BOYA Notra Neo review: Bluetooth calls, transcription minutes and current costs

YouTube transcript
Video ID: aoYXKRE1PeM
Language: en
Captions: auto-generated

[0:00] Most AI voice recorders cost somewhere
[0:02] between 120 and 180 bucks. And I have a
[0:05] confession. I take almost every call in
[0:08] Bluetooth earbuds, which is exactly the
[0:10] thing most of these recorders struggle
[0:12] with. So when Boya sent me an $80 one
[0:14] that says it can handle it, well, I had
[0:16] some questions. This is the Boya Neoter
[0:18] Neo. In this video, I'm going to tell
[0:21] you what worked and what didn't. So does
[0:23] 80 bucks get it done?
[0:25] Let's find out. All right, so let's take
[0:26] a quick look cuz you didn't come for an
[0:28] unboxing. Well, first off, it's tiny.
[0:30] It's 34 and 1/2 grams. It uses USB-C and
[0:35] it's MagSafe compatible. I got my phone
[0:37] here. You can just flop that bad boy on
[0:39] and presto, it is working. Now, inside
[0:43] of it, there are two MEMS microphones
[0:45] plus a vibration sensor, which Boya says
[0:48] picks up voices from up to 5 m away. So
[0:50] it's got some distance. It's got some
[0:52] range. You get 20 hours of continuous
[0:55] recording. You get 8 gigs of built-in
[0:57] storage and you get free cloud backup.
[1:00] Also, the app transcribes in more than
[1:02] 140 languages with speaker labels. So
[1:05] that's the spec sheet, but what I care
[1:07] about is what happens when I use it in
[1:09] my actual day. Well, let's take a look.
[1:11] So here's the problem. When you're on a
[1:13] call with your Bluetooth earbuds, like
[1:14] I've got in here, the audio goes
[1:16] straight into your ears. Nothing is
[1:18] coming out of the phone speaker, so a
[1:20] lot of recorders have nothing to hear.
[1:22] And I take calls this way every single
[1:25] day, so this was the first thing I
[1:26] tested. The Neo has three recording
[1:29] modes: ambient for meetings and lectures
[1:31] and in-person chats, phone call, and
[1:34] what Boya calls exclusive Bluetooth
[1:36] recording for exactly this situation.
[1:39] And you don't switch between them. It
[1:41] detects what you're doing and changes
[1:42] mode on its own. Pretty wild stuff. So I
[1:46] took a Zoom call the other day. Of
[1:47] course, I've got my earbuds in and
[1:49] here's the thing. It captured both sides
[1:52] of the call and the audio was clean. I
[1:55] could hear everything. I heard the
[1:57] names, the numbers. There were no misses
[1:59] and better yet, the transcript came back
[2:01] in about 5 minutes cuz it was a longer
[2:03] call. It did the whole thing in one
[2:06] shot. It's an absolutely wild feature.
[2:08] And then I ran a second test with no
[2:10] call at all and here's the thing, it was
[2:13] perfect. There was no lag, it switched
[2:16] modes on its own. You don't have to go
[2:18] in and hit a bunch of switches or
[2:19] buttons, guys. It does it. It's a piece
[2:22] of cake and that's the main reason to
[2:24] look at this recorder because everything
[2:25] else in this video is a nice extra on
[2:28] top of that. Now, let's talk about the
[2:29] stuff that saves time. I recorded a
[2:32] meeting the other day. It was about 10
[2:34] minutes long and I let the Neo do the
[2:36] rest. The app gave me a transcript with
[2:38] speaker labels, then an AI summary, a
[2:40] to-do list and a mind map. Now, keep in
[2:43] mind there are over 60 templates, so you
[2:45] can pick a format that fits the
[2:47] recording. So, for this case, I used
[2:49] intelligent notes, but keep in mind
[2:51] there are tons of different templates
[2:53] you can choose from. I found this one
[2:54] worked great. It gave me my transcript
[2:57] in a few minutes. It got everything
[2:59] right in it, guys, and it just works
[3:01] right out of the box. So, anyways, take
[3:02] a look at a few of them, but intelligent
[3:04] notes all the way. Now, the feature I
[3:05] like most is the AI search. Instead of
[3:08] scrubbing through hours of audio, I
[3:10] asked it, "Hey, what day and what time
[3:12] is the meeting?" and it just gave me the
[3:14] result. Tuesday at 10:00 if you want to
[3:16] know. Now, as a creator, the export
[3:19] options are also very handy. You can
[3:21] send out docx, PDF, txt, markdown, JPEG
[3:25] for the mind map or even SRT, which is
[3:28] subtitle format. I'm a video guy, so
[3:31] that means an interview recorded can
[3:33] turn into captions for a video and if
[3:35] you try it out, guys, it takes seconds
[3:37] and you've got captions. It all works.
[3:39] It's fantastic and you're not stuck on
[3:42] your phone. Everything syncs to Boya OS
[3:44] Web which does the same core stuff as
[3:46] the app, transcript, summary, search.
[3:49] So, when I'm back at my desk, it's just
[3:51] there, guys. It's real cool. It also
[3:53] connects to Google Drive and Notion, so
[3:55] your notes can go straight into the
[3:57] tools you already use. One thing I
[3:59] should note here up front though is if
[4:01] you're in a noisy room or kind of, you
[4:02] know, busy environment, it's not
[4:04] perfect, but it's the kind of thing I
[4:06] can live with cuz it gets it all, but
[4:07] you just might pick up a little bit of
[4:09] static, so to speak. So, the question
[4:11] you're probably asking is does paying
[4:13] twice as much get you twice the
[4:14] experience? I mean, the Boya Notifier
[4:16] here, it's half the price of the usual
[4:18] more expensive recorders. Well, on
[4:21] paper, the more expensive recorders do
[4:23] win on the numbers. The Plaud Note is
[4:25] $159 with 64 gigs of storage and 30
[4:28] hours of battery. Boya's original
[4:31] Notifier has 64 gigs, 24 hours, and a
[4:33] 10-m range, and it's $149 to $169. So,
[4:37] those are both the numbers. Also, we
[4:39] have done a review of the original Boya
[4:42] Notifier, so check that out, link in the
[4:43] description. But, let's be honest about
[4:45] how you use one. The Neo's 8 gigs of
[4:48] internal storage can hold around 1,000
[4:50] hours of voice recording, so it's more
[4:53] than enough for typical daily use. You
[4:55] still get 20 hours of continuous
[4:56] recording on a charge, and the 5-m range
[4:59] is enough for a meeting table or a
[5:01] lecture hall. If you're recording a big
[5:03] conference room, well, you might want to
[5:05] spend more on the bigger Notifier. The
[5:07] other side of the price disparity is the
[5:09] app. I've got it open right here. Now,
[5:12] Plaud gives you 300 free transcription
[5:14] minutes a month, and paid plans start at
[5:16] about 100 bucks a year. Under Boya's
[5:18] current promotion, link in the
[5:20] description,
[5:21] new users who buy the Notifier Neo get
[5:23] 600 free AI transcription minutes a
[5:26] month, and that's for 12 months, and
[5:28] there's no paid subscription required
[5:31] for those included minutes. So, that's
[5:32] twice Plaud's free monthly allowance.
[5:34] It's a pretty sweet deal. So, what's my
[5:36] view of the whole thing? Well, if you
[5:37] need the biggest storage and the longest
[5:39] range, pay more. For everyday use
[5:42] though, the Neo has a couple of
[5:43] practical advantages. It charges over
[5:45] USB-C.
[5:47] It's got a USB-C port right there, piece
[5:48] of cake. And you don't need a
[5:50] proprietary charging cable. It's just
[5:52] you've got a cable in your desk, use it.
[5:54] Its magnet is built into the body, while
[5:56] the Plaud Note attaches through its
[5:58] magnetic case. So, another advantage for
[6:00] the Neo. So, the trade-off is thickness.
[6:03] The Neo is 8 mm thick, while the Plaud
[6:06] Note is about 3 mm. So, if your main use
[6:08] is meetings, lectures, and calls, and
[6:10] you want the Bluetooth part to just
[6:12] work, the Neo costs half as much and
[6:15] covers the main jobs. So, here's where I
[6:17] land. The Boya Noga Neo is for students,
[6:19] young professionals, sales and
[6:20] consulting people, creators who do
[6:22] interviews like me.
[6:23] And anyone trying an AI recorder for the
[6:26] first time and not wanting to spend 150
[6:28] bucks on the experiment. The Bluetooth
[6:30] recording is the reason it's
[6:31] interesting, and the automatic mode
[6:33] switching means you're not thinking
[6:34] about the device while you're trying to
[6:36] have the conversation. So, the final
[6:37] verdict, would I buy it with my own
[6:39] money? Yes, it is worth it. If you want
[6:41] to check it out, the link is in the
[6:43] description along with a discount code
[6:45] kingyai. That'll give you 10% off. Also,
[6:48] if you've got an AI recorder you love,
[6:50] tell me in the comments what it is and
[6:51] what it cost. I'd like to know if this
[6:54] one holds up against yours. Thanks for
[6:55] watching this video, guys. There's a ton
[6:57] more stuff coming up, ton more AI tech,
[6:59] AI videos. Click, like, subscribe, you
[7:01] know the deal, and I'll see you in the
[7:03] next one.