Plustek has been at the forefront of small, lightweight, portable scanners. The OpticSlim series of scanners has been very popular because of their small size. The MobileOffice D28 corporate keeps a small size, but adds a lot more functionality.

Features

• Duplex Full Color Scanning
• 600 DPI Resolution
• Fast Scanning Speed (28 IPM*/PPM* / 2.2 sec per page)
• Multi-function with user friendly software
• Power Saving, Efficient Usage Without Warm-up
• Compact design & easy to carry

The MobileOffice D28 corporate scanners biggest feature is duplex scanning. However, it is not duplex scanning like you might think, it does not scan one side at a time; instead it scans both sides at the same time. This really speeds up the scanning process because it does not have to flip the paper over and scan everything all over again.

Setting up the scanner is a snap. All you really need to do is install the software and plug in the scanner, both into your computer and into a wall plug. Unlike the OpticSlim line of scanners, the D28 requires a separate power plug.

The software that comes with the MobileOffice D28 includes NewSoft Presto! PageManager 6.07, NewSoft Presto! ImageFolio 4.3, Hotcard Business Card Recognition Software 2.5, ReadIris Pro 10 Corporate Edition, and Acrobat reader 5.05. NewSoft Presto! PageManager is document management software; it also supports OCR and full-text indexing. NewSoft Presto! ImageFolio is the image editing software. You will use this software for touch ups and other editing tasks. Hotcard Business Card Recognition Software 2.5 offers a second approach to document management, and it can maintain separate databases for text documents, photos, and business cards. Readiris Pro 10 Corporate Edition is OCR software that will extract text from documents and business cards.

Once the software is installed you are asked to calibrate the MobileOffice D28 corporate. The scanner comes with a calibration sheet which is half white and half black. If you insert this sheet into the scanner when you are asked, it will insure that the scanner is able to scan correctly. There is a small point of confusion with calibrating because the instructions tell you to put the paper in facing down, and the picture shows it facing up. Because the scanner has the ability to scan both sides of the paper, you can put the calibration page in either direction.

The MobileOffice D28 corporate also comes with a small piece of fabric. This is the sensor cleaning paper. If you notice that your scanner is leaving specks on your scans you can run this through the scanner to clean the sensors. The cleaning process just moves the fabric back and forth a couple times and then pushes it out the back.

Another feature that is unique to the MobileOffice D28 is being able to setup profiles. You are allowed up to 9 profiles and they can be used to give you quick access to different scanning options. Plustek even supplies a sticker that you can put on the scanner to remind you what each profile does.

Some things that the OpticSlim has that this one is missing are the mounting bracket for mounting it on a wall, and a carrying bag for protecting it when you travel. I never cared much for the mounting bracket, but it would be a nice touch if the MobileOffice D28 would come with a carrying bag.

Design

The compact size of the MobileOffice D28 corporate is an immediate plus for anyone who travels a lot. It is very light weight, only weighing 2.1 pounds. Unlike the OpticSlim M12, the D28 requires a separate power plug which means it is not completely portable because you must be near a power outlet to use it. It is portable enough that you could take it to a hotel or library to do your scanning.

There are three buttons on the top of the MobileOffice D28. The one right under the display is for switching profiles; the display shows you which profile you are currently on. The other two buttons are for activating each profile. The top one is for single-sided scanning and the bottom one is for double-sided scanning. Plustek could have eliminated the need for one of those buttons by putting the single or double sided option in the profile setups.

On the back of the scanner are the USB and power plugs. Because there is a power plug, there is power switch on the side of the scanner. Above the USB and power plug is a paper output switch. This will allow you to have the scanner output the paper through the back or the top, as you see fit. This can be useful if you have limited space and cannot have the paper come out the back. The only downfall to this is that business cards and plastic cards are too thick to come out the top and they must come out the back. So if you are limited in space you will have to move the scanner every time you want to scan those items.

One of my biggest complaints about the OpticSlim M12 was that it was hard to get the paper properly aligned. To solve this, the D28 has paper guides that will expand or contract to the size of your document so that you can make sure your paper is straight. There is even a small slot for business cards and plastic cards like credit cards. Although, I don’t know why you would want to scan credit cards or why someone would let you scan their credit card. A little quirk that I discovered while trying to put the scanner away is that the guides must be in their biggest position before you can close the lid on the input slot.

Performance

Scanners come in all shapes and sizes. Normally you would think that bigger is better, but a large part of that depends on what you want to use it for. If you are scanning a lot of documents at a time for archiving or something, then you definitely want an automatic document feeder which only comes with larger scanners. If you only scan occasionally and you need to take your scanner with you then a small portable scanner will do fine. The small size of the D28 does come with limitations in technology. The D28 is limited to 600 DPI scans, but 600 DPI should be plenty for most needs. In addition, with all the software that is provided, you can get just about anything scanned and it will probably meet your every need.

The MobileOffice D28 is quiet and quick, it is a vast improvement over the OpticSlim M12 in every way. I was able to make full page color scans at 300 DPI in about 9 seconds and at 600 DPI in about 34 seconds. I could scan a 4×6 photo at 300 DPI in about 6 seconds and at 600 DPI in 20 seconds. This may not be as quick as a flatbed, but for a scanner this size this is really good. Duplex scanning doubles the scanning time. For a full page color scan it took 18 seconds at 300 DPI and at 600 DPI it took 69 seconds. Duplex scanning also saves two images, one of the front and one of the back.

Even though the D28 is small and limited to 600 DPI it is not going to let you down with its scan quality. If you are a casual photo scanner, then this will even work for you; however, it was clearly designed for traveling people that need to scan documents at low resolutions. As you can see from the color charts that I scanned, the colors came out good. If you do scan photos you will want to keep in mind that sheet-fed scanners and scanners with automatic document feeders can damage your photos as they go inside the scanner. Just for comparisons sake I scanned an old picture I had on My Canon MP530 and the MobileOffice D28. I was very surprised to see that the D28’s colors turned out better than the Canon’s did.

The guides on the D28 help to keep the documents straight, but as you can see from some of my scans, it is still difficult to get the pages perfect.

The OCR software worked really well. I used the warranty page that comes with the scanner for this test. As you can see it did a really good job at getting not only the text but also the formatting. It took about 2 seconds to scan that page, and I scanned it at 100 DPI.

The software functions good enough for most applications. I did find that the Readiris Pro 10 worked really well for scanning business cards. This makes me wonder why Plustek bothered to include the Hotcard Business Card Recognition Software. In fact, the Hotcard Software frequently made mistakes when scanning my cards and it was difficult to use. The only time I had trouble with the Readiris software was when a phone number was not labeled, or when an extension was included.

Warranty and Support

The MobileOffice D28 corporate comes with a 1 year parts and labor warranty.

Conclusion

The MobileOffice D28 corporate is small and that makes it not for everyone. If you are looking for a professional photo scanner then this is not for you. Because it is limited to only 600 DPI it can only capture so much detail and because it is a sheet-fed scanner it could damage your photos as they travel through it. If you are a casual scanner and you have a need to travel with a scanner, then this is more for you. This scanner would be great for business people who go to a lot of meetings and need to scan meeting notes and business cards into their computers. At $399 it is about $100 more than the OpticSlim M12, so you will need to decide if the extra cost is worth the extra features. I can recommend this scanner because it is very portable and scans text and graphics really well and really fast. As always compare prices before purchasing.