Legal Tech: A pocket-sized copier-fax for emergency use
scanR turns a camera-equipped smartphone into a scanner, fax and copier.By Shamla Naidoo
Have you ever needed a copier on the fly? Needed to fax a document while on the road? Needed a family record or other document, but your client is loath to let his only copy out the door? All of these have happened to me more times than I care to remember. Recently I found a handy service - scanR - that turns a camera-equipped smartphone into a scanner, fax and copier.* I installed the scanR application on my Blackberry, a process that took less than 10 minutes.
Now, by simply running the scanR application, I can:
1. Take photos of a document with my phone, and convert it to a PDF
2. Email or fax the document to myself or anyone else.
The software can run on your Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Nokia S60. The quality of the scanned and faxed documents, while generally good, depends on the resolution of the camera on your phone.
You can install the software for a free trial using only your Internet enabled phone. Since you can install and use the application on your phone without access to a computer, this is a great emergency tool. The production service costs about $5 for a combination of 50 scans or faxes.
*Note: I have no affiliation with RIM or scanR, other than as a regular paying customer. For more information, visit www.scanr.com.
[Re: protecting privilege: If you intend to scan or transmit privileged information, be sure to review applicable user agreements and privacy policies to ensure that they are compatible with your practice.]
