If you've ever been in a meeting frantically trying to catch up with the speakers while you take notes, the Mobvoi TicNote is your new best friend.
Imagine going to the doctor's office and tracking the entire conversation with the press of a button, or making a phone call to the IRS that you want accurate, quick notes for. That's what the TicNote enables.
This incredibly slim device is super easy to drop on a table, or (using the included MagSafe case) to snap to the rear of your iPhone to record phone calls. The mode switch lets you choose between each scenario, with the phone mode listening via vibrations on the phone it's connected to.
It drops the entire transcription into the free app (Apple, Google), which then creates an AI-generated summary of the meeting or phone call. I used the device recently at a small business meeting and the level of detail and summarization was fairly spectacular. Now I have a record of the whole chat without having to split my attention to take notes.
Was it accurate? It seemed pretty spot on to me, though the summaries felt a little lifeless, as AI tends to do. Still, the record of our conversation matches both the notes another person there took, and offered more nuance and clarity than the bare-bones notes they took.
Mobvoi's AI, Shadow, offers a suite of features, including real-time transcription, summarization, translation, and mind mapping, designed to assist users in organizing and executing complex tasks. Its capabilities extend to conducting in-depth research, facilitating brainstorming sessions, and providing contextual insights through features like "Flash Chat" and "Deep Think."
The company says the AI assistant is tailored for various professional roles, such as journalists, HR managers, and marketers, by automating routine tasks like drafting documents, organizing interviews, and analyzing campaign performance. Over time, Movboi says, Shadow learns from user interactions, offering increasingly sophisticated insights and suggestions to aid in problem-solving and decision-making processes.
The TicNote comes in Gray and costs $159.99. You'll get 4500 minutes of recording from each charge (I never even came close to using that many minutes), 300 minutes of AI-powered functions, and unlimited cloud storage. If you want the more powerful Pro Plan, which includes transcription, summary, flash chat, deep think, and other AI-powered features, you'll need to pay $12.99 a month, or $79 per year for 1500 credits each month. You can also purchase extra credits, which start at $2.99 for 150 credits.
The device itself is 3.4 by 2.2 inches tall and wide, with a super thin .118-inch thickness. It's got a little OLED display which is pretty easy to see in all lighting conditions. You can charge the 470 mAh battery in about 1.5 hours, and the company promises 25 hours of battery life and 20+ days of standby. I haven't had to charge this thing since getting it yet.
The TicNote has three small MEMS microphones that promise 1536 kbps recording quality and solid noise reduction performance (MOS of 3.5-4.2). In practice, we had our meeting at a small taqueria with fairly loud music playing overhead and the TicNote was able to hear us without an issue.
It's got 64 GB of memory, which should give you enough for 434 recording hours, and you can charge it up via the proprietary charging port (it's magnetic like a watch charger), which allows the device to be super thin, but is definitely something you don't want to lose.
All in all, the Movboi TicNote is a solid voice recorder and note-taker, and it allows you to really be present when meeting with other people or making phone calls. I can see keeping this on me at all times, too, for when i need to keep track of what's going on around me. It's really unobtrusive, fairly easy to use (just press the power button to start recording), and just works.
Is it worth $160 plus $80 a year for the Pro Plan? Because I often have a need for note-taking and transcribing, I'd say yes, but your needs may differ. You can always try the non-Pro features first, and upgrade to them later if you find you need more detailed output from your voice recordings.
For me? I'll be carrying this tiny useful device with me all the time, letting me be present for chats and meetings without having to worry about transcribing them or taking notes in the moment.
You can buy the TicNote on the Mobvoi site now.
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