Wacom Bamboo Folio Review

When Wacom released the Bamboo Spark ($159.95 at Amazon) earlier this year, we thought it was a simple, effective way to transform pen-and-paper notes into digital files. The company has now doubled down on these smart input devices, expanding the line to include different styles. The Bamboo Folio ($199.95) is one of the new additions, taking the same technology used in the Spark and transitioning the form factor to a business folder. Functionally the Folio works as well as the Spark did, offering a straightforward way to share your physical notes digitally; the design is nice and professional; and the added writing or drawing room is a plus. Unfortunately, the accompanying software has some down sides that hurt the experience, such as relegating color editing options to a second app. I prefer the method employed by the Editors' Choice Moleskine Smart Writing Set ($199.00 at Moleskine) , with its smart notebook, unified app, and advanced pen, but the Folio is still a solid analog-to-digital option that allows you to use any paper.

Design and Setup
The Folio is more substantial than its Slate counterpart at 0.74 by 10.5 by 13.3 inches (HWD), due mainly to the textured and sturdy nylon fabric cover. The interior is dimpled black polyurethane, and the inside front cover includes a large pocket and two slots suited to holding business cards. It's a little heftier thanks to the added material, but at 1.72 pounds (without paper), it's light enough that you still won't mind throwing it in your bag for a commute. The Folio comes in only one size, as opposed to the Slate, which was a half-letter variation. It's large—designed for letter-size paper, so a good deal bigger than the small Slate, the Spark, or the Moleskine notebook—but you may well appreciate the extra space. A micro USB port on the bottom is used for charging, and a USB–to–micro USB cable is included.

Dark stitching outlines the Wacom-enabled surface—the majority of the inside panel—and a black button to the left serves as both Power and Sync. Between the black interior, darker gray on the exterior, and the cover that hides your notes, the Folio looks more professional than the clipboard-style Slate, and I prefer the feel of carrying it with me to meetings. A slit in the back panel substitutes for a clip or other fastener for your paper—just slide the rear cover of your pad (usually cardboard) down the slit, and it will be held in place as you write or travel. There's not really a solution for sheets of paper that aren't bound in that way, but the cover helps keep everything in place if you're on the move.

Features and Testing
The note-taking process requires no further explanation—it's standard pen and paper—but the Folio does track your input accurately, catching any strokes or bolding you do, too. There's also a live option, which puts your writing into the app in real time as you mark the page. When you're done with a meeting, or want to save one page and move on to the next, pushing the Sync button saves your physical notes as an image file in the Inkspace app, which is available for both iOS and Android. You can enable background sync on your device, which allows you to save a page of input to the app at any time by pressing the Folio's button, as long as the connection remains. Inkspace is also Wacom's cloud solution, so your files will be synced across devices.

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Any paper—whether the included notepad or another sheet or pad—is compatible with the Folio. As long as the paper is placed over the board, your input will be tracked. But you can't use just any writing implement, you need to use a compatible Wacom pen (which is included). As with the Spark, this is an ink-equipped ballpoint pen with changeable cartridges for when you need a refill. This is different from the Moleskine set, which places more emphasis on the pen and its onboard memory; it features a bound book with smart pages, so you'll run out eventually and have to replace the notebook. Because it's difficult to withdraw a cartridge from the pen by its tip with your fingers, a small ring tool is included for this purpose. The cartridges are about half the size of a regular pen's, so they won't last forever, but one extra is included, and they can be purchased separately as well (a three-pack costs $9.99). The point is a little less fine than I'd like and the pen itself is a little thick, but its triangular shape helps make it comfortable to hold.

Once the note is saved, you can export it as a JPEG, PNG, PDF, or WILL file through any compatible messaging or social media app you have installed, whether that's Slack, email, or a cloud service. The free version of the Inkspace service offers up to 5GB (more than 6,000 pages) of storage. A point of irritation is that handwriting-to-text is one of the features behind the Inkspace Plus paywall, so you'll have to upgrade your subscription to turn your handwriting into rich text. This wasn't the case when I reviewed the Spark, so the change is disappointing for free subscriptions.

As for in-app editing, Inkspace offers a couple of options. You can scrub through your note-taking timeline once saved, watching notes appear on the screen in the order you wrote or drew them. At any time, you can split the notes wherever you are in the timeline, separating them into two different files should you want to send a portion of the note to another app or person. You can also draw on or annotate your note once it's in the app, which can be somewhat useful, but there isn't much functionality. Your handwriting will only appear in black while taking notes and when drawing, and there are only two other editing options: Erase and a tool that lets you select part of the image freehand and drag it somewhere else on the page.

Another app, Bamboo Paper, can be used to color and highlight notes. The app appears as one of the export options if you choose to send your note as a WILL file, and if you switch apps and open up your file there, more editing choices are available. There are at least color options in Paper, but the choices aren't exactly overwhelming here, either. You can draw on your imported note with a pen or highlighter, using a fairly wide selection of colors. There are more drawing implements available, but you have to buy them (some are included in tool packs which priced at or around $5) within the app. You can get better coloring and drawing control on a bigger screen like a tablet than your phone, especially if you have a Wacom stylus.

Overall, though, these editing options are limited—it's pretty tough for the average person (like me) to draw anything that remotely matches the quality of Wacom's mock-up images, too. It's also annoying that the coloring functionality in its entirety is reserved for another app—the Moleskine set uses one for everything. I understand the simplicity of the note taking in Inkspace and syncing across devices, but including all of these features within one app would go a long way in a process that benefits from as much streamlining as possible. You're already sending files to other apps (after sending them from the Folio to your device), so another transition just to add color is a somewhat clumsy additional step.

Conclusion
Though expensive, the Wacom Bamboo Folio makes it easy to convert full-page pen-and-paper notes to digital formats. Sharing across messaging and cloud apps is quick and simple, and the attractive physical design makes using the Folio more appealing. The apps are where the Folio and its family of devices stumble: Editing options are pretty limited, and requiring two apps for editing and color feels like an unnecessary complication. The software isn't too intuitive, particularly the note layout of Bamboo Paper, and it takes away from the experience. That said, it's still a fast and simple system overall, and you can have your paper notes in an email in seconds. That was a slightly more novel feat when I reviewed the Spark, but it remains impressive here, and the form factor may be much more to your liking. I prefer the Editors' Choice Moleskin Smart Writing Set's method and more advanced pen, as the experience is more robust and it's unified within one app, but the Folio is still an attractive, larger version of the same concept that works relatively seamlessly.

Wacom Bamboo Folio

3.5

Check Stock

$600.00 at Amazon

MSRP $199.95

Pros

• Attractive, professional design.
• Simple to set up and use.
• Provides spacious writing surface.

Cons

• Expensive.
• Limited editing tools.
• Color and highlighting functions require a second app.
• Handwriting-to-text available only with a paid subscription.

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The Bottom Line

With a professional look and feel, the Wacom Bamboo Folio is a fast, simple, and reliable solution for taking your paper notes into the digital realm. It's expensive, though, and the related apps have shortcomings.