I first saw the original Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablet about a year ago. Here is how it works:
The Boogie Board tablet utilizes a reflective, pressure-sensitive, plastic liquid crystal display (LCD). Images are created by pressing on the LCD screen with a stylus, fingernail or other instrument. To clear the screen, an erase button is pushed. This tells the electronics, which are powered by a coin cell watch battery, to erase the image by applying an electric field to the LCD.
It is basically a tablet-sized electronic chalkboard. I haven’t found a good use for it myself, but my kids love it. They love drawing on it, and it works great as a scratch pad for their homework. For less than $30, it is pretty cool. The biggest drawback to the device is that, like a chalkboard or dry-erase board, whatever you write or draw on it is gone after you erase it. In a digital world, we like to save things. What I did, that seemed to work well due to the contrast of the display, was to use my Android phone’s camera to snap a picture of whatever I wrote/drew, then upload it to Evernote. Many people however have requested that the device be able to save notes/sketches so they can be transferred elsewhere.
Enter the Boogie Board Rip:
Here’s the description for the new device:
The Boogie Board Rip™ LCD Writing Tablet combines an exceptional, paper-like writing experience with the ability to record your written and drawn images and save them as files. Then connect to a computer and transfer files for editing, organizing, archiving and/or sharing!
Currently the manufacturer, Improv Electronics, has the Boogie Board Rip available for pre-order at $129.99. I’m not sure that adding a save/transfer function is worth an extra $100. Especially considering that the Kindle Fire sells for only $60 more, yet offers a full tablet experience. I don’t mean to imply that there is no use for the device, but the price is difficult to justify.
Such is life in the world of technology… A simple device with limited functionality that costs $30 is upgraded to include the most requested functions ends up being priced too high.
AEC Forensics 