Asus VivoTab Note 8 Owner's Lounge

I can confidently say it's time for an owners lounge. Come forth, AVTN8 owners!
With this thread, I hope that we can contain and organize all issues and/or advice that other owners can benefit from.

I own the 64GB variation of this device. Please ask me any questions if you have them! I am in the process of posting a formal review of this tablet onto my blog. I will post the link when I have completed it.

 

Userful links:

Drivers & Utilities
Official Drivers
Wacom 'Feel' Driver [Currently faulty on the AVTN8, but keep an eye out for version 7.1.4 when it's released]


Purchases:

Device (you can get a 10% student discount at the Microsoft Store):
Asus VivoTab Note 8 @ Amazon (32GB & 64 GB)
Asus VivoTab Note 8 @ Microsoft Store (32 GB)
Asus VivoTab Note 8 @ Microsoft Store (64 GB)

Pens:
Wacom Stylus Feel (Black or White) - $39.95
Wacom Stylus Feel (Carbon) - $79.95
Penabled Tablet PC Eraser Pen
Original Microsoft Surface Pro Pen
Original Fujitsu Digitizer Pen
Samsung S-Pen

Enhancements:
Oleophobic Coating Kit (permanent coating for anti-fingerprint)
SanDisk 128 GB micro SDXC Card

Protection:
i-Blason Asus VivoTab Note 8 Screen Protector (non-matte)
iLLumiShield Anti-Glare/Matte Screen Protector
kwmobile Matte/Anti-glare Screen Protector
IVSO Smart Cover Case
Asus VersaSleeve / (MS Store)
i-Blason Leather Book Cover w/ Pen Holder (efjay suggests that this case will not yield the magnetic interference that the IVSO one does)
VSTN Asus VivoTab Note 8 Bluetooth Keyboard Portfolio Case
IVSO Asus VivoTab Note 8 Bluetooth Keyboard Portfolio Case

 

Common Complaints (w/ some fixes):

• Weak edges on the digitizer (many of us have concluded it may be because of the size of the device being only 8")
• Stock pen performs weakly towards the center edge of the top, bottom, left, and right of the device. (This can be improved with a better pen.)
• Inconsistent WiFi connection when awakening device from sleep (waiting on a driver fix, hopefully). Although, some have reported solid connections. There may are also issues with tethering where the connection is terminated in a mere few minutes. Please make sure that this isn't coming from your phone, though. Again, hopefully a driver fix on Asus' behalf will fix the network weaknesses.
• Magnet closure on some cases interfere with the digitizer / may render some spots weak
• Noticeable battery drain when device is asleep
• Screen is somewhat yellow-ish. You can adjust your color settings from the Intel Graphics software.
  

Tips & Tricks:

• Isopropyl alcohol will NOT fix the manufacturer-applied rough coating on the screen. Get a matte screen protector for your device's screen or apply an anti-fingerprint coating (see below and in links section) to the screen.
• Get a full-sized Wacom digitizer pen if you do a lot of writing or drawing because the stock pen is weak and is entirely too small and skinny for serious tasks.
• If you're interested in applying an oleophobic coating for your device's screen, visit this link to see the process of doing so.
• Make sure you have the most recent DisplayLink driver if you are using a DisplayLink-based display for your VivoTab Note 8.
• There is a temporary fix to the current Feel driver issue (version 7.1.2) for pressure sensitivity in programs like Photoshop. Visit this link at 'surfaceproartist's website to see the tutorial.
• If you own a skinny pen or are using the stock pen for your device, you can use a rubber grip from a pencil to enhance the comfort of your writing/drawing experience.
• Use Modlock to make space for a clearer canvas when drawing in programs.
• To calibrate your pen input or touch input, go to your Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > under Tablet PC Settings, select "Calibrate the screen for pen or touch input" > Click the 'Calibrate' button and then choose if you want to calibrate your pen or touch input.

Accessing the BIOS: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/asus-vivotab-note-8-tips-tricks.61340/page-4#post-417126

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Asus VivoTab Note 8 have a digitizer?
Yes, the AVTN8 is equipped with a Wacom digitizer meaning it supports pressure sensitivity (1024 levels) for note-taking and drawing.

Can I use other pens with the AVTN8?
Yes (I encourage you to due to the bad stock pen from Asus), but only Wacom compatible or Penabled pens. See the list of pens above.

Why are my X and Y axis reversed when trying to use my pen/pressure sensitivity in some programs?
Well, firstly -- some of the programs rely on Wacom's 'Feel' drivers to activate pressure sensitivity. Wacom's current driver (version 7.1.2, released October 2013) for "penabled" PCs does not support the Asus VivoTab Note 8. Wacom has stated that they are currently working on a new revision (version 7.1.4) which will include support for the AVTN8.

Why doesn't the calibration utility work for my pen?
The calibration utility does not work if you have Wacom's current Feel driver installed. This version has calibration issues.

 

Waru,

32 GB owner. Thanks for making this thread.

You may want to add under common complaints the pretty consistent weak zones at the top center-left and bottom-middle which most people seems to experience with Asus stylus but which is mitigated when using a better pen.

This seems to be fairly common and not a fault to specific units.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You're welcome.

Yes, I have noticed this as well. And actually, when the screen is lit (but all black) like when you turn on the device at the booting screen, you'll notice that there is a bit of lighting bleed in those same areas. I can confirm that a better pen will fix this. Asus' stock pen is very wonky.

 

Thanks Waru. We needed an owner's lounge.

 

Thanks for making the owners thread! 64GB owner here from the Microsoft store. Using this case Amazon.com : i-BLASON Asus VivoTab Note 8 Case - Leather Book Cover for M80T (Elastic Hand Strap, Multi-Angle, Card Holder) With Bonus Stylus 3 Year Warranty (Black) : Electronics. Bulkier than the IVSO but doesn't seem to have the magnet problem of the IVSO case even though it has magnets as well. Expecting an iLLumiShield clear screen protector on Monday. Also running a Transcend 64GB microSD card with no problems.

So far only 1 problem with the AVTN8 for me, tethering with my Lumia 1020 will disconnect within a few minutes every time with an error "wlan extensibility module has stopped" in event viewer. Latest Asus drivers and rolled back to original, same result, hoping future updates to fix other Wi-Fi issues fix this. Connection to my home and office Wi-Fi in contrast are rock solid.

To make the screen less yellow I've made some adjustments to the color settings in the Intel graphics software.

To access, right click desktop > graphics properties > display > color. Red brightness set to -20, Green -5, Blue untouched. Save as a profile for easy recall.

Adaptive brightness actually seems to work on this tablet, enable and see if it works for you.

 

Yup! Also, feel free to chat away into this thread and please message me or simply post any suggestions that I should add to the FAQ and Common Complaint section as I am still in the process of refining the information in the first four posts.

Edit: Thank you efjay for your contribution. I will be adding some information to the first posts.

 

My thanks as well.

This issue has to be the speaker magnets. Confirmed that there are magnets there using another magnet, and there are obvious speaker grilles nearby as well.