasks, sometimes you need a more specialised piece of equipment to handle this aspect of your document management needs.

When a Brother product arrives for review, usually its main function is that of a printer whether of the monochrome or colour variety. However printers are not the only type of device that is associated with Brother. The company also manufactures scanners either as a standalone unit or combines with a printer to make a multifunction device. In the former category is the Brother ADS-2100e which has been developed for use in a medium sized office environment. This scanner requires a USB connection to the computer system.

While London has its Gherkin, Brussels has its Egg which was the location for the annual IRISLink event where a new portable scanner was launched.

The IRIScan Book is a portable, cordless, battery-powered scanner. Hence, it is easy to take it to the material to be scanned rather than vice versa and so one can capture material wherever you are.

I admit that the main reason I accepted this evening invitation was to see the view from the top of The Shard, sadly the 34th floor was the highest we got but this amazing portable scanner made up for the disappointment initially felt.

From its Belgium base, as part of its “Document to Knowledge” mantra, IRIS has released the latest version of its IRISPen product. This is the IRISPen Executive 7 offering which boasts “You scan, it types” as it performs its designed role of a hand-held scanner.

Many years ago my first scanner was a handheld device, shaped a bit like a paintbrush, with a scanning width of about 4-inches. A more modern version increases the scanning width and adds Wi-Fi capability.

Even with Bluetooth allowing personal data to be transmitted over the airwaves between devices, business cards continue to be the main method used by many when supplying others with their personal details. The problem then exists of what to do with this information apart, of course, from forgetting about it and leaving the cards in your pocket thus increasing the risk that they could become mixed up with your own cards. Rather than take the time and effort to type in the information into a contact database yourself, you could let technology take the strain by using a dedicated business card scanner.

Although an ordinary flat-bed scanner handles individual documents and photos without any difficulty, there are problems when one needs to scan pages in a book or any other bound material. This is because the spine prevents the pages being held flat on the scanner’s platen and so you get a very distorted portion of the image. With its OpticBook 3800, Plustek has produced an effective solution to this problem in a machine which does not take up too much desk space and is ideal for the serious student, library or SoHo worker.

Where once it was enough for a device to satisfy discerning users by performing a single function, now devices need to be multi-functional in order to loosen customers’ purse strings and make a sale.

Unlike my usual desktop flatbed scanner, which copies single-sided documents, this next scanner can copy both sides of a document simultaneously.

Having recently looked at a small printer this is even smaller than that. However this is designed to scan pictures and or read items on SD cards. So unlike the aforementioned printer this is not designed to scan an A4 page.

While many users will be content with the scanner module that forms part of an All-in-One device, better quality can be achieved with a standalone model.