Livescribe has announced its latest digital pen, the Sky Wi-Fi smartpen, which offers users a way to combine natural handwritten notes and audio recordings with the convenience of electronic journals such as note-taking app, Evernote.

Like with previous Livescribe pens, users write handwritten notes in special Livescribe paper journals. Additionally, the Sky pen can further be used as a voice recorder, with audio recordings being matched to particular points in the handwritten capture.

The latest addition to the Livescribe range does away with the previous need to synchronise notes to a PC using a cable, in favour of Wi-Fi capability.

Another new feature on the Sky pen, is its integration with the popular notetaking app, Evernote. Digitised notes captured by the pen can automatically be sent to users’ personal Evernote accounts, where they are securely stored and readily available to search, play back, organise and share.

Considering the fact that Evernote is available for PC, Android and iOS devices, it makes sense for Livescribe to have chosen it as their notetaking app of choice. However, it is exclusively so, and if you have hopes about pairing your Sky pen with Notability (on iOS) or Catch, on Android, unfortunately that will not, at this point at least, be possible.

The write stuff

Any content created and captured with the Sky Wi-Fi smartpen wirelessly syncs with Evernote as a new searchable and shareable note. Once in Evernote, customers can easily play back their synchronised notes and audio, called Pencasts, with the new web-based Livescribe Player.

The Livescribe Player, which doesn’t require any installation, then allows users to start at the beginning of an audio recording, as well as jump directly to a specific point in time just by tapping or clicking on a handwritten word or drawing.

In addition to reviewing Pencasts on their computers and mobile devices, consumers can also search within their handwritten notes, by tags, titles, keywords and words, while Pencasts can be organised alongside other related content including documents, presentations, photos, videos and web pages.

Additionally, individual notes and Pencasts can be shared publicly or privately with colleagues and peers via link, email, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Entire notebooks can also be shared for easy collaboration.

Pen, meet tablet

Gilles Bouchard, Livescribe chairman and CEO elaborated that with the Sky Wi-Fi smartpen, people can easily capture important ideas, presentations and conversations in the “most natural way - on paper”, and then subsequently carry these notes with them on their mobile devices and personal computers.

He further asserted that the Sky pen makes “an ideal companion to an iPad or Android tablet, as together they offer the ease, flexibility and precision of writing on paper with the benefits of saving, searching, replaying and sharing on a tablet.” The Sky pen will apparently be available in 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB versions, and Stateside at least, will cost $170, $200 and $250 respectively.

To the point

While the humble and yet mighty pen may have been surpassed by the omnipresent touch keyboard for many, for some, a pen still has its place in the digital era.

Admittedly, we found the previous Livescribe offerings imminently useful, and thus look forward to wielding one when it becomes available here. Unfortunately, no local release dates or pricing has yet been announced.

To see the Sky pen in action, point your eyes at the video below.