Product Reviews

Though rumours of paper's death have proved greatly exaggerated, Fujitsu might still inflict an injury with its ScanSnap range of scanners. The new fi-5110EOX is a duplex document and business card scanner designed to help you process and archive paper-based information. It replaces the fi-4110EOX2, and Fujitsu claims multiple improvements over the outgoing model, including OCR functionality and a higher maximum scan resolution. An excellent software bundle includes the full version of Adobe Acrobat Standard, which alone is worth £240.

The ScanSnap, which takes up about as much room as the smallest of fax machines, has a 50-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) and connects to a PC via USB Hi-Speed (also known as USB 2.0). It's a document management device, rather than a general-purpose scanner, and this is reflected both in the features it offers and those that are missing. The lack of a TWAIN driver and a maximum 600dpi resolution are the ScanSnap's principal shortcomings and greatly reduce its value as an image scanner. During our testing, we also observed vertical banding in dark regions, which would be unacceptable if image quality were of primary importance.

Feed the ScanSnap a pile of assorted documents and it's in its element. Scanning is fast at most resolution settings; at 'Normal'

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quality we were able to convert 15 A4 sheets into an Adobe Acrobat PDF document in just 57 seconds. The hardware can scan both sides at once, requiring no extra time to produce a 30-page PDF from 15 double-sided sheets.

Normal resolution is 150dpi, which is suitable for most archival and distribution. We found that for all other purposes, 'Best' offered the ideal compromise between speed and quality.

Management software resides in the Windows System Tray, offering control of settings and managing the scan process. It automatically detects and corrects page orientation, skips blank sides and scans in mono if a page contains no colour, which keeps file sizes low.

CardMinder captures information from business cards and can export it to common email applications. Scanning in batches of five to 10, we often needed to correct orientation and help the OCR identify which data was on which cards. The process isn't painless, but it is quicker than manually copying the information and leaves you with a visual record of any notes or scribbles on the original. It's also possible to scan directly into a Microsoft Word or Excel document.

OCR is performed by ABBYY FineReader, which takes about nine minutes to capture 10 sides of mono A4 into Word. Results are decent provided that the original document is clear and the layout not too complex, but don't expect to get a perfect copy of your original.

The ScanSnap is expensive and specialised, with little competition: Corex's CardScan Executive 600c (see What's New, Shopper June 2004) offers similar card-processing abilities, but handles no other paper sizes. Canon's DR 2080C manages 20ppm, but costs more and doesn't scan business cards. The ScanSnap could prove ideal for busy PAs or anyone else needing to archive documents on a daily basis. It won't quite be the paperless office, but it could cause paper cuts all the same.