Review: Kodak Scanmate i1120

The CMP Channel Test Center got an early look at this device and spent a few days finding out if Kodak - - which announced the product Thursday - - succeeded in its goal.

Before discussing the results, an upfront note is in order: Kodak says the product will ship exclusively through CDW, the Vernon Hills, Ill.-based direct market reseller, through March 31. And while Kodak, Rochester, N.Y., will not sell the Scanmate i1120 through brick-and-mortar retailers, it will make it available through online retailers as well as commercial resellers after CDW's exclusivity runs out.

The i1120 is a high-quality duplex scanner with a very small footprint (approximately 6 inches high and deep, and just under 12 inches wide). At 20ppm (200dpi) and an optical image resolution of up to 600dpi, the i1120 is at the top of the small desktop class for a color scanner.

Testers found the small size of the i1120 makes it an unobtrusive addition to the desktop, although the fold-out output tray nearly triples the amount of space it needs to have available when in use. It is fast and relatively quiet.

The device comes with a Smart Touch feature - - which is very intuitive and took only minutes to configure and start using; once installed, up to nine task shortcuts can be configured (seven are pre-populated, but can be customized) with choices of saving to a file, launching an application, sending via email, and sending to a printer or fax/printer. The front of the scanner has an LED display with two buttons below it. Pressing the top button scrolls the numbers one through nine on the LED, while pressing the bottom button executes the respective shortcut to the number being displayed. Smart Touch isn't new to Kodak scanners, but it is a feature that quickly becomes second nature, and our testers will instinctively be looking for it on scanners that don't have it.

The software that is bundled with the i1120 is hit and miss.

Overall, it is a nice collection that will fill the needs of most users. Included is Nuance's Scansoft Paperport 11, Scansoft Omnipage 15, and Newsoft's Presto! Bizcard 5. Paperport is a nice document management program that is powerful and easy to use, while Omnipage (for OCR) though also powerful, is not intuitive. (VARs who have small business customers may find themselves fielding an additional support call, for example.)

Contact management software Bizcard scans business cards and then, using OCR, extrapolates as much data as it can and populates a Rolodex type interface with an image of the original business card included. With cards that have dark print on a white background, the program's accuracy was perfect, but some cleanup needed to be done for cards that had a dark background or logos and text immediately next to each other.

One of the nicest pieces of software in the bundle is also the newest. The DYMO File application isn't yet available to be included in the package on disk. It's available as a free download via Kodak's web site.

DYMO File allowed testers to quickly scan and file stacks of documents at once - - including a nifty feature that allows for assigning bar codes to groups of documents. (It can print either plain documents or, if included in the solution, labels via a label maker.) Included with the bundle is DYMO File LT - - which permits up to 200 such scans per month. The company is promising a higher-end version of the software, which can support 5,000 scans per month, as well as one with unlimited scans at a later date.

Kodak is list-pricing the Scanmate i1120 at $495; after CDW's exclusivity runs out, Kodak " which maintains a desktop scanner channel program " will provide it to resellers.

Once VARs do have access to the product, it could be a fit for small or mid-sized customers with specific, desktop imaging and output needs.