Birthday Review: The BOOGIE BOARD

No, it’s not a lake toy — Brookstone’s Boogie Board is a … thing. Actually, it’s an electronic version of a magic slate:

And this is what it looks like:

The Boogie Board is an 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ touch-based slate. It comes with a stylus (which neatly slides into the back for storage), but you can use a capped ball point pen (or your fingernail) to write on the slate. There’s a button at the top that will erase the screen, and that’s the only button on the unit. There’s no USB port, no way to save your notes/drawings, and no way to replace the battery. It’s good for 50,000 uses — after that, all 4oz of the Boogie Board goes in the trash.

The Boogie Board costs about $30 — which, if you think about it, is actually a better deal than one of those old kiddie “magic slates”. I’ll bet you couldn’t get 50,000 uses out of one of those old things! Even at 10 uses a day, the Boogie Board should last 13 years.

(I kind of ran out of room for the “.com” part there.)

The touch screen is sensitive enough that a quick, light swipe with the stylus registers a thin light mark, while heavier presses make darker, thick lines. Resting my hand on the slate didn’t leave any marks while writing, but a firm press of the hand will register. In fact, if you look in the upper corners of my “Darth Vader” drawing you’ll see my fingerprints, which I put on there just to see if they would show up.

One thing I noticed is that the Boogie Board’s screen is very reflective. In my cubical, unless I was holding it, I was getting a reflection from either the overhead lights, or the lights under my cube shelves. Imagine what your cell phone’s screen looks like outside times four hundred.

You know those black dry erase boards that you often see in small restaurants and coffee shops? The Boogie Board kind of reminds of those … except, of course, you can only draw in one color: white.

I am a big fan of writing myself notes. I use “sticky notes” software on both my work and home computers, and when I really need to remember something I send myself an e-mail. Whenever people call me at work I am always jotting down things like machine names and IP addresses occasionally (don’t kill me) passwords. Right now the Boogie Board is sitting right in front of my telephone at work, so we’ll see if I can’t make the transition between paper notes and the Boogie Board. (Disclaimer: I also sit next to a giant white board, which I use extensively. I don’t think I could live without one at this point!)

I could also see potentially mounting a Boogie Board to our refrigerator as a place to leave notes to one another. The thing only weighs 4oz, so I’m sure some double-sided Velcro (or duct tape) would hold the thing in place just fine.

I am sure my kids have gone through $30 worth of paper over the past couple of years just from playing tic-tac-toe and hangman, so if I ever get tired of it I’ll just give it to the kids and let them scribble away!