They draw power through USB, work independently and fit in your hand.
Suddenly, scanning has taken wings. Major imaging product leaders have, almost simultaneously, launched ultralight, mobile scanners that work without a computer, from built-in batteries or drawing power from a USB connector. On board Flash memory or camera-type SD cards store the images – from documents, photos, business cards – and clever software helps one to store the scanned images in a variety of popular formats -- or to “read” text with an optical character reader.
All these new generation handheld scanners take documents up to the A4 size ( as long as they are in sheet format ) and some are amazingly fast – up to 15 pages per minute.
We know of at least three that Indian customers can buy -- Canon and HP have launched their models in the market here; while IRIS, makers of the popular ReadIris, Card Iris and other standard software tools, used by many scanner manufacturers, have been offering Indian customers, their own “IrisScan Anywhere 2" model for direct purchase over the Net.
This model offers easy export to Word, PDF, Excel, Outlook, Address Book, Roxio PhotoSuite 9 etc; has built-in flash memory, expandable memory capacity (SD card & USB key) and boasts storage up to 100 letter size documents in battery mode. Software provided includes CardIris Pro 5 for scanning business cards and Roxio PhotoSuite 9 to organise photos. Scan resolution is 600 dpi max.
Hewlett Packard has just launched in India its Scanjet Professional 1000 Mobile Scanner. This is HP’s first scanner for mobile professionals and it weighs 0.64 kg and is clearly built for heavy duty use. Featuring Instant-on Scanning Technology to save energy, the scanner can quickly scan two-sided documents in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, from embossed business cards to long forms and color brochures, and save them in different file formats Stated scan speeds are 5- 8 PPM.
A CD full of software is provided including Nuance PaperPort, Nuance OmniPage, and NewSoft Presto! and BizCard Reader software. One scan into a wide variety of file types: .bmp, .ppt, .xps… even for the Kindle e-book reader
The price is Rs 10, 499, making it the most affordable if not the lightest of the currently available options.
Canon’s ImageFORMULA P-150 is the fastest of the present crop, claiming 15 ppm with monochrome and 19 ppm with colour..It is bundled with Canon CaptureOnTouch, CaptureOnTouch Lite, Nuance PaperPort, and NewSoft Presto! BizCard.
