I attended the launch this week for Livescribe's Echo Pen, and as I write this, I'm waiting for a courier to deliver a review sample, so any actual review will naturally have to wait.

At the launch, company CEO Jim Marggraff demonstrated a number of both simple and complex things that can be done with the pen-based system. The Echo (and its predecessor, the Pulse) are what could be dubbed very smart pens with inbuilt microphones and some potentially complex PC based interactions. Do the right (or is it write?) things on specially printed paper (which you can print yourself, although you'll need a colour laser to do so, and Marggraff was rather evasive when I asked him how much feedback you'd get from improperly printed paper) and you can set up animated PDFs, automated audio playback from a table of contents and, for some reason, draw a working piano keyboard.

Maybe it's just my non-musical talent speaking, but I've never felt the particular desire to draw a piano keyboard and have it come to life. Perhaps later, though, when they perfect the technology, and it can draw a working automatic teller machine. Then I'd be very interested.

Marggraff was very keen to describe the very portable Echo pen as a "pocket computer", and I do somewhat get where he's coming from with that comparison, although it's worth bearing in mind that the Livescribe system is still fundamentally PC/Mac based, and without an actual computer at the moment, there's only a limited function set of the pens open to you. Beyond writing things down, of course, but I can use a 20c Biro for that any time I want to. If I'm spending $200 plus on a pen, I'd want it to do a little bit more.

There's an obvious portability case down the road a bit if battery life could be improved and live streaming was possible directly from the pen itself to a cloud based server. It'd require a data connection as well, which presumably means a micro SIM slot within the pen. The translucent pen that Marggraff showed off was certainly pretty packed with electronics, but if Livescribe can overcome that kind of technical challenge, then I'd say it's definitely a pocket computer. At the moment, I'd strongly argue the case that it's a pocket computer accessory.

I've not played with the Pulse pen that the Echo replaces before, although oddly digging through Marggraff's PR-provided biography, I realised I have tested some of his previous products, back when he ran Leapfrog, an educational technology provider. I didn't think much of the Leapfrog Tag back when I reviewed it, however. Hopefully the Echo will resound (pun not intended) a little better with me.