It’s not yet the next best thing in the Tablet world, but of course, it has all the potential of being the next best thing. Then again, it IS one good thing in Green initiatives!

Boogie Board, from Improv Electronics, is an LCD writing tablet that you can write on to without using any power. Only the erasing part consumes a bit of power, and that’s quite good for a writing tablet that can support 50,000 erases on a watch battery. The tablet can also recognize varying amounts of pressure so that it can differentiate between thick and thin lines while writing. The device uses what is called a “Reflex LCD”, a pressure-sensitive flexible plastic, which does not require any power to retain what’s written on it. The device is thin, compact and light-weight, with a writing space as much as half a sheet of letter size paper. And what’s more, you can also use different tools to get different textures - such as the stylus, a paint brush, a pen cap, or even a fingernail.

There is one catch - you can’t connect it to a computer or any other device to save what you’ve written or drawn. You can use it for writing short notes, hard copy it later and then erase it. But if you use it in place of paper, the vendor claims that the savings are significant.

Where and who can/will use it?

Now that it can’t connect to a computer, think outside.

You can attach it on to your refrigerator or to a wall to leave quick notes or messages. You can attach it to your car visor or dash to jot down reminders or quick thoughts on the go. It also makes an idea writing surface for people with vocal injuries, speech impairments or other disabilities which makes it difficult to write with a normal pen and paper. There are countless other uses that you can come across.

If you are someone who uses a lot of paper at work or play just to jot down notes and can’t keep track of all those paper notes, this might be worth a try.

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