I've been eyeing these for a while and this is the cheapest I've seen the Echo 8GB go for. There are cheaper ones (Echo 4GB or the older Pulse model), but they're not discounted like this one.
Top this up to $200 and you can avail of the Paypal cashback, Amex offer, and the 3% MBC cashback for a true OZB bargain. ;)
For those unsure of what this does, this video (is long, but) is a good summary of what it can do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDocw6VfcV8
You can print compatible pages yourself. Any PostScript compatible printer would do.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230610285…
$176 on ebay from the USA with fast shipping.
correction, thats $15 shipping and $32 for fast shipping.
so total $185 international shipping or $202 fast shipping
USD, dont know the conversion.
$185 USD = $173 AUD
also worth a pricematch at OW if you want to get it for about $10 less http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Ebo…
As one of the earlier commenters said, the paper is where it gets expensive. And while you can print your own, then its a bit clunky to carry around loose pieces of paper instead of a notebook. I'm still a big fan of my 4GB Echo Pen though.
Very good price though for Australia.
I LOVE my Echo Smartpen. I love having everything I write with it (and on the special notebooks) be automatically digitized. I bought it to help me learn Mandarin - being able not just to write down the characters but to link them to an audio recording of my teacher pronouncing them was pure win - but I've since discovered new uses for it. I've given the pen and notebook to my 6-year-old nephew and asked him to doodle while telling me a story, and the resulting "livecast" has been amazing and fun to watch. I've used it in business meetings and lecture halls. I also bought the app that lets you use the pen and notebook as a mouse, effectively allowing you to, say, sign documents digitally or draw in Photoshop. The best thing about it is that it just works. Haven't had a single problem with it yet!
For uni purpose, I'm thinking a $300 netbook with a right software or a 7" android tablet + bluetooth keyboard + a right app could do the trick.
I have the first gen one of these. At first it seemed cool, but it just becomes tedious and novelty like to use IMO. Especially if you use more than one computer. And even more so for uni students as the majority of lectures are recorded with video. And the pen is fat so uncomfortable to write with. And the books were super expensive. I think it was about 30-40$ for a 4 pack from memory.
Newer ones might have more functions or something to make it better but I still think lecture recordings beat it. Looks to be a pretty decent price after all those extra cashbacks though.