In this case, the PanScn06's personality comes from its lack of software, which defines the scanner as supremely easy to use. I've often suggested in reviews that it's the software that gives a scanner its personality, since the software defines what the package can do.
In addition there's a Mac version on the card for MAC OS X 10.5.x (Intel) and 10.6.x (Intel).īeyond the scan utility, there simply wasn't any software to test. According to Pandigital, it also works with Vista 64-bit and both 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and XP.
I used the utility with Windows Vista in my tests. Basically this saves the step of copying the files manually, but is otherwise completely equivalent to scanning to memory and then copying the files later.
However, it offers a utility stored on the SD card that you can install to let you scan directly to your hard disk over a USB connection. The PanScn06 comes without any application software.
Any recent version of Windows or Mac OS X will recognize the card in the scanner as a USB drive, so you can copy the files to your system. When you're ready to move the files to your computer, you can simply move the card and copy the files, or you can plug in the supplied USB cable. The scanner will grab the photo, scan it, and save the file to the memory card. With the card and power cord in place, you can turn the scanner on, press the one button to choose between 300 and 600 pixel per inch (ppi) resolution, and then scan simply by inserting a photo in the input slot. The scanner comes with a 1GB SD card, but according to Pandigital, it will also work with XD, MS, MS Pro, and MMC cards. Basic setup consists of plugging in a memory card and power cable. However its portability is limited, since it runs only from AC power, with no battery option.
The scanner offers a typical size and weight for a portable manual sheetfed scanner, at 1.7 by 10.6 by 2.3 inches (HWD) and about 14 ounces for the scanner itself or 1 pound 2 ounces with the power cable included. On the other hand, one of the benefits of this design choice is that the scanner is highly portable, particularly when you consider that it eliminates the need to bring a computer along with you. In fact, it's best to be leery of running a photo through a sheetfeeder, since the rollers can damage the original. The manual-feed sheetfed design is somewhat surprising for a scanner meant primarily for photographic prints. With the Pandigital scanner, you have the additional choice of scanning directly to a computer hard drive over a USB connection. The key difference is that with the anywhere 2, the only choice is to scan to memory and then move the files to a computer later. Both the anywhere 2 and the PanScn06 let you scan to memory without a computer. The scanner is broadly in the same category as more traditional sheetfed portable scanners like the Editors' Choice Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini ($295 direct, ) that I reviewed earlier this year, but a closer comparison would be to the Apparent Doxie ($129 direct, ), and an even more direct comparison would be to the IRIScan anywhere 2 ($199 direct, ).