If you're looking for an easy way to turn your phone or tablet into a better scanner, the ScanJig, from Spectrum Business Solutions, is a strong candidate. As I've noted in the past, manual-fed, simplex (one-sided) scanners, like the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 and the Epson WorkForce DS-30 face stiff competition from camera phones and tablets, which can effectively scan by taking pictures. The ScanJig makes it easier both to get good-quality scans and get multiple scans faster.
One of the issues with using any camera as a scanner is that you have to hold the camera absolutely steady while also filling as much of the frame as possible to take best advantage of the camera's resolution. The ScanJig solves that problem—for letter-size originals at least—by providing a stand for the phone or tablet, a document bed for the scan target, and a fixed distance between them.
The basic concept is simple. The stand holds the camera steady, and the distance to the document bed is designed so the image will just fill the screen with the supported phones and tablets. Take a picture, and the resulting JPG file will be indistinguishable from the same resolution file produced by a traditional scanner. The full story is a little more complicated, but not by much.
The Basics
Because any given fixed distance between the camera and the document bed will be the right distance for only some cameras, the ScanJig supports only a select set of phones and tablets, including the Samsung Galaxy S III, which I did most of my testing with. The full list also includes the Galaxy S4; Apple iPad 3, 4, and Mini; iPhone 4, 4S, and 5; HTC One; Acer 500; and Nokia 900.
More precisely, the ScanJig comes in two versions, with one for Samsung models and one for the others on the list. You'll obviously want to make sure you get the right version. If your device isn't on the current list as of this writing, you might want to check to find out if it has been added by the time you read this. Spectrum Business Solutions says that it expects to make other versions available at some point.
It's important to understand also that what you can do with any scanner, including a phone or tablet acting as a scanner, depends entirely on software. However, the ScanJig doesn't come with any software at all. The ScanJig Web site has a list of recommended apps for different purposes, but it doesn't supply any. It also recommends you get the paid versions of whatever apps you choose, so you can get the full set of features in each.
For my tests, I simply used the default camera app in the phones and tablets I tested with, and Abbyy FineReader 9.0 for text recognition, which was enough to confirm that the files were high enough quality to let you recognize text in a document.
Assembly
Unlike most products we review, you don't install the ScanJig. Rather, you assemble it. The ScanJig consists of about a dozen interlocking pieces of a light-weight coated polymer board. The pieces fit together a little like a simple model airplane. When I first opened the box, my impression was that the boards were less rugged than I'd like. However the material certainly helps keep the weight down, and the pieces survived repeated assembling and disassembling without any damage and without me making any special effort to be overly careful.
You'll probably need to follow the instructions the first time you put the ScanJig together. However, the process is easy enough so that after I did it once, I never needed the instructions again.
That's important, because even though the ScanJig weighs only nine ounces, the fully assembled unit is too bulky to carry around easily. Being able to break it down in well under a minute and reassemble it in 90 seconds or less is what makes it portable enough to bring with you. And it's the portability of the ScanJig that lets you use your phone or tablet as a portable scanner. Be aware, however, that Spectrum Business Solutions doesn't include or sell a carrying case, so you'll have to find one elsewhere.
Once assembled, the ScanJig is basically a stand, in the form of a shelf that holds the phone or tablet, paired with a document bed that holds the scan target. Depending on the size of the device, you can put the shelf in a higher or lower slot in the ScanJig's frame.
The first time you assemble the ScanJig, you also carefully position the device so it sees the entire target. Next, and just as carefully, you place a peel-and-stick guide on either side of the device, so you don't have to work to find the right position each time. You can also add another guide at the base of the device to help keep it from moving when you tap the screen to take a picture, and you can use additional pieces to fine tune the vertical positioning as needed.
... And Scan
Actually scanning with the ScanJig is a simple matter of snapping a picture. It's also a lot faster than waiting for a piece of paper to feed through a manual-feed scanner. You can even put a stack of pages on the document bed and work your way through them, one page at a time, fairly quickly. I managed to scan 10 pages in one minute without rushing, although I wouldn't want to go too many minutes without taking a break.
One minor issue is that the ScanJig depends entirely on ambient light, so for the best results, you may need to set up a desk lamp or choose your positioning relative to the lighting in the room carefully. However, this is more of an issue with photos than with documents, since glossy photos can reflect the light source back to the camera. More important is that the lighting can affect colors, which means the color fidelity for photos will change, depending on the lighting you happen to be using at any given moment.
Although the dependence on ambient light can be a problem for photos, it's not a serious issue for documents. As one final plus for the ScanJig, that the website offers a 30-day return policy with a full refund minus the shipping cost. That gives you the chance to try it out without much risk. More important, the ScanJig is worth trying out. Depending on your scanning needs, and assuming you have a phone or tablet that it supports, the ScanJig can easily be a better choice than getting a scanner.
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