Tech Cast Now

"It's a digital scanner and fax in your pocket! Your phone is suddenly a business center – scan, print and fax wherever you go. Scan documents to turn them into digital files you can store, share, and fax."

"Several of the business card scanners I’ll discuss later offer an OCR feature. ScanR Business Center was the only ‘document scanner’ that offers OCR. An online account is required and is part of the $22.99 app price. The account is labeled ‘iPhone Permanent’ and indicates unlimited pages and 100 Faxes. They also offer a ‘ScanR Pro’ account for $4.99 per month or $29.90 per year that provides unlimited scans and no ads. This was a little confusing because I didn’t see any ads on my test scans and the iPhone Permanent account already indicates unlimited pages. The app doesn’t offer a lot of image adjustments on the phone, but the resulting scan quality is good. You can view your scanned documents on their site, automatically receive them by email, or share them with someone else online. You can also send an SMS with a link to the online version of your document. One nice feature is the ability to have a document sent to a fax machine, thereby offering a way to print from the iPhone while traveling. Scanned images are converted and saved to your account on their site as PDF, a photo JPG of the original, JPG of the converted document, and a plain text file of the OCR’d contents of the document. On the site you can do a text search and all documents that contain that text will be displayed. Web site support is strong with good FAQ style help. A very high-end app targeted at business users who need to capture, access, and share documents on the go. "

Clean Installation Did the app install easily and cleanly? (assigned weight-5)

10

Easy Configuration Was initial configuration simple and easy to understand? (assigned weight-5)

10

Learning Curve Is app easy to lean and use? (assigned weight-5)

9

Support Website Does the developer offer a comprehensive support site? (assigned weight-4)

10

Help - Does app have built in help that is really helpful? (Direct access in app, access via web, or none. (assigned weight-5)

1

Bugs - Does the app work as expected, without bugs (assigned weight-5)

10

Load Time - Does the app load quickly? ( ready to use in less than 10 seconds on 3GS) (assigned weight-3)

10

Controls Does app offer adequate controls for purpose? (assigned weight-5)

8

Regular Updates Does vendor appear to keep app up-to-date (updated or released in last 6 months=10,-1 per month after 6 unless reason update is not required)? (assigned weight-3)

10

Alternative Languages Does the app support alternate languages? (assigned weight-2)

1

Intuitive Interface Is the interface intuitive (icons, menus, and directional symbols) for average users and does it adhere to good iPhone design principles? (assigned weight-5)

10

Screen Layouts Are screen layouts logical and well-designed? (assigned weight-5)

10

Navigation Is the app navigation logical and easy to use? (assigned weight-4)

10

Readability Legible text and print size that is appropriate for the intended audience. Are fonts and interface elements easy to see and read? (assigned weight-5)

10

Recovery from Incoming Call Does the app recover after being interrupted by an incoming call or message? (to test interrupt app during operation ) (assigned weight-5)

10

Restart/Pause/Shutdown If applicable, does the app allow user to pause or shutdown and restart at a meaningful and logical point after previous use? If game, does it restart to place in level, or can you pause before closing app. (to test close and reopen app to see if it restarts to a meaningful point) (assigned weight-5)

5

Graphics Quality Are the graphics of good quality and resolution; do images load within reasonable timeframe? (assigned weight-5)

10

Graphics Usefulness Are the graphics meaningful and useful? (assigned weight-5)

10

Scanner-A-Save as PDF Does the app allow scan to be saved as PDF or other general use format? (assigned weight-2)

10

Scanner-B-Save copy of image in app Does the app save a copy of the image in app data? Or to Photos? (assigned weight-2)

10

Scanner-C-Save to Web Site Does the app allow you to upload image to web site storage? (iDisk, product, WebDAV, Dropbox, ftp…) (assigned weight-2)

0

Scanner-D-Transfer to PC Does app allow scan results to be transferred to PC? WiFi or Cable, WIN and MAC. (NO=1, Only 1 = 5, Both = 10) (assigned weight-2)

8

Scanner-E-Email Send as attachment Does app allow scanned output to be emailed as an attachment? (assigned weight-2)

10

Scanner-F-Image Adjust-Scale and Crop Does the app allow scale and crop either before or after scan? (assigned weight-2)

0

Scanner-G-Image Adjust-Scale and Crop Ease of use How easy is it to crop and scale? (User interface ease and accuracy) (assigned weight-2)

0

Scanner-H-Image Adjust-Color, contrast, brightness Does the app allow adjustment of color, contrast, and brightness either before or after scan? (assigned weight-2)

10

Scanner-I-Image Adjust -Light on Dark Option Does the app allow compensation for dark backgrounds? (assigned weight-2)

10

Scanner-J-Perspective Adjustment or Compensation Does the app adjust for perspective distortion (automatic or manual)? (assigned weight-2)

0

Scanner-K-Camera-Image Stabilization Does the app offer image stabilization during image capture? (assigned weight-2)

0

Scanner-L-Undo or Redo Processing Does the app allow you to backup after processing to readjust processing settings? (assigned weight-2)

0

Scanner-M-Date Time Stamp Does the app time stamp scanned output? (assigned weight-2)

10

Scanner-N-Document Scan Quality-Clean black Print Overall how good is the document scan quality? (assigned weight-2)

7

Scanner-S-Document OCR Overall how good is the OCR of scanned document? (assigned weight-10)

10

Scanner-Q-Document Scan Quality-Receipt Overall how good is the document scan quality? (assigned weight-2)

8

Scanner-R-Document Scan Quality-Light on Dark Overall how good is the document scan quality? (assigned weight-2)

7

Scanner-S-Document OCR Overall how good is the OCR of scanned document? (assigned weight-2)

8