NeoRuler review: The NeoRuler and M-Cube. Hozo Design has a pair of digital measuring devices in the NeoRuler and M-Cube, with both having the goal of making both micro and macro measurements more precise and easier to accomplish. Measurements are an area that haven't really undergone that many real innovations over the years. The humble ruler, even less so.
Hozo Design aims to change that, with its NeoRuler and the M-Cube. A pair of measuring tools that can help both at the desk and away from it. The NeoRuler is basically a considerable expansion of the concept of the ruler. To start with, you don't have the usual ruler functionality of markings for centimeters and inches on the edges. And, as equipped, it looks more like a set of calipers.
This takes the more advanced route of requiring a small display to actually tell you how long something is. Instead of measuring simply by putting the ruler against an object and using your eyes, you instead have to move a physical indicator along the length of the ruler, along a channel.
Doing so will display the measurement on the LCD display, in millimeters and inches. That display is a 1.14-inch color LCD, with a resolution of 240 by 135, and a pixel density of 240 pixels per inch. Lower and smaller than the Apple Watch, but still very effective and bright enough for what it does.
This doesn't sound intuitive for what should be a simple device, but it does so in a fairly useful way. For example, you could change the scale of what's being measured, between 100,000:1 and 1:100,000. If you're using it with a plan of a house or a map, you could feasibly measure in feet, miles, meters, and kilometers.
