Here’s something that can render the good old writing pads obsolete. Its the Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet. And it provides us with a nice break from the steady stream of tablet PCs coming our way. Its also ideal for those who’d like to go paperless. No longer will anyone have to carry their writing pads anymore for taking a quick temporary note. Nor is the requirement of carrying with them pens or any other writing paraphernalia. The included stylus is more than enough to jot down a few lines or to draw any image. Even the fingers can do the job. Being a replacement of paper pads means there will be lesser trees chopped down to serve the paper industry. And a mere push of a button is all that is required to erase all that has been written so that the Writing Tablet is ready for a fresh writing assignment. So there won’t ever be a heap of junk paper that you may tend to amass around you after a typical writing session. But for that to actually happen, there’s still some waiting to be done since the Boogie Board Writing Tablets are currently being lapped up at a rate that’s faster than new ones could be produced. But more on that later. First let’s delve a bit more on the Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet itself.
The Writing Tablet is a product of Improv Electronics with Ohio’s Kent Displays being the technology partner. The device is based on the ‘Reflex LCD’ technology so that the Boogie Board is in reality a flexible plastic that is sensitive to pressure. In fact, the Boogie Board’s Reflex LCD surface is highly sensitive to varying amounts of pressure, which makes it possible to draw lines of varying thickness. This makes it a good device for sketching images. The best thing with the Boogie Board is that there is absolutely no power drain from the battery to generate or maintain an image on its surface and will draw power only for erasing the screen. Here too its only a small watch battery that can be enough with a single battery lasting around 50,000 erase cycles.These apart, the Boogie Board is light and extremely portable, weighing just 4.2 ounce and measuring 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.125 inches. And with a costs of just $39.95, its within the reach of almost everyone .
So, it seems things can’t get better than this. Well unfortunately, that’s not to be. To begin with, the screen is a bit too sensitive to touch so that even knuckle pressures too can result in marks on the screen. Then the capacitive screens won’t respond when wearing full gloves. Also, there is no way at present to record the data. So once the erase button is pressed, everything is gone forever. Selective erasing a part of the screen is not supported at present so that if some portion has gone wrong, one has no option but to start all over again. However, Improv Electronics has confirmed that the newer versions of the Boogie Board will have the feature to save as well as to transfer data to another device while selective erasing is also being looked into. So what’s written or drawn can be preserved. And the newer advanced Boogie Boards will be available sooner than the next year timeline that Improv Electronics had set earlier. Current version can’t support color though future versions will have color capabilities, company sources informed. There is going to be a new stylus holder and a protective sleeve added to the tablet from this summer itself. An increase in size to about letter sized Boogie Boards are also on the anvil.
And as per the latest report, Kent Displays, which happens to be the parent company of Improv Electronics has announced they are revamping their production capabilities as well as their global distribution network so as to make the Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablet easily available around the world. They are also embarking on development of new product features so that the Boogie Board is more in tune to consumer expectations than ever before.
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With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
