Plaud NotePin S Review: AI voice recorder with successful new features

Plaud NotePin S test: New AI voice recorder with 20 hours of recording time and record button. The AI-supported voice recorder NotePin from Plaud left me pretty impressed when I tested it last summer. Thanks to its practical AI features, handy design and powerful functions, it quickly became an indispensable everyday companion for me, which the now stronger competition still can’t hold a candle to. However, the biggest competition now comes from its own company: with the Plaud NotePin S, the manufacturer is now launching a new version that consistently eliminates one of the biggest points of criticism. Find out more in our test.

Technical data of the Plaud NotePin S

The product	NotePin S
Dimensions	51 x 21 x 11 mm
weight	17.4 grams
Microphones	2x MEMS
rechargeable battery	320 mAh
Battery life	40 days standby; 20 hours voice recording
Internal memory	64 GB
Cloud storage	unlimited
Price	€ 179.00 *

Plaud NotePin S Review: design and differences to the NotePin

At first glance, the Plaud NotePin S looks almost indistinguishable from its direct predecessor from last year. The new features are mainly of a technical nature. Unpacking the NotePin S immediately creates a familiar feeling: The packaging is understatedly classy, the cable has a high-quality textile coating and the recorder itself looks extremely high-quality for its size.

The small recorder weighs just 17 grams and can be attached to the shirt or top of choice with a magnetic clip, inserted into a wristband and strapped around the wrist or hung around the neck with an easy-to-attach strap. The NotePin S therefore offers all the wearing options you could wish for and comes with all the accessories you need.

In addition to the Plaud NotePin S, the package includes a charging dock, a USB-C charging cable and several carrying and mounting options. Included are a magnetic pin, a clip, a wristband and a lanyard. Compared to its predecessor, which offered the wristband and lanyard separately in some cases, this is a clear added value.

The housing measures just 21 x 51 x 11 millimetres and is clean and carefully crafted. The design remains deliberately unobtrusive and functional. There is no display or complex controls. As a result, the device blends unobtrusively into everyday working life and is not distracting during calls. The Plaud NotePin S is available in the colors Cosmic Gray, Lunar Silver and Sunset Purple if you want a little variety.

What are the differences between NotePin S and NotePin?

Connoisseurs of the original will notice that the new Plaud NotePin S has become slightly heavier at 17.4 grams (compared to 16.6 g), while the basic size remains unchanged. The new edition owes this primarily to a larger battery, which has increased from 270 mAh to 320 mAh. However, according to the manufacturer, there are still no improvements to the battery life. But there are improvements in terms of technology and features:

	Plaud NotePin	Plaud NotePin S
Colors	Cosmic Gray / Sunset Purple / Lunar Silver	Black / Purple / Silver
Case material	Aluminum alloy & PC (polycarbonate)	Aluminum alloy & PC (polycarbonate)
Weight	16.6 g without magnetic pin	17.4 g without magnetic pin
Dimensions	51 × 21 × 11 mm	51 × 21 × 11 mm
Microphones	2 MEMS	2 MEMS
Recording mode	on site; no physical record button	on site; with physical record button
Recording range	Up to 3 m	Up to 3 m
Charging method	Charging cradle + universal USB-C charging cable	Charging cradle + universal USB-C charging cable
Battery	20 hours continuous recording; 40 days standby	20 hours continuous recording; 40 days standby
BLE transmission	BLE 5.2	BLE 5.2
Press to highlight (Highlight)	✗	✓
Reset	Press and hold the record button for 12 seconds when loading	Press and hold the record button for 12 seconds
Access via USB	✗	✗
“Where is?” (Apple)	✓	✓
Accessories	Magnetic pin, clip	Magnetic pin, clip, wristband, lanyard

The real highlight is the new recording button, but more on that in a moment.

Operation and battery life of the Plaud NotePin S

Perhaps my biggest criticism of the NotePin was the lack of a physical button and the associated touch operation, which was not always reliable and did not always perform the desired action, especially when stopping the recording. This is finally a thing of the past with the new Plaud NotePin S, because it is now available.

One button takes over all core functions. A long press of the button starts or ends the recording, a short press of the button marks important points during the call so that you are shown the highlights directly afterwards. This concept proved to be reliable in the test and prevents operating errors, even without eye contact with the device.

This last point is worth its weight in gold in everyday life. You wear the recorder on your shirt, have a conversation and can mark an important passage with a quick press without even glancing at the device. Compared to its predecessor, where the touch surface occasionally ignored the inputs, this is a considerable leap in quality. To start, you press the single button a little longer, the device vibrates briefly and a small red light indicates that it is in operation. The vibration is discreet enough not to startle anyone in the meeting, but clear enough to provide reliable feedback. Recording in progress is confirmed by a small red LED light.

On paper, the battery life of the NotePin S is identical to that of its predecessor. 20 hours of continuous recording are possible, while the AI voice recorder lasts a full 40 days in standby mode. In the practical test, I achieved around 15 hours of recording time. In direct comparison to the soundcore Work (our test) with around 8 hours of recording time, the Plaud counterpart lasts noticeably longer.

This is easily enough for a full working day, even with several long meetings. So if you use the recorder every day and simply put it in the dock in the evening, you’ll be fine. The Plaud NotePin S is charged using the included charging station, which takes around two hours.

AI features and app connection

The key added value of the NotePin S lies in Plaud Intelligence. This AI engine connects the hardware with the Plaud app, the web interface and the desktop application. It transcribes audio recordings directly and evaluates them contextually. The software supports 112 languages with speaker recognition and user-defined vocabulary.

If you select AI evaluation after a recording, you can’t just wait for a transcript, you have a choice. The system automatically creates structured summaries from conversations. More than 10,000 professional templates are available for this purpose, for example for minutes, task lists or decision overviews. Technically, Plaud uses several major language models, including GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Gemini 3 Pro.

With the “Ask Plaud” function, you can ask about a specific issue and the AI responds with a reference to the original passages. Plaud can also create infographics on request. This function is still in the beta stage, but already clearly shows where the journey is heading.

With the AutoFlow function, the software enables the automation of transcriptions, summaries and their forwarding based on fixed rules. Anyone who has recurring meeting types (e.g. weekly editorial conferences, customer briefings or product reviews) can set up these workflows once and then run them fully automatically.

What about data protection with the NotePin S? Plaud attaches great importance to this. The service meets the requirements of GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA and EN 18031 and is subject to European data protection standards. The recordings are created locally and the AI processing is cloud-based. In concrete terms, this means that anyone recording highly sensitive content should keep cloud processing in mind. The certifications provide a solid foundation, but are no substitute for your own risk assessment.

There are three app options to choose from: a mobile app for iOS or Android, a web interface via the browser and, more recently, a desktop app, which is currently still in beta. The desktop app is another real advantage: the recordings are automatically synchronized via the user account and can be conveniently processed on the computer.

If you like, you can also use Plaud Desktop to record online meetings at the click of a mouse. This makes the NotePin S a complete ecosystem, not just an isolated device. All apps are clearly structured and intuitive to use, which I really like.

The subscription plans of the Plaud NotePin S

Plaud relies on a subscription model for the AI features, which is made up of three plans. Commendable: The Starter Plan remains free and actually covers the most important features, so there is no need to commit to a monthly subscription.

In addition to the free Starter Plan, there are two paid models:

• Pro Plan (9.20 euros per month; billed annually)
• Unlimited Plan (18.7 euros per month; billed annually)

The functional scope of all three plans is completely identical in terms of features such as speaker labels, automatic generation, transcription languages, summaries or app access (smartphone, web or desktop). The only difference is the monthly transcription minutes: The Starter Plan includes 300 minutes/month. The Pro Plan includes 1,200 minutes/month and the Unlimited Plan has no limit.

I think Plaud.ai’s subscription model here is very fair, clear and successful. soundcore, for example, removes the summaries and the option to ask the AI about the content in the free plan. With Plaud, on the other hand, all features are also available in the free plan. What is annoying, however, is that the app repeatedly points out the available plans, which is sometimes extremely intrusive.

Practical test of the Plaud NotePin S

I have used the NotePin S in various real-life scenarios and the result is clear: the device delivers what it promises. Regardless of whether the source material was English, another language or a mix of accents and speaking speeds, the system delivered an understandable and coherent summary in German. Content, key messages and flow were retained without the text sounding mechanical.

This is the crucial point that sets the NotePin S apart from pure transcription apps: It does not produce a mere text desert of words. It delivers structured output that can be used directly. Instead of just providing individual keywords, the NotePin S summarized the statements in such a way that the common thread remained recognizable. This worked reliably with typical video formats such as explanatory videos, interviews and discussions.

The recording range of up to three meters has proven itself in everyday use. In a normal meeting in a medium-sized room, all voices came across clearly as long as the conversation partners were not whispering or speaking behind a wall. For large events or auditoriums, the more expensive Note Pro with four microphones and a range of five meters would certainly be the better choice.

The highlight function has also proven to be a real added value: If you hear a particularly important statement during a conversation, press briefly and the passage is marked separately in the transcript. This saves a lot of time later when searching through long texts for a specific passage.

Plaud NotePin S Review: Conclusion

The Plaud NotePin S is not a toy or a niche product for tech enthusiasts. It is a serious productivity tool for anyone who regularly works with spoken word and needs to quickly convert it into usable text.

Compared to its predecessor, Plaud has fixed the main weakness, the unreliable touch operation, by adding a real physical button. The NotePin S is therefore more consistent, more reliable and much more pleasant to use in everyday life. The fact that it also comes with more carrying options is a welcome addition. The real added value comes from the software. The combination of stable multi-language recognition, sensible summaries and useful editing suggestions makes the system much more useful in everyday use than a classic recorder with pure text output.

There are hardly any real points of criticism: the cloud dependency of the AI processing should be taken into account for sensitive content, the subscription notifications in the app could be more cautious and if you want to exploit the full potential, you can hardly avoid a paid package. However, if you don’t exceed 300 minutes of recording per month, the free plan already gives you an amazing amount. More than the competition, in fact.

In my opinion, all this makes the Plaud NotePin S the best, most reliable and most fairly positioned AI voice recorder currently available in a compact form.