Portronics Scanny is a portable, battery-powered scanner that can be used to scan pages from books and most flat surfaces without the need for a personal computer (PC). Roughly the size of a police baton, it?s wide enough to scan an A4 sheet. Concave indentations on both sides make it easy to hold. The scanner uses a strip of LEDs as the light source, which only come on when the rollers are in motion (in the interests of battery conservation). On either side, two arrows indicate the scan area or coverage area of the sensor/light so that you can place it accurately.
It?s quick and easy to start scanning. A long press on the power/scan button switches on the device, then you set the effect (colour or B&W), set the resolution (low or high; corresponding to 300 or 600 dpi), press the power/scan button again and roll it on the page in a smooth motion. Default values are 300 dpi colour. The under body rollers make it easy to roll in a straight line. The only thing you have to do is regulate the speed with which you roll and make sure that the surface you?re scanning is perfectly flat.
The simple LCD displays the battery strength, number of scans done, effect (colour or B&W) and resolution (low/high; 300 or 600 dpi). It offers convenience in the form of microSD card storage. You can just pull out the card, pop it in a card reader and all the scans will be in the DCIM folder in JPEG format, just like a digital camera. You could also connect the device to a PC using the mini USB port, in which case it functions like a card reader and lets you access the files on the card.
Exercise some patience while scanning, and you?ll get some pretty good results. The sharpness and colour accuracy may not be at par with a good standalone flatbed scanner, but it comes pretty close. After scanning photographs, you may want to touch them up a bit for sharpness and colour saturation for best results. For quick document scanning, however, it?s great. Keep the glass panel clean, use a smooth scanning motion and you?ll be rewarded with great results every time.
So who would buy such a product? Well, first and foremost, this is a portable scanner. So if you need to scan a lot of documents, photos, books, magazine covers, etc, while on the move, you can carry this along. It?s self contained, so no PC is required. Use a pair of AA size alkaline batteries and you?ll get almost 200 scans out of it (Plus you don?t have to worry about charging it; just pop in a fresh pair of batteries which you can get from anywhere. It?s indicated more for non-critical applications, where you just need a basic scan, without worrying too much about the accuracy of captured colours.
Photographers and demanding graphic artists should steer clear, but for those looking for convenience in portable scanning, this is a must buy.