Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Livescribe’s smartpen app will soon work with Android devices

By

livescribe smartpen app android news 3
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Livescribe’s amazing smartpens currently only work with iOS, but the company is hard at work on an Android version of its app. Since Livescribe’s smartpens communicate via Bluetooth Low Energy, the company had to wait for Android to support it first, before making the new app.

As soon as Android 4.4 KitKat launched, Bluetooth LE was activated on all Android devices that supported the OS. At that point, Livescribe began investigating the possibilities of an Android version of its smartpen companion app. With the arrival of Google’s Material Design and Android 5.0 Lollipop, Livescribe’s interest in Google’s OS only increased. Now the company has a beta version of the Livescribe+ Android app ready, which they showed off at CES 2015.

Recommended Videos

The Android version packs all the same functionality of the iOS app, except for the third-party app integration with OneNote and Evernote. You can record conversations while you take notes, using the Pen Cast function, as well as see your handwritten notes appear on the screen in real time. You can then share your notes as PDF documents and Pen Casts as audio files, among others. The app will also transcribe your handwritten notes into digital text, turn websites into hyperlinks, send addresses to Google Maps, and transport you to the phone or Gmail app when you tap on phone numbers or email addresses.

Related

The app is based on Google’s Material Design language, and features a clean, simple interface that looks a lot like the iOS app. It should arrive sometime in the spring, though Livescribe hasn’t announced a date yet.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Malarie Gokey
Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
Every Android tablet we’re expecting in 2024
The home screen on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

It’s an exciting time for Android tablets. Into the vacuum left in 2023 by Apple’s first-ever dearth of new iPads stepped two new contenders offering distinct takes on what a tablet should be, while Samsung’s venerable Tab S9 lineup raised the bar by cementing the position of its largest tablet and bringing AMOLED screens to the entire family.

There’s no reason to believe that this year will be any less interesting as Samsung continues to up its game while Google and OnePlus try to refine their initial first-generation efforts into more mature products.

Read more
How to get Android apps on a Chromebook
Dell Chromebook 3189 2-in-1 on a classroom desk floating in the air.

Over the last few years, Android apps have been added to more and more Chromebook models. A brilliant expansion of the overall user experience, Google went ahead and integrated the Play Store into most Chromebooks made after 2019. This is the most convenient way to download an Android app or two, but if you own an older Chromebook, the machine may not have native support for downloading and installing applets.

To confirm this, we recommend referencing this extensive Android app support list from The Chromium Projects.

Read more
Google just released the first Android 15 beta. Here’s what’s new
The Android 15 logo on a smartphone.

Google has just released the first public beta build of Android 15, marking an end to the developer-focused test phase. The beta version’s release also means that Android 15 is finally in a state where it can be tried by the masses without people having to worry about too many bugs leaving their phone in a sorry state.

The first beta version of Android 15 doesn’t introduce a ton of new features, as most of the notable additions have already appeared in the Developer Preview builds. Google’s blog post, however, mentions the following features as the key highlights

Read more