Ditch paper completely and go at it digitally
With everyone doing work on the iPad these days, a plethora of apps and services has popped up to help turn the tablet into a mobile workspace. The real challenge is in getting all of those physical paper documents to follow suit. Scanning paper into PDFs that can be easily read on the iPad can be a bit of work. That’s where these two mobile scanners come into play.
First up is the Doxie Go, a compact scanner that can literally scan any piece of paper, anywhere. The Doxie Go charges via mini USB and also features an adjustable tab in the feeder so that you can easily push paper through no matter the size--a major upgrade from its predecessor, Doxie, which often produced slanted scans and didn’t do well with 4x6 photo prints.
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The Doxie Go’s major selling point is that it permanently stores whatever you scan to the device’s 512MB built-in memory so that you don’t have to connect the device to a computer to use it. You retrieve the data once you hook up to a computer, either by mounting it as a removable disk drive or via the Doxie software, which also lets you batch-save your scans or send them to Evernote. You can also scan while it’s tethered. As an added bonus, the Doxie Go has a USB port and SD card slot, so you can scan directly to either of those mediums or use an Eye-Fi card to send scans up to the cloud. Or, you can hook up a camera connection kit to the iPad to drop scans into the iOS Photos app or iBooks.
For Type-A personalities, the Neat Company’s NeatReceipts is just as svelte and compact as the Doxie, but it comes with powerful organizational software. The Neat Library extracts data from your physical documents by utilizing optical character recognition (OCR). You can scan receipts, business cards, or documents and the software will do all the work for you--it will even import contact information into Address Book. There’s also a physical button for scanning a document and instantly saving it as a PDF--a wonder if you need to import a large document into iBooks or Kindle. The Neat Company also plans to release a mobile cloud app later this year.
Both the Doxie Go and NeatReceipts can scan up to 600dpi, which makes both devices a worthy deal. The Doxie Go scans directly to your iPad if you’ve already invested in a camera connection kit, and it can be taken to meetings to scan important documents rather than carting paper around with you. But, the NeatReceipts scanner is just as versatile, and the bundled software makes it completely worth the price.
The bottom line. If you need to scan things as you go and want something that works cross-platform, the Doxie Go is it. But, if you’re in dire need of software to help you get organized, NeatReceipts is the complete package.
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Doxie Go
Apparent Corporation
getdoxie.com
Price: $199
Requirements: Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel processor, USB port for syncing and charging
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Pros: Scanner stores scans to internal memory; can be used cross-platform whether or not you have software installed.
Cons: Software is very barebones
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NeatReceipts
The Neat Company
neat.com
Price: $199.95
Requirements: Mac OS 10.5.8 or later, 1GB RAM, CD-ROM drive for software install, USB port for syncing and charging
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Pros: Bundled software is fantastic for organizing your personal life or small home business; has an instant PDF button.
Cons: Digital download isn’t readily available for software.
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