While some my find the "unboxing" a bit cliche, I love it. When I found out that I was going to get to review the new LIvescribe 3, I was more than excited.
There are apple Fanboys and Android fanboys and I am a Livescribe fanboy. I wish I had one of their first pens, the Pulse, but I don't. I do have an Echo, which connected by USB and stored pencasts online in a Flash-based audio embedded PDF. I also have a WiFi, originally called a SKY, which connects via WiFi or USB and stores pencasts in Evernote. I love the concept of the smart pen because it makes digital content creation easy. In fact it takes something you do already, write on paper with a ball point pen, and leverages it into a platform for creating and sharing an amazing record or notes. The Livescribe 3 connects to your iPad or IPhone via bluetooth and the pencasts are stored in the Livescribe + app. In fact the pencasts are created in the app. When I promised in the title that this pen works smarter this is what I was talking about. While the other 2 Livescribe pens I have record audio directly in the pen, with the Livescribe 3 the audio records into the iOs device.
So back to the unboxing. The box arrived and it was very light. I was tempted to stop paying attention to the class I was teaching and send them away so I could be alone with the pen, but I didn't. I didn't send them away, I did continue to obsess over the pen.
I finally gave in and cut the tape revealing this great packaging, this new pew looks slimmer. The bottom corner of the box says "Compatible with iPhone 4S or newer and iPad 3 or newer." These devices have the bluetooth needed to run the pen. The pen seems almost lonely in its packaging. The Basics Guide is well named as it tells you how to turn on the pen and download the app and little more. The only accessory is a micro usb with is well stowed in a small box on the back of the pen's packaging. This clean approach continues inside of the notebook. There is no "control panel" of buttons on the inside cover, users of the Sky or Echo pen know this control panel well. Just after I notice there is no control panel I see there is no display on the pen. This is a different pen. 
The App
From the Livescribe + app you can view your writing by notebook page in page view. This allows you to see the writing as it appears in the notebook you used. This is useful but what really impresses me is the feed view. In feed all of your writing is displayed chronologically, regardless of the notebook you used. The feed is auto-cut into snippets they seem to separate writing at about 3 lines but images or drawings get their own snippet. I made 2 drawings next to each other in the notebook and they display one above the other in feed view. Each of these snippets is shareable. I have really been enjoying handwriting tweets to @JeffHerb, one of my cohosts on the TechEducatorPodcast.com. We talked about Livescribe pens on his podcast last year.
this was a 2 line snippet
note I say "your" handwriting ;)
The App does have an "Edit" mode to convert your hadwriting to text that can be edited or captured and used in another document or a calendar.
I love that in full screen the app clearly shows the writing you are doing on your paper notebook in real time. I am planning on mirroring my iPad through Apple TV or Reflector app to be able to give my classes notes simply by writing. I often build flipboard slides for the promethain board to give the kids directions for the beginning of tech class, but this does take time and prep and I never do anything else with the flipboards because it isn't easy. This is easy to create and simple to share.
I am working on a video to show the pen in action and to demo the app.
My favorite improvements in this pen
1. It sends directly to the iPad
2. There is no cap to lose, the pen tip retracts.
3. The back of the pen is a stylus.
Livescribe 3 pens was provided to MyPaperlessClassroom for review, for this we are grateful.
Comments
Thanks Brian