The Irispen is one of those gadgets that will have absolutely no appeal for most people but could prove to be a real timesaver for those who need to scan certain kinds of document.

It’s a small handheld scanning device shaped like a rather fat pen.

Unlike a conventional scanner - which scans entire pages all at once - the Irispen allows the user to scan individual lines of text or numbers.

It can then insert the scanned text straight into any program. This makes it useful for people who need to quickly take notes from a book or grab information from business cards, for instance.

Installation was straightforward, a simple matter of running the software from the supplied Iris CD and then plugging the Irispen into a spare USB port on the PC.

When the Iris software is run it allows the user to specify whether they are scanning text, numbers, or barcode data. There are also additional options, such as specifying that the text is formatted as part of a table, or arranged in narrow columns (as in a magazine or newspaper).

Our tests showed that the Irispen was very accurate when scanning printed text and barcodes. It also claims to be able to scan handwritten text, though the accuracy here obviously depends on the quality of the handwriting.

Our main concern was that the slanted nib of the Irispen - which is the bit that actually does the scanning - wouldn’t work properly for left-handed people. However, the Iris software does have an option for left-handed scanning that worked very well, and even allowed more comfortable scanning of text from right to left across the page.

There are a few other pens in the Irispen range, including the Executive, at £138, which includes slightly more esoteric features such as barcode recognition and the ability to listen to the scanned text. The Translator, also £138, can translate scanned text into various tongues. It’s obviously a specialist devi ce, but if you often need to scan small chunks of text then the Irispen will be a real timesaver.

Vista compatible: Yes