Not notebooks – smart notepads. Or, “smartpads” for those looking to save a little time and precious syllables. At IFA this week, the pro tablet manufacturer is issuing two updates to its line designed to combine physical note-taking with digitization.

The two devices are fairly similar, utilizing Wacom’s priority EMR (Electro Magnetic Resonance) technology to bridge the gap between the physical and digital, detecting notes jotted down using the company’s ink-packing technology and saving them to its Inkspace app.

I took the Bamboo Slate for a spin. The model comes in both half and full letter sizes, essentially a clipboard-like design with a pad of paper attached. The device is charged via microUSB, and once it’s synced to a mobile device, you can pretty much go to town writing or drawing.[/caption]

Once you’re done, you hit a button to the let of the pad and it will start uploading. Once uploaded, it can be edited and share or exported as a JPG, PNG, PDF or Wacom’s own multi-layered WILL file format. The app itself is free for both iOS and Android, with a monthly fee of $3 for those who need more space.

It’s simple enough to use and makes sense for students who like to take notes the old-fashioned way (without losing them the old-fashioned way).

The Slate is $130 for the half letter version and $150 for the full. $200 will get you the Bamboo Folio, which essentially wraps the whole thing into a nice case with slots for business cards and documents.