Wacom Bamboo Smart stylus: Universal AES

Wacom Bamboo Smart Stylus

The Wacom Bamboo Smart stylus is one of the smallest, yet biggest developments unveiled at CES 2016. It’s a universal stylus for AES devices–well, not totally universal, since Wacom is only listing 5 devices it has tested it on, but it’s a great start, as that’s a good chunk of existing AES devices. And, perhaps it will work with other AES devices as well.

AES, Active Electrostatic, has really caught on in digitizers. It’s less expensive for companies to make than traditional Wacom EMR, and it’s more sensitive than N-trig as a drawing and note-taking pen. It’s a happy medium between N-trig and traditional Wacom EMR.

The long name for the pen is “Bamboo Smart for Select Tablets and 2-in-1 Convertible Devices,” (really trips off the tongue, huh?) which should not be confused with the Bamboo Smart for Samsung Galaxy Note, though they look similar. (To avoid other potential confusion, if you’re using a Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet, it will not work on that, it just uses the name Bamboo).

bamboo smart stylus

The Bamboo Smart stylus will be compatible with the Dell Venue 10 and Dell Venue 10 Pro 5000 series, the HP Elite X2 1012 G1, the Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga, and the new Toshiba dynaPad N72.

It’s a bit fancier in build than a regular Wacom pen and has two programmable side buttons. The nibs are replaceable. The top has a cap that actually fits on the bottom (take that, Apple Pencil). The AAAA battery should keep you inking for a year if you use it 3 hours a day (of course, a lot of people might use it far more than that, so it’s good to have rechargeable batteries or keep spares). Note: AAAA batteries aren’t always for sale at the local drugstore–to find them, you might have to go to an electronics store or order them online.

The pen has 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. It does not offer tilt sensitivity.

This is a valuable development, as is anything that makes life simpler. While people won’t necessarily need the smart stylus, it’s good to have an extra stylus other than the one that comes with a device.

You can see it Bamboo Smart Stylus in its packaging on the Wacom blog.

Learn more about top digital art tablets.

Duet Display app turns iPad into “Cintiq” for Mac or Windows

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Last updated Monday, May 9, 2016

Duet Display turns iPad into a “Cintiq” for Mac or Windows

Like the Astropad app, Duet Display is an app, created by former Apple engineers, that turns your iPad or iPhone into an input device or second monitor, and it’s now made for both Mac and PC. It works without lag because uses a USB connection rather than Wi-fi. (you can use your Lightning Connector to USB).

First, you download it to your Mac or Windows PC from the Duet Display site, then go to the iTunes store to download the app for iPad. It works with all iPads running iOS7 and up, and all Mac and Windows computers (laptops and desktops) running OS X 10.9 or Windows 7 and later (though I have written them to get clarification on whether it’s OK for Windows 10 as their site says 8.1, so I will update this post after I hear back). Apparently, using a Retina MacBook with it can spike CPU usage.

You can still use graphics tablets and Cintiqs attached to the computer at the same time.

With the Duet, the iPad still won’t give you pressure sensitivity or palm rejection unless you use certain drawing styluses and apps; these use Bluetooth.

More info at duetdisplay.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCcCOnw2-zk

Microsoft: Power cord recall for Surface Pro 1, 2, and 3

Microsoft recall of power cords for Surface Pro 1-3

Due to overheating concerns, Microsoft issued a voluntary recall of AC power cords for the Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, and Surface Pro 3, if they were sold before March 15, 2015 in the U.S., and July 15, 2015, anywhere outside the U.S. The recall was announced on Jan. 21, 2016.

According to the company, the overheating can be triggered by cords that are tightly wound or bent, which can get damaged that way and become a fire hazard. They stress that the problem affects only a very few users. But, for safety, they recommend that you no longer use your existing cord, regardless if it appears damaged or not.

To fill out the form to get your replacement cord, go to the Microsoft page here.

The new Surface Pro power cords don’t have this issue, and they match the ones sold after March 15th, 2015 in the U.S. and July 15, 2015 elsewhere.

The recall does not apply to the power brick, which is the power supply, but only to the AC power cord, the part that attaches to the electrical outlet. Here’s a photo:

microsoft-recall

This problem and the recall ONLY affect the Pro, Pro 2, and Pro 3, not the Surface 3, Surface RT, Surface Pro 4, or Surface Book, and not to cords for docking stations for the Pro, the Pro 2, or Pro 3.

Microsoft says users should safely dispose of or recycle their existing cords in accordance with local regulations. You don’t return the cord to Microsoft, you just request a new one. All replacement cords will come directly from Microsoft. They will issue one new one per device.

Again o get your new AC power cord, go to this page on the Microsoft site.

This article has more info on the recall.

If you have an affected Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, or Surface Pro 3, please stop using your existing power cord, dispose of or recycle it safely, and send go to the Microsoft recall page to order a new one.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016: light, slim, and Wacom

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Last updated Thursday, March 23, 2017

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016: lithe spirit

by Tablets for Artists

ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016 on display at CES

See it on Amazon.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016 was released at CES this year. I’s a business laptop very similar to the X1 Carbon but with a touchscreen and active pen. It has several innovations. One is that one model sports an optional OLED display. That model will be released in April, 2016. OLED offers richer colors and deeper silky blacks. The second innovation is that the pen, which is battery-free and has 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, can be charged in the chassis. This is already done with the iPad Pro using their digitizer, but it’s new for a PC with a Wacom digitizer. The third “first” is that at release time, it’s the thinnest and lightest 2-in-1 out there. Preliminary feedback has been positive for both the computer itself and the drawing experience. You don’t have to worry about pen batteries, and the laptop is plenty powerful enough for Photoshop and more. Like other ThinkPad Yogas, it bends into the traditional ThinkPad Yoga’s four modes and has the 360-degree swiveling hinge.

The computer is lightweight and downright skinny with a .66″ profile, and the The ThinkPad X1 Yoga could make artists very happy, if they can afford the price tag.

Features

Display: 14″ screen, IPS (OLED option coming in April, 2016), 2K display (2560 x 1440), antiglare touchscreen
Dimensions (width, depth, height):
16.8″ width x 13.11″ x 9.01″ x 0.66″
mm: 333 x 229 x 16.8
OLED Version 17 13.11″ x 9.01″ x 0.67″
mm : 333 x 229 x 17
OS: WIndows 10, Home and Pro versions available
Weight: 2.8 lbs
Dockable Wacom ES active pen included
pen: 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity
Graphics
Intel HD Graphics 520
Memory: Up to 16GB RAM and 1TB NVMe storage (that’s storage designed for SSDs). RAM not upgradeable after purchase.
Processor: i5 to i7
3 USB-3 ports (no USB-C)
full HDMI displayport
Graphics: Intel HD 520
360-degree hinge turns around; hinge opens and closes to 180 degrees (can open flat)
Retractable Lift-n-Lock keys (auto-retracts when folded to tablet mode)
Pen stored and charges in laptop body
Fingerprint sensor
WRITE-IT software understands and corrects your handwriting across apps
MicroSD and SIM card slots
optional 4G LTE
optional wireless dock

Battery Life

8 hours

Portability

Lightweight, very portable weightwise at 2.8 lbs. and .66″ depth. Sizewise, the 14″ screen takes up more space.

Pen

Going back to earlier ThinkPads, the pen, with 2,048 pressure levels, gets stored inside the laptop body. But differing from earlier ThinkPads, this pen does not have a battery, but a tiny capacitor. To charge the pen, you can insert it into a port in the laptop (as with the iPad Pro’s Apple Pencil) and it only takes 15 seconds to get a charge that lasts up to 100 minutes. So you’ll never need to worry about pen downtime or pen batteries. AES pens do have a bit of jitter, as you can see in the video below, but it’s manageable. They do not suffer from the bad jitter around the edges of the screen that plagues traditional Wacom EMR. There is less parallax than EMR, and a slightly lower hover distance, the distance at which the pen causes anything to happen. It’s high enough to still have good palm rejection. The initial activation force is low–even though AES is similar to N-trig, to me it feels more on the Wacom side even when compared with the new Surface Pen.

Modes

Like other ThinkPad Yogas, this one has 4 modes, or positions: Laptop, Stand, Tablet, and Tent.

Keyboard

Because the ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016 has Lift-n-Lock keys that disable the keyboard when folded into tablet mode, you will probably want to use an external USB or Bluetooth keyboard to access keyboard shortcuts when drawing in tablet mode. You could open the whole thing up into an open clamshell, since the hinge opens to 180 degrees, but it’s awkward to draw that way. The keyboard is full-size and backlit.

Screen

You might not want the OLED model, because the screen can burn in.

The pen that comes with the Yoga skinny, though the length is decent. You might want to buy a thicker pen if you prefer to draw with one. (I’m searching for a link to that pen).

Traditionally, Ultrabooks have exchanged power for portablity, but this one has plenty of power.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga can run full desktop programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Manga, and all that, as well as Metro Apps such as Fresh Paint.

The poor laptop was put to military-grade endurance tests against moisture, drops, fungus, and more. The full-size, backlit keyboard is spillproof. Speaking as one who once fried a motherboard with lemonade, I appreciate that.

Here’s Lisa Gade’s video Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016 drawing demo. As you can see, the Wacom pen settings are pretty much the same as for traditional EMR Wacom pen settings.

See it on Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PVjrzc-xk

See review of ThinkPad Yoga 14 (also Wacom AES)

See review of ThinkPad Yoga 2-in-1 (traditional Wacom)

For more explanation of the different types of art tablets, see our front page article.

This high-quality all-in-one should be a good bet for artists.

This is a preliminary review/article, since it just came out.

end of ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2016 just released

Toshiba dynaPad review: light, exciting, Wacom

27 Replies

Last updated Thursday, March 23, 2017

Toshiba dynaPad review: sketch and write on lightweight tablet

by Tablets for Artists

The Toshiba dynaPad is a thin, lighweight Windows 10 tablet with a Wacom pen that gets 2,048 levels of pressure. At 12″ and with an art-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio, this could be the portable drawing rig we’ve been waiting for. One caveat: its Atom processor is not ideal to use large programs such as Photoshop.

toshibadynapadreviewpin

Toshiba dynaPad

See it on Microsoft.com

TYPE OF TABLET
2-in-1, keyboard is optional

OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows 10 Home

DIMENSIONS
11.8″ x 8.0″ x 0.58″ (with keyboard)

WEIGHT
1.27 lbs. (576 g) without keyboard, 2.2 lbs. (997 g) with keyboard

COLOR
“Sandy Silver”

PORTABILITY
Excellent, as it’s so lightweight. Will need a case to protect it, unless you have the keyboard attached and covering the tablet face.

FOR LEFTIES
The TruNote handwriting app is set up for either hand, making this a good choice for southpaws.

PROCESSOR
Intel Atom x5-Z8300 (2MB Cache, up to 1.84 GHz), 1.44GHz base

DISPLAY
12.0” WUXGA (1920×1280) 10-pt touchscreen, IPS Gorilla Glass, Full HD
3:2 aspect ratio
Fingerprint-resistant coating to make it feel paperlike
MEMORY
4GB (cannot be upgraded by user)
64GB solid state flash memory

WHAT’S IN THE BOX
Tablet – Signature Edition, meaning much less bloatware
TruPen
Charger
Documents

FEATURES
Rear 8MP camera, front 2MP HD, dual microphones
Dual-Band Wireless-AC + Bluetooth

The keyboard is not included (it was when Toshiba was selling this, but now it’s being sold by Microsoft and does not come with the keyboard)

PORTS
Micro HDMI, 2-Micro USB 2.0 port
Micro SD/SDHC/SDXC Card slot
Headphone/microphone combo port

BATTERY
not replaceable by user (as is standard with tablets)

WEIGHT
2.2 lbs (tablet with keyboard)
I have confirmed with Toshiba that the one for sale on their site comes with the pen and keyboard included. However, this will not be the case in retail stores when it goes on sale in those. I will be updating this post as more information and stores become available. UPDATE: the dynaPad is no longer directly for sale from Toshiba. You can get it from Microsoft. The keyboard is also for sale at Microsoft but is an extra purchase. See the keyboard at Microsoft.

This mobile Windows 10 tablet the product of a collaboration between Toshiba and Microsoft, was released last fall in Japan, and was released at CES 2016 for the U.S. market. It’s a 12″ Windows tablet with a Wacom digitizer and fine-tipped pen that affords 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. It’s more affordable than most tablet PCs. Its digital inking offers a pen-on-paper like experience. The digitizer is AES, with a battery-powered pen.

Though this tablet is drawing comparisons to the Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro, the Atom processor isn’t as powerful as processors on those, but this is a great digital sketchbook. It’s much more powerful than an Android or iPad for art, since you can run full programs on it, not just apps. It’s actually very, very similar to the Microsoft Surface 3. CPU-hogging programs may lag or crash, especially if you are using a lot of filters and layers. It’s best for smaller art programs such as Photoshop Elements and Sketchbook Pro, or apps like Fresh Paint. You will be able to create high-res images and use layers.

The display is made of two sheets of glass and a metal mesh sensor. Gorilla Glass is on top. A fingerprint-resistant coating gives the screen surface a bit of bite, as on the Cintiq.

If you’re using the Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10, you can go to town doodling and writing notes on your captured Web pages.

Toshiba dynaPad with optional keyboard that connects via magnets. Click image to see more info at the Microsoft Store.

SCREEN
At release time, this is the thinnest, lightest Windows 10 tablet around.

PEN
The battery-powered, fine-tipped metal pen feels solid in the hand, yet is not heavy. It looks like a ballpoint pen, or like the Surface Pen. It conveniently attaches to the side via a plastic pen loop.

The tablet feels solid and well-built and has an attractive, square-cornered design. The 3:2 aspect ratio, replicating the classical artist’s concept of the Golden Mean, is a positive for drawing.

Also, the TruPen for the Encore 2 Write is different from the TruPen for the dynaPad. You cannot use the TruPen on the dynaPad, according to Toshiba.

This tablet also won’t work with the pen from the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 14, which is also ES (I know someone will ask!) It may have limited use with other ES pens, but we recommend only using the TruPen.

Extra dynaPad pens are not yet for sale, but I expect they will be. It did take a little while for replacement pens to come out after this tablet’s predecessor, the Encore 2 Write, was released.

DRAWING ON THE DYNAPAD

The dynaPad comes with Toshiba’s TruNote, TruCapture, and TruRecorder, TruNote Clip and TruNote share apps. You can share handwriting in real time, and make screenshots. This suite of apps is made to integrate with Microsoft Office. (It does not come with Office; that must be purchased separately.) Collaborative projects with digital inking is growing, as designers, artists, and architects come up with new uses for it. (For a bit more info on Wacom’s role in this, see my CES post)

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is optional and attaches by magnets. fold the tablet over the keyboard to make it all one piece, thus protecting the screen. You cannot, however, adjust the angle of the tablet when it’s attached to the keyboard. The keys are deep and type comfortably. Toshiba has paid great attention to detail and user experience.

USER COMMENTS AND REVIEWS

Because this has just been released, there aren’t too many yet. One initial Toshiba dynaPad review praised it as being very comfortable to hold. The high-grade plastic casing’s rubberized texture, and the light weight of the tablet, provide this comfort.

PROS
generous 12″ size good for drawing
3:2 aspect ratio good for drawing
maximum pressure sensitivity
lightweight
well-made
metal, fine-tipped pen
Microsoft Signature Edition, less bloatware

CONS
Atom processor decent, but not like tablet PC
4GB memory not upgradeable
battery can’t be replaced by user
sound quality from speakers not that good

Microsoft Surface 3 vs. Toshiba dynaPad

The Toshiba is a rival to the Microsoft Surface 3 (even though Microsoft had a hand in the Toshiba), which has an Atom X7 processor and comes with configurations of 2GB and 4GB RAM and 64 and 128GB flash storage. Both have fine-tipped pens and palm rejection works well. The specs are not that different. The main difference is really the digitizer.

Surface 3: 622g (tablet only); dimensions 10.52″ x 7.36″ x 0.34″; resolution also 1920×1280 HD

dynaPad: 576g (tablet only), 12″ screen

Surface 3 has an LTE option and more storage options. It has an N-trig pen that will give you 256 levels of pressure. The pen and keyboard are sold separately.

The dynaPad has a Wacom pen with 2,048 levels of pressure. If you order from Toshiba, the pen and keyboard are included. The Surface 3’s kickstand is adjustable but the dynaPad’s keyboard does not allow adjusting the position.

For art, I would pick the dynaPad over the Surface 3 because of the Wacom pen with more pressure levels. As well, handwriting feels more like writing on paper.

If LTE and/or an adjustable kickstand are important to you, you might want the Surface 3. That’s also good for drawing and note-taking, but I find the Surface pen drawing and writing to be less fluid.

iPad Pro vs. dynaPad

Tough comparison; the Apple Pencil is unique because you can draw with the side of the pencil “lead,” making it the most natural-feeling stylus, but I think it’s more important to be able to use full programs or full “middle” ones such as Photoshop Elements or Sketchbook Pro. The iPadPro has a powerful chip, but you’re still stuck only with art apps. If art apps are OK for you, then you might love the iPad Pro just for the Apple Pencil.

VERDICT

This is an exciting development and more power and pressure sensitivity than we usually see in a mobile device. It’s an excellent and forward-looking drawing tablet designed with both drawing and writing/business use in mind. The collaborative features open a new world, not one everyone needs, but you never know. The pen is responsive and the tablet has a generous screen size that’s like a sheet of regular paper. The prime benefits are quality and convenience, not the computing power, which is not that powerful. This is a great tote-around. This Toshiba dynaPad review is a thumbs-up.

See it at Microsoft
ACCESSORIES

Keyboard (Microsoft.com)

OTHER ACCESSORIES

If you’ve gotten a dynaPad and now need a carrying case and other accessories, there are some, such as this IVSO bag that comes in four colors, on Amazon.

End of Toshiba dynaPad review

TABLETS FOR ARTISTS

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Wacom Bamboo Smart stylus: Universal AES