Introducing the latest addition to my paperless arsenal

Well I certainly showed plenty of excitement last week at discovering the AlphaSmart Neo and I closed that post, noting the difficult task I would have convincing my wife that I needed one. Well thankfully she wasn't such a tough nut to crack this time, mainly because she knew she was on to a losing battle when she saw the burning passion in my eyes  :o). Now, thanks to her kindness and understanding, I am pleased to announce that an AlphaSmart Neo has been added to my paperless arsenal (and I'm hugely excited).

Once I'd worn down encouraged my wife to let me buy the Neo, things moved fast. By the Tuesday, despite suffering a bad bout of 'man flu', I was researching the best place to purchase one. I fired off emails to all potential UK retailers to figure out prices, delivery etc. and by Wednesday I had heard back from all of them. The best, by far was Scottish Learning Products, an official educational reseller for AlphaSmart.  I was lucky enough to be dealing via email with the company owner Bert Brooks and let me tell you - Bert is amazingly professional and efficient. He figured out a good deal for me and on Wednesday, late PM, he mailed a Neo out to me. It arrived on my doorstep at 08:00 the next day. I don't care what you say, that's a level of service that is hard to beat from ANYONE.

I'm not fast to recommend any online retailer unless they have shown me an exemplary level of service. However without sounding like an affiliate, because I'm not, Scottish Learning Products delivered to me a level of service so exemplary that I can't do anything but recommend them. So if you're in the UK looking for a trusted retailer for an AlphaSmart Neo , then you really can't go far wrong in shooting an email off to Bert yourself.

I don't want to spend too much time right now giving a run-down on my experiences with the Neo so far, there'll be plenty of opportunity of doing that in the full review that I'm going to post soon. I just want to close by saying that my first impressions of the Neo has far exceed my expectations. It's slicker than I thought. It's lighter than I thought and the keyboard is one of the best I've had the pleasure of using. Yes folk's even at this early stage I've never been happier with an electronic device, at least since getting a Tablet PC, and I know this little beauty is going to revolutionise the writing aspect of my paperless life.

Look out for my full review soon meantime here's a couple of extra Neo related sites I've stumbled across since my last post:

Sally and Me - Like moi, writer Janna has also only just become the proud owner of an AlphaSmart (her's is the older, but no less impressive, 3000 model). She's as mad as a box of frogs and to prove it she's started blogging about her new relationship with 'Sally'. Awesome stuff!
Vance Fry's 'pimped' Neo -  Not keen on the un-inspiring monotone colour scheme of the Neo, Vance took it upon himself to 'vinyl dye' his Neo into a more creative look. I think the main word that springs to mind is vivid :o)

Comments

[Sab]

So happy that you got the Neo and it is living up to your expectations. One bit of advice, if you haven't figured it out already: when transferring to your PC, do NOT open other programs, surf the 'net, type another document, check email, play solitaire, etc. Sometimes that causes the transfer to burp and you lose stuff (it's still on the NEO but if you are transferring for your kid, who does not want you to read what he's written (that novel thing again), it is a pain! Have fun.

[Robert Burdock]

Thanks for that tip Sab. I'm a guy so multi-tasking is a no-go anyway :o) but I'm sure there would come a time when I would be tempted to switch to something else while the Neo is transferring.

By the way I'm also hugely motivated by your son. He seems to have a huge passion for writing and that's so encouraging to see in someone so young. My daughter (also 13) is an exceptional writer but over the past couple of years she seems to have 'rested on her laurels' and her writer's edge seems to be diminishing. Still I live in hope :o)

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

Thanks.
I've referenced this article:
http://eolake.blogspot.com/2008/08/alphasmart-neo.html

[Robert Burdock]

Eolake - thanks for the mention. See you around on the Flickr group