This tiny AI-powered voice recorder prices S$200, however is it price it?

AI this, AI that—you’re most likely sick of listening to it all over the place.

However from time to time, a product comes alongside that’s really helpful and exhibits how AI can simplify your every day routine.

Amongst them is the Plaud NotePin—it’s a voice recorder priced at S$205 (US$159) with AI smarts that may flip your audio into textual content, offer you a abstract, and even pull out the primary takeaways.

What’s the Plaud NotePin & what does it do?

Briefly, the Plaud NotePin does precisely what it claims to do, and from the time I’ve spent testing the system, it appears to do it fairly nicely.

Utilizing it’s easy. Simply press and maintain the NotePin till it vibrates—that’s your cue that it has began recording (you’ll additionally see a crimson mild activate).

While you’re achieved, press it once more to cease… and that’s it. There’s no sophisticated setup, making it an accessible software even for first-time customers.

One of many NotePin’s greatest appeals is simply how small and light-weight it’s—barely the dimensions of a thumb and weighing round 17 grams, it’s nearly unnoticeable. And because of the equipment that include the system, you possibly can nearly carry it anyplace.

Within the field, you’ll get:

• A braided lanyard to put on the NotePin round your neck,
• A wristband so you possibly can put on it like a watch, and
• A clip so you possibly can connect it to your shirt, bag, or anyplace else.

Personally, the lanyard proved to be probably the most sensible possibility. Carrying the NotePin round my neck made it simply accessible, significantly once I wanted to begin a recording shortly.

And its battery life can also be admittedly spectacular: it lasts as much as 40 days on standby and 20 hours of steady recording.

That stated, recording is simply a part of the expertise.

To entry the AI options like transcription, summarisation, and extracting key insights, you’ll want to make use of the Plaud app or net platform. And to take action, you’ll have to create an account and hyperlink your NotePin to it.

The additional step can really feel a little bit tedious, however I suppose it’s a minor inconvenience contemplating how a lot simpler the AI options make reviewing your recordings.

When you’re arrange, your recordings sync to the app. From there, you possibly can generate full transcripts with speaker labels, concise summaries, thoughts maps, and even utilise an “Ask AI” function that may enable you dig deeper into the content material. It will probably generate report emails and paperwork, amongst others, saving guide effort.

Relying on the template you choose, transcription could take a couple of minutes to course of.

From my time utilizing the app, transcriptions have been correct, and I haven’t encountered any errors or AI hallucinations.

Nonetheless, it’s price noting that you just solely 300 transcription minutes per thirty days and entry to a restricted set of AI options at no cost. Should you want extra, you’ll must improve to a paid plan.

The Professional plan prices S$11.50 per thirty days (or S$136.98 yearly) and provides expanded performance, whereas the Limitless plan is priced at S$29.20 per thirty days (or S$349.98 yearly) and unlocks all accessible options.

Is it price it?

Total, my expertise with the NotePin has been easy and it has proved to be genuinely helpful, from conferences to interviews to capturing spontaneous ideas on the go.

Nevertheless it does elevate the query: does this actually have to be a standalone gadget, particularly when smartphones are already able to doing lots of the identical issues?

iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia already will let you transcribe and summarise recordings immediately inside the Voice Memos app, whereas on Android, Google’s Pixel Recorder app—constructed into each Pixel telephones and the Pixel Watch—provides equally superior options.

There are additionally loads of third-party apps, like Otter.ai, that present these capabilities, making them extensively accessible throughout units.

What smartphones don’t essentially supply, although, is ease of entry. The NotePin’s compact kind makes it sooner and extra handy to begin recording on the go, moderately than pulling out your cellphone out of your pocket.

It additionally provides a complete suite of AI options, going past the standard transcription and summaries that the majority voice recorders present.

However are these options definitely worth the S$205 price ticket? Judging by early consumer suggestions, the NotePin appears to be resonating with many.

After I spoke to Plaud’s founder, Nathan Hsu, he shared that “momentum has been robust” since its launch in August 2024. Whereas he didn’t disclose particular gross sales figures for the system, he famous that it’s a part of the corporate’s general cargo of tens of 1000’s models globally thus far.

Other than the NotePin, the corporate additionally provides the Plaud Observe, a card-sized voice recorder. It’s bigger and fewer versatile than the NotePin, nevertheless it’s designed for extra targeted, intentional use. Collectively, these units have served over 700,000 customers globally, with that quantity shortly approaching the 1 million mark.

Though the corporate is comparatively younger—it was launched in December 2021—Nathan shared that it had reached US$10 million in gross sales as of June 2024, and is now working at a US$180 million annual income run fee, reaching 10 instances year-over-year progress for 2 consecutive years.

“The hole we’re addressing is large—conventional instruments make you doc your life, however we need to enable you reclaim it.”

And if that sounds just like the sort of improve your workflow (or life) may use, the Plaud NotePin would possibly simply be definitely worth the funding.

• Discover out extra concerning the Plaud NotePin right here.
• Learn different tech opinions we’ve written right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: Vulcan Submit