Plaud has just announced the Plaud Note Pro ($179), a pocket-sized AI-powered recorder designed to capture conversations with studio-level clarity and turn them into organized, actionable notes. It’s the follow-up to the original Plaud Note ($159), which I’ve used and found surprisingly good at picking up voices and generating transcriptions.
The first thing you’ll notice with the Pro version is the InstantView display. For me, that’s a big deal. When I’m recording, I like the reassurance of a visible confirmation that the device is actually capturing audio. It also makes it clear to everyone at the table that recording is happening, which is a good transparency move in meetings or interviews.
Another new feature is Smart Dual-Mode Recording, which automatically switches between phone calls and in-person meetings. With the Note, you have to fumble with a toggle; the Note Pro just knows. Battery life is also impressive: up to 50 hours of continuous recording (vs 30 hours on the standard Note) or 60 days on standby.
I’m also a big fan of the Note Pro's “Press to Highlight” feature. If someone says something critical, you can short-press the record button and Plaud will flag that moment, capturing the surrounding context for emphasis later. This real-time collaboration between you and Plaud is smart – it helps ensure that the summary, action list, or whatever you ask Plaud to do accurately reflects what you actually care about, not just what the AI thinks is important.
The Plaud Note Pro ties into Plaud Intelligence, the company’s AI platform that can summarize conversations, generate action lists, and answer questions about your notes. With the Pro, Plaud adds multimodal input, meaning you can add images and make notes to your recordings using the Plaud app to give the AI more context.
The hardware itself is still small – credit card–sized at just 0.12 inches thick and weighing about an ounce. Inside, it houses four MEMS microphones with AI beamforming that can pick up voices from up to 16 feet away. That’s a huge advantage over recording on my phone. I often use the Otter.ai app to record, which works fine for one-on-one interviews, but I’d never set my phone in the middle of a meeting room and expect it to capture everyone clearly. The Plaud Note Pro is built for exactly that scenario.
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As much as I like the upgrades, there’s a catch: the Note Pro is another device to carry and keep charged. That’s always my hesitation with dedicated hardware. My phone is already in my pocket, and apps like Otter.ai do a great job most of the time. But for high-stakes meetings, client calls, or multi-person interviews, I can see myself reaching for the Plaud Note Pro instead.
The Plaud Note Pro is priced at $179 and is available for pre-order now on the Plaud site, with shipping scheduled to begin in October.
[Image credit: Plaud]
