Do we need a wearable voice recorder to take notes for us?

The Senstone is described on its Kickstarter page as an “AI-powered pendant” that’s designed to capture voice and text notes. It isn’t a crazy idea to design a wearable voice recorder, which we’ve seen before, but the whole AI, life-changing pendant aspect takes the idea a bit far.

One of the first lines describing the wearable is: “We check smartphones 150 times a day, every day. But what if there was [a] plainly easier way to capture those precious words?” This marketing seems a bit off given that we aren’t checking our phones 150 times just to take notes, but sure, I imagine someone out there is maybe writing in their Moleskine at least 30 times a day and the Senstone would be a worthwhile replacement. That is, unless they’re uncomfortable talking to themselves in public.

The Senstone lights up in different patterns to indicate its status. Short flashes show that it’s recording, and five glowing lights indicate that it’s charging. Although it only has a 80mAh battery, it can supposedly last for four days on a single charge.

As far as AI, Senstone says its app can organize both voice and text notes by hashtags, content, time, or location. Other mainstream note-taking apps, like Evernote, are still working on machine learning functionality, so I’m slightly skeptical at how well Senstone’s app will handle these features. The app pairs with other note apps, too, which is convenient but maybe also expresses a lack of confidence from Senstone in its own coding.

It might be easier to take notes with your voice, but you could also always carry a voice recorder around in the form of, I don’t know, maybe a phone? Do we need a need a voice-recording wearable? The Senstone starts at $100.

The article was published on : theverge