Toshiba Announces New Excite ICS Tablets, Including a Monster 13-inch Device Discussion

[Ryan Punzalan]

Toshiba took the wraps off three new Excite Android tablets, including a monster with a 13.3-inch display.

Read the full content of this Article: Toshiba Announces New Excite ICS Tablets, Including a Monster 13-inch Device

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[thatcomicsguy]

Damn.

Imagine that thing with a good stylus. And a full OS.

True, the aspect ratio would make for a cramped art tool, but still. . . 1600 x 900 dpi is certainly viable. (Oh, but a bit more North-South canvas, and just one more inch. . .)

When somebody finally does the math and realizes that there is a reason Wacom struggles to keep up with the demand for their high-priced Cintiq line, we'll be off and running.

Every draftsman, animator and general artist on the planet will want one.

[stoneseeker]

Every draftsman, animator and general artist on the planet will want one.

yep.


How on earth this has not happened yet bewilders me. Just make a wacom penabled tabletPC built specifically for artists (instead of business or regular consumers) and you would have no competition in a niche, but massive, market that remains largely untapped. We are forced to 'make do' with overpriced/underpowered/inadequate machines that don't take artist needs too heavily into consideration, if at all.

[Fishface]

A 13.3" tablet with no pen capability.... *double facepalm*

WHY ON EARTH would you make something that big if not to use as a working surface? It's like making a an awesome truck and then forgetting to put the wheels in.

[doobiedoobiedum]

-- When somebody finally does the math and realizes that there is a reason Wacom struggles to keep up with the demand for their high-priced Cintiq line, we'll be off and running --

Wacom isn't going to jeopardise Cintiq and Intuos sales by offering higher spec and larger digitiser screens for artist-friendly tablet pcs.

And the way the art market is, if someone else did make such a device, many would probably sneer at it for not being a Wacom penabled device or the software vendors probably wouldn't support it - Adobe being the most important.

It may take something radical like an Android device manufacturer desperate for differentiation in a highly crowded and competitive market doing something very different and building a larger screen device but then we won't have full spec applications on it. (

[thatcomicsguy]

I just sent this letter to the corporate offices for Toshiba Japan. . .



Hello!

I am a published and nationally recognized graphic artist, writer and cartoonist living and working in Canada.

I made the transition from working on paper to digital some years ago I now do nearly all of my professional work on Toshiba Tablet PCs. I'm currently using an old modified Tecra M4 and Portege M200 for most of my day to day work in Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai, etc. They are excellent machines for the job and I especially appreciate the high resolution screens. The 14" Tecra is a wonderful combination of resolution and physical screen size.

I am writing now to you in order to strongly recommend that you consider incorporating pen technology in your newer slates. The upcoming release of the 13.3" Excite is a promising looking device, but in order to be useful to me, it needs to have a pen and a full OS capable of running Photoshop, etc.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate, for instance, is enormously popular among artists, but it could be better. I would love to have a Toshiba device of that sort.

Also. . , I would appreciate a work surface which is does not use the standard wide-screen aspect ratio. There is a great deal of frustration in the computer-buying public with the common 16:9 screen. I and many others would be very happy to see a return to 4:3 or something similar. Please read some of the public discourse on this subject in the link below. . .

1366x768 Monitors Top 1024x768 For the First Time - Slashdot

The Wacom Cintiq line is very popular for a reason, but nobody as yet has made a modern portable artist's tablet. If you were to make a powerful 14" or 15" tablet with a pen stylus and a real operating system capable of running Photoshop, (with a screen with a nice aspect ratio big enough to see artwork without having to scroll up and down so often), then I can assure you that every artist, graphic designer, animator and draftsman on the planet would fall over themselves to buy one. I would be at the head of the line.

Thank-you for your time.

[doobiedoobiedum]

I just sent this letter to the corporate offices for Toshiba Japan. . .



Hello!

I am a published and nationally recognized graphic artist, writer and cartoonist living and working in Canada.

I made the transition from working on paper to digital some years ago I now do nearly all of my professional work on Toshiba Tablet PCs. I'm currently using an old modified Tecra M4 and Portege M200 for most of my day to day work in Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai, etc. They are excellent machines for the job and I especially appreciate the high resolution screens. The 14" Tecra is a wonderful combination of resolution and physical screen size.

I am writing now to you in order to strongly recommend that you consider incorporating pen technology in your newer slates. The upcoming release of the 13.3" Excite is a promising looking device, but in order to be useful to me, it needs to have a pen and a full OS capable of running Photoshop, etc.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate, for instance, is enormously popular among artists, but it could be better. I would love to have a Toshiba device of that sort.

Also. . , I would appreciate a work surface which is does not use the standard wide-screen aspect ratio. There is a great deal of frustration in the computer-buying public with the common 16:9 screen. I and many others would be very happy to see a return to 4:3 or something similar. Please read some of the public discourse on this subject in the link below. . .

1366x768 Monitors Top 1024x768 For the First Time - Slashdot

The Wacom Cintiq line is very popular for a reason, but nobody as yet has made a modern portable artist's tablet. If you were to make a powerful 14" or 15" tablet with a pen stylus and a real operating system capable of running Photoshop, (with a screen with a nice aspect ratio big enough to see artwork without having to scroll up and down so often), then I can assure you that every artist, graphic designer, animator and draftsman on the planet would fall over themselves to buy one. I would be at the head of the line.

Thank-you for your time.

I really hope you are successful - it could be that Windows 8 RT /RTM on slates becomes the pathway (if Android doesn't attract more powerful versions of art software).

Having read one review that said the Excite's 13 inch screen resolution is pretty poor; it's apparently a machine designed for small groups to view video on. (Why is that market more important than the art market?)
I just wonder whether Samsung will be the company that takes the first big step though - the soon to be re-released Galaxy Note tablet 10.1 does have a wacom digitiser (I believe - except you apparently may have to buy the pen separately) and they could be pushed to release a larger tablet.

The question becomes whether serious versions of art applications will be ported to Android. The next couple of years will be interesting but I am reminded of the period 13-14 years ago when 3D animation houses started switching production to cheap windows machines rather than pay £10,000 per box for Silicon Graphics machines.

The price of Windows 8 RT /RTM slates vs Android slates and whether anyone else offers 10-13" slates with wacom digitisers in the Galaxy note price range will be the main factor I think. Windows 8 is attractive because a cheap slate could then be an impulse purchase to alongside the rest of a set-up so you could swap art files from a really light and portable slate to your desktop / convertible at home.